The Bleeding Effect
Chapter V
AN: Sometimes the POV switches back and forth between Midna and Link. I hope it's easy to understand.
"So, what's the plan?" Link looks to Midna for guidance. "What do I have to do before I can go back to Navi?"
"Oh, is my company that terrible?" Midna quips, sardonically.
Link's eyes widen. "Oh no, I didn't mean it like that at all—you're really nice to me but—it's just—"
"Calm down, kid, calm down. It was just a joke."
"Really?"
"Really."
Link laughs a little, sounding strained. He must realize he sounds awful because he soon stops.
"Now, our goal is to reach the Sacred Grove, and enter the Temple of—er, I mean, a building similar to the Temple of Time. When we get there we need to find the mirror shard that I told you about last night. You remember what I'm talking about, right?"
"Yes. The mirror shards that once all found will let us travel to the Twilight Realm, your realm, to defeat Zant." Link recites eagerly. "You've already found one of the shards, and another still rests where it should. This will be the third piece, and there should be one after this one, if it was truly split into fourths, located in the heavens, according to the sages."
"Good, very good. But before we leave, put your gear on." She snaps her fingers. Patches of shadow cut the air, and Link gapes as the Master Sword and an item pouch tumble out.
"Before they brought you to this bedroom upstairs, they took these off of you, and left them on the table. The simpleminded fools," She grumbles the second portion to herself. "Nothing else can touch the Master Sword, but what if some nit swiped the pouch? There are many invaluable weapons in there."
Link buckles the strap across his chest that wraps around to the Master Sword's sheath on his back, and hooks the pouch on his belt.
"I'm ready," He announces, looking at her. "So, what now? Do we have to…talk to those people again?"
"You didn't like them?"
"I can't trust them. I'm not supposed to talk to strangers unless Navi or Sheik say it's okay."
And am I not a stranger? Why do you trust me so implicitly, then? Midna wants to ask, but she fears jeopardizing the small string of trust between them.
"Link?" A third voice calls. Link frowns. The girl. Ilia, was it? "Link, are you awake? I hear noise in there. I'm coming up now."
True to her word, he hears the stairs start to creak under her feet.
Link whips around to Midna. "I can't talk to her. How do we get out of here?"
"Don't worry, I've planned for this. The door is locked from the outside as it is; you would have had to bust it down to get out anyway, which would have undoubtedly attracted attention."
"So how did you get downstairs?"
"Unlike you, I can use magic. No more questions, there's no time if you want to avoid her." Midna flies over to the window, throws the shutters open wide. She disappears briefly, and returns with a squawking cucco squirming in her arms. A key scratches in the lock.
"Please tell me you know how to fly with one of these things."
Link nods, taking the bird from her.
"Alright. Head towards the fountain. It's impossible to miss."
The door whines on its hinges. He bolts for the window, jumps on top of the sill before leaping off of it. He hears shrieks behind him, and he knows that the girl saw him jump. He giggles a little; he feels like he's just pulled off a particularly excellent prank, and is now effectively escaping punishment. Link can swear he hears Midna chuckle as well. He lifts the cucco above him, lets its ludicrously powerful wings gently lower him to the ground. He spots the small body of water Midna bade him go to, and shifts the way he leans to direct the bird towards it.
Link soon touches down, and places the cucco back on solid ground.
"Thanks for the flight," Link laughs. The fowl struts away from him, clucking indignantly.
"Link," Midna murmurs from his shadow. "Do you see that odd patch of grass at your feet? Play it."
"Alright."
He has never seen such grass—it's shaped like a horseshoe!—but he and Saria had all but perfected the art of grass playing long ago, before she even made her first ocarinas and flutes out of clay. He puts the reed to his lips and blows expertly, and is stunned when Epona's favorite song comes whistling out.
Almost immediately he hears a familiar neigh, and is delighted to see none other than his most beloved horse.
"Epona!" He exclaims, drawing close to pet her flank. "You've gotten bigger—for how long was I asleep?" That would explain why his body still felt strange and cumbersome. Maybe he grew even more! If he kept this up every time he had a nap, he might end up as tall as Medigoron! Now that would be something, he thinks giddily. He could just squash the evil Ganondorf with his foot!
"Link, hurry, get on the horse before they find us here."
