I'm not dead! What's it been, three months since I updated last? Ugh, sorry about that. You'd think being stuck at home would have given me more time to write, but alas, it wasn't to be. But you're probably here to forget about the state of the world right now, so I'll move on. This one was a pain to write, and I had a heck of a time with some of the dialogue. I'm still not completely happy with it, but we'll be waiting another three months if that's the goal. Just an advance warning, you can probably tell where I came back after the mont and a half hiatus. Hopefully it doesn't kill this chapter too badly... In any event, here it is. The third chapter of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Timelines. Enjoy!

Chapter Three

The Lynel approached slowly, menacingly, but the Hero of Hyrule was not afraid. He had faced dozens of the horse and human hybrid during the first of his two quests, and they were barely even a threat now. He drew the Magical Sword and waited for the foe to approach. The Lynel began by firing a beam at Link, but he coolly knocked it aside with his shield. The Magic Rod was already in his hand, and he planted a projectile in the monster's face. It reared back with a roar, and lost focus on the figure before it for just a few seconds. That was all he ever needed. Link threw himself onto the creature's back, stabbing his sword deep into its skull. The beast quickly went limp and exploded, leaving a single rupee behind. Link himself was barely even breathing heavily. He scooped up the cash and walked off.

After a short walk, he arrived in the small town of Ruto. It was a fairly ordinary little village, with no more than thirty inhabitants and a handful of houses. Possibly the most (and only) unique aspect of the settlement was the massive barn-like structure in the center. Link sighed. He'd always wanted to know the purpose of the building, but everybody he spoke to about it either quickly changed the subject, or announced that they knew nothing about it. However, that wasn't to say the inhabitants were useless. The elder had taught him the Jump Spell during his second adventure, which had definitely come in handy. And yet, the barn continued to annoy him... It wasn't important, he told himself. The hero was there for a reason, after all. Link walked up to a door, and knocked a few times. "Come in," a deep voice announced from inside.

Closing the door behind him, Link turned to find his gaze met by a heavyset, bearded man. He smiled at the hero, his deep voice seeming to shake the house, despite the low volume. "I am Error," the man declared. Link sighed. "I know that, you tell me every time I enter your house." Error looked at him quizzically. "Is that not normal?" The hero sighed again, and changed the subject. "I killed the Lynel you asked me to. Hopefully that's the last of the large monsters in this area." The bearded man's face split into a grateful smile. "Thank you very much for that. People were too afraid to enter or leave the village, and trade had ground to a halt. We were running low on supplies." Link scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "It was nothing. Just doing my job." Error shook his hand. "Regardless, you have my thinks. What are you planning on doing now that this area is free from monsters?" The hero sighed. "To be honest, I'm not sure. I can't really go back to a normal life after two adventures." Error was visibly saddened by this statement. "Well, whatever you wind up doing, good luck, Link. The world as we know it wouldn't exist without your efforts." Link smiled sadly. Thanking the villager, he headed back out the door, into Ruto and beyond.

"Wait, why is a Wizzrobe sneaking around in a town like this?" he muttered under his breath. It seemed incredible, but there was no denying it. A monster had been loitering in Ruto for an extended period of time, and nobody had died. Heck, nobody had even noticed the magician. Link was positioned at roughly the monster's seven o'clock, and it hadn't seen him yet. He approached quietly, definitely not wanting to be spotted. If one of those things hit you with a blast of magic, you would know about it for days. It hurt like almost nothing else had during his adventures. He drew the Magical Sword, and drew close. "I hope you aren't up to anything underhanded while in this town," Link growled menacingly. The monster leaped a good three feet in surprise, turning in the air to face him. "Th-the hero!" It stuttered in a panic. "I believe I have been called that," the teen in question responded. "Now, what are you doing here, and why should I not take this blade to your hide this instant?" The monster's bright white eyes widened, contrasting further the blackness caused by the hood. "I-I can explain! Please let me explain!" The creature shouted frantically. That had to have attracted unnecessary attention, Link thought. I need to get this thing out of the street. Looking around, his eyes lit upon a large house nearby that he knew for a fact was abandoned. He sighed. "Can you teleport inside that red brick house, and explain there? There's no point in attracting attention by having this conversation in the middle of the street." It nodded quickly, and flickered for a few seconds, then disappeared completely. What would cause a dangerous monster to appear in a settlement like this and not attack? Link sighed again. "One way to find out," he said to himself.

