Hello, it's been AWHILE. I apologize, writer's block paired with school can be a real jerk. I also just finished my two ap tests and I'm crying cause the college board did me dirty on that Chem test. Since it's been awhile, very brief summary!
They just finished the Lakebed Temple and are in the spring now. oof
Okay with that said,
Enjoy!
I couldn't see.
Bright golden blue and white possessed the foliage and water of the spring. A serpent made of light burst from the surface and splashed the walls. It pulsed with the same colors of the spring, a blinding ball sitting clamped between its long fangs. I looked sideways behind me, my sight filled with Link and a tall, cloaked figure. He wore a full helmet, reptilian eyes bulging from the shaped material. It resembled a chameleon whose head shape was narrow and pyramidal.
I did not doubt his royalty nor his identity. The black fabrics he wore were adorned in teal Twili designs, the deep crimson red apron cascading from his shoulder piece embroidered meticulously. He stepped forward in golden loafers, glimmering like solid metal. Tassels hung at the ends of his bulky sleeves that covered his hands.
A wave of energy split across the air, smacking into my chest and knocking air from my lungs. I stumbled onto the grass, hitting my shoulder hard. The light spirit faded out of view, dissipating into nothing but an orb of light. As it fell away, the air went cold, the summer humidity replaced by winter whispers. I lifted my head to see Link, but there was no sign of him.
Are we in twilight?
I pushed myself up from the ground, rolling onto my back to see him;
Zant.
"So it's true what they say. There's a Vinderendetta running around with the hero."
Shit.
"Tell me, did you like my little surprise? Ever think it was possible to manipulate a Vinderendetta to translate?"
I shook my head, grinding my teeth together.
So I was right, but how the hell does he do it?
"Now we can't have you loose, can we?" A scythe shot out from his sleeve and he swung it at my neck. I froze, swallowing against the tension of the blade hovering over my skin.
After a pause he spoke again, "Why would you defend the very creature who terrorized your people? Tore them in half? Drank their blood?"
I scowled, confused, averting my eyes to look at everything I could see, but no where could I find who else he might've been talking to. I strained to quiet the beating in my ears, listening to a small sound on the wind. "...why would you work with them?!" It was Midna, her voice as if she was in another room, shouting through the wall.
Zant pressed the blade further and I fell back, my forearm leaning into the grass. "They work for my god, not me. I simply follow what he tells me to do."
"And you call yourself King." Midna spat.
The scythe left my throat, pointed now at a spot in the air. "You were trying to use them to get to me. And using this ancient power of all things? You're foolish, Midna. You're a traitor to our people."
"You stole my throne! You abused our magic, warped it! You don't deserve the people's respect, nor mine," Midna fumed.
"Maybe I don't deserve it, but I will make them respect it. This is the power granted upon me by my god and he has promised me much more. Much more than your puny little throne gave you." Zant conjured a red orb before his chest. Its surface was riddled with lines and it pulsated rapidly.
The grass beside me shifted as if something had leapt. Zant reacted immediately to the disruption, aiming the orb at whatever went to attack him. After it had completely dispersed, the grass next to me flattened and a small thud resonated in the chamber. Link was there, I knew, but I hesitated to reach for him.
Zant spun on me, twisting his scythe towards my chest and making me flinch. I blocked it with a red pane. He retreated, pulling away to again entertain himself with Midna, but the eyes on his helmet still seemed to bore into my heart. "I think you've forgotten what these light dwellers have taken from us. What they did to us. Don't you want to see them get what they deserve?" He laughed, "Don't you want to see their blood drip...drop-by-drop until all of Hyrule is swimming in it?"
A blinding light shot up from behind, bathing the spring. I blinked through it, opening my eyes to the whole scene in front of me, Zant's outstretched hand, a wolf behind him, and Midna high above in the air. Lanayru loomed overhead, gazing down at the paralyzed imp.
"If you wish to mingle with their kind, then so be it!"
Midna's screams filled my ears as my sights filled with white. My body went hot, a sizzling sensation running across my nerves. Everything burned as if I was standing in an oven, baking. My ears filled with a high pitched whine, but the moment I thought my senses were about to overtake me, I heard crickets.
White turned to blue and I felt dirt scratch my legs as Castle Town slowly stitched itself together in my view. Droplets of rain fell against my skin, cooling my limbs and soaking into my clothes. I stood up and turned around, finding Midna and a wolf lying helpless on the ground. Rushing to them, I stumbled onto my knees and shook the beast awake. His eyes snapped open and he gazed up at me.
