Tribulations of Twilight
Chapter 5
Midna watched her hero laying on a bed in the Hospital. Link was down to his white leggings, as bandages were wrapped all over his chest, some on his head, some on his arms, and in other places. His clothes lay forgotten on a nearby chair.
Zeke sat on a chair near Link, his arms crossed, and his eyes closed. His Claymore was resting against the chair he sat on. His head was leaned against the chair, and he appeared to be either sleeping, or in deep thought.
Dr. Koric, the doctor that had watched over him before, stood over him. Dr. Koric kept his gaze on Link, as he scribbled a couple things down. Once or twice, he would move his right hand over Link, and it would glow a dark blue. Then he would return to his clipboard.
The Doctor turned around to face Midna. She was afraid to ask what was on her mind, but she decided she had to know. "What's wrong with him? Will he be alright?"
Dr. Koric looked over his shoulder to Link once more, then back to Midna. "There is no way I can tell you any easier, Princess Midna. That stunt he pulled in the Arena was fatal to his body, and his health. It's just insult to injury, quite literally, that he pressed on to fight this 'Templar of Flames' after he fought General Robur. When he absorbed that colossal mass of fire, it was tearing him inside out. It was tearing up muscles and tissue throughout his whole body. But, another force was constantly healing the wounds, while they were being torn up. So it was back and forth between his muscles getting destroyed and repaired. This can weaken the body considerably, and in this case it did. I do not know whether Link will recover, or be in a state of weakness for all his life.
"All I know is, that when he wakes up, it will be a battle of willpower to stay alive. He will have to get plenty of rest, and anything that will set off too strong of negative feelings could be catastrophic. It will be like this for about a week, then, whether he will be in a confined state of weakness, or whether he will regain his formal strength will be known. I can only hope for the latter."
Midna took a moment to absorb all this in. She spoke in a calm demeanor, yet, there was subtle anxiety and pain in her voice.
"Can't we help him with our powers?"
Dr. Koric sighed. "There are only so many things we can do with magic, Princess. I have tried my best, and even my knowledge in healing magics weren't enough. I do not doubt the powers of our very royal family, but even your powers wouldn't be adequate enough. You would have to give your life to heal him completely, and that's just theoretically."
Midna sighed a shaky breath, and pulled up a nearby chair, and sat next to Link, tears welling up in her eyes.
Dr. Koric murmured an apology for not being able to help, then turned around, and exited the room to tend other patients.
Midna looked longingly at Link. It's just one thing after another. She thought.
She saw Link stir a bit, as slowly, his eyes fluttered open, revealing his sapphire eyes. "M... Midna?" He rasped, "w-what's going on? Where am I?"
"Shh," she replied, "save your energy. I'll try and tell you what happened after you passed out.
"After you fainted, your trial continued without you, and the majority of the group decided that you have proved your worth, and are allowed to live, along with Zeke."
Link nodded his head. "How long was I out?" He asked.
"About a day."
"Could have been worse. I actually expected to be unconscious for another 48 hours."
"Wait, you knew this was going to happen?"
"Of course."
"You idiot! You could have died!"
"Hey, I had to take the risk! First, I had to fight off the commando of a General, then I had to face some psychotic pyromaniac!"
Midna sighed, rubbing her temple.
"That 'psychotic pyromaniac' happened to be one of my subordinates..." A voice behind them boomed.
Link shot up, and looked behind Midna, as her heart sank at the voice, as she looked behind her. Standing there was a man in a white cloak, arms folded, and the hood over his head, covering his features. The cloak was covered with black runes.
"You again!" Link growled, shooting to his feet, ignoring the sudden pain and cracks of his joints, as he grabbed his Golden Sword and Hylian Shield from the nearby chair.
Hearing the commotion, Zeke's hazel-green eyes flashed open, as he immediately stood up, and looked onward at the man in the white cloak, as he took his claymore from his chair, and got into his battle pose.
Midna knew from one glance that this guy meant trouble, so she closed her eyes, and reopened them slowly, multicolored energy circling her hands.
Link charged all too quickly, Zeke following suite, then the man in the white cloak threw out his left arm, and a blinding white light enclosed the room.
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Link awoke in a white void. He looked at his surroundings, and saw nothing but white. He noticed he was standing, so there was a floor. Just not visible because of the surrounding area. Then, opposite from him, was the man in the white cloak.
"Allow me to introduce myself," The man began.
"I don't even want to know who you are!" Link shouted, gripping his Golden Sword tightly, then charging once more. As he neared, and sliced at the man, the man simply held out his right arm, and as the Golden Blade drew near, a vortex seemed to appear right where the middle of the blade was. Link stopped dead in his tracks, as white energy focused on the center. All too quickly, the Golden Sword suddenly snapped in half.
