Welcome back dear readers. Sorry the last chapter was so short, I think I am coming down with writer's block. Anyway, those of you who have played and completed "Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep", or have at least gotten far enough to learn the truth about the masked boy, will pick up the meaning of the title. So, here it is.
Chapter 8
The Vanitas Factor
As Link and I continued onward into the Water Temple, I started to feel uneasy about something other than the presence of that which I fear the most. There was some strange presence about the place, currently stronger than what I was certain was waiting for in the deepest part of the temple. Link sensed my unease and rested his left hand on my shoulder. In his touch I felt invincible courage (A/N: I do not own the term "invincible courage," the Kingdom Hearts series does) in his touch, and was certain that his bravery alone could overpower the Chaos Emeralds easily. (A/N: If you have not picked up on the fact that I'm writing it so that the Triforce is more powerful than the Chaos Emeralds, you're either not paying attention, or are just plain silly, no offense to anyone) I wondered why is it that he, Sheik, the Gannondork all have affinities that can easily smash the emeralds. Eh, it's not important right now. I had to focus on the mission at hand.
We eventually came to a room that looked remarkably out of place. An ankle deep lake covered the floor, and the entire place was an expanse of white. Aside from the doors, the only feature visible was a tiny island with a single dead tree on it. We headed over to the other side of the room and found the door was sealed. I turned around, and stopped dead in my tracks.
"LINK!"
The Hero turned as well, and was definitely more amazed then I was. Standing on the island was a figure that looked exactly like Link, only it was completely black and had blood red eyes. This Dark Link beckoned the true Link, drawing his sword as if ready for battle. I prepared to charge at it, but Link stopped me.
"What is the problem?" I screamed at him.
"This is MY evil doppelganger, Sonic," he answered. "I'll have to do the actual fighting on my own." He drew the Master Sword from its scabbard, slowly approached the shadowy imposter. It strongly reminded me of my first encounter with Shadow, as the Dark Link had the same fiery look in his bloody eyes I've known for so long in the ultimate life form's. The main difference was that the fire in Dark Link's eyes was more fierce, enraged, more evil than the strongest demon, while with Shadow, you would sometimes notice a kind of… gentleness in that fierce blaze.
The two Links held out their blades, so that the tips met at the point exactly in between them. Then, the battle began. Link would slash at his evil look-alike, and the oither would block the counter. Sometimes Link would land a hit, other times Dark Link would get in a good cut. Mostly, however, Link would avoid severe injury and only receive minor cuts. I grew worried about this. It seemed as if Dark Link knew exactly what my Link would do, and prepare for it. But then again, he was basically fighting himself. The battle went on for nearly an hour, or at least it felt like that. I never really was a patient person. Dark Link then sidestepped one of Link's attacks and immediately cut his exposed backside.
I was completely shocked at this. He completely avoided his opponent's gaze and attacked from behind. I could not take this.
"You coward!" I screamed at the dark clone. "How can you just berate your foe like that!"
Dark Link turned towards me, anger evident in his eyes. While he was distracted, Link quickly turned and send a sword uppercut at his doppelganger, cutting the guy clean I in half. As Dark Link vanished, the scenery in the room changed, and it seemed to fit in with the rest of the temple better. I ran over to Link and saw that he was bleeding a little.
"Are you okay?" I asked him.
"Yeah. It's just a scratch."
He pulled a bottle out of his bag and drank the red potion stored within. At once, his wounds healed and he was back on his feet.
"Thanks for the help."
"But I thought you needed to do the battle on your own."
"I said I had to do the ACTUAL FIGHTING on my own. I never said I had to do the battle as such."
I smirked at his statement. We continued on, securing the Longshot form the room past the arena were we fought Dark Link. We eventually came to the deepest part of the temple. This was where the monster preserving the curse on Zora's Domain would be waiting. We headed into the room and saw a room with several spikes along the walls, and four platforms in a large pool of water. That stuff just did not seem natural for some reason. I heard something, and looked upon some of the pool rising to form a kind of tentacle, within which a sinister nucleus was hiding. So, it begins. Morpha, the giant aquatic ameba. It disturbed me as much as it intrigued me. Link and I prepared for the assault.
Well, that is it for the eighth chapter. After this battle, the sage of water will be awakened. Which means, Sonic's friends will be arriving in Hyrule soon. Oh, and thanks to Heart of PureSilver, for helping me come up with the insulting nickname for Ganondorf.