"Link?"
Two blue pools blinked against the harsh darkness of the sky. His fur was black, streaks of white lining down his body and paws. A hollow diamond shape dotted in the middle rested on his forehead and I could see on his left from paw the mark of the triforce in black fur. He was exactly as I'd imagined him.
Midna stirred next to his back, groping at Link's fur. She had the same form from when she came out of shadow, but the transparency was no longer a characteristic. Instead she was solid, skin pale white with patches of black. Even her helmet was frosted white as if someone had taken a picture of her and inverted the colors.
Link stood up, the chain around his ankle clinking at the movement. Midna coughed, mumbling something indistinct.
"What?"
Her eyes scrunched. "Zelda, the princess will know what to do."
Yes, Zelda. This part. Straight to Telma's bar, straight through the sewers. I took a breath.
If only we could've talked to Zant. Perhaps we could've found out more about the Vinderendetta. Alas, huh…
"I don't think that would've ended civilly…" Shaking my head, I turned to Link. "Trust me on this. We need to go to Telma's, there's a sewer entrance there."
He nodded his big fluffy head and I moved over to help Midna up on his back. Once she was situated, we started off to the Castle Town walls. We were keeping a quick pace until I noticed a familiar head of white hair standing on the bridge. I slowly walked on until it clicked. "Salato?"
She eyed me. "Maizy!"
"S-Salato?" I repeated.
Link glanced between the two of us.
She approached, holding up her hands in earnest. "I don't have visions very often, even less that come true, but I mean, why not follow them? Last time, I ended up with a whole cake."
What is she doing here?
Salato paused, peering around me then muttering, "One of you got a little guy in your head?"
Little guy? I was taller than you.
I stepped back. "You can hear him?" A twang ran through my fingers.
"I can hear him. And I can hear your thoughts. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. Isn't that right, little doggie?"
Link growled.
"Whoa, don't swear at me!"
I placed my fist at my hip, gazing away into the moat. There was a grate on the wall, bars wide enough apart to fit a person or two. The water spilled into it in small waves, over and out, a methodical trance. It wasn't the way the game wanted us to go, but I had half the mind to assume it was easier than tightrope walking above Telma's bar. Before I could suggest it, I remembered Salato talking about her vision. "Hey Salato, what else did you see?"
She snapped her fingers, looking up somewhere as while she appeared to run it back through her mind. "Yes um...there were two paths…" Suddenly, she perked up. "Ah! You're trying to get to the castle. You tried the moat, but you hit a dead end so you-"
"Okay, that's enough."
"-tried to go to Telma's bar, but someone in the street saw you. I think I'm here to help with that."
So let's get to that part.
Salato rolled her eyes. "Alright, big guy."
Thanks.
Link shook out his mane and stood up, stepping around Salato to the doors. She spun on him and snatched his tail.
"Stop, listen to me. You need my help. Follow me, I'll tell you when the coast is clear."
He yelped and yanked his tail back.
"And stop being pissy! That goes for you too, Midna."
She sauntered off, propping the right door open and smiling at something on the other side. With a wink, she slipped out of view, but her voice punctuated through the wall.
"You men must be exhausted. How long has it been since you took a break?"
I rolled my eyes and looked at Link. He glanced back and moved closer.
"Really?! All night? You deserve a break don't you think?-"
After a few moments, she slid back through, ushering us over. We krept by streets, stopping before corners to let Salato scout out the road and ward off random drunk men or stray children. My spine chilled with the openness of the streets, glancing into houses lit up by fire. Ash mingled with the rain, a pungent smell permeating still between the houses. There was no crowd to get lost in, no sign of eyes watching me either, but I felt a pair somewhere, lurking. I wasn't sure if I'd ever be able to shake that feeling.
We rounded into the market street where vendors had closed their curtains and only rain whispered over the hush. The courtyard before Telma's bar had flooded with an inch of water. My toes submerged in cracks and bumps on the cobble, but I pressed forward, ahead of Link and Salato, and looked up. Above was a window we were supposed to climb into, yet there was no way up, the boxes that were meant to be there, simply weren't.
"Need a boost?"
I turned, catching Salato in the corner of my eye. She shivered and smirked, walking towards me then crouching down by the wall.
"Stand on my shoulders."
Warily, I placed my foot next to her neck, then, leaning on the wall for stability, I heaved up the other one. She grasped my ankles and started standing up slowly, walking me up the wall until I slid my arm over the base of the window. The two of us weren't tall enough.
"I need another boost."
Salato scoffed, speaking in a strained voice, "I can't grow any taller."
