Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction / Starcraft Fan Fiction / Batman Beyond Fan Fiction ❯ Tassadar's Legacy: Rebirth ❯ Power Overwhelming ( Chapter 10 )

Everything looks so different on this side. I stepped away from the gate and looked around. The darkness literally receded from me, and the interior walls of the temple started to glow slightly. I took another step forward and Sheik's hand slipped from my own. Looking back, I noticed how much crisper and cleaner he looked. Had my vision started to go bad and I hadn't known it? All my blood relatives wear glasses. I'm glad I won't ever have to now.

Sheik still hadn't moved. He kept looking nervously at me. His staring is a little unnerving. I turned around fully and ask him, “What?” Sheik jumped a little and looked away and said, “Your eyes… they're glowing…” I felt surprised and said, “They are? Well that explains why all the darkness in the room seems to have disappeared.” Sheik shook his head and said, “What exactly has happened to you Matthew? Your eyes glow and you can see and manipulate an energy source I can't touch. I know you explained about Tassadar and the Overmind, but what are you now?”

I glanced down and frowned thoughtfully. After a moment, I answered, “I don't really know what I am now Sheik. I can't even say I'm a human/Protoss hybrid. I suppose you could say I'm a mix of human, Protoss, and Zerg now. What that does for me in the long run, even I don't know. I only know my own past as a human, the past of Tassadar, and the past of the Overmind. Everything from here on is kind of touch and go. So far I know I can manipulate psionics, I can see energy, my eyes glow, and darkness manifested avoids me. That last part I might need to change. Not all darkness is evil. I did complete a shadow walk as Tassadar, so I'm an honorary Dark Templar. But I guess I'll need to start over fresh now.”

Sheik nodded and said, “You have a great potential for good Matthew. But you also have much potential for great evil. Do you believe you can handle that power?” I thought about that for a moment, then I smiled softly and said, “Not by myself, no. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. That's a phrase from Earth that we use in reference to solitary men who gain hold of power. It goes to their head and they abuse it. I don't plan on being alone. There is the prophecy to consider. I'm supposed to have a large group of people depending on me, and in turn I'll be depending on them.”

Sheik nodded and walked past me towards the door to the temple. Just as he was about to pass me, he stopped and looked me straight in the eye and said softly, “If there were any doubts that you are the One, there are none anymore. Don't ever change Matthew, but for the better.” I laid a hand on his arm and said just as softly, “I won't.” Sheik gave me a smile over his cowl, then pulled his harp from out of its carrier on his back. He plucked the strings to a tune I'd not heard before, and the light whisked us away.

While enroute, I opened my eyes to the blinding whiteness. I shielded my eyes and suddenly I could see. It felt much like the disembodied feeling of traveling through the gateway. I watched as we flew across the sky in an invisible ball of light over the Lost Woods. I smiled at the sight as Lon Lon Ranch below us, and at the whole of Hyrule Field in general. It's as beautiful as I imagined, and much larger than it was in the game. I focused my sight ahead as we continued to fly straight and true, heading for Death Mountain.

Once we grew close enough, we changed direction and headed towards a large bottomless crevice. I got a prickly feeling up my spine and I spotted a structure built into the side of the crevice, seeing it the same way I'd seen the psi shield, by feeling it with my mind rather than truly seeing it. Judging from where it's built, I couldn't help but wonder how any race, Hylian or otherwise, could build a building under the overhang of a cliff on a part of Death Mountain nowhere near the trail, and with no feasible way to get there, physically or otherwise. It even has a nice view overlooking Karkariko. How could such a place exist? Who built it and how?

We flew straight towards the building and straight through the walls and into the foyer. I suddenly became aware that the whiteness that I'd blocked from my vision had disappeared and I blinked, returning my eye sight to normal. How did I know how to do that? Thinking it over, it'd been mostly instinct. I didn't like the whiteness blinding me… so I just blocked it out as if it weren't there.

I shook my head and noted Aunt Beast is hurrying this way. I frowned at that and concentrating, I changed my ability to `see' others around me so that I can turn it on and off at will, but the presence of someone with hostile intent would be seen automatically. I like surprises after all. I don't like the feeling that I'm spying on friends either.

