Notice: This chapter has been revised. You might want to reread it, or some of chapter 7 won't make sense.
Chapter 6: The First Medallion Falls
Ganondorf Dragmire rubbed his head idly as he stared out the window of his makeshift headquarters. Those medallions sure had given him a fair whack in passing. He cursed himself for not realizing what Link had been up to beforehand. Now he'd have to go and track them all down again. No matter…he would simply do what he did last time. He closed his eyes and began chanting, his spirit wandering through the hole into the void and into Hyrule, searching for five certain detached spirits…
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"You know…I've been wondering…you said all these characters are the same ones that are in that video game?"
"Yeah."
"Well…how on earth is that possible? It seems a little too convenient that everything in this video game should really exist in this alternate dimension"
"Hmm…Zelda says that every dimension constantly produces something called "echoes". These echoes are just like sound waves, vibrating through the space-time continuum and affecting the make-up of other dimensions nearby. Hence the reason people in neighboring dimensions look similar, have some like cultural values, and speak the same language. Also, she says sometimes these echoes will condense into strong manifestations in a person's mind, leading them to create something like a legend or a story…or a video game. But they fade out as they get farther away, and our dimension isn't exactly right next to theirs, so our video game probably isn't completely accurate. Not to mention the people who are subconsciously attune to these echoes and create the video game off of them probably used a little artistic license, and were affected by the limitations of technology. So there must be some differences between our video game and what really happens in their world. Heck, all the stalfos speak our language, even though the game has everyone speaking in ancient Hylian. Or maybe ancient Hylian and English are the same thing, and modern Hylian is different or something? I don't know."
"But the symbols for the written ancient Hylian you showed me are so weird compared to written English! How could they be the same thing?"
"…Zelda says there are two kinds of ancient Hylian, the common and the ceremonial. The ceremonial is written on temples and sacred objects, while common is used in everyday speech and writing. The common version is exactly like our English, while the ceremonial is way different. Most people use common when speaking and writing to each other. Although, when sages and important royal people say and write things, they also tend to use the ceremonial text."
"So it's kind of like ancient Egyptian, then."
"Yeah."
These were the voices Julie heard as she blearily opened her eyes. The light stung her dazzled eyes, making her squint. Bright colored blobs swarmed above her, the voice of Jack and Dr. Rivers drifting to her ears. She blinked, and the blobs grew a little closer, taking the relative shape of two men.
"Hey! She's waking up!"
She blinked again, and the beaming face of Jack swum into view above her.
"You ok, Jules? Uh- it's ok if I call you Jules, right?"
She smiled weakly. "…Sure…"
She tried to get up, but her head reeled as if her brain was doing cartwheels inside it whenever she moved. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore the pounding headache that was now making itself known.
"Ms. Kelsey?" Dr. Rivers' concerned voice filtered trough the cranial torment as she dimly felt someone grasp her hand. "Are you alright?"
"…I've never had a hangover…but from what I've heard, I'm pretty sure this is what one feels like…" she moaned.
"Do you know what happened? Why you passed out?"
"No…I just remember a flash of purple light…"
"Weird." Said Jack.
Julie bravely opened her eyes again, squinting at the dark cloudy sky above her.
"…wh…where are we…?"
"In an alleyway, just outside the hospital. We managed to slip out undetected…but we have to be careful. There are strange dagger-wielding lizards everywhere."
"Lizafos?"
"Dinofols." Jack corrected her.
"Oh…great…the fire-breathing ones…"
"Yeah…looks like they had a bit of trouble with local law enforcement. There are wrecked police cars everywhere." Jack said. He looked disturbed as he related this information, and Julie wondered if there was something he wasn't telling them.
"You know, I find it odd that all those armed policemen couldn't take down those…uh… dinofloss creatures, while we easily kept the skeletons at bay with nothing but a couple chairs." Said the doctor.
"Stalfos don't breathe fire, and they're much slower. Plus, we only really engaged them in combat once, and just snuck around them most of the time." Jack explained.
"And guns might not do much against those scales…anyway…"
"Ah."
"What happened with…Ganondorf and Link…?"
"Well, they were both knocked unconscious, so we grabbed Link and dragged both of you out here. I don't know what happened to Ganondorf, his men probably took care of him."
"Link? …is he here?"
"Yeah, but he hasn't woken up yet."
