Illuminations of Mind
Chapter 2
Start
The council gathered, taking the nine seats around the large, circular table beautifully engraved with ancient Twili letters around the edges, and a huge Tielna Kingdom symbol in the center. The room was almost entirely dark, save for the lamps behind each seat, giving off an eerie golden glow.
"It has been a long while since our last meeting." One of the members spoke. He was Malric, the 'leader' of the Council of Twilight, which ruled directly under the royalty of the kingdom, and at the time, that royalty was Midna, the Twilight Princess, who now had been trying mercilessly to give up her royal status and allow the council to take over.
Midna knew that with Malric leading them, they would rule the land wisely.
"We gather here to discuss what should be done with this kingdom, as our princess has ultimately given up the throne."
"She cannot." Another of the council retorted, slamming his hand on the table, "She cannot be allowed, our kingdom has for ages been ruled by her bloodline. That cannot change."
Malric sighed. He was young, in his early thirties, and was used to dealing with Niloc's objections to almost everything. "Yes, Niloc," He stated calmly, "But I see no better option. With Knil and her friend from Hyrule here, forcing her onto the throne would only cause them to break her out and flee the country."
Niloc slid back in his large, iron seat, and thought this over. Then he spoke, low at first, then loudly, "It still must be done. I stand by my method."
This stated the talking, and the council members began to consult each other's opinions. The entire room was loud, only two members not speaking. There was Malric, waiting for the sound to die down, and then another.
Xelos, was his name. Malric didn't like him too much. He was the newest member of the council, elected not two years ago, before Zant's takeover. He was a strong man, stubborn, young like himself, calm, but highly tactical and an expert in foreign affairs and knowledge of the world connected to theirs, the Light Realm, the realm that Zant had so desperately thought belonged to the Twili, and wanted to take for himself.
The chattering continued, and Malric, tired of all the noise, attempted to quiet the council from its uproar. He succeeded, then, something happened that Malric would never have suspected. Xelos spoke for the first time in many months.
"My dear brothers," He began elegantly, his voice powerful and ambitious. The whole council went silent, ears open for his rare opinions, "Not to suddenly change subjects, but I have a proposal to make to you." He stood, and began to walk around the table, "You all remember not a year ago, when our tenth council member Zant, made a deal with a demon, and almost took our entire country for himself. The greedy bastard." He smirked as he said this, slightly lower key than his speech, "Zant also invaded the Light Realm, as we all remember, nearly adding it to our lands…"He paused, caught his breath, then spoke again, "Until our fair Midna and the one from the other side, Link, defeated him and the demon he became possessed by, killing them both in the process. Such an event none of the people living in our borders will forget easily, yet also an event of inspiration."
Some of the council was murmuring to each other now, yet Malric still had his eyes locked on the man called Xelos, who he began to question to himself of madness.
Still, he kept on with his speech, "An event that has me thinking, why should we stop now, and destroy Lord Zant's dream of ruling this world and the one connected?" As he said this, nine knights entered the room, and stood behind each of the council members. The Council was not surprised, as Xelos had done this before for seemingly no reason at all. "My brothers, I propose, that we continue Zant's dream, and add the Light Realm to our own borders. Their world rightfully belongs to us, and we should take it back-"
"That's enough, Xelos." Malric stepped in, his voice angered and his fists clutched like stones, "We will not continue to listen to your speech of war! That idea is outrageous! We cannot anger the other world even more than we have, their rulers will hunt us down and destroy us!"
"Ah, yes, however, I plan to invade Hyrule first, and if memory serves, all they have left of royalty is a young and naïve princess, much like us."
Xelos took his seat, before asking the final question, his arms crossed across his chest, "So, members of the council, who among you will follow me into completing Zant's grand ideals?"
At first none moved. Then four of the members, including Niloc, nodded.
"T-This is madness!" Maric sputtered, your planning for war this soon after almost all of our nation was enslaved by a madman!?"
Xelos grinned, teeth barred, "Ah, my good Malric…I had really wished you would accompany me, your skills are so well developed to be wasted."
"I would rather die than follow you."
"Ha. Cliché, but so be it."
