HAPPY NEW YEAR! LAST CHAPTER OF 2013!
Ah, I could be doing exceedingly difficult maths papers, but alas, it's too late in the day for that sort of torture. So I'll write instead. This is not the right attitude! I strongly advise this isn't repeated.
Chapter 14
Why does Ganondorf hate , there are too many Links
"LINK! LINK!" Silver howled, her voice echoing down the marble corridors that sprung into being around her.
Intricate hylian patterns were engraved in gold along the skirting boards. Down the centre of each wall was inlaid a beautiful and delicate enamel freize, depicting legends, heroes and monsters.
"LINK!"
Silver looked this and way that, lost and confused. Unsure which direction to take, she ran down the corridor. Patterns were inlaid in different coloured stone on the floor. It made the castle look like a serf's shack. At every junction she came to, Silver took any direction, heading deeper and deeper into the sword's mind. After running for what seemed like an age, the corridor opened up into a small hall. It looked like a field. Strange twisting trees dotted the emerald green grass, while paths of golden sand curved around the trees. Red heart shaped flowers bloomed along the paths, every flower possible grew here. A brilliant sapphire blue butterfly fluttered past Silver's face. Despite herself, Silver yipped and whirled to chase the butterfly. In doing so, she glimpsed up. She froze. There was no ceiling, instead, a beautiful clear sky stretched above her, framed by the walls of the hall. The sweet scent of flowers floated on a crisp summer's breeze. The low rumble of a purring cat came from a patch of golden flowers that looked like miniscule suns.
"Link?" Silver called.
"Whaddya want?" A voice said behind her.
Silver spun round. Link stood before her, the heel of one hand rubbing his eyes as he stretched. Only, he smelt strange. Gone was the scent of pine, replaced by the crisp smell of summer and feathers. His hair was lighter, more like the sun than the golden dust motes of the forest. His eyes were more reminiscent of a clear summer sky than the stormy sea. He wore a plain cream coloured shirt, rather than the patched one of the ranch. Also he talked.
The Not-Link seemed to be doing his own analysis, as his carefree demeanour vanished.
"You're a wolfos…she's a wolfos…"he stuttered. "Sweet Hylia you're a wolfos…"
Silver stood there as he suddenly darted up a tree, perched there like a flustered bird.
"Don't move! You hear me! Sit!"
Silver narrowed her eyes.
"I'm not a dog!"
"She's talking to me! You're talking me! You're a wolfos! Why can you talk?!"
"You're not Link…" Silver growled.
"I am Link!" the Not-Link retorted defiantly.
"No you're not!"
"Yes I am!"
This went on for a while, before Silver snapped.
"No you're not! My Link wouldn't dart up a tree when he saw me! Now tell me where the real Link is before I knock you out that tree!"
"Your Link?" The Not-Link muttered. "You aren't a memory are you?"
"Sorry?"
"If I tell you, will you promise not to eat me?"
"I wasn't planning on it!"
Tentatively, he shimmied down and stood before Silver.
"Ok, so you know you're inside the sword right?" Silver nodded. "Well, all of Fi's memories and data banks are stored here. I'm her memory of the Link she met in Skyloft. Every Link that has every fought with her in his hand was imprinted into the very fabric of being. I am one of her very first memories, so I can walk and talk and cause chaos as much as I like."
"So you're dead." Silver stated.
"Don't bring it up; I just got over my existential crisis."
"Fi…" Silver mused. "Oh Farore, Fi."
"What's up?"
"Look, something's wrong with Fi. She hasn't spoken to us in over a month and the sword's gone all funny. The hilt's turning black and closing, monsters aren't turning to ash."
"What are you saying? That's she shutting down." There was real concern in Not-Link's voice.
"We came here because we had to try and help her"
"This makes sense." He muttered. "The darkness, the shutting down. Somebody's trying to destroy the master sword." He suddenly blanched. "They're going to wake the demon."
"The demon?" Silver whispered.
"What's going on in the outside world?"
"Uh, Nubia. She's a grey who turned bad, like properly psycho bad. The darkness is trying to take over, stop the sages passing on their power to their heirs."
