Chapter Five
The monsters I faced in search of the vessel were ghastly creatures, worse than anything I had seen in the Ancient Cistern: Undead humanoids, that appeared as decomposing corpses, sometimes mummified in bandages and gauze. The entities had the ability to paralyze with a glance and a shriek that seemed to pierce my very soul, freezing my muscles even as my fight-or-flight response pounded adrenaline through my system.
Those ungodly shrieks – the same shriek that had interrupted my feverish dream of Ghirahim, in what I didn't yet realize was a macabre precursor of the Shadow that was to come. Paralyzed, I could do nothing but watch in horror as the first corpse walked toward me, the synapses in my brain firing urgently, desperately, screaming at my muscles to move. Somehow, I managed to break free as the decomposing monster drew near – my sword arm, finally released from its invisible bonds, had flown toward the creature, assaulting it with an almost manic flurry of strikes.
I had scarcely felled the first when I heard that shriek again - felt my body freeze once more. Panic had flooded my system. No! I remember my mind screaming as I fought desperately, willing my limbs to regain movement. It was too close...
As the creature neared, it raised its mutilated face up at me, and a new wave of terror overtook me as I stared into those barren, soulless black orbs in that grim, dead countenance.
The gruesome creature leaped on my back, and I cried out, suddenly freed from my restraints as I felt its icy clutches draining me of my life energy.
It happened accidentally; I dropped the Goddess Shield in my struggle, and the metal fell, ricocheting off the ground, the glowing sacred emblem directed toward the creature on my back for a fraction of a second.
I heard a pained groan, and the stunned creature flew off my back from the force of my struggles, falling backwards. Battle-forged reflexes kicked in, and I pivoted off the ground, leaping up in its direction with the hilt of my sword high in grasp. Propelled by gravity, I thrust the blade down into its chest as I landed, feet splayed on either side of the loathsome monster. My sword caught it directly in the center, and I backflipped away, too much in shock as of yet to wipe the spray of its stinking juices off my face.
Shaken, I scanned the room to make sure it was clear, then allowed myself to stumble backwards into a corner. I caught my breath, courage suppressing a shudder at the memory of the shrieks that left my ears still ringing. I let my frame rest against the cold stone, and focused on steadying my breathing until I could take inventory of any injuries I had sustained.
A couple of minutes passed in this fashion until I had collected myself and steadied my nerves. I cleaned myself as best I could before retrieving the shield. I strapped it back onto my arm, and turned, making my way through the door that would open to the dock.
The ladder up to the platform was high, but I ran up the wall and grabbed it, climbing up to the ledge and turning to face the dilapidated vessel.
The ghostly ship sat in front of me, floating on unholy waters, just as the fortune teller had said.
I replaced the stopper on my first bottle of the Heart++ potion and swallowed the traces remaining in my mouth, feeling the soothing magic of the viscous liquid coursing through my system.
The entire place was a temple, I knew, one of its entrances hidden within passages of the underground crypts of the Ancient Cistern. As I stood on the dock, I knew the area must hold a number of winding tunnels and chambers, and I sensed the hostile energies of the creatures that lurked in the darkness.
But the voice of destiny whispered that these particular shadows were not mine to suppress; perhaps in a different era, a new hero, gifted with the legacy of the Triforce of Courage, would conquer them.
I turned my back on these challenges and focused on the vessel, on the personal quest I had undertaken. I looked at the area between land and ship, calculating the distance between them. I sheathed my blade, and I ran, my boots crunching through the dirt before I breached the gap.
My boots landed on the deck, and it seemed that the moment I made contact, the accursed vessel lurched forward, embarking on its journey upon the unholy waters.
That's when I saw it, a most unexpected mark on the cursed ship: The golden image of the Triforce, on the wood flooring of the deck. My mouth parted slightly, my eyes narrowed in confusion at the mark. But my attention could not linger – I heard the grim sound of a heavy chuckling, and I immediately unsheathed my sword at the presence of two monsters, two skeletal swordsmen approaching me, circling.
Then a damned voice, deep and rumbling, filled the air - the wild thought struck me that the voice surely belonged to the evil I sensed inhabiting this temple, a shadow entity that would attack another destined to bear the mark on my hand.
"Hero from the Skies, you who brave the Realm of Shadows for the sword you seek... You are not the one destined to challenge this Temple. Return now, and leave the treacherous Sword Spirit to his fate."
The voice filled me with dread, and I felt goosebumps erupt as his words echoed through the temple. But my eyes narrowed, and I leaped forward with my blade, as if challenging the very voice with the defiant action.
The red-eyed skeletal creature nearest me raised his sword, but I drove it back with a blow from my shield, stunning the beast. A quick vertical swipe, followed by a diagonal slash, and it was gone, bones falling into a sickly pile. Before the last bone had fallen, I was upon the second, meeting its slash with that curved green blade with my own. I threw his sword off, and drew my sword back to pierce his skeletal ribs with my blade. Its red eyes dimmed, bone and metal disintegrating, effectively ending the creature's activity.