"Oh…damn…I was hoping we could finally get some answers…"
"Well his fairy has been explaining things to us, and so has Zelda, who's been speaking to me through telepathy."
"Yeah…I heard some of your conversation…listen, could you ask her about this thing I saw a while ago that was really weird? There was…this…ugh, how do I explain it…look, you know the video game, Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, a little before I ran into that vortex, I was playing the game, and suddenly it…changed. This freak cinema sequence started for me and everyone else playing any sort of Zelda game. But, it cut off at different times for different people, and after it cut off, the cartridge for the game stopped working. Can she explain that?"
Jack closed his eyes and sat in silence for a long time, listening to Zelda speak.
"…Zelda says she's not sure what exactly you're talking about, but she thinks she knows what would have caused a change in the echoes. See, whenever someone broadcasts magic to go through the void, that magic will create echoes just like the dimension does, only much much stronger. Plus, she says their magic accidentally ripped a hole into our dimension, making that portal thing, and that would make our dimension much more sensitive to the echoes. So sensitive that anything created by the echoes would change to reflect what was happening near the time in her dimension more accurately."
"Then that cinema sequence I saw…that was what had really happened in the Zelda dimension…"
"Basically. And she didn't mention it, but I'll bet that the echoes still faded out as they traveled through our dimension, so that the farther one was from the portal, the less their game was affected by the echoes."
"Then that's why Jon and I saw the most of the sequence! …we were closest to the portal…"
"Er…sure, yeah… And the echoes apparently briefly interfered with a few other electronic devices, like our cell phones. Zelda's not sure why, since she's not familiar with electronics, but I have a feeling these 'echoes' are kind of like radio waves or something, and they interfered with the signal of the cell phones. Zelda's been telling me a lot about dimensional theory and stuff, it's really interesting."
"And…how come she can talk to you?"
"…she says I'm really "psychically intuitive", whatever that means. She's using her telepathic powers to talk to me. She said it's strange, because she shouldn't be able to talk like this with someone like all the way over in another dimension, but our dimension is unusually receptive to her powers."
"If our dimension is so receptive to magic, how come we don't have any?"
"She doesn't know. She said Rauru is looking into it. Apparently they have some old books written by people who did nothing but research this sort of thing. She said Rauru looked worried…she wonders why."
"Hmm…well ask her this. When I accidentally stumbled into that void…"
Julie related all that had happened to her while she had been in the void, and asked for Zelda's explanation on what it all meant. Jack closed his eyes. There was another period of silence, only much longer.
"…Zelda says that when she and the sages sent Ganondorf through the void, what they did was send a thread of their magic to the evil realm, tie him to one end of it, and thus zip him along into the evil realm. That's what the gold rope was. And when you crashed into him, you broke their medallions- and therefore shattered their magic- interrupting the sealing process and allowing him to escape."
Julie was silent for a long moment.
"…it's all my fault then…I'm the one who got in the way…that's what he meant when he said he owed me a favor…oh god…I'm responsible for letting that lunatic loose on Earth…"
"It's not your fault, Jules. You couldn't have known! …And Zelda says it's her and the sages' fault for not being more careful and busting a hole through into our dimension."
Julie nodded, but she didn't look convinced.
It does not matter.
Hissed a little voice in her head.
Nothing to fear from spirit. It is the light that is to be feared.
...what?
The light that banishes, the light that burns. It must be extinguished.
Um...okay...
Do not fear evil's king. He will extinguish the light.
I think you need to shut up now.
The light must be-
Extinguished, yeah, I heard you the first time. You can shut up now.
It burns! It burns it must be banished-
"I said SHUT UP!"
Julie shrieked, this time aloud. Everyone else stared at her. Feeling slightly embarrassed, she looked away, trying to ignore the feel of their eyes on her back.
Is any of this real...or have I just gone insane?
