I know it's been a while. I won't make any excuses. I just want people to know that I've read every review, and seen every call to continue this story. I haven't forgotten about you all, and to those who have been waiting, I'm sorry.

Sora was getting mildly miffed at Link's lack of an answer, especially when Link only seemed to be bringing him to a worse place. From Kakariko, they traveled to the west and to the north, moving toward a large patch of what looked to Sora to be a broken, burned, abandoned city. Walking along with the Hero of Time, Sora could feel questions bubbling on his mind, but looking over to Link, and the way that he seemed to look while taking in the sights of the burned structures- all the lost homes, shops, restaurants, and memories- Sora could tell that Link had a connection to whatever used to stand in this place. He let the questions hold still in his mind. At least, until Link stopped him as they reached a corridor.

Link looked at the spiky haired boy carefully. "Listen Sora. In here, there are creatures that you must NOT meet the gaze of. Honestly, it's better to just run past them as fast as you can. Don't look them in the eyes."

"Uh- why…?" Sora tilted his head a bit.

Navi flew forward, in front of the keybearer's face. "If you meet their eyes, their piercing gaze and shrill cry will stop you in your tracks- giving them the time they need to jump onto you and begin to drain you of your life."

Sora stifled some chills moving down his spine. "Okay- yeah. Avoid completely, got it." He gave his normal cheery smile, even despite the thought. It was something that Link liked about Sora. Even in this situation, Sora could smile.

"Good." Link drew his sword, maybe just for good measure. "Follow me."

The two entered the area, and Sora's eyes widened at the gruesome creatures that lurked within it. They stood tall and thin as bone with skin that shared the same color of the wooden masks they wore, and they let sounds of low rumbles from within their bodies and the smell of something dead and rotten that surrounded them. They looked to be an image of death itself, but they stood. Some stood straight, some crouched over, and some even moving slowly, trudging on as completely without mind, but only being guided by the most primal senses within the muscle that was left on their thin, bony bodies.

Sora couldn't help but stare as they moved past as quickly as they could. "Don't look, Sora." Link instructed.

"It's hard not to- it's like- they're-" Sora suddenly met the gaze of one and heard a terribly loud shrill cry that sounded like a proclamation of suffering and pain, even without words. Looking into the darkness of the mask within the creature's eyes, Sora felt his body lock up. The creature drew near to him.

Link shouted out in frustration as he tried to pull on Sora's gloved hand to get him to move, but Sora wouldn't. He couldn't move.

With a sharp intake of breath, Link stood between Sora and the creature as it approached, keeping his eyes away from it as it seemed to be locked on Sora. Sora stood petrified, locked in the paralyzing gaze until Link shouted out, rearing his sword and letting a furious combination of swipes to the back of the creature, making it writhe in pain as it stood until it could take no more, dropping to ground.

Sora felt movement return to his body. He breathed heavily, having only been feet away from having the life drained from him. "Thank you, Link."

"Not now, let's move-" Link said, then grit his teeth as he saw every one of the creatures now moving toward him. "Uh-oh." He took his sword and reared it back. "Watch out, Sora, get on the ground."

Sora looked at him confused. "Wait- what?"

"Get on the ground!" Suddenly, an energy started to move around Link's blade. It was a strange blue at first, but then shifted into a wild- quick moving energy of a brighter orange. Not wanting to argue with something he wasn't sure of, Sora hit the deck.

With that, Link shouted out in his exertion of force while he swung his sword around in a full circle, unleashing the energy that had been building around the blade. The energy cut into the creatures, making all of them all writhe in their final moments as they dropped now completely lifeless to the floor.

Sora looked up at Link with wide eyes. "Well- jeez. That was cool!"

Link extended a hand to help Sora up. "Just- if I tell you to do something like not looking into the eyes of the re-deads, try to listen next time."

Sora offered an apologetic smile and his hand. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Link helped him up and the two moved to the northeast corner of the area. They walked forward a bit, and then- there was a structure all too familiar to Link, and all too unfamiliar to Sora. Sora made no sound as he took in the patterns of the walls on the outside. There were large windows, designs and astounding feats of architecture on every square inch. It wasn't until they were actually walking in when Sora let his curiosity get the better of him.

"What is this place, a church?" He asked.

"A temple. The Temple of Time." Link said.

"Oh, right. Lots of temples. So do you all worship the forest, fire, water and time?" Sora asked curiously. "I mean, you've got all these temples."

"No." Link said back quickly. "No- it's a lot more complicated than-" The green clad warrior stopped then shook his head. "Wait, I shouldn't have to explain all this to you. I grew up in Kokiri Forest, but you don't have much of an excuse for not knowing this."

Sora shrugged. "Not from here."

"Right, right." Link rolled his eyes as he walked forward past the pedestal where the three Spiritual Stones rested. "When are you gonna tell me where you're actually from?"

Sora huffed and crossed his arms behind Link as he followed. "I told you! I'm not hiding anything anymore. I'll tell you as soon as you ask!"

Link turned seriously. "Okay… where are you from Sora?"

"Destiny Islands." He returned without missing a beat.

Link tilted his head a bit. "Which is… where?"

"It's like, crazy far away."

"How far?"

"It's… uh- how should I say this…" He wondered to himself. "Um… it's… that way." He smiled and pointed upward.

"It's… in the sky?"

"Yeah! Well- wait, no. It's… past the sky."

"… Past the sky?"

Sora nodded with a grin. "Yeah. Like- you go to the edge of your sky, and go even further into space and keep going, you'll eventually get to my home."

Link stared at him for a bit. "Wow… that far, huh?" He'd never even considered that life could even exist so far away. Or that there could even that there could be other worlds that existed besides the one he was in. There were so many questions that bubbled in his mind from Sora telling him this, but he couldn't quite organize them all. Instead he just took a short breath and nodded, and walked deeper into the temple, followed by Sora, as they approached the pedestal on the ground.

"So what are doing here?" Sora asked.

Link looked over as he drew his sword. "We're going back in time."

"… huh? How?"

"Well, basically, how it works usually is I drop the sword into this pedestal and we go back in time seven years."

"Really? Is that just something you can do?"

Link nodded back. "Yeah, it's part of me being the Hero of Time."

"Neat! Are you sure it will work with me?"

"Well, it works with Navi, so I'd assume." Link shrugged unsurely.

"What happens if it doesn't work?"

"I guess just wait for me? It shouldn't be long- er… I dunno. Time travel is still making my head spin."

Sora shrugged again. "Okay. Well, it might work and it might not. One way to find out." He grinned and nodded to Link.

Link took a deep breath and drew the Master Sword. "Fair enough." With that, Sora watched from steps away as Link positioned himself over the pedestal, shouted out, and dropped the sword down into it.

Love you all. I'll update again when I can.