"Okay—er—hold on, just a moment—" He fumbles his pouch open with one hand, while cradling the reed in the other.
"What are you doing?"
Link colors a little. "Well, I just, I really like music. And I've never seen anything like this before."
"Alright, alright, just don't dawdle."
Link carefully places the reed so it won't get crushed by the other objects in his pouch. He recognizes some of the weapons, and others are new and fascinating—he thinks the black wrecking ball would be enormous once he got it out of the pouch, and Din only knows how heavy and powerful it was.
His spirit dims a little when he doesn't see either the Ocarina of Time or Saria's ocarina. Even if he doesn't necessarily need them for this quest to obtain the mirror shards, it would have been nice just to have them…
Link mounts Epona, and Midna directs him out of the town, onto a great plain. The hero pulls the mare's reins back, slowing her canter to a trot, to a walk, to a halt.
"What is that?" Link points to the golden geometric mass that swallowed—"Is that Hyrule Castle Town? I don't understand. I thought we were still in the future time, and that's why I'm still in my adult body. Shouldn't Ganondorf's castle be over there?"
"Don't worry about that right now. Remember, the Sacred Grove? The mirror shards? We have a mission and we need to get to it."
"But—"
"No, Link. Now dismount your horse, and send her back towards the village. There is something I need to show you."
Link bites his lip, but does not protest further. He gets off of Epona, and sends her on her way with a few words in her ear. He wishes he had a carrot for her. When he turns around Midna stands before him. In her hand is a small black stone with streaks of orange pulsing through it. Link recoils, and buries his nose in his sleeve.
"Ugh, what is that thing? Its magic reeks!"
"Really? Interesting. Well, I assure you that it's perfectly harmless. Well, actually, to be fair, the transformation might hurt a little in the beginning, and by a little I mean a lot, but it's nothing you can't handle, probably…I'm really botching this up, aren't I?"
"Keep that thing away from me." Link retreats further.
Midna frowns. "Now look, Link, if we're going to get to the Sacred Grove quickly—which we must—then you need to touch this stone. It enables you to take the form you would in the Twilight Realm, a wolf."
"A wolf?" Link repeats incredulously. "A beast kin to the wolfos, one of Ganondorf's dark creatures? I don't think so."
"What? No, no, you're getting the wrong idea. Your wolf form is the Sacred Beast. You have no reason to hate it, or fear it. It's who you are."
"I'm not afraid!" Link protests, flushing.
"Really? Could have fooled me, with the way you're practically running away from this conversation."
"I'm not afraid! I'm not running away, I—watch out!"
Link cuts himself off, and tackles Midna to the ground. Not three seconds after, a flaming arrow whizzes over their bodies.
"Moblins! Moblins atop boars!" Link reports, starting to shift off of Midna so he can stand and draw his sword. But as he goes to move, his hand brushes the stone. His gasp of surprise morphs into a snarl as his body morphs, bones snapping and popping and reconnecting, hair thickening, brightening to a glowing gold, tail sprouting and flaring out behind him. It is over in the space of a heartbeat, but to Link it feels like an eternity.
He pants, winded, stunned, his mind like a jumbled ball of string. First he was forced into his strange adult body, and now he needs to come to grips with the fact that he is now in the body of an entirely different species. He doesn't have much time to stabilize his mentality, though, because when he looks up he sees two moblins riding a boar, stampeding straight towards them, and something deep inside him clicks.
Link gives a belligerent bark before charging towards them. He twists past the boar's chest, and bites the first moblin by the skin of its green, slimy thigh, throwing it roughly to the ground. He doesn't pause to watch the monster bounce and roll to an eventual stop. Instead, he spins back towards the boar and the remaining moblin. It looses another burning arrow.
Link dodges easily, marveling at the sheer power and speed of his third, new body. He leaps atop the huge pig's head, back nails scratching against its eyes. Link can see his golden coat shimmer in the moblin's eyes. The boar squeals, tosses its head, tries to throw him off. When it flings its head backwards, Link releases his grip, moving with the momentum to pounce upon the moblin. He snaps the bow between his jaws. The boar bucks, and Link and the moblin fall.
