I completely missed the 1st year anniversary of this story… imaginary champagne for all!
Without further ado, I hope you enjoy the finale to this arc!
The Deku Tree Temple: Part 3
Link
You are next… The promise rang so fiercely in his mind, he was surprised it didn't echo from the walls. The witch's very presence, which he still felt like a splinter in his eye, seemed to mock him with every passing second. He didn't know what she was doing to the Deku Tree, or what she could possibly do to the Dragon, whatever it was… he also didn't care all that much. Whatever diabolical plan she hatched, he would put an end to it! There was not a shred of doubt in his mind… Righteous anger, born from all the filthy deeds of that she-monster and her vassals, had snuffed all such qualms.
He looked back down at the flowing mane of golden, shining hair in his arms. He still was quite trapped in her ferocious embrace… His little guardian angel… The look of aggression and hate on her normally so bright and staggeringly lovely face still shook his mind… She shouldn't be forced to have such an expression, he thought remorsefully. …Then again, he thought to himself, smiling a tiny bit, why should she be any less passionate or fervent than him? And his battle face probably wasn't all that glorious either…
One more time, there was never enough, he pressed his lips on her head, letting her aureate strands of hair tickle his nose. She murmured something into his chest, unintelligible, but just by its sound he understood how very little she thought of the idea of letting go. Exceedingly gently he pushed her to arms length. She resisted only pro forma…
He bent down a tiny bit to make her look at him. Her eyes met his with the by now familiar, yet still always fresh and incredible feeling of lightning shooting through his entire body down to his very core. He couldn't quite read her expression… Not scared, not angry, not doubtful… it was almost as if she herself didn't know how she should feel.
Her gaze lowered again towards his belly. "'s ruined…" she mumbled numbly, her small hands fumbling idly at the completely torn tunic that now failed to cover his belly. Her finger brushed against his mangled skin underneath, causing him to flinch. "Sorry!" she gasped, her eyes startled, but he just smiled. He judicially inspected his own abdomen… It looked as if it had been introduced intimately with an extremely annoyed cat… Impressively scratched up, but nothing serious.
"Do you want me to… see to it?" she asked uncertainly, the pain and guilt in her eyes hurting him more than a few abrasions.
"Not now. We're so close! We need to hurry!" he urged, though not unkindly. Truth was, he was getting increasingly worried about the Tree… He couldn't quite say why, but he could feel the tiny thread of strength they had restored failing… and quickly. Something was draining power from Him. The smell of rot slowly seeped back into the air, the whole surroundings were filled with the pained groan of dying wood… at least to his ears… He wondered whether Zelda could sense it too… or whether the closeness of his past self to the Great Guardian of the forest caused this intuition.
"Then let us finish this!" she confirmed, bravely trying to hide the slight tremble to her voice.
He nodded with a strangely proud smile, then led the way off after picking up his bow again.
There was but one way out, other than the hole in the floor. One of the large, log-doors they were, by now accustomed to. Upon his touch it lifted as usual, but… he bit his lip as his watchful eyes scanned it closely… Not only did it move noticeably slower, but he thought he noticed a few times when the motion stuttered altogether… With urgency driving on his heartbeat, he couldn't help but thinking of the last, rasping, faltering breaths of a dying man…
"Look!" she whispered beside him. His gaze followed her finger to the floor. The wound the rising slab of wood had ripped into it wasn't healing any more… or if it was, it was going significantly slower than before. The two of them shared a look, her shocked expression in a pale face mirroring precisely what he felt. Then they hastened off, quickening their steps as much as they dared. Both of them realized that hurrying would do them no good, if they stumbled head first into yet another trap… even though going slower than maximum speed tore at Link's soul.
Zelda
Their way continued upwards through a magnificent, long corridor with a gentle incline and an even gentler curve. The middle portion of the floor extending the entire length was like an earthen patch with grass growing on it… very much like nature's approximation of a red carpet. A glance at the right-hand wall betrayed that this long hallway must curve along the very edge of the Tree's bark. In periodic intervals were high, narrow windows, much like arrow-slits that let the room be filled with a gentle, orange light. Each of the windows, naturally, had a slightly different shape, due to the elemental growth of the wood, making the by now very obliquely arriving light cast many fascinating shadows on the opposite wall…
This must once have been a magnificent sight, a majestic dance of shapes and colours, all purely natural in their provenance… Now however, the once lush green grass was brown and brittle, the previously dark humus was grey, dry and spent and even the light had a dusty, sickly quality to it… While a terrible shame that they couldn't have marvelled at it in its glory days, they wouldn't have had time to, regardless.
They hastened up the slope, the gentle curve never seeming to end. Zelda suspected hey must have done almost a full revolution around the Tree by now, enormous as it was…
In the end, they reached a flat antechamber with another round door, though this one was different. While all the other log-doors were big and heavy, this one was truly massive. It dwarfed Link by at least two metres and she couldn't even begin to guess how weighty it must be… The others were rough, but cleanly cut… This beast had incredibly intricate carvings covering every centimetre, making it almost dizzying to gaze upon. One grand design, however, overshadowed all other images. Three figures were depicted in the very centre. Two of them, one clearly Hylian, the other monstrous with large tusks sprouting from its madly grinning mouth, were locked in combat, their swords crossed high between them. Beneath the battling blades stood the third, a maiden with long, flowing hair. Her eyes were closed and between her open hands seemed to be suspended some sort of force, which sended rays of light or magic in every direction. Above the scene of combat, swooping downwards right at them, their fangs bared, were three dragons. All three were breathing their flames, which merged and engulfed the entirety of the conflict below them… Everything was set ablaze, the smell of burning and ash all around, drying up her throat. Her beloved knight still fought valiantly, though she could see the dark red on his once green tunic ever increasing, and his speed and poise ever declining. The Monster, too, was bloodied, searing hot, crimson flames licking from many wounds. With ever rising fear, she realized she couldn't tell who was winning. Her heartbeat sounded like a stampede of horses in her head, which felt like it would split at any second. Her magic was failing fast, and her focus with it… already she could only see her love through the mist of nearing unconsciousness. The Beast roared in all its infinite, destructive fury, a gout of flame bursting from within. Her protector stood his ground, bellowing in kind from the strain of his own defensive sorcery clashing with the brutal attack.
They were equal! This would never end! It could never end! This struggle would go on for all eternity! With sudden cold sweat she realized that all their efforts, all their clever plans had been for naught…
Abruptly her head exploded with violent, sharp ache, making her whimper uncontrollably. She could feel something inside her tearing and her vision on the left side went dark. Something had changed… something had arrived!
Her strength almost spent, she gazed to the heavens, blood red from the reflected shine of a million flames in the world… and ice cold fear took her heart in a brutal grip. The dragons had arrived… all three… their eyes dead set on the epochal battle below… and all three ready to strike.
'No!' she thought, screamed in her mind as she could no longer scream with her voice. 'No, please! We need more time! Please, grant us more time!'
Nothing answered… nothing came back… except for the long, drawn, terrible sound of the dragons breathing in…
The vision ended abruptly, her legs almost giving out below her. She gasped for air as if she had held her breath for minutes, her skin both cold and hot with sweat. She felt two strong hands hold her up and saw two scared, deep blue eyes stare at her, deeply concerned. She recognized her sweet knight call her name, but the sound seemed to come belated and warped.
"Zelda! Zelda! What is it?! Talk to me, please!" he called increasingly urgently.
With tooth and nail she fought against the nearing unconsciousness and slowly succeeded. Laggardly her limbs started to obey her, and the nauseating fuzz abated from her senses.
"I- I'm alright. Stop shaking me… please…" she begged. He stopped immediately, both relief and guilt in his precious eyes, and just held her.
She swallowed some sour spit and tried to collect her thoughts. "I… had a vision. I didn't even notice when it started! I looked at the carving on the gate and…" she trailed off. She couldn't even say when a mere glance had turned into a glimpse into the past… or, maybe, the future?
He listened, letting her time to restore order within, even though she could easily see thousand of questions burning on his tongue. "It was so vivid, so frighteningly realistic like never before! But I… I don't understand it… I saw the scene depicted here… I'm sure or it!" she continued, pointing to the enormous door. "A battle between us and… It… But when I saw the dragons, I… I was scared! Terrified beyond all my wildest imaginations…" she explained, hoping her haphazard words made at least any kind of sense. Sadly, even in her own brain, none of it did… She gazed back into those wonderful, serious, concerned eyes of his, which didn't show even a hint of doubt… something for which she loved him to no end. "Then it stopped…"
He stared at her for a long minute… worry clearly reflected on his face. He attempted to answer a few times before finally asking "Do you believe we… shouldn't awaken the dragons?"
Goddess above, how could she possibly answer that? Whatever 'graced' her with these visions, a tiny hint of their meaning would also be greatly appreciated! "I don't know… I can't say!" she admitted with increasing desperation and anger at herself and those cursed powers she didn't want.
Not for the first time she wanted to batter her own, worthless head with its useless, painful and ostracizing hallucinations. But before she could so much as ball her fists, his strong, rough but gentle hands had already taken hers and held them safely… as if he knew…
"Shhh shh shh…" he cooed, scooting closer until his forehead rested against hers and their noses almost touched. "Listen to me. Listen. To me. Yes? We don't know what it means, fair enough. But as I see it, it doesn't matter, at least at the moment. We know the dragons are associated with the goddesses… and the blade that banishes evil that is supposed to be mine. Right? So, for now, they look like allies. And as we don't currently know any alternatives, we will go on, lest we stagnate." he detailed as if all those answers had been on his mind all along… making her wonder once again just how bright he really was… "And, furthermore…" he began again, his eyes gazing up at hers and… despite how close and blurry they were to her, she could see the boyish sense of guilt in them… "Even if we knew that we shouldn't wake them… I cannot simply abandon the Tree… Forgive me, Zelda, but I cannot just walk away and let this corruption eat it alive…"
He brought her hand slowly to his lips and tenderly kissed all of her fingers, one after the other… almost as if to stop them from doing anything dumb.
His words were… right… and honest to her ears. They soothed and calmed her somewhat until only a low, tolerable fear and doubt remained… She swore, however, not to forget it, as she was sure he wouldn't either. She couldn't say whether what she had seen was something that had happened, would happen or potentially could happen… but if its purpose was to alarm, it had definitely done its job.
Still, she agreed with his point… there was no alternative in sight… and she, too, would rather eat a whole nest of Skulltulas before leaving the Tree to its fate, knowing how much it meant to him… So, blessedly, it truly did matter very little… and her idiotic, opaque phantasm hadn't succeeded in forcing a decision upon them, which they had no possible way of making with prudence and which could lead them to a potentially catastrophic path. It was almost funny how much of a relief that was…
"You are right… you are right…" she repeated, trying to finally pull herself fully back into reality. "We will keep it in mind… but until we know its meaning, we will continue with our plan." Her confirmation brought a smile of ease and thankfulness to his lips. He pulled her back to her feet by her hands and planted a quick, cheeky peck on her lips. As if she wasn't confuddled enough already…
"Focus on the door, would you?" she muttered in mock irritation, unable to hide a sheepish grin.
"By your orders, my princess!" he quipped and had already turned back around. Still incensed by her unasked-for second sight, she hoped this little intermezzo would at least serve some purpose in the future and would turn out to be a mere waste of time. Then, after giving herself a mental wake-up-knock over the head, she joined her wise protector in front of the door.
