Chapter 20: Realm of Sin III

This realm was a calming blue, but unnaturally so. The sky and pond were various shades of blue, as were the grass, the trees, and the ground. It didn't look like the northern lands at all; Link wouldn't be surprised to find this was somewhere in the forests of Taven. If it was in natural colors, it might even be a good place to relax for a few hours. The stone basin for the soul flame was seemingly the only man-made thing here.

"Hey, you wanna do some fishing?" someone nearby asked. It turned out to be a suit of armor with no one inside. From the muddy blue coloring and the hefty plates on it, it seemed like it might be the Great Wyrm's summoned form.

It might even be the Great Wyrm. Keeping that in mind, Link said, "That could be nice, but I've got to look for the soul flame."

The armor made a slight shift like shaking its head. "Ah, you don't want to be doing that, buddy. It'll be a real pain in the neck, I tell ya. Come on, we can chill out here, especially since it's warmer than the outside. There ain't nobody to bother us, and the danger's out of the real world, right? So we can sit and chat and maybe get a fish or two. It'll be fun."

While he did miss those relaxing days of just fishing, he had things to do. "Sorry, maybe later. I need to get that flame."

"Well do you really need it?" the armor asked. "Heck, do you even need to be doing all this stuff about legends and whatever? Nobody's forcing you to do it, and it's a really stressful situation, am I right? Going to and fro, fighting stuff that no one else will even if it doesn't pose any threat to you; leave it to those here, since it should matter enough to them to take care of things."

There was a wish that he could just pass on all this. He probably could, but Link knew that he'd feel terrible for doing so. "It matters to me," he said. "Where is the soul flame?"

"I said it was going to be a huge pain and it will be," it said, pointing behind Link. "Because it's in that long and complicated dungeon down there. There's lots of small rooms and doors to get lost with. With a number of those doors, they're locked or sealed in a way that means you could trek clear across the dungeon to open them up. There won't be any indication of which is the right way. Oh, and there's teleporters, and pits full of spikes, and teleporters in pits full of spikes. So you could attempt that awful mess, or you could stick around with me for some fishing. That's an easy choice to make, isn't it?"

While it did sound like a horrible pain in the neck, it was indeed an easy choice. "It might be awful, but I'm still going after it."

"Aw, come on, please stick with me? It'll be lonely fishing all by myself."

"I never thought so," Link said. Some days, fishing was a nice piece of solitude compared to the orphanage.

"Well fine, but you're free to come back to fish if you don't like the dungeon," the armor said, bringing out a fishing pole. "I just hope the voice of your doubts doesn't wreck the peace too much; I'd rather not deal with spirits like that."

The voice of his doubts… was that his shadow self? Now that he thought about it, the last battle he'd had with it hadn't been as tough. That was after the Triforce had appeared to him and he was more confident in what he was doing. Perhaps putting it to rest would do him good this time. Link nodded to what the armor said, then turned to check out the dungeon entrance.

Before long, something stood out to him strongly. This little clearing rose up right before the staircase that descended down to the dungeon. However, there was no ground covering up the maze of small rooms below. The land simply ended, leaving an expanse of flat blue fog. There were strange things out in that fog: a leafy branch unattached to a tree, an exact square of disjointed bricks, the eye of a creature with only some surrounding skin, and more. With nothing whole out there, the landscape became fragments of things in a dream-like collage.

There were walls to every room, although only a few had ceilings as well. Nothing would block his way to finding the soul flame if he could cross the top, save for finding it and getting around whatever might be in the room with it. By doing that, he could still solve the problem this dungeon presented with what it offered. Link took the first section of wall carefully to get a feel for the balance here. It was wide enough for him to put a single foot down on. Although he doubted it would be early on, he went to the first ceiling portion to look down in the rooms. There was a hole there he could check on the closed in room, thankfully.

