Tribulations of Twilight
Chapter 8
The duo walked along the stone pavements of the Eastern Bridge of Medietas, while a certain shadow creature lingered upon the bearer of the Triforce of Courage's shadow. Link's mind wandered, never truly focused upon one thing. He found himself unable to even trust himself, sometimes. He felt foolish, and that anxiety of ever dreaming to hurt his comrades again brought the adrenaline through his arms, the frustration coursing through his veins. He wanted to scream, scream to release the pent up aggression towards his own self. He felt inadequate as a warrior, one who lost his sight due to meaningless lies and fabled truths brought upon him.
He furrowed his brow in thought, his cerulean eyes clouded as he kept his gaze low upon the gray brick that made up the bridge. He heard his own leather boots echo, his sols meeting the ground. If he listened hard enough, he could hear the water that lay in the moat. It trickled past peacefully, but for some reason, that just provoked him. He wanted silence, silence to gather his own thoughts and personal views upon himself. He frowned. He was never this stingy before, his own self could notice. And yet, he clenched his teeth through closed lips.
Zeke cast an azure eye his way, and Link caught it all too easily. Then, a thought dawned upon him; did Zeke still even trust him?
Trying to gather his mind on other things, he stretched out his left arm, and yawned slightly. He placed his left arm in front of his face, as with his right hand he fiddled and checked the straps of the white gauntlet. Upon closer inspection, the gauntlet was a white glove that extended past his wrist, with a white metal surrounding it. He dabbled with the tightness of the metal's straps until he thought it was adjusted fine enough. He never knew when his shield could break again, or if he could lose it.
That brought up a thought within his mind. Raising a barely visible eyebrow through his now long and shaggy dark blonde, almost brown hair; he tapped the plating material of the gauntlet. He heard a ring he had not heard before. Is this even metal? He looked up, casting some of his hair to the side at the brown hues of the night twilit sky. He saw the bluish moon, and adjusted the plating so that the moon could shine upon it. He saw the metallic reflection. This is metal, all right. Or, at least metallic. He concluded.
He sighed, he was just being ridiculous. He had used the gauntlet before in the heat of battle, and it proved its worth.
However, his quirks did not go unnoticed to those lingering in the nearby shadows.
A pair of two ruby eyes looked up at him in puzzlement, and question. She had never seen him anxious before, or when she did, it was when he did a check of his equipment outside a usually gargantuan door, strained by huge chains that locked it in place and often; a rather intimidating lock upon it.
Casting his own emotions aside, he began to regain some of his composure. They were now walking on the blue-green grass of the Twilight Realm, towards the mountains that loomed over the land in the horizon. "Is that where we are headed?" Link inquired, casting a sideways glance at Zeke.
"Yup. The Lost Cathedral of the Templars is near the top of it." Zeke answered, the claymore wielding warrior as calm as ever.
Link could not help but admire his counterpart. Throughout their journey, Zeke has not lost sight of what his goal was, or what he was set out to do. His azure eyes always gazed forward, and that personality saved Link from Divus the moment they arrived in this forsaken realm.
He guessed it would be some time before they reached the Mountain.
Lunaris paced in his chambers, rubbing his chin. Something was off, something indeed. Lienosus was plotting something. A Coup d'état? Possibly. Lienosus WAS known for being power hungry.
Lunaris shook his head, and sat down on his bed, tapping his chin in serious thought. And where was the Princess? He hadn't heard from her in a long while. Did Lienosus by chance kidnap her? Unlikely. Now, he was just being ridiculous.
He heard a knock on his chamber door, and cast a ruby glance in its direction. "Enter." His more or less commanded.
Entering in sort of a shuffle, was Councilor Anxia, twiddling with his black thumbs. "U-Um, Lunaris..? Er, I mean Councilor.. Lunaris.."
"Anzia, we are good friends and we're both outside the meeting room. What is troubling you?" Lunaris said in a calm voice for his childhood friend.
Anxia just nervously chuckled a little, being his timid self as he closed the door and leaned up against it. "Well, you see.. I just talked with High Councilor Cerebrum, and... Midna is gone."
Lunaris stood up. "What!" He exclaimed.
"W-W-Well.. You know how Cerebrum is.. He.. sensed that she was no longer in Medietas' grounds.."
