Chapter 9
Comfort Amidst Danger
Having thoroughly dried his shaggy blond locks with one of the towels from the washroom, Link quickly slipped his head through the top of his new linen shirt—graciously provided by his hostess, of course. Wondering why all the towels beside the tub had to be so fluffy and pink, he slid his arms into the shirt's baggy sleeves.
In truth, the entire outfit Lilith had fetched for him was on the large side, from the socks to the pants to the boxer shorts. He adjusted the collar around his neck and rolled up the sleeves. The average hybrid must have been taller and more broad-shouldered than him, if the oversized clothing was any indication.
Then again, the average human was bigger than him too. He was strong and muscular, but not huge by any means.
Of course, demons and hybrids redefined the word tall. That was a fact. He was fairly certain that he hadn't spotted more than a handful of individuals in this realm less than six feet in height. Very few were below the two-yard mark. Many stood well over six-and-a-half feet, even.
As if I didn't feel short already, he thought, tightening the leather belt around his waist. The dark umber shirt spilled down to the middle of his thighs and the bottoms of the matching pants bunched up around his ankles. Well, it's better than my old bloody clothes.
As he twisted around to acclimate himself to the new fabric, his newly embrightened eyes moved to the far window. Before the casement stood a beautiful woman. A scowl was on her face. Her arms were rigidly crossed.
After staring into the darkness for a few minutes, she finally turned to Link. He couldn't hold back his smile when he saw her acidic expression. Her disheveled state was an even greater sight to behold.
Her long ebony tresses were soaked. A small puddle was slowly forming at her feet. Water dripped from her hair, trickling down her face and drenching her tidy uniform. She looked quite cold.
Link felt a sense of deep satisfaction. He might not have been able to take down the demon lord—yet—but getting Lilith back for her rascally ways was something he could do.
He was far from impressed by the way her hands had wandered earlier. At least Midna had known him for a good three hours before taking the liberty of groping him. And the way Lilith had harassed him by the bathtub—yes, she deserved this.
Link's roguish smile stayed. He patiently waited for Lilith's stubborn silence to lose the battle.
At long last it happened. "You're a jerk!" she shouted.
"No," Link said. "I did what you wanted. You said you weren't going anywhere until I got in the water." He shrugged uncaringly. "You never said you didn't want to join me."
Lilith's tooth-grinding was audible. "In all of my clothes?"
"You asked for it," Link said.
Lilith gave a frustrated grunt. "Oh yeah?" She marched up to him. "Do you always treat women like this?" She rested her fists on her hips.
"Do you always force yourself on men you just met?"
"Only when I have good reason to," she stated.
"Well, someone needed to stop you."
She came a little closer. "Why? If I'm not mistaken, you enjoyed my forwardness." Her face was beginning to turn red.
"No," he said flatly. "What I enjoyed was teaching you a lesson." He wasn't quite sure why he'd said that. Maybe it was because her annoyance was amusing. Perhaps she wasn't the only one capable of loathing someone she'd met just minutes before.
Lilith gasped softly. "Do you know how much power I hold in this realm, human?" She tapped her foot.
"As a captain and a baron's daughter, probably a lot."
"Are you aware of the sort of consequences that follow a lewd act such as the one you just committed?"
"Are you aware that I don't care?" he asked, amazing himself as much as her with his brazenness.
Lilith appeared downright incensed. "I…can't stand you," she muttered. Link shrugged once more. "I can't believe I had to walk up and down that drafty hall, sopping wet, to get you something to wear!" Link looked down and smirked again. "After I got you food! And after I answered all of your inane questions. I didn't have to do that, you know!"
"Maybe you like me more than you'll admit," Link said.
Lilith looked away and sneered. "And I wasn't forcing myself on you. I was merely trying to—"
"I know what you were trying to do."
"Well, I—"
"I think you're mad because I'm not interested. You must be used to men submitting to you. Well, I won't be anyone's groveling slave."
"I liked you better when you were silent, human," Lilith spat.
"Well, I liked you better when you were dry, so I guess we're even." Link picked playfully at his fingernail.
Lilith's breath caught in her throat. "I served you!" she cried, her arms flying out to the sides. Link lifted his eyes to her. "I never do that for anyone! I'm an army captain! I don't even work in this room!"
"Maybe you should get a job here," he replied. Lilith shook her head and curled her fingers into fists again. "And besides that, you weren't serving me. You were serving his highness."
She gawked at the top of Link's clean head. An exasperated chirp escaped her. "I suppose that's the only consolation I can possibly take from this pointless meeting. I should've let every one of those women tear you limb from limb like you deserve."
"Maybe you should have. I'd rather endure them than you."