The ship slowed, and I turned my gaze to the nearing platform, spotting a door at the end. I began making a move toward it, but I hesitated; something told me not to to stop, to keep on the watercraft's course. The ship rumbled again, and I nearly lost my balance, quickly righting myself. The ghostly vessel soared forward again, turning a corner, and I gasped – up ahead, further down tunnel we now sailed through, I could see the end of its watery course, a fall of water, the end of which I could not detect.
The ship continued on, in its deadly passage toward the fall. I sheathed my blade, and tightened my pouch as the plunge approached. I inhaled, courage steeling me. Then I ran. I ran toward the front of the ship, bracing myself as it began its fall.
I reached the edge and planted my boot in the wood, hurling myself off the cursed transport, propelling myself as far as I could from the shadowy vessel. I fell through darkness, and I could not see the bottom, the little light filling the Shadow Temple being swallowed by the black void...
I couldn't tell how long I fell. Minutes, hours. But I felt a horrible dark energy surrounding me, waves of Shadow pulsing at me, assaulting my body. I felt vertigo, and I could not sense the direction of body as I felt myself falling, passing through realms.
I continued this way for what felt like ages. Then, dim light beneath me: Unnatural, cursed light that summoned memories of the feverish dream. My hand reached into my pouch, and I pulled out my sailcloth, deploying it and feeling the cloth right the direction of my body. I floated down, my heart leaping as I recognized my surroundings as the location that had featured my encounter with my demonic ghost.
I looked around, noting endless Shadowed lands as far as my eyes could see. A high ceiling, the same as in my dream, letting in unnatural, cursed light. Occasional ceilings projected from stoney labyrinthine walls, stalactites hanging down, hiding creatures of shadow my battle-forged senses could detect.
Once again, I noticed the morbid sediment creating the floor beneath my boots. But this time, I paid it no heed. This time, purpose spurred my courage.
I unsheathed the darkened blade from my boot. Once again, I pressed my lips against the cold metal.
The demon's face flashed at me, smiling his approval as he burned across my retinas. This time, there was no hesitation; I repeated the ritual, cutting a second wound at an acute angle to the first.
His familiar energy took the weapon from my possession, spinning the blade with a flair that seemed so foreign in this shadowed land.
The dark blade directed me. Like a man possessed, I ran to follow.
I won't dwell on the creatures I fought; while numerous, they were mostly reminiscent of the creatures I had faced on the surface, each proving to have near the same weaknesses. Mercifully, I did not encounter the redead again.
Though there was no sun or any other indication to note the passage of time, it must have been days that I continued in this fashion, running, resting, battling enemies of shadow.
By the time I reached the dark lake, I was utterly exhausted, and I had no idea how long I had gone without sleep. I was running primarily off adrenaline, deciding to preserve the last the bottle of stamina potion I had in my inventory.
A glance at the toxic purple lake immediately told me what I needed to know: I must not touch the liquid. Its poisonous color emanated waves even more evil than its surroundings.
My breathing was ragged. Though I hadn't sustained any serious individual traumas during the skirmishes in the Shadow Realm, I had sustained a number of minor wounds from various creatures, and the lack of food and sufficient water had drained me of a significant amount of life force. As much as I hated using one of my three remaining servings of heart potion, I didn't want to risk any surprises in this condition.
I reached for a bottle of potion as I gazed across the lake, straining my eyes through the darkness to discern what lay at the other side. A pull at my chest; somehow, I knew his sword was somewhere at the other end.
I frowned, and bent down closer to examine the liquid; the water was not deep, perhaps just a foot in depth. I looked across the lake again, mentally going over my inventory of weapons in case one would be able to aid me –
An explosion rattled my senses. An eruption, an offensive spray of dirt and rotted flesh cascaded over my body. I whirled from the lake – and the sight before made the bottle of potion slip from my fingers in shock.
An ashen creature, nearly as tall as I, had launched itself out from the very ground. It hunched over with vicious claws, and thrust forward a leering, open mouth, stretched impossibly wide as if to swallow my very soul. As it drew closer, I felt my pupils dilate in horror, as I realized its gray skin was covered in splotches of crimson blood.
I brandished my shield, dismayed to find it had little effect on the creature. With no small amount of haste, I scrambled for the bottle of potion before the thing reached me–
I was too late; another noise, and I barely had time to register the long, red-clawed arms shooting up from the ground.
A ghastly hand had latched onto my head, forcing me in place, and I struggled against the tight grip. But the ashen creature was too close... I clawed fiercely at the hand, struggling to free myself from the monster's horrible grip, trying to fight down the panic overtaking my system. I clawed, and tore at the revolting fingers, but the creature was nearly upon me.