"Is there a reason to believe that this one won't work like the others?" he asked the world in general.
"Not that I can see…" she answered hesitantly, bending forward so she could better scrutinize the myriads of tiny carvings off of the main illustration. They very much had the look and feel of letters or some kind, but she couldn't make sense of them. The language of the forest children, maybe? Or, considerably more far-fetched, yet even more fascinating, that of nature itself?
"There is no glowing when I touch it…" she heard him say pensively.
Pursing her lips while thinking, her eyes frisked the thousands of symbols on all sides of the central image. She could feel her mind whirring to activity, something she wholly enjoyed. Her eyeballs flew back and forth, her tongue moving with unspoken words as her brain worked furiously.
"It's three…" she mumbled, unable to contain her thought processes. Link gazed at her confusedly, then seemed to understand and stepped out of her way. Another half-minute she scrutinized it, then stepped forward finally and gingerly touched a single word of the alien language. Immediately, it flared up, the fine lines of the relief burning with a strong blue flame. She couldn't hide her wide, triumphant smile as she gazed back at her baffled knight.
"It's all in threes! Three in the very centre, fighting, three dragons above, each representing one of the three goddesses. The unknown script around it repeats the same three sentences, each comprised of three groups of three words. And in the middle of each sentence stands one word that is carved deeper and with extra care. Like this one!" she pointed to another one that, to her, looked far more weighty than the ones around it, almost as if a writer had written it in nothing but capital letters.
Link ogled the indicated symbols, looked at the surrounding ones, looked back, then gazed back at her, his expression slightly lost.
Undeterred, she continued. "Now, if we extrapolate from the theme of threes and the more bold letters, repeated hundredfold almost as in prayer, it is likely they signify either the Goddesses' names or some aspect of them in this script. Since we previously entered doors by drawing the symbol of Farore's leaf, I assumed that this is where the opening mechanism to this gate would lie as well. And, as the one thing completely missing from such an eikon honouring the Goddesses is a symbol of the Triforce, I thought it would stand to reason that we need to find the symbols that would form a perfect triangle with the dreadful scene in the middle. And indeed, it is carved in a way that only one of the names is directly above, only one of the repeating second names is down and to the right and precisely one of the last is down and to the left. I touched the one down and left, the one for Nayru. Help me up so I can reach Din!" she finished her exposition with a prompt. Expectantly, she stared at him, who didn't move a muscle and only ogled "You garnered all this… from a language you don't understand… in less than two minutes?!" he spluttered, completely flabbergasted.
Her brow furrowed slightly, suddenly unsure. "Well I… err… yes?" she half replied, half asked, completely uncertain at the moment whether he was shocked or miffed or unsympathetic or…
"Bloody hell, Dumpling, that is amazing! And mildly scary… But mostly amazing!" he delighted, all beaming with admiration. Even without that fiercely proud glint in his eyes, it would have been quite enough to send her tumbling uncontrollably down the valley of embarrassment… Now she didn't know where to look, what to do with her suddenly sweating hands, or how to hide her instantly fiery red face. "I… It's not really all that…" she stammered, partly enjoying, partly hating the sheepish smile that formed on her face. If only everyone had reacted with such enthusiasm to her little moments of brilliance… 'If they had, he wouldn't be so special…' her second thoughts supplied softly.
"Stop staring and help me up, will you?" she ordered brusquely, looking away from his radiant expression before she turned even redder and grinned from ear to ear, wholly unable to stop herself.
"At once, your worship! I cannot prostrate myself enough before your brilliance!" he exclaimed histrionically and knelt down with his face pressed against the ground. Goddess above, how she wanted to retort with something clever and scathing… but this unholy mixture of bashfulness and beaming, unaccustomed pride turned her 'brilliant' brain to useless mush. Oh well… even when she couldn't verbally put her darling parvenu back in his place verbally, she'd still get the pleasure of, literally, stepping on him… which she planned to do with a certain affectionate vindictiveness.
With well practiced agility she slipped out of her boots, after a day of Link's forced marches one couldn't yank off the blasted things quick enough, and gingerly stepped onto his shoulders. Without so much as a grunt he carefully arose, taking great care not to make any sudden movements. She did have the enormous door to support herself, but still… his slim shoulders were not an ideal place to stand.
Even with their combined height she still had to stretch as far as she could for her fingers to reach the symbol… After all his praise she hoped to all Three that her first hit hadn't been a fluke… A slightly hot jolt coursed through her fingers and to her relief the Name of Din now sparkled in a pinkish red fire.
"Very nice!" she heard his voice from below and saw him beam up at her from between her feet. Even if she had wanted, she couldn't resist smiling back widely, especially given the rather peculiar perspective. Something in his grin, however, made her mischief-alarm ring like mad.
"Oh no! No nonono NO, you miscreant! You'll let me down like a princess this instant!" she shrieked, as his smirk grew wider and nastier with every passing moment.
"Your word…" he uttered gently before swiftly stepping to the side. Naturally she instantly toppled over to the left with a very undignified squawk and landed perfectly horizontally in his arms. Once her brain had once again emerged from full panic, she had to use every last ounce of her royal self-mastery not deal him a violent slap to his infuriatingly self-satisfied grin. Her hand had already twitched in the right direction, but she would have missed anyway, as he, quick as a prankish kitten, stole a sweet kiss from her lips.
"You're the only princess I ever plan on knowing… Don't tell me this wasn't how you're supposed to treat one! I would feel just terrible, if I have caught myself in a faux pas!" he cooed impishly, his doe-eyed innocence disarming all her fury in one masterful stroke. With her expression as grim as she could make it, she guided her free hand slowly to his ever unruly hair. It took quite a theatrical effort to keep her demeanour ireful, but the brief flicker of uncertainty in his gorgeous eyes when her fingers fiercely gripped his dark blonde strands was worth it. Serves you right to be scared! …but only briefly…
With a probably slightly painful pull on his hair she guided him back to her lips. The feeling of liquid electricity that seemed to jolt from his body sent wave after wave of sparkling excitement through her every cell… as it always had… and, hopefully, as it always will. Her hand, his thatch still firmly grasped, pulled him against her with almost desperate longing. She had no clue what was waiting for them beyond this final door… what horrors, what adversity they would be forced to face… and, she suspected, neither did he. What were their chances of living through it unscathed? Unknown… Quite frankly, she had to admit to herself that she was scared out of her mind. And even though he did his very best to show only calm demeanour, she felt his soul vibrating below.
…She did not want to think of this as a farewell-kiss… but if that's what it was, at least it happened.
Exceedingly slowly, she allowed him to draw back, savouring every moment their lips still touched. When they both opened their eyes, his gaze told her everything she needed to know… He was very aware what this kiss had meant… and that it might be their last…
"Payment…" she whispered, her voice quite raw. "For your insolence, sausage knight…"
"After all this is done, dumpling, I'll pay you back in full… with whatever you desire…" he replied, so softly that only she could hear.
"You better…" Zelda cawed, absentmindedly smoothing his hair, which she had made a complete mess of.
With considerable reluctance she allowed herself to be removed from his arms and they both took positions in front of the door. Her hand hovered readily over the last highlighted symbols, the name of Farore.
"Ready?" she asked, her heart hammering in her chest.
"Ready." he said, sword in hand, his stance bow-taut.
The last name erupted in green flame… and a low, threatening grumble emerged from deep within the Tree.
Link
The three symbols, forming a perfect triangle around the middle depiction of what could only be a final confrontation, turned a radiant white. The wood groaned in enormous stress as the massive gate slowly lifted upwards, centimetre for centimetre.
Absentmindedly, he licked over his lips… they still tasted of her… All this time he had tried to keep the possibility of failure, of death, as far away from his conscience as he could… Zelda's kiss, however, had made that eventuality exceedingly obvious. This was no fairy-tale… All the blood, death and misery had already made that perfectly clear.
He could lose her… She could lose him… They might have just shared their very last moment together.
He decided, however, that the awareness he now had was the right path. It was quite simply even stronger motivation not to let any of that happen.
The portal opened with a cacophony of pained creaking… He could almost feel the strain the Deku Tree put on Himself to open their way… to allow them access to this sanctuary… to drive out the evil within.
Once the door had elevated past hip height, they both nodded at each other. Then, with one fluid motion they ducked through it and entered the final chamber.
Link thought he was prepared… he wasn't.
The room was gargantuan… he couldn't even give an approximate estimation. It mattered little, however, for most of it was made impassable. His mouth was as dry as the Gerudo sands when his brain finally recognized what the obstacle was. About three quarters of the gigantic hall was covered with the skeletal remains of what only could be one of the dragons… He'd had no idea they were of such an impossible size. Among the by now disorderly pile of bones he saw vertebrae, ribs and other unidentifiable pieces… every last one was bigger than the largest Hylian!
Swallowing the pitiful amount of spit he still had, he finally dared to look directly in front… where what only could be the skull sat idly, facing the door, and them, directly. Even though every instinct told him this thing could and would never move again, he still felt his knees twitch to get hastily out of the way… the lipless, cruel teeth, longer than Link's entire body, seemed bared in a cruel, sardonic grin. He could sense Zelda tremble beside him… he would be surprised if his hands were still…
The dragon was dead… He didn't know what he had expected, but that hadn't been it.
The tremendous skeleton was frightening… as was the strange air of failure that surrounded it… but what disturbed him the most was the lone, sinister figure, clad all in black, that lay casually, almost provocatively, on top of the beast's snout. The nonchalant way the witch gazed at them did not bode well…
"Too bad. You're late! I already murdered your precious oversized worm!" she cooed, then giggled in a way that made his skin crawl.
Still… "Horseshit." he replied as calmly as he could. "Its bones are bare and bleached. It's been dead for decades."
The woman's unsettling, red eyes seemed to flare… for an instant he thought that the entire hall was tinged in a bloody glow… but it was so short, he wasn't sure that his imagination hadn't run wild.
She laughed in an almost innocent, girlish laugh and slowly got up, stretching like a lazy cat. "Well well! Not quite as gullible as I'd hoped! I'm going to have a hard time with you, won't I!" she smarmed filthily.
When she stood, she shook out her long, raven hair as if she didn't have a care in the world. His palms were sweaty and his heart raced… all while this vile temptress played coy! It annoyed him so much he subconsciously gnashed his teeth. She eyed him, her hands lifting her midnight strands of hair and lusciously dropping them, smiling hungrily… ignoring Zelda completely. She was wickedly beautiful, he couldn't help but notice… but her beauty was just as terrible as the rest of her. Normally he didn't sense people like his princess would… This woman he felt! Like a nail driven into his flesh he felt her, a dark aura pulsing with evil might.
She winked at him! His features contorted by themselves, showing clear disgust. Who does this bitch think she is?! He was nothing but repulsed by the villainous glint in her crimson eyes… the maliciousness… the hint of amusement at the impending suffering of others…
Suddenly, Link's eyes widened in realization. This was all deliberate! She was playing for time! With her clear lack of aggression she was wasting away precious seconds as she made the Tree languish… somehow…
But would he spring her trap if he initiated hostilities? Doubtlessly… but sadly, time was not on his side.
Steadily, without taking the devil woman from his sight, he stuck his sword into the wooden ground just enough so it stood ready to be re-grabbed. Without delay he armed himself with his bow.
"Well now… that is hardly very- ack!" she purred, the ducked with a surprised squawk as Link's arrow flew right at her smirking face.