Malric looked at him questionably, then all emotion was shot from his face as the knight behind him impaled the man with a long, black blade. Malric stared at a smiling Xelos, crimson blood oozing quickly from his chest and mouth. His eyes went golden yellow as the soldier twisted the blade that impaled him, before removing it and allowing Malric's bloody corpse to splat on the table, his pupil-less eyes still on Xelos. The members of the council were speechless, staring at their dead leader's body with pure horror in their eyes.
Zant's right hand man stood, and snapped his fingers. Every member of the council who had not nodded at Xelos suffered the same fate. The meeting ended, and only four members remained, along with their new leader.
He then cleared his throat, smiling warmly at them all, "Thank you for your cooperation. Come with me, we have work to do." He then walked out of the room, the uneasy remnants of the council following him, maybe out of newfound loyalty and admiration, or more likely out of fear of whom they knew would go to any lengths to acquire what he wanted.
They descended the stairs, ending up in the right wing of the Palace of Twilight. The halls were quiet. They walked during the sleeping hours, yet no one could really tell if it was night or day, the sky never changed from it's black and yellow glow.
Xelos stepped onto the final stair, and was greeted by his lieutenant.
"The council has been disbanded, proceed with disposing of the bodies," Xelos whispered into his ear, as he continued out of the palace, the general nodding to him and heading up the dark blue stairs to the council room.
Link, Midna, and Knil did end up late, much to the annoyance of their instructor. He would complain that Midna was never late until Link showed up, and now questioned exactly what they were doing that made them late almost every morning. When asked this, Midna would just respond, "Oh, Link was finding a way to almost die again." At this, the teacher would simply mutter, 'Heroes…'
Midna was sitting down on the bench facing the sparring field, waiting for her turn to be beat up, yet no one ever really went hard on her, as no one would want to purposely beat up their ruler. The fact that she didn't want to wear the crown was irrelevant.
Link was sitting beside her, his head up in the clouds, wondering how long it would be until Zelda finally found him. The princess of Hyrule had changed a lot in the time he had known her. She had never known about the world outside the castle. A week after her father died and she was to take the throne, Zant appeared. After all the baddies had been gutted, she and Link had visited each other regularly, and he taught her the many joys of the world. Fishing, exploring, talking with friends, being who you want to be, not who the world wanted you to be. It turned out that after a little digging into her mind, she was quite the adventurer and loved taking risks. Link didn't think Zelda herself even knew who she really was, but he helped her find out. And that made him happy.
Link sighed, and closed his eyes, his mind still wandering. The wind was blowing through his medium length golden hair, which made him happy. He really liked the wind, something he didn't understand too well about himself.
Knil was in the huge grassy field ahead of them, beating the living crap out of some unlucky guy who happened to be chosen to fight him. Not many dared to challenge Knil or Link, as they soon found out, were masters of almost all sorts of combat. Yet there was another that could rival their talent, one who was running up to Link and Midna at that very moment.
"Miiiiiiiidna!" Khalia yelled over at them, as she jumped ten feet in the air and landed next to the Twilight Princess on the bench. She was about Midna's height, maybe a little shorter, with neck-length bright red hair. She wore glasses only for show, and enjoyed loose clothing on top of tight, such as her green skintight shirt under the black loose one she was wearing.
Midna looked over at her, smiling, "Khalia. I should have known."
"Of course! And a good day to you two, Link!" She smiled at him, yet he was still zoning. Khalia was irritated by this, then devised an evil plot. "So Link, how was Midna in bed last night?"
Link's ears went haywire, he looked at her, shocked, and sputtered, "K-Khalia, yeesh! Don't startle me like that! And I did not sleep with Midna! That's not funny to joke about."
Khalia turned to face Midna once again, only to see her bright red with embarrassment, yet angry at her at the same time. She grinned.
"You know it'll happen."
"It will not, so shush." They whispered back and forth. Link caught very little of their hushed conversation, and really wished he didn't catch any of it.
"Yes it will, and when it does, the entire palace will hear you moaning, and it'll get out, and then to the masses, and then everywhere."
Midna gulped at the thought.
"So, when you do, make sure you go somewhere nice." Khalia grinned at her crimson friend, now with her head in her hands, and put her arm around her.
Link tried not to hear what they were saying, much to his failure. Damn my overly large ears, he thought. He went back to zoning, and was completely off guard when another great disturbance came along. She was slinking behind the bench, and Link caught scent of her far too late.
"Link." Risa said calmly, her arms around him from behind the bench.
