Double chapter today because I suck.

"There has to be something about the Doors, look harder!" Tessen hissed.

"This is wrong, you guys!" Saval snapped, crossing her arms. "He's been kinder than he needs to be. He gave us shelter and warmed and fed us. All he asks is that you wait and respect his privacy, and you can't even do that?"

"He's taking too long, Saval!" Hazen argued, ignoring the guilt worming its way in his gut. "We need to figure this out now. We have to get home!"

"I know that. But it doesn't mean we have to invade this man's privacy!"

Tessen opened his mouth, but there was a sound from outside, and the three of them scrambled out of Sahasrahla's back room, throwing themselves at the kitchen table just as the man walked in, his arms full of books.

Saval leapt up. "Let me help you with that," she said, smiling sweetly, noticing that the door to the back room was slightly ajar. She swallowed, directing Sahasrahla to the table. "How did your search go?"

Sahasrahla huffed, wiping his brow. "That whippersnapper Osfala has some nerve," he muttered, straightening his robe. "Pretending he's the descendant of the original sages . . . arrogance of him . . . young'uns these days . . ."

Saval watched him shuffle over to the backroom and darted in front of him. "Uhh, why don't you make some calming tea and relax? We can put these away."

Sahasrahla stopped short, grunting a little. "Very well," he said, finally relaxing a bit. He offered an apologetic smile. "Thank you, Miss Saval."

"Of course," she said smoothly. She took the books as he shuffled toward the kitchen and deposited them into the back room, shutting the door tightly behind her. She returned to the table and glared at the boys before perching on the edge.

As she did so, the table jostled a little and Hazen let out a grunt of pain. Tessen watched him, eyes tight with worry. "It's getting worse."

Hazen panted through his teeth, trying to keep his noises of pain quiet as Saval gently pried open his tunic. The burns on his shoulder from the mask's attack were bright red and angry, and starting to turn an ugly yellow color in some places. She took her lower lip between her teeth and started to lay the cloth back down when Sahasrahla spoke.

"How long has he been like that?"

She yelped and whirled, wincing as Hazen let out a sharp bark of pain. "Um . . . since we got here?" she tried. "Maybe a little earlier?"

Hazen pinched her arm. "Why'd you say that?" he muttered. "I said I didn't want him to know."

"Well too bad," Saval hissed. "It's obviously getting worse. You need help."

Hazen glared at her, and she matched it, but Tessen spoke up, having had enough. "Sahasrahla, is there anyone who can help him?" he asked. "The mask did this when it was chasing us. Do you know any healers?"

The old man looked unsure. "Well . . . there is a young witch. Her grandmother is a renowned healer. If you can find the witch, I'm sure she will help you."

"Where is this witch?" Saval asked skeptically, ignoring Tessen's elbow.

"She usually flies around this area and the field you were in," Sahasrahla said. "Just keep an eye out for monsters. I'm sure you can hold your own, young man, but with that wound . . ." He looked skeptical.

"Wait, he's going alone?" Saval balked.

Sahasrahla blinked. "Well, yes. I need you two here to help me with the research."

"You can't make do with just one of us?" Saval pleaded.

"Saval." Hazen laid a hand on her shoulder. "Relax. I'll be fine. I've got enough stealth training from Ilayen to sneak through if I need to. Stay here with Tessen and help find a way out of here."

Saval frowned, but relented as Tessen's hand slipped through hers. "He'll be okay," he murmured, watching Hazen slip on a cloak and step out.

"What did you say about monsters?" Saval rounded on Sahasrahla, trying not to be too bothered about losing one of their own. They needed to stick together, and if there were monsters here--

"Don't worry about that, young miss," Sahasrahla said, waving a hand. "There are monsters here, certainly, but nothing like what you've told me about. Lynels, you say?"

The curiosity in his voice was unmistakable. Saval sighed.