"The darkness…oh Hylia…the darkness has a host. It'll be gathering its army. But, a host isn't good enough, not powerful enough to take on me…or rather Link…or…whatever. Look, there is a demon, the greatest of them all, the first evil to evil taint this earth. When I sealed him away, he was imprisoned inside this sword. That is what makes the master sword so powerful, it has the wisdom of the gods, the courage of a human and the power of a demon. By releasing the demon, the balance will be upset, the master sword weakened, and the darkness will reunite with its body. Nothing, nothing short of the goddesses could hold back such evil."
"Could the triforce do it?" Silver asked.
"No…" he shook his head. "It'll absorb the triforce, turn it into terrible power."
"Not even if the triforce had a host?"
"No, I would pity the host whom approached the demon with the triforce. They would be torn apart, the triforce shattered inside their soul, before being absorbed."
"And you're telling me, that this demon, is trapped in here."
Not-Link nodded.
"Oh hell…Link's in here somewhere. My Link! He doesn't know."
"The demon is frozen in time, trapped in the crimson flames of power, watched by me and Zelda."
"You're here." Silver told him.
"Not this me, the me that fought the demon in the first place."
"But, if the darkness is in here. It might use Link to break the seal."
"As powerful as I…or he…or whatever is, you'd need the triforce to break the seal."
"But that's just the point, Link has the triforce of courage."
"Don't worry." Not-Link said, kneeling and put a hand either side of the wolfos' head. "You'd need at least two pieces of the triforce to do so, and even then, it would take a lot of darkness and a nice long ritual."
"But that's just it!" Silver lifted her paw, where the triforce of power was flashing faintly.
"We're screwed." Not-Link said.
"But you said we'd need a lot of darkness, is there enough in the sword." Silver said, clinging to some faint ray of hope.
"You're right, there isn't enough in the sword. But, you said the darkness had found a host. If they found your real bodies, we wouldn't stand a chance."
"That's ok then." Silver said. "We've holed up in the Procellum Vault. There's an eternal storm waging, we're being watched by a dragon, the only shortcut requires two pieces of the triforce to be opened, there's a whole host of traps surrounding us that even Link found impenetrable, and the best thing is, there's no off switch except…"
"Except what?" Not-Link asked.
"The one we're standing on…me and Link need to stand on two segments of the triforce to activate or deactivate the traps."
"Why is there always an off switch. If they'd just had a room with no off switch, or key, I'd have starved to death in the first dungeon."
"We need to get to Link." Silver said.
"No, I need to get to Link. Mia will protect you, do not leave this room. All of the Skyloft Memories are in this hall. Darkness can't penetrate here. Keep your piece of the triforce safe, no matter what you see or hear. Maybe you can find some clue to Fi's problem here. My best bet would be to check the statue on the top of that hill."
"Ok, but one question, who's Mia?"
From the flowers, a small lemur like cat meowed and stretched.
"Uh…right…you do realise my nose is more ferocious than her right?"
Link just winked and ran to the edge of the island. Leaping off a jetty he dived off the edge, whistling sharply. A whoosh of crimson and Silver looked up just in time to see a crimson bird carry Not-Link away over the walls.
Mia purred and rubbed her head against the wolfos' leg.
…
Link looked around, searching for Silver, but she was gone. Link turned around, to see the corridor fall away into a writhing mass of darkness. Link backed away, hand going to a sword that wasn't there. Panicking, he took on his wolf form. Snarling at the darkness, he backed away. His triforced was burning with an intense heat. On instinct he called out, but nothing replied, not even the spirit song of someone close by. The darkness came closer, as it did, it unearthed a memory deep inside Link's mind.
He was all alone, no-one was there to help him. Someone was hurt, he couldn't see who it was, his eyes were too blurred with tears, they were dying. The darkness encircled them, pressing closer. The paw on which the triforce flashed, burned with a searing pain. He was alone, and he was afraid.
Shaking his head to dispel the memory, Link backed away. He wasn't a cub anymore, but the primordial fear was still curled in his stomach like an ice cold snake. The darkness must have sensed it, for it advanced with renewed vigour. Link scrabbled backwards, calling out with his mind.
Suddenly, a spirit song, strong bold and courageous, filled the air. The wolf looked up to see a lion, towering over him. The lion brushed his shoulder, nudging the wolf behind him. Then facing the darkness, the lion roared with such force ripples spread through the air. The darkness recoiled, and a shimmering barrier appeared between the animals and the darkness. The lion turned and motioned for Link to follow.
