Chapter Eighteen
Iblis isn't mine. He belongs to RococoSpade, and just decided to up and nest in my brain to help me out when I had trouble with this chapter. RococoSpade, you have my unending thanks for being awesome and letting me borrow him. Anyone who wants to see more of him can find him in her fic, "Static Red." (Which you should all go read anyway because it's incredible.)
The next room felt much colder than those previous. Before them a large ferry floated on seemingly nothing, a river of shadow that bridged the gap between the worlds of light and dark. The prow held an image of the head of a crow, its sightless eyes staring ahead towards the yawning tunnel of black.
"We'll have to take the ferry to reach the deeper regions of the temple." Vio said quietly. His eyes were fixed on the book again, and a frown tugged at his features. He looked up and to his left, away from Vaati, and nodded to seemingly nothing.
Vaati lifted him, ignoring the blood that still covered them both, their blood, sticky and wet, dying their clothes an unsightly crimson. Together, they rose into the air and settled onto the boat. Vaati's eyes were drawn for a moment to the large cage he hadn't at first noticed, set back into the wall near the door where they'd entered. He wondered who had been held there, and what their crime had been.
Soft and sweet, the notes of an ocarina rang out in the darkness, breaking Vaati's gloomy thoughts. Vaati didn't recognize the tune, but it was lovely and calming, and filled with magic. So relaxed did it make him that when the ship jolted and started to move, he was caught off guard and fell on his behind with a small yelp.
"Are you alright, Vaati?" Vio asked, lowering his ocarina as he moved to help Vaati up. The ship rose and fell as though on an invisible current as it entered the dark tunnel before them, the eerie chimes of the large bells on its front preceding them.
"Yes, I'm fine." Vaati's eyes were drawn to the crow's head above the arch, watching them pass with blank, empty eyes. He shivered, and moved past Vio to peer at the many half-columns the ship floated past, barely visible in the darkness. "I feel like something ought to be there." He said finally, his voice a mere whisper.
"There is." Answered Vio just as softly. "We just can't see them yet. Wait a moment."
They traveled further along the tunnel, and Vaati understood. If he stared at the columns long enough, he began to see shapes, figures staring back at them. Bloody eyes that saw all set in cowl-covered faces too-pale with death followed their progress, and Vaati felt that they had been watching them all along as they traveled through this place. He heard them speaking softly to each other, their whispers too quiet for him to make out. Vio's eyes searched each face, and Vaati smiled sadly when he realized who it was the boy was looking for.
"This is the gate between darkness and light, the place where shadows lie. These are the spirits of the Sheikah, Children of Lord Iblis who watches over this Temple." Vio whispered, eyes fixed on one of the columns. He fell quiet, listening closely. "These are the ones who will not pass until the debt is paid."
Vaati felt something in his chest give a twinge and he raised one hand to rub at it absently.
"It's fitting, boy, that you're in the House of the Dead. You won't leave here alive." Gufuu laughed, apparently thinking himself funny.
"I don't intend to. . ." His vision came to mind; a blood-red jewel, and the gentle crow who watched over it. . .
There was a snarl in his mind. "You'll never last long enough to make it there, I promise you."
Blue fires burned in the torches ahead. Tearing himself from the confines of his mind, Vaati could see the end of the tunnel approaching in the dim light. The ferry was nearing a dock of sorts that held the eerie blue flames, and Vaati assumed that was their stop. He moved from the front of the boat to the side where Vio stood, wrapping his arms around the child to lift them both to the (relatively) solid floor.
"Wait, stop." Vio held out a hand, backing from him. His serious blue eyes stared imploringly into Vaati's red. "Vaati, do you trust me?"
Surprised by the question, Vaati blinked. Vio had pulled him from his prison, trusted him to help with this task, and been nothing but kind to him. "Of course."
"Then stay on the boat."
It took a moment for that to register. "What?" They were nearly at the end of the river, now, unless the wall ahead was another illusion? Surely that was it, then.
