I know, I know, this is late, and I think I'm taking too long between updates because very few people are reviewing. Sigh... anyway, this chapter has a lot less humorous dialogue and a lot more plot-related stuff in it, so it's more serious than I usually write. To be honest I actually didn't intend for it to go the way it did, but I think I like it better this way. Also, I have changed the summary, because quite frankly I think my old one sucked.
HUGE THANKS to HyruleHearts1123 and ultima-owner for reviewing!
To HyruleHearts1123: Yes, that's fine! I'm actually quite flattered you'd think that. I have influenced you!
Disclaimer: Don't own, etc. etc.
"Oh, Great Farore! Now that is a big spider," Link breathed. Vaati gulped audibly, and I paled. This… was not good. Not good at all. Armogohma was enormous- probably large enough to take up the entire Castle Town Main Square. It had a black and grey striped abdomen covered in coarse fur, razor-sharp mandibles as large as my arm, and a giant yellow eye of all things right smack in the middle of its back. The eye was also surrounded by what looked almost like some sort of stone armor, with patterns similar to those on the statues of the temple. All in all, it was like those tarantulas we sometimes saw in the desert, but millions of times larger. And with the giant eye. Great. I just knew I was going to have nightmares about this. Maybe as many as I had after Arbiter's Grounds. I shuddered involuntarily at the thought. Oh, joy.
"Gee, let me guess… the weak spot is the eye again?" Link muttered dryly. I wondered offhandedly why the weak points were always the eyes. Always. It was getting rather predictable, actually. Only a few of the many bosses we've faced had weak points that weren't their eyes, but even so theirs were fairly obvious.
By now Vaati's skin was a pasty white. It made his red eyes and black markings stand out in stark contrast.
"I really hate spiders," he muttered darkly.
Link grimaced and strung his bow, notching an arrow and taking aim. "I think I'm starting to hate them too."
He let the arrow fly, but cursed when the spider scuttled out of the way and it bounced off of its armored back. For such a large creature, that thing was surprisingly fast.
"D***. Well, let's see how it likes a bomb to the face!" I growled, creating a medium-sized one and hurling it at Armogohma. It exploded in the monster's face, causing it to shriek loudly and drop onto the floor, right under one of the many giant statues that lined the room.
Link's eyes lit up and he whipped out the dominion rod, its signature green light flying towards the giant statue. Then he swung it down hard and the statue's stone fist copied his movement, slamming into Armogohma's unprotected belly with all the force of Link's ball and chain. It shrieked in pain and managed to right itself, scuttling up the wall and back to its upside down perch before the arm could come down again.
"For such a big thing, it's surprisingly fast," Vaati muttered, eyes narrowed as he pushed aside his fear of spiders and held his right arm out to the side. "However…" a swirling lavender spear materialized in his hand. "Nothing is faster than the winds!" He stepped forward and hurled it like a javelin, using his hand to guide it as the giant monster tried to scurry away. It hit dead-on, sinking deep into Armogohma's eye and then bursting into nothingness. The boss shrieked again and fell, Link quickly taking the opportunity to sent another statue's fist crashing down on it.
Meanwhile, Dark and I were staring at Vaati in shock.
"How long have you been working on that move?" I asked. "'Cause it is pretty d*** cool."
The Wind Sorcerer smirked in satisfaction.
"A few weeks now," he replied. "I've actually been toying with the idea ever since before we first transformed, though. I've read different fantasy stories about sorcerers with weapons that were made entirely out of their element, so that's where I got the idea. But when I finally got around to trying it out, the hardest part was maintaining it in a solid form. This is actually the first time it's worked without exploding midair."
Dark facepalmed and hit the top of Vaati's head.
"You idiot! Why the heck did you try out an experimental attack that wasn't expected to work? If really had blown up you would've wasted your energy!"
"Oh come on, I know my limits! Besides, even if it exploded it would've made a nice distraction," Vaati huffed as he crossed his arms defiantly. Just then, Link yelped and ducked as tons of little gohma eggs landed on the floor around him and hatched almost instantly, surrounding the blond with a herd of spider-monsters.
"A little help, guys? Come on, talk later, kill monster now!"
"Oh, right!"
"You're kidding me!"
"Laser vision?!"
"Great Goddesses, how is that even possible?!"
"My hat!"
SMASH!
"Gotcha!"
The three of us grinned victoriously as Armogohma curled up and blackened, exploding into the nothing. At least, so we thought. But when the dust cleared…
"What the heck?!"