"That's insane! Where else could she be!" Lunaris placed a hand upon his forehead, pacing.
"A-And Link and Zeke are gone as well.."
"Well where they hell did they go!"
"How s-should I know?"
Lunaris shook his head, sighing. "This is bad. Perhaps they left early without telling us? But what would be their reasoning!" He said, tapping his forehead as if he wanted to unlock some hidden level of psyche within him.
"That's what I figured, too." Anxia told, playing with a bang of his orange hair. "B-But what if Lienosus and Ordinatur seize this time to... Take over?"
"It would be a good time to." Lunaris thought out loud, "though, I think they would want to when they know the princess is gone, for her powers far surpass ours. Any opposition they could throw at her would be swatted like flies."
"Yeah.. But, you never know.." Anxia fiddled with his thumbs some more, biting the inside of his jaw.
"Aside from that.." Lunaris paused, looking back to his old friend, then walked over to his chamber window, peaking out into the Twilight Realm's horizon. Something he'd always do when he was distressed, or disturbed. "The Templar are also strong. Link, the Hero of Light and Twilight was troubled by Argus. And he wasn't even the leader." Lunaris paused, looking down at his hands and clenched them. "Anxia, a dark time is upon us; if it hasn't swept us already."
Link and Zeke rested by a campfire, the crimson and scarlet hues of the dancing flames lighting up the area around them. They had gathered some nearby wood and branches from trees, and made a quaint little fire before them. Midna was sleeping next to Link, a peaceful expression on her features. Zeke yawned, leaning back.
"Say, Zeke.. How long do you think it will be until we reach their fortress?" Link asked, casting a sideways glance to him.
"About another day if we travel right." He said, as he closed his eyes. "Get some sleep, Link. It's been a long day." With that, the blond haired warrior rolled over to his side, and in a few moments was snoring.
Link sighed, then looked over to the sleeping imp, and smiled. He lay beside her, and yawned, finding his eyelids to droop. He closed his sapphire eyes, and fell asleep.
Somewhere into the night, he was awoken. He was laying on his back as he opened his eyes, looking skyward. He looked downward at his chest and found a small imp laying on his chest, curled up into his clothes, sleeping safe and sound with a faint smile upon her features. Link smiled softly with a raised eyebrow. He wanted to wrap his arm around Midna, yet he didn't want to disturb her. So, he just lay his head back and closed his eyes.
Link slept pretty easily through the night. He awoke to look down at his chest, finding Midna to be gone from wrapped snugly in his torso. He sat up, stretching and making a small grunt. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, opening them and looking around for his two counterparts. He found Zeke idly practicing, while Midna was floating with her arms behind her back, looking off into the distance at the mountain.
She turned to look behind her, gazing upon Link. "So, have a nice nap, Wolf boy? Good, because we need to get going."
Link smirked slightly, standing up. He looked to the fire, beside the ash of it being his equipment where he last left it. He walked over to it, and strapped on the blade of the Golden Sword, donning his shield over it.
Zeke stopped, putting his claymore on his back to restrap it, turning around to Midna and Link. "Now that we're ready to go, let's not waste any time. If we hurry, we might reach there by the afternoon."
Link finished up an exotic fruit of the Twilight Realm. It looked like a mix of a Pineapple, and a Banana. Its taste was something all on its own; sweet. It was indescribable. He had plucked it off a tree as they passed by, Zeke and Midna taking one of their own as well.
"These fruits, if you could call them, are called Dulci. They're rather delicious, aren't they? Must more tastier than any fruit you Light Dwellers have." Midna snickered, licking her lips of the fruit.
That made Link pause for a moment in his step,casting a glance to his side, being reminded of what he had given up once more. Even if she doesn't care for me back, it still feels good to be on one last adventure with her.
Midna suddenly stretched, floating in midair as she playfully yawned. "Being out here is so bothersome. I'm Royalty, I shouldn't have to walk these distances anyway!" She turned to Link with an impish smile, and dove into his shadow. "Now hurry up Wolf boy, you've got to save this realm again."
"Well it's not like you walked anyway." He rolled his eyes, following behind Zeke; who kept his gaze forward, at the mountain.
They were approaching it fast, almost at the base of the large structure. It was very high indeed, it made Link feel a tad dizzy looking all the way up into the Twilit skies, and he couldn't even see the top. There was a huge cloud obstructing their view of it.
