Title: Dark Link
Ch: 9
Written By: Emerald Padparadscha
His first experience was with a thing called breakfast. Never before had he needed any method of nourishment, or any kind of drink for any matter, but he found this new "alive" body both hungry and thirsty, necessities he had never thought of before. Eathing, however, would not necessarily be a new pleasure for him. Mundane, he thought it to be. Though, he knew he could not help but admit to, Malon's cooking was outstanding, even if it was the first taste of food he had ever experienced. The eggs were fresh and rich in flavor. She'd fried something called bacon, too, although that wasn't as interesting as the eggs or the oats soaked in heated water and salt.
His second experience was one he would remember forever.
The front door was opened, and the sunlight streamed inside, the rays lighting the orom. He reached out with his hand toward the closest ray of sun to him. His thoughts turned to when he had gained a scar before of the light. But that had been his other self. This self... His eyes widened slightly. His hand was in full sun, and the light caused no pain. A pleasant warmness was all that had followed the encounter.
"Welcome to my world." Malon smiled softly and took his hand, pulling him fully outside into the daylight. He absolutely did not resist.
For the first time, Dark Link peered upward at the sun, blocking most of the brightness from his eyes with his hand. He had known before what the sun was, yet the knowledge was only feelings he got of it through Link's memories into his own. Now, as he was viewing what he thought was a masterpiece of nature, he saw what appeared to be a monsterous fireball hanging in the sky by a single invisible thread of power. Out here in the day was a sensation he knew he would never forget. The warmth of the sun's rays spreading over him...
It was something that he now treasured. Before he had loathed such a thing, restricting his movement. Now...
"Don't look at the sun too long. You'll go blind." He heard Malon say. He looked down at Malon. She was still smiling, though it was the softest smile he had ever seen on her. "You know, because it'll hurt your eyes. You have eyes now."
That he did. He supposed something as intense as the sun could hurt someone's eyes if they stared long enough.
"Now you can help me with my chores." She said. She handed him a bucket of feed that she had gathered and nodded toward the stable. "The cow needs to be fed. Epoch, too, if he's in there. I'll let the horses out into the pasture."
He nodded and opened the door to the stable, walking inside. His eyes shifted to gaze at the place he had many a time before stood. It seemed strange to be looking at it from this angle now. Several times he had caught himself wondering how Malon had felt looking at him standing in that dark corner. After pouring the feed into the feed trough for the cow, he looked over at Epoch, who was in the stall. He poured the feed for the great stallion, then stood there, watching the stallion eat the food. The stallion still had on the bridle of shadow that he had made before. With one hand Link stroked the side of the bridle that was next to the horse's jaw. It was almost as if he was touching nothing, yet it was there as clearly as day, and he could feel it. It intrigued him that it had yet to dissipate.
He looked over and saw a saddle on the wall. He did have plans for today.
When Malon returned from putting all the horses in the pasture, she was amazed to find Dark Link saddling Epoch in the yard in front of the house. Epoch was standing there calmly as he tightened down the saddle comfortably on his back, which was something the horse nevev let anyone get close enough with a saddle to him to do before. Epoch and Dark Link were undoubtedly made for each other, or so it seemed to her. Still, what was he doing tacking up the horse now?
"What are you doing?" She asked him as she walked up.
Dark Link finished what he was doing and looked up at her. "What parts of Hyrule I have seen have been during the night. I want to see it for myself."
Malon frowned lightly. "What time do you think you'll be back?"
He answered truthfully. "I don't know, perhaps tonight. Maybe tomorrow." He mounted Epoch, then looked down at her. "I was hoping you would come along. I need a guide."
She smiled and walked over to him. He reached out his hand and helped her into the saddle behind him and placed one arm lightly around his waist so she wouldn't fall off in case of a jolt. She had never ridden Epoch before, the stallion always being so wild that nobody could ride him, and here he was as tame as could be under Dark Link's control. It was like Epona when Link was mounted on her. The mare wouldn't even mind Malon as well as she would mind Link. The two had bonded inseparably.
"Where are we going to go first?" She asked.