The wolf lands on top of the other, snarling in its face. The moblin struggles vainly to free itself. Overwhelmingly incensed that the moblin dares to try to escape, he tears into its shoulder, reveling in the crunch of bone, the wet warmth of blood oozing between his teeth. The moblin surrenders to the inevitable, exploding in a black ball of smoke. A piece of flesh lingers in the jamb between his teeth and cheek. He spits it out, muzzle damp, dripping.
He turns around to finish the first moblin he had taken down, only to see it and the boar fleeing, nothing but a brown, limping speck in the distance.
His immediate instinct is to pursue it, but he restrains himself, urges his bloodlust to cool. Remember the mission, the goal, the objective. Find the mirror shards. Return to Navi. Find the medallions. Defeat Ganondorf.
Link tries to speak to Midna, but all that comes out is a bark. He shifts his weight. How does he turn back? Can he turn back? Or is he trapped in this form forever? And that rage he felt, that sadistic fury…he didn't like it. He didn't like it at all.
"Link." Midna's voice. He feels a sudden weight on his back. She's…riding him? "Since you're already transformed, I'm going to warp us now. It will feel a little strange, but it's perfectly safe, I promise."
She snaps her fingers as she did earlier, and Link feels as if his body is suddenly broken apart before being quickly reassembled again. Instead of the field, he stands amidst crumbling ruins that have been invaded by greenery.
Midna picks through his fur. It tickles. He fidgets.
"Hold still now! Ah, there it is." She pulls the stone away from his body, and his body quickly (slowly) reverses the transformation.
He remains on all fours even after he is human again, for a time, just breathing. Finally, he stands, and has to catch himself as he stumbles. Link touches his face in wonder, the snout shrunk down to a normal nose. He opens his mouth, explores the teeth that now seem dulled in comparison to his wolf ones. His hand comes back stained green with monster blood. He rubs at his face, trying to remove all traces of the violent act from his skin. His mouth sours and waters, and he doubles over, heaving. After it is over he wipes at his mouth. But his hands are covered in blood and now it is back on his face again. He throws up a second time.
"I don't like this mission. I want to go back. I want to go home." He mumbles, miserable. He sags to his knees.
"Oh, Link." Midna pats him on the shoulder. She wets her thumb and wipes it over his mouth, cleaning the areas he must have missed. When she finishes, she removes his hat, and combs her tiny hands through his hair. Gradually, he begins to relax underneath her ministrations.
"I want to go home, too. But it is a rare and fortunate thing that people can get what they want without some form of toil. I can't go home for good until the mirror is complete again, and Zant destroyed. But I can't do it alone. Zant has deformed my body, and thus has sapped me of the wealth of my magic. You might be first and foremost the Hero of Time but right now I need you to be my Hero of Twilight. I'm sorry that I am putting you through this. It is selfish of me, but I will not withdraw my plea for aid. For if you do not act, it is not just me that will suffer. My people are suffering now under Zant's regime; soon, so will yours. That is why we must act, and fight, and suffer, even though all we want to do is crawl into bed and never come back out again.
And there is no denying that becoming the Sacred Beast, you become a little…feral. Forgive me. I did not hear those moblins approaching, because I was so busy scolding you. I didn't mean for your first transformation to be like that."
"It's…it's fine. You don't need to apologize. I should have just transformed when you told me to the first time, but I'm…I'm not really brave, you know? Monsters frighten me, but I fight them anyway, because I must. But when I attacked those moblins…I felt the rippling movement of muscle beneath my teeth, the pulse of blood. They were so alive. It shouldn't matter, it shouldn't. A dead moblin is still a dead moblin, no matter if it's killed by jaws or a sword, right? It shouldn't matter that I can feel their life before I rip it from them. Because…because they're monsters. It shouldn't matter."
He offers her a tremulous smile, leans away from her comforting touch. "I'm alright now. Let's keep going."
"Even if you weigh them differently, a life is still a life. And even if dead is dead, different methods of killing will naturally affect you differently, both physically and mentally. It is to be expected. If you don't like the form of the golden wolf, we'll try not to use it as much as possible. You will need to become it sometimes, when the situation calls for it, such as for quick transportation, but that is all. And as soon as it's not needed, I will change you back immediately, alright?"
Privately, Midna is still reeling from the fact that this Link transformed into the golden wolf, not the gray-black one that the other Link was, though they both had the same human body. The Sacred Beast's form must reflect the soul, then. Does this confirm Link's speculations that the golden wolf who instructed him in the way of the sword was in fact the Hero of Time?