The hero stepped through the door and into the relative darkness of the house. Nobody had lived in it in at least two years, since the previous inhabitants had been killed by a monster raid shortly before his second adventure. In fact, it had been that group of Leevers and Moblins that had caused him to start wondering if an evil was returning. Closing said door behind him wrapped the room in almost complete darkness. He pulled out the Red Candle, and quickly lit a torch on the wall. A bright red shape in the corner told him that the monster had actually waited in the house for him. And it hadn't blasted him as he'd been silhouetted against the bright sunlight outside. Interesting. He sighed for a third time. It sure was a day for sighs. "First of all, do you have a name? I can't just go on thinking of you as 'That Wizzrobe' in my head." The creature squeaked nervously. "I do, in fact have a name. I am known as Wizak." Link's eyebrows shot up, his mind racing. He didn't know Wizzrobes had names. Are they perhaps more than the mindless servants of evil he had always thought they were? And this one's behavior... it seemed nervous, even afraid. Was that simply his reputation at work? Did he have a reputation among the monsters? He eventually realized that it (what pronoun do you use? Do Wizzrobes have genders?) was staring at him in apprehension, waiting for a response. "Very well, Wizak, why are you in the town of Ruto?" The magician was shaking at this point. "T-to look for you. B-but not for the reason you think," Wizak added hastily, as the hero took a step forward. "Here I am," Link responded flatly. "What do you want?" The Wizzrobe shook his cowled head. "Some evil force is attempting to reunite the former army of darkness. It calls itself Luhomu. But not to rule Hyrule. No, this force wants to use... something in the sky? I didn't quite catch that part of the speech... to wipe the entire world from existence. I don't particularly want to be destroyed, and you seemed like the only one that could stop this. As the old saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Link's eyebrows shot up. Of all the things that Wizak could have told him, this was perhaps the most surprising. A monster requesting his help to defeat other monsters? It seemed incredible. Could this whole situation be a trap? That would appear the most likely scenario, but something inside the hero just trusted the Wizrobe. But even with that admittedly questionable trust, he was definitely going to proceed with caution. But if this tale was true, the entire world was at risk. He just couldn't take that chance. Wizak had been staring at him this whole time, the magician's eyes showing an unmistakable light of both hope and nervousness. That was the final straw. Either this thing really knew how to act, or it was all true. Link nodded slowly. "I believe you. What needs to be done?"

Wizak's eyes lit up with relief. "First of all, we need to do more research about this villain. There is time, it hasn't even come close to convincing the monsters to follow this insane plot." Link raised an eyebrow. "We?" He got the impression that the Wizrobe frowned in return, but there was no way to tell through the shadows of that ubiquitous hood. "Of course 'we'. I'm coming with you. And before you object, I live on this world too. Plus, you'll likely need somebody who speaks Lokxfem -that's the language that monsters speak, as well as the word we use to describe ourselves- and, to my knowledge, no Hylian has ever lived long enough in the presence of something that speaks it to learn. So you kind of need me anyway." Link shook his head resignedly. "It's going to be a very interesting however long this'll take, that's for sure."

The very peculiar duo set out from Ruto a short time later. Link had purchased the necessary supplies; namely bombs, arrows, and food. Wizak had informed him that Wizrobes do eat, but Link wouldn't want any part of it. Raw, sometimes even still alive, rodents were considered a delicacy among the ranks of the magicians. Link shuddered at the thought. They must have formidable immune systems to not die as a result of that diet. That or they simply were immune to diseases through magic. Wizak had brought all his own food, so hopefully the hero wouldn't have to think about it again. Near-miraculously, nobody had noticed the red-cloaked figure when he had first entered the town, but getting out would be trickier. Red Wizrobes couldn't teleport to places that they couldn't see, unless they were extremely familiar with it. On the other hand, Blue Wizrobes could phase through solid objects, but couldn't disappear entirely. Which one an individual monster chose was completely preference, and, theoretically, there was no outside influence. However, there was a slight, but undeniable, bias toward blue in the hierarchy, so slightly more young Wizrobes chose blue. In this situation, blue would probably have been more useful, given Wizak couldn't get out of the building easily without teleporting a very long distance away. But he had chosen red, and stood firmly by that decision. As a result, Link had needed to open the door slightly, far enough to see through, but not far enough to let a significant amount of light through. Wizak had been able to see a grove of trees outside the village, and had teleported there. The sun was very low in the west at this point, so the shadows were deep enough to conceal his bright red robes. By the time Link had done all the shopping necessary, night had fallen. The hero knew of a cave to the south that they could spend the night in, so they walked for an hour or two through the darkness before arriving. The cave had filled to the brim with monsters during Link's second adventure, but thankfully, it had emptied after his success. He volunteered to take the first watch, just in case, and Wizak had wasted no time falling asleep and was now snoring softly. The hero raised an eyebrow. How many Hylians had ever been in close enough proximity to a monster like this to actually hear snoring? It had to be a very small number. However, all of a sudden, a massive crack rang through the cavern.

