"Why do I have to wear these stupid robes?" complained Link. He had been changed out of his favored green tunic into a set of long black robes with blue lines coursing all over the arms, legs and chest, resembling Midna's headpiece.
"Because your other set of clothing is bloodstained, torn, and includes a chain mail shirt. It looks like you're riding into combat!" Midna explained frustratingly.
"I don't see a problem with that," he said, shrugging. The entire cloak moved with his shoulders, lifting slightly off the ground, revealing the black slippers Midna had given him. His boots could use with a wash and made too much noise when he walked, not at all proper enough for the castle.
"Well, the Twili will," she said pointedly. "And besides, I think you look very good with that on. It makes you look sage, and with your sword you don't look half bad."
"Thanks," he mumbled. Midna moved from her vanity in the corner of her room over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"You look fine, Link. Now let's go." And with that she started for the door. Link sighed and turned away from the mirror to follow the princess. The farm boy in him had never enjoyed politics. Too much talking, not enough doing. And why was all of this extra stuff needed to look proper? If you're going to talk, just do it. No need to look all pretty. And what was with the way they talked…?
His thoughts were cut off as they entered the meeting hall. Midna sat down at her normal spot at the end of the table, but motioned for Link to stand next to her.
"Bring in Erantaur!" she ordered. In front of her the gigantic double doors opened like the maw of some great beast, and from in between its jaws the mangled form of Erantaur, in his ripped and tattered robes, was spat out. His hands and feet were bound in chain, and a black collar was wrapped around his neck to restrict his magical abilities.
"Erantaur," Midna spat, "This is the last time you will ever see this room," she said,
glaring daggers at him. "However, your life may be spared depending on if you answer our questions…" she said, giving him a sly smile, "…Or not."
Erantaur merely smiled. "We shall see," he said, giving her a grin to match hers. The smile sent a shiver up the princess' spine, but she did not show one bit of disheartenment.
"I'll skip the official crap. Who was sponsoring you in this traitorous endeavor?"
There was a short pause, but then he lowered his head to look at his feet. "Them." He said, a slight laugh edging into his voice.
"Who are they?"
Erantaur seemed to be going into hysterics. His voice hinted more and more at insanity as he talked. "Them! They just are! It's like an operation without a head! There is no one in charge! They just gave me some of their fighters to kill you with! They convinced me that it would be so easy… Until he came!" He pointed a vile finger at Link. "That disgusting light dweller!"
Link took a step back, but quickly recovered. "Good," he said, "I hope I get to run my blade through more of those wretched things." He held up his blade and pointed it at the former council member.
Erantaur went pale. "That… That's…" he stuttered, but no words came out.
Link merely looked at him. "The sword of Twilight," he said, finishing his sentence.
The entire council stared in awe. In all of the excitement, they hadn't noticed Link's sword, which now seemed almost to glow with a black aura.
"How…how on Earth did a disgusting light dweller obtain that sword!" Erantaur shouted in a fit of rage.
"SILENCE!" Midna yelled over Erantaur's cries of protest. "Need I remind you who is under the chains?" she whispered in a deadly voice. Erantaur shut up immediately, but the look of anger never left his face. Link just started twirling around his sword, taunting, daring Erantaur to make another retort. Midna gave him a look to stop, but Link just couldn't help himself. It was as if his body was on autopilot. "You only wish you had the power to wield this blade. But you're too weak!"
Erantaur was nearly foaming at the mouth, and even tried to lunge at Link, but he was restricted by his chains. The young warrior was about to bring the blade down on his head, but Midna stopped him.
"LINK!"
His head turned to meet her gaze, and he slowly let his arms down. He blinked a couple of times, seemingly not knowing what had just happened to him. Midna gave him a concerned look that was quickly swept away as she faced Erantaur. She continued on with the interrogation It didn't make any sense. He shook himself of this feeling and paid attention to the interrogation.
"Now," Midna began, "I will ask you one more time. Who are they?"
Erantaur smiled viciously. "I told you before and I will tell you again. They just are! And because they exist, they will rend your flesh from your bone. It's a mindless operation, they exist to kill."
Link let out a snort and opened his mouth to say something, but Midna quickly cut him off with a glare.
"That is not enough information, and you know that. Tell me more!" Midna was getting frustrated now. She knew yelling at Erantaur wasn't going to solve anything, but she needed answers and she needed them now.
Erantaur started to laugh. It was so evil, so maniacal. It sent shivers down Midna's spine, but the princess carefully trained her face to not betray any emotion.
Suddenly, he stopped his cackling and looked straight into Midna's eyes. She just stared back until she saw what had happened. His eyes were gone! Nothing remained but empty sockets, a conclave of black bone.
"Don't you see? I sold my soul to them! And they spared me! Haha, don't you see. And no eyes! Heh heh heh…" He snickered at his own terrible joke.
Erantaur's laughing stopped abruptly and was replaced by a sharp scream of pain. Everyone in the room looked at him in confusion. Why had he just cried out like that? Nothing had hurt him…
Then, suddenly, his fingers began to twitch uncontrollably. The twitch moved up into his arm, then into his legs. Finally his entire body was twisting and contorting itself like a rag doll. Then, suddenly, a huge chunk of flesh on his shoulder ripped off, strings of muscle falling off and hanging from his bones. Then part of his side did the same thing, the piece dropping to the ground. It was as if an invisible force was eating him alive. Midna was about to run to Erantaur to shake some answers out of him, but Link restrained him.