But no. The boat stopped just before it hit the wall, the force of it making them both stumble. It shuddered, and began to drop. Vaati's eyes widened and he grabbed for Vio, intending to pull him from the ship despite his protests.
"No, Vaati! We have to stay aboard!" Vio pushed away from him desperately. "Not yet, we can't jump yet!"
The boat was sinking now, slowly, slowly dropping below the platform.
"Vio!" Vaati called out nervously.
"No! They'll tell us when, and not before!"
Faster now, the boat cut through the shadows, down down down into the darkness. Something screamed past them, ice tore at their skin, but still Vio stayed, eyes fixed to the right of the boat, looking at something Vaati still couldn't see, even as the illusions of light faded.
"Vio, if we go any farther I won't be able to fly us up!" Vaati yelled in a panic as his hair flew around him wildly, carried by a wind not of his own making.
"Not yet! Vaati, not yet!" Vio grabbed his hand, blue eyes determined but oh so frightened. "We have to wait!"
There was a sound like breaking glass, and Vaati shuddered as he felt them pass through the magic of one barrier, then another. Still they fell, so far Vaati thought for sure they must be falling into the pits of hell itself.
Another thing (or maybe the same one?) roared off the side of the boat, visible now where it hadn't been before. It was black and twisted, darkness and power and anger and destruction, one giant red eye as big as Vaati himself staring at them with hatred as one massive hand swung at them-
"NOW!" Vio ran and Vaati with him, and together they leapt into the shadows and crashed through a swirling barrier of shadowy Sheikah magic. They rolled to absorb the impact, landing in a heap on black, frigid stone. Hearts racing, they lay still for several moments.
"Vio?"
"Hm?"
"Don't ever do that again."
Vio laughed and climbed to his feet, offering a hand to help Vaati up. The mage stood on unsteady feet, following Vio towards a door away from the ledge. There were carvings in what must have been Sheikah around the edges of the frame, ancient but well-preserved. Vio bent near to examine them, andVaati took the opportunity to take a small sip from his potion bottle.
"Can you read it?" Asked Vaati after a moment. Vio shook his head.
"No. I can only just make out a few symbols, this is an older dialect. There's something here about Lord Iblis, the Royal Family, and sacrifices, but that's it." Said Vio, shaking his head. He called his book from the shadows- they answered him quickly here, Vaati noticed- but there too he found nothing. "There's no mention of this place in the book. Sheik never set foot here, or he didn't know it existed."
Vaati froze and almost spat out his potion. He coughed violently, taking a moment to find his breath before he gaped at the boy. "You. . .didn't know this was here, and we made that suicidal drop anyway?" He squeaked.
Vio seemed unfazed. "They told me it was here, the Sheikah spirits. They said we would found what we sought if we stayed on the boat. Lord Iblis would guide us. And look," Vio pointed to one of the images, a crow depicted in relief on the stone. Its wide, imploring eyes were painted red, a more faded crimson than that of the Sheikah. Something sparked in Vaati's mind. He knew those eyes, had seen them when he touched the dagger. "That's Lord Iblis."
"Well," said Vaati after a moment, "I suppose we should move on, then." Vio opened the door and slipped inside, but Vaati took one last look over his shoulder. As he thought, three of the Sheikah spirits from the columns stood near the ledge, watching them silently. He felt like they were seeing through him, to the dark beast he hid in his soul. Vaati shivered.
A disgusted noise from Vio drew his attention to the next room and he made his way through the door, shutting it behind him. "What is it, Vio?"
"Don't you smell that? Blood, and a lot of it." Only two torches burned in the large room, with the same pale blue fire as the ones above. Vio was right; the smell was nauseating. Vaati covered his nose and dropped to his knees beside Vio, reaching out to touch the floor in front of them. Unlike the stone in the previous room, this floor was hard-packed dirt. It felt sticky and wet.
The blue light glinted darkly off his fingertips as Vaati lifted them close to his face. His fingers were smeared with blood, and it wasn't his. "By the Three. . ." he whispered, staring in horror at his hand. Vaati thought he might be sick, and Vio didn't look much better.
