Bring me to Light

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Hearts of Shadows

Orange light streamed through the windows of the temple of time, announcing sunset’s arrival and Sheik climbed to his feet slowly, turning his head to look at his companion.

“It’s sunset. We must move.”

Link looked up at him from his position by the wall, shrouded in shadow.

“Fine.”

The hero stood and shifted the sword on his back with his left hand, his right cupping the silver-blue body of Navi.

“What are you intending to do with her?” Sheik asked. He had revealed the body of the fairy to the Hylian shortly after he had explained Link’s journey to save Hyrule, and he had taken it badly. In fact, since he had shown him the body, the slightly older blonde hadn’t said a word, merely held the broken shell and gazed at it endlessly.

“….I don’t know. I figured that something would happen to her body over 7 years…but she still as she was when Ganon…”

“Fairies do not decay as mortals do…they are not the same as us. Her body will dissipate when she is returned to the appropriate place.”

“I wonder if…”

“If you feel that the Kokiri forest is that place, we shall be passing through there on our way to the first temple. It is not out of our way if that’s what you wish to do with her.”

Link’s eyes met Sheik’s, narrowing.

“You’re being oddly supportive.”

“If it makes you commence your journey, then it is worth it. I would’ve thought, however, that your people’s plight was enough…not to mention the fact that you’ll be returning to your home for a time.”

“It is! Don’t make out that I don’t care, it’s just…”

Sheik tilted his head in question.

“…what will I be returning to?”

“I have never visited the Sacred Grove by means of the Kokiri forest so I cannot tell you how it has changed.”

“I suppose that’s all the more reason to get going then.”

The young man slipped off the green hat that was a part of his outfit, placing the tiny body of Navi inside it gently. She had always liked it in there anyway. Wrapping the hat up, he slipped it inside his tunic.

“Where do we go first?”

“Kakariko Village. We need to acquire supplies and I’ve heard that there is something in the graveyard that may prove beneficial, should you obtain it.”

Sheik began walking towards the door of time and Link quickly trotted to catch up to him, falling into stride beside the other blonde.

“The graveyard, huh? Great.”

Beneath his mask, Sheik felt his lips twitch into a smirk momentarily and he quickly wiped the expression away, despite the fact his companion couldn’t see it.

“You have an aversion to a place of rest?”

“I have an aversion to a field filled with buried corpses…and considering Ganondorf’s got the Triforce of Power…I doubt they’re going to be restful much longer.”

“You’re right about that. I’ve heard that the Dark Lord has quite a talent for necromancy.”

Link glanced over at Sheik, wincing momentarily as they entered into the brighter, main chamber of the temple of time.

“The ‘Dark Lord’? Since when did he become a lord to you?”

“Do not suggest that I am in anyway respectful of that man, hero. Many people of my tribe have lost their lives to him.”

The blonde immediately closed his mouth on the subject. It wasn’t hard to imagine that some of Sheik’s ‘tribe’ could in fact be his family.

Conversation ended abruptly, the two blonde’s walked in silence to the entrance of the temple, passing silently outside.

Sheik sped up his pace walking a few steps ahead, apparently perturbed by the discussion that had just taken place.

“Sheik, stop.”

He did so, breathing out slowly, is annoyance starting to show.

‘How has he affected me so easily? I’m too controlled to let something like that bother me usually but it’s him…he brings it out in me.’

“Yes?” he asked curtly, his back still turned to the hero. Whatever it was, it could wait.

“Have you seen Death Mountain?”

“Of course.”

“…Did it have a ring of fire around its peak when we got here?”

The Sheikah turned at the question,red eyes snapping up to look at the summit of the volcano to verify Link’s words.

True to them, a halo of angry red and orange flame hung around the summit in an apocalyptic cloud, its vibrance increasing as more and more flames ignited inside the crater.

“…No, it didn’t.”

“I think we should go.”

“It would be wise.”

They turned simultaneously and Link again hurried to catch up to the Sheikah who was now walking briskly towards the town centre.

Hollow, morbid moans drifted from the town square and the two men looked at each other, questioning. There had been nothing in the deserted market place before, and Link quietly drew the Master Sword from its scabbard, its already familiar weight comforting in his hand.

