A Link to the Past
Chapter Twenty Two: The Dark World
The sight of this monster clearly illuminated in the flickering orange torchlight was truly something out of a nightmare, shaped most like a man wearing robes similar to the ones Agahnim had, but towering above the height of the wizard and three times stockier and more muscular. His skin was a strange brownish blue color with much more body hair than a person would have, with long fingernails that looked more like claws, and his face… oh his face was the worst part with its tusks and pig-like snout… floppy ears and eyes that almost seemed to glow in the dim light. It wasn't just him, either… the guards that flanked him in their dull metal armor carrying spears, they all… they all had hooves where their feet should have been, and the heads of angry looking goats.
"Part of me wants to simply destroy you and be done with it." Ganondorf snorted, making Link gasp when a massive sphere of deadly energy formed in his hand then vanished. "But part of me would regret killing a little rabbit, instead of waiting for the face I saw in the wizard's mirror… your grandfather's face."
"What have you done with Princess Zelda?" The young man demanded, finding it odd to speak with such large front teeth. "What is this place? Where am I?"
In response the monster cackled with laughter, snorting and grunting as he repeated those questions in a high pitch mockery, before letting go of Link's elongated rabbit ears and then backhanding him while he was still in the air. If the young man thought that Agahnim hit hard, then he was completely unprepared for the physical force behind Ganondorf's hand, making him see stars and causing the whole room to spin, not even aware he had landed on the stone floor until the goat guards were grabbing him by the arms. Goat people? Warthog people? Himself as a rabbit? How was this possible? What was this place? Was that really Zelda inside the crystal, and if so, were the other missing girls transformed into something similar?
"Take him to the Village of Outcasts." Ganondorf ordered as the guards shackled Link's wrists and ankles. "Flog him for the entertainment of my subjects, and then toss him into the darkest dungeon. Whip him, beat him, torture as you like, but the little rabbit stays alive until the seal breaks, and I can crush his grandfather's face from my memory forever."
With that, the guards dragged him from the room, the young man still very confused as he was dragged down a long stone hallway, taking in a breath of fresh air once the group got outside while the sky was orange with the coming sunset, and… and taken down the stairs of a large… pyramid? Yes, where Link had been standing on top of Hyrule Castle only a few minutes before, he was now looking at massive yellow pyramid shaped building with stairs that went all the way to the top while he was being taken down to the bottom. The storm must've passed as well, since the sky was clear enough to see that the whole thing was dark orange, casting long shadows, but still allowing him to see clearly as the goat guards suddenly pushed him forward.
Unable to stop himself because of the shackles, the young man stumbled awkwardly before tumbling forward, crying out in surprise and fear as he rolled and bounced down the stairs all the way to the bottom, feeling each time part of his body struck an edge, and then crashing hard on the dirt below. Between the trials to win the Master Sword, fighting Agahnim, and everything else that was happening, Link was so worn out that he wasn't able to get up by the time the laughing guards caught up with him. They roughly pulled him to his feet, pushing the young man forward so that he started walking down a trail that led away from the pyramid, heading east for a while and then curving south somewhere near the trail that led to the old Lord's castle… wait a second, what?
No, that couldn't be the same trail, but it looked so much like it, as did the road they were on now as it crossed a small river… no, there were more rocks in the water and the bridge was stone instead of wood. No, this couldn't still be Hyrule, not with every person they passed on the road having the features of some kind of animal, even though the small hill with a house on top of it that passed not much later looked really familiar. There was a sign out front saying that it was a shop of some kind, and the wood used to build the place was darker, as was the brownish colored grass, but… the place looked so much like his uncle's house… and the path ahead was familiar too, just like the one that led to Kakariko Village.
"All right, fess up, rabbit." One of the goat guards said as they continued down the trail. "The boss has always been kind of a jerk, but usually when someone makes him mad he just kills them, so why does he want you alive?"
"I don't know." The young man replied, trying not to be confused every time he saw a familiar shape. "I don't even know where I am right now? What is this place?"
"Most of us call it The Dark World." Another of the guards added. "Not sure how you got here? Neither are we… easy to wander in… no way out. I know some guys been here for decades, but its funny… they still look pretty young to me."