Finished, I turned to left entrance to the foyer just as Aunt Beast came in and said, “I see you've returned Sheik. What of you little one? Where have you been?” Aunt Beast slowed down at the sight of me, and her tentacles started twitching, and she asked, “What happened to you?” I could feel her own `sight' feeling over me. I let her look, part of me interested in her abilities and taking note of them and feeding them into my own, and the other part disturbed at my own knowledge and the strange way it feels like I'm standing naked in front of a crowd with her `looking' at me like that.

In answer to her question, I said, “Sheik and I went to the Lost woods. We met the Deku Tree Sprout, who told me a little bit about the power within me and sent us off to where we could get more information. We swam through a creepy and disgusting swamp called the Vareshi to get to a temple, where I accidently opened a warpgate to another planet.”

My stomach chose to growl at that moment, interrupting me. Waves of amusement washed over me from both Sheik and Aunt Beast and I `eyed' their passing with interest. It felt good. Good feelings feel good. No wonder Aunt Beast likes making people happy. That's what my curiosity noted on the inside. On the outside, I felt embarrassed and slightly annoyed at the interruption, which only seemed to fuel Sheik and Aunt Beast's amusement more.

Changing subjects in the blink of an eye, I asked, “Can I get some food? I'm kinda hungry.” Aunt Beast said, “Of course. I shall have food out on the table in a moment.” I nodded and set off immediately for the stairs behind me, leading up to the second foyer and the doors leading to the large central dining chamber.

The first and second floors copy each other, room wise. While this large central room on the second floor is half dining half kitchen, the first floor central room is half war room half training hall. Most of the side rooms on both floors serve as sleeping quarters. The first floor west wing serves as medical. A master bathroom is set up near medical, while a communal shower and bathroom is set up in the east and west wing of the second floor and the east wing of the first floor. The plumbing feeds back to Lord Jabu Jabu's domain where it is purified and sent back via the ice caverns behind his domain in such a way as to be untraceable. Only the Sheikah would be able to invent invisible plumbing and too bad for them that I saw it all while flying into this place.

Two corner rooms serve as turrets and storage rooms for armor and weapons. A ladder in each room leads to the second floor of that, and up and out to the roof. Many hidden doorways lead out onto the roof, as well as to tunnels hidden in the mountain. What an amazing fort this place is! My only question left is how Sheikah of this day and age could build such a place. Or did the Gorons really carve this place out of the rock? Or perhaps it was a concerted effort…

My musings were interrupted as Aunt Beast said trays of food in front of me and I dug in with gusto. To my amusement, my appetite had increased tenfold thanks to the biological changes Tassadar had made to me. I could tell he'd tried to keep that from happening, considering Protoss only need to survive on light, but you can only change so much I suppose. Besides, I use a lot of energy for the things I do unconsciously let alone the few things I've done consciously so far.

While I'd been musing over the layout of this Sheikah Fortress, I noted that Sheik is telling Aunt Beast the rest of what happened to her. I tuned out their conversation in favor of food. I finished off the tray Aunt Beast had brought out and wiping my face with a paper towel, and asked, “Can I have some more?” Both of them stared in surprise at my empty tray and Aunt Beast got up from her seat and went to the kitchens to get some more food. Sheik raised an eyebrow at me and I shrugged and said, “I went through a lot of changes, mentally and physically. I need to eat a lot more now.” Sheik leaned forward and asked, “What kind of changes?” I answered, “Too many to count, and a lot of them so technical and strange that I can't think of words to describe over half of them anyway. Let's just say I put out a lot more energy now and I need the food to keep it up.”

Sheik nodded at my explanation just as Aunt Beast came in with four trays of food piled high. I grinned in delight, part of me wondering through what magical means Aunt Beast managed to get so much food. She set the trays down in front of me and I started digging in with fervor, and Aunt Beast resumed her seat across from Sheik.

It went like that for a while. Sheik continued his retelling of what happened to Aunt Beast, Aunt Beast asked questions here and there and Sheik answering them, I kept eating, only half listening to them. I'd gotten to my last tray when a tingle went up my spine and I automatically became aware of someone with hostile intent in the Fortress. I stopped eating suddenly and interrupted Sheik and Aunt Beast's conversation with two words that had them both out of their chairs and heading out the door, with me on their heels.

“Link's awake.”