Sienna's heart thundered with fear as she was marched into what was formerly Hyrule Castle.
The Gerudo soldiers nudged her forward and she bit back a fresh flood of tears. After their capture, the sorcerer had taken Dark away to Din knew where. Sienna sniffed and set her jaw, gathering her courage.
A woman in red Gerudo garb came up to meet them, addressing the woman in front of Sienna.
"Imara, you're back. And with prisoners?"
"Alatar has taken his captive already. I must inform Lord Ganondorf," Imara replied in a dull tone.
The Gerudo captain blinked in surprise. "Are you alright, Imara? Did the battle go poorly?"
"Please step aside," Imara continued, not even looking at Aalrian. "I must report to Lord Ganondorf."
Without a look back, she retreated upstairs. She called down to Sienna's guards to escort her to the dungeons. Robotically, they began herding her towards a smaller staircase off the main hall.
Aalrian watched their progress with unease, but Sheik's arrival interrupted her.
"Sheik," she greeted him. "How went the battle?"
The Sheikah paused, glancing at Sienna and her guards.
"Sheik!?" Sienna gasped. "What are you doing here?!"
Sheik turned away, ignoring Sienna's plights to help her as she was dragged downstairs to the dungeons.
"We completed our mission," Sheik said to Aalrian, who was looking after Sienna with a measure of pity. "Excuse me, but I must speak with Lord Ganondorf."
Aalrian seized Sheik's arm as he started to climb the steps, stopping him in his tracks.
"Wait. I noticed…Imara seems upset. Did something happen?"
He glanced back at Aalrian, his gaze as unreadable as ever. "Not that I observed." He paused, shifting back as if to end the conversation, but he abruptly leaned close to her. She stared into his unnerving crimson eyes. A slow breath expanded his chest and he finally said, "Be careful, Aalrian."
Confused, she watched the Sheikah dart upstairs with his unusual speed. Be careful? She wondered.
Be careful of what?
~oOo~
When Dark opened his eyes, the sky was red.
He shot up from his prone position, alarmed and then regretful as agony seared through his chest. Laying back down, he waited for the pain to pass. When he could move, he did so slowly, feeling as if every rib had been broken.
It took some time for his eyes to adjust. Wherever he was, it wasn't Hyrule.
The twilight sky blazed red and orange, as if the absent sun had only just slipped away. A greyish haze drifted across the horizon, too insubstantial to be clouds but not quite smoke.
The ground seemed to be dirt, but it was black, rolling in small hills as far as Dark could see. He stood on one such hill, dressed in his usual tunic and trousers. After a quick inventory, he found no injuries, though his chest still throbbed, and none of his weapons.
Dark chuckled derisively. Whatever that mage, Alatar, had planned for, it would seem he hadn't succeeded.
With little else to do he started walking. The landscape changed so little it was as though he was walking in place on a futile journey. After an hour, when a structure interrupted the harsh black and red vista, Dark nearly collapsed from the growing pain.
The structure turned out to be a shack in the lonely sea of red sky and black earth. It was better than nothing. On the other side he found a well, and Dark dropped to the ground, pulling up a bucket of water and leaning against the stone to enjoy it.
He sighed, closing his eyes. The light from the sky hadn't dimmed at all; it seared his eyelids.
"What are you?"
Dark jumped so bad he threw the bucket from his hands, splashing water everywhere.
A child stood a few feet away, watching him. But she watched with bright orange eyes, as intense as the sky above her. Her skin tone was a soft, pale blue, almost like a Zora. It contrasted with the colour of her eyes, giving her a striking appearance.
Curious, she took a step closer, looking him over. "What are you?" she asked again.
Dark swallowed. "I should ask you the same thing."
She grinned, showing off brilliant teeth that were a bit too sharp. "You're from the other side, aren't you?" she guessed, very proud of herself. "You look a bit like them."
Dark stilled. "The other side?"
"I forget what it's called," she replied, sitting across from him, uncaring of any danger he might pose. "It's where people like you live. Only you look a little different from them."
Catching on, Dark relaxed his pose. "You mean Hylians? Most have blonde hair, fair skin, with ears like mine?"
"Yes!" She pointed excitedly to her own pointed ears. They were longer than most Hylians'. "Hylians," she repeated. "That's it. But you look funny."
Dark laughed through his nose. "Well, I'm only part Hylian. My father was half-Hylian." He paused, not wanting to talk about his father. He switched gears. "Where are we?"
The child leaned back on her hands, tilting her head to look up. "We call it the Twilight," she told him.