Considering Lilith was doing little more than sputtering, Link figured she was angry beyond all reason. Using what he'd heard a young Pipit say to an instructor at the Junior Knight Academy—immediately before he'd been given a Saturday detention—Link took it a step further. "You're funny. You should take your show on the road. And never come back."
Lilith must have decided that his haughtiness was too much to bear. In an instant she had grabbed his shirt and yanked him forward.
"It didn't take long for you to drag me around by my shirt," Link said. Lilith's face showed a mixture of disbelief and vexation. "Pretty much everyone I know has. Going by past experience, you're about to knee me in the groin, toss me, scream in my face or shove your tongue down my throat. You already did the latter two so it must be one of the first."
Lilith pulled him closer, nearly smashing their noses together and practically shooting lasers from her eyes. "I have half a mind to do all four, you little miscreant. Then I'll be sure to personally escort you to the mass of writhing, gnashing prisoners who make up the—"
Then, as if to break up the fight of the century, the door to the hallway opened. Both heads abruptly turned. Their mutual grip on one another hastily released. Parting with urgency, the two joined eyes with the demon lord, who had glaciated in place as soon as he discovered them. Link's gaze quickly turned to Lilith.
"My lord," she said breathlessly. Her head bowed and her clenched fist rose to her chest. Link looked at her before sending a solidified glance to Ghirahim. His enormous eyes looked as deep and unfeeling as ever.
To Link, the demon's mood appeared to be that of indifference, but he knew better than to underestimate him. Strangely, a small grin appeared on his face.
The demon's eyes moved from Lilith to the Link. "That will be all, miss," he stated. Link once again felt the languor of his stare.
"Thank you, my lord," she said in rapid response. As she lifted her head and skittered out of the room, Ghirahim watched intently.
After the damp woman disappeared down the corridor, the demon set his gaze on Link again. The same fear-inducing grin was still showing itself, proudly. Link swallowed as his eyes dropped. He was sure some sort of castigation was on the way; possibly a thrashing for having done something inappropriate.
He was reminded of the time he'd experienced the Junior Knight Academy's version of corporal punishment when it was still implemented. At that time, of course, he had deserved it and he knew it. Right now, however, he felt that the situation warranted his impunity. Weren't his actions justified? Lilith was awful.
Ghirahim approached. "Sky child," he said quietly. Link forced his eyes up. "Have you forgotten what and where you are?" Link couldn't help but drop his gaze again. Stirring up the demon's anger while his sword was still nowhere to be seen would be pretty dumb. He knew that he was close—so incredibly close to having his weapon in his hands again. Forbearance was what he needed, not recklessness.
"Well, what are you, hero?" Ghirahim asked, bringing his long index finger to Link's chin. He pulled his face up.
Link stood and gaped. The demon seemed pleased by what he saw. "Uh, a human?" Link asked.
"And where are you?" Ghirahim asked.
The demon's pale lips caught Link's gaze. His blue eyes drifted to the black diamond on his face. "I—" he began, his eyes fixated on the dark emeril shape. "The infernal realm?"
Ghirahim chuckled. "Close enough." His voice was low and smooth. "But I believe we have a problem, sky child." Link lifted his chin a bit higher at the feel of the demon's fingernails on his skin. He held his breath. "Apparently you know what you are, and you know whereyou are, yet you don't seem to know your place."
Link tried to look away but Ghirahim jostled his head with his finger. Link was reminded of when he'd first laid eyes on his captor in that cold room.
If he beats me it will all have been worth it, Link told himself.
"If you were anybody else, hero, anybody else…." The demon slowly shook his head. "You would not be leaving this room with the ability to walk. Verily, you would find yourself dragged away to join the rest of the tortured souls within this realm. That is the only fitting restitution for dishonoring a woman of her status."
Link just stood there with no clue what to say. Did the demon have any idea what Lilith was like?
All of a sudden, Ghirahim snatched him up by the back of his voluminous shirt and heaved him toward the door. After stumbling through the doorway, Link looked down the hall, irritated.
"Are you ready to grasp the nettle, sky child?" Ghirahim asked. Link peered at him strangely before stepping alongside him. He looked ahead into the eerie darkness.
Spotting someone moving several meters away in an adjacent passage, Link squinted his eyes. "Am I what?" he asked, his attention dividing itself.
Ghirahim sighed. "Are you ready for what you're about to face?"
As Link focused through the blackness, a striking hue jumped out at him. A shorter figure, a person about his stature stood in front of him. The being's hair wasn't white or even black. It almost seemed red. He held his breath as he realized what he saw; at least what he thought he saw.
He spoke inaudibly to himself, forgetting about the demon's hand on his shoulder. He searched relentlessly through the haze but the hanging lanterns distorted his vision even more.