This is it, I thought. Ghirahim, Zelda – they would be abandoned. The sword spirit would be left to his fate, just as the cursed temple voice had said. I was going to die here, in the Shadowed Realm.
I had failed them.
The creature lowered its head, rearing for its fatal attack, and I sent a silent prayer to the Goddess, asking her to grant the next hero better skill, better fortune.
That's when I heard it.
Soft, but rapid pattering, against the gruesome layers of bone and dead flesh that littered the land. I sense the leering monster stop its deadly approach, and I heard a savage blow, a cry of pain. The hand released me as I still struggled, and I whirled from its grip toward the ashen horror, using the momentum to simultaneously draw and swing my sword. My steel blade slashed upward, decapitating the creature and sending its still-leering head spinning though the air like some hideous flying terror. The rooted arms withdrew, retreating at the death of the blood-stained monster.
Hands still trembling from adrenaline, I turned to look at my rescuer. And I gaped at my unlikely animalistic savior, who was now peering at me calmly, curiously, with an eerie, milky gaze.
I was staring at a large creature, just taller than I was, standing on four legs, swishing a thin tail. It was dark crimson, almost black in color, and its fur was matted, presumably from spending a lifetime in this realm.
It had broad, large neck, and a long face, its pale eyes turning to stare at me with an eerie expression that held no malice. Its skeleton showed through thin, but wiry muscles. This creature was undoubtedly of the Shadow realm, but something about it struck my soul, as if I was setting eyes on a being I should have recognized.
More noises. I turned, and to my horror, I saw two more of those leering creatures – even more jarring, I heard a rumble from the ground, and those shrieking, undead creatures rose from the unspeakable sediment.
A nudge on my shoulder. The four-legged beast was prodding its head at me, expectantly. The sudden memory of my Loftwing surfaced in my mind, and I realized with surprise what it wanted me to do.
The ashen monsters approached, and with a horrible chill, I watched the undead army of paralyzing corpses following close behind. I quickly stooped to recover my bottle of potion, and without further delay, I leaped onto the beast's back, turning only to draw my blade to slash at one of the long-stemmed hands that emerged in our vicinity.
The beast turned toward the water, and I fumbled only for a second, grasping onto what fur I could. It reared back, preparing itself, then began its charge through the pool, my shadow beast running unaffected through through the dark waters that surely would have poisoned me.
I held onto to my dark companion as we galloped through the toxic waters, and I gazed toward the dark end of the shallow lake, wondering what fate I approached with such rapid determination.
A/N: Please review...
Seriously, those Redead gave me a freaking heart attack the first time they jumped on me in the crypt where you learn the Sun's Song. Not a lot of GhiraLink interaction here, but I hope the next few chapters will make up for it.
Oh my gosh, guys, your reviews just filled my heart with rainbows! I couldn't believe how many reviews I got!
Shout outs:
Sarah: Hope this was relatively soon!
Jamien Grey: Thanks, I hope you keep reading!
Sun-Flavour: Your review really made my day at work yesterday! I'm really glad you read the story despite the Angst category. I think it's more dark than angsty, particularly as the story develops, but I can't think of a better fitting genre. And thank you so much about the comment on the atmospheres; I never thought of describing it in that way, but I definitely tried to give a different flavor to each character, and each phase of the Link's development here. I'm also really glad you enjoyed the Zelda/Hylia dynamic.
AerieTyger: :D thanks!
Pilpols: Ha, yes! Usually it's the other way 'round.
Torakoh: Yes! I'm glad someone did. God, that was a crazy night. I won't be able to hear the song again without thinking about that piece.
ButterflyBabyBlue: Ahh, thank you for the compliments on Gondo and Zelda/Hylia! I was always fascinated by that part in SS where her dad is all, "You turn into a different person when you worry about Link..." I'm really glad you gave good feedback on Link's emotions about Ghirahim. I wasn't sure I did it in the way I wanted; in a way, writing peripheral characters is almost easier, since we see so much of their personality. A thoughtful Link was hard, and I'm really glad it went over well!
Breaking-Benjamins-Rules: That is my favorite song by Muse, too! The lyrics are amazing. Also, I didn't look up the lyrics to Map of the Problematique until after I finished the chapter, and I was surprised by how much they applied to that part of the story.
Tapix: Aw, thank you! And I agree, that fanfiction is incredible. It's one of my favorite GhiraLinks.
MrMyshka: Thank you for the good review on Gondo! I sent you that response before another idea came. It'll probably be a bit longer than what I indicated. I really appreciate your comment on the characters' emotions! I tried a lot with the different POVs, and I'm glad it translated!
OMG: Ha, yes. That was me in high school.
Bunnylali: I always enjoy reading your reviews! Well, I enjoy all of my reviews, but yours especially. I'm glad I can tug on heartstrings! I hope you enjoyed.