Chapter 13: Dreams
I fell unconcious, watching the madman Zantauri dissapear along with the orange light that pervaded the area over Death Mountain. Thoughts began circling my mind. Inside Death Mountain had been something one would never expect from the inside of a volcano. The crater was frozen in its entirety. Darunia, a very good friend of mine, and the Sage of Fire, had been beaten and frozen. He seemed terrified… I knew I was injured, but in my current state, there was nothing I could do about it…
"Don't worry about your injuries…" A familiar voice said. "From what I can see, you are being seen by all of the greatest physicians in Hyrule. You will be fine… Although, there is a strange darkness coming from the wounds…"
I opened my eyes, and found myself in the legendary Chamber of Sages, housed in the very center of the Sacred Realm. There were six platforms around me, each one representing the Sage that would stand on it. I, myself, stood on a Triforce marking. There was a clear blue pool under the platforms, running off the sides, and into the walls. All of the walls looked as if they led to more versions of this very chamber. The room was truly a sight to behold. On the platform directly in front of me, for Light, stood Rauru, Sage of Light.
"Rauru?" I said, completely dumbstruck. "What's going on?"
Rauru folded his arms, looking somewhat distraught. "It's called 'Twilight'… We Sages created it some time ago…"
I looked at the Sage of Light questioningly. "Twilight?" I repeated. Upon saying the word, I suddenly realized that the orange light that had accompanied Zantauri, and invaded the Forest Temple happened to look quite a bit like the sky at the hour of Twilight, where day becomes night.
"Yes. And… If Hyrule is exposed to it for too long, it could have rather devistating results." Rauru explained. "Whenever we add our power to the strength of another, we allow a bit of darkness into the light-filled Sacred Realm, creating the orange light known as Twilight. When the Twilight became too large, we sealed it off in a different realm, now known as the Twilight Realm. It is much like a dark mirror of Hyrule, like the Dark World, but with some differences. These differences are not yet known, though."
I looked at the Sage in complete and utter silence… After about three minutes, the silence was broken as I sopke. "Someone is controlling that Twilight… He has the Triforce of Power…" I stated. "His name is… Zantauri…"
Rauru seemed speechless, his eyes widened, and I saw fear in them. He obviously knew this man.
"Link…" he started. "As you probably know, I have been watching over Hyrule for quite some time… Zantauri was… He was a researcher. A scholar, if you will. He was studying Twilight… One day, in the middle of his studies, a portal to the Twilight Realm opened up, and he was sucked into it. I thought that he was killed when he made it there, but it seems to not be so… You must defeat him… I don't know how, but you must do it… Before he grows too powerful and infects the world with Twilight..."
I merely nodded. I was deep in thought, wondering if I would even wake up from this dream. I had taken a serious hit when we fought Zantauri in the frozen Death Mountain Crater. I only hoped…
"…ink… Link… Link!" a familiar female voice was sounding. "Link, please wake up… please…" as she finished talking, I felt water hit my face, and I opened my eyes…
"Ugh… Zelda?" I looked up to see a tear-soaked Princess leaning over me. "Is everything all right?"
Zelda wrapped her arms around me as tightly as she could. "YOU'RE ALIVE!" she exclaimed. I put my arms around the crying girl and gently rubbed her back. "I thought you were… going to die… I was so worried…"
I slowly fell from her embrace slightly. Only enough to look her in the eyes. "I'm all right, Zelda… There's no need to worry anymore…" I said, trying to comfort her. "I'm sorry you had to go through all that… I just… moved without thinking…"
"You could've died!" Zelda shouted. "Why did you have to do that?! You know how important you are to me! I need you!"
"Yes, and I need you…" I replied. "And not just me, but all of Hyrule… You're more important than anything else in my life… Protecting you is second-nature…"
"He's right…" another person said. I stiffened like a ReDead in sunlight. That voice belonged to King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule. "You are easily one of the single most important people in Hyrule, Zelda. To all of us."
"I know…" Zelda stated.
"Link, my boy, thank you for protecting my daughter…" King Daphnes started. "In three days time, you shall be knighted for this." I nodded. I didn't care about knighthood that much anymore. I had to stop the Twilight, and keep Zelda safe. Then, it occurred to me…
"M'lord," I began. "I may have protected your daughter, but that was only a reflex. I doubt she would have needed it…" As I finished my sentence, another voice came from the shadows…
"Yes, I have been training the girl for the past two years, so she does not need too much protection from anyone." Impa stated, as emotionless as she always was. "It's good to see you alive, Link."
"Good to see you, period." I answered. The Sage of Shadow had easily lived up to her currently unknown title, as I had not seen her in the entire four years of my service at Hyrule Castle. The Sheikah woman was a very rare sight to most people, and it was always good to see an old friend again.
"Thank you, Hero." She said. "But, I digress, the Princess is really quite well-versed in the Sheikah fighting style, and I believe she may be able to handle herself quite well, unguarded."
"LINK!" A familiar male voice was shouting. Ganondorf burst into the infirmary, gasping for air. "I heard you were injured! Are you all right?!" he asked.
"I'm fine… But it looks like you need to sit down for a while." I replied. The Gerudo man nodded and sat down on a chair by the bed I was laying in. "By the way… I belive I know what's been going on these past years…"
Everyone in the room looked at me, puzzled.
"It's called…" I started. "Twilight…"