"Alright," Link nods, grateful.
"We should be pressing on now." She floats towards the partly crumbled staircase. "The entrance is up here. Watch your step."
Link slowly picks his way up the steps, Midna by his side just like Navi had been. He feels the pangs of loss not for the first, nor last, time.
Once he reaches the top, she points towards a rusty set of double doors.
"Through there."
"Can the doorknobs even turn?" He asks, dubious.
"Don't start."
Link grabs both knobs, turning them in tandem, opening the set of double doors wide. He peers forwards.
"Is that the Temple of Time? I mean, it seems that the altar and the stones are gone, but other than that, it looks exactly the same…"
"I told you earlier, we're going to a place quite similar to the Temple of Time. This place is a…sister temple," Midna lies. "It shares similarities, but they are far from one and the same."
"Oh, alright," Link thinks no further on it, does not doubt her. "This temple looks a little…off."
"That's because the doorway acts as a type of transportation magic. Just step through. You'll see."
Link obeys, stepping into the temple. His world brightens, but only for a moment. The intense light soon fades, and he opens his eyes. He strolls through the first room, and makes his way towards the empty pedestal in the second.
Midna hovers behind him, waiting for some sign of the Hero of Time turning back into the Hero of Twilight, with no success. He's not stumbling or fainting like her Link had. Indeed, the boy did not even seem to have the same difficulties crossing through the time barrier that his descendant had had. Perhaps time travel did not bother him? His title wasn't just for show, then.
"What am I supposed to do?" Link scuffs his boots, stares up at the many stained glass windows. "Should the mirror shard be here in this room somewhere?"
"Why not sheath your blade in the pedestal?" Midna suggests. "It doesn't appear that there is anything else to do here."
"Are you sure? I'll return to my normal body if I do that."
Midna looks at him strangely. His normal body? How would he know that he's in his descendant's—oh, right, he meant the body of a child. Until she had met Link all those months ago, Midna had not known much about Hylian history or culture. She had known the very basics, the essentials. She was aware of the events that led to her people's banishment, the tale of Demise and the goddess Hylia, the myths of the three goddesses and the Sacred Realm. But that was all she knew, or rather, bothered to know. Until Zant, she had had no reason to bother with the Light Realm. Link filled her in on just about everything else he knew, during the seemingly endless stretches of their quest when there were no enemies around and nothing but land for miles. At one point he had touched on the Hero of Time, but his description had been rather scant, despite the man being his grandfather. And that discussion was so long ago, early on in their time together, and she has forgotten most of what he told her. The boy had been what—nine, ten years of age when he set out on his journey to stop Ganondorf? His skittishness, his mercurial nature makes a lot more sense now. But then what happened to him? Ah, right, right, the sages placed him in a deep sleep until he was physically older, stronger, more suitable a hero to topple the dark king. Physically changed, but still mentally underdeveloped. What were the damned sages thinking? Despite his appearance, he's still a little kid. Midna must remember this.
"Uh, Midna?" Link prompts.
"Sorry, sorry. I was just thinking. Sheath your sword, Link. Whatever happens, happens."
Link artfully replaces the sword in the pedestal, with a practiced ease. He shuts his eyes, and waits for the familiar blue light to envelop him. Nothing happens. He opens his eyes. A bluish staircase of light has appeared before him.
"I'm still big," Link marvels, flexing his hands. "I'm still adult me, even though the sword is sheathed!"
"I told you this was not the Temple of Time. The same rules do not apply."
He lifts the sword out—the steps do not fade. Thank Nayru. He touches the first stair with the toe of his boot. They seem solid enough. He climbs them, and they lead him to one of the windows. He reaches out to touch the glass, and it vanishes before his hand.
"An illusion?"
"I suppose so."
"Alright," He chirps, running through the previously hidden archway. "Let's go get that mirror shard."
"This place is enormous! This one room is bigger than the entire Temple of Time."
Link wanders around, thoughtfully peering at the giant bell in the room's center, eyes mapping out the layout of the area, the currently unreachable stairways. He tries the single door that he can reach; it doesn't budge.
"Link, don't you think there's something odd about that statue?"
The hero steps back a little from the door to get a larger view. "There's a statue on the left, but not one on the right." He observes.