When she rose again, her self-indulgent smile was gone… and had been replaced by a nasty grimace of rage, turning the fine lines of her face to a demonic visage. His smile, however, slowly curled his lips. If this monster in woman's clothing thought that he was too noble to use a readily presented advantage, she was sorely mistaken. She had aptly demonstrated she was a lieutenant of their adversary… And, most importantly: He was no noble.
With a certain gusto, he drew another projectile from his quiver. If she decided to stay on her perch, well exposed, he would not hesitate to accept her offer as target practice! This Tree–murdering wench would learn what she could expect from him! Introducing wood-charring Chus to this sanctuary… Brain washing Veneli's father… Destroying the Rito people's peaceful life, leaving them to vegetate in fear… Working with the unknown power that threatened to engulf the whole world in flames… and that had tried multiple times to end Zelda's life… And now this piece of utter shit had the audacity to stand there, feigning innocence?!
Righteous fury burned in him like a white-hot flame as he nocked the arrow and aimed. He loosed… and the brief look of surprise on her features turned to a grin that chilled his skin.
With an almost casual flick of her arm she caught the arrow aimed right at her heart… and her smirk turned almost reptilian. "How very interesting!" she said, the girlish tone of voice replaced with a hungry, bone-freezing snarl. The red in her eyes flared diabolically and the very air around her seemed to be drawn in and darken, as if it were sucked into a black hole of pure lust for blood.
He could hear Zelda gasp and instinctively step behind him. His own stomach cramped at the wave of tangible craving for violence and destruction… but even though it was deeply disturbing to feel such vile desire from something that looked like a young, slender girl, and even though it felt as if it could burn away the hair on his body, it only served to strengthened his determination. He didn't budge a millimetre.
"Stop wasting time and get down here, you disgusting creature!" he hissed as he drew yet another arrow.
"As you wish… I need to return this to you anyway." she cackled, then casually stepped off the skull. The drop was at least five metres… her black clothes fluttered around her… though not enough! With sudden certainty, Link understood how heavy her cloak must be… that meant either hidden armour or, far more likely, a multitude of secret weapons!
Despite the height of her jump the evil witch landed with impossibly smooth grace, bending only slightly and… Link instinctively braced himself!
She instantly catapulted herself towards him with outrageous speed. His eyes turned wide as he saw her approach quicker than a horse in full gallop. With a startled grunt the only thing he could do was try to block with his bow! Time slowed to a breathless crawl as the demon-woman thrust his own arrow at him… and he barely spotted something glint in her other hand. Even with everything decelerated, her movements were almost too quick to follow… and of terrible dexterity.
Feeling suddenly painfully sluggish he stepped backwards and brought his bow between her approaching arms. The arrow was just a decoy meant to open him up for her real attack with the knife. With both hands he twisted his wooden weapon, therefore deflecting her right hand to the left and her left to the right.
Sadly, he had underestimated her deviousness… as she dropped the useless arrow it turned out she had hidden an extremely fine stiletto underneath! Her enraged grimace turned to a devilish smile as she brought her hand back from where he had deflected it, ready to plunge the knife into his body.
Out of options, he pulled his bow back to bring it between the evil little blade and him. He winced as he saw it bite into the pliable wood, ruining the present he had gotten from Marten so long ago. With renewed anger he shifted his grip so he could bend it against its curve, therefore pinching her weapon in its own notch, effectively trapping it. Still fearing her other dagger he twisted away from her free hand, pulling his marred bow with him with all his weight. He used her considerable momentum and added his own by stepping out of the way, with only her fingers connecting the two… and the angle quickly becoming unsupportable. Either she let go, or her wrist would snap.
Her hand left the slim grip as expected and his own grabbed it before it fell to the ground. Maybe he could have immediately followed up with an attack of his own, but for now he was too busy being incredulously thankful that he had survived her assault!
Turned out he had very little time to breathe. Nimble as a snake she turned around and threw her second blade with crazy impetus.
No time to think, not even a millisecond! With a desperate outcry he brought his right, his weaker hand, up to protect his head. He felt the knife connect with his fingers and he finished his lightning fast move, averting the projectile from his face. With gritted teeth and fibrillating heart he waited… either for the sensation of his fingers holding cold steel… or for the sharp, hot pain of his impaled flesh.
When he finally dared to look at his hand, he nearly laughed in relief at the sight of a harmless steel grip lying inconspicuously in his palm. Instead he assumed a fighting stance, now with each hand holding one of the evil little things.
Zelda stepped close again. She had just barely been able to dodge out of the way when he had redirected their enemy onwards. His mind raced, trying to catch up with all that had happened in the last, instinct driven seconds. The witch had immediately assaulted him… she had hardly even paid attention to his protégé! He was thankful for that… but it was unexpected. So far every attack from agents of the Threat had seemed to be directed at the Princess of Light… Had this demon-woman just identified him as the bigger threat? Or was there more to it all?
The enemy had regained her balance and already two more of the fine blades were in her hands. He hadn't even noticed when she had produced them… Once again he reminded himself not to trust a single movement this girl made.
She weaved back and forth in an almost dance-like combat stance, looking fearsomely elegant and almost weightless as she glided about. She grinned, apparently amused by it all… but… He wasn't sure, but there seemed to be a slight hint of pain in her ever so minimally furrowed brow, her eyes opened a tad too widely…
"If you attack, use the range of your rapier. Also she goes mostly for the throat of face." he whispered so lowly that he wasn't even sure whether Zelda had heard… thankfully, he sensed her nod… and heard the frightened tremolo in her breathing. Goddess, he hoped that she-devil would continue to focus on him… although he wasn't at all sure he would survive their next encounter.
Ever so slowly he shuffled backwards to where his sword was still sticking from the ground.
"Oh no no!" the woman growled, her face once again contorting nastily… Then rushed at him again with immense speed.
This time, however, Link expected it.
Stepping forward to meet his adversary, he engaged her, trying to use his slightly longer range as an advantage.
Sir Alistair's many gruelling hours of training paid off… he was able to keep track of both her deadly hands, although just barely. The knives were worthless for defence, so what resulted was a wild dance of thrusts, cuts, deflections with elbows and wrists and furious counters… and that at blazing speed.
Had he had any time to think, he would have thanked his swordmaster for his insistence on training with many different kinds of arms… now he had to focus all his talent to stay alive!
The woman was frighteningly competent. Twisting her knives from normal to backhand grip with a velocity he couldn't even begin to match, she seemed to attack from every direction at once. It took less than two seconds at their pace for him to realize that he was lost. This was an enemy with far greater experience… and, either through coincidence or devious plan, she had tricked him into using a weapon of her choosing… and to top it all of, he had to make sure that his charge was out of harms way!
With his teeth bared in furious concentration he was more and more pressed into a purely defensive position, struggling to keep up even with that. His arms and shoulders burnt with the strain, but she showed no sign of slowing. Any moment, he would feel the nasty, cold bite of one of her…
A long, silvery flash darted through their mêlée, forcing the evil wench to pull back her hands with a startled gasp. Zelda's thrust had come with remarkable accuracy, barely interrupting his motions while putting the Shiekah off balance!
He darted forward, meaning to use the moment of shock for his long sought counter attack. He wouldn't, however, make the same mistake of engaging her hand to hand… Using every last bit of stretch his body would give, he furiously stomp-kicked her chest with a primal roar.
Having received all his momentum she flew backwards with a choked croak… but the heavy landing he had hoped for failed to happen. With admirable smoothness the vile creature rolled backwards and stood right away, although she still slid rearwards a metre or more to brake.
When she looked back up, she grinned with no sign that his kick that would have knocked over a horse had any lasting effect.
Link felt cold crawling up his spine… whatever fell magic surrounded this woman, he couldn't seem to pierce it!
No… wait! A tiny trickle of blood ran down her chin! And even though she once again stood straight and unburdened, he could see her chest rise and fall quickly… much quicker than his! And…
"Link… her breath!" Zelda whispered anxiously. She had noticed it too then. A tiny wheeze came from the witch with every drawing of air… Maybe it had been there before, he thought… subliminally… but now it was clearly audible! But that could only mean… that she had been hurt even before their encounter! And from the way she breathed, she was missing a good portion of her normal lung volume! Dear goddess… if they had met while she was hale…
While he pondered all this with incredible haste, he made a quick lunge for his sword. This time his enemy had no time to prevent him.
Din's fury it felt good to hold his own steel! For the lack of a shield he kept one of her daggers in his right… you never knew.
"Stand behind my right shoulder! I keep her engaged, you attack when you see an opening!" he growled. Her long rapier would benefit his right side, where he only had a short weapon, much better… besides, she was right handed.
This time the woman approached slowly… her bloodlust seemed to increase with every passing second… it broke against his iron will like water against rock, yet still it nauseated him to his core.
With infuriating slowness she licked the blood from her chin… then threw her knife at Zelda. It missed… by a surprisingly wide margin, but it still had effect enough. His princess ducked away, startled… and the demon woman used that moment to attack.
Once again Link found himself in a brawl with this far more experienced, devious foe. His sword gave him range, but quick as he was with it, it still lacked speed. Shifting his weight, he adopted a new tactic. Slowly advancing and using his blade solely for defence with quick jabs, he tried to force her to attack his right while keeping her off balance. He succeeded in driving her before him, his left perfectly protected from her short weapons, while leaving his right deliberately open. He hoped his guardian angel would be ready…
Snarling in fury the woman swiped his blade to the side and went to stab his right torso with terrible alacrity. Grunting in surprise he barely deflected her knife with his right hand, feeling the blade slice through his already ruined tunic as if it were butter. With widening eyes, he realized that she would just have to stretch her elbow to deal him a potentially fatal wound… then a golden shimmer flashed in the corner of his sight.
Zelda ducked under his arm and thrust upwards, executing his plan perfectly. The evildoer tried to dodge hastily, having thought the girl too frightened to attack with such precision… Only her ungodly speed saved her…
The wickedly sharp rapier cut deeply into her left arm and also bit into her brow, though just enough to sting. The woman hissed, more in rage than in pain, retreated two steps and immediately charged once more.
Zelda reacted quickly and jabbed high once again, trying to keep her at distance. Link swiftly changed his angle to complement his little fencer's attack and stabbed low. With a frustrated howl the witch was unable to follow through with her attack, but quickly reengaged anyway.
Her celerity was unreal! Grunting and screaming she swiped furiously at their longer weapons, trying ceaselessly to find a weak point. The princess' sword moved with impressively quick strikes, preferring tiny fast stabs so she could perfectly utilize her range… Link let her dictate the rhythm while focussing on both their defences and the occasional attack from an angle that supplemented her own. His head smoked from the immensely difficult task of keeping two enemy weapons and his ally's in mind while fighting, so that he ensured unbroken defence and effective offence.
He could hear his beloved's quick, gasping breath and felt his own focus slowly dwindle… Please, Goddess! Let this monster of a woman tire already! How can she keep fighting like this when she is already struggling for air?!
Suddenly, with an unhylian screech of pure rage the woman seemed to contort and cramp. Instantly, Link knew something was very wrong… and not a moment later a surge of such unearthly, violent frenzy assaulted his mind that it nearly scorched his fighting spirit. For a tiny second he wanted to run, to drop his sword and flee from this insurmountable evil, this unbeatable agent of destruction in front of him, wanted to cower, grovel at her feet, pray to her that she might spare him.