"Risa. You seem happy today. How are you?" Link inquired, smiling at his blood orange haired friend. She smiled back at him, her half and half black and pale colored face displaying a relaxed smile.
"Risa. Unhand him." Midna said annoyed from the other side of the bench where she sat.
"Awwwwwww. Defending your lover?"
"Why must everyone go on about that!? It's not true!" Midna exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air and then sighing, letting them down slowly.
"Fine." Risa said flatly, "I won't pester you until I catch you two showing any signs of love, in any way possible. Meaning even if you two so much as glance at each other with passionate eyes, I will annoy you until we're in graves."
Midna groaned, Link laughed. He enjoyed Risa a lot. She was a fun person to be around. Same with Khalia. Damn, Midna had a good eye for friends.
Then the instructor called for Link and Khalia to spar on the field. They both got up almost in exact rhythm, smiled manically at each other, and headed off to certain doom. Link passed Knil dragging the unconscious body of his opponent across the field, and he gave Link a thumbs up for good luck. Link grinned.
They stood fifty feet away from each other, an overly dramatic breeze flowing through Link's hair. He would enjoy this. Khalia was the only one he'd fought yet aside from Knil who actually stood a chance against him. And he enjoyed fighting when it lasted a while.
"Hand to hand only, no weapons or magic." The ref called from the sidelines, "First down or unconscious is the loser." He raised his hand, and the two fighters stiffened. "Remember, you will be graded on this. Commence round one." He bellowed.
"This will be fun to watch, I've never seen these two fight before." Knil said as he sat down beside Midna.
"Oh yes…" Risa agreed without looking at him, staring off at her friends in the field. Midna grinned at him. She had seen first hand what Link could really do, and she assured Knil that Link had never fought at his full potential in the field.
As soon as the call had been made to start, both Link and Khalia began to sprint towards each other. They dashed, and almost collided in the middle of the grassy field if not for their overly flashy acrobatics. Link punched, and Khalia took the opportunity to grab his momentum and fling him across the grass. He recovered, landing on his feet in an awkward position. He groaned, then got back into the game.
Khalia anticipated his attack style and braced for it, ducking as he flew over her, aiming a punch to her head. She kicked him in the stomach as he went, causing him to cough, and land without catching himself. The pain seared through him, but he ignored it.
He had felt worse.
Link staggered to his feet, staring over at a smirking Khalia.
"Mind in the clouds today, Link?" She asked playfully.
"Shush." He muttered, and charged again, this time with much more speed on his side. Link's sudden acceleration caught Khalia off guard, and he took the opportunity to jump onto his hands, and kick her to the face with the speed of a bullet before landing on his feet. He turned back to look at her, sprawled on the ground, eyes dizzy from the fall.
"Round one winner, Link!" The announcer shouted, absolutely no enthusiasm in his voice, as he was not surprised at all by his quick victory.
Link gave her his hand and pulled her off the ground, smiling.
"Dirty." She accused of him.
"Not so, I used the element of surprise, one of the things we emphasize on here, right?" He patted her back cheerfully, "Good fight. You're very skilled you know."
"Yeah, but I hardly match up to a hero." She bore a heartwarming smile now, and Link went slightly red at her words.
"Bah." He muttered.
She only giggled, then went to her side of the field for the next round. Link followed her example, and began stretching a little before the next part of the match.
"Next round, weapon combat." The teacher called over at them, "No dual wielding or shields."
The two friends braced for a long fight, mentally stabling themselves for whatever the other could dish out.
"Commence!"
Link and Khalia both raised their hands to the side, palms open. Link his left, Khalia her right. They both began heavy concentration, and almost instantly, two black blades appeared in their hands.
Link's sword was about medium size, with a highly decorated handle much like that of the Master Sword. The blade was double edged, and had several spikes along it, giving it a rather dark appearance(Pun not intended).
Khalia chose a lighter blade, still medium size, but single edged with a slightly curved blade. The hilt was thin, with almost no guard at all, but quick.
They stood a few moments, before charging each other. Link thrust his blade at Khalia, yet too slow, allowing her to parry the strike. She countered, slashing at him almost perfectly horizontal. He back flipped to dodge it, then did an upward slash towards her, yet she once again dodged, then struck back at him.