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Alex hurried through the empty street, trying to ignore what felt like jackhammers pounding on the inside of her skull. She couldn't take it anymore. All this steel and concrete and rock…ever since she'd seen that funky flash of green light, she'd felt strangely lost…trapped…disoriented. The once perfectly ordinary suburbian buildings and pavement suddenly felt so imposing, so filthy, so constricting…
Suddenly something inside her seemed to scream, and she lost control of her body and stumbled to the ground. She lay panting on the hard pavement, squeezing her eyes shut against that awful gut-wrenching feeling as she tried to regain her bearings. After a moment her eyes opened, and she slowly picked herself up off the ground. Something wet trickled down her throbbing cheek. Absently she brushed it away, wincing as her fingers brushed the tender skin. She caught sight of a crimson stain on her hand when she drew it away. She must have scraped her cheek up pretty bad. Frowning, she returned her attention to the area around her. She froze in confusion. She found herself standing in a traffic circle, with six perfectly identical streets branching off in different directions. She did not know where she was, and she did not know the streets here very well, but she had a feeling that this wasn't supposed to be here. There was no way any two streets could look so alike…and all six of these looked the exact same, right down to the trash littering each street. There were neither street signs nor numbers visible, and the identical buildings did not have signs either.
The entire area seemed to grow darker as she observed these things, as if the sun had gone behind a cloud. Something did not feel right about all this. Alex swallowed nervously, eyeing the surroundings warily. Then she blinked, and shook herself. What the hell am I doing? There isn't anything wrong here. I must be imagining things…or dreaming. She pinched herself. Nope, not dreaming. So it's all in my head. Great. Well…better find out where I am so I can get home. Of course, now I'm completely lost thanks to that stupid panic attack…I ought to see my doctor about that. It can't be a good sign. And that flash of light I saw…psychedelic, maybe, but not normal. …What was that? Hoofbeats?
Alex turned around, then stopped dead. She found herself staring into the glowing red eyes of a monstrous black horse decked with ornate silver and black armor. With a gulp, Alex slowly backed away from the behemoth, her eyes traveling up from the horse to its rider. If the horse was terrifying, it was nothing compared to its master. The giant of a man who sat upon it glowered down at her with evil orange eyes slit with cat-like pupils. His fiery red hair bellowed behind him, whipped about by a wind which Alex could not feel. He, too, was covered in armor, though it was more silver than black and had some leather pieces as well. A magnificent cape the color of fresh blood hung off his shoulders, its tattered ends also dancing in the non-existent wind.
The man smiled, a sight that sent shivers running down her spine. Then he reached up and, with a hand big enough to engulf Alex's entire head, gripped the flesh directly beneath his jaw. Alex watched in horror as he tore the skin right off his face. Beneath the skin, dripping with blood and torn pieces of flesh, sat not the skull of a man, but of a pig. Two horns grew out from the top of this grotesque, mutilated face, and the creature- for surely it could not be a man- slowly cricked its neck, first to one side, then to the other. It turned the empty pits of its eyes on the trembling girl beneath it, and two red pinpoints of light flared into being in replace of eyes. Then, with an unearthly laugh that chilled her to the bone, the monster reared up on his horse, and charged. Her scream echoed through the empty streets.
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Link suddenly awoke from his slumber and bolted upright. Jack looked back at him questioningly.
"…did you hear that?"
Before Jack could answer, the Hylian man jumped to his feet and ran off. Jack looked back at Dr. Rivers, unsure of what to do. Jack wanted to go see where Link was going, but he was afraid to leave the others.
"Follow him. I'll stay with Julie." Dr. Rivers said. Jack nodded and took off after Link.
He caught a flash of green to his left and followed it at a run. When he caught up to Link, he found the Hylian just standing there, staring off into space.
"Do you feel that?" the hero said suddenly.
Jack swallowed. Yes, he felt it. An aura of abstract fear hung over them both, quickening their heartbeats, drying out their throats, and growing stronger with every passing moment. For the past block or two, the entire street had seemed to grow darker, as if all light was being swallowed by the black pavement. The buildings seemed to grow taller, their dark windows gaping like thousands of hungry mouths waiting to devour them whole.
Link stood frozen, staring at something over his shoulder.
"…over there." his hoarse, urgent voice held a distinct warning note. Jack followed the paralyzed gaze of Link's eyes. He was staring at the windows. Jack's brow furrowed. There was a reflection in the windows that he couldn't quite make out. Slowly, carefully, he approached the window, trying to make out the shadowy reflection that he saw there. The twisting in his gut intensified with his every step, until it took all his will simply to place one foot in front of the other. His instincts were screaming at him to turn back, turn and run until he could run no more…but for once, he ignored them. There in the window, he could just barely begin to make out a figure. He squinted. Was that…Ganondorf? Alarmed, he whipped around. There was no one there. Even Link had disappeared. But the windows…Jack gulped. On every single window the shadowy reflection of the dark lord grew clearer, until his image shown so plain that they might have been paintings. He was seated on a horse, and his head was bowed so that his hair fell forward and covered his face. Jack watched in horror as the image slowly raised its head. Its face had no skin. The grinning skull which leered at him with luminous eyes could not have been that of a man. Horns grew out of the top of its head, and it cricked its neck, first to one side, then to the other. Than the horse reared and the image charged out of the windows with a mighty laugh.