Link had to sprint at full pelt to keep up with the lion. His long bounding leaps far outstripped his little wolf legs. He followed the lion into a hall. Only it wasn't an hall as such. The floor was emerald green grass. The edges of the floor didn't quite meet the walls, but instead dropped away into open sky. Vines curled around the edge, little cream blossoms budding, nestled amongst the leaves. The walls themselves, did not exist, neither did the ceiling, it was just an endless open sky.
The lion walked over to a patch of sky blue violets and lay down.
Link watched him fall asleep and sighed, if the lion thought it was safe then it must be. Link padded over to a small pool of shimmering sapphire water and lapped up a little, before sitting down on the edge of the island to watch.
There was no passage of time in the sword, but to Link, it felt like a long time. Then, a sharp cry, cut through the air. For a moment, Link thought it was Kay, making good on her word. Turning round, it was not a sky dragon that landed, but a great crimson bird with a strange cross pattern on its beak. The pattern looked distinctly familiar. The bird glared at him, as if he were wondering what he would taste like with salt.
"Epon, leave the poor dude alone!" A familiar voice said.
Link looked, rather dumbstruck, as himself slid off the bird's back.
"Sorry, he doesn't take kindly to strangers."
Link made a noise that sounded distinctly like a squeak.
"What? Is there something on my face?" Then he made the connection. "Oh right, you must be the live Link wondering around."
By this time, the lion had woken up and padded over. The bird, rather than spooking and flying off, lowered his head to nuzzle the lion's mane.
"I figured you'd be here Raz. Nothing goes on without you getting wind of it." He massaged his forehead with one hand as he thought. "Ok, this is going to get really confusing. There are far too many Links here. So, call me Dven. Whiskers over there is Raz and the bird isn't a Link you'll be glad to know. His name's Epon."
Link stared.
"Oh boy…" Dven muttered. "Has anyone told you the legend? You know, about the reincarnations of Link?"
The wolf nodded.
"Well, I'm going to presume you're number seven. All the Link's that have ever held the master sword are in FI's mind. Most can't leave their memory room. Me and Raz here are special."
The bird turned its glare back on Link. The wolf flattened his ears and growled.
"Oi…" Dven warned.
The bird faced him.
"The corridors aren't safe." He said in a deep echo-like voice. "The darkness has infiltrated most of them. The source of it is heading to the flame room."
"This isn't going well. Even if it gets there, it can't break the seal without Link, look can I just call you Sem otherwise I'm going to get confused, and the wolfos."
Link perked up, looking at Dven.
"Don't worry, she's hiding out in my spirit hall. Don't worry, Mia's looking after her."
Raz growled, grabbing their attention.
"A trap? That's a bit risky. I mean, if it gets released. The dude killed you and you're the most powerful. We'd be wiped out." The lion growled again, more insistently this time. "I know seven Links are a lot to fight against, but we can't afford to lose." The lion shook his mane. "Is that even possible?"
"I have a better idea." Epon interrupted.
Silver lay curled in the flowers, the remlit was perched on her back, purring softly. Suddenly, a shadow fell over the island. The melodies were suddenly sucked away. Silver leapt to her feet, throwing Mia to the ground. Darkness shrouded them, sucking the heat of the sun and leaving nothing.
A tall stick-like figure, was hidden amongst the darkness. Fingers like tree branches, with spiders hanging from the tips. Mia got to her feet and hissed. Her fur stood on end, her tail becoming a sharp branched club of stiffened fur. Her ears curled backwards until, instead of being rounded, they became pointed and sharp. Her teeth split her gums and elongated into long curved fangs. Her eyes were flooded with demonic yellow light. Her skin cracked around her paws as long curved talons pushed out. Her fur lay flat and hardened, become armour. The dark patches spread across her entire body, blotting out the cream fur. Then she began to grow, until she was the size of a pony. With a roar she swiped at the darkness. It was torn to pieces by her talons.
"Wolfos!" a voice called.
A girl who looked distinctly like Zelda, clothed in a magenta dress, with bright yellow hair, sat atop an indigo bird.
"Jump to me!"
Silver glared at her.
"Are you mad? Do you see the bottomless drop?"
"Actually, about 3000ft down you hit the ground." The girl corrected her.
"I'm not jumping!"