"Wow. Look at those two go." Risa said happily, "They have so much confidence in each other's skill that they can assault the other without holding back."
"It is quite amazing. Their skill is almost unmatched." Knil added, as he crossed his legs and leaned back into the bench. The air was refreshingly cold, the way he liked it. He breathed deep while closing his eyes.
"You know…" Risa inquired, "They're so confident in each other…they might have certain feelings about each other…" She looked over at Midna, her eyes glowing devilishly.
Midna shot her a pissed off look, but Risa only grinned at her.
"I thought you said you would stop with the teasing?"
"I take it back, it's too much fun," She looked to Midna, who was now obviously on the edge, "And you can't deny it Midna, every time Link with someone other than yourself is mentioned…you get all worked up inside. Like you can't let it happen."
"Argh. Risa, just drop it. It's hardly worth going on about."
"Fiiiiiiine…just promise me you'll invite me to the wedding."
Midna glared at her, and Risa reverted her attention to the Brawl not 40 feet away from them.
The two opponent's dance continued, exchanging slashes and counters time and time again. Link thrust his blade towards Khalia, she dodged, and returned with a thrust of her own. It went gracefully for a while, until Khalia got under Link's blade, and punched him in the gut. He coughed, and then whirled his blade in a full three sixty degrees. She was surprised at his sudden attack, and for a split second lost her balance. Link took this as a golden opportunity. He came down on her full force, with Khalia blocking only quick enough to save her life. Link's black and green blade bounced back almost instantly from his friend's as he hit it, with Khalia's sword shattering upon the impact.
He stood for a moment. His blade was at his side when he dissolved it. The young Twili looked up at him, smiling. He put his hand out for her, and she took it. The teacher yelled out to the other students, acknowledging Link of his victory. The crowd of people on the edge of the field was hardly surprised. After all, he was an unbeatable hero, slayer of both Zant and the Dark Lord Ganondorf Dragmire. No one could beat him. Right?
Link and Khalia returned to their small circle of friends complementing each other on the fight.
"I'm was really impressed by that spinning slash you performed, Link." Khalia commented as she sat down in between Risa and Knil.
Link grinned. "Thanks. Your form was excellent today, you know."
She grinned back at him. The two locked eyes, mentally challenging each other to a rematch sometime. Link sat on the grass in front of Midna, facing the group.
"So, now what?" He asked, stretching, then yawning.
"I'm not sure. What do you want to do, puppy?" Midna asked him teasingly.
He smiled.
"Well, I see no reason for anything drastic. How about just enjoying the nice weather?" Knil said softly, one eye open. He was very relaxed, as if he were sleeping. Khalia was cuddled up on his side, making a low purring sound. The two were very close. Brother and sister, even. As such, they were very open about being physically close to one another, and sure as hell weren't afraid of showing it.
Link was lying down now, looking up at the dark golden sky. Its patterns reminded him of something. A golden wolf. He knew it was important, but couldn't grasp it at the time. He let it go, and looked to his side. A orange flower was sprouting next to him. Quite beautiful, he thought. It was sort of wavy, flowy, and silky. Absolutely gorgeous. Smooth…like Midna's hair…wait what? He was scrambling mentally, trying to stop himself from wandering like that anymore.
"Link? You had better not be thinking something perverted. You're all red." Midna teased playfully.
"It's not like he can help it, Midna. Not with all us beautifully busty girls around." Risa said jokingly.
Link was even redder now, and trying to look somewhere away from them, yet he was failing quite miserably.
Knil was grinning in his false sleep, Khalia was also red and trying not to listen to them, sinking further into the twilight hero's side. Midna gave Risa a look, likely about the 'busty' part of her tease.
Risa tried to look innocent, succeeding slightly, but Midna could see right through her. Two more students had been picked to spar with one another, with people in the sidelines actually paying attention, now that the fight had no obvious winner.
"Link…what was the Light Realm like?" Risa said after a while, Knil and Khalia likely to actually be sleeping now. If they were still awake, they didn't show it. The breeze in the air was blowing the tops of the trees around the field, and Link felt a sudden change it it's meaning. He missed Hyrule. He loved Tielna, sure, but Hyrule was his home. He had family there. This whole going between worlds thing was really becoming problematic.
"Link…Hellooooo? Anybody in there?" Risa asked him. He stopped his train of thought, then went back to the question.