He did not know what strength navigated him through this onslaught of fear, but the moment passed… and not an instant too soon! Her spasms ended as quickly as they had come and when she looked back up… Those eyes, the bloody eyes of a Shiekah burned with a fire from hell, seemed to radiate the flaming promise of black death. These no longer were the eyes of any living being… They were gates into the abyss itself!
Shocked to his very core, all he could do was raise his sword in defence of her next attack. The demon no longer cared. She stormed directly into his blade, suffering a deep gash to her neck… to Link's horror, there was no blood. Terrified, he saw in frightening slow-motion as two fine, wicked knives drew ever closer… just 15 centimetres away… just ten…
As a last, desperate attempt he stepped forward, applying pressure to his sword against her neck. He couldn't stop her any more… maybe he could still deflect her…
Twisting around to only present her his slender side and bringing his own knife forward, he tried something ridiculous. Her right knife would miss thanks to him dysbalancing her… but her left aimed right at his heart. He had no time… and only one chance!
Hoping to all goddesses that might listen that his precision didn't fail him now, he slid his own tiny dagger between his skin and her lethal steel, trying to find the perfect angle… What a chest plate normally did, he would have to do with a knife of hardly once centimetre breadth.
He could see the beastly triumph in her face, that demonic grin that hardly even looked natural any more. She thought she had him.
Not an option!
The tip of her weapon hit the 'broad' side of his… every millisecond felt like a minute as his fingers were shaken with the harrowing vibrations of metal scraping against metal...
The teeth-rattling noise ended and her instrument of death glided off harmlessly. With both her knives deflected and his blade to her neck, he had-
With a motion he'd thought irreconcilable with life her head twisted away, her spine bent around his sword-arm and her forehead rammed into his nose and lips with a sickening crunch. His neck snapped back and he keeled over, too shocked even to scream. He hit the floor hard, the fire in his face ignited, driving evil jolts of pain through his head, making his eyes tear up and his vision blurry. A girl's scream of horror kept him from losing his conscious.
His nose was crushed, the noise of splintering bone had left no doubt… he couldn't breathe through it either…
Even though his head swam in vertigo, he jumped up immediately and rushed back towards his foe before she could continue her attack on Zelda. With his vision mostly gone, he had to rely on his hearing… and on pain to be fuel for strength. But it quickly became clear that, now more than ever, he was hopelessly outmatched. Driven by terror, his senses flared up to new heights… yet she moved with such impossible grace, such incredible ease… he neither heard her nor felt her feet touch the ground. He was blind! He swung his sword around wildly, panic clawing at his back… At any second he expected the hot, sharp agony of one of those blades in his body. But that would be her end too! He gritted his teeth in last, moribund determination. If he felt her lethal sting, his sword would be there to respond in kind!
No… no that is impossible… Sudden realization dawned in his panicky mind. His dread-fuelled senses perceived the groan of wood under its own weight… the wind outside, beyond metres of bark, was a howling tempest to his ears… He felt Zelda's fibrillating heartbeat through the soles of his shoes…
There was no way he couldn't sense her too!
Ceasing his wild flailing, he focussed solely on his ears. No footsteps… no twirling and stabbing of little blades… But a third drawing of breath!
Trusting his instinct he threw his dagger without delay. A startled gasp made his lips curl into a sardonic smile.
"You swine!" the witch roared from across the room. He opened his eyes, his smile already crooked from the pain… except there was none. Almost as if a curtain was lifted, the illusion was taken from his eyes, his ears, his nerves… His sight was clear, his face unbroken.
He glanced at Zelda, equally surprised and dazed as he. Their adversary's next furious scream, however, quickly brought their attention back.
"You filthy insects! Slaves! Dogs of your precious Goddesses and their tyranny! How dare you?!" Her breath came quickly, a sheen of sweat on her face. He couldn't say when she had sicced her phantasm on them, or if he had actually really fought her at all… she did appear unwounded however…
A nasty grin spread on his lips. "My turn!" he growled and sped off.
Her eyes widened, red Shiekah eyes full of hatred and filled with evil glow… but not those pits of hell he had seen earlier.
His sword arced widely, forcing her to duck where his boot waited. She twisted out of the way with uncanny speed, her knife slicing after his foot, but hitting only air. His blade never resting, he brought it back around for a low swing aimed at her feet. She jumped… right into his trap. With ire, born from being so easily deceived, he changed direction mid swing and yanked his steel directly upwards with a rather inelegant, yet very forceful motion.
With a startled grunt she twisted her knives into an underhanded grip and blocked with both of them side by side. A measly defence against a blow as fierce as his!
They stopped the bite of his blade, but as her little letter openers had no weight to them, his momentum smashed into her arms and consequently into her chest. He heard the air being driven from her lungs… and once again perceived that sickly wheezing and… bubbling from inside her.
Her lungs were punctured!
With masterful control she spun in mid air and landed back on her feet, taking a deep breath of air. Her formerly neatly bound hair hung in a few strands into her face… but despite the pain and respiratory distress she had to feel, she glared as aggressively and unperturbedly as ever… and to his renewed fear, she grinned.
"I'm beginning to see… why you are… the Goddess' champion, boy…" she snarled.
Link swallowed sour spit. He had surprised her with his quick recovery… but little more.
Without any warning she stormed at him, throwing both her knives and immediately producing two new ones.
He swiped them away with a strangled yelp, then she was on him, a veritable tornado of tiny blades and death. His sword felt slow and cumbersome against her lithe attacks. With no other option he grabbed one of his arrows with his right hand so he would at least have something, anything to block the odd attack.
She twisted and turned and snaked around his defences, again and again, only barely escaped by last second manoeuvring. The air was filled with a staccato of hits, scrapes and clacks of metal against metal. More than once he succeeded in knocking a knife from her fingers, but faster than he could look another one had taken its place. He hoped Zelda wouldn't interfere... at the insane rate they were turning, parting rejoining and trading places… sadly, at her skill level it would be too risky. She might easily hit him too!
But like this, he couldn't win… she was too good! He had to change the status quo…
Risking a lot, he stepped forward widely in one of the tiny moments she didn't have one of her knives approaching his flesh and thrust right at her face. He hoped to drive her off of him, if only for a few seconds… A mistake.
Quick and fluent as water she ducked to his right and with unrelenting force kicked upwards between his now spread legs.
A sharp cry, then a feeble wheeze came from his lips as all strength seeped from his body and he crumpled into a heap. He wanted to scream, wail out the unimaginable torture that surged through his entire body… he couldn't even do that. He gasped for air… it wouldn't come. Clutching at his lower body he rolled on the floor, hoping, praying for the pain to end… almost forgetting that every second could be his last… almost.
"Too bad, boy… fun's over!" the she-devil cooed, her playfulness back in her voice. He saw her through teary eyes, a few paces off, grinning as if nothing could make her happier than seeing him like this. Then she ran at him… he couldn't move…
Two long shapely legs planted themselves firmly in front of him…
No! No please! Don't do this, run! Take me, leave her be!
He wanted to shout it so loudly that it shook the Tree, but hardly a sigh escaped. He saw the witch approach his beloved in terrible slow-motion, weapons at the ready…
Please…
Then the unthinkable happened! The Shiekah stopped, screeched to a halt just out of range of Zelda's rapier. A look of disgust on her face… and regret…
"Want to die so soon, Princess of Light? Hmm… although thinking about it… what would be more delectable? Killing you and watch his despair? Or kill him and watch the light disappear from those big, lovely eyes of yours?" Her words oozed hatred and malice… and thorough enjoyment of the idea.
Zelda didn't move an inch… he couldn't see her expression…
"You will do neither. You have yet to attack me a single time, even though you have had plenty of opportunity. Even with your little illusion, you did nothing but ignore me entirely. You are forbidden from touching me. Back off!" she spat, stepping forward and poking with her slim blade.
The murderous demoness retreated, fangs bared and looking ready to explode with fury.
"Quite a gamble, girly… Deadly if you miscalculate…" she hissed, twirling her knifes with impressive speed, but her words were feckless. She had been found out…
"Back. Off!" Zelda repeated, nothing but rancour in her usually so bright and pretty voice.
The woman sighed theatrically and lowered her arms. "Too bad… you miscalculate!"
She dashed at his princess. He was on his knees by now, but so terribly far away… and still so breathless he couldn't even shout.
With a desultory move she twisted the rapier from Zelda's hand, then boxed her viciously in her stomach. She bent over, but the Shiekah yanked her back up by her chin so she could look directly into her eyes. "Kill you: no. Get you out of my way: yes!" she growled and pulled Zelda with her, holding her just by her chin. He crawled after her, his strength returning so terribly slowly…
She flailed and kicked, but to no avail. Slim this woman might be… but her potency was demonic! Finally he managed to stand on his feet and run… they were almost at the door!
With an angry grunt the witch threw his guardian angel out so she landed heavily against the wall, then crumpled on the floor, groaning. With a casual snap of her finger the enormous door shook briefly… then fell… It smashed into the ground with a deafening noise that coursed like a wave through the entire tree, causing his still wobbly knees to falter.
"Now, a little privacy… though I'm sure she can sense everything that I'm going to do to you… Trust me! She will feel every. Last. Little. Cut. As if it were her own flesh..."
He gazed up into the terrible, red eyes. They beamed with bloodlust, hunger… and glee.
Link's rage exploded like never before, instantly negating the agony in his gut, filling all his muscles with liquid fire! The fingers of his left hand burned almost painfully as all colour around seemed to drain. There was no more Tree, no more dragon, no more pain… just his enemy directly in front… and the monumental power of his inner flame directly between them!
With a furious roar he swung his sword in a wide arc, the heat in his palm exploding into blazing green energy, directed by his blade towards his foe, a beam of pure, searing hot magic that shot unstoppably at the agent of the Threat.
With a panicked squawk she dived out of the way, her clothes and hair smoking simply from being in the proximity of his attack.
He stormed forward, his whole body flooded with just, passionate light, and was upon her before she had time to readjust.
His sword was a blur… too quick for a normal man's eyes, every strike as precise as if he'd had days to plan it… When before her prowess had immediately put him on the defensive, struggling to keep up, he was now driving her before her like a leaf before the storm. She danced, weaved and dodged, but suddenly her movements seemed slow, sluggish even… Even though he had but one weapon, he not only defended against two, but did so without effort, without having to evade himself… one continuous, fluid motion she had to use all her skill to protect herself against.
And he was only getting started…
With an almost casual flick of his wrist he swiped both her knives from her hand, stepped in close to ram his left elbow into her temple in one smooth move. Then, as she was reeling he grabbed her collar with his right, lifted her off the ground like he would a child, then smashed her shoulder first back on the ground. He was just about to end it when a gleaming flash of light erupted from somewhere between them, causing him to shield his eyes. He felt her twisting out of his grip and scuttle away…
He couldn't see… it mattered not. His ears pointed the way.
Swiftly he retrieved one of her knives and threw it as accurately as if he had seen his quarry. She just gasped as the fine blade bit into her calf, as he had knocked the last bit of breath cleanly out of her.
His vision slowly returning, he saw her prone a few metres away. He approached, measured, without haste… An avenger of light, he aimed to deal justice, here and now.
"Stop! Halt, please!" she croaked, and for the first time there was genuine fear in her eyes. She had seen just how far he was beyond her… at least for the moment…
"I yield! Truly, please!"
