Chapter 13: On The Road To War~
Ranma didn't understand why,but today, as the sun rose up over the roof top of Dojo Tendo, and Tendo Soun had seated Link on the shoulders of a great white horse they'd had brought last night, inexplicably he felt more sorrow than he had ever known in his entrie life.
He stood at the shoulder of the great white horse of Hylia, that Impa had called down from the heavens, from the Sky Kingdom.
"Do you feel it? The Sorrow of Time? The loneliness of twilight,though the sun has only just come up?" Link said, as if he'd read Ranma's thoughts.
Ranma looked up surprised.
"Well...errr...yeah...something like that?"
Link smiled ,grimly, and once again it struck Ranma that in another life, in another world, had he not been so lost, he would have made a great king, the mightiest of warriors that ever lived.
"I have brought my curse to this land, Saotome Ranma. And I shall take it with me again, when I leave this world."
Ranma blinked, confused.
"Wait a sec...don't you and your sister insist on calling me "Son of Genma"? Why are you calling me Ranma ,then?"
Link laughed, and his voice trickled through the air like water breaking over rocks, giving life to the world about him.
"I have forseen the end of this day. My soul is woven into Time and into Time's very curse. By sunset of this very day you will have proven yourself to be the greatest warrior that ever drew breath. But Genma has sealed his fate, and I will not say his name from now on."
"So...if I'm the greatest warrior that ever lived ( I mean I'm already REALLY great but...) what does that make you?"
Link looked towards the Horizon.
"Tonight I shall die, and be at Peace."
"Whadyamean, Spike Ears? How could you possibly know that?!"
He didn't know this boy very well. They'd only just met. But something in Ranma's very gut told him that he could not let this boy die. That he wasn't supposed to die. That there was something very wrong , and that he'd better find out what it was. He didn't know how to do that. But he was going to have to try.
Link snickered, and pulled out his flute, playing a few notes of the Song of Time again.
Ryoga suddenly came up ,and placed his hand on the reigns of Link's horse.
"I really hope you don't think you can guide the pony ,P-Chan. We'll be trying to go to War with Farore in the Palace of Winds, or wherever the heck it is old ghoul said we are going, but we'll end up on Pluto in the process." Ranma growled, annoyed by his presence.
Ryoga sniffed, annoyed.
"No, actually, I'm trying not to get lost. Link knows where we're going, so if I stick by him, I'm sure to make it, so I can mess that freaky witch up!"
Link laughed again, and something about the way he did was haunting, and sent shivers up both Ranma and Ryoga's spines.
This boy, this mysterious White Demon...
War is deep in the heart of every warrior. It prowls like a tiger in the dark, glancing its razor claws against the stone walls of a hardened exterior, a fury barely caged, one day promising to be released.
The call of Tiger-Spirit had reached the ears of Hibiki Ryoga and Saotome Ranma.
Something told the two of them that the Prince of Shadows was meant to live.
That the Dawn of Redemption must come for the White Demon.
Silently they vowed on each other's honor, that they would lay their rivalry aside, if only for the Prince, to see him saved.
From Farore.
From himself.
Link laughed again.
"It will be a very good day. Tonight I will be free, and the two of you will become legends. And you will be friends again. Worthy protectors of my sisters..." he said, with a nod.
"Land on earth, Prophet, all these predicitons are making my head hurt!" Ranma gasped, with a smile, and squared his jaw, knowing deep in his bones that he was headed for the fight of his life.