Sheik, he noticed, had tensed into a battle pose, his hands wrapped around the concealed weapons lying under his clothing. The Sheikah slunk forwards and Link followed in silence, his body tensing in anticipation of a fight.

The market square seemed darker, the clouds overhead a deep, bloody red thanks to the sunset and it made the scene of that not-quite deserted town centre all the more ominous.

Shadowy figures squatted around town, gross imitations of people going about their daily business, if people were prone to standing around, silent and lifeless. Even in the half-light, it was clear, however, that the creatures were not quite human, only something that vaguely resembled the humanoid form and a sickly sweet smell of freshly decomposing bodies emanated from them in nauseating waves, the wind that was picking up pushing the smell towards them.

Link scowled. He didn’t know about Sheik, but he had sent these…things before and he didn’t like them in the slightest.

‘Empty eye sockets locked onto him in a perverse, sightless stare, a deceptively small mouth opening in an unholy screech like nothing living could make.’

“Re-deads.” Sheik stated, simply.

Link nodded “We can just run past them as long as we don’t make eye contact, no point in trying to kill them…they don’t die.”

“You’ve met them before,” Sheik commented, and was there an undercurrent of approval in that voice?

“Well, obviously.”

“…Very well, we run.”

The shadow warrior sprinted away before Link had time to reply, moving surprisingly quickly, his body mass lowered so that he might take faster steps as he sped across the square, the zombie unable to even sense him.

Link sprinted after him, his pace slower than that of the lithe young man and he had to duck to avoid a re-dead that lunged at him from its slumped position by the fountain.

Reaching the safe area of town that led out to Hyrule field, Link stopped and turned, looking up at the massive black fortress that dominated the horizon, dim lights shining out of arrow slit windows, clustered together at strategically placed point along the building and he had to admit, it was an impressive piece of architecture…in a twisted way. The clusters of windows and lamps had been arranged to make the castle appear to have a face with narrowed eyes and a jagged toothed mouth.

Shaking his head, the blonde turned and followed his guide down to the broken drawbridge, stepping over the shattered remains alongside him. In their accustomed silence, the two walked to the village of the Sheikah.

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The sky had turned a dismal shade of blue-grey by the time the pair reached the mountain side village, the moon fully obscured by thick layers of cloud making the night uncomfortably warm. Link, however, seemed quite comfortable, Sheik noticed and guessed that the Gerudo valley had been useful for something after all. Improving his resistance to temperature slightly…wonderful. That was really going to benefit them in the fire temple.

“Wow…this place is….different,” Link observed, his eyes scanning the hamlet. Five or six new buildings had been built, at least four of those being hastily erected by the looks of the rough workmanship.

“Inns,” Sheik stated, following his gaze “Once Ganondorf gained control of Hyrule Castle, most of the townspeople tried to leave.”

“Tried?”

“Many were captured and imprisoned in what is now Ganon’s fortress. The rest that made it here live in the inns.”

Link watched a light flick out in one of the rooms as they walked past. Even as that happened he saw a woman gazing out into the night notice him and slam the shutters on her windows closed. A couple, sleeping under tattered blankets jerked in their sleep at the noise, curling closer to each other, unconsciously looking for protection.

“They’re homeless?” he nodded in the direction of the sleeping couple.

Sheik nodded “The inn provides them with food but cannot provide a bed. It does not matter so much in these warm months.”

“But they have no protection from anyone who just…wanders into the village.” There was concern in that voice, Sheik noted, a shadow of that Link from 7 years ago.

“Do not concern yourself with it too much. The village has not yet seen an attack, and there are people here who are or were once soldiers.”

“Fine…where’re we headed for now?”

“The graveyard…we cannot buy supplies until morning and there is no point wasting time.”

“Right, right…graveyards at night…wonderful.”

Sheik felt his mouth twitch into a smirk beneath the cowl, once again, wondering why he found this mission…and that’s all the boy was, another mission, so entertaining.

Passing through the narrow passage that led to the graveyard, Sheik reflected on the situation he was faced with, walking almost unconsciously to the grave where he knew the gravedigger, Dampe, rested. Idly, he informed Link that he should enter the grave to get the item he needed, and watched as the young man reluctantly pulled away the headstone, dropping down into the revealed hole, before he recovered the tomb entrance and turned away, heading for the windmill.

