Veil of Twilight

Chapter VIII
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Zora’s domain was still. Unmoving and silent, like a morbid portrait. The Zoras were under the plate of ice, held forever still in suspended animation. The ice reflected a soft golden color from the sky above, swirling in a mirror image of the twilight.

Link walked carefully upon the ice, trying not to slip. The ice was painfully cold on his paws, and traction was almost nonexistent. The stench was become unbearably strong. It’s trail had led him past a nearly empty Lake Hylia and into Zora’s domain. There was a titanic frozen waterfall before him, with jutting shards of ice upon it’s face. That was where the scent led.

Reluctantly yet dutifully, Link approached the waterfall, hopping onto one of the jutting ice platforms. His canine legs skittered madly for balance as he landed, trying frantically not to slip off. Once stable, he crouched and leapt up to the next one, slowly and methodically ascending in that fashion.

At the third platform or so, he looked at the icy floor below him. He was better than twenty feet up in the air. Trying not to panic, Link jumped for the next platform. He landed, trying immediately to stop himself, to balance. It didn’t work, this time, though. He cried/barked out as he slid over the far edge of the narrow platform, scrabbling his claws helplessly in a last ditch attempt not to fall.

But he did fall. He plummeted wildly towards the hard, icy ground, below him, coming ever closer. He closed his eyes, dreading the impact. Yet he felt something strange as he fell; a resistance of some kind, as if he were being… slowed.

The ground came under his feet, softly, carefully. It didn’t hurt at all. He opened his eyes in confusion, catching a glimpse of a dispersing haze of twilight, a net of golden black.

Link turned to Midna on his back. She was pretending to be interested in the swirling golden sky, completely avoiding his eyes, as if she hadn’t just saved him.

“Thanks…” Link thought stubbornly under his breath, turning his gaze from her.

“Whatever,” Midna replied after a moment. “Just don’t slip again.”

Link rolled his eyes, hopping onto the icy platform again. Fine then, he thought as he attempted his ascent once more. If she wanted to stay mad, that was her problem.

In all honestly, though, Link was still annoyed with her, as well. He was growing weary of her attitude. The two had hardly spoken since there spat by the campfire.

Link finally reached the final platform in the icy ladder, and reached the top of the waterfall. It was a throne room. The large, aquatic court was frozen solid, more Zoras trapped beneath. There were strange, rock pillars holding the roof up, and at the far end of the room was a coral throne. It would have been a beautiful place, if everything were not dead and frozen.

The stench up here was suffocating. Link could smell the insects all around him, their stench staining the air. He couldn’t see them anywhere. In the woods, they had been crawling all over the Deku Tree, and he had hunted them individually in Kakariko. Here, though, they were nowhere to be seen, despite the odor. Maybe they were frozen under the ice?

“Link…” Midna whispered. Link turned to her, surprised that she was actually speaking to him. Her yellow eyes were pointed upwards, and link followed her gaze.

There was the insect. Just one, latched to the ceiling of the Zora throne room. It was huge, throbbing like a disgusting heart. As they stared, the bug turned it’s head and looked at them. It’s jaw opened in three directions, and it mewled at them with an alien sound. It’s wings fluttered on it’s back as it hovered down to attack.

Link was frozen. That bug was huge. He felt a singular drive to jump down the waterfall and get away, but Midna interrupted it.

“Don’t be such a baby!” she yelled. “You’re supposed to have that Courage thing, aren’t you? Use it!”

The insect reached the floor and hovered before them. Link steeled himself and bared his canine teeth, ready to fight. He jumped and latched to one of it’s legs, biting wherever he could, ignoring the foul taste that made him want to vomit. The bug shook around furiously, slamming itself against the support pillars of the throne room, trying to crush him. Link kept biting, holding on for dear life, climbing up the insect’s body when he could. He could feel Midna clinging onto his fur tightly, trying not fly off.