"I've been wanting to see Lake Hylia." He said. "That's only a couple of hours away."
"How do you get there in two hours?" She asked, amazed. "It takes me nearly three to get there myself!"
"I cut through Gerudo Pass." Dark Link said. "The Gerudo haven't been bothering travelers as of late."
To Dark Link, everything he saw looked new, even Hyrule Field. What amazed him the most was his shadow. He had not had a shadow before, and it was completely new to him. He liked to think of it as a piece of his old self that remained after his change. When they got to Lake Hylia, the cool breeze coming off of the water was refreshing to them. He dismounted Epoch and helped Malon down.
"You've never seen the Water Temple from this side before, have you?" Malon asked, smiling.
He shook his head. "No, I haven't. It's...strange."
"It's new! That's what it is." She kept her smile and walked over to him. He had walked over to the water's edge and was kneeling down by it with his hand in the water. "What are you doing?"
"I can feel the water."
"Of course you can, silly!"
"No, I can feel the water." He said again. "Before, I couldn't feel it. Not very well, anyway."
"You'll find a lot of things have changed." She said.
He nodded, then stood up. "I was thinking about building a house for myself around Lake Hylia. Though I've been changed, the magic of the Water Temple still runs strongely through me, and it's calling me near it."
The day passed, and soon it was night again. Dark Link stood under the dead tree on the island in the middle of the lake. His gaze was set firmly on the moon as it rose. He had watched the sun as it set, and the moon as it rose. They were both very new things to him. He wanted to see and experience everything.
Malon, who was sitting down on the ground leaning against the tree, smiled. "I guess this is the first time you've been awake all day for once."
He smiled back. "It is. It feels strange."
"Strange must be your favorite word." She laughed.
He caught himself almost grinning. "Everything is indeed strange. Tell me one thing here that does not fit that description, and I will start using a different word."
"Ok, um..." Malon started to think, looking around to get some ideas. She saw a tektite in the distance. "That tektite over there."
"It looks half spider, half crab, and it has been proven its brains are nothing less than a handful of slime." He said. "How do you consider that not strange?"
"Give me time! I'll think of something else." She said, another thought entering her mind. "The grass, then!"
Dark Link sat down next to her and leaned on the tree as well, picking a blade of grass, holding it up for both of them to see. "This is the same type of grass that grows around Lon Lon Ranch, is it not?" Malon nodded. "The grass around the ranch needs to be mowed every three weeks, whereas this grass here has never grown above the height it is now. It's only two inches tall."
"I guess that is pretty strange." Malon had to admit, she had never looked at things that way before. "Do you make a habit out of finding how strange things are? It's like you don't overlook anything."
"There's too much to see to overlook things."
"Ok, then." She smiled. "Me."
He raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "What is the strangeness in you?"
"Of course! So tell me. You said everything was strange."
Dark Link looked at her for a moment, though looking at her as he was he found it hard to find anything strange about her. Then, he knew what to say. "You make me feel strange."
Malon leaned over and kissed him softly on the lips. Dark Link put his arm around her waist, his other hand holding hers as they kissed. The kiss was tender, nothing demanding or even regretful. Neither of them wanted the kiss to end, but when it did, Dark Link simply held her, her head resting on his shoulder as she listened to his heart beat. For a moment she thought the simple sound of it would lull her to sleep.
"What do you call this feeling?"
Malon opened her eyes and looked up at him when he asked that. "I...think it's called love. You've never heard that word before?"
"I've heard the word, but never known the meaning." He answered. "Not until now."
They stayed like that, and to Dark Link's surprise, Malon fell asleep against his chest. He didn't move for fear that he might wake her. It startled him for a moment. Him, Dark Link, fear something? It didn't feel right, nor did it seem right, but Malon there on his shoulder, dreaming of her own worlds, did feel right.
When Malon awoke in the morning, she smiled. The grass was so warm and soft. It was almost as comfortable as her bed. The wonderful scent of it filled her senses. She sat up and stretched, looking around. She couldn't see Dark Link anywhere, but she knew he had to be somewhere around here. He wouldn't just run off without her, would he?