"Crap!" Jack yelped as he finally put all the pieces together. This was Phantom Ganon!
All of the reflections in the windows suddenly turned back as a strange whirring sound shrieked from behind him. Jack whirled just in time to see the one real Phantom Ganon spring out of a violet vortex in a third floor window. Jack saw electricity gathering around the Phantom's staff and, knowing what was coming, quickly sprung aside and rolled away. He squeezed his eyes shut as he heard the boom of thunder, but he felt nothing.
Ha! Missed-
"Aaaaaggggggh!"
Jack opened his eyes. He saw Link standing in front of him protectively, the remnants of green electricity snaking around his shuddering form.
Oh. He leaped in front of me to shield me from the blow. How like him.
Link shook his head to regain his composure, then glared up at the phantom.
"Release the human possessing the forest medallion!"
The phantom laughed, its voice echoing and hissing strangely through the air.
"Release her? Why should I!"
"I can feel the struggle within you. Her power grows faster than you can suppress it. Soon she'll break free on her own, and your power will be shattered! You know what I speak is true. The medallions behave differently in this world. The elements are far stronger here than in our world, and the medallions draw on their strength!" Link's voice sounded very strange all of a sudden, like a second voice was speaking at the same time as him. The second voice was deeper and it echoed as if its speaker stood in a deep canyon.
Phantom Ganon cocked its head, apparently considering the hero's words. "If that is indeed so, than you know the effect releasing her will have upon the elements? Her power will multiply twice as fast, and the balance will be upset! You know what that will do to this world, and to her?"
"Of course I know! But we have to instruct her on how to resist its power before she becomes a monster, and being exposed to you exacerbates the primitive tendencies of the medallion!"
"Whatever has come over you, little hero? Where is this knowledge coming from? Do you even understand of what you speak?"
Link paused at that. His brow furrowed, he seemed troubled and confused. He soon shook himself, however, and when he replied his voice had returned to normal. "It does not matter. All that matters is that you understand my words."
"I do. But I will not release her. I am bound to follow the orders of my master and lighter half. I have been ordered to bring her to him, and I intend to obey."
"Then I will force her from you."
"Oh? How?"
In answer the Hylian drew his bow, notching an arrow and aiming at the phantom. He whispered something that sounded like "lumos", and the tip of the arrow glowed with a golden light. The phantom saw what was coming and reared on his horse, turning and galloping away from the boy. But Link's trained eye followed him expertly, and he managed to hit the fleeing phantom square in the back. The phantom screamed, his horse dissolving beneath him as the purifying light of the magic arrow spread out and touched it. He fell to the ground and turned, his limbs trembling with rage. But on his chest something green had begun to glow, and as Jack peered closer he could just make out some sort of symbol. It seemed familiar, but Jack couldn't quite place where he had seen it before.
Before he could ponder further, Link ran up to the phantom and plunged his hand through the ghost's chest, eliciting a scream of pain from Phantom Ganon. As Link wrenched his hand backwards, there was a blinding flash of green light, and as Link whipped his hand backwards the forest medallion was clearly visible in his grasp. His grip on it must have been loose, for it slipped from his fingers and shot across the pavement. Jack ran after it, but before he could catch it a brilliant green glow engulfed it and it morphed into the shape of a terrified 18 year old girl. She crashed to the pavement with a sharp cry, her eyes wide with fear and confusion. Jack stood and gaped at her. Things just kept getting weirder and weirder.
A roar of rage behind him induced Jack to return his attention to the phantom. He turned just in time to see the nightmarish phantom ready his staff and charge Link. The Hylian sidestepped the phantom and drew his sword, slamming the flat of the blade against the phantom's head. The phantom fell to the ground and stayed there for a moment, then telltale green electricity cackled around his staff and he twisted around to hurl an energy ball at Link. Link slammed the attack with his sword, but his aim was off, and he sent it spiraling off to the side. The phantom growled, turned, and ran for a nearby window, a purple vortex blossoming in a window directly in front of him. In he leapt, the vortex closing again behind him.