The figure turned toward Link, looked at him and finally hastened into the shadows. "Mid—" Link started to say, but his voice faded. His hand came up for a moment. Coming back to himself, he looked at Ghirahim. His arm quickly dropped by his side.
…
Night had fallen long ago, but the upper hall of the manor was alight and bustling as though day had never departed. Link was brought through the doorway connecting the open palaestra to the rest of the second floor. He was astounded by the din. The loud murmur of the denizens made him feel like he was caught in a nocturnal beehive.
Link looked around, feeling vastly out-of-place. While lively days back home gave way to nighttime revelry just like it did here, there really was no getting used to this place. Between the crowd in Acheron Square, the activity throughout Azrael Manor and the liveliness of the sparring area, he began to question whether anyone here ever retired the brutality.
Awestruck, Link surveyed the busy setting. The spacious room was the length and width of the main hall. It was adorned in the center with a gigantic peristyle, a ring of massive marble columns. It surrounded the battle arena like a group of twelve enormous sentinels.
Dozens of flambeaus lining the rectangular room filled it with torchlight. Link was surprised to see three separate skirmishes taking place all at once. Swords clashed, contenders shouted and spectators cheered. Wasn't it a bit late for this?
Link swallowed nervously. How many people would be watching him tonight?
He thought about the ginger-haired figure in the hall. Had he truly seen something or had his jittery eyes played tricks on him? His eyesight didn't seem too trustworthy at the moment, but still. In this place there seemed to be no end to the unexpected.
And this room seemed familiar to him; much too familiar. It was as if he'd been here before.
The darkest of eyes watched him as he thought but he paid them no heed. He stared into the distance. "I stood upon the precipice…" Link heard in his head. He blinked. "My body was present, yet it wasn't. I felt numb…." He blinked again. Those words—what were they from?
"The sounds that surrounded me were muffled, yet I could still hear. I looked down upon a room I'd never seen. It was dark and cold.…" Link's hands shot to his face. Were these memories?
"I flinched at the sound of metal hitting metal…" he shut his eyes, running his hand from his forehead to his nose. "I could almost feel his agony and his anguish as he watched this monster's approach…"
Link gasped into his hand as the realization hit him. "It was me." His eyes darted around the room as he remembered. This was the room from his nightmare—the one he'd had last night in Faron Woods.
"But if this person was me, why did he appear to be left-handed?" With dread, Link slowly eyed the demon. "I saw his body rise up against his attacker. With the demon's mouth still on his, he swung his bare hands wildly, knocking the creature away. They fell to the ground. The demon picked up the man's sword. Clutching it, he looked into the man's eyes. I could see the creature's face."
Link looked Ghirahim in the eye. "Then he maimed and sliced the man's already broken body."
Link winced, breaking his gaze from the demon. "Blood flew in every direction as he thrust the sword down again and again and again…" He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around himself. The grizzly image was clearer now. "And all I could hear were my own ear-shattering screams."
The room had been darker in the dream, but he was certain—this was the very spot where he'd witnessed his own death. Ghirahim had already revealed that the dream was his own doing, but it was only now that the true meaning of it could be pieced together.
This realm seemed to be a place where time lost all fluidity. Link's dream, his time in the woods, Skyloft—it all seemed so far away, like things that had never existed in the first place.
He suddenly felt something that he'd never felt before—the urge to run from a fight.
The grim reaper was in this room, and he was waiting for him. And he came in the form of a malicious, bloodthirsty demon.
Fearful, he turned back to Ghirahim. The demon appeared level and calm, but Link knew that he knew. Anxiously, he took a step back.
He backed into the hallway. Ghirahim pursued with a stare as unbreakable as steel.
Standing in the dark, Link knew he had nowhere to go and no one to turn to. All he was sure of was that he didn't want to go back into the upper hall.
"Sky child," Ghirahim said, his voice controlled. A prim hand ascended but Link jumped back in disdain. With his feet still moving his hand batted the demon's away. He wanted none of it. He wanted none of him. His back met the chill of a wall, a sensation which it was well acquainted with by now.
"Sky child." To Link's displeasure, the demon's palms came to rest on his shoulders. He turned his face away. The demon's hands were heavy, weighed down by the blood of countless people. Link feared that his own would soon be added to the pool.
Link felt as if he was in the throes of a restless sleep. Perhaps this wasn't real.
He felt a hand squeeze his shoulder. Another laid itself softly atop his head. He opened his eyes to see pleats of crimson velvet. He was held for a moment, tenderly, until he felt his tension start to ease.