It would only take a few minutes for the hero-to-be to complete the little quest that Dampe’s ghost would have for him, but Sheik was glad of the respite from the other boy. Being a solitary person by nature, spending so much time in close contact with someone was beginning to grate on his nerves, despite the well painted mask of cold indifference he wore. However, he supposed there could be worse people to spend the time around…Princess Zelda, for example. The woman wasn’t unpleasant in her own right, and Sheik would perhaps go so far to say she was the closest thing he had to a friend…but the heir of the throne’s constant high-pitched panic-ings were hard to deal with when you were confronted with them several times a day.

Impa, too wasn’t a lot better, despite being his aunt…she was just too concerned about the princess a majority of the time…and also, another female. This was perhaps the first time in 2 years when he wasn’t presented with only female companionship…much like Link.

Truth be told, he wasn’t as bothered with the boy’s attitude as the Sheikah made out. His view on life was so different to that of Sheik’s own, or even the princess’ or Impa’s outlooks that he made a refreshing change.

The boy’s innocence or rather, what remained of that innocence, the compassion that still existed at the back of those midnight blue eyes, and the humanity that was slowly being revealed to the shadow warrior were all characteristics that Sheik had thought to be weak and useless…but in the case of Link, it was those things that would push him to become the Hero of Time. Things that Sheik was starting to find admirable.

Twisting the knob on the door, Sheik let himself into the windmill, rolling his eyes at the repetitive music that filled the room, wondering how the man playing it hadn’t gone mad with the song. Looking at the man’s blank face however, the Sheikah wasn’t so sure that that assessment was entirely correct.

Somewhere behind the windmill, the sound of heavy stone slamming to the floor reverberated up to the room Sheik stood in; mixing with the music that went around and around, aware that it was announcing the arrival of the young hero.

Skimming briefly over the details of the journey ahead, Sheik plotted a journey to the forest. It would probably be beneficial to the Kokiri turned Hylian to see the forest again and therefore encourage him into that role of heroism that he needed to save Hyrule. Self-doubt about being the Hero was still evident whenever Link addressed the situation and it would have to be rectified for the sake of Hyrule.

A movement from an open doorway caught the Sheikah’s eye and he turned to look at the movement to see a very harried looking Link dropping from the platform and walking to the man playing the music box.

A brief conversation took place between the two men which Sheik opted not to listen to, sure that it would be of little interest to him and he leant back against a supportive post of the pillar, closing his eyes in thanks when the monotonous music halted, only to hear it played on a familiar woodwind tone from the Ocarina of Time. Somehow, hearing it in that softer, melodious tone made it bearable.

“Are we going?”

Link’s voice broke into Sheik’s musings and slowly Sheik reopened his eyes to look at the other young man.

Without a word, he nodded and walked to the door, exiting out into the dark village.

“It was creepy and gross by the way…I want to make it very clear at this point that I do not appreciate having to go into ridiculously oversized tombs. I mean, it’s a damned maze down there…”

Sheik gave a derisive snort “Then you’ll certainly enjoy the Shadow Temple.” Sarcasm dripped from his words, however, Link didn’t seem to mind.

“Yay. And when am I going to have to do that?”

“Not for some time.”

“Oh good, I can prepare myself then.”

“Perhaps so…we should rest until daybreak.” Sheik replied, changing the conversation suddenly.

“Where exactly? On the floor?”

“Follow me.”

The Sheikah stalked away towards his aunt’s house, his dark blue outfit merging with the shadows, making it difficult to keep sight of him.

Link caught up once Sheik had stopped near the top of the steps, finding a small archway set into the wall to the left of the steps that he was sure hadn’t been there a few years ago. Sheik merely motioned for him to follow him through the archway.

The archway opened up to a flight of roughly hewn stone steps, carved into the cliff face, worn smooth in the centre from centuries of use.