Link jumped to his feet, and saw a massive hole in the back wall. Octoroks began pouring through in astonishing numbers, lobbing that famous, underpowered rock project at the duo. The hero gave up counting fairly quickly, stopping at twenty-eight, but they just kept coming. Wizak had jumped to his feet and was shouting in some other language (Link assumed it was that Lokxfem), but to little avail. He looked at Link and shrugged. "I tried." Having said that, he quickly resorted to the Wizrobe race's ubiquitous method of diplomacy; blast the target with magic beams until they fell over, rinse and repeat. Link noted with intrest that it wasn't just the classic beam that was being fired. No, it was the upgraded version he himself had received after studying the Book of Magic. The smell of fried octopus filled the cave quickly. But there were so many. He chucked a few bombs, wiping out a half-dozen each time, but there had to be eighty of the monsters in the cave at this point. "We need to give up some ground!" he shouted. "Pull back to that narrow part closer to the entrance!" Wizak nodded briefly, and teleported away. Link pulled out his candle, threw up a temporary wall of flame, and promptly made a break for the area of the cave he'd indicated. A minute's sprint got him to his destination. A red-cloaked figure was waiting for him, slapping a beam into the horde chasing him down. "I have an idea," Wizak announced. "But it requires me standing perfectly still, and not fighting, for a fair amount of time." Link grimaced. "Try it. Hopefully I can hang on." He shield-bashed yet another monster off to the side, and moved closer to the unprotected magician. Only three bombs left, at this point. If this idea didn't work...

Wizak had been standing perfectly still, eyes closed, for the best part of two minutes. The hero had taken quite a few hits by this point. No major injuries yet, but he was being slowly worn down by the seemingly endless horde. A rock-like projectile smashed into his left shin, and he groaned loudly in response. Hopefully, it wasn't broken. Suddenly, Wizak's eyes snapped open. The Wizrobe suddenly appeared much larger, more menacing, and he gave the Octoroks a glare that could almost fry them on the spot. "Inferno!" he bellowed, the rocks themselves shaking at the sound. A wave of flame came from... well, Link had no idea where, and threw itself onto the monsters. The sound was horrible; not unlike bacon frying, interspersed with high-pitched shrieks of pain. Link began coughing as the smoke filled the cave, and sprinted back to the entrance as fast as his bruised leg would allow. After the extreme heat in the cave, the night air felt great. He glanced up as Wizak strolled casually out. "By the Triforce, if I had know Wizrobes could do that, I wouldn't have entered Death Mountain all those years ago." Wizak shrugged. "Most can't pull that off without destroying themselves. Supposedly, I'm special, or something. What happened to your leg?"

They set out the next morning. The area where the monsters had set up camp was a short walk, perhaps an hour, away. Thankfully, Link had several red potions, so his leg was fully healed by this point. "So, what's the plan?" Wizak asked him. The hero thought for a moment. "Well, to be honest, I'm not sure. I'd like to see the actual camp before setting anything in stone."

"That makes sense, I guess. I've never been much of a planner."

"Well, when you can light dozens of enemies on fire simultaneously, there's no need."

Wizak emitted a strange sound at that. It almost sounded like... a snicker? "True enough. But I'd rather not use it at the camp. Most of those monsters aren't evil, just being manipulated and possibly possessed. Besides, there's far too many anyway." Link nodded slowly. "So don't kill anything unless I absolutely have to?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"Very well, I'll do what I can in that regard. But if things turn south..."