"Vaati, something isn't right. We have to get out of here, right now." Vio took his hand in his right and drew Sheik's dagger with his left, wincing when he grabbed the hand sticky with the crimson stain from the floor. There was a door across the room, situated just behind the statue of a crow with faded red eyes. They took off across the room with their eyes fixed on the door, cringing when their feet sank slightly into the bloody earth.
It happened too fast. One moment they were dashing across the middle of the room, the floor soft and wet enough to make unpleasant squelching noises when they stepped on it, and the next they found themselves ripped off their feet and hoisted into the air like ragdolls.
Vaati twisted and turned, trying vainly to see what had caught them, and when he finally did how he wished he hadn't. Hands. Dead Hand. Pale and bloated and dripping foul black blood and other fluids he didn't want to think about into his hair and mingling with his own blood on his tunic. He heard a scream and he twisted as well as he could to catch sight of Vio.
His heart stopped.
A decaying mass of putrid, bloated flesh with a neck too long and a wide-open, gaping bloody maw was wading through the soft soil to Vio, suspended in the air by the grip another of the hands had on his left shoulder. The boy kicked and squirmed, but Vaati saw that he had dropped the dagger to the ground.
Vaati panicked. Closing his eyes for a moment to cast the spell, he didn't see Vio call the blade to his right hand with the shadows, nor when he plunged it into the face of the oncoming monster. Vaati's affinity was wind, not earth, not fire, nor water, nor light; his control of other elemental spells was tenuous at best, and nonexistent at worse. Still, lightning shot from Vaati's fingertips, spreading in a wild, uncontrolled arc to the wet ground and the monster lodged in it, passing through its body with what Vaati hoped was enough power to kill it (if it could be killed)-
And straight into Vio.
The boy screamed, the hand seizing around his shoulder with a sickening crunch before it released him, where he fell to the wet, electrified ground. Vaati's eyes flew open when the creature dropped him too and with horror he realized his mistake, ending the spell as quickly as he could. The thing retreated, and Vaati scrambled across the floor, woozy from the sudden power of the spell.
Cold, cruel laughter echoed in his mind and Vaati fought to block it out, kneeling beside Vio to check his pulse. "Vio, Vio, I'm so sorry. Wake up, please? Don't die here, you can't die here!"
Vio woke with a groan. "V-Vaati, b-behind you!" He struggled to sit up, but his muscles spasmed with pain and he fell back, the bloody floor staining his golden hair a muddied red.
Vaati felt the air shift but was just too tired, too slow, the hands snatching him up again. The beast waded closer and Vaati could smell the stink of rotting corpses against his face.
"Go on, boy. One more spell will end you!" Gufuu cackled.
Sheik's dagger was still lodged in its nose. Vaati lunged for it, ripping down and to the side, slashing the creature open. It howled, an unearthly, ear-splitting sound as decayed flesh and rot and blood and slime ran down his arms and the spell on the dagger burned burned burned his hands, making him cry out.
And suddenly he was flying, and not of his own volition. His mind was slowing, and he didn't manage to stop himself before he hit the wall with a loud CRACK. Spots of black gathered in his eyes as he slid down to the bloody floor, watching helplessly as the creature edged closer to Vio, rendered unable to fight by Vaati's own spell. That long, long neck bent, the mouth opening wide and dripping as too-blunt bloody fangs neared the child's tender flesh.
'Please. . .someone. . .'
A loud caw like an angry crow cut through the room, causing the Dead Hand to jerk back and scream as through struck with the lightning spell again, but a hundred times more powerful. The cry sounded once more, louder still, and the monster shuddered and thrashed, throwing itself forward before freezing ram-rod still with its dripping maw hovering dangerously close to Vio's supine form. Vaati forced himself to remain conscious, lifting one shaking hand as he called what little power remained to him, reaching deep, deep, deep until he pulled upon power that wasn't his own. He cast the one spell he swore he'd never use again, feeling something in his soul shatter as he whispered the incantation to turn flesh to stone. The monster seemed to snap back to itself, its arms flailing wildly narrowly missing striking Vio as the sheer power flashed around it, hardening its putrid flesh until it was no more than a terrifying statue, poised with dark, staring eye sockets, bared disgusting, dripping teeth, and far too many reaching, grasping, groping hands. It was terrifying.