No soul flame there. A couple of rows ahead, there was a cluster of roofs that were side to side or corner to corner. That would cover most of the central area and some of the right edge. Link crossed the walls to reach the nearest one. As he stepped off the wall, there was a flash from the shadow's charm. It emerged from the roof he was currently on. "You shouldn't cheat your way out of a challenge, especially not in this realm," the shadow said.

"The goal for this place is to get the soul flame to the torch," Link said. "Overcoming whatever challenges the dragons present. That's what I'm doing."

It drew its dark sword and readied for battle. "You're just making excuses like everything else. Get back on track; finish this dungeon to become stronger so you can properly defeat the villain."

"I'll do things in my own way," he said, drawing the Master Sword in order to match it.

Due to where they were, Link moved towards the center of the roof piece he was on. He needed to be aware of where he was. His shadow took the first strike, which Link was able to block due to fighting him several times. Knowing it was really aggressive, he kept defensive with his shield and looked for chances to counter. It wasn't a normal being, so it kept up its assault for longer than a human could. It also kept pressing him towards the edge; a few sidesteps kept him safe.

Once it relented, he struck through its sword arm. The area frayed severely for a moment like scattered smoke. Also like smoke, it gathered itself back together. It had done the same in the last fight, but then he'd gotten careless with it. A couple more tries could show if that was useless and he needed another tactic.

It took those couple of tries to see that he was at a stalemate in this battle. He was limited with these roofs, as falling into one of the dungeon rooms would put him in a lot more trouble. Yet since he was more used to it, he could counter what the shadow used against him. It wasn't trying anything new, even in its attempts to shame him. Perhaps one of his items, or the dragon armors? Clockwork needed him to stay in place, making it not good against this shadow that moved fast and struck hard. Sulfur had flight capabilities and might work with energy draining, and he wasn't sure what Prism did other than the little dragon's insistence that it was no good for battle.

An annoyed roar from back towards the pond area surprised both of them, as did the rock hurtling right for the shadow. "Will you two quit…?!"

When the rock struck, the shadow's whole form got loose. There was a black heart pulsing within a golden cage, like an evil version of something familiar. Link stabbed it through without a second thought, causing the shadow to shriek in pain.

"...fighting out there and disturbing my peace?!" the dragon finished, staying by the shore. "Keep the fighting to the dungeon if you have to. Sheesh, the lengths I have to go to in order to get a decent restful day."

The shadow was trying to reform even as its heart container crumbled. "You, you can't be rid of me that easily," it struggled to say. Its form then loosened, seemingly to give it more energy to talk. "I am your curse and your fate. You will fulfill your role in this cycle of legends. If I must take more extreme measures to put you back on your proper path, I will."

"For being so concerned about the legends, you don't seem like something from the goddesses," Link said.

"Whoever said that I was?" The container was gone and the shadows faded away. "This cycle will never end until the one who should have won conquers you all. If you really want this to end, give up. Otherwise, fulfill your role and don't complain."

While Link wondered about what it said, he was still in this realm controlled by the Great Wyrm. He started checking the rooms below to find the soul flame. How much time did he have left? However much that was, he was saving some time staying up top even with the disruption from his shadow. The monsters and traps below looked scattered without any real thought, time wasters more than real threats. Some spikes would be near a conveyor belt but not at the end, while another room had patrolling stalfos with overlapping routes and an obvious unguarded path.

The room with the soul flame was oddly plain compared to the chaos surrounding it. There was a raised platform where the torch was lying in a basin matching the one back at the entrance seal. And there was nothing to stop him from dropping down, taking the torch, then jumping back out with the Roc's feather. Although when he first touched it, the forgiving feel of it reminded him of a time the orphanage headmistress had talked to him about chores. "You slip out of mundane chores you don't like more often than you should, but you always step up when the other children would be in danger. I thank you for that, but don't relax too much."

He liked to think he'd gotten better about that. Or at least he'd chosen to do chores that he didn't mind doing daily. While he did like relaxing days of fishing or napping out in the forest, this was not the time for that. He brought the soul flame back to the entrance and lit the basin there.

