Chapter 2
It was dark...
Shadowy mist surrounded me...
Squinting, I could just barely make out two figures in the distance...they looked like humans...
Whispers slipped around my ears, teasingly dropping out of earshot when I thought I had them.
And then the figures came into focus.
Two women. One had waist-length wavy blue hair, and was wearing light jewelry, along with flowing blue robes. The other was more green-themed, with bright green hair and brown eyes. She had no jewelry, and a jade-colored top and skirt, tied with a brown ribbon. Both pairs of eyes wide with pleading hands, they appeared to be begging.
Finally, I could hear what they were saying.
"Link..."
"Link...!"
"Link!"
"Uh-what?!"
"Link! Help us!"
I rubbed my eyes...was this real? "What do you need help with?" I said, puzzled.
"Link, please! Help us! You...save..." I began to lose the understanding of the whispers. "Hyrule...trouble...Maj...sk..." I struggled to listen, but it was no use. It was all slipping away, like water across a stream of stones. My eyes grew heavy, and I found myself falling away, into a never ending tunnel of darkness...
"LIIIIIIIIIIIINK!!!"
"Gah!" The call surprised me, making me sit bolt upright, in turn making me bang my head against the shelf above my bed. It held a variety of objects, which spilled into my sheets.
"Link! Get out here!"
I groaned. Not that I didn't like Jine, I just didn't like being woken up. And you can't really blame me for being grump after hitting my head on a bed-shelf.
I sighed and stepped out of bed. Creaking across the old floorboards, I went to the window and opened it, letting a cool breeze blow into my bedroom. I poked my head out, to see Jine standing, hands on hips, outside my house.
"Hang on, Jine, I'll be out in a minute!" I called. I think she rolled her eyes. "That's what you said last time, and it took you, like, an hour to get out here!" She paused in her rant. "And put some clothes on, boy!" She finished, eyeing my black pajamas.
I sighed, and headed over to my dresser. Same green tunic, the one my father gave to me. Same green cap, the one my mother used to cradle me in. I drank a bit of bottled water from Lake Hylia, and headed out the door.
"Hey, Jine!" I called, jumping down the ladder, rather than climbing. Jine gave me a look that said 'Get up faster next time.'
"You left the window open." Was all she said in response." I took a minute to look at Jine. Blonde hair pulled into an untidy ponytail with a strand poking out in front of her eyes. Bright blue eyes, like mine, and a pink skirt, paired with a top the same color, and ties that wove down the front.
"What, so...no fancy dress?" I said accusingly. "I suppose you snuck out of the castle, then?"
Jine stuck her nose in the air. "Hmph! I'm a princess! I can do whatever I please!"
I raised an eyebrow. "So...the answer is yes?"
At that, Jine and I began to laugh.
"Phew...heh." She said, shaking off the last chuckles. "So, you remember the Goddesses' festival is today?"
"It's about time, too. The Goddesses' festival is the best day of the year."
"By far!" Jine blew the strand of hair away from her face, only to have it fly back. "It's started already, let's get moving."
The scene of the festival was really something. Then again, it always is. In Hyrule castle courtyard, stalls were set up, selling a variety of souvenirs. People were everywhere, small children were running around, balloons slipped out of hands and flew into the air, music played and blended into a single song, and in front of the castle, many stages were set up. One of them was occupied by Din, Nayru, and Farore cosplaying. The whole place radiated happiness.
"Hey, Link. I'm going to go change into formal clothes. I have to give the princess's speech, remember?"
"Oh, yeah." I turned my head towards Jine. "How're you gonna get back, though?"
"Jine gave me a mischievous smile."Same way I got out. They'll never notice a thing."
I gave a small whistle and walked forward with my torso leaning back. "Okay. If you say so." Jine punched me in the arm."Shut up. I know what I'm doing."
A Half-Hour Later
I had partied through at least half the festival, and was feeling great. I took a minute to rest against a Deku Sap stall.
"Hahhh..." I breathed in and sighed. The smell of Goron Candy and Zora Sugar Pearls drifted from my lips.
"Link! 'ay, Link!" Someone came running through the crowds towards me.
"'Ay, Link!" Brown hair, with green eyes and villager clothes, one of my friends skidded to a halt in front of me.
"Mikau! Hey, what's up?!"
"Haha! Good to see ya! Nothing much. You?"
I shrugged. "Juuuust chillin'". I said, stretching out the word.
He rolled his eyes. "Enough of that. You remember that singer, Sila?"
I thought for a minute. Sila...Sila..."The Gerudan impersonator?"
"That's the one. Guess what? She's singing the theme of Gerudo Valley!"
"Awesome!" I cried, throwing my fist in the air. "Are we gonna go see her?"
"Is the moon made of cheese?"
I raised an eyebrow. "What? No! The moon is made of Light Rock and Dark Rock, crashed together, and held in the sky by the power of the two worlds!"
Mikau raised his eyebrows."You ever think that it's just a rock?"
"That's ridiculous. Rocks don't float."
Mikau blew a piece of hair away from his eye. "Do you wanna stand here arguing about mystical rocks or do you want to go see Sila?"
Mikau and I wove our way through the crowd toward the big stages in the northern courtyard, avoiding drinks, food, and noisy children.
"Ah!"
"Ow!"
I looked over to see who I had bumped into.
Dark blue dress, black eyes, and a silver shoulder armor. A curtain of chocolate brown hair swept around her neck and back.
"Pppprincess Akaya!" I exclaimed, blubbering like an idiot. "Iii'm so sorry!"