He sighed several times. An urge to relax every muscle was beginning to overcome him. Still, he jerked, distrusting Ghirahim's intent. The grasp on his shoulder tightened. He tensed up again as the demon's hands slid up to his trapezius muscles. Link gaped as several strong fingers squeezed, kneading deeper and harder with every stroke.
He felt a chill. It didn't feel bad in any way, but…good; wonderful, actually. The demon's massage was exquisite.
Link's jaw dropped and his eyes closed. A softer chill traveled through him, leaving goose bumps behind. He gradually loosened.
He took a breath, not wanting the pleasant feeling to end. It smoothed over him like a balm.
"Listen to me," Ghirahim said, "Link."
Link's ears twitched as he heard his name. He froze in place. It was the first time anyone had said it since Fi had addressed him in the woods.
In Link's mind he saw a flame. Fanned by an affectionate breeze it grew brighter and taller, burgeoning into a fire.
Deep in thought, the heat turned to euphoria. Whether it was due to alchemic influence or all of the horrid events of this day, Link felt amazing.
Serenity bloomed where the demon's touch lay. His forehead pressed to Ghirahim's chest. The demon curled around him, his arms enclosing Link's upper body. "That dream," Ghirahim said, his chin resting on Link's head, "you know what it means. If we enter that ring, you will not be walking out." Link's weight left the wall, accepting the support of the demon. His arms felt comforting, but dangerous. Link sighed, enjoying it.
"Do you recall what I told you when you arrived? First, we deliberate. Then, I offer you a proposition. Lastly, we go head to head." Resting his cheek against the velvet, Link nodded. He shut his eyes and listened, taking in Ghirahim's colloquial tone.
"I would prefer to not have to offer you that proposition, sky child. Because, you see, we don't haveto go into that hall."
Ghirahim's fingers had traveled to Link's head. As one hand gently played with his hair, the other caressed between his neck and shoulder.
Overtaken by tickling warmth, Link groaned softly. He breathed in and rocked, holding firmly to the demon.
"We've discussed a considerable amount today, sky child," Ghirahim said quietly, his embrace steady. "With the knowledge that you've been given, with your new experiences, with your enlightenment, what is it that you'll do?" He paused, deepening his massage. "You need not fret about your shortcomings, your failings, past, present or future. It doesn't matter. None of it matters, because we don't have to go into that room."
The demon's voice sounded delightful. His touch felt even better. The distress brought on by the threat of battle was rapidly fading, dissipating from Link's mind like a puff of smoke.
"You can still have her, sky child," Ghirahim said. Link's eyelids came up. "You can have her and so much more. Everything you could ever want or need is laid before you. It is ripe for the taking, but you first must decide."
Link struggled to keep his eyes open.
"Things grander than you could ever imagine; they are all here. Things that surpass anything and everything in this world. A chance at power—as much power as even I have, sky child. Imagine. You've seen so little of this realm. What you have yet to see will amaze and astound you. The people here are honorable. They are worthy of fair and judicious leaders. Need I say more?" Link's head shook lightly.
"The vision that you had at the foot of the Goddess Statue not two weeks ago, it will all come true."
Link's breathing accelerated at the mention of the horrifying image. Although brief, it was petrifying. He recalled kneeling next to Zelda at the statue's edge. She had cried out in anguish.
Zelda…. But….
"But, only if you choose correctly," Ghirahim said.
Link saw it again. The ocean of blood, the screaming and death all around him. "You will be an eyewitness to the bereavement of many, sky child. Demons and humans alike will perish together. The people who you know—knights, acquaintances, instructors, soldiers, friends, the woman who you just met—they will all die on the battlefield. Do you want the blood of thousands on your head, human?" The demon's hands gripped him harder now. "But there doesn't have to be a war,sky child. Do you understand?"
Link's throat felt dry. His entire body felt arid in spite of all the water he'd just taken in.
"That clamor in the distance that I know puzzles you," Ghirahim said. Link's interest was piqued. His eyelids felt heavy but he refused to give in to them. He blinked once, very slowly, as he listened for an explanation.
"Prisoners, sky child. Some demon, some human. Prisoners of war who have been cast into eternal torment. Decades, centuries, thousands of years some have been there." Link suddenly felt weak in the knees as he watched Ghirahim's mouth move. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "But you can give them rest. You can give them the peace they've been longing for, if—"
"If I choose correctly," Link interrupted.
"You can save lives and put weary souls to rest all with a single decision, sky child." As he stared up into the face of the demon, Link felt two hands cup his own. Bit by bit, Ghirahim lowered his face to him. Feeling limp but calm, Link stood. The demon's mouth approached his.
Link's heart started racing.
"Join with me, sky child," Ghirahim said, his voice vehement and his fingers stroking.
Link froze.
"What's it going to be, hero?"