"Well that wasn't how you were meant to do that," the armor said, turning into smoke that reformed into the Great Wyrm itself. With odd consideration, the dragon then shrank itself to a more conventional size. "But if the flame didn't burn you, then you did put thought and effort into that plan. Fine, all I wanted to do was snooze out in the warm sun."

"In this region of cold and snow?" Link asked, raising an eyebrow.

The Wyrm shook its head. "Meh, I was sort of given orders to come out here. And even if he failed as our summoner, that guy did manage to compel some of us with destinations. I would've made due. Anyhow, I, the Great Wyrm born of sloth, submit my will to you. I will," it sighed, "I will do as you ask, though I'd really rather not do anything. People think when you're as big as I am that you're strong enough to do anything, even move a mountain. Well I could, but can you imagine the effort that takes? Bah. It takes so much effort for me to even move and then people get so mad about the quakes."

That made sense of what he'd seen here, except the appearance of his shadow self. "I see. Thank you for helping out with the shadow. That let me beat him, I think."

"What, you mean that actually did something?" the Wyrm asked, confused. "I was just throwing that to make you two see how much that annoyed me."

Link smiled at that. "It disrupted him enough to expose the core of that magic."

The Wyrm cringed as if the thought of helping like that was appalling. By then, the distorted realm had shifted over to the odd silent temple he'd spoken to Sulfur in as well. "That was an accident. Don't expect any more such volunteering from me. Though, you don't seem too sure about having defeated it."

Bringing up his right wrist, he saw that the summoning chain only had one charm on it now. "It's gone from this. But the last things it said bother me. It's always been pushing me into a specific role, and it said to give up entirely if I don't want it."

"Of course it would say that." The Wyrm moved its forelimbs like it was trying to emphasize that. The limbs were so comically tiny on the large beast that it was almost enough to laugh at. "I could tell you more about that, if you want. I love to gossip about stuff, far easier than actually doing stuff."

It might try to lie to him, but Link felt it might be worth listening to. "Sure, that could help."

The Wyrm nodded. "Good! If I can serve you as my master just by chatting, that's perfect! Besides, my summon form is even less mobile than that gear-headed jerk's, even if it would make you near invulnerable. Anyhow, about that shadow, I said it was manifested from your doubts and that's only about half true. It is true, but really, it's from an ancient curse on your heritage as the chosen knight of the goddess, or something to that effect."

"That's the one from Demise?" he asked. That image was vivid in his mind, a bestial man with flaming hair and vain eyes.

"So that you'd never escape him after the first incarnation of the legend humiliated him with defeat. See, demons tend to be really vain and don't take losing well, and that one was their king so he'd be a billion times worse about it. Demise was supposed to be defeated by the power of the Triforce and it would have worked except that due to time travel, it was possible to undo that defeat. The demon king was sealed into one spot before that. After that first cycle of these legends, though, his soul was passed on in several pieces. The main piece has reincarnated into the conglomerate being known as Ganon in these days, but part of it was sealed within the sword on your back, and other parts of it were planted into the very souls of the pair who led to his defeat: Zelda and Link."

Link put his hand on his chest. "So that shadow was that part of Demise passed onto me."

"Awful legacy to be born with, if you ask me," the Great Wyrm said. "When there's conflict within the world, especially at times when the peoples start trying to advance, the pieces of Demise awaken to mess everything up again. I'd almost say it was a genius ploy to make up for his initial loss, but he manipulates everyone into his cycle, even us who should've never been involved in his cycle of destruction." It shook its head. "But here we are, being used for yet another cycle of this. He doesn't even change things up that much; nearly every cycle is some echo of the first. It's so infuriating."

"How did you get involved? I don't recall hearing the story behind your artifact." He'd heard that it was held by Hyrule Castle, true, but nothing before the scheme to cause a war.

