Chapter 14

"But balance terrible originate,"

Link braved himself for Farore's trial, expecting to be thrown headfirst into another hallucination, but nothing happened. He was still in the swampy alcove, still standing a few yards in front of the Goddess' child-like statue. Nothing had changed. Did something go wrong? Link wondered.

A loud rustle of leaves. Link spun around, pulling his bow off of his back and knocking an arrow in one smooth motion. His muscles tensed, preparing to move at a moment's notice. Something was wrong.

More rustling. Out of the bushes stepped somebody very familiar. "Malon?" Link lowered his bow in disbelief, did she escape? A thousand frantic questions ran through his mind. "Malon, are you ok? How did you get here?"

"I'm fine!" she said with a dazzling smile a shake of her head, and indeed, she looked it. Her gleaming hair looked as if she had just combed it, her smile was genuine, and even her clothes seemed untouched by the swamp around her. He couldn't find it in himself to be concerned with how she had gotten here, all that mattered was that she was here.

Another rustling from his right. Link spun, again raising his bow. A small bush trembled ominously, slowly getting darker as a shadow fell on it. Darker, darker.

A black figure formed out of the shadows. The creature was clothed in a piercing black tunic, and upon its black hair was a long dark hat that reached halfway down its back. Out from its otherwise featureless face shone two blood red eyes. Evil, malevolent eyes that depicted nothing save hatred and bloodlust.

Staring into those eyes, Link began to shake with loathing. The creature that had murdered his brother stood before him tauntingly. Drawing his bowstring, he took aim at the monster. He would end it now, no matter that he didn't posses the Master Sword. The creature deserved to burn in hell.

Yelling unintelligibly, Link loosed his arrow. It sailed straight, but before it could reach its target, the shadow monster moved. Sprinting with demon-like speed, it covered the distance between it and Malon in mere seconds. Malon shrieked as she was carried to the ground by the creature.

The two figures rolled along the moist, foggy earth for a few feet before jumping to their feet and scrambling away from each other. Except now, the shadow monster wasn't anywhere to be seen. Instead, two Malon's stood there, staring at each other incredulously.

Link tensed. The monster had taken Malon's appearance, and Link had lost track of who was who during the struggle. Hesitantly, Link drew and knocked yet another arrow, pointing it first at one Malon, then at the other.

"Link, it's me!" the Malon to his left screamed in his direction, not once taking her eyes off of her twin.

"No! Please Link, it's me! I'm Malon!" the other yelled. Link kept his bow in the air, confusedly aiming somewhere between them. His mind was cloudy for some reason. He couldn't think straight. Which one was really Malon?

Time seemed to slow. The long red hair, the smooth tan cheeks, the captivating brown eyes. Down to the dark leather cowboy boots, they were both Malon. But one of them isn't, Link told himself. One of them is a monster.

Link's eyes darted back and forth quicker and quicker. His stomach churned sickeningly, and his heart began racing. Anxiety turned to hysteria. He felt strange inside, like his opportunity to do something was slipping away from him. Something terrible was going to happen to Malon if he didn't get involved.

"Link!" the two Malon's cried out in unison. Slowly, ever so slowly, Link turned toward the Malon on his left, bow in hand. He was shaking violently now, horrified at the thought of harming the actual Malon. Dazed, he drew his bowstring. In his mind, he saw the arrow flying through the air and ripping through Malon's heart. He saw the twinkling light of life fade out of her eyes as the blood drained from her broken body.

"Link?" the Malon before him whispered fearfully. He trembled, bile rising in his throat.

"I can't do this. Anything but this," he whimpered. In a stupor, he repeated himself over and over. "I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this." His wavered, and his bow began to drop. But if I don't do anything…

With a dry sob, Link lowered his bow the rest of the way. The arrow fell to the ground silently, lying flat along the damp earth.

"Weakling!" the Malon in front of him spat. A wide, toothy grin appeared on her face, a grin that never once touched her eyes. She began to laugh, a shrill, shrieking laugh that erupted out of her grotesquely contorted mouth.

"No!" Link screamed as the monster dashed toward the real Malon; it moved so fast that Link could barely follow it with his eyes. Appearing suddenly behind Malon, it pulled back its hand and thrust its fingers into her back.

Link's screams of horror blended together with Malon's scream of pain. Her normally tan face turned pale, and red droplets began falling off of her blood-soaked shirt onto the ground. The shape-shifting creature violently wrenched its fingers out of her back, bringing with them a new wave of blood. The look on the monster's face was one of ecstasy, satisfaction.

Gasping hopelessly for air, Malon collapsed onto the ground, the life draining out of her. Slowly, her body stopped moving, and the blood stopped flowing.

With one last heart-wrenching scream, Link fell to his knees. As he gazed upon Malon's lifeless body, his mind slowly became numb. It was as if he were falling into a dark hole, losing himself within his own psyche. Visions from his past began to flash before him. Playing at the lake, going to school, riding bikes together. The emotional pain was too great; he was slowly losing his grip on reality.

"YOU HAVE FAILED MY TEST."