"Right…"
Are you sure there's not another way?
"This is the only one I know, Vox." I groped at the brick, trying to find a good hold. Suddenly, Midna's advice from the temple rippled through my thoughts and I almost jumped. "Let go of my ankles on three."
Salato groaned, "That's a stupid idea just saying."
"Just trust me on this."
"If you hurt me, you're paying for the potions."
"Three-two-one."
Her grip released and I kicked up my leg. As my foot came up, I conjured a circle of energy under it and stepped down. The stair held long enough for me to reach my other knee onto the ledge, falling inside. I heaved out a breath then turned around, staring down at Salato, Link, and Midna. Salato just nodded and turned to Link.
"Alright, your turn, how high can you jump?"
He tried several times to jump up, but although he could get close, it wasn't high enough. Salato decided it might be better if she crouched down just before the wall so he could get the extra height he needed by jumping off of her back. After two attempts it worked and he came careening into the window.
Salato stood up, flicking off rain water from her skin. She looked and waved. "I guess that was it, huh? I could've sworn there was more to it though…"
I shrugged. "Maybe there's a cake waiting for you somewhere?"
She shook her head, mumbling, "No…" her eyes shut, "After I helped you...I walked home, but the vision ended right before I turned a corner. I guess there could be a cake there."
"See you around?" I muttered.
She looked at me. "Yeah, see you."
I watched her go, her wet hair dripping into the courtyard and creating a line of ripples in her wake. As she disappeared into the street, my stomach knotted itself, but I moved back and slid into the bar.
She saw something else.
"Definitely," I whispered.
We stood on the loft and just before the exposed rafters, the bar was lined with wooden shelves congested with pots and other strange storage. Connected to the shelving was brick work, a gap in the wall defined by an archway. It was a straight shot so long as we were careful not to knock over anything.
I stepped to the left, creeping lightly over the boards and praying that none of them creaked. My nerves could not be curbed, however, as the moment Link started to follow, the chain around his leg clinked. Although I fretted, the whole bar was very much preoccupied. The crowd didn't fill up all of the tables as usual, but the few who visited chatted loudly and the additional Goron in the room drew most stares away from the ceiling. Telma glanced between the customers sitting at the bar and the drawn curtains at the back.
The closer to the bar itself we approached, the more dense the ledge became with pots. I stepped in small gaps and made space for Link wherever possible. When we were over Telma, I started to pass by until her voice drifted up into the rafters. I crouched low and listened in as one of the men started rambling.
"The castle's a bloody dead zone recently."
"It's been like that for awhile. More and more guards slack off 'cause no one's giving orders from the inside," Telma sighed. A man slid his glass up the table, dropping a few rupees beside it. As she turned around, I pressed my back into the wall until she had the bottle of mead and faced the bar again.
The man took a drink and raised his scratchy voice, "Why dudn't someone go in an' give em' a piece o' their mind?"
"They try. And no one comes out. Or the guards at the front gate turn them away." Telma hid the bottle underneath the bar. "Something's happening in there and if you want to help out, come talk to me some other time."
Something wet nuzzled my side and I remembered the wolf hugging my legs. I glanced between the bar and Link before sliding back through the pots. We crept up to the archway and glared inside. The same grey stone stretched several feet, blocked by a grate that let through a dim warm light. I crawled in and peered through the bars into a room piled up the walls with golden coins and jewels.
Switching to my back, I kicked at the grate, releasing the screws at the top and causing the whole thing to swing down and bang against the wall. The metallic screech resonated through the tunnel, quieting the shouts of the crowd for a long, painstaking second. As they crescendoed back to their loud chatter, I let out my breath and scooted to the edge of the opening.
The maroon walls chipped away to reveal sodden brick. I dropped down into three inches of water that drowned the countless gold and priceless items. Eye level, family pictures decorated the room with depictions of handsome men, women, boys, and pretty girls. Each remained askew in their own way, tipping this way and that, leading over to an ornate armchair embroidered top to bottom. On its cushion sat a man of solid gold.
His eyes were sparkling rubies, hair of rolling dark curls. A glimmering cat snuggled itself atop his head, but neither made a movement as I walked further into the room. Link splashed down beside me, sniffing the air towards the man.
Wonder what kind of sorry fellow gets that kind of punishment.
"Probably pissed off a sorceress or two."
Against the wall, buried in coins, was a scarlet chest. Slipping my fingers under the lid, I heaved it open, filling the room with the echo of rushing water. Link reached his head over and peered down into the sewer below. I placed my hand in his mane, careful to avoid Midna's clinging grips. He looked up at me, then placed his paws at the edge of the chest.
