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Cia's steps echoed up the stairs to the mezzanine and throughout the halls of the Temple. If she had not been walking up these stairs for as long as she could remember, her haste probably would have tripped her. She swept up the stairs and straight to her room, swinging one hand behind and casting magic to pull the doors shut with a heavy thud. A simple glare at the doors at the opposite end of the room cast forth the magic requited to slam them as well, setting the Temple ashudder.
She was barely a few steps into the room when she outstretched her arm to the corner of the room and drew the crystal ball to her. It met her in the middle of the room where she grabbed it from the air and sunk to the floor. The moment her fingers touched it, it leapt into life, flashing the same images it often did. This Link, that Link, every Link. Cia wasn't certain it was even Link that she was looking for. I need to find that face, she demanded, and the crystal began to roll through face after face after face. Every face of ever person who has ever lived in the land of Hyrule.
Despite her eagerness, she held her patience. Male, young. Let's begin with every Link throughout time, shall we? She watched the images cycle before her. Every face registered in her mind. The hero of the Surface. The Hero of the Sea. The Hero of the Deep. The Hero of Twilight. The Hero of the Wilds. Some who weren't heroes at all. Some who failed in their destinies. All of the Link's who had ever lived, any timeline or place.
Cia knew these faces all too well. Every one of them, she had studied extensively, and most had at least one dedicated portrait somewhere in her room. She recognised each one of them in a moment and cast them to one side with a querulous demand of Next! Her focus was unbroken. She must have searched through hundreds, thousands, but no sign of this mysterious face. I've never painted anyone but Link... It must be one I do not recognise, I would never paint anyone else!
There she sat in the middle of the floor where she had unmindfully collapsed, her dress cast around her in a haphazard and untidy mess. The flickering of face to face eventually slowed as her frustration grew. She wondered if, among the tedium of her search, would she ever see that face again? Had she already cast it aside? Or maybe she was mistaken as to whether that face even existed. She sighed and let the crystal ball fall into her lap, but she couldn't bring herself to stop searching.
It must have been a long time that she had sat there, and she soon became aware of the numbness in her legs. Taking care to not to drop the crystal ball, she decided to return to the newly completed painting. Maybe looking at the face again would refresh her memory, but if not, at least the journey would stretch her legs. She opened the doors once again with a small sweep of her hand, passive to the quaking creaks of the hinges complaining under the weight. Cia once again passed through through the temple, down the mezzanine stairs and back to the entrance hall, this time with the crystal ball suspended carefully between her hands.
The Sorceress stood before the painting once more. The face was so different to the one she was intending to paint, there was no way it was just a dash of misplaced paint. She scowled and raised the crystal ball, levelling it with her view of the face in the painting. The Hero of Winds. The Hero of New Hyrule. The Hero of the Goddesses. The Hero of the balance.
Cia paused. Hero of the balance? her focus flicked from one face to the other. But I know of him. He was the hero who... Who... Her gaze became distant as she racked her brains. I... I don't remember. She prompted the crystal to show her more of his life, and it obliged. She saw fleeting images of crop fields, travelling, but mostly, a girl he seemed to be fond of. But no matter how much she urged the images to stop, they would not yield and allow her audience. Something was stopping her from watching this lifetime, unlike the others. She was usually able to watch the hero's entire life unfold before her, and yet, this one refused to let her watch. I've never encountered something like this before. And I refuse to let this stop me.
The Sorceress pitched the crystal ball away from herself, letting it hang in mid-air as if it sat in its stand. She scanned the images within. Farmland, home, the girl, a horse, a knight, the girl again, then a scene of gore and darkness, and again, the girl. Cia was set on this girl now. If I cannot watch Link myself, I will watch him through her eyes! She lifted one hand and summoned forth her Tome of magic. The elegant hardback materialised in her outstretched hand, falling open. A non-existent breeze flicked the pages through as Cia searched for what she needed. The pages settled on the page she had searched for, and a smile pulled at her lips. She halted the images within the crystal. Not on Link, but on the girl. I will watch him from within her. I will experience her life as if it were my own.
Her sceptre materialised in her other hand and she began casting the spell. It was not one she used often, but one she had used many times before. She was unable to interfere with events, be them history or destiny. She was not allowed to put herself in one of the Goddess's chosen ones, no matter how much she had wished to watch Link through Zelda's eyes. Since Link was the only soul she had any interest in watching, she did not cast this spell much. There were very few people who interacted with the hero enough to gander her entertainment. The last time she recalled using the spell was to experience a few somewhat-intimate moments with the Hero of Twilight before his journey through the farm girl he was friends with. Those moments were tame and short-lived, as well as being few and far between.
When the spell was complete, she began to feel her consciousness slip away from her. She knew that her body would stay where it was, essentially comatose while she lived another's life. That did not matter to her in the slightest. A fervent smile crossed her face as the last of her senses slipped away from her, absorbed far, far away into space and time.