Link climbed onto the thing’s back, approaching the head. The insect bucked and thrashed; it was too big for the throne room, confined in it like a cage, giving Link the advantage. He reached the head, and bit down on one of the eyes, shaking his head furiously. He felt something give, and he fell to the ground, the removed, squelched eye still hanging from his jaws. He felt a warm liquid drip from the eye to his mouth, and he rolled over to throw up.

The insect fell to the icy ground with a room shaking thud, rolling and mewling as it bled profusely from it’s face, making the slippery ice floor even slipperier. Link felt the air stirring around him, and watched as Midna summoned the twilight around her as a weapon. The haze of gold coalesced into a point, and drove straight through the monster’s abdomen.

It stilled, falling silent immediately. From it’s remaining eye, the bright golden light streamed forth, passing by Link and Midna and down the waterfall. The same aura spilled out of the destroyed eye that Link had removed, and his stomach churned again at the sight of it.

“We certainly make quite a team, don’t we?” Link heard the voice in his head, and turned to see Midna smiling down at him. He smiled back, as much as he could as a wolf, at least.

“Yeah, I suppose we do.”

…

The trail of light led the two back to Lake Hylia. There was a cave by the shore, and inside was a beautiful little spring. The light collected above it, forming what looked like a serpent. Link listened to the voice of the light spirit as his body began to transform.

“Hero,” it said. “I am Lanayru, Spirit of Wisdom. You have done well, to lift the curse from the lake. The ice will begin to thaw within the hour. When the lake is full again, you must journey to the temple beneath the waves and vanquish the evil for good. Will you undertake this task?”

Link, his human form returned, nodded happily. This, according to Midna, would be the last of these strange stone pieces that they had been collecting. Then they would be ready to overthrow Zant.

“May the goddesses smile upon you, Hero,” the spirit said. “Make haste in your journey.”

With that the spirit disappeared in a blinding flash, leaving Link and his bright eyed shadow in the cavernous spring. Link turned to exit and walked almost straight into the Zora.

She stood before him, blocking the exit of the cave. She was beautiful, in the exotic way that the Zoras were, tall and elegant; but strange in the fact that she seemed to glow, her figure transparent. She looked to be only a few years older than Link himself, still in the prime of her youth. She approached him before he could find words to speak.

The Zora pressed her lips to Link’s surprised ones, her hand upon his face. He felt her there, but once again, there was something immaterial about her. She pulled away from him and smiled.

“So you are the new Hero?” She asked. Link said nothing, his mouth slightly ajar, his eyes still wide and confused from the strange encounter. The Zora laughed a bit.

“Very well,” she said. “I suppose I should’ve expected as much. I haven’t even introduced myself.” The Zora bowed a small, graceful bow. “I am Rutela, late queen of the Zora tribe. I cannot thank you enough for freeing my people from the ice.”

Link finally found his voice.

“What?! Late?”

The Zora nodded. “I am speaking to you from the next world. My time, therefore, is short. I have a request of you.”

“My son, was…” she paused here, her eyes looking downward and shining with intangible tears. “Attacked… by Zant, when the Domain was taken. I believed him to had met the same fate as I. But he is not here on the other side with me. He is alive.”

She turned her eyes back to Link. “So my request to you is this. My son is out there in Hyrule somewhere. I want you to find him, and bring him home. He is the heir to the Zora throne, and only with his blessing may you enter our temple. That is your plan, if I heard correctly?”

Link nodded.

“So you will do this for me?”

He nodded again. “I will.” Rutela smiled at him, her fingers once again brushing his face.

“You truly are of the Hero’s bloodline. There’s a story told to every princess of the Zora tribe, you know. Our ancestors were once betrothed. It was supposed to be only a matter of time until our lineages met again, to fulfill the vows our ancestors never did.”

Rutela kissed him once more, softly.

“But,” she continued wistfully, pulling away. “I suppose this generation was not meant to be, me being as I am now. Please find my son, Hero, so I may lay in peace. I wish you luck on your quest.”