She stood up and looked up at the sky. Out of the corner of her eye she caught glimpse of a sight she didn't really expect to see. The top of the island's tree had been cut off level long ago, and since then the tree hadn't grown a single leaf on its branches. It wasn't really dead, but everyone called it so. On top of the tree on the level segment was Dark Link, sitting there with his arms in his lap as he looked around Lake Hylia. She covered her mouth with her hands and tried to stifle her giggles. If anybody else would have told her that they had found him sitting on top of a tree in the middle of Lake Hylia, she would have not believed it!
She clasped her hangs behind her back, still smiling up at him. "Enjoying yourself up there?"
Dark Link looked down at her and leapt off of the tree, landing a few feet away from her as easily as if the drop had only been a couple of feet in height. He looked upward at the sun, which was right above them, meaning that it was noon.
"I've discovered many things, such as the warmest rays of the sun are the morning ones." He smiled softly. "Just a moment before the sun is fully off of the horizon, the wind doesn't blow."
"Speaking of which," Malon said, getting his attention on her. "I slept late. I'll never get to sleep tonight now."
Dark Link didn't seem to be listening to her last words, though. She could tell by the look in his eyes that his thoughts were somewhere else, even if he was listening to her at all. It surprised her when he asked, "Have you ever been inside of the Water Temple?"
"No." She answered. "Why?"
"Would you like to?"
"I'm not like a Zora, silly, and I don't have a Zora Tunic like Link does! I can't breath underwater!"
"Not if you trust me." He said. "As long as you're holding my hand, you won't drown."
"In that case..." She said, looking at the water. "I'd be willing to give it a try, I think. I've always wanted to see inside a temple."
He held out his hand to her, and she slowly took it. The hold wasn't tight, but it was firm, letting him know that she wasn't going to let go if she could help it, and she knew the same from him. He led her to the side of the island and looked down. The Water Temple's entrance was right beneath them. They would have to float down to it. He knew of what the Water Temple's magic in him would let him do.
At the same time, the two of them jumped off into the water. Malon closed her eyes...
When she opened them back up again, it was like she couldn't hardly feel the water at all. Normally she had a hard time opening her eyes underwater, but though she could feel the water against her skin, she wasn't getting wet, and she couldn't feel it at all against her eyes. She looked down. They were sinking downward through the water, and she could see the gate entrance of the Water Temple clearly. Out in front of the entrance on the lake floor was a large white tiled path. It was in the middle of that path that they landed.
Dark Link raised his left hand, and the gates of the temple's entrance slid upward. Malon walked forward with him into the dark depths. She knew that it was difficult to walk through the water when wading on the shore, but she found no difficulty in walking under the water like this.
"It's beautiful!" Those were her first words upon seeing the sights inside the Water Temple as she and Dark Link stood on the edge of the entrance ledge on the temple's third floor.
Since they had left the water only a couple of moments ago, they had let go of each other's hands. Malon had her hands clasped together at her chest as she looked downward at the two other levels of water below. Through the water she could see doors, walkways, and the bottom looked almost like a beach, full of sand. The Water Temple was beautiful, beyond any of her expectations. She looked over at the doors of the third floor. There were only two, one on one side and the other on the completely opposite side. One of the doors had strange statues of dragon heads adorning the platform carved into the wall where it was. There were amazing designs here and there on the walls nearby it as well.
The other door, she noted, had no designs. It was simply a metal door, the platform in front of it floating on top of the water. There were no designs on the wall near it, no adornments at all. It looked lonely.
"What's that door?" She asked, pointing toward the door near the dragon head statues.
"That leads to the heart of the Water Temple." Dark Link explained. "Previously, it had contained Morpha, the Guardian of the Water Temple. Since Link had to destroy Morpha, the temple has been without a Guardian. The Morpha contained inside right now is still too young to carry on its duties, only a child."
"Does the Water Temple always create a new Morpha when the old one dies?"
He nodded.
"Then," She asked, looking at the lonely door on the other side. "what is on the other side of that door?"
