There had been a lot to take in the past couple of hours. Shock wave after shock wave had rocked him to his core. From awakening after that mind-numbing pain to find that he was not what he'd remembered, to speaking to Rauru the sage and finding out that Ganondorf was running rampant, to learning what it was he now had to do, to then meeting the mysterious Sheik and trying to decipher his strange and clouded words…
But nothing… nothing could have prepared him for this.
The Castle Town marketplace had always been chaos, and so it had remained. But this was a totally different, unholy chaos. No more was the loud chatter in the air, the careless indifference to the common populace, the laughing and shouting, the pushing and shoving, the… the life. No, this…
This was hell. Debris littered the floor creating a carpet of rubble underfoot. The buildings were sagging and broken, creaking doors and shattered windows telling their tales of misery and woe. The once rich scents that permeated the breeze were now replaced with a rancid, fetid stench that was thick and overbearing. And the air was filled, not with the carefree, bustling din of a lively marketplace, but with the deep, haunting, sonorous chants of the unholy.
Reddeads stood in random spots around the town, heads downcast, bodies pulsating with their murky, disgusting light. They sang to each other, trying to entice their prey closer. Reddeads were slow, but deadly.
Link set his mouth in a grim, unyielding line. There was only one way out of this and that was through the Reddead maze. Link skirted around them, towards the road to Hyrule Castle, unseen. Casting a backwards glance, he ran down the road, desperate to find out if Zelda was still safely locked away behind her castle walls. He turned to look towards the distant castle…
And stopped dead.
Seven years was a long time, he decided. Too long a time. He closed his eyes from the nauseating sight, unable to think of what all of it could mean. Nothing was sacred in Hyrule anymore. Zelda was gone, that much was clear, and in her place was the tyrannical and power-hungry Ganondorf. Ignoring Navi's whimpering sobs by his ear, he turned away from the sight.
He had to get out of here, he had to leave this horrible place and find something, anything at all to grasp. Something that could at least give the illusion of normalcy, of sanity, of goodness and grace. Link turned back to the vermin infested marketplace and decided that he would leave this place behind, or die trying.
Again, Link kept to the outskirts, away from the terrifying Reddead. Unfortunately, this time, he was no so lucky. A piercing wail cut through the dense air and he felt his limbs go numb. His brain had difficulty thinking and though he knew he had to move, he couldn't make his feet react. Finally, the impulse went through, but too late. The Reddead was there, mouth open, eyes glared out at him with hate and hunger, arms spread wide, ready to pounce and suck him dry of his life. Running was no longer an option.
Link pulled the Master Sword from its scabbard on his back. The last time he had held this sword it had felt so heavy, so impossibly large. Now it seemed nothing more than an extension of his arm, moving gracefully in time with his thought. He whipped the blade forward in an arc and sliced a deep gash into the undead beast. A foul smell hit him in the face and he gagged, but kept his head. The Reddead wailed in pain, almost buckling. Link delivered another two expertly executed slices and the monster fell to the ground in a heap. Link gagged again and ran from the marketplace at full speed, not wanting to have to deal with anymore of the terrifying creatures.
He expelled a sigh of relief when he saw that no more of the creatures were on the wide, stone entranceway. The drawbridge to Castle Town was broken, lying in a jagged heap in the moat. And there, to his left, was the dilapidated old door to the pottery shed.
This too, Link imagined, would be sucked dry of its life. But when he looked closer, he saw a thin light radiating from the crack under the door. Something was still there.
Link edged closer to it cautiously. After all the surprises and mind-blowing changes he had seen today, he didn't really expect the same guard to be there, watching over a bunch of pots. He grasped the door handle, took in a deep breath, and opened the door.
The air was thick with perfumed smoke and the light was dim and calming. Somewhere in the background there were chimes tinkling softly together. Though it was indeed different, there was no danger. Link had to focus a moment before he saw clearly. At the far end of the shack were a simple bed, a furnace stove, and a couple of crate that were overflowing with all types of items.
Sitting on the bed was a heavily robed, slumped creature, a wooden staff in his hands. Above his head was a crudely constructed cage with floating spirits in it. They shifted about, but did not fight their barriers. It seemed that whoever or whatever was in this room had a calming effect on them.
The creature looked up as the door shut softly behind the gaping boy. There was nothing clearly discernable about his face save for a disfigured, glowing eye. Link stared warily at the creature, about to back out the door and run, not ready for another fight.
"Come in, boy, come," a cackling voice insisted. "You need not worry, there is no danger here."
Link, still cautious, stepped towards them. He saw suddenly that it was a man, horribly disfigured. He tapped the end of the wooden staff against the rim of the cage above to quite down the ghost above.
"You're name is Link, isn't it young man?" The man cackled mirthfully at the look of shock on the boy's face. "Don't be alarmed, boy, I can read people's minds. You must be wondering what this little shop is, aren't you? Yes, indeed, you are." The man grinned hideously. "I collect ghosts. Poe souls and the like."
Link looked a the cage above and controlled a cringe. "Why?"
"Why, you ask?" the ghost-keeper repeated. "Because in this day and age it is so profitable a market. A small, simple little business to keep the great Ganondorf content."
There was a sarcastic lilt to the way he said "great" that caught Link's attention. The word meant so many things. Link listened a little more intently.
"The ghosts I'm most interested in are the Big Poes," the ghost-keeper confided, once again tapping his staff against the edge of the cage above. "They're quite rare and I have none in my collection. They would be worth a great deal to me. Yes, indeed, they would." There was a pause, then a small sigh from beneath the hooded robe. "Well, boy, well. Perhaps it is time you were off. Unless of course there is anything else I could do for you?" Link shook his head and the ghost-keeper nodded complacently. "Come back when you think you've caught something interesting for me. I'm not able to get out much anymore. Well, boy. I'll be seeing you around."
Link gave a stiff nod. "Perhaps."
He walked out of the pungent, aromatic shed and picked his way across the jagged, broken drawbridge and stood on the other side. He planted his feet onto the dry, flat expanse of Hyrule Field, gaze set firmly ahead. Nothing more than a faint shadow was visible from this point. It seemed that a dark cloud was hanging over the precious expanse of Lon Lon Ranch.
Seven years was a long time, he decided. Too long a time.
Too long a time, indeed.