His body shaking with pain and exhaustion Vaati crawled to where Vio lay, unmoving. In a scene becoming far too painfully familiar now, Vaati withdrew his last potion bottle, lifting it to Vio's lips. It took half the bottle to correct his crushed shoulder and hopefully repair the internal damage Vaati's own power had caused. There was barely a mouthful of potion left. Slowly he lifted the bottle towards his face. . .
And such a great pain tore through his chest that he dropped it, spilling its precious contents across the ground. Vaati doubled over, clutching his chest and biting back a scream as the liquid seeped into the bloody dirt.
Gufuu laughed uproariously. "You're out of time, boy! There's nothing to protect you now!"
"No!" Vaati grunted. "Not yet, not yet!" His vision flashed before his mind again.
A crow with faded red eyes, protecting a blood-red crystal. . .
An offering of blood to prove intent. . .
An offering of body to pay the debt. . .
Equal exchange, one soul for another.
A life to end that another might rise again.
Vaati reached deep, deep inside himself to a core of strength he'd been certain he didn't have, drawing himself to his feet. He took one stumbling step towards the door and lost his footing, falling to his hands and knees and panting heavily.
"V-Vaati?" Vaati turned. Vio was looking at him, but Vaati the impression he wasn't quite awake, only stuck in that place between reality and dreams. Vaati hoped he'd stay there; he couldn't let him follow any farther.
"Yes, Vio?" He rasped.
"You. . . you'll still be here when I wake up, won't you? You won't. . .leave me too. . .will you?" Vio was struggling to waken fully, sensing something wasn't right.
Vaati hushed him gently, running his fingers gently through blood-matted hair. "Someone will be here when you wake." He assured him quietly. Gingerly he removed his cape, which was marginally cleaner than the rest of his clothing, and draped it over Vio like a blanket. Seeing the soft lavender against the child's skin made Vaati smile. "Blue really doesn't suite you." He murmured, removing his hat and folding it under Vio's head like a pillow. "Sleep now," he whispered softly.
Vio tried to fight it a moment more, but he was simply too tired, and drifted back into dreamland. Vaati felt something like a stir of wind against his neck and turned. The same three Sheikah spirits who had watched them on the ledge stood by the wall now. Their faces were covered and their eyes emotionless, but they looked on still. "You'll watch him for me, won't you?" Vaati murmured. Slowly, as one, they nodded.
Vaati dragged himself across the room towards the door on the far side, the pain in his chest growing more intense with every inch. He could feel the eyes of the Sheikah spirits on him, but he didn't dare look back. He could feel what he knew they saw; black, evil magic coalescing around his body, trying to draw his form into that of a giant beast, a bat with one huge, glaring eye.
"Give up, boy. " He hissed. "It won't hurt so badly if you just give up. There's no need to fight me. You've known this day was coming for a very long time!"
"I will not. I won't! I have to. . .I must pay the . .."
Gufuu's laughter was harsh in his mind, and he threw his influence more forcefully against Vaati's will, bringing him crashing to the floor. Vaati laid there for a moment, watching the dark energy growing more and more solid in front of him. "Sleep, boy. It will be much easier for you. . ."
"NO!" Bracing his small form against the crow statue, he forced himself to his feet. His hands, rendered raw and bloody from the dagger, burned and bled, leaving crimson smears on the crow's exquisitely-carved feathers. The statue's faded red eyes shone brighter. Vaati took no notice of this, forcing his mind to focus on the pain in his hands instead of the demon trying to escape from his mind, and the blue light dimming around him.