Link's mouth was agape, as he held half of the Golden Sword. He couldn't even detect any magic being used. Then, something dawned onto him.
He was in a void, where this man was in complete control of anything that happened. He could bend physics here. Any law that existed was moot. Link was at the man's total mercy, with no fighting chance.
The man let his arm fall back down to his side, as his voice rang once more, "now then, let me introduce myself; I am Divus, the Grand Templar."
Link dropped the hilt of the Golden Sword. It was of no use anymore. He waited for the man to continue.
"I was quite surprised that you actually bested the Templar of Flames. Incredible. But annoying none-the-less. Now, you probably wonder why you're here and not dead. Well, allow me to explain... Everything."
"Everything?" Link repeated, raising a questioning eyebrow. "Why should I believe anything you have to spew out. Last time I checked, you tried to kill me and Zeke, and you sent Argus after me. I'm surprised you're trying to trick me now, when you could just kill me right here, right now. Hell, you could use this void to torture me in every possible way."
Divus grinned. "I COULD, But he wouldn't like that. No, wouldn't like that at all..."
Link raised an eyebrow. "Who's 'he'?"
Divus's hand raised up, slowly gripped the top of his hood, and threw it back.
Divus had spiky silver shoulder length hair, tan skin, and eyes that had silver irises. He spoke once more, "in order to tell you that, I'll have to start from the beginning."
Link sighed. He obviously had no choice but to listen to the peculiar man before him. He could tell it was going to be a long tale, so he sat down on the voidal ground – if there was a ground.
Divus closed his eyes in recollection, as he began his tale.
"One hundred years ago, after the first Link had defeated Ganondorf, and sealed him in the Evil Realm, there was peace, for a time, under the hand of Queen Zelda. But, despite the peace with the King of Evil gone for a time, there was chaos brewing.
I grew up along with the Templars in a village that was destroyed by Ganondorf. My village was the first to be destroyed, as our kind was the most threatening to him. You see, I'm sure you've heard this before, but all Hylians have a sense of magical prowess. Our village, you see, had heightened senses of magics. Even the smallest child could create fire without using a fraction of their energy. Ganondorf knew this, and came there himself, and almost everyone, save a handful of villagers, and six small boys. You know three of them, Me, and Argus. But the third, is him. You'll find out who he is later, as I have previously stated.
After the Hero of Time sealed Ganondorf away, and Zelda sent him to relive his lost seven years, she took rule. We pleaded with her to lend us assistance to rebuild our once strong village, but she declined, stating that our kind should not be allowed to progress, for sake of another Ganondorf wanting more power than he or she already had.
'Our kind'! How dare she! I can still remember the smug look on her face, as if she knew she was making the right decision!"
At this, Divus clenched both fists tight, while he gazed at them. Clearly, he wanted vengeance, but he had no means to do so, to Link, at least.
"Moving on..." Divus started once more, letting his hands drop to his sides, "We decided that we didn't need her to rebuild our village. We had everything to rebuild it, and we did. Only, after several raids by bandits and left-over monsters, almost all of us were dead! I can remember the exact amount... We went from 100 survivors to ten. TEN. IN A MATTER OF DAYS. You have no idea the amount of pain we felt, to be the last of 'OUR KIND' As she has stated. The remaining ten of us wanted to kill her, to make her feel our pain...
Regrettably, we lacked the power. She, after all, was the bearer of a Triforce. We didn't let that stop us. For years, we trained and trained, heightening our physical, mental, and magical strengths. We became commandos, and thus, we named ourselves the Templar.
Still, we were insufficient. We needed more power... and we found it. We found it, alright. We quickly learned that the Light World had magic flowing through it, all of the different powers. There were points in the world that the powers flowed through the strongest, and if a human were to absorb these energies, they would gain inhuman power that could rival the Triforce Pieces.
But it wasn't easy. We had to dig up ancient information about these rituals to do it, and found that even the most trained sages could only absorb one element. But, we decided we were above them, foolishly. The Ten of us went to each point in the world to gain our powers. The Sages were considerably weak after Ganondorf's sealing, so they had to lock themselves away to the Temple of Light for slumber to regain their strengths, leaving the Temples, where the elements flowed strongest, unguarded.
Argus, the Templar of Flames, went to the Fire Temple, where the Element of Fire flowed the strongest, and became the Templar of Flames.
Aeries, went to the Wind Temple where the Element of Wind flowed strongest, and became the Templar of Wind.