"Well…it isn't really that different. Sure, the sky isn't yellow and little black sparkiles aren't falling from the sky, but there are trees, animals, and mountains just like here. I'd say the main difference is the races. Here in the Twilight Realm, the only humanoid race you have are the Twili. In the Light Realm, we have a lot of races. Hylians, Zoras, Humans, Gorons, the Rito, Verens…the list really goes on."
"Wow. When you and Midna had your big and romantic adventure there, did you meet most of these races?"
"Actually," Midna began, "Some of the races such as the Rito and Veren don't really inhabit Hyrule, the country we were fighting in." She said as she shrugged, and then added, "Though I really would like to see some of them."
"Hey, if we ever get back there, I'll introduce you to some of my friends who are of the races we didn't encounter," Link told them happily.
"Wow." Risa exclaimed. "How many people have you met?"
"A good number. They're all wonderful people and you'll love them all as much as I do if you ever meet them."
Risa smiled, then added, "Well, have you slept with any of them?"
"No." Link said flatly. "They're my siblings, not my pleasure devices."
She laughed. "Midna tells me the majority of them are girls. Is this true?" She was sitting on the grass in front of him now with Midna on his left, and wearing a new shade of red.
"…Yeah, it's true. And I love them like sisters, not lovers."
"Oh, come on." Risa said blatantly, "I'd bet some of them have the hots for you."
"Look, no, okay? Of my friends back in Hyrule, none of them appeal to me in that way."
"But you're the Hero of Hyrule!" She practically yelled at him, "You saved the whole damn Light Realm from certain doom! And you mean to tell me you haven't gotten any action at all!?"
"Well…I'm kind of…well…a…" He was slipping on his words as he tried to explain.
"A virgin? The great hero. A virgin." Link and Midna could tell her mind was not grasping the possibility.
"Alright, Risa, he's a virgin! So am I, and you, and Knil, and Khalia as well! What's the big deal?" Midna said harshly after being silent for most of the conversation.
"Well, he is a hero...I only figured in the other realm a hero would be more appreciated by the girls." She lowered her voice back to regular, calming herself, "And how can you be sure Khalia, Knil, and I are virgins?"
"Well, let's see. Link's 18, I'm 19, you're almost 18, Knil's 20, and Khalia's also 18. I doubt any of us would have lost our purity so soon." Midna concluded, crossing her arms. Link was now lying back and looking at the sky again, zoning out.
"I suppose." Risa admitted, "Well, Link's red as blood, so let's change the subject."
Midna looked over at her heroic friend, and sure enough, his face was as crimson as Risa had described it. He sure did get red easily. How cute. She couldn't stop herself that time from thinking it. Link looked at her curiously, and she could tell what he was wondering.
"Yes, Link," She smiled at him, "I am a virgin. Now why are you thinking that?"
"Meh. Just curious." He said, and went back to looking at the sky.
"Riiiiiight." Risa said.
They both shot her an angry look.
The air was refreshing, a cool breeze flowing through the trees. The sky looked the same as did every day for the past 2000 plus years. The field was filled only with one pair of fighters as he approached. The instructor was hitting students who were making bets on the fight with a long stick. Not any sort of weapon, that's for sure. The ground was silent under his feet as he walked up to the teacher.
"Excuse me." He asked the man.
The students went silent, and the lord of the class turned to look at him. "Who are you? Do you need something? I'm very busy right now."
"I am a messenger from General Yuelren. Where can I find the Twilight Princess, Midna?"
"Eh? Oh, she's over there on the bench with her friends." He nodded in the direction of Midna, then went back to his students.
The messenger walked swiftly over to her. The group was apparently talking about things best not described. They were on alert when he arrived. The Hylian boy with the dark golden hair had his hands flexed as if to form a weapon.
"At ease, Twilight Princess." He said softly, then added, "And company." The girl slightly relaxed, but the boy did not. He had a very curious canine-like feel to his presence.
"Who are you, and what do you want with me? You had better not be another idiot trying to tell me I need to rule this land," Midna told him.
"I am a messenger of the General Yuelren. I have come to inform you of some recent news."
"News…?" She asked curiously.
"Yes. Half the Council of Twilight has been murdered. Come with me." Before he turned and began walking, he noticed the absolute horror in her young eyes, and almost regretted volunteering to do this part of the plan.