Step by slow, painful step Vaati dragged himself to the door. The Eye of Truth gleamed dully in the light, and Vaati reached one bloody hand out to touch its pupil, the heart of the symbol that had held him prisoner for so many centuries, half-alive but dying. The door groaned and slid open.
Gufuu grew more insistent; the pain in his chest spiked when Gufuu's magic took hold of his heart and squeezed, and Vaati clutched his chest in agony and stumbled, pitching head-first towards the unforgiving stone.
Arms wrapped around his chest to catch him, and Vaati felt himself lifted impossibly high by gentle, careful hands that cradled him like a small child. The man's faded red eyes (so much like the statue's) were filled with sorrow, his skin pale, tinged with gray. His attire, as well as Vaati could see it, was strange; a mane of gleaming crow's feathers wrapped about his neck, and the rest of his clothing shone the same fathomless black. Vaati didn't recognize the one who held him, but Gufuu apparently did. A growl, guttural, harsh, rough and not his own, escaped from Vaati's lips.
"Iblis! Stay out of this you meddling, bleeding-hearted fool! The boy is mine! He gave his soul to me!"
The man frowned and his eyes hardened. He pressed one pale-grey hand to Vaati's lips. "Hush, Demon Gufuu. You're in my realm now. You have no power here." His voice radiated with a magic that made Vaati shudder. It lessened the pain in his body and eased the constant pressure of Gufuu in his mind.
Vaati felt control of his senses return to him, but still he found himself staring up at Iblis- Iblis! The Sheikah God Vio mentioned on the ferry!- speechless.
Those red eyes softened, and grew sad as he looked upon the Minish, small at the best of times and looking no more than a babe in the arms of the god, who stood easily twice the height of the average Hylian. "You have come to pay the debt, Wind Mage Vaati?"
Vaati took a slow, careful breath. "Yes. I have come to pay the debt."
The man moved with gliding steps through the door with the Eye of Truth, which slid slowly shut behind them. He walked slowly down the hall behind the door, his eyes scanning the walls and growing impossibly sadder. There were more portraits hung here of the Sheikah, but their illusions had fallen away, revealing the cowled faces and bloody eyes that Vaati hadn't been able to see in the upper reaches of the temple. From each portrait emerged a spirit, a bloody-eyed Sheikah watching them curiously. Whispers broke out among them.
". . .the sacrifice. . ."
". . .the One-Who-Is-Living. . ."
". . .our debt will be paid. He's come. . ."
They stopped before another door, this one too holding a portrait frame, though it was blank. Iblis lifted his hand to open it, but stopped. He looked down at Vaati, his gaze searching. "You will pay the debt, even after all he did to you? Knowing he tried to kill you, and would have seen you suffer?"
Vaati gave a slow breath, that same, strange little smile tugging at his lips once more. "Perhaps my death was his intent, but in the end he gave me something precious." Vaati broke off with a wince, and Iblis laid one cool hand on his chest to soothe him. "He gave me the chance to live as myself again, if only for a short time. He let me see what my only friend has become under his influence. He made Shadow Link happy, and Shadow Link will never be happy again without him." He laughed, a painful, dry noise that sounded more like a cough. "The Shadow I knew would never have taken in a child, let alone his little light, and raised him like his own. He would never have been able to inspire such loyalty and love that the child would risk his life entering this place of death with only a dagger, a bow, and a half-dead Minish to find a way to save him. And . . ." A pained grimace crossed Vaati's face. "It is my fault that Gufuu lives. It's my responsibility to destroy him. There is no other way."
The faded eyes searched his, seeking every truth hidden there. They saw that Vaati was tired. He was tired of living a half-life, alive and yet so close to death at every moment.
"Lord Iblis," one of the hidden Sheikah whispered, "He-Who-Is-Living-But-Dead awaits."
The man made a sound of displeasure at his title, but didn't correct the spirit. He'd tried for centuries. "So he does."
The door slid away and they stepped into the room beyond. Torches flared to life, muted green, pale blue, and fiery red spiraling higher and higher, illuminating the large, circular room but throwing more shadows than fire ever should. There were shelves here, many, many shaded shelves going higher and higher, out of sight past the lines of torches.