"Okaaay…"
"Well, that's never happened before…"
"Say, what happens if I do this?"
I lobbed a bomb into the cluster of tiny baby gohmas that were carrying Armogohma's eye around the room. It exploding and little tiny spider parts were sent flying, before they too dissolved as well. As usual, a heart container popped out and healed all our wounds. We all relaxed, knowing that the heart-shaped crystal's appearance meant that the monster was dead for good.
The third mirror shard also appeared, and Midna flew out to grab it with a large grin.
"Three of the mirror shards are ours! Just one left! Guys… You saw how nasty that monster was, right? The evil within the shards is more powerful than you can imagine… You know we could be assembling something truly terrible here… It could be something that we'll ultimately have to destroy… We have to hurry! Let's fine the last shard, Link! We have to reach the sky! That's where the last shard is supposed to be!"
"And how the heck are we supposed to get to the sky? Sprout wings and start flying? Or," Link looked at us and rephrased his question. "what I should probably say is, how am I gonna get to the sky?"
Vaati looked at him and hmmed.
"We could try to carry you… no, actually, that wouldn't work, we don't know how high up we're going… maybe…" he tipped his head up and looked at the stars blanketing the night sky thoughtfully. "Perhaps some sort of spell…?" He then began to mutter about various technical magic stuff that I had absolutely no clue on.
"Guys, why don't we just think on it later and go to sleep already? This is as good a place to make camp as any, and I don't know about you but I'm tired," I suggested with a yawn. By the time we emerged from the Temple of Time it was already midnight, and since it was still late summer the night was cool but not cold. At the moment we were back in Faron Woods, in a small hollow about five miles or so north of Ordon.
"Sure, fine with me," Dark shrugged before he transformed and curled up on a patch of grass. The rest of us followed suit, and within moments we were claimed by the blissful darkness of sleep.
The next morning dawned bright and early, far too bright and far too early for my taste. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and the golden wolf was-
My head snapped up to stare at the red-eyed wolf, whose coat gleamed in the sunlight. I noticed that his sides also had white markings, almost invisible against the soft golden glow. And I also noticed that they looked just like Link's. Huh. I'd never noticed that before. Interesting.
Strange resemblance to a certain other shapeshifter aside, though, I still had no idea what the golden wolf was doing here. The last time I'd seen it was a long time ago, way back in Kakariko. Why was it here now?
"Hey, Vaati, Dark," I hissed, nudging the two (who were both in animal form, curled up and snoozing next to me). "Wake up. We got company."
"What? Who?" Dark grumbled sleepily, the black wolf's fur completely squashed on one side from being pressed against the ground all night. I stifled the urge to snicker at his bedhead, knowing that I probably had one just as bad.
"Oh, I was having a wonderful dream about digging into a giant feast, with stuffed boar and sugar candies and fresh-baked bread all for me. Why'd you have to wake me up?" Vaati grumbled irritably, purple fur ruffled from sleep.
"Uh, guys? Glowing golden wolf that apparently turns into a spirit warrior and gives Link swordsmanship tips? I think that counts as pretty important," I replied. Then I glanced over at Link, who was, strangely enough, still sleeping. Odd. He usually didn't sleep that deeply.
My last sentence got the attention of my two brothers, though. They immediately jerked up and scrambled to their paws, eyeing the larger wolf warily. Link, for his part, slumbered on, even as Vaati poked his muzzle.
"Link. Link! Wake up!" Dark prodded him, but the grey and green wolf didn't respond. Now I was starting to get a little worried, and the golden wolf still hadn't moved an inch. My mind flashed back to the last time we'd met this creature, in Kakariko by Eldin Spring. He'd mentioned something then about "atoning for our sins," or something like that. I wondered if that was why he was here now.
"Do not worry," he rumbled suddenly. "The Hero will be fine. I have simply put him to sleep for a while so we can speak in private."
All three of us jerked in surprise, and I had a sudden sense of foreboding. The last time we'd seen him, he'd given us a cryptic warning that none of us had understood, even as we'd debated and talked about it for days afterward. Over the past few weeks I'd shunted it to the back of my mind, focusing more on surviving the death traps Link aptly called dungeons. But now I was remembering every word of that decidedly one-sided conversation, and I couldn't help but feel a prickle of fear.
"And why would'ya need to talk tah us privately?" Dark asked warily, fur rising slowly along his spine. "Yer Link's teacher, aren'tcha?"