Wizak shrugged. "That's all I can ask. After all, I'm basically telling you to sneak into the most hostile place in existence for you, without too much in the way of details. I don't have many myself, to be honest. All I know is that something is very wrong. In any event," he said, returning to the subject, "The camp should be just over the next ridge. We can finally get a good look at what's going on."

A massive valley spread out before them, littered with small streams of water, the occasional blue breaking up the constant brown of the mountain foothills as the former tumbled its way down to the ocean. With Death Mountain to the north, and the Great Lake to the south, approaching in force without being detected was no easy task. Between the two landmarks sat a mess of tents. There had to be at least one hundred in total. That meant an alarming number of monsters. The tents themselves were small, enough for three at most, and set up in strangely organized rows. A larger tent sat in the middle, presumably where the leader was staying. Wizak noticeably shuddered at the sight of it. "Luhomu has them living in tents? Disgusting. We need to stop this." Link looked over in surprise. "You're that opposed to tents?"

"Yes, it's unnatural. Monsters live in caves, not tents. Whatever that... thing... is, it's changing far too much to be trusted. We need to eliminate it."

"I don't disagree, but that seems like a really excessive reaction to tents."

Wizak's yellow eyes burned into him. "It's not like humans. You live in just about anywhere. Cave, house, tent, you name it. But with monsters, the overwhelming mindset is incredibly stubborn. The last time somebody proposed anything like this, they were decapitated less than ten seconds later. Luhomu must be using mind control or something."

"I see. That makes more sense than just being opposed to tents."

"It does. But you said you wanted to see it before making a plan. Anything come to mind?"

Link studied the camp closely. "It's pretty spread out. I think I could slip through the gaps between the tent lines if I was careful about it. If it was humans, I'd go at night. Does the dark improve monsters' eyesight or smell or something like that?"

"It does. You'd be spotted for sure if you tried to go without the sun. As it is, the sentries are probably the only ones that would see you if you punched them in the face. Most of those monsters absolutely detest bright light, another reason to be concerned they aren't in a cave."

"So basically, get past the guards, and it should be easy."

"Something like that," Wizak confirmed. "But if Luhomu spots you, it can probably overrule the dislike of the sun and get the whole horde on your tail. And that's before assuming it has the ability to kill you itself."

"Slip past the sentries, sneak through a camp, avoid getting detected by some incredibly powerful monster leader that I don't even know what it looks like. Just another day in my crazy life." Link sighed. "Anything else I need to know?"

"Not really. Trust me, you'll know Luhomu when you see it. I can't properly describe it in your language, because the correct words don't really exist. But you'll know it. Besides, I am coming too, so I'll just tell you if we find it by mistake."

"Brilliant," the hero muttered under his breath. "Let's do this."

They set off down the hill. The first line of defense was at the base, watching attentively for any sign of an intruder. After a bit more research, Link noticed something. The closest sentry was a Gibdo, and looked nearly unconscious just from being exposed to the sun. He advanced slowly. The monster was seemingly fascinated by the dirt beneath its feet and didn't spot him. He slowly moved around it, fearing sudden movements would draw its eyes. Suddenly, the Gibdo raised its eyes and stared directly at him. The grotesque mouth opened seemingly in slow motion as it prepared to raise the alarm. Link stepped forward quickly and clubbed it on the head with his Magic Rod, and it fell to the ground with an uncomfortably loud crash. He winced at the sound, but nothing seemed to have heard it. Wizak suddenly teleported directly next to him, and he almost jumped out of his skin in surprise. "Don't do that, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" he whispered fiercely. Wizak looked at him curiously. "Do what?" Link shook his head. "Never mind. Which way now?" The Wizrobe pointed to the left. "That's the way to the main camp. What are you planning on doing once we get there?" Link didn't respond, and set off in that direction.

The camp itself was fairly easy to navigate, given how organized it was. No monster horde had ever lined up tents this neatly. The command tent was already visible, and he headed straight for it. It was definitely large enough for what he was afraid was in there. He took a deep breath. Being stealthy here wouldn't help anybody. It was time to be direct. He walked right up to the command tent and threw the screen open.