He didn't hesitate in telling her. "Beyond is a room with a waterfall that drops all the way to the bottom of the temple. There are platforms that seem to skim down the waterfall, allowing a fast person to cross if they can."
"I've heard of that room!" Malon smiled. "Link told me about it once. There's a door there that leads to a room where he found you the first time, right?"
He nodded. "It's called the Room of Illusions."
"If you don't mind," She asked, "can I see it?"
He looked toward the door. "Why should I mind?"
"Some people don't like where they came from."
"The Water Temple is a noble place. I'm not ashamed of any of it."
"How are we going to get across?" She asked. "Swim?"
"Normally." He looked down at the water. "However, though it doesn't look like there are any currents in here, the water will draw down anyone who is doesn't think belongs here, even when you are holding my hand."
"Then how?"
Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, the water covering the entire third level started to freeze into ice, becoming harder and harder by the second. The thickness didn't go deep, only a couple of inches, but it was stronger than most ice of its size. Malon looked on in awe as the water froze. She shifted her gaze from the ice to Dark Link, who was now looking at her intently. There was a glimmer in his eyes that she hadn't seen before, and she knew what it was. It had to be the magic of the Water Temple surfacing in him.
"You did that, didn't you?" She smiled. "You froze the water."
He didn't answer, only a smile on his face as he led her across. The ice wasn't slippery, which Malon had expected at first. All ice she had come in contact with in her life had been slippery, and all her memories showed her that she had always fallen down on her butt or some other part of her body. This ice was hard and smooth, and it was dry.
When they entered the room with the huge waterfall, the sound of the falling water roared in her ears. She didn't make a move to block the sound, however. She didn't want to. She was too busy taking in the pure sight of it, watching as the platforms stayed level as the fell down the waterfall, carried by the slowly flowing water. She had never seen water travel so slowly and so fast as the same moment in time. Another part of the magic that was in and out of everything here.
"Now how are we to cross?" She looked at Dark Link.
Dark Link simply pointed to a ledge that only stood out two feet from the wall. It was large enough for them to travel by to the other side. It connected both sides to each other.
"That?" Malon looked at the ledge, then over the corner of the floor to the…endless pit below. It didn't look all that inviting to her at the moment, especially if she should fall. "What if I fall…?"
"You won't."
As Dark Link had said, she didn't. In fact, the walk to the other side via the ledge was a simple one, one with so much ease that Malon wouldn't have thought it possible. To traverse such a pit so easily?
Once they had traversed the pit to the other side, and were standing by the locked door there, Malon had to ask, "Was that how Link made it past?"
Dark Link shook his head. "No. He didn't know the ledge was there until later. You see the platforms coming out of the waterfall?" He pointed down at the waterfall, and Malon nodded. "He had to climb up those to get from one side to the other."
"If only he had paid attention more." She sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if he ever does something the easy way!"
Dark Link almost smiled. Out of all the memories of Link's that he still held, he could not find one memory of anything where as Link had accomplished something with what would be known as the 'easy way'. When Link was younger, he had always wanted the easy way, and yet could never find it whenever it needed to be handy. Upon growing up, however, Link wanted to be a hero, to show off as much as he could possibly manage, never taking the 'easy way' even if it was by the merest means.
The door next to them unlocked when they stepped up to it. Dark Link motioned for Malon to be the first to step through, and so she was. The room she stepped into wasn't much in appearance, nothing but a semi-large room completely metal-tiled walled, the floor made of metal and tiled as well. The metal looked to be blue steel, and yet was something oddly different. On the other side of the room, Malon spied a door. The door was locked, iron bars leading across it and into the walls themselves.
As soon as Dark Link stepped into the room, the door behind him locked as well, the same metal bars slamming shut to block anyone from entering, or escaping. Malon turned and gasped at the sudden sound, the fact of the door locking surprising and confusing her.
"Don't worry. The magic of this room causes the doors to do that. I can open the locks whenever you want to leave." Dark Link explained to her.