Outside, the village was awake by now. They'd begun cleaning up from the storm, righting fence posts and rounding up lost cuccos. Hazen passed by them with the hood up and avoided making eye contact. He didn't want to stop to talk; he just wanted to get to this witch and get fixed. Looking dangerous would make that easier.

He made it out of the village and past the gate thing, once again shaking his head at the frivolity of it. The walk through the woods was filled with uncertainty, though. How was he supposed to find this witch? Just wander the field until she found him? And a witch? That was all this Hyrule had for healers? No wonder there's no one here, he thought, pulling his cloak around himself. They've all died of the common flu.

He walked for an hour before growling and throwing the hood back. "What's with this place?! Do people just wander around until they end up where they need to be?"

"For those that don't have a map, yeah, pretty much," a voice said, and Hazen whirled.

On the other end of his sword, a gift from Ravio for his sixteenth birthday, a girl stood with a basket on her arm. She stared down the blade with narrow blue eyes and short blue hair, a pointy, crooked black hat on her head. She raised a brow. "Hello? I'm talking to you."

Hazen blinked. "What?"

The witch sighed. "I said, are you lost?"

Oh. "Yes," Hazen said, shifting. "I need a healer. I'm told there's one around here, but I can't find her."

"Hm. Who told you that?"

Uh. "The old man in the village," Hazen answered. "He also said there's a witch who could show me the way, but I haven't seen one."

The girl straightened from where she gathered mushrooms at the foot of a tree. "Do you know what a witch looks like?" she asked, raising a brow.

"Uh, no," Hazen hedged. The cloak scraped against his skin and he winced. The girl caught it, her blue eyes flicking from the hidden wound to his face. Then, abruptly, she turned and began walking away. "The healer is a short walk that way, through those woods. Look for a hut."

"What? Oh--thank you!"

The girl simply waved a hand, continuing to stride away without looking back. Hazen turned towards the woods she'd gestured to, and began to walk.

She'd been right--the walk was short, but by the time he reached the hut, Hazen was panting, sweat dripping into his eyes. His shoulder was wreathed in pain, and he groaned when he had to knock.

An old voice within answered. "Enter."

"Oh, you made it."

A second voice had Hazen turning. The girl from earlier was standing behind him, her basket full of vegetables. She leaned a broom against the side of the hut and came closer. "Are you all right?"

Not really. If anything, he was worse than ever. Somewhere behind the pain, he wondered what the girl was doing here. Then his shoulder flared, and he hissed through his teeth. "I'll be fine, I just need the he--" Hazen dissolved into a coughing fit, and the girl leapt forward to grip his shoulder.

Pain like he'd never felt rippled through him, and he screamed out, falling to his knees. The girl stumbled back in shock. "Sorry! I'm sorry--Gram!"

The girl grabbed Hazen under the arms and dragged him into the hut, mumbling apologies all the while.

"Gram? I'm back, I brought someone here. He needs--"

"Help, clearly, and perhaps some clarity," an old voice said. Hazen looked up through bleary vision, panting through his teeth. "What?"

A crow-like woman came forward to stand in front of the giant pot in the middle of the room, filling the place with heat. Trembling with pain, Hazen wiped sweat from his forehead and croaked, "I'm told you can heal people."

"Show me," the old witch commanded, staring intently at him.

The girl backed away to give him room. Hazen pulled the cloak off, revealing the shoulder of his tunic. It was soaked in sweat and blood, and it had begun to reek. Just moving it sent flares of agony through Hazen, and he let out a sharp noise. As black crept at the corners of his vision, he pulled away the tunic and revealed the wound.

The girl stepped away involuntarily, her eyes wide. What happened to him? His entire shoulder was the color of impending infection. Purple bruising surrounded it, and the skin had swelled. And the veins around it had turned pure black, seeming to pulse as she watched. She forced herself to approach the boy, who'd fallen to his knees. "Irene, away," the witch ordered, and the girl backed away further. "How long have you been burned?"