Jack turned his attention away then, looking to the girl which had appeared in place of the forest medallion. She sat curled up in a fetal position, her trembling arms clutching her knees to her chest tightly as she rocked back and forth, her eyes wide and unseeing. Jack knelt next to her.
"Are you alright?"
No response. Jack hesitantly laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. She still did not acknowledge him. He leaned closer.
"Miss?"
She was muttering something under her breath. Jack had to strain his ears to hear it:
"Buildings…so many buildings…only buildings…and rock…and concrete…I'm starving…I'm thirsty…I can't reach it…I can't reach it…earth…need…earth…can't…breathe…can't…see…all dark…no sun…gray…black…no more brown….no more green…no…green…can't…can't take…it…the gray…the black…I need…green…I need…brown….blue…air…water…earth…need…can't…take…anymore…"
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Uh..."
"The forest medallion has overwhelmed her voice."
Jack looked over his shoulder to see Link approaching, a strange light glinting in his eyes. His voice had gone weird again.
"Its power grows stronger the longer it draws on the elements of this world, and it overrides the personality of the person it inhabits."
I have a bad feeling about this, Link. Something's wrong with the medallions. They're drawing power from this world at an impossible rate, and it's having adverse affects on the humans they inhabit. It's only a matter of time before you, too, are affected.
Jack heard Zelda speaking, even though she was talking to Link.
Me too? What are you talking about?
He heard Link's response, too.
Can't you feel it inside you, Link? Even we sages feel it, and we're separated by the void. The power of the medallions is growing so strong, they shine like beacons through the fabric of space and time. I fear something has gone horribly wrong.
You mean…I have a medallion inside of me?
Of course you do. Already you know of things which you should have no knowledge of. After all, you bring light where there is darkness and banish the evil of night. Who else would the light medallion be attracted to?
…the light medallion…Zelda…surely something so pure and good can't have any bad effects on anything?
…Link…the powers of every sage can do great harm if they are not moderated, balanced, kept in check. That is why there is need for a seventh sage. But there is no seventh sage there…no balancing force…and without one, I fear, the medallions may grow out of control…
Link looked down at the girl shuddering on the sidewalk.
…out of control how?
Utterly driven by the wants of their elements. Blind to the needs of the greater good. Receptive only to their own power, their own element.
"Only rock…only concrete…earth…need…earth…can't…breathe…can't…see…all dark…gray…black…can't…can't take…it…the gray…the black…I need…green…I need…brown….blue…air…water…earth…need…"
So they will become…
"Can't…take…anymore…"
…monsters.
The girl screamed, her eyes burning green. Her flesh rippled about her, vines bursting from under her skin and wrapping around her torso and arms. The ground rumbled beneath them, spidery cracks spreading throughout the pavement.
"Get off the ground, quick!" Link yelled, whipping his hookshot out of his bag. Jack ran to a nearby alley and tried to jump up to the fire escape, but it was too high to reach. Link ran over, grabbed him by the waist, and aimed his hookshot for one of the windowsills. The chain shot out, caught, and retracted, pulling them both rapidly upwards. They grabbed the windowsill and hung there, looking anxiously over their shoulders at the scene below. Link had been right to get them off the ground. A few moments later, a plethora of vines of various sizes burst through the pavement, the majority of them curling around the legs of the teenage girl until she resembled a snake from the waist down. Her upper body was changing, too. Her hair turned green in color, leaves sprouting from the thickening strands. Her veins turned green beneath her skin, and her teeth grew long and thin, pointing at odd angles like a mouthful of thorns. The creature- for it no longer could be called a human- screamed again, then dove through the fissure in the pavement caused by the appearance of the vines and disappeared from view.
Link and Jack continued to hang there for a moment, Jack's face looking like it could win the award for most shocked, confused, and horrified expression of the year, but Link just looking more tired and annoyed then anything else.
"It has begun." He said. Jack gave him a look, and the two began puzzling about how to get down.
A/N: Wow I got this up fast. Of course, I had this part written out awhile ago, I just had to figure out how to get to it. Don't you hate it when you get a great inspiration for a scene, but it's later in the story and you don't know how to lead up to it? Blah… Also, I'm not sure my description of Phantom Ganon is entirely accurate, but I claim artistic license...to kill. Ha ha just kidding.
…and "lumos" means "light" in latin. They use it in the Harry Potter movies, if you listen carefully (third one).