"We better hurry…"
With a small nod of his head, he climbed over and fell into the sewer. With one last look at the golden man, I sat down on the edge and slipped into the water below.
I fell into a basin, the flow pulling me somewhere right. A nasty smell permeated from the walls, a pungent mold, but the water was clear. Link stood on a shallow sideway, trying to glance back at Midna to see her white form. With some difficulty, I swam over and got up on the ledge.
So, is this a straight shot?
"Hopefully."
We walked down the channel, following the flow and listening to nothing but its rushing murmur. The size of Castle Town had alluded my mind and I found myself wondering when our path would end. I began counting bricks, tracing the wall with my fingertips. After a wrong turn, Vox's voice prodded into my head.
How much do you really remember of all of this?
Hesitating to break the silence, I glanced down at Link and muttered, "Enough."
Enough, alright, how much is enough?
"Enough to know this isn't right and we should've been there awhile ago ." I peered over a corner at an intersection, squinting through the dim light towards a faint glow. "Is that it?"
You tell me.
"You're not helping."
As if I'm the one who should know.
Grinding my teeth together, I held off on spitting back at him, moving along the edge of the sewer towards the light. As we inched closer, the humid air thinned and a gentle breeze licked my skin. The water flowed out into a small reservoir with other channels filtering in. On the other side of the basin, a wide set of stairs lead up to an arch, indiscernible stone showing through.
The area was open to the sky, allowing the rain to cascade and hammer against the surface. I checked for another way across, but found none except to swim. Link took a lead and jumped in, paddling over to get up on the stone. Warily, I sat down on the edge of the water and slid in after him, painfully making it to the other edge.
We came into a round room, vacated baths and old dirtied towels strewn over the floor. Old blood stains caked the stone, marking trails to skeletons whose flesh had been picked off by rats or birds. My chest constricted at the sight and I swiftly turned away, following Link to a hallway decorated in tapestries. They depicted luxurious bathhouses, vulnerable forms, steam. Although my eyes were drawn to them, a bloodcurdling scream severed my attention.
Link's ears perked up, frozen until another shout echoed into the hall. He took off down and around a corner, disappearing from sight. I tried to track him, but soon enough the cries and shrieks from some beast were enough to make out where to turn.
The dissonance came from a courtyard set up in typical castle fashion, a shadowed walkway around the perimeter encompassing grass and a fountain, but the fountain had overflowed and the grass was patchy. Throwing a body against the stonework was a shadowy figure, blood dripping from its hands. Link ran out from behind the fountain, leaping onto the beast's back and clamping down on its neck. The body remained still on the ground.
Throwing Link off, the shadow beast turned to him, sweeping its arm. I crept up behind it, light on my toes, but nonetheless its head flicked towards me. The beast shrieked and I stepped back, grasping at the map of the halls in my mind. Before I could run, Link bit at its leg, dragging it to the ground. I leapt forward and shot at its torso, bathing the dim courtyard in green light. When it subsided, the creature lied still among the dirt, but didn't explode.
"There are others," I muttered, kneeling down beside it.
Link walked around its limp body to me and pointed his snout towards the body that had been thrown. I looked back, raising my brow.
Not more charades please.
"What?"
He gestured again.
I checked the body another time and it was then I noticed that it was breathing. "Oh shit." His chest rose slowly, shivering with each gasp. I shifted over to him, staring into his remote eyes, there was little life behind them and after a moment he met my gaze. I asked him slowly, "What happened?"
There was no response.
"Hello?" I shook his shoulder, clanking his armour.
The man coughed, "They...come back...they always...come back."
Ask him where Zelda is, quick.
"Where's the princess?"
He shut his eyes, falling back further into the wall.
"This is urgent!"
I heard a breath leave his lungs, a small word impossible to make out.
"What?!"
A croak rose from his throat, light on the wind. "Northeast tower." His muscles gave out underneath him, his head lulling to the side. I stepped away from the man, shivering. He slept peacefully in the grass, his face no longer marked by terror, but the unease it caused me couldn't dwell on that. Life left the man as if it was but a trivial meeting.
I looked up to the sky where the spires of the castle reached. There was little sense of orientation where we were, north or south, I couldn't tell. When I looked back down at Link, he was facing the man, head downcast with his eyes shut. I wondered at him for a moment until he got up and walked away.
The hallways became somewhat familiar, but it was not something I could remember. There was a feeling behind the walls and as we came around to a door, its source seemed inside it.