His senses sharpened to infinity, he spotted the almost inconspicuous way she held her hand, hiding some devilry inside. He cared little… Even without such obvious signs he would not, could not have believed a creature such as her.
As he continued his slow gait towards her she threw a tiny sphere right at his face… a sphere with a short, glowing fuse… An almost gentle cut as it flew towards him and he had severed it with hardly a thought. It landed harmlessly somewhere behind him. His approach was not even slowed by a single step.
"Fucking, cheating son of a whore!" she spat in impotent rage. "In any normal fight I would have killed you!"
Almost sadly, he shook his head. "You miscalculate…" he repeated her words from earlier. "I am not here for a fight. I am only here to wipe your filth from this place."
Her eyes widened further as fear turned to terror. She seemed to have realized that whatever chance for quarter she might have had, she had long squandered… None would be forthcoming, not after all her threats, all her manipulations and all her actions. He saw in her gaze that she didn't understand… couldn't understand that there was no bloodlust, no mindless fury, no malicious glee over a defeated enemy in his eyes… Passion, yes… but no desire to end life… just sombre, unbreakable determination. She didn't understand such a thing any more… and it scared her to death.
"No… No wait!" she stammered, scooting away while dragging her impaled leg behind.
He quickened his steps, unwilling to see this pathetic display continue… and feeling the divine wind that gave him strength abate fast.
With a panicked screech she stretched out her hand, her fingers bent like claws. Blackness wafted from it and her eyes burnt with evil fire. Before he could so much as gasp, her fell sorcery bored itself into his head, drilled into his mind and…
Peace. Nothing but pure, white serenity engulfed him like a mother's embrace… No pain… all the burning from his sore muscles was taken away… as if he were lying down in the softest of feather beds… All was as it should be. He looked at the sword in his hand, raised high as if ready to strike down… He wondered why, as there was no enemy here… He lowered it until the tip scraped against the ground. It was heavy and cumbersome… Vaguely he remembered how much he'd had to fight… that was all behind him now. All was as it should be…
The beautiful woman in front of him smiled at him as she stood up… and he smiled back.
Zelda
Something cut through her conscious like black lightning and ripped her feeble connection to her Link to shreds.
She had pushed and clawed at the massive slab of wood to no avail, with only that miniscule thread remaining to tell her of the happenings inside the boneyard… Now even that had been severed!
She had felt him strengthen again, regain his power… and far beyond! He rose to new heights, carried on a force that wasn't his own… and yet… it was. She had sensed his triumph… and the sorrow it brought with it. Then suddenly, as if she had been slapped, all extended perception had ceased.
Could that mean…?! All three goddesses in heaven, no!
Zelda closed her eyes, trying to find focus. All her life she had desperately sought to close her mind from all the vicious assaults, from all the hostile sensations that wanted to invade… that made a little girl in her bed feel as if she were surrounded, touched and assailed by murderers, monsters and darkness itself…
Now, in this moment when nothing else mattered, she tried to open her soul with not a shred of hesitation… and found that she could not. Her own mind bristled against her will, its well honed defences refusing to stand down… She gritted her teeth, dug her nails painfully into the unyielding wood of the door until they almost splintered, but something inside her would not permit her access. The tiny forays she had occasionally allowed had been hurtful enough… now her innermost actively fought against her as she attempted to open the gates. Something within… pushed her back… held the gates shut…
Desperate to find him, any trace of the thread that connected them she re-focused. There was something… a black spot on her mental map… she tried getting through, but her attempts were feeble, untrained… much like her blank fingers against this mountainous door, her weak soul couldn't even dent the malicious cocoon the enemy had spun around him.
Ready to resort to anything, she wanted to attack her directly, assault the witch's mind, angry and frantic enough to want to tear it asunder… Hopeless… this was not the mind of some demented monster, but the iron will and mental precision of a trained killer. Her pathetic, dull scratches were too slow, too clumsy and imprecise…
Screaming at herself in frustration, she changed tactic. Giving up was out of the question! Not until… not until she knew… if he…
Taking a few steps back, her legs quaking and her head pounding with dull pain from where it had impacted against the wall, she concentrated on the door itself. It was dead… the last trickle of magic from the Tree had run dry. But if that vile bitch could send it plunging to the ground with a snap of her finger, she should bloody well be able to lift it back up! What was the use in being the freaking 'princess of light' if she couldn't even do that?!
Focus… nothing else matters… like Link said… just her and this enormous slab of wood…
…nothing… not even the slightest hint of the arcane…
She gritted her teeth, letting out a hiss of rage and disappointment in herself. Where did that fucking magic even come from?! She didn't feel any of it, at any point! Why was it so damned fickle? How could she ever learn to coax it from the place where it hid, if she didn't even know where to start looking? And with second she wasted… Link might…
Stop. Focus. Focus as you focused on the door earlier, when you tried to get in. You know you can do that. You can concentrate on something so much everything else fades into the background… Find the solution to the puzzle…
Breathing out and consciously relaxing her shoulders she gazed back to the gate. She tried to centre upon it without thinking about the text or the image… instead trying to see it all… see it in a way that was normally hidden.
…she could imagine its massive weight… no, she could feel its massive weight! It weighed on her shoulders, her chest, making it difficult to breathe, rested on her brain, sending sharp jolts of headache all the way through her neck and spine. She felt it!
She raised her hand, her fingers pointing at it. A slight, warm breeze played around her digits… where could it have come from, deep inside the Tree?
Her arm extended, she tried to encompass the door, grasp the very concept of its heft with her slender fingers… The weight on her mind and body nearly became unbearable… she couldn't draw breath, and her head felt ready to split open, but she didn't care. Weird, hallucinatory shadows danced in her peripheral vision as her brain sent wild, panicked impulses through every synapse… she saw flickers, sparks and tufts of light in her hand… surely just a trick her eyes played on her.
Her fingers closed… and she lifted… tried to… failed… Her muscles rebelled, twitching and oscillating wildly… she wasn't strong enough!
Zelda gasped from the strain. Her clothes were drenched with sweat, with big beads it rolled into her eyes, making them burn. The door trembled… she could feel it vibrate… but her grip on it was too weak and she continued to slip off…
Desperate for anything that could enhance her focus, she bit into the flesh of her finger of her other hand, so hard she was almost certain she would draw blood. With the new pain dulling the rest, she tried again… A millimetre… two maybe…
Suddenly her grasp was burst so harshly and effortlessly that she nearly toppled over. With wide eyes and gasping for much needed air, she saw the enormous log lift smoothly up until she could look through…
A wave of relief, so strong it nearly pulled her legs away, washed over her when she saw her Link standing unharmed, but… so was his opponent… His sword lay next to him, carelessly dropped… and he held just one of her knives…
Both of them, as one, looked at her and the cursed agent of the Threat pointed imperiously… then spoke with silky calmness.
"Now… kill her!"
Link
The magnificent woman in front of him dusted some dirt off her black, figure-hugging garb. Her eyes were the most fascinating shade of red… they seemed to glow, even… glow with such irresistible power…
His brow furrowed, but only for a tiny instant. Was power really what he sought? Was red the colour his heart languished for? He couldn't remember…
The girl's grin shook him right down to his spine, sent vibrations of pure lust through his every cell…
Again, a slight frown of confusion… Odd he would feel such lechery for someone he just met…
Ah… no, he must have misunderstood… yes…
It wasn't lust she made him feel… but deep, profound infatuation… yes, that was it.
She stepped closer… he could smell her perfume… it smelled… off… too strong… vaguely he remembered feeling something like this before… but she… had never worn so much scent… she hadn't needed to…
No matter! The woman in front of him drove him crazy, her sheer presence making his head spin… her face… stunning… too long… her nose… strong… wrong shape… her lips… full… smile not right…
His brow furrowed once more with that disruptive feeling… He wanted to concentrate solely on the incomparable creature in front of him… wanted to… to do everything she desired of him… There was nothing, nothing in the whole world he longed for than her approval…
Why, then, could he not let himself fall into her arms fully, embrace his enslavement to her will? Why?! Why would something not let him, keep him from the sweet, divine ecstasy she promised?
Now she frowned… oh no! He had made her angry! He had failed somehow, saddened her… now she would turn away from him, he wouldn't survive that!
But ahh… no… The soft, pink haze around thickened… and his peace returned with her smile…
Her hand touched his shoulder… her closeness made him feel faint with longing… Her sensual lips, which he so despaired to kiss, drew closer, but at the last, terrible moment curved around to whisper in his ear.
"Now, sweety…" she purred, "that was not very nice, what you did, was it?"
His heart sank to the bottom of the sea… Oh no! He must have done something terrible! But what? He couldn't remember… Why couldn't he remember?
He shook his head, eager to please. He could feel her soft body touch him in numerous spots… There were hordes of butterflies dancing in his tummy and his head…
…She smelled a tiny bit of sweat… odd… why would she be sweating?
"No, it truly wasn't nice…" she cooed with a little giggle that sent shivers down his spine. His heart was pounding in his chest, filled with guilt and rage at himself. He wanted to prostrate before her, hoped she would step on him, punish him for his insolence… Anything to make her happy!
"But don't worry, darling. All is well…" Her breath was hot in his ear… He twitched away, only a few millimetres… But why? Why would he recoil from this heavenly being he so desired?! He was so confused, so utterly, maddeningly perplexed by his own actions, he started to get a headache. What was wrong with him?
"All is well, honey!" she repeated, gently taking his hand. The fluffy pink fuzz in his mind got even thicker, even more comfortable… "I forgive you…" she whispered, her lips so close he could feel the tiny swirls of air as they moved.
The relief that washed over him was incomparable. He should go on his knees, kiss her feet, or better the ground below her boots in thanks for her mercy.
"But! You'll have to do something for me too…" she said, her face back in his view.
He nodded eagerly. Anything…
"Drop your weapon." His mistress ordered. He numbly looked at his sword, which he was still holding aloft… as if ready to strike something down… His brow furrowed once more in confusion… That annoying headache… Why was he brandishing his blade? Who was he fighting? There was only she here… No… no that was impossible! Impossible! He would never fight her, his one and only… would he?
"Drop it, I said!" she commanded, more impatiently now.
He let it fall as if he had burned himself. She had sounded nervous… odd…
"Now, sweety… The one thing I need you to do… Will you help me?" she asked, the pout on her lip irresistible. He wanted to nod, scream into the world that he would do anything for her, and everyone should know… Something constricted his throat… He was fighting himself! But why? Why would he be so riven, when this should be the happiest moment of his life?
Sweat was running down her face… Was she in pain? What troubled her so?
"Here. Take this."
She put something slim and slightly heavy in his palm. His heart jumped in excitement. A gift?
"Yes… a gift…" she croaked. Her voice sounded strained. "It's yours… Take it… And…" she lifted her hand. A loud noise cut through the languorous silence… The silvery mists parted and he saw… a silhouette… A girl… Her…
Blue eyes… he loved blue eyes…
"Now… kill her!"
No.
When before his confusion and doubt were little more than an irritating background-whisper, the resounding decisiveness that instantly coursed through his mind was absolute. As was the headache that stretched its searing fingers into his brain.
Kill. Her.
A sound… a disembodied voice…
Her face… that beautiful face… so dirty and… and scared… Her blue eyes stared at him… terrified! No, that couldn't be! Not her. Never her!
Kill! I command it! KILL!
The headache strengthened immeasurably… as did his conviction.
KILL!
Never.
