Haha, I'm almost done writing the story! Despite how much time it takes, I'm actually writing this story on paper before I type it, giving me an extra opportunity to edit it. And I only have one more chapter to write on paper! Yay! (Then the epilogue, which won't be long) So be prepared for me to start pumping these chapters out.
I promise (for varying reasons) to have them all done by June 1st!
Chapter 10
"Thus eternity's cycle was born,"
"All I'm saying is that you could have at least warned me." After finding his way out of the infuriating labyrinth of tunnels in the subway, Link had reached the now dark city to find Sheik waiting for him.
"Would you have still proceeded if you had known that I couldn't have accompanied you?" the Sheikah replied knowingly.
"Yes!" Link lied. "Next time don't just disappear and leave me in the dark!" He looked up at the night sky above him, he hadn't thought that he had been underground that long.
"How long was I gone?" he asked.
"The sun has set twice since you went underground," Sheik replied simply. Link was shocked.
"Two days?!" he practically yelled. "It only felt like a few hours!"
"Time moves differently for the Goddesses," Sheik said sagely. "They do not exist only in one time as we do. Rather, they exist in all times at once." Link snorted rudely. He was tired of being talked to in riddles.
"So where's the next trial?" he asked. "Anything could have happened to Malon in two days, I need to hurry."
"Nayru's Solace is located on the tip of a high mountain that surveys the land once called Hyrule," Sheik replied. "We will find a place to camp once we are free of the city. Tomorrow we will begin the long climb to the summit of Zora's Peak, to Nayru's Solace."
The walk out of Hylia seemed to take an eternity. Empty streets and quite roads may have expedited the journey, but Link was more impatient than ever to keep moving. He'd seen firsthand what Ganon was capable of in Din's Sanctuary, and now he feared for Malon more than ever. What Link had seen, however, ate at him for another reason as well. Was it real? His mind continued to dwell on the trial until Sheik finally found a suitable campsite in a patch of trees at the base of the mountain.
Zora's Peak had been a trademark structure of Hylia for hundreds of years. The mountain would get covered in layers of powdery snow during the winter, drawing in snowshoe-hikers and cross-country skiers from all over the country with its spectacular landscape. In the summer though, the mountain truly bloomed. Lush grass grew around elegant flowers and tall evergreens. Deer flourished in the peaceful habitat, and songbirds constantly serenaded the beauty of it all.
The wondrous mountain had, long ago, been turned into a wildlife reserve to preserve the environment, and every year thousands of tourists flocked to the area to revel in the natural beauty. However, nobody was ever allowed within ten miles of the summit, not even the park rangers. The government insisted that the summit remain untouched in order to preserve the wildlife habitat.
Link sighed as he sat down on a nearby log. He'd loved the wilderness his entire life. Even as a boy he'd looked forward to exploring the forests around the lake that they often went to. Climbing the mountain, while grueling, took him back to his childhood adventures.
Sheik disappeared for a minute, reappearing with a thick bundle of dry wood. Within minutes, she had a roaring fire to keep them warm.
"You know," Link said, trying to start up a conversation with the quiet Sheikah. "There's an old story about how this mountain got its name." Sheik was silent, but Link decided to keep trying. "The tale says that the woman, Zora, flung herself off of the mountain when her lover ran off with a fairy queen." Link thought that the woman on the other side of the fire might have smiled, but he couldn't tell through her thick veil.
"The Zora were a race of aquatic natives that lived in this land thousands of years ago," she replied. "Their culture was…beautiful." Her voice became sad, almost as if she were mourning for the Zora. "I do not know what became of them."
Suddenly, Link realized how hard it must be for her, being ripped out of the world that she so passionately loved and being thrust into an uncertain future where everything and everyone she knew were gone.
"I'm sorry," he said softly after a moment. Sheik looked up, drawn out of her reverie.
"For what?" she asked.
"I'm not the only one who's lost something," he said simply. Sheik looked down at the ground.
"Thank you Link," she said.
Link smiled; it was comforting to know that she was indeed human underneath her mysterious shell, albeit, a intimidating magic human who happens to be from the past. Chuckling inside, Link went back to gazing into the fire. There was something still troubling him.
"Sheik, I have a question," he said. She seemed to know what he was going to ask.