Dark glanced up at the ominous sky. "It's always like this?"
"Mm-hm. The Elders say time doesn't work the same here."
"I see."
"Are you lost?"
Dark looked back at the child. "I suppose so. You wouldn't know how to get back to the…other side, would you?"
The girl frowned. "There's a way to get back, but not anymore."
"Why not?"
She stood up, dusting off the tunic she wore. Bringing her hands together, she murmured under her breath until orange sparks buzzed between her fingers. She opened her palms, letting a smoky orb form.
Dark's jaw dropped open. "You have it too!?"
The girl scowled. "I'm concentrating," she admonished him. "This isn't easy to do."
Dark scrambled forward, startling the girl. She dropped her hands.
"Wait! Show me again, please?"
Summoning the orb again, Dark watched in amazement as it grew bigger, clearing until it showed him images of a vast black palace, surrounded by red sky. The image changed to one of an enormous silver mirror, its surface rippling like water, reflecting strange symbols.
"That's the only way back," the girl explained. "But you can't get there right now because of the blight."
"The blight?"
"A long time ago something bad happened, and now we can't get to where the mirror is because of a big barrier that keeps people out. It hurts you if you touch it," she added sadly. "The Elders say it only covers a small part of our world, but that it's here because of something evil from your world."
Dark watched as she dispelled the magic. So Ganondorf's influence had reached even this parallel world? Fierce had spoken about the effects of the king's evil. How it had spread to infect the Sacred Realm as well as Hyrule. But Dark knew little about the Sacred Realm, other than the legends and that it was supposedly the home of the gods and all those who had left the physical world.
His attention snapped back to the girl. "That magic…how do you know it?"
She looked at him as if he were simple. "It's Twili magic," she replied. "All of my people can do it."
Dark opened his mouth, then closed it, hesitating. "I…I've used that magic before," he admitted.
Her orange eyes grew huge. "That's why you look funny!" she crowed. "Maybe you're a Twili, like me, really."
He chuckled. "I'm not sure. Maybe."
"Maybe you're not lost," she mused, studying his face from very close. Even sitting, he was a few inches taller than her standing. "You should stay here with me."
Dark smiled. "Thank you for the offer, but I'm afraid I can't. Someone back in my world needs my help."
Her shoulders dropped, but she nodded solemnly. "I understand."
"Can you take me to where the mirror is? I might be able to find a way back or at least some clues to another passage. And I need a good guide in this place," he added with a wink.
With a proud smile, she stood up straighter. "You can count on me."
He grinned. "Great."
"Get ready. We have a long way to go!"
~oOo~
Thanks to Epona's speed, Link and Navi had reached Zora's Domain in less than a day.
It had only taken one bottle of the blue fire to melt the ice imprisoning the Zora king, but it could not lift the curse on the aquatic race's frozen home.
After reviving, King Zora had profusely thanked Link, going so far as to gift him a set of Zora-made armour. Constructed with scales of their kind, the metal armour was surprisingly light but strong. King Zora had assured him it would allow Link to move seamlessly underwater, as well as breathe underwater with the help of specially made mask to cover his mouth and nose.
With his new armour in hand, Link warped himself, Navi and Epona back to Kakariko with the help of the ocarina and the Nocturne of Shadow.
When the song's last melancholic notes faded, Link opened his eyes to see the still, quiet graveyard. Taking Epona's reins, he guided her back to Impa's house, where he hoped to find Sheik waiting for him.
To his dismay, the Sheikah boy was nowhere to be found, but he'd left a note confirming he'd gone to assist Impa and that Link should travel to Lake Hylia. Underneath the note Sheik had left a sheet of ocarina music.
Link stabled Epona at Impa's house, then wandered through the village until he tracked down Malon. She immediately agreed to watch Link's horse until he returned. She and her father would be staying in Kakariko for now, helping the townspeople rebuild and caring for the refugees who came in from all over Hyrule.
Satisfied that they could carry on without him for now, Link studied the sheet music, committing the song to memory before raising the ocarina to his lips.
A romantic serenade poured out, smooth and enchanting. It lifted higher and higher, then sweeping lower for a playful dip before climbing again. The magical song swirled around Link, leading him to the shores of a beautiful lake.
"Whoa," Navi murmured, spinning in a 360.
They'd landed on an island in the middle of the vast lake. On all sides they were surrounded by towering, slate-grey cliffs, except due south where it broke into a canyon pass.
Link stepped off the pedestal he stood on—the warp point they'd come through—and looked around. The water had nearly dried up; the sandy bottom made the place look more like a wasteland than a lush lake.