I knew he was nervous because his "gutter talk" accent, as the old Hylian Guards used to put it, was becoming thicker. After starting our training with the soldiers we'd picked up a more refined speech pattern, but when we were nervous it reverted back to the one we'd grown up with.
The large golden wolf dipped his head slowly.
"Yes, I am. I gather that he's told you of me?"
Vaati snorted.
"Well, it was kinda hard not tah notice, considering that the firs' time ya pulled him inta that strange cloudy world he completely blacked out fer half an hour. We got worried."
The wolf huffed in what sounded almost like amusement. Somehow I got the sense that our answers were humorous to him in some way.
"Very well, then. I suppose you three want to know why I am here?" he didn't stop, but continued to talk. "The next stage of your journey will be the most perilous of all, and at the end of it, the truth of your pasts will be revealed. You have passed all the tests that the Goddesses set for you, going above and beyond what we expected. However," his one-eyed gaze fixed on us. "This next part of your quest will uncover many dark secrets that you may have been happier not knowing. And what you do with those secrets is your final test." He looked to the side, as if ashamed. "I admit, I did not expect you to succeed. Perhaps, I judged you unfairly, due to my own prejudices." He turned back to us. "Do not fail now, not when you have come so far."
Then he vanished in a flash of golden light, leaving us with far more questions than answers.
The three of us just stood there, shell-shocked, for a few minutes until Link yawned and shook himself awake. He blinked blearily and took in our shocked expressions, frowning in confusion.
"What'd I miss?"
The four of us sat around a campfire, roasting some sort of medium-sized waterfowl that Link had shot earlier that day. It was sort of like a cross between a duck and a small goose, but somehow… different, like it had a bit of pheasant somewhere in its family tree too. But regardless of what it was, it still tasted pretty good.
After we ate, my brothers and I puzzled over the conversation we'd had with the golden wolf. Link stayed a polite distance away, taking the time to train and figure out a few new techniques.
"What did he mean, 'the truth of your pasts'? We know about our pasts already. Orphans who grew up in the alleyways of Castle Town, never knew our parents, typical street urchins. What kinds of dark secrets is he talking about?" Vaati mused, sharpening the blade of one of his daggers. Dark shrugged.
"I dunno. As you said, we're typical street urchins, if you don't count our strange powers and unusual coloring. I'm sure if we had family we would've found them by now, so chances are they're most likely dead."
I nodded.
"Yeah, probably. And what are those 'tests' that he was talking about? I don't remember taking any tests. But," I swallowed quietly. "The way he talked to us… it was almost as if he'd met us before. And not with Link," I added quickly. "before we even met him and Midna. It was almost as if he knew who we were, even before we knew ourselves. Y'know?" I growled slightly and ran a frustrated hand through my hair. "It's hard to explain, but-"
"No, I get it," Dark interrupted. "It's like you said, he talks like he's met us before, way before… and I don't know about you, but I don't ever remember meeting a glowing golden wolf before that day in front of the Forest Temple, with Link." He paused, and a slight frown made its way onto his face. "And somehow, I get the feeling that he didn't like us very much."
"Yeah, me too," Vaati agreed. "But it was really strange. I mean, is it just me, or did he dislike Dark more in particular?"
I nodded. Yeah, it had seemed like that to me too at first. And when he said that perhaps he'd judged us too harshly, based on his own prejudices… it seemed as if he'd looked at my older brother just a little longer as he'd spoken.
Vaati leaned back and looked up at the mid-afternoon sky. Fluffy white clouds drifted lazily across an endless expanse of light blue, and the warm sun made me feel lazy and content.
"Y'know, I think this is the first time since we've started this crazy journey that we've really just had some time to sit down and think," he said softly.
"Yeah, actually. Now that I think about it, so far we've just been journeying all over the kingdom, fighting monsters and finding pieces of strange twili artifacts. And, I know this is from a really, really long time ago, but… those weird flashbacks we had, back in Goron Mines and the Water Temple… do you think those are connected with what the golden wolf said?"
Dark nodded. "Yeah, I think that might be something. And, I haven't mentioned this, because I didn't think they were important, but, well, I've been having a lot of weird dreams lately. Mostly about water, lots of water… a dead tree, all twisted and black in the middle of a big room… but the strangest thing is that I can always remember fighting a guy who looks sort of like Link. Seriously, floppy hat, blue eyes, blonde hair, even the Master Sword. But his clothing's from an older style, and there's this weird blue fairy-thing that would fly around and talk to him. It's really weird, and every time I see the golden wolf I'm reminded of that dream."