"Aye… I will kill her." he pronounced, his voice deep and cold. Before she could react, he rammed the knife into the woman's heart… a woman who, despite his throbbing heart, could only be evil… to want to kill an angel…
The vile spell broke as soon as the metal cut through her skin. The she-devil screamed in rage and with impossible speed jumped backwards fast enough she slid over the ground all the way back to the mountainous dragon skull. She clattered against it with her back, then went down on her knees…
A few seconds passed as Link carefully picked up his sword. Every fibre in his body roared in hot, blazing fury at being manipulated, at the disgusting thoughts she had made him think… but mostly at the repulsive, loathsome, fiendish command she had tried to impart. His head still pulsated with pain from the battle he had fought within it. He remembered her exerted face, the rivers of sweat running down her forehead… She had been forced to use all her power on him… and still her filthy, manipulative charm had instantly shattered like glass against solid steel at that one, unthinkable order. His mouth curled into a grim smile… there was a certain satisfaction to that.
After a moment of cowering, there was a pained grunt, followed by a sickening, moist squelch… and the knife he had stuck in her clattered on the floor.
To his horror and dismay, the demon-woman simply stood back up… although shakily, her face deathly white. She looked as if she could drop dead at any second… except for her eyes, which glowed more than ever with its sinister, red life… a profane, terrible perversion of life…
"Well… that certainly was educational." she rasped, jumped high into the air before he could recollect his courage after having stared into the living death from her phantasmal eyes. She landed heavily on a enormous rib jutting from the bone-yard. "But now I tire of our little dance and I am done here anyway. My task was to waste your time and that I have accomplished. Your precious Tree is damaged beyond salvation and so, the dragons will forever remain a pile of worthless bones." The unnaturally wide grin in her pallid face, with her teeth reddened from blood, made his heart sink into a pit of despair. "Go and see the root chamber… Witness how much damage my corrosive little pets can inflict, even on something as powerful as the Guardian of all Life. Watch how this very life brings death to its protector! Delicious!" She cackled, spitting blood with every ragged gasp… and the sheer evil in her voice reverberated a thousandfold from the walls. Black fire sprung to life all over her and her demonic laugh flared into a terrifying crescendo… then was silent… and she was gone.
Link stared dumbfounded at the vacant spot… then spun around to stare wide eyed at Zelda. Her expression was shocked, aghast, betrayed… just like he felt.
A brief exchange of gazes, wordless understanding… and as one they fled from the room, storming downwards the way they had come. He quickly overtook her, then restrained his speed, torn between wanting to see, to help as fast as possible and unable to just leave her behind.
"Go! Run ahead!" she yelled, panting as they both dashed down the gently winding ramp. With a last apologetic glance back he started running as quickly as his legs would carry him… praying against all hope that he wouldn't be too late.
Zelda
She ran down the ramp with breakneck speed, yet already she had lost him from her sight. Every springy step was accompanied with a panting, silent prayer. Link's dreadful, abject fear shook her soul, his terror of being too late made her skin feel like ice. Goddess above, please let us be in time! Please… please, of all the filthy lies this monstrous creature has told, let this be one of them!
When she finally re-entered the gloomy, round chamber that Keese-master had annexed, she only very faintly heard his hasty steps from below. Not daring to pause even for an instant despite the burning in her side, she rushed down the winding stairs Maca had grown. Her teeth gritted in full concentration on her own feet, as a sudden tumble could mean a very long fall…
The long spiral of the main chamber continued… Only very soft light filtered in through the long crack in the bark, as of the last reflected rays of an already set sun… There was just enough illumination to navigate the slightly uneven wooden ramp safely.
A sudden outcry of emotion made her heart skip a beat and her head spin as if she had been slapped. Her feet immediately tangled and she fell flat, skidding over the rough ground on her hands and elbows. An angry whimper escaped her as she waited for the pain to arrive… A vicious burning slowly spread on hands and knees, making her hiss as it seemed to grow to cruel intensity… and the sickly hotness that spread from the stinging spots told her that she must have drawn blood… Fighting against her screaming skin and her complaining muscles, she fought herself back to standing and after making sure everything still moved continued running.
Something Link had seen had driven him to the edge of desperation… Her petty bruises were nothing against the agony that must flash through his soul! Although it seemed impossible, she pushed herself to even greater speed, angrily wiping tears of pain from her eyes.
As she reached the ground, she dared not look at the Heart of the Tree… the feeling of ailment that hit her was enough… she feared she might already see death's shadow over it…
It only took a few steps into the chamber where they had fought the acidic Chu to have an inkling of what brought such shock to her beloved. A wall of foulness hit her, making her gasp for air and twisting her stomach with an iron grip. The door on the other side of the room, which had previously been closed, now stood open… and this stench of rot and decay wafted from it in a magnitude far greater than before. Beyond the gate was yet another way downwards… the ground and walls were nearly white, not only deadened but bleached by the intense corrosive atmosphere. Now afraid not only for the Tree but for her knight's safety too, she dashed into the putrid depths with nary a thought for her own life.
The path spiralled down for a long time, her throat and eyes burning from the nauseating stench… Her stomach cramped incessantly, the only relief, it was already empty.
"OPEN UP!" his roar resounded distortedly from still farther below, the urgency in his voice making her speed up even more.
She found him desperately trying to lift one of the large doors, which had apparently stopped ascending after ten centimetres… not nearly enough even to crawl under. She could see his muscles bulging and a hoarse grunt escaped his throat, but it was no use.
"Help me!" he yelled frantically.
She took a few heavy breaths… then swallowed to focus and calm her burning lungs. Trying to reach that same place, that same state of mind she had found back up there wasn't made easier when you were still fighting for air… but if she had been able to rattle that enormous gate, which was at least 20 times heavier than this one, lifting this door here should at least be feasible… right?
She raised her hand to help her concentrate, make the completely abstract more tangible…
"Help me already! Please!" he begged. It was hard, but she tried to ignore his exasperated pleas.
The door came into focus… as did the heat on her fingers… The obscure, near impassable path to her mysterious arkanum she had discovered only a few minutes ago was much easier to find a second time, now that she had already pursued it for a few hesitant steps. Would she, on this inner path, find her way to the first successful miracle, however?
Once again she thought she could feel its weight, understand its girth… it was like dividing every fibre of wood apart until she had found the very essence of the door, had reached the most basic plane of its existence. Extending her hand she tried to grasp it, her finger movement just a way to help her own mind comprehend by analogizing it to familiar motions. Her palm grew even hotter… up there she had thought the little specks of light she had seen had been figments born from her increasingly fuzzy vision… now, down in this nearly lightless corridor, ever tiny spark that sprung into life from her hand doused the greasy, swollen walls in yellowish white.
An involuntary grunt escaped her… the weight on her chest made breathing near impossible… and holding on to the door in this ridiculously abstract way made her head feel as if it might implode. Slowly, she raised her hand, her brain giving the silent command to rise. Her mind slipped off, the door's inertia too large for her feeble first attempts, akin to a baby's first frustrating attempts at coordinated movement of fingers. Nonetheless…
With a tortured groan the large slab moved as Link heaved! Almost five centimetres! Her surprise was so intense, she was almost thrown off her focus. He, too, gazed at the heavy wooden portal under his hands, then at her… His eyes went wide in understanding and his mouth moved with many unutterable questions. Intensive determination allowed him to rally almost immediately. "Do it again! Just one more time!"
He shifted his grip, as did she in a more metaphorical sense. Her vision became faint as her lungs screamed for air, but she would not relent. The flimsy thread of light she felt, rather than saw led from her hand to her target… The marionette and its master…
With one last effort of her mind she concentrated with all she had and pushed her hand upwards against the seemingly insurmountable resistance. Link reacted immediately by lifting with all his might. The wood creaked and shuddered… but finally their combined strength overcame its inertness and he, his cheeks puffed and his face beet-red, managed to heave it nearly 30 centimetres.
It had to be enough…
When all in her sight suddenly turned very dark and sound lost all its pitch, she finally released. The weight lifted instantly and she could at last draw quick, urgent, gasping breaths, every spot on her body drenched with sweat. The world regained its colour, and she saw how Link, after he had made sure that she was alright, ducked under the gate. Even though every cell in her body screamed for rest, she dragged herself back up and followed.
Link stood a few steps into the room, stopped dead. Standing straight, but his shoulders had dropped. His sword in his hand, but his fingers lacked strength. She could not yet see what he perceived… but whatever it was that had so knocked all vigour from him… she dreaded it already.
Slowly she stepped to where he stood, finally daring to gaze past him… A loud gasp forced its way from her throat and she subconsciously cupped her hands over her mouth.
A gargantuan cave stretched to all sides, filled with a paradox forest of roots in all sizes, from tiny spindles hanging in the air to massive trunks the size of a castle tower. They all sprung from the ceiling, gently deviating outward through this enormous cavern, a hundred metres high, then buried themselves back into earth and stone to reach untold depths. The root chamber under the Tree… its place of nourishment, its source of life.
Gloomy it was here, and moist… a dense mist hung in the air, giving the eye the illusion of seeing nightly woods in early morning fog… though what should undoubtedly be an atmosphere of cool, wet, clean life was now the epitome of rotting filth, so thick it was almost unbreathable, warm and foul. And once her eyes got used to the dark, it was obvious why…
With sharply renewed terror she recognized the black, vile sludge that covered every single root, big and small… a pulsing, seething miasma of pure evil, waving either a sinister dark-red or a putrid purple… the same terrible substance that had boiled forth from a wound in the earth and had turned a boar's corpse into an undead killing machine! If that stuff had managed to infest the Great Deku Tree…
She looked sidelong at Link, his feelings of anguish, rage and despair echoing in her soul… His face was a wide eyed mask of dismay, every muscle tensed, a hundred new creases in his smooth skin…
Dear goddess what could she say? What could she do?!
Link
The fetid, sour air burned in his lungs and itched in his throat. His eyes stung and watered, yet he could not shut them. The horror of the scene in front of him wouldn't permit it.
How could this have happened? The Deku Tree… the protector of the woods… the guardian of life… the father of so many… including, in part, of him… It was like watching Him be slowly tortured to death… by a force his tiny sword could do nothing against. If the Threat already had this much influence, this much power, that it could so easily murder the very symbol of life itself… how could he ever hope to defeat it?
Farore's mercy… he felt so tired… and hopeless…
Finally he managed to close his eyes… He heard the diabolic substance slowly eat through the Tree's fibres, drying them to dust, ruining them forever… a sickly crunching, sucking and sizzling sound coming from everywhere at once.
Slowly he reopened his eyes to the dreadful scene. He didn't want to see it, didn't want to hear it… didn't want to admit…
"I… I failed…" he muttered. He could feel Zelda trying to say something, but nothing came… what was there to say anyway, when it was this obvious?
Slowly he started walking forward, looking this way and that, not focussing on anything in particular… There was only death and decay, nothing more.
He heard her tentative steps behind him. He wished she would leave him alone with his grief… and hoped to all Three that she wouldn't.
His feet carried him until he stood in front of a large root, its diameter the size of a small house. The black corruption covered it like a wide-meshed spider-web… it trembled and boiled up in an angry red as he neared… he faintly remembered thinking back then, just before he had to fight the hell-boar, that the stuff seemed to react to either him or her.