With that, the Zora Queen disappeared in a flash of gold, leaving Link in a beaming silence.

…

“Aren’t you even grossed out that you made out with a ghost?”

Midna hovered above the ground, her expression annoyed, partially illuminated by the light of the flames. Her and Link were still a day’s walk from the castle, without Epona there with them.


“Not really.”

Contrary to Midna’s exasperation, Link wore a look of supreme satisfaction. Things could not be going better, it seemed. The twilight was all but diminished; all they had to do was find the Zora prince, and the last of those stones were as good as theirs. There was also the encounter with Rutela. It wasn’t every day that one was advanced upon by a beautiful queen, and despite the obvious unusualness of the situation, it was enough to make any young man’s day.

Best of all these, though, was Ilia. She was so close, and Link was counting the minutes to being reunited with her. All they had to do was get to the castle.

Most satisfying of all, however, if not the most important, was Midna. The little feud between the two of them had all but fizzled out, and things between them had gone back to normal. Now, as always, she seemed determined to cloud his spirits. Unlike always, though, it wasn’t working. Link was in too good of a mood for it to work. The whole scenario actually seemed to be annoying the Twili, and Link relished seeing the shoe on the other foot.

“I wonder what your little girlfriend will think when she finds out you’ve been smooching other women,” Midna tried again. Once again, to her chagrin, Link smiled at her.

“Well, she kissed me,” he said loftily. “How was I to know that was going to happen? Besides, what do you care?”

“Oh don’t flatter yourself,” Midna jeered defensively. “I don’t care. I just can’t wait to laugh when your girlfriend spits in your face.” She smiled satisfactorily for a moment, the grin shattering when she saw Link was unfazed, but rather grinning right back at her.

“Ugh,” she resigned. “Whatever, then. Be smug. I’m going to bed.”

“Goodnight, Midna,” he teased. There was no response to this, but only a irritated huff, which caused Link to chuckle again.

…

They reached the castle just before midday. The cobblestone streets were packed with merchants and townsfolk, forcing Link to wade through the crowd like molasses. Still, he was left breathless by the sight. He had never seen much outside Ordona before his whole journey had begun, and such a crowded, busy atmosphere was new to him.

He was growing a bit impatient, however. With all of these people, how would he find Ilia? After a while, he began asking people if they had seen an unfamiliar blonde girl around. He was pleased to meet a prompt response from a royal guard.

“She moved to Castle Town not too long ago, actually,” he said knowingly. “We’ve been keeping track of newcomers and strangers ever since that golden fog disappeared. Couldn’t tell you much about her. She doesn’t much leave her place. From what I’ve seen of her, though, she looks a bit younger than what you’re describing. Anyway, just follow the south alley, and it’s the last door on the right.”

Link nodded thankfully, ignoring his slight confusion at the guards comment. What did he mean by younger?

“She a friend of yours?” the guard asked. “We don’t want any more trouble…”

“She’s a good friend,” Link reassured him. “Don’t worry.”

With that, he left the guard, following the south alley as instructed. He found the last door on the right, just next door to a small grocer’s. He knocked on the door excitedly, almost fidgety with impatience.

There was no answer; instead, the door creaked open a bit. Emitted from the small crack in the doorway was as a pleasant, earthy odor. Link poked his head inside.

“Ilia?”

No answer. Curiosity and impatience winning over, Link stepped inside.

It was like a normal house, except for the tree. What looked to be an old, gnarled oak tree grew right out of the ground, surrounded by a fenced in area of grass and plants. There were numerous insects crawling upon the entire setting, more so than looked natural. Link stepped further within the house, feeling that something wasn’t quite right, but driven regardless.

“Ilia?” He tried again, louder this time. “Ilia, are you here?”

“Wow, she must really be excited to see you,” a sarcastic drawl echoed through Link’s thoughts. Midna. Link ignored her, trying not to loose his composure.