"Link, whatever happened inside that cavern was for you and you alone—"
"Was it real?" he interrupted her. "What I saw, did it really happen? Din said that it was a path that I might have taken." Images of the trial flashed through his mind. He had been happier than he'd ever been before.
Sheik sighed resignedly. "Certainty is impossible, but I believe what you saw to be a life that you might have lived had you chosen to do something different. One small choice can have enormous repercussions on the world."
The Butterfly Effect, Link thought, recognizing the idea from a book that he'd read in psychology class. But what did I do differently in that world than I did in this world? When did my life and that Link's life diverge? Suddenly it struck him.
"I'd never played the ocarina," he said softly, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the powerful instrument. With everything that had happened, he'd almost forgotten that it was there. "I'd just thrown it away."
"Life is a river, ever-flowing toward the open sea. It is a river that cannot be crooked or barred, but you—you have had the rare chance to look into the past and truly understand a choice you have made," Sheik said. "And understanding is the first step on the path of wisdom."
The pair got up with the sunrise, and after a quick meal of nuts and fruit that Sheik had somehow procured during the night, they began the long trek up to the top of Zora's Peak. It was a tedious trip, and Link's feet soon became sore from the hard ground. After several hours of tough going, Link finally voiced his frustration.
"I never imagined that it would be such a long hike," he said, panting heavily. The mountain in front of him seemed to loom as tall as ever. "It doesn't even seem like we're any closer."
"We've almost reached the base of the wildlife reserve," Sheik replied. Link was annoyed to see that she wasn't even breathing hard. "The mountain is not as large as it appears. Once we begin our climb it will only be a few hours until we reach the shrine."
"We?" Link replied cynically. "Don't you mean me?" She ignored him, continuing through the forest.
The sun had barely reached its zenith when Sheik stopped abruptly. They had only been climbing for about an hour, but Link already felt sweat drenching the back of his shirt. He wiped at his forehead, wishing for some sort of relief.
Looking through the trees ahead, Link saw a tall fence blocking further travel up the mountain. There was a sign on the fence that said, 'Do Not Enter! Federal Reserve!'
"From here, the journey becomes yours," Sheik said. "I will be waiting for you."
"Awesome," Link replied sarcastically, eyeing the tall fence.
"It would be foolish for you to journey further without any means of protection," Sheik continued. "So I collected some items from your house that I expect may become useful."
From under her cloak, Sheik produced Link's bow and an accompaniment of arrows set in a leather quiver. Grinning, Link took the items and looked them over carefully. Everything was the way he had left it, even the way he had wound his unstrung bowstring around the quiver.
Quickly stringing the bow, Link swung both it and the quiver onto his back.
"Thank you," he told the Sheika.
"There is one more thing," he said, again reaching into her cloak. This time she pulled out an old cloth book bag that Link recognized as his own. Taking it, Link curiously looked inside to discover the book that Malon had given him at the lake. The faded green cover and golden embellishment spoke more to Link than the foreign words inside. It seemed so long ago that she'd given it to him; a lifetime had passed since then. So much has changed.
"Thank you Sheik," Link said softly, touched by the woman's thoughtfulness.
"I knew it was important to you," Sheik replied. "But Link, you need to understand something." Link looked up. "You must set aside your personal feelings during the next trial, or else you will never pass Nayru's test."
Set aside his personal feelings? Does that mean that I should forget about Malon? he though. But Malon's the only reason I'm even on this mountain!
With a thoughtful nod, Link started off toward the fence. It was going to be a long journey up the mountain, and he was running short on time.
Link hiked through the trees until it grew dark, only stopping once the sun had completely set. He set his belongings down with a sigh. He was only a few minutes from where he thought that he needed to be, but traveling at night was foolish; one wrong turn could lead him off the edge of a cliff, or right into a den of bears. Achingly, he sat down against a tree; he sure had been doing a lot of walking lately.
I wonder where Malon is right now, he thought sadly. It seemed like it had been years since she had been taken. Could things ever be the same again? No. Sam's dead. Things will never be the same.
Looking into the dark sky, Link tried to focus on the bright moon and the sounds of the forest around him, but his mind inevitably drifted back to the red-haired girl he'd grown to love. Was she ok? Was she mad at him? Was she hurt?