Curious despite his heavy heart, he stepped even closer… he could have touched the few spots of as yet unharmed wood… The stench made his head spin, making him feel seriously ill, but he didn't care. He almost wanted to punish himself for his failure…
Slowly, almost gently he put his fingers against the coarse wood… and pulled back immediately as if he had been stung. Blackness… destruction and chaos had flashed through his mind, making him yelp. And good thing it did…
Where just a moment ago his hand had been a gelatinous mass formed incredibly swiftly… sickly green, wobbling… corroding…
Link hopped back with a startled cry, just as the thing lashed out, just as its disgusting brother had before taking his shield.
"Are you alright?!" Zelda squeaked, taking his hand and checking his fingers for injuries. He let her, still too shocked to react.
The thing trembled, the dark corruption floating within and through it… It seemed to stretch horizontally towards them with filthy sucking noises, trying to reach them… He saw as through it the black miasma spread to the untouched spot he had just touched…
Link's teeth gritted in sudden, white-hot fury. With a gentle shove he pushed her back and out of his way. The strength in his grip renewed as the depression was buried under towering rage, he focused on the one thing he could identify as a clear enemy. All his anger at the Threat, that bitch that had tricked him, this repellent substance and himself… it all flooded his soul, setting his mind and muscles ablaze!
His sword arm tensed as if pure lightning were coursing through it… Tiny tendrils started protruding from the Chu, searching for his delicious flesh, wriggling in blind hunger. It would get more than it could stomach!
With a furious roar he hacked at the nauseating thing, his blade slicing through it like butter. But his ire did not end there… As soon as his steel touched the filthy black tentacles inside, it ignited into bright green flame, instantly setting the whole gelatinous mass ablaze. It hissed and screamed in impossibly high tones, steaming and trembling in bizarre death-throes.
Link stepped back as the noxious clouds threatened to engulf him, then gazed with a mix of awe and terror at the sword in his hand, a faint glimmer of emerald light still radiating from it. His left palm felt hot, as if he had placed it on his father's forge and… he could feel a strange kind of energy flow through his body to it. He…
"Link, above!" Zelda's shout pierced through his reverie, forcing him to look up. His stomach twisted as a feeling of deep, deadly cold crept on his skin. All around, from every spot of the roots more Chus aggregated, growing, merging, splitting until the whole chamber looked like the inside of an enormous anthill… where the ants were caustic, extremely dangerous and huge.
It appeared his attack… or the death of one of their own… had drawn them all…
A loud, very wet splash behind them made them jump… an enormous pile of the vicious goo had apparently dropped from the ceiling, splattering some of its body on its surroundings, which now languorously slid back to its main body. His gaze jerked back directly above… and the implications began to hit his understanding… hundreds… thousands… all around… directly above their heads!
"RUN!" he screamed, grabbed her hand and pulled her with him back towards the exit. As if they had heard, multiple earth-trembling splats reached his ears from all directions. More than once he had to make a sharp turn to avoid running headlong into the enemy's corrosive embrace as they dropped, careful to keep her from loosing her balance.
The exit was almost there! Just 50 metres…
His instincts screamed at him and time slowed to a crawl… Terrified he gazed above mid stride, seeing an enormous drop of the viscous mass fall directly at them. Reacting on pure reflex, he yanked on Zelda's arm and pushed her away towards the escape, then dived out of the way backwards.
The thing hit the ground with an ear-popping crash, splitting into multiple smaller Chus on impact. Instantly he was back up, but was forced to roll further back immediately as more of the things bombed down at him. He sidestepped as quick as he could, trying to outmanoeuvre the creatures of the depths, but flee as he might, more and more they seemed to drop just in his path.
Setting his jaw and squaring his shoulders, he decided that running would no longer work. He darted at the nearest foe, a Chu about his height, and swung his sword as hard as he could without sacrificing his balance. Once again, his blade flickered alight, though noticeably dimmer than before… It took long enough for Link to begin to panic before the thing finally alighted in the magical green fire. A quick glance at his steel and his heartbeat increased in new fear… only the faintest glimmer remained… Whatever the power was his anguish and rage had unearthed, he hadn't been able to keep connected with it… or it had simply run dry…
With a desperate howl he lunged at the next monster, hoping to use the remaining energy as best he could. He was twisting and weaving through the massive blobs that encroached ever closer, avoiding their fearsomely fast attacks, slicing and swinging in wide arcs as he moved to clear them off him.
Quickly though the hoped for effect failed to happen and his sword did little more than whack a few drops away… one in ten attacks at first, then soon one in five… then every second…
Terrified, he realized he had lost his orientation with all the quick, hasty dodging he had to perform, and all the rapid turning to keep them away. All he could see was dirty green mounds, slowly approaching… He could no longer say whether he had actually come any closer to the exit… and Zelda…
His swings got more and more desperate, faster, but also more frantic. Sometimes he missed completely, swung through nothing but air in fear of something coming from behind. His heart hammered in his throat, and the closer they got, the more difficult the air became to breathe, and the more it hurt his lungs. He twisted and spun as fast as he could… He would never stop as long as there was strength in him… Her face, her smile, were what drove him on, made him fight on when he lost centimetre after centimetre to the ever approaching demise all around. He continued his deadly dance, too focused to think about anything else… but more and more he realized…
He was lost…
Zelda
She stood only ten metres from the door, sword in hand, though she knew she might as well defend herself with a toothpick, for all the good it would do her.
She had lost sight of him ages ago, though it wasn't difficult to guess his location. By now almost the entire ground was covered with them, a veritable army of extremely caustic, flesh eating monstrosities in all sizes… and they all were sliding unstoppably towards one spot…
She saw the bright flashes of green light… the marks of the arcane fire that had sprung from his hand… He still fought, though she noticed how his light dimmed ever more… and his desperation grew in turn.
She could not run to him, could not aid him with strength, speed or agility… Her own blade was useless and she had no idea how to get him out…
She saw only one way… and that terrified her most of all… When all you had were magical powers that were undeveloped, not understood and fickle… yet on them depended the survival of your heart… She must succeed… or his death would be on her hands…
Her muscles cramping as she concentrated on the one thing, the only thing that mattered… Him…
She opened her soul, hoping she could grasp the thread that connected them permanently and use it as a guiding light for her magic.
Thousands of tiny flames of life, crude, dim and dull… though infested with tendrils of utter darkness. The black, destructive miasma blazed in her mind, the vile spider-web of this roiling, red-pulsing substance seemed to etch into it as if it had been clawed into her skin. Yet amidst it all… a single bright fire… pure and white, with just the slightest forest green hue… it flared with fear… but more so with unbroken will. She saw… the immaculate streak of light that connected her with him… strong, unbent and pulsing with an enigmatic energy that ran far deeper in the strata of reality than any superficial sorcery…
Her eyes flooding with tears, she grabbed a hold of it and, with all her heart, poured her strength into it!
Link's fire exploded outwards instantly, a wave of force hitting her conscious so hard she ripped her eyes open to see. With a violent roar he swung his sword and a blinding flash illuminated a large part of the cavern… and dozens of the repellent creatures were set ablaze immediately, boiling to vapour within a second.
She saw him! Amidst the cloud of acidic gas he stood, gasping for air, all enemies within a radius of 10 metres disintegrated at once… His path was free! She had done it!
Something landed heavily on her left shoulder and arm… and searing, unimaginable pain followed…
Link
His chest was aflame, it was near impossible to breathe… his strength had nearly been spent… and he had already felt the caustic kiss of the surrounding wall of death…
Then, a sudden wave of energy had engulfed him to his very core, taking not only pain, but also fear from him, washing it away like the tide washes away the sand on the shores… His sword had flared in pure light and he had immediately known whence it had come… He had felt her warm embrace, her invigorating touch… every sense had only her in their centre of perception.
His power renewed, he had brought his blade around in one vast arc… and had experienced the sheer force and heat of magic flame pouring forth, instantly enveloping all his enemies and dispelling the tendrils of corruption within them.
Suddenly surprisingly free of surrounding foes, he was almost jubilating… when a shriek of agony pierced his marrow and bone. A scream, like he had never heard her scream before…
His whole body turning ice cold, he turned to find her and sprinted to the origin of that dreadful sound that would haunt him in his dreams.
As he sped towards her, his heart was gripped in the iron hand of horror… She was cowering on the floor, clutching at her left arm… and she wouldn't stop screaming! White steam was rising from her… With dismay clawing at his insides, he realized that a Chu must have landed directly on her! Her magic must have vaporized it, but…
After what seemed like hours running, through air thickened to honey through sheer terror, he reached her… and nearly collapsed on the ground.
Her whole arm, from the shoulder to slightly over her wrist, her skin fire-red, blisters the size of coins were already forming on some spots… and on others…
He averted his gaze and he knelt down in front of her, his sword dropping next to hers… Her shrieks had turned into weak whimpering that choked the life out of him.
Desperate, helpless, not knowing what to do he gently took her head between his hands and whispered. "I'm here… I'm here… We need to get out, Zelda! I'm so sorry, I…" He swallowed, trying his best to calm his thoughts spinning out of control. With trembling fingers he sheathed first his sword, then hers, then, as softly as he could, pried her right hand away from her injured arm… Her dead skin came off, her palm simply tore it away. Fighting a wave of nausea, he hooked her right arm over his neck, dragging her upright. A new, sickly scream escaped her throat, but immediately crumbled into little more than a strengthless croak.
Cursing, either silent or aloud, he couldn't tell, he wanted to drag her away, but… she resisted…
"Let me…" she whimpered, trying to tug her arm away from him.
"Zelda, we need to get out!" he urged, his eyes darting fearfully to the remaining army of ever closing corrupted slimes. "We need…"
"LET ME!" she screeched and, startled to his bones, he let her go.
She took a wobbly step towards the enemies, her injured arm hanging slackly, sickeningly from her shoulder. Another step… she nearly toppled over. He didn't understand, his mind a tempest of chaotic thoughts… he couldn't fathom what she was doing.
Her head was lowered, her teeth gritted against the pain, her hair hanging wet and disorderly down. A last step… then a shaky raising of her right arm. She sobbed, her trembling fingers stretched towards the incredible evil still encroaching… only a few metres off…
With his eyes widening even more, he saw her suddenly be embraced in a yellow shine, her hand glowing with blinding light. She gasped, and keeled over, would have fallen had he not caught her. The light flickered, but didn't go out. He stood in it now, felt its warmth, its intensity… its immeasurable power. And he understood.
"Zelda! Target me! Like you did before! Together!" he implored, seeing how close she was to losing consciousness.
Her eyes and lips shut tightly against the torture in her arm, she nodded faintly. Feebly, she pushed him away, standing once again by herself… and she focused again.
Nodding himself, he drew his sword and stepped between her and them, bracing himself. He too tried to reach inside, find that pool of hidden force that sometimes broke through… Failing that, he tried what had worked so far, though always unintentionally… raw emotion. He kindled his anger, forced the pictures of her terrible injuries into his mind, twisting his dread, his guilt, his dismay into undying rage. The familiar fire, briefly buried beneath horror, licked back to the surface, regaining vigour, fanned by his fury. Part of his mind tried to defend itself against this onslaught of raw emotion, enhanced by immense guilt, but he left it no choice.
His whole body started to feel hot… With sheer will he channelled it all through his left arm, through his fingers to his blade. Slowly it began to glow until the dull grey glimmered in greenish white. He knew he couldn't keep this up, a single lapse in concentration and it would all be for naught!
"Now!" he yelled.