‘Ok…so it WAS here before’

Stepping cautiously onto the first step, Link followed the Sheikah up the narrow steps, noting as it slowly curved up and left until it had almost doubled back on itself, before it took a sharp right, continuing to slope upwards, the steps becoming increasingly steep. It didn’t take long before Link was panting in exertion, despite the night air which had taken a drastically chilly turn and he tiredly ran a hand along the rock wall to his right in an attempt to support himself.

The path continued upwards, curving around gently to the left again in a wide sweeping arc, plant life and foliage starting to become visible at the tops of the walls, hanging from another stone archway atop the flight of steps.

Link looked up to the arch. Sheik was standing just the other side of it and with renewed vigour at the thought of a break, the Hylian sped up, running up the last few steps to reach the other man.

“You could’ve warned me about the flight of stairs you know,” Link panted “I mean…whoa…”

He stopped, mid-sentence, staring at the area that lay open before him.

“This is my home.” Sheik stated, gesturing vaguely at the area.

The stairway had opened out into a plateau that was composed mainly of a small lake, a small ring of land encircling it. Pieces of an ancient ruin littered the area, laid into walls or merely lying on the floor, a pillar standing out in the centre of the pool.

A small, stone building that looked like it was once part of something much grander caught Link’s eye, a ramshackle stable next to it, housing what looked like a couple of horses.

“This is…”

“Come. We need to rest before morning dawns.”

Link nodded, his eyes roaming the new landscape as he walked by Sheik’s side, making their way towards that stone cottage. The entire area was enclosed by cliffs, but they were right at the top of the mountain range that surrounded Hyrule, the air here clean and crisp and the Hylian found himself taking deep breaths of the pure air. The sky over head was still clouded and grey, the moon a blurred disk hanging behind those sheets of mist, but it only added to the atmosphere of this place. Guarded, secretive and mysterious, a breath of fresh air…much like Sheik himself. It seemed that the Sheikah’s home was an embodiment of the man himself, making Link wonder if his home was the same for him.

Sheltered, pure and unchangeable…the quintessence of the Kokiri race, but not of Link himself. Not anymore.

“I’ll show you to where you’ll sleep.”

Link started at the voice, not realising that they had already reached the cottage that served as Sheik’s home.

The small wooden door opened smoothly at the light push he gave it, swinging in silently to reveal a dark, cold interior, sparsely furnished with the most basic of furniture it was barely more homely than the cave that they had slept in two nights ago.

Sheik stepped forwards into the darkness, lighting small oil lamps that were dotted randomly around the room, giving it a warm cosy look now that there were patterns flickering on the walls.

The Hylian standing by the door wondered if Sheik could be warmed and softened as easily, if there were any lights that could break through his solid darkness, his solitary nature.

“The bedroom is through there,” the garnet-eyed blonde pointed to a dark archway, covered by a gossamer curtain. In his other hand he held a lantern, holding it out to his guest “Make yourself comfortable…”

Link took the small lantern. “What about you?”

“I have some things to attend to. Don’t worry about me; I shall see that I rest too.”

With a nod to Link that perhaps meant ‘goodnight’ he left the room, leaving his guest alone.

Shrugging, the hero turned, brushing the curtain aside to enter the bedroom. The chamber was perhaps the most ornately furnished, a large-ish bed shoved up in the top corner of the room, next to a paned window, gothic metal swirls holding the glass in place.

A large mahogany chest lay at the foot of the bed, battered and scuffed around the edges but polished to high quality, well loved and cared for. The only other furniture in the room was a small wardrobe and a desk, a chair pushed up against it, a fragment of broken mirror propped against the wall.

The desk itself was covered in scrolls and Link cautiously crept over to look at them, curious as to their purpose.

Cracked parchment inscribed with runes and symbols which he couldn’t even begin to guess the meaning of littered the table, a golden harp lying on top of one piece, a thin blade on another.

A creaking outside startled him and, running his eyes over the parchments, he returned to the bed, setting the lantern onto a hook on the wall beside it and lying on the mattress before blowing the flame out.

For all its unfamiliarity, it’s bland, unassuming looks, and its cold interior which took a foreign flame to warm, this little cottage was something Link was comfortable with. Closing his eyes, he rested, a flash of a feeling of home crossing his mind as he lost consciousness.

That night, Link dreamt of the hearts of shadows as ruby eyes watched him silently.
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