The door opened to a spiral staircase and we ran up to two grand doors. One was open a crack, spilling warm light onto the floor. I held my breath, imagining the princess, Zelda, on the other side. My heart thudded in my chest as I wondered if she would look as pretty or as elegant as her art and model and persona. With Link it came all too quickly for me to think about it, but now I had all the time in the world to overthink as we slowly slid into the room.
On the other side stood a hooded figure who turned around to face us as I stepped into the chamber. Her mouth to her neck was covered by a royal purple scarf embroidered with gold, but her gleaming blue eyes looked out at me, their almond shape widening, taking me in.
Midna tumbled to the floor, convulsing abruptly, her eye tightly shut. Zelda kneeled down beside her, laying a hand on her fragile form. The imp cracked her gaze open, looking up through a slit she muttered, "Zelda…"
"How did this happen?" she questioned, but Midna collapsed again and remained silent.
Link nudged my side with his nose, drawing Zelda's attention. She repeated her question softly, an edge in her voice.
I breathed out, holding onto a moment of pause, then answered. "Zant, he attacked us at Lake Hylia-at the spring. Lanayru sent us to Hyrule Field." She nodded. "When we all came to, she was like this. Link was turned by some shadow magic."
The air was damp and heavy. Zelda slowly removed her hood, staring down at the impish figure with pity. Her eyebrows had an elegant slant, slightly downturned. Midna stirred and reached out to her. "Forget about me, he's the one you need to save your world. How do you reverse it this time?"
She removed the scarf over her shapely mouth, scanning over Link's wolven form. Slowly shaking her head, she sighed, "If the light spirit touched him he should be back by now." She lifted a gloved hand to him, placing it lightly on his forehead before shutting her eyes. A soft glow on the back of her hand, three distinct triangles, quickly obscured itself as the light intensified. In a blink of an eye, the brightness subsided and she retracted her reach, frowning. "It's something much stronger this time...I'm afraid...Hm."
"There has to be something out there...please." Midna coughed.
I looked out the window, over the spires and passed the walls where the field lied. The rain smacked against the pane, a light pattering drowning out the white noise in the room. Still, Midna's breathing was loud in my ears.
Zelda scrunched up her eyebrows and pursed her lips. "My mother told me once before she died that in the forest there resides a sacred sword, 'The Blade of Evil's Bane,' as the common folk call it. She said it was the Master Sword...and from what I know it's in a place of ruin called the Sacred Grove." She relaxed, "That should do it, but as for your condition."
"I told you," Midna coughed, "leave me. They can get there on their own…"
My heart suddenly sank hearing those words. "Leave me." After all of these years, had I not realized a thing? I stepped closer to her, but when every eye in the room came at me, I stopped.
"Maizy…" Midna muttered, "Take care of the poor dog for me, will ya?" She smiled solemnly and sighed, "One more thing...princess...please tell them where the Mirror of Twilight is."
The rain turned to ice as the room froze. Zelda blinked then spoke, stuttering over her words, "The m-mirror? Midna...y-you...I should've known." She touched her heart, then reached to her and clutched her hand in both of her palms. "Please accept this gift, I do not deserve it."
Her hands lit up, flowing up her arms until it enveloped her whole body and started to intensify. I tried to shield my eyes, looking passed my fingers to Midna who started hovering into the air. She started yelling, asking us to "stop her," but her words turned to screams that punctuated my eardrums, rattling my skull. Between the two of them, Zelda's aura became too much to watch, practically blinding. An intense heat washed over me before a wave swept across the floor and knocked me off my feet.
Everything suddenly went silent and the room went cold. The rain crescendoed back to a patter.
I lowered my hand and stared at Midna in the center of the room, her form restored, gazing at a mark pulsing on her hand. Squinting, I caught its shape, but continued blinking as my jaw fell. The Triforce.
Its glow dissipated and she turned to Link and I. Quickly, she spun, glancing around the room, but whatever or whoever she was looking for was nowhere to be seen. Zelda was gone. The room was desolate, empty all of a sudden. Even the candles that had burned when we entered were completely melted and put out.
Midna jumped onto Link's back without a word, then, hesitantly, she stated simply, "Let's go."
Before I could twitch a muscle, my senses went cold and black. The beautiful ornate stone work of the castle fizzled out into a dark forest. The smell of dew filled my nostrils, a welcome relief from the faint wafts of blood down the neverending halls. A few crickets chirped under the cover of night, but otherwise, not even an owl hooted or a wolf howled.
It was calm.