"It's getting worse," he said, kneeling to look at the wilting grass under his boots.
"Mm-hm," Navi said, buzzing over. "Shouldn't be hard to find the entrance to the Water Temple without all the water, though."
Connected to the island was a series of rope bridges which led back to shore. The area was left natural save for a large house with a tower near the mouth of the Hylia River and another building on the far side of the shore.
When he rapped on the door of the lakeside house, a stopped old man answered. He peered up at Link with bulging eyes and a smile that had seen fuller days.
"Hello, young man!" the old man squeaked. "Can I help you?"
"Er..." Link tried to hide his shock at the man's appearance.
"Come in, come in." The old man puttered inside, his remaining wisps of white hair floating behind him.
Link shut the door behind him, looking around at the strange house's interior. There were shelves anchored to each wall, cluttered with odd instruments, potions and bottles of scientific specimens. Link examined a few of eerie creatures he'd never seen before. He stopped when he saw a specimen that he swore was a shrunken human head.
"Welcome to my lakeside laboratory," the old man said cheerily. "I'm studying the properties of Lake Hylia's waters...though that's trickier nowadays with the drought. Do you know latest samples of lake water have actually shrunk my—"
"Do you know anything about the Water Temple?" Link cut in.
"The Water Temple?" the old scientist scratched at the bald spot on top of his head. "Not much. Long before I set up shop, there was a permanent Zora colony here, but they were completely wiped out during the war."
Link's shoulders slumped. "And the temple?"
The old man busied himself at his work table over a large pot. "If it is indeed here, I have never found it. Care for some soup, young man? I made it myself this morning."
Judging by the smells wafting from the soup pot, Link declined.
The old man slurped from his bowl, smacking his lips over his few remaining teeth. "You could search the ruins, just down the beach from here. Can't miss them. The Zora might have left some clues behind."
Thanking him profusely, Link left before the scientist could offer him anything else. After a short hike down the beach, Link took off his hat to let Navi out.
A dozen square stone columns in various stages of decay dotted the shoreline, leading out into the water. The lake's true water line was etched in algae on the columns' base. While Navi deciphered the Zora symbols written on the stone, Link examined the stone walkway embedded between the rows.
"Maybe there's a secret code," he mused, pressing the tiles that looked the most worn in random orders.
"I think it's just some kind of altar," Navi replied with a huff of frustration. "A place to pray or meditate. These symbols aren't telling me anything."
Link pulled out his ocarina and played a few notes, but nothing happened. He looked up at the island in the distance, considering the warp point. There was a similar one in the Temple of Time as well as in Saria's Sacred Grove. And when he'd played the Nocturne of Shadow, the spell had left them on a stone pedestal in the graveyard.
His gaze bobbed between the ocarina in his hands and the island before he jumped up.
"Navi!"
"What?"
"The warp songs, they always bring us to specific warp points."
Navi shrugged. "Yeah, they're tied to those particular points."
"What if they're also connected to the temples?"
The glow from her wings brightened. "Let's get back over there!"
When a search of the island turned up nothing of interest, Link donned the Zora armour and slid down the bank into the water.
True to King Zora's word, the armour made breathing underwater as natural as if Link himself were a Zora. Though it was murky, he could see well enough to reach the bottom. Scanning the base of the island, he picked out a darker area where the water was deeper. Swimming for it, Link felt a subtle drop in temperature. He was swimming through a tunnel that went beneath the island, now. Light vanished, making even his enhanced underwater eyesight almost useless.
After a few minutes of swimming blindly, Link's outstretched hand collided with something hard and metallic. He drew back, squinting through the darkness. Stray tendrils of seaweed floated around him like ghosts, venturing close and then slinking back. A black grid in the greyish gloom was the metal gate he'd crashed into, overgrown with algae.
Above the gate, something blue flashed when he turned his head. It was a jewel—a small sapphire. Behind it was some kind of mechanism; a lock, a maybe? Link dug his fingers into the grooves around it but couldn't pry it free.
Reaching for the hookshot, he tried using the sharp point of the weapon to dislodge the gem key. It popped free, the gem floating free from its lock. The key had been shaped to resemble a fish, the sapphire its head. Below was the round keyhole, cleared of algae and debris.
Link turned the sapphire key in the lock, the returned it to its setting as the gate shuddered open. He swam past the gate just before it dropped closed again. Someone had come through this way—recently.
Stowing his hookshot and steeling his courage, Link swam forward into the murky blackness.