"This is the burial room, where my children are laid to rest." Iblis murmured as he glided silently towards the center of the room. "Many pass on, but some choose to stay here in this sacred place, this gate between worlds. Some stay to protect those buried in the graveyard above, some to protect this gate between my realm and the realm of the Three. And some. . ." he stopped before an altar in the very center of the chamber, gazing down at its one lone occupant. "Some stay to watch over him until he wakes."
Sheik looked peaceful, hands clasped on his chest over the tabard bearing the Eye of Truth. A blood-red crystal surrounded him, protecting his body which had lain dormant for a thousand years. "Like the sleeping Princess." Vaati said quietly.
A smile tugged at Iblis' lips. "I suppose he is, but don't tell him that."
The Sheikah spirits had filed in after them, countless dead come to see the debt paid. They each took a position around the edge of the room, all holding instruments in their hands. There were lyres, harps, violins, flutes, and drums. The strings began to play first, a slow, haunting melody that spoke of sadness, shadows and longing.
"Are you ready, Wind Mage Vaati?" The light in the room grew brighter in response to the music, but Vaati's vision was dim. Gufuu, though silenced, fought with all his might to break free of Vaati's shell, the magic flickering and pulsing over the mage's tiny form.
"Yes."
Iblis began to sing, a low, powerful baritone. Vaati had the strange thought that it was nothing like Dark Link's lovely tenor. Iblis released Vaati, but he didn't fall. He floated above the altar, watching as the god stepped back and raised his hands, the drummers joining the strings with a slow, uncertain rhythm, like a heart trying to remember how to beat again.
The crystal around Sheik's body began to form vapors, drifting lazily upwards to wrap around Vaati as though tasting, testing him. More and more of the red slithered up, pushing the darkness from his vision and replacing it with the bloody cloud.
The flutes joined the strings and the drummer's rhythm gradually picked up, the pulse steady in his ears. There was a flash of light to his left and Vaati saw through the haze of red the mane around Iblis's neck part and spread, forming two huge, gleaming black crow's wings. His deep voice radiated magic, and Vaati felt himself inexorably drawn further and and further into it, his very spirit swaying with the music.
The red swirled faster and the beat became stronger; the melody no longer spoke of death but life, of light and power and love and Shadow and hope. Vaati had the curious feeling he was rising, higher and higher above the altar. He looked with a strange sort of detachment at his own useless body down below, quickly swallowed by the red mist. He looked to his right and saw Gufuu, struggling and flailing and trying to scream as the redness swallowed him too, dissolving him until Vaati could no longer feel him in his mind.
The song rose to a fevered pitch, sealing Vaati in the red cloud that surrounded him, blocking from his sight all but the Sheikah directly below. Vaati saw a finger twitch, and heard a soft gasp as lungs took in breath for the first time in centuries. Bloody eyes flickered open to meet transparent red.
And Vaati knew no more.
Eh heh. Eh heh heh. May I mention that I am currently in hiding in a very secure location? *gulp*
Thank you to my other Chapter Sixteen reviewer:
Alaranth: You seem to have reviewed just after I posted Seventeen, but before it showed up. Oops. Hope you find this one! I've already responded to this review of awesome in the pm I sent you, but THANK YOU! *feels all special* And yeah, I have awesome reviewers. . . who hopefully aren't planning to kill me in my sleep now.
Thank you to the Chapter Seventeen reviewers:
Rose Starglen: Thanks! Did you get the reference in this chapter title?
Claradwor: Yes, he did, because the image was in my head and it was funny. You are also the one I'm hiding from. *Looks around cautiously*
Kick-Aft: That was the idea. I wanted to address key rooms without doing an entire walk-through. Glad you liked it!
RococoSpade: YES YOU DID! :P Well, if the Redeads were that bad, I hope Dead Hand was worse, because it was supposed to be. Oh, it's going to get worse for poor Dark Link, much worse. Heh heh Thanks. And I broke the record again! Ha!