Malon clasped her hands behind her back and tried to look like she hadn't been scared at all. "It's ok. It…startled me, that's all." She walked a couple of steps toward the center of the room, looking over at everything. "Is this the…"
"Room of Illusions?" Dark Link finished for her. With a nod, he answered, "This was the room I was born in, and the room in which I fought Link for the first time."
"It's looks different than how it had been described."
All it took was a single thought on Dark Link's part for the room to suddenly change. First, water appeared on the floor, ankle deep to them, clear as crystal and as cool as the freshest water from the depths of Lake Hylia. A seemingly dead tree appeared in the center of the room, only 10 or so feet in height, branching out slightly toward the ceiling. Then, the walls themselves seemed to disappear, the room appearing suddenly endless, and a few pieces of rubble from archways appeared near where the corners of the room had originally been placed. The floor reflected the ceiling, which had now taken upon the appearance of a vastness of white clouded sky.
"How…?" Malon walked forward to the tree in the center of the room, touching the tree lightly with her right hand.
The tree was rough against her skin, just as a tree should be. The water she was walking through felt wet, and felt indeed like water, just as water should. There was a breeze flowing through the air, and she could feel it playing lightly with her bangs, blowing them somewhat about. Amazement in her eyes, she turned her gaze upon Dark Link. Before Dark Link had taken upon this form, he had been such a shadowy figure, unable to handle even sunlight without harm befalling him, and yet he had been born in such a place of light as this? Such a place of endless beauty, or so it seemed?
And yet, she reminded herself, it was only the Room of Illusion. Everything here was not real. She turned her attentions to the walls, which had disappeared to her.
"Are the walls still there?" She asked.
Dark Link walked over to where one of the walls had been, and he turned his gaze upon her. "Come here."
Malon did, and, when she was standing next to him, he too her hand in his own and moved it forward till it met where the wall should have been. It stopped, as if there was an invisible barrier there that she could not see still pretending to be the wall. He moved her hand across the barrier, keeping it in contact. Malon could feel where the metal tiles of the room connected to one another, just as she had seen it only a moment earlier.
"I suppose even an illusion can fool someone at times, even if they know what it is." She said as he took her hand from the wall. She smiled when he did not let go of her hand, holding it gently in his own. It was then she dared to ask, "Is it too much to ask if I could see the young Morpha? I've…only heard stories about what it looks like."
"What have you heard?"
"I've heard from the Zoras that it looks much like a long snake made of water, and from Link I've heard it looks like a huge water tentacle."
"Link's description was more accurate than the Zoras." He said. "The young one doesn't appear anything close, however."
"Does this mean you'll take me to see it?" She was hopeful.
"Of course I will. The Water Temple won't be angry."
It was only a moment that had passed before Malon found herself and Dark Link walking through a large door that led into the main boss chamber of the Water Temple. There were two flat-topped columns sticking up out of the water by a foot in the middle of the room, which was nearly a complete rectangle of at least fifteen foot deep water. The walkway around the rectangle of water was at most six feet in width.
Malon looked around her at the sheer size of the chamber, then turned her gaze upon Dark Link. "Is this where Morpha is?"
Dark Link nodded.
"I don't see it."
A small smile came across his features. "You're not looking hard enough."
He walked over to the edge of the water, holding his hand out just above the surface. For a moment that seemed an entire minute, yet only a few seconds passed, nothing happened, then suddenly the water began to form into a small column leading upward into his hand. What appeared to be a strange mixture of three pulsing blue and red balls appeared from the water, moving up through the column and resting on his hand, a bubble of water around it. The water bubble, though it looked fragile in appearance, was sturdy, staying in place even as Dark Link stood, lifting the young Morpha from the water.
He turned and faced Malon, holding the creature out for her to see. "It does not appear as you've heard now, but as I've said, it is still young. In another year, it will grow a little larger than it is now, and be able to control a long, whip-like tentacle of water, just like the one before that Link had fought against."