I was shocked. I hadn't realized that Dark had been having strange dreams as well. I'd kept mine quiet, certain they were just delusions of my bizarre mind, but maybe…
"I've been having weird dreams too," I offered. Dark and Vaati looked surprised, but I forged on before they could say anything. "Except that it's mostly about this strange group of kids, who look a lot like younger Links, except there's four of them and they each have different colored tunics. I think their names are Green, Blue, Red, and…" I hesitated. Somehow, this last name always stirred up strange emotions. Betrayal, hurt, anger… I could never figure out why. And a strange feeling of some sort of brotherly affection, of all things. "Vio. I know a lot of things about them I don't remember learning, actually. Their names, their personalities, even their fighting styles. It's really strange. But," I glanced at Vaati. "the weirdest flashback thing, not really a dream, was at Snowpeak a couple weeks ago.
"I was standing on the edge of a huge tower, and it was snowing. It was weird because you were there too, Vaati." The pale-skinned hylian looked surprised. I don't think he'd expected that. I continued. "Except that you were dressed differently, more like a lord. And you talked different, too. More refined, but meaner, crueler, like those guys who like to beat people up for fun. It was really weird," I said. "But the strangest part was when you called me an, and I quote, 'idiotic shadow… just a reflection of the real thing.' And before that, I called you 'my lord.' And after you said that, you said something about a messenger and jumped off the edge. But instead of riding that tornado, you always use, you transformed into a giant one-eyed monster instead."
Vaati shook his head slowly in disbelief.
"Great Goddesses. I s'pose this is the day for talking about weird visions and dreams, eh?" he grinned. "Would you be surprised if I said I've been having strange dreams and flashbacks also?"
"No."
"Not really."
"I figured as much. Anyway, for me, the first time was in Goron Mines, and I think I told you about that one, Shadow. The one where I saw the four mini Links, with their different weapons. And then I didn't get any for a while, until about two and a half weeks ago when I started having weird dreams about turning people to stone and something called the Wishing Hat. At that point I saw an even younger version of Link, younger than the four in different colors, but his hat looked like a strange bird. I think it was called Ezlo or something like that. And I remember fighting him, transforming into something strange, and then… I was sealed, I think. It was like being not quite asleep and not quite awake, drifting on the border for almost a hundred years… and then I broke out, and this time I fought the four multicolored Links. You were in a few of them too, Shadow," he said. "But for some reason I didn't like you very much, and I was always ordering you around. It was an odd relationship, to say the least. It seemed as if the feeling was mutual."
The three of us fell silent after this, digesting the new information. We talked for a while longer about the possible meanings, but in the end we still hadn't figured anything out. So we decided to ignore it for the moment. After years of living in Castle Town, we'd found that the best way to solve problems that weren't immediately important was to ignore them and concentrate on the task at hand. The answer would come to us eventually. It always did. And if Fate decided to deal us a bad hand, we would just try to make the best of it and deal with the situation when the time came.
So instead, we threw ourselves into training in preparation for our venture into the sky. At the moment we were in Ordon, Link catching up with his friends and giving them updates on the kids. Hyrule Field was still too dangerous for us to travel from Kakariko to here safely, and Link just didn't have the time to escort a wagon full of kids this far south. The trip would take at least a week, probably more if you account for the pace we'd have to set and the possible weather conditions, and… no. Just no.
Throughout our training, however, regardless of how many times we tried to push them away, our thoughts were plagued with questions. It seemed as if our conversation was all we could think about, and our normal philosophy of deal-with-it-when-the-time-comes wasn't working.
But we stubbornly pushed those thoughts aside anyway, throwing ourselves into getting stronger and creating new, more devastating attacks. Vaati had devised new ways to combine his winds with his daggers, and could now stabilize his Wind Spear without it exploding. Dark found that his reflexes were his strongest suit, and honed them until he was fast- fast and agile. As for me, I worked on utilizing my shadow abilities in battle, sliding in and out of the shadows to confuse enemies or fly up high and dive-bomb them from above. This worked especially well in tandem with Vaati, who could control the winds and bring the bomb around in a full circle if it missed.
When the time came for us to resume our quest, all four of us were tougher than before and ready to take on whatever this next dungeon threw at us. Even if we still hadn't quite figured out how exactly we would get up there. But, as I said earlier, we would deal with that when the time came.