The interior was surprisingly dark given the time of day. The shadows nearly concealed the being that stood waiting. Four muscular legs led to a massive green body, adorned by almost comically small wings. A very long neck was topped by a single head. Spikes lined the creature's back, and a short, stubby tail was barely visible around the monster's bulk. "I've been waiting for you, Link," it hissed in a quiet, creepy voice. He laughed aloud. "Aquamentus? Seriously? I killed you in two hits in the seventh dungeon of my first adventure." The monster chuckled, the deep, booming sound seeming to fill the air like a plume of smoke. "Is that what this body is called? A fitting name I suppose. But you seem to have missed the real threat here, much greater than merely a dragon. Much greater by far." Link looked closer. Aquamentus was wearing something on that contemptible face. It had almost blended into the darkness perfectly. A mask, heart-shaped, spikes running around the edges. Red and blue coloring surrounded the two massive orange eyes, with strange, green pupils in the center. Its gaze seemed to bore into Link like a spear, searching, always searching. No secret was safe; those eyes seemed to look directly into your mind. The hero frowned. He'd never seen this mask before. Why was it so familiar? He pushed those thoughts aside. "Who are you, and how does a mask become sentient anyway?" The mask started shaking violently on the dragon's face. "If you don't know who I am already, you'll likely never find out. As for the second... your brain is likely incapable of comprehension. A pity really, you'll never learn just how much you have to fear."

Wizak burst into the tent, breathing heavily. "Link, why in the name of everything you humans consider holy would you just march into the tent like that? Good thing there's nothing here..." Another deep, sinister chuckle filled the air. "So this is the traitorous Wizrobe that led the hero to me. Perhaps I should... dispose of you, as a warning to the rest of my followers. A shame, really. So much power... But alas, you had to go and make a fool of yourself." Wizak glared at the creature. "I didn't want to betray everything I've ever known, but it was preferable to watching an insane inanimate object destroy the entire world. You left me no choice." Having said his piece, he lobbed a beam of magic at the possessed dragon. It impacted on the scaly hide, but there was no cry of pain. "Did you seriously think a blast that weak would even scratch this body? Incomprehensible. There's no power in all of Hyrule that could hit hard enough for me to just feel it." It began cackling maniacally. The sound was chilling, terrifying in its own right, regardless of the monster that had created it. Suddenly, Link rolled to to side, disappearing into the shadows at the edge of the tent. The head turned quickly to follow him, and Wizak threw a beam at the disgustingly long neck while it was exposed. He put much more authority behind this one, and the head snapped back before righting itself and turning back to look at its new antagonist. Immediately, Link leaped out of the darkness, and landed on Aquamentus's back. Drawing the Magical Sword that he had so long ago mastered using, he drove it into the back of the monster's neck. The possessed dragon let put a horrible shriek, twitching violently enough to throw the hero off. He landed heavily, but thankfully suffered nothing worse than the wind being knocked out of him. "Impressive, most impressive. Unfortunately for you, the damage was minor. Now, are you ready to be destroyed?"

"No, not particularly," Link wheezed. That seemed to annoy the monster. "Well too bad!" It inhaled sharply, and quickly exhaled equally sharply, spewing fire around the tent. Link threw his shield, but he had time to watch it disintegrate in his hand before the wall of flame slammed into his body, and all went dark.

Oh boy, cliffhangers! I probably have a bit of explaining to do about that villain reveal. Termina is tied to Hyrule, so theoretically, it exists even in a different timeline, right? Unless it was created by Link's mind in Majora's Mask... That's a pretty controversial subject in the community, so I won't delve into it. But in this fictional universe within a fictional universe, Termina is a real place that the mask can leave at will. We saw it in Hyrule in the opening cutscene of MM, so the second part is reasonable. So for some reason, Majora came to Hyrule, and picked a host with a some power and connections to Ganon's old monster army. Huh, that sounds like it requires a prequel story to explain. Oh boy. In any event, I hope you didn't hate it too much. But if you saw something you didn't like, please say something in the reviews. I don't want to sound like I'm begging for feedback here, but I'm not going to get better without knowing how I'm messing up. But that's enough ranting from me. See you next mission!

Review responses:

Some Tomfool: Thanks! Don't worry, we'll get there. Just hang on.

Brownsquirrel: I'm glad you liked it! Here's that next chapter!