Morpha continued to pulse as it lie in his hand, no apparent thoughts or actions moving through it. Malon was nearly shocked when Dark Link moved toward her, holding it out to her as if for her to take it in her own hand to hold. She was about to ask if it was safe, and yet she knew Dark Link would not bring it upon her if it was not indeed safe enough for her to handle. Not many could she trust in this way, though not many, she knew, would put their trust in Dark Link's actions. She held out her hand next to his. The Morpha slid over to her hand as easily as if it knew that it would not be harmed as such. Besides the coolness of the water and the pulsing, rhythmic beat as it pulsed inside it's ball of water, she felt nothing.
"It's beautiful." A smile came to her lips. "Almost mesmerizing."
Morpha now was only six inches or so in diameter. Over the next year it would grow exponentially, Dark Link knew, as he had told Malon. Upon then, Morpha would grow more wild, more independent and unable to be controlled, as it could now as a youngling. When it became a full adult version of itself, it would even have the urge to attack those who had protected it, thinking of only the safety of the Water Temple. The magic of the Water Temple could not be released without going through Morpha first. Dark Link could bypass that all, but only on the part which he held part of the Water Temple's magic as a deep ingrained part of himself.
When Malon and Dark Link finally emerged from the entrance of the Water Temple, the sky had grown dark with night, and the night birds could be heard calling to each other as they soared above the lake. Malon remained amazed at the fact that, though she and Dark Link had been underwater in both going in and leaving the temple, they were dry as if they had never touched water at all. She knew it must be part of the magic she didn't understand. Of that she was sure.
Epoch was there on the shore waiting for them. Dark Link was not tired in the least, and Malon found it strange that she was neither sleepy nor exhausted as well. Malon considered the fact that an entire day had passed, and she had to make a decision she herself wasn't all too happy with. She knew she had to return to the ranch. Though because of the sights she had seen this day, she wanted to see what else she could of Hyrule.
However, Talon would be wondering where she disappeared to…
"We'd better get back home before Dad worries too much." Malon told Dark Link, who was standing near the water.
Dark Link removed his gaze from the reflection of the moon upon the water's surface and shifted it to Malon. He could tell from her voice that she didn't want to go. He didn't want to go, either, but he knew she was only telling the truth.
Without uttering a single word, he mounted Epoch and held out his hand to help Malon to mount as well. Malon situated herself behind Dark Link as she had earlier the day before, wrapping her arms around his middle. She didn't see the smile Dark Link expressed from that small action. He welcomed every feeling he received now with open arms, savoring the ones that he received from her.
"What about the Stalchild?" Malon asked when they started toward Hyrule Field.
"They won't bother us as long as we keep to the road." He replied. "The first night I had met Epoch he had been cornered by many Stalchild. I warded them off, and Epoch disappeared."
In only two hours time or so, they soon were riding through the front gates of Lon Lon Ranch, though it wasn't known to Malon. The smooth walking motion of the great black stallion had made her sleepy, and when she had placed her head on Dark Link's back to rest, the steady rhythm of his heartbeat had lulled her at finally last to a peaceful, quiet rest. Epoch stopped just outside of the ranch house door, and Dark Link dismounted carefully as to not awaken her, cradling her in his arms with her head resting on his shoulder as she continued to sleep soundly. At first he had been worried about walking into the building to find a fully awake Talon, then having to explain who he was and why he had Malon in his arms asleep. He dismissed the thoughts. He'd explain if he had to. He was no coward. Upon walking through the front door, however, he needed to explanation.
Talon was asleep in his usual place, the three Super Cuccos roosted on the box at Talon's back. Dark Link carried Malon up the stairs and into her room, laying her upon the bed inside. He took off her shoes and placed the blanket over her to keep her warm. She was naught else but a sleeping beauty to him at that moment. Kneeling down beside the bed, he stroked her cheek gently with the fingers of his right hand. It amused him to think of what his creator would say if he knew what his creation had become. Dark Link knew he had given up all reason when he had become living as he was now, the only reason he knew was to give up being a monster.
People did not love monsters.
That was his reason and purpose here, he decided. He didn't have to create his own purpose. His purpose had come to him. His purpose here was to…
He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips, and a small smile came to her face even while she slept.
His purpose was to love her.