"No!" he said, "We don't know what's going on! You could be hurt, or worse, killed!" Midna was easily convinced, and stood next to Link as they helplessly watched their only source of information be torn apart.
Erantaur started spluttering for air as the invisible force attacked his lungs next, sending tiny bits of his organs onto the walls. Soon after, it started gnawing away at his heart, spattering the room with blood. He looked Midna in the eye, with the same piercing look he gave her before. He opened his mouth to say one final thing before he took his final breath.
"They're coming."
Then, suddenly, everything went quiet. Whatever was happening to him had stopped, and he fell limp onto the floor. Link was there, trying to comfort her.
Midna's hands fell to her sides, clenching and unclenching. "I guess that's all we have to work with," she said through her gritted teeth, ignoring Link's concerning voice.
Suddenly, one of the council members let out a scream. A bone with hunks of flesh still attached to it was rising up into the air, which was soon followed by another across the room. The entire room stood in awe as they watched the pieces of his body move autonomously. They began to gravitate towards each other, the last bits of flesh melting off like water onto the floor, dripping against the cold stone. They slowly clicked into place to become the skeleton of the Erantaur, glowing red eyes filling the sockets. His black bones looked perfect and untouched like a museum piece. Then, without warning, it rose its head into the air and let out a roar like a lion, only with screeches interlaced with the horrid sound.
Then, slowly, it lowered its head and stared at Midna and Link. "You see?" he said, "They saved me from their wrath! And I am more powerful than I could ever imagine! Let me show you…"
He turned to one of the council members and lunged for them like a spring-loaded cat. The member was barely able to roll out of the way as he hit the stone wall face-first. He was not deterred at all, and he renewed his chase.
Link would have none of this. He began to wave the sword through the air in intricate motions for not even half of a second, then he pointed it straight towards the ceiling. Then, without warning, a gigantic sword the size of a man fell directly onto Erantaur's skull, smashing it to bits just as he was about to tear out the council member's throat. The rest of his bones fell onto the floor, clacking on the stone like a rain stick. The sword itself disappeared into black smoke.
Once the tension in the room settled, the walls and floor were cleaned and Midna sat down in her throne. "Ladies and gentlemen of the council, I believe that we have no other option than to prepare for war once more. I just wish that I knew when the attack was coming…"
"Six days," said Link, "We have six days, including today, to prepare for battle."
"Battle?!" exclaimed one of the council members, "We can't fight an army of creatures like that! We must flee, while we can!"
"Quiet!" exclaimed Midna, "After today's events, we are all too rattled to make any decision. Five days will be plenty of time to prepare the troops if we must, since our army is ready at a moment's notice. For now I think we should take a day to clear our minds."
The council members nodded, and Midna adjourned them before they all got up out of their seats to their rooms. Link escorted Midna back to her room, and they talked on the way there.
"What the hell just happened?!" yelled Midna, not bothering trying to be quiet for the rest of the hallway.
"I think I know…" said Link, "…but I don't think you are going to like it."
"Tell me anyways! I need to know!" She was panting at this point. She didn't know enough. She had to protect her people, but she didn't know enough!
"The ghost who taught me and I talked a lot about the army during our breaks. They are called Corruptors. They take the bodies of other creatures and place a curse on them, turning them into skeletons to be used in their undead army. They once tried to take the sacred realm, but were pushed away by the other evil forces that created the Fused Shadows. And so, they decided to take the roundabout course of taking the world: by force."
Midna slowly became more disheartened as Link spoke. 'How are we supposed to fight an army like this?' she wondered. Suddenly, she dashed for her bedroom and slammed the newly repaired door right in Link's face as he was pursuing her.
"Midna!" he called in after her, but all he could hear was muffled sobbing. "Midna, please let me in!"
No response.
Link felt helpless as he leaned against the wall next to the door. As selfish as it was, he wasn't concerned with the well-being of the Twilight realm at this point. He didn't care about the castle, the people working in it, the inhabitants, or anything. He wanted to take care of Midna. But at this point, it was the one thing that he was unable to do.
The young hero examined his sword, the fine curves that were in the flames, the sharp tips at the ends… It was entrancing, and he ran his finger along the edge. As he reached the tip though, he pricked himself. He inspected the wound and the red blood coming out of it. He licked off the blood and wiped it off on his robe, then began to stare at the blade again.
Suddenly, he realized that his pricked hand was beginning to feel chilly. He looked down at it and found that more blood had come out, but it was different. Instead of the traditional red it should have been, it was purple. He remembered the blood of Erantaur, how it was exactly the same shade his blood was now. He looked at the back of his hand, and found that his veins were turning purple. Then, from the spot he had cut on his hand, his skin began to turn black. He started breathing heavily. "What… what's happening to me?!"
He dropped his sword and pinched his wrist, but he could not stop the black from crawling up his body. He began to scream as he fell down the wall, and Midna quickly bolted out of the door from her room. When she saw what was happening to him, she knelt down beside him. "Are you okay? What's happening?" she asked.
Link could not answer. His body was beginning to feel cold and he started shivering. Thin blue lines began to cover his skin as the black began to crawl over his skin. His screaming suddenly stopped, as the black finished covering him head to toe. He fell from his sitting position to his hands and knees and proceeded to void his stomach of its contents, making a mess on the floor.
Midna quickly pulled him up and sat him down on her bed. "Link," she asked him, "What's going on?"
He slowly raised his head up to look at hers, his blue eyes penetrating her amber ones.
"I…" he stuttered, "I think I'm one of you again."