With a spent sigh she sent a flame of pure energy at him… Both their magic roared alive, potentiating each other, setting his whole being alight with immense power, blazing in a white, green and blue fire that reached towards the hundred metre high ceiling. Not wasting a single moment he spun around with one enormous, final attack, roaring as the boundless energy coursed through his arm, both in exultation, rage and pain. A wall of flame burst forth from the tip of his steel, exploding outwards, engulfing every last root, reaching nook of the cavern within a second, burning the taint of the countless monsters away, dispelling every last shred of dark corruption… sanctifying this place anew…
In awe, Link stared, the remaining glow of both her and his power slowly ebbing…
With a anguished hiss, she collapsed behind him. He was there instantly, picking her up in his arms. She cramped up, the pain from her dire injury seeming to flare up again. She wailed through gritted teeth, every sound like a knife's cut into his heart. As quick as he dared, he ran from the cavern, ducking through the door with her. His head raced, a squirming mass of panicked thoughts. Where to go?! What could he do?! He glanced at it as he sprinted up the winding ramp… The skin was dead… People with far lesser burns than this died, either of the pain, or of terrible infections later… Despair wrung his stomach into a knot. He couldn't fucking lose her like this! No! Please, goddesses above, you callous bitches, please help for once!
She went slack in his arms and he screamed out in fear… her eyes rolled under closed lids. She had fallen unconscious… at least she wouldn't have to experience the pain… His own hand had been burned… a tiny streak… it had hurt so much he was nearly unable to stop himself from screaming… he couldn't imagine what she went through…
He quickened his steps, his body too numb right now to feel any tiredness…
Link… Come to me! Quickly…
He nearly stumbled over his own feet. A familiar voice in his mind… The Tree!
Bring her to me! There is not much time!
Relief of having a goal flooding his soul, his legs redoubled their pace, the ground practically flew past.
He dashed back up into the main chamber, the Heart of the Tree faintly glowing. He might have rejoiced at the sight, though now he barely noticed.
"In the water! Place her down. Quickly now!" A deep, booming voice echoed through the hall… a face had formed on the Heart tree on its gentle mound, gazing at him, urging him to haste.
Without hesitation, he lowered her into the crystal clear runlet as softly as he possibly could. She awoke, eyes opening wildly, she thrashed about, then stopped as agony shot through her once more. She whimpered, even weaker than before…
He took her face between his hands, lying down next to her in the ice cold water, kissing her forehead as his whole body trembled. "It's alright, sweetling, it's alright. The Deku Tree will help you, you hear?" he stammered, his voice high and desperate. He doubted she could even hear him…
"Please! Do something, already!" he yelled at the gentle face in the bark, panic rising ever higher, threatening to choke him.
The glow around the Heart increased, dousing everything around in contrasting gloom. The water around alighted, shining as bright as the sun, reflecting all over the wooden walls as wave patterns, letting them both be engulfed in pure, liquid illumination.
Zelda gasped deeply, rearing up, but instinctively, he held her close to him, keeping her forehead pressed against his as tears of hope and despair ran from his eyes.
The glistening light ceased as quickly as it had arrived… Link almost didn't dare to look. Fearing the worst, he opened his eyes…
Sky blue awaited him… the colour he loved most… two perfect eyes… and no pain in sight.
With a childlike giggle of sheer relief he wrapped his arms around her, laughing and sobbing uncontrollably.
"Link… you're… crushing me…" she croaked, but returned his embrace anyways with no less vigour.
Crying without restraint as all fear and panic washed away in the icy waters they both sat in, he kissed her face all over, not caring where his lips hit, or about her muffled protests, before pulling her into another fierce hug.
"Link… my boy…" the Tree's voice softly spoke.
Almost startled he gazed at the now mildly smiling face. With a last look at his beloved, who nodded, he jumped up, stormed onto the hill, fell onto his knees, his hands on the Tree's roots, his forehead pressed against the bark. "Thank you!" he sobbed, hot tears streaming down his cheeks. "Thank you so much!"
"Now now, my dear boy… my sweet child…" the deep voice boomed. "There is no need for thanks. Need I remind you that it was you, who saved me first, hm?" a deep chuckle.
"Then from me… I thank you… it sounds so hollow, so insufficient…" she lamented as she stood behind him.
"Dearest Princess of Light, you least of all need to thank me." The face formed a pensive expression.
"It gladdens me that my last act was such a worthwhile one…"
The message took a few seconds to register in Link's brain… after which he finally raised his head to look into the gentle eyes of the Tree. "Though, sadly, it means our time together is cut even shorter… instead of days, I'm afraid I have mere minutes…"
"No…" he whispered, shock and horror mixing in his heart.
"I would have wished it were different… but it is as it must be." The Deku Tree pronounced, without even a shred of regret.
"Then I have indeed failed…" Link muttered, sinking heavily back, his head hanging, his voice despairing.
"Failed? My dear boy… How could you have failed? You have ensured I persist until my task was done. You have chased the evildoer from my temple with its tail tucked between its legs. You have wiped away the corruption that festered with me, making sure that this place is free for life to claim once more. Why would you believe yourself a failure, then?" he asked softly.
"Be- Because you…" he stammered, feeling suddenly like a child again… a child being consoled by… a father…
"Because I'm dying? Child of destiny, my death was as unavoidable as the sun rising once again. My mission was to keep watch over the Goddesses' essence… the dragons. Their survival was my goal… until the Children of Fate would once again rise to fulfil their difficult duty. It was… hard… to ask my beloved children to go to sleep as my task drained me… at least those lovely Rito kept me company in my dreams." A wistful expression… then it turned cordial again. "The dragons are ready for you, my dear boy, my revered princess. Their power will… lend aid." A shadow of regret stole of the Tree's features…
"What… do you mean… what is wrong?" Zelda asked, astute as always.
The Deku Tree chuckled. "No-one is able to hide anything from you… not even me… I regret it, but I am not permitted to say more… Though I am not forbidden to say that I sharply protest against the plan… of my Goddess…" He sighed heavily. "Possibly that is why her favour has left me… And my time is to end."
"But… No! You cannot just die!" Link cried out. Now it were tears of sorrow that wet his cheeks. "Are you not… life?"
"Me? No, no, my lad. I am a creature of the Goddesses, just like you, just like everything… And what other path would there be for an old, old tree than to die?" he chuckled merrily. "To die… and serve as nourishment for the earth… so that others may grow strong."
A mellow, warm breeze played around Link's cheek all of a sudden… drying his tears… caressing like a gentle hand. "Do not despair, my beloved child. It is all part of a great balance… life and death… light and dark… creation… and destruction… I have lived for millennia, witnessing a thousand beautiful things, as well as a thousand horrid… as my forefathers did before me… or did you think I was the first Great Deku Tree?" A mighty laugh echoed through the halls as Link ogled the kindly face dumbly.
"No, child. When I perish, my sprout will be able to strike roots, to grow, and to watch life unfold in his turn. I would not be surprised if you two came across him in time…"
Link stared, barely comprehending… but more and more the profound feeling warmed his heart, that all is well, all is as it should be… despite all sorrow…
"And… what of Maca?" he asked with a cracking voice.
"Maca… my little nestling… Seeing you again has finally convinced him to leave this old fool here and seek out his brothers and sisters… He will help them tend to my sprout.
"He… will not grow here?" Zelda asked tentatively, loath to disturb the moment between the two.
"No… a different place… a remote place, suitable for dense woods… undiscovered by chaos until he is strong enough to keep it out." The Tree explained.
"What… what did you mean, earlier? You protest…" Link asked quietly.
The Tree was silent for a few seconds. "I am a guardian of life, first and foremost… it is the way I was created by my Goddess Farore. This is what I am and it is what I will do. My roots run through molten rock and the deepest waters… and I shall not fail.
" He pronounced grandly, as well as enigmatically. "And now, I feel it is time… My time…"
"No… please stay…" he whispered, though he knew it was a childish request.
"I cannot. My death will be the signal for the dragons to awaken from their slumber and to await you finding them." Another warm breeze caressed his cheeks and tousled his hair. "Be brave now… and know that the years watching you grow up are the most precious memory an old tree could possibly have. My boy… my son."
The face swivelled to gaze at Zelda. "Revered princess, once again I ask you to take good care of this sweet, incorrigible rascal of mine… as you always have…" he asked softly, with a wistful smile. Traces of memory bubbled to her conscious… faintly, she was aware that she had given such a promise before… long ago…
"Now… my lovely children of destiny. This is goodbye. And as difficult and overwhelming your task might seem, know that never once have you failed. Never. When you are together, nothing may stand in your way!"
His face once more turned to look at Link. "And, at last… farewell… and all the happiness… in this world… shall be yours…"
A soft, cool wisp of air twirled around the Heart… like the last breath of a great being… The unearthly glow ceased and, from one moment to the next, all that stood on a simple mound of earth was a simple, dead tree… with all hints of mystery and magic spent.
Link took a deep breath and closed his eyes… he pressed his forehead against the cool, hard bark once last time… and could tell that the sap had forever stopped flowing…
He heard his beloved get down on her knees beside him… felt her warm hand on his back… He sat back up, wiped a last tear from his eye… then smiled at her, his gaze full of grief.
Zelda leaned forward and took him in her arms, wrapping them around his neck, kissing his forehead, rocking him gently.
A green light emanated forth from the Heart of the Tree, barely noticeable at first, but quickly gaining strength. Finally, a long, serpent-like shape burst forth, made from nothing but emerald light. A dragon, five metres long, floating in the air, glowing so brightly green it was difficult to look directly at it. Although there was something fearsome to it… it felt gentle… benevolent… both new-born and ancient at once…
It circled the round hall a few times, showering all with its divine incandescence, trailing sparks of pure verdant energy behind that rained down and vanished in tiny flashes… and immediately grass and other plant-life seemed to sprout.
Very soon, Link and Zelda were surrounded by a meadow in full bloom, dozens of different flowers in all the colours of the rainbow, tickling their noses with their scent.
At last, the dragon lowered itself back down, performed a lightning quick turn around them, then touched both their foreheads with its claws.
A vision, like the one he had when he first touched the Master Sword under Hyrule Castle… A mountain, higher than all the ones around… no… no maintain, a volcano! They flew into its crater… out through a hole in its side… before them a massive gorge in the red rock… Then they both stood among dark, stormy clouds, seemingly on nothing. On three sides floated the mighty Dragons, aspects of the Goddesses… They sung with surprisingly gentle voices in a language they didn't understand… yet they were able to garner the meaning through mysterious means.
"We will come at the close..." Then the vision ended.
The ethereal drake hovered in front of them for a few more seconds… then, with a strong gust of wind, darted straight upwards and vanished through the ceiling.
Both children of fate gazed after it for a long time, each lost in their own thoughts…
At last, Link dared to look at Zelda again… at her left arm… where the long sleeve of her garb had been completely decomposed… and where only beautiful, immaculate skin met his stare.
He noticed her look at him patiently as he ogled her… He closed his eyes as once again wave after wave of relief washed over him. At last, he could once again feel a free, honest smile on his face… and found her returning it.
They fell into each other's arms, deathly tired, sore all over, their minds burnt out with fatigue… but happier than they have ever been.
It was over…
Damn… this was such a doozy to write… But, in the end, I'm quite happy with it. I think I managed to intersperse a few twists and turns…
I hope that three chapters of nothing but dungeon didn't get old…
Would be really happy to know what you think!