His voice was weak. "Three days."

Gram shook her head, examining the wound. "This does not happen in three days. What burned you, boy?"

Irene's head snapped to look at Gram. What burned him, not who. She looked back at the boy, who'd met Gram's piercing gaze. He opened his mouth, but he dissolved into another violent coughing fit. Gram watched him without helping, her eyes narrow.

"He's dying," Irene whispered. "What--what do we do?"

Gram didn't answer; instead she just placed a hand on Hazen's forehead, unflinching even as blood spattered the wood at her feet.

Hazen couldn't breathe; he felt the witch's wrinkled fingers touch his forehead, and suddenly lightning arched through his mind, his body, pure white, and he felt fire flood his body. But it wasn't the same fire the mask had burned him with--this was cool, almost soothing, and left him feeling inexplicably calm.

Then the visions started.

They flashed through at the speed of light: he saw a clock tower, fireworks exploding around it. He saw the moon, carved in a grotesque face, looming down at him. He saw a man with white hair and a massive sword, his white eyes empty and full of ferocity. Through it all, a clock was ticking, louder and louder.

And he saw the mask. Up close, far away, the face of a body of sticks, the heart of a hated enemy.

Hazen knew, somehow, that he was screaming. As the last vision ended, he heard the last of his screams fade into silence and he fell to his hands on the floor of the witch's hut. The only sound was his panting as he tried to understand what he'd seen; they'd flashed by so fast, he could hardly make sense of it all. There . . . there was the mask, and a tall man with a sword . . . and . . . the moon?

Then cool hands were on him, pulling him upright, and he met Irene's wide blue eyes. They both looked at Gram when she spoke, her voice pitched low.

"You are descended from a great line, and you will further it through your journey. It starts now, a new link in the chain of history. You came here seeking healing and clarity. You found one; the other is waiting for you . . . at the beginning. In the clearing where all great adventures begin, you will find your answers."

Gram slumped, and Irene lunged to catch her. "Gram! Are you all right? Gram!!"

Hazen sat up, feeling . . . good. Better than he had in days. He looked at his shoulder, finding all signs of the burns gone. Whatever that witch had done had worked wonders. He glanced at Irene, pulling the cloak over his bare chest. "Is she all right?"

Irene didn't answer. She hunched her shoulders, watching Gram sit up, waving her off. The old witch pointed a finger at Hazen. "Don't get burned again, boy."

Irene sat up, let out a shaking breath, and then stomped towards Hazen. She grabbed his cloak as she passed and dragged him outside, throwing him down. "All right," she seethed. "You're going to tell me everything."

Hazen sat up, sucking on his teeth. Could he? Would she think he was insane? Was now even a good time? He snuck a glance at her.

Irene's cheeks were red with anger, her eyes wide with fear, and her breath shook in her chest. Tears began to gather at the corner of her eyes, and she scrubbed them away angrily. "Well?"

No, he decided, now was not a good time at all. But then, when was a good time? She deserved answers, no matter how crazy they might sound. Hazen swallowed. "Look, I--I don't know how this will sound, but--"

"I don't care, just spit it out already!"

Eyebrow twitching, Hazen stood up and met her gaze. "Fine. I'm a prince of the Hylian Empire, far in the future. I was riding with my friends when we were chased through the woods by a psychotic mask and jumped through some magic doors, and now we're here. Satisfied?"

Irene stared at him, slack-jawed, as he dusted himself off and put his tunic back on. "W-What."

She stomped after him, well and truly furious now, and grabbed his arm. "You--you can't just say that and expect me to just say 'okay'!" she yelled. "What mask? Is it the one from that insane vision?"

That stopped Hazen dead in his tracks. "You saw it too?"

Irene crossed her arms. "Yes, I saw it. We all did!"

Hazen stared at her. "How? You weren't even touching either of us!"

"Who cares if I saw the vision?! Who are you, and what did my Gram mean by 'great line'?"