Gaia went to the Earth Temple where the Element of Earth flowed strongest, and became the Templar of Earth.
Saion went to the Water Temple, where the Element of Water flowed strongest, and became the Templar of Water.
That man went to the Shadow Temple, where the Element of Darkness flowed strongest, and became the Templar of Darkness.
I went to the Spirit Temple, where the Element of Spirit flowed strongest, and became the Templar of Spirit.
There were also unsuccessful attempts, as I have stated there were ten of us. The remaining four went after the lesser elements, and failed, dying in the process. That added to our vengeance, since there were now four of us. In rage, we attacked Castle Town. We decimated it, leaving nothing but RUIN! The feeling... so exhilarating! You may have noticed, because the last location of Castle Town, was near the Temple of Time."
Link's mouth hung open at that. No doubt this man was telling the truth. Midna had murmured something about magic in the air at the Temple of Time. Evil magic, too. It was old, but it was so powerful that it lingered for 100 years. The ruins were insult to injury. It looked as if someone had reigned hell.
Divus sighed, before continuing. "We reached the Throne Room, and confronted Zelda. We killed her guard, but she wouldn't die. She was still STRONGER!"
Divus roared, unleashing raw power at the memory. The Void twisted and turned at the new release of energy, making it unstable, until Divus reclaimed his calm. "She beat us! We put up a fight, but she still won! Then, the sages, woke from their slumber, and the Light Spirits came into play. Using the remaining power of Zelda, the remaining power of from the Sages, and the raw power of the Light Spirits, we were cast aside into the Twilight Realm! We were weak, we had used most of our power in the attack, yet, we had failed. He didn't take it so well.
By gathering his power for one hundred years, he ripped a portal to the Light World, entered it, and sealed it off from the other side, leaving us behind."
Link took a moment to absorb all this. "Who is the Templar of Darkness?" He finally asked.
Divus looked at Link, as he muttered a single word.
"Zeke."
Link's mind back flipped and his stomach twisted. He felt himself grow weaker.
"After we were banished, we decided to take control of the Twili, and use their power to create a dimensional rift, to travel from Light World to Twilight Realm, and conquer both in acts of revenge. But Zeke strayed. He wanted more, he wanted complete destruction, so that both races could never recover. To feel what we felt. But We, the remaining Templars want to rule on top with an Iron Fist, and we will have that. Zeke will die by our hand, and soon, you and Midna will too."
Link grew angry. "Why are you telling me this! Zeke would never do this! You have to be lying! Telling me this would only sabotage your whole plan, because now, I will make sure you die!"
Divus smiled. "Big words, for someone who is near death himself. I heard Argus and General Robur gave you quite the time..."
"Shut up! I... I'll kill you!" Link stood up weakly, grabbing the hilt of the broken Golden Sword, and charged at Divus.
Divus simply smiled, as Link weakly sliced and struck at Divus, who evaded easily. "Midna doesn't love you in the way you love her. She doesn't even like you. She's just using you to get rid of us, so that the Goddesses will send you back, so she thinks, because she doesn't know what you went through."
"SHUT UP!" Link roared. He attacked again and again, more weakly each time.
"You just threw away the Light World for some girl that doesn't even love you. You were also betrayed by your best friend who plans to kill you in the end. You are just a pawn that isn't good for anything. You played your part in the Twilight Invasion, now that Ganondorf is out of the way, nothing can stop us! Zeke only acted to be your friend so that he could use you against us, then kill you, then follow his fleeting dream of both realms being destroyed. Midna never loved you, only used you to save her realm, then she left you behind. You aren't worth anything to anyone."
Link fell on his knees. Life was crumbling around him. He dropped the Golden Sword, and it met the ground. His eyes were dull and lifeless. If he killed the Templar, Zeke would prevail. If he didn't kill them, the Templar would kill Zeke, and Midna, and him, and rule both realms. Plus, Midna didn't even love him. He threw away the Light World for her, and he didn't even know how she felt toward him. Divus was right, he was worthless.
Divus smiled, and in a snap, the void faded away.
XXXXXXX
Link found himself back in the hospital room, Divus opposite from him, his hood back on, and his arm outstretched. He looked to his right, and saw Zeke in his battle stance, and Midna charging up energy. Divus instantly teleported away, and Link found no strength in his legs, as he fell. These people beside him would betray him someday.
At least one thing was worth noting – His Golden Sword wasn't in half. It was all an illusion, but what happened was reality. Link met the floor, and blacked out.
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A/N:If this chapter seems like it doesn't make sense, it will soon. You will see that everything will come together in time.
And sorry this chapter took so long. Hehe...