"It's an atypical legend, so it doesn't get told much as far as I'm aware. Though, it's kind of odd that it didn't get a popularity boost to prepare grounds for this cycle. But maybe it did. Anyhow, we were created by a brilliant but shortsighted sorceress who thought that she could make the world better by drawing sin out of people and creating monsters with it. The whole idea was that they'd then become untouched by sin and the sin-born monsters could be trapped in a dungeon away from the world."

"That sounds childish," Link said. He felt a yawn trying to come out and held it back. Perhaps he had done too much in these few days since escaping the tower. If he was wearing out before noon, it might be worth it to take a break.

"Well she was a child then," the Great Wyrm said. "It was pretty much a disaster even when it seemed to be working. The trouble was that she didn't realize how prevalent sin was. While a neighbor might seem nice and good, they could have a secret shame that tarnishes their soul. Plus sin is often subjective; what one person sees as horrible, another may see as mundane and perhaps even necessary. There are some objective sins, things that undermine a person's thoughts and behaviors to make them much worse.

"And when her plan did work, all the people in her hometown lost their brilliance. A loving and faithful couple turned blandly cheerful, not any happier with each other than they were with anyone else. Artists and artisans lost their creative spark. And you recall that Sulfur was born of cowardice, right? A few people lost their lives because they had lost all caution around the ordinary monsters in the countryside. Sure, people may think sin is always bad, but perfectly normal and healthy emotions can act as fuel for what is called sin. Her work to extract all capacity for sin from a person took away those emotions as well.

"Not only that, but we who were born from those extracted sins kept growing in power, eventually becoming the dragons you see us as now. We could easily escape the dungeon at that point. The sorceress then created the Septdraco to control us, hiring heroes to help. Of course, we weren't happy being recalled and given this honking huge weak point you've been taking advantage of. Thorn and Rotting eventually got control over her, but that's when things went horribly wrong."

"For you, you mean," Link said. His eyes drooped a bit, but he made himself keep alert to listen. After this…

The Great Wyrm snorted. "For everyone, I mean, because Demise snuck into her consciousness and warped her soul to his will. It was kind of impressive, but then we had put in the cracks that let that happen. He guided her into completely demolishing her country. As you might guess from our creation, magic had been studied and expanded strongly there, too much advancement for that demon. Then Demise sent us into Hyrule to snatch the Triforce for him, wreaking them in the process. But then a hero cut us down. Not one of your lineage, mind, which is why it's atypical and rarely told."

"What were you planning on doing about Demise?" It could be interesting to know. Although, his mind was feeling hazy, like he was half-asleep. That could be something to worry about.

"Well I'd rather do nothing," it said predictably. "Hmph, you know, I'd rather not be a sin-born dragon at all if I could help it. Too many heroes and even villains challenge dragons due to our reputation. Like just today, it really sucked to get woken up from a nice snowbound nap cause you showed up. If I could just be reborn as an ordinary dragonfly, I think that'd be ideal. Lazy days floating over a pond, basking in the sun, people thinking you ought to be left alone out of being pretty, yeah, that would be wonderful.

"But for this lifetime and this challenge, well it'd be nice if we could do to Demise what was done to us: get him summoned into a really vulnerable body so he can be killed outright. We could bind him with the chains of sin with our life force too for an extra touch, he outta be vulnerable to that. Trouble is, that first cycle legend isn't the only place where time got mucked up. The fragments of the demon king's soul have been scattered across time, to places that have become living worlds in their own right. You could call out the fragments currently active in this land and kill the resulting creature, but there may still be other fragments out there that can slip back in. Though, your generation would probably be safe once you end this cycle unless you also go mucking about with time. So don't be doing that no matter how tempting it may be."

"Right," Link said, feeling a touch of chilly air on his face. It should have focused his mind, but he found himself closing his eyes and falling asleep.

"Hey look, I got him!"

"No you didn't, lazy twerp. You already submitted to him; you just drained his magic from staying out and talking with him too long."