Hazen blinked twice, then grabbed her hand. "Come with me."

The door slammed open amid Irene's ranting. The three figures at the table jumped and whirled as Hazen dragged her through the door and shut it behind them. He pushed Irene at the table and said, "Shut up. Just--shut up for a second. Let me explain what happened."

She crossed her arms, her face a storm of fury, but she was quiet, and that was enough for Hazen. He turned to Saval who grabbed his hand and pulled him to where Saharahla and Tessen were speaking heatedly. "What's going on?"

Tessen turned to her. "We have an idea what's been hunting us."

Sahasrahla lifted his head to give them a grave look. "We don't know it exactly, but I would guess, from your descriptions, that it is an incarnation of a great evil."

Hazen raised his brows, huffing. "Lovely."

Tessen lifted the book they'd been poring over. "This book says the Hero of Time failed--that he was killed by Ganondorf. But in our Hyrule, it says he survived. That he won that fight. And we know that depending on the outcome of that fight, the timeline split into three streams."

"We thought the Doors of Time dropped us off in the timeline where the Hero won, because of our placement in the timeline," Tessen breathed. "But what if it didn't? What if it just dropped us off at any random point in time?"

"Okay," Hazen said slowly. This was beyond what they'd considered; when they had argued while Saval explained their story to Sahasrahla, they hadn't bothered to wonder if the Doors acted on any sort of spontaneity. They'd assumed logic held. Obviously, they'd been wrong.

Hazen shook his head as he tried to absorb this. Clearly, the Doors operated on a whim. He felt stupid for not considering it before--what else could they have expected from a pair of doors that brought them through time itself? He met Tessen's eyes as he spoke again.

"We, right now, are in a Hyrule where the Hero of Time lost. So if the Doors can do that, then who's to say they couldn't bring through another person--or entity--and dump them anywhere in the timeline?"

"But we can't control where we end up," Hazen argued. "Why can the mask?"

Tessen shrugged. "Maybe it's had more practice than us."

That was disconcerting. Saval spoke up. "But we're forgetting one thing. Where did the mask come from?"

At that, Sahasrahla spoke. "Unfortunately, I can't answer that. But Tessen and I have been studying this book intently since you left, Hazen. It describes the evils we have known in this Hyrule. Alas . . . none of our legends describe a mask."

"Hang on," Hazen breathed, thinking hard. "Tessen. You remember that time we snuck into my dad's room?"

"And he tortured us with ghost stories after he caught us?" Tessen asked, confused. "Yeah I remem--"

He broke off, his eyes widening. "No . . ."

Hazen nodded. "Yes. He told us about a story one of his family members told him. About a place where time ran out, because of a mask. I thought he made it up to scare us, but what if--"

"What if he was telling the truth?" Tessen whispered. "What if it was real?"

"And the visions." Hazen looked at Irene, who'd been staring at them like they'd gone crazy in her eyes. And from her perspective, he supposed they did sound a little insane. But--

"When I was being healed, I saw visions--and so did she," Hazen said, pointing at Irene. He approached and took her hands, slowly, the way he'd approach a wounded animal. She let him pull her to the table, where she swallowed hard.

"We saw a clock tower, and--and the moon," Hazen said. "But it was deformed. There was a . . . a face?" He glanced at Irene. She nodded, her face pale.

Hazen felt a flicker of worry for her. "Anyway, we need to get back to our Hyrule," he finished. "We have to find out what this thing is before--"

The sudden, searing silence was their only warning before blood-red lightning slashed through the house, and everything broke apart in fire and screams.

Hello all, yes I forgot to post for two days in a row yes I am sorry :( BUT today is a double chapter to make up for it, though they will be a few hours apart for suspense's sake (and I'm still at work) so. Here's chapter 6 for now! And I'll try not to forget again *nervous laughter*

For now enjoy and I'll post again soon. I swear.