Akaya stood up slowly. She brushed a few specks of dirt from her dress. "No worries." The princess said, looking deep into my innocent blue eyes with bottomless black eyes of cold darkness. Not mean, but...empty. She was nineteen, seven years older than Jine, Mikau and I, but she somehow seemed a thousand years old.
"A-are you sure you're alright?"
She blinked. "I said, 'no worries.' I am alright." And she promptly walked away. Then she stopped, and turned back around. "Be careful, Link."
I didn't know what to say, so I ran back to catch up with Mikau.
At one of the big stages
"Hey, Mikau, I just-"
"Shhh! Sila's gonna sing!"
We were sitting in seats lined in front of the stage. People around us were talking excitedly about how "Sila was supposed to be a really good singer!" and "I hope she reaches that note I heard when she sang..." and things like that.
A thin man walked out onto the stage from behind a curtain.
"Ladies and gentlemen, there has been an unexpected problem. Sila has reported that she is not feeling well, and cannot sing today. We apologize for the error." He twirled his hair in his fingers. The crowd began to boo.
"Aw, c'mon!"
"It can't be that bad!"
"But I've waited to see Sila-!"
"P-please calm down, folks, and try to respect Sila's health-ow!" A shoe had hit him in the head.
"C'mon, Link, let's get out of here." Mikau murmured and began to stand up. "Agreed." I said and left with him.
Just as we got refills on sweetened red potion, an announcement cut through the drunken party air.
"Attention, everybody!"
Everybody looked up.
"Please report to the front castle steps for our lovely Princess's speech!"
Most of the party-goers trampled each other trying to head towards the Castle Steps. The princesses' speech was always something to look forward to. Jine would appreciate the Three Goddesses, then say words about what had happened so far in the year, and the people who had made it special. I was always mentioned.
Jine stepped up to the podium. It had a layer of audiom on top of it, to make her voice project throughout the courtyard.
"Welcome, Hylians!" Jine waited as the crowd roared back in response. "Well, ah, it's so wonderful that so many people have taken the time to attend this festival and honor the three goddesses who created Hyrule and selflessly gave so much to us!"
Another roar.
"And now, if we could all-"
"Excuse me, princess."
The interruption was a huge surprise to the crowd and princess. No one had ever dreamed that someone could speak over Jine. Everything went extremely quiet.
Sila, the Gerudo-impersonator stepped onto the stairs, with a dark look in her eyes. Her high heels went tep, tep, tep, against the stone floor.
"Ah, yes?" Jine turned her head away, but kept her eyes on Sila.
"If I could interrupt, I'd like to say a few words."
"You don't suppose it could wait? I'm in the middle of presenting a speech. If you don't let me finish, I'm sure the goddesses will be angry."
Sila chuckled, and began to walk towards Jine. "Silly girl, you're such a good princess." Jine began to step back. Sila met her eyes. "I wonder" she said thoughtfully. "How would you fare with deity right before those pretty little eyes of yours?"
Jine raised her eyebrows. Her expression resembled an animal realizing the arrow before its forehead. "I-I d-don't know, I've never met one."
Sila raised her head. Her lips moved into an evil grin. "S-Sila?!" Jine's eyes got wider. "Sila?!?!?!" Jine cried.
Then, there was a great rumble, like thunder. The Earth shook and the sky became fiery red. The clouds turned as black as Akaya's eyes, and a chilling wind blew over Hyrule. Sila's eyes began to glow as red as coals, and an unseen power raised her from the stone. Something grotesque radiated off of her. I couldn't tell what it was, all I could think was "I want my mommy."
This was very, very bad.
Half of the crowd had the sense to run. That included Mikau. The other half stood like idiots, frozen with fear. That included me.
Jine stood, her jaw gaping at the terrible scene before her.
"YOU FOOLS!!!" Sila screamed. "I AM NOT THE SILA YOU SPEAK OF! SHE IS DEAD!!!"
Well, that explains why she couldn't sing.
Sila, or not Sila's eyes glowed furiously. "MY NAME IS DIN!!!"
Din's eyes moved to look at Jine. At least, I think they did. Her eyes were still bright red.
"SO LONG YOU FORGOT ABOUT US! SO LONG YOU IGNORED US! THIS PARTY IS COMPLETLY FOCUSED ON HER!" Din pointed her finger at Jine. "SO, I THINK I'LL TAKE YOUR DEAR LITTLE PRINCESS WITH ME!!"
Din looked at Jine. Jine looked at Din. Then I noticed something. A dark cloud-like thing had began to form around Din's arm, and slowly taken the shape of it. Now, it was a solid material, like wax, and looked extremely dangerous.
The crowd could only watch, stupefied, as a terrible scene flooded their eyes.
Then, the dark-arm thing snapped out to Jine, grabbed her around the waist, and pulled her off of the ground. I gathered all the sense I had to move my feet towards the castle steps. "Jine!" I called.
"Link!"Link!" LIIIIIIINK!" Jine cried, as Din swept her away.
"No!" I called. Then I realized something. Din's high heels, were...glowing. Not just glowing, the bottoms seemed to catch fire.
Then everything seemed to slow down. I knew exactly what was about to happen.
"Nooooooooo!" I called, as twin lasers of absolute evil struck the courtyard, blowing it to pieces.
***
Ta-da! Second chapter! Third is on the way! Phew! This took a long time to finish, even though it has less words than the first. Oh, well! And her name is pronounced "Sy-la" Just so you know.
Back to Part 1 | Continue to Part 3