“Ilia, are you here?”

Still there was no verbal response. The only answer Link got was the creaking of the door behind him, and the click of it shutting. He spun around and felt something hit him in the middle, taking him to the ground. A moment later, a voice spoke.

“Oh, boy! I thought you were a giant grasshopper! But you’re not! You’re a person!”

The figure finally let go of him and rose to her feet. It was a girl, a young one at that, and Link realized that the guard had made a mistake. This was not Ilia.

The young girl was blonde, but the resemblance ended there. This girl looked no older than thirteen. Her hair was done up in pigtails, and she wore elaborate dress with butterfly patterns all over it. She smiled at Link gleefully, twirling a matching parasol in her grip.

“Still,” she continued. “You’re wearing those clothes, so that tells me you like bugs, too!”

Link got to his feet, grimacing at the reminder of the goofy clothes he was wearing. He brushed himself off, ignoring the snickers echoing between his ears.

“Uum…” he started. “I think there’s been some sort of mistake.”

“Oh, boy!” The girl said again. “I forgot the formalities. You have an audience with the princess of the bug kingdom. Agitha is my name!” She curtsied politely, smiling at him all the while. Link scratched his head in confusion.

“Well… I’m Link. I actually came here by mis-”

“Oh, boy! I’m so glad you’re here!” Agitha interrupted. “You’re just in time, and your body type is just perfect!”

“Wha-what? Body type?”

“Well yes, silly!” Agitha laughed. She approached Link suddenly, reaching out and putting her hands on his shoulders. “At least, you look the type.” Her hands traveled downwards, touching his arms and chest, squeezing and probing periodically. Before he knew it, her hands were below his belt, and he jerked back in surprise.

“Whoa, what are you doing?!”

Agitha simply smiled at him, seemingly undeterred.

“Yep,” she said. “You’re perfect, for sure! Take off those clothes, while I change into something more comfortable.”

Without waiting for a response, the girl turned and walked away from Link. In the corner of her house was a translucent screen. Link watched her disappear behind it, her dress flying from behind it moments later, followed by garters.

What the hell was going on? Link couldn’t make heads or tails of it, only knowing that the situation could only get weirder. He looked back to the screen and felt a guilty wave of alarm as he spotted her silhouette, which yielded a surprisingly supple and enticing figure for someone that girl’s age. It was the last straw. Link took action.

A few moments later, Agitha reappeared from behind the screen, dressed in her new garments. She looked around confusedly at her empty room, her new friend nowhere to be seen.

“Grasshopper? Where did you go to?”

…

Link pressed his back to the door of Agitha’s house, his chest heaving as he drew in breath. From his mind, he heard Midna laughing hysterically.

“You certainly are popular with the ladies, aren’t you?” Midna laughed. “I guess it’s just a perk of being the Hero?” More chuckles and giggles.

“Oh, just shut it!” Link finally broke. “I just want to forget everything that just happened in that house, and find-”

He stopped in mid sentence, his eyes at the grocer’s to his left. He could see her, standing amongst the other villagers, a bag cradled in her arms.

Ilia.

As he watched, she turned her head, locking eyes with him. Link felt himself smile as they saw one another, for that spilt second.

Then it was over, and Ilia turned and began walking away from him. Link frowned, confused. Perhaps she hadn’t seen him? He rushed past the crowd, trying not to lose her, keeping her short, blonde hair in sight.

Finally he reached her, outstretching his arm and taking hold of her wrist. Ilia dropped the burlap sack of groceries. She spun around to face him immediately, her eyes wide, lips slightly parted as she studied his face.

“Ilia…” he said finally. “I’ve found you.”

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Here we are. Thank you all very much for the reviews. Particularly those pertaining to characters, as they might've have been forgotten and discluded otherwise. They'll appear as best as they fit. This chapter is longer, and hopefully speeds things up a bit. Next chapter will be up before a week passes, hopefully. Until then, read, rate, review, and enjoy!