"All right, that's enough talk." A third guard interrupted sternly. "He's a prisoner, not your best friend, and he won't like us much once we get to the village, anyway. They never seem to happy after a good flogging, do they? And that's nothing compared to what the Warden's gonna do to him once we hand him over. Rabbit's gonna wish the boss killed him outright."
Link didn't understand very much about this Dark World, but he already knew enough to realize that he didn't want anything to do with what was waiting for him in whatever the Village of Outcasts was, and if this place kept having similarities with Hyrule, then there weren't many more chances to get away before he reached the village… assuming that Kakariko Village and this one were in the same place. All right, the young man was being marched on the trail that was pretty similar to the road leading to the village south gates, so maybe if the glove had enough power to free him from these chains… yes!
Feeling a pulse of strength from the glove's power, Link was able to force open the bar holding the restraints on his wrists closed. Now all he had to do was get the guards to stop for a second, pretending to trip and falling down was a pretty good trick, so the young man fell flat on his face, curling up to look like he was trying to stand while the guards came to grab him, and with another pulse of power the glove allowed his legs to be freed, too. Unfortunately, it took a little time between each use of the glove, so now Link had to free himself on his own, being as tired as he was. So as soon as the guards picked him up to his feet, the young man stepped out of his leg restraints while using the ones that were around his wrists as a whip to strike the nearest guard in the head while kicking the one on the opposite side in the back of the knee.
Both guards went down, but instead of trying to fight the others Link tossed the shackles at them and took off running straight north into what he hoped would be his best bet at losing them. Up ahead a short distance was a thick wall of trees, but beyond that was a lush grove with plenty of smaller plants that made perfect hiding places, so the young man ran as fast as he could while the guards were tripping over each other, reaching the wall of dark and foreboding looking trees. Like the trees in Hyrule, there were fruits hanging low under them, but these looked black and rotting, not the kind of thing someone wanted to put in their mouth. Past the tree wall the grove was still there as well, but unlike the lush green valley of Hyrule, this one was… not.
What grass there was lie brown and dying, as did the few bushes, leaving only a single small tree in the center that he could use for hiding behind. With no other choices, and not long before the guards followed him this far, Link ran to the center of the grove and hid right behind the small tree. Looking back to see if the guards were following yet, he was relieved to see that it was still clear, so the young man started toward the other end of the grove, when something stopped him. Somehow one of the tree's thick branches had caught itself on his shirt, and when he tried to remove it, Link could only stare at what he saw. The tree itself was moving, not much now, but it was, opening a set of bloodshot, tired eyes right in the middle of its trunk, and then opening a mouth to let out a long, slow roar of… what was it, anger? Hunger?
"No, don't go!" The tree cried out, spitting out sap and sawdust while the branch tightened its grip. "You're the first person I've seen in years! Help me! You have to help me!"
"I can't!" Link urged quietly, his mind struggling to accept he was talking to a tree. "The guards are after me! I'll come back I promise… I have to get away from the village!"
Now the tree surprised him again by saying no, that he needed to go toward the village into the Lost Woods, or whatever the Dark World called it. It told him that's where he was when the whole world changed, it was years ago but suddenly the beautiful green trees went dark and the creatures of this place were chasing it while something strange happened to its body. It was like the farther into this place it ran the more whatever power ruled this place worked to transform his body from a person into a tree… a tree that got this far and then took root when the transformation was complete.
"What, you thought everyone here became an animal?" The tree laughed, Link turning his head to avoid the dust and sap. "Some are fish, some trees, and others are monsters. I think it has something to do with your personality, but maybe not… I've had years to think on it, but no one to talk to."
"So, there's a way out in the Lost Woods?" The young man asked, gasping when he saw two guards appear in the tree line. "Okay, I'll find it, I'll find a way to help you, but I can't help anyone if they capture me."
With that the tree branch released him, causing Link to stumble back a couple steps before falling down, the tree calling for him to escape and find a way to free him. The two goat guards were still a good distance away, so the young man got up and turned around to run for the other side of the grove, only to stop when he came face to face with the other four guards… one of which was swinging the blunt part of his spear right at Link's head before everything went dark.