"Oh."

"And why did you go telling him all that, huh?!"

"Well..."

"Oh right, just because you're too lazy to do anything else."

"If he learns too much about us, he might figure out how to master the artifact. As much as I hate agreeing with hothead too..."

"What was that?!"

"Hee hee, it won't matter guys. He's practically mine already."

"You sure about that? His feelings are growing deeper."

"Maybe, but he's proven vulnerable. At this point, there's not much to do to prove that my will is greater than his."

"He may have resisted me, but he is an introvert who doesn't seek out the situations you do best in."

"I've got a plan in the works, don't worry. He'll have to walk into my traps in his pursuit of the other three."

"Well I personally hate it that you have the best shot at a warrior like him. He should have been mine."

"I thought he should have been mine too, though that was fruitless."

"I guess I could've gotten him if I got into his senses, but meh, effort."

"You would have done better to close in that awful dungeon. And let us design the rooms, not you."

"Huh, me too?"

"Don't be an idiot, you know what causes fear!"

"Uh, ye-yeah. Like you."

"Hey, but guys? I may have a good chance at his soul, but it's a mite problematic right now to have him unconscious out in the snow like this."

"Oh, sorry."

"Well you're the one who's not restricted to this stupid artifact, so scram already!"

"Hee, I was just looking for an apology. I'll go grab somebody from town."

The largest quake yet hit Ilara when the hero went out to slay the dragon. The kids of town had watched from the outskirts, not allowed to go any further lately. Even so, it was amazing to see the Great Wyrm tear out of its hiding spot and face down the hero they couldn't see. They had seen the bright spells he used, showing that the hero was more than even they had expected. Last night, he had seemed so sure of himself in fighting this dragon. None of them were afraid of him losing because of that. Link was a brave young man, strong too.

Then the dragon vanished into a blue light. They watched for a while to see any other sign of what was going on. "Do dragons die just like that?" one girl asked. "Doesn't seem like they should."

"They shouldn't," another said. She was known as the smartest of the kids and wanted things to stay that way, but even she wasn't sure about that.

"Maybe they get sent to another world just for dragons?" one of the boys asked. He got in trouble at times due to daydreaming a lot, but many in town were hoping he'd get the honor of being picked up by a traveling storyteller as an apprentice.

After a bit, some of them went off since nothing was happening and the adults wanted everyone to be working on repairs around town. It got down to one of the girls and the storyteller boy when a flicker of silver appeared not far off in the air. It was followed up by a sparkling array of raindrops even though no other rain appeared. "What is that?" the girl asked.

"That's weird, I didn't think rain did that," the boy said.

She got up and turned back home. "I'm gonna get my dog sled to check it out!"

"Wait, I wanna come!" the boy said, running after her. Her father agreed to let them go, asking them to keep an eye out for Link. After all, he didn't seem like the type to leave without making sure the town was fine after the large quake.

The sparkling air was still there when they got the dogs hitched up to the sled. But once they started riding out to it, it drifted away from them. It led them towards the place where the Great Wyrm had been spending its time; snow was now scattered in uneven lumps around a spiral imprint. Since the dragon wasn't there and they were also looking for Link, they kept going. It did eventually stop, right over where a gray figure was collapsed in the snow. It turned into an oddly small silver dragon with a sparkling orb held in its tail. After a short cheery call, the dragon turned into sparkles and retreated to the glove on Link's right hand.

"What happened to him?" the boy asked as they got off the sled. "I thought he won."

"Maybe he barely won," the girl said. But checking him over, he didn't seem to be wounded. She tugged at his shoulder. "Hey mister? You can't be sleeping out here."

He didn't respond at all, but he was still breathing. "Can your dogs take him back to town in the sled? The witch can take care of him."

"Of course, I have great dogs," she said. "But it might be too much even for them to have him and both of us."