"Do you want to die?"
"No, so I'll stay here thanks." Silver retorted.
"Now!"
Silver whimpered, then screwing her eyes shut, she leapt off the island into the girl's outstretched arms.
"Mia!" the girl called.
The remlit turned to look. Then she shook her head.
"Please!" The girl's voice was strained. "We don't need more time. We need you."
The remlit smiled, before turning and leaping at the figure. The girl screamed her name, stretching forward. The bird lifted up, rocking backwards to stop her from falling and lifted into the air. They broke through the darkness into the night sky and flew away. Behind them, they heard a yowl of pain, cut ominously short. They left with the demonic laughter of the figure ringing in their ears, mixed with Mia's yowls of pain.
As they were flying to the flame room, a small yellow bird flew up to Dven.
"Oh Hylia…they've found the wolfos. Zelda's got her. All the other halls have been compromised. They've taken refuge in the flame room."
"Then, it's an all-out battle." Epon said ominously.
"That's what it looks like."
The flame room was nothing short of grand. It was huge, with a roof of open sky. In the centre were three pedestals arranged in the shape of the triforce. The bottom left had a bright green flame, inside which stood a motionless older version of Sven. The bottom right burned with a blue flame, in which a woman with Zelda's features in bright golden hair stood, in the same position. They both guarded the top flame, blood red, inside which was demon with scales as dark as pitch and hair of black flame. On his head was a cross shaped scar, and in his hand gripped a monstrous black 6 branched sword, like a half forgotten, twisted memory of the master sword.
Around the pedestals were four Links. One, a small boy of no more than ten, clutched a miniature version of the master sword. Next to him were four pre-teen links, all exactly the same though each wearing a different colour: blue, green, red and purple. Then a shimmer and they were one Link, then four again. Behind them were four Epona's. Beside them stood an adult, the two handed master sword, the shield strapped to his arm. He had longer, more prominent ears and bright yellow hair. Behind him stood Epona, her hair a flaming gradient of black to white and a bright red chestnut coat. Her feathering thick and fading from black to white and back to back. Her muscles were well defined and her tack ready for battle, minus the bridle. Next to them stood, a younger version of each. This Link was smaller, pre-teens maybe, with the master sword a swirling double helix of a blade. From his hip hung three masks. Behind him was a younger Epona, no more than filly with no tack at all paced behind him, shaking her head and pawing the ground.
Link and Ras were dropped down as the loftwing swooped overhead. Then he circled back and landed behind them.
"In here, your master sword should return." Dven told him.
Link took on his hylian form and sure enough, a familiar weight hung on his back. His shield had also miraculously reappeared.
"Ok, quick introduction. The minish guy over there." He indicated the youngest Link. "Call him Tree. The four dudes are Red, Blue, Green and Vio respectively. We call them collectively Chester." He indicated the four Links, who became one again, clutching little master swords, but of a different design. "Timey," he indicated the eldest Link. "Is Pat. And his younger doppelganger is Shes. He can change into a goron, zora or deku with his funky masks. And you know me Ras." Dven said. "And everyone, this Sem. He's not a memory just yet you'll be glad to know."
In the rafters surrounding the hall, were perched four Zeldas, of varying features.
"Oh, yeah I'd better explain." Dven said.
"Zi, is coming. You'll spot her cause she's wearing a bright magenta drew and riding a bright blue loftwing." Link noticed he was blushing, obviously she was from his era. "The one holding the staff is Di." He indicated the young girl wearing a pale pink dress and pale gold hair." He then pointed to a ginger haired girl with a bright red bow but same dress and staff. "That's Fear. She may look sweet now, but you wait till she gets angry." He then pointed to the eldest, Zelda, crouched and garbed in sheikah clothes. "The ninja's Fün. She's as scary as she looks. And she doesn't the meaning of fun. Then junior with the headdress and bow is Zeke."
Link tilted his head.
"Yes, it's a confusing system, but it could be a lot worse."
"Somehow I doubt that." Fün said, appearing behind him.
"Goddess! DO NOT DO THAT!" Dven cried, nearly jumping out his skin.
Ok, this is really confusing. But I've made it easier with my secret coding system of their name. You made need Google translate for it though. Just keep a numbered timeline handy. Anyways, minds boggled, I'll leave it at that. Hehehe…HYRULE NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