"Any ideas on how we're going to get up there?" Link wondered aloud, rubbing his chin. I guess if I really had to, I could climb up with my bare hands, but... Link looked down at his palms, raising a golden eyebrow. Let's save that for when I have no other options.
Link felt a magic presence form behind them, as he whirled around. He placed his left hand on the hilt of his golden blade, his cerulean eyes perceiving. From the corner of his hawk-like vision, he saw Midna ready fire magics, as Zeke simply looked over his shoulder.
There, in front of them now was a man in a dark blue cloak. He wasn't too tall, and the hood of the cloak was down. He had azure hair, the left side of his hair down and covering his left eye, the right side back and revealing the right side of his face. Before the trio could react, he held up a gloved hand.
"Do not be alarmed – I mean you no harm. You may know me as the Templar of Water – Saion." His voice was monotonic, seemingly careless. Yet behind that covering tone, sadness flowed through his voice.
Midna folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. "And if you're not going to try and splash us in the eyes with your water, what are you here for?"
Saion didn't even blink. "Water is purifying. It cleanses, and heals. It has cured my once plagued soul of ill intent. Now all that fills the scars is a deep regret." As if to symbolize his point, he waved his raised arm, a trail of water following it before falling to the barren ground, sprouting a twilit flower.
"The only way to cleanse my regret, is if we are stopped." Saion held out his hand toward them. "Allow me to explain our true intentions, so that the cleansing water of truth can purge your minds, and fill you with ice's frozen will;
"Divus's sole purpose is to throw the worlds into deep destruction. Obliterate everyone, and you are left with nothing. But Obliterate what bias and prejudice they have, and they will lean on once hated figures.
"No race will be discriminated, no orientation will be looked down upon. Throw everyone into chaos, and they will all lean onto each other for support. No one would care then if a Human and Twili live together – For in the new age, all that was created, was created by everyone's hands. And the Creators will have the Right to be by their creations, even if it is a new order.
"But, someone will have to lead this new age, and that's what Divus intends to do. Destroy everything sacred, and save everyone from the destruction as a King – No. A God. Everyone will be in peace, flowing like a river. But, it will be a false peace – Created only by destruction, remorse, regret, anger, sadness. This is why Divus must be stopped."
Link listened carefully, folding his arms and leaning on one leg. He was pretty sure he had not need say anything whatsoever. And that's what he did. He just accepted what Saion had told them, mulling over what little he knew. Midna seemed to be mulling it over as well, and Zeke let his arms hang down by his sides, his eyes closed in thought.
Saion walked toward them, clenching his hands. "I will use all of my power to override Divus's magics on this sacred Mountain. I will provide you a path. After I make this path, you must not turn back you three." Saion's deep ocean eye was filled with fury. "Stop him!"
Without a word and too quick for anyone to say a word, Saion walked past them at the base of the mountain. He clenched his hands, as a cerulean energy surrounded them. He then thrust his hands outward as water formed all around the mountain, swarming upwards of the rock to the point, covering it in the clear liquid. The Mountain gleamed a soft sheen from the reflection of the water. All around the mountain was the smell of an ocean, and the sound of a Waterfall. A soothing sound to anyone's ears.
Then instantly, all the water turned to ice. The Mountain looked like a familiar sight – the Frozen Depths of Snowpeak. A chill began to emanate, making chills run up Link's spine as he felt a great shockwave pulse out, as the Ice broke. It flew in all directions, into a soft snow that began to fall on the four figures. The Mountain looked anew – and infront of them was a staircase made from raw energy, similar to the Mirror of Twilight. But the steps were pure cerulean.
Saion turned back to them, letting his hands fall back to his sides. He began to evaporate, steam coming off of his frame.
"I have cleared the path for you, purging the Mountain of tricking magics. Please, stop him. Stop us."
With those final words Link would keep to heart, Saion was no more. Nothing but a memory to the Hero, his love and his friend. A fleeting dream. But now, their final trial awaited them.
Link looked to Midna and Zeke, one of who's ruby eyes were widened. "These templars can't seem to make up their minds on anything." Midna rubbed a temple, still flabbergasted at the immense display of power Saion had unleashed.