Although he had resolved not to fall asleep, Link slowly found himself drifting off. Despite his concern for Malon, his tired, aching body drew him into a deep slumber.
Link woke up in middle of the night to the eerie sounds of wolves howling in the distance. The full moon was bright above him, but Link still couldn't see more than an arm's length away. Another wolf howled, then another. Link shivered; were they getting closer?
Silence followed Link's unspoken question. Minutes seemed to stretch into hours as Link listened, straining his ear for any sound. Suddenly, from just feet away, a chilling howl erupted into the night air. Link's heart began racing wildly, did he dare move? Slowly, ever so slowly, Link reached out his hand toward the blackness where he'd thought the ominous sound to have originated. He didn't know what made him stretch his fingers toward the unknown, maybe it was curiosity.
Link jumped back in horror, heart missing a beat. Had his fingers just brushed fur? His breathing quickened and he began sweating profusely, but he didn't dare move for fear of the wolf. Was there really a wolf?
Nothing happened. Link, yet again, reached out his hand. He was even more slow, even more cautious this time. Shakily, his fingers reached toward the unknown, and kept reaching.
Breathing a little more normally, he swiped his hand through the air around him; there wasn't anything there. I must have been imaging things, he told himself, laying his head back against the tree trunk.
Link didn't hear any more wolves, and he managed to stay awake throughout the rest of the night. Just before sunrise, before even the morning songbirds, Link set out, only waiting long enough to be able to see a few feet in front of him.
The rest of the walk to the summit was relatively short. It only took Link about a half-hour to reach the peak, right as the first tendrils of sun were peeking over the horizon.
Stepping out of a clump of trees, Link gasped; the vista was beyond anything he had ever seen before. He could see miles in any direction, even the city of Hylia appeared small before his gaze. The morning sunlight glittered dazzlingly off of the dew strewn grass, and light puffs of cloud dotted the bright blue sky. Sometime during his short hike, the birds had emerged from their night's recluse and begun to majestically serenade the wondrous plateau.
In the center of the clearing was a statue of a girl, alike to the statue he'd seen in Din's Sanctuary in every way, except for the orb, which was tinted blue rather than red. The sun shone gloriously onto the back of the sculpture, reflecting the light perfectly and giving the statue a bright golden outline.
Link could see what Sheik had meant when she'd said that each shrine was located in a place that was flawless and perfect. This view is amazing, Link thought, peacefully breathing in the sweet mountaintop air. Suddenly, soft blue light exploded out of the orb, sending a wave of energy through the plateau. Link's clothes flapped back and his hair whipped around his head wildly, but somehow he managed to keep his feet under him.
Within moments, the tempest was over, leaving behind a subtly different clearing than before. The air seemed lighter, more alive, and the grass felt like it had grown taller. In fact, everything seemed just a little bit…more. Link's eyes widened as small flecks of light began drifting up from the ground. They wafted around lazily, casting a peaceful and serene mood over the clearing.
"LINK, WHY HAVE YOU ENTERED MY SOLACE?" Nayru's voice penetrated the plateau, powerfully rendering Link helpless. The words seemed to contain the same essence of beauty as the mountain, powerful and awe-inspiring at the same time. Link had to fight to keep his eyes from watering, the emotions were intense, but he didn't let it distract him.
"I need the Master Sword," Link replied, letting resolve fill his voice.
"YOU DESIRE A BLADE MEANT ONLY FOR THE CHOSEN HERO OF COURAGE," Nayru responded, echoing Din's words. "YOU THINK YOURSELF WISE ENOUGH TO WEILD SUCH A SWORD?" Just as before, the orb glowed brightly whenever the Goddess spoke, illuminating the area with her presence.
"I have to be," Link said.
"THEN YOU MUST OVERCOME MY TRIAL AND EARN MY BLESSING."
Nayru's words were the exact same as Din's before her, and the similarity made Link nervous. He couldn't bear another trial like the first. With a silent snarl, he quieted his anxiety. This is for Malon. I'll do anything to see her free.
"ARE YOU PREPARED?" Nayru continued, her voice ringing through his head.
"Yes," Link replied, eyes closed in anticipation. "Yes I am."
"THEN YOU MUST ANSWER MY PROBLEM."