"In the grove and in the temple entry, there were always matching ones on each side, but there's only one here…"
"Thus, if we want this door to open, we need to find the other statue and bring it here. Naturally, the mirror shard is most likely behind this door."
Midna considers requesting for Link to transform into his wolf form, so he can use his senses to verify their theory. But she recalls her promise, and holds her tongue. They're more likely than not right about the statue. There's no use worrying about it.
"The question is," Link continues, "if we do find it, how by Din will I be able to lift it? But let's save that for when we find it. First, we need to reach the staircases."
He spots a nearby floor switch, and gently rolls a heavy pot on top of it. A ledge slides up from the floor, and Link grins. Perfect, now he will have just enough height to reach them. He loves the temples and dungeons. At times they can pose a challenge, but he always discovers the correct answer in the end. They're inevitably straightforward and simple to understand, unlike people.
"Link, you can handle this from here, right? I'm going to return to your shadow."
Link starts, a thought occurring to him. "Does it hurt you? The light, I mean."
Midna replies from within his shadow, voice distant and sentences feathered at the ends. "I wouldn't say that it hurts me, not in small doses. It never causes me overt pain, unless I'm exposed to a lot of light in a very short amount of time. But it does weaken me if I linger too long, though. I am a being who belongs in the Twilight Realm, in the end. I could not exist here forever, even if I took refuge in your shadows the entire time, just as you could never live in my realm for the rest of your life. Your body and soul would weep for the lack of light. You might even be driven mad, as some of my ancestors were."
"Well, after this is all over, we could still visit each other, right? We just wouldn't be able to stay terribly long." Link asks sprightly, climbing the steps.
As he pulls out a key from a once invisible chest, she answers. "I suppose such a thing would be possible." There's no point in her mentioning what she plans to do with the mirror after Zant's defeat, in snipping away the boy's hopes before they have a chance to bloom. He might try to stop her, if he knew. Her hero certainly would.
"Erm! Not so fast!" Link stumbles to a stop, nearly tripping over his own feet to prevent himself from stepping on the tiny creatures.
"What in Nayru's name are you?"
"At last, this is it! This is where I've been trying to get to!" Link gapes at the small, bird-like things. Midna releases a relieved sigh when Ooccoo doesn't seem to hear Link's question and chatters over him. Hopefully, he'll be too dumbfounded to ask again, and no discrepancies will emerge…
"The ancient technology of our people sleeps in this place. We've searched all over…and now we're so close, I can smell it! Once we find that thing, we can go home at last! Oh, gracious, yes! Erm, young man!"
"…Yes?" Link hedges.
"We're so close…so please help us find what we're looking for."
"A-alright."
Without further ado the bigger creature scales his leg and worms its way into his pouch, the fluttering ball following after. Link stares down at the pouch, poking at it tentatively with the key.
"Midna…what are those things?"
"Ooccoo and her son, Ooccoo Junior. I am just as much in the dark as you are concerning their species. But what's important is that they posses some form of teleportation magic. If you need to escape a room quickly, just pull them out of your item pouch, and they'll handle the rest."
Link nods, storing the information away for later use. He unlocks the door, and the sight that greets him makes him swallow hard. A young gohma. He's upon it at once, stabbing at it with no pattern or form to his attacks, savagely, until the monster curls up and explodes in a puff of smoke.
"Not a fan of spiders?"
Link shudders, cleaning his blade with the hem of his tunic. "I've never liked them. They have always unsettled me. Their queen killed the Great Deku Tree, made him rot from the inside out. He was like a father to me."
"I'm sorry."
Link shakes his head. "No, it's fine. I just hope we don't run into any more of them."
Hours later, they reach the eighth and final floor. Link is weary, his mind exhausted and overtaxed, (even the Water Temple, perplexing as it was, had only three floors, a far cry from eight) his tunic spattered with gore from many, many gohmas, the various patches in different stages of drying. His muscles ache, and his body trembles. But at last, he is here.
And if the statue's not behind this door Nayru knows what he'll do.
Link enters the room. A grate slides shut behind him, locking him in. Uneasily, he looks around. The stature he's been searching for all this time is right there, across the room.
And in the center, a darknut turns at his arrival.
Link draws the Master Sword.
-TBC-
AN: I thought it would be too boring for you and me both to walk Link through the entire temple, so I'm only covering the important bits.