Since she was the one who could drive the dogs, the boy had to run back to town alongside the dogsled. It was a long ways, but he wouldn't let himself seem tired from it all. The white witch of Ilara was at the edge of town, like she knew she had to meet them there. "Hey Granny!" he called out, waving a hand.

"Well now, what have you two been up to?" she asked.

"We went chasing some weird lights, but then we found that Link guy out in the snow," the girl said, slowing her sled by her. "His horse wasn't anywhere and he hasn't stirred at all."

"That was a spirit horse, of course you won't find it," the witch said, crouching down to check on his face. "Hmm, seems he was trying to command magic greater than he's capable of at the moment. Won't take much to take care of. Let's bring him back to the guest house, he'll need a good rest."

The girl had to leave to put the dogs and sled up, but the boy stuck around to help the witch take care of the hero. Link did wake up shortly after being brought inside, though he seemed tired. "I got the dragon," he said, tapping the blue ring on his artifact glove. Then he touched the silver ring. "And you two would've seen the Prism Dragon. I don't remember doing magic except for summoning Clockwork; I just fell asleep while talking with the Great Wyrm in… the other realm."

"That may be what the problem was," the witch said. "Once a spirit like that accepts you as its master, it takes some of your energy to maintain a physical form and do any actions. That horse doesn't require much noticeable since it's got the chain supporting it, but those dragons will cost you greatly. Also, did you take a bad head injury sometime in the past year?"

"Yes, about a month and a half ago."

"You're pushing your limits there, what with getting out here and confronting that beast," the witch warned. "I'll give you a magic potion, but you'd best stay here the rest of today and overnight."

"All right, I was considering that," he said.

To make sure he took it easy for the rest of the day, she had the boy keep an eye on him. He was excited for the prospect, since he could hear a hero's story directly from the source. That would look good when he tried to become a storyteller's apprentice. "I was surprised cause heroes are supposed to defeat dragons and not get hurt like that," he said.

Link didn't get mad at that; in fact, he smiled. "Well, even the best of heroes aren't invulnerable. A hero is someone who's willing to stand up against great odds to protect or save others. It doesn't even have to be a big thing; a hero could be just someone who goes out to save someone from drowning, or something like that. The more you put yourself at risk like that, the more times you might walk away with some injury." He patted his arm where a bandage was wrapped up. "Or even not walk away from the battle at all."

He'd thought that heroes were invincible people because they always won in stories. But the more he thought about what Link said, the more it made sense. "Oh. But you still keep fighting because you're a hero, huh?"

"Not quite," he said.

When he didn't explain anymore, the boy leaned over and asked, "Could you tell me about that? Why you fight, and all the adventures you've had? I want to be a storyteller, so I've got to impress one with good stories."

Link didn't seem too sure at first. "Good luck in that. And it wouldn't be a complete story if I told you what I've done. I've still got a lot to do."

"But I could be your first storyteller and it'd be great!"

Chuckling at that, he relaxed. "Perhaps. While I can tell you some things, I can't tell you everything."

"Why not?"

"Well, I have two reasons for being a hero. One is because I'm from an orphanage and I know a lot of other kids who have lost their parents in bad situations. There will be a lot more of us around if this time of darkness keeps strong. I know I'm pushing myself, but I want to make this a less dangerous time so that they can have peaceful lives, and find new families to be with. I promised them. But the other reason is because there's someone I'm in love with."

"Princess Zelda?" he asked, knowing how the Hylian legends went.

He shook his head. "No; she's already going to marry someone else and I don't want to make trouble for them. There's a man I love, a..." he hesitated, his eyes seeming very sad, "it's complicated. I can't tell you much about him, but he's the one I want to save. I can tell you about anything besides him."

"That's fine," the boy said. He wouldn't be wanting to tell romance stories anyhow and his other reason was a good enough motivation for anyone else.

Link's adventure wasn't done yet, but people would surely be talking about it for years to come. The young storyteller listened, knowing that he could someday pass on the whole story to those who had only seen parts of it.