The Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction / Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction ❯ The Flow of Time ❯ Drifting ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter One: Drifting

Disclaimer: Zelda characters and Hyrule are owned by Nintendo. Badria and Kaula, however, are mine.

 

 

Waiting…Eternally waiting.

 

 

 

None had ventured into my domain for such a long time. My temple had fallen into ruin, none feared or worshipped me anymore… no, they were too busy praying to their weak, pathetic Goddesses. (Had I lips they would have sneered) Worshiped them while my name turned to ashes and was soon forgotten, new fears and hopes wearing away the very memory of me as rain slowly wears down a mountain into an indistinguishable nothing. That is what I had become now, a Nothing. I no longer had a shape, my power, laughable. All I could do was lie in the shallow water that flooded my temple, my kingdom, and send steady waves of anger at the Sisters, hoping it would needle their flesh and cause them to break out in the most horrible boils imaginable. (That gave me a rather smug feeling indeed)

 

Ho? What was this?

 

I strained, if you will, to hear. Something… someone had entered. But who? The Zoras were the only ones who could venture into the soggy depths that now held my kingdom in its clutches, shielding my presence from the world. Who could have breached that? (Not to mention the pesky shielding those stupid, bumbling idiot sages had placed on my doors)

 

Ruffling, I was torn between anger at being invaded and a rare curiousness that made me want to overlook the disturbance. I myself had tried to break the seal that locked me inside my own temple and had… not met with the most satisfactory results. Who was this, then, that could throw open my doors?

 

Moving through the waters, a pathetic shadow of my former glory, I pushed myself along as a lowly jellyfish would, having no other way to move. Oh, the Goddesses must be laughing at me for sure! No eyes, no mouth, not even hands! Just a small blob with thin little tendrils that couldn't even grasp a quill! Bah! When I come back into my former glory, I'll make them fear me again!

 

There… A man… but not a man.

 

I pull back inside myself, not liking this one bit. I hadn't eyes by the normal standard of things but I could still sense heats, energies, sometimes basic forms (if the lighting was right). This man was strong, too strong for human.

 

I withered, indignant, as he began summoning and loosing monsters in my temple. Weak, pathetic things but they did NOT belong in MY home! Just who did he think he was? God?

 

The water around me began to bubble and boil, my anger so great. He must have sensed me for before I knew it, he was upon me. I tried to strategically withdraw (being in no state to fight off the man) but he caught me with an old, strong magic. The magic was good, the man was evil. I know naught how he bound it and forced it to his will, perhaps the same way he bound me, though I was far more willing.

 

Oh, he promised me things, things like slaves, worshipers, power… things I knew even then were lies… But he gave me one thing that he did live up to. He gave me form. The ability, as it were, to take a form, the form of a young man who would enter my temple in search of something. The man did not know when it was going to be, even if it would happen but he promised me that if I took care of it, I could have the boy's form forever. No one would be able to take it from me, it would be all mine. Those words I so wanted to hear coming from his lips like water for the thirsty. I drank it up, greedily, agreeing. I had no soul left to sign over but I'd have given it to him for another chance to be more than a mere shadow in the water.

 

He never told me that he was going to seal me in a room. I didn't even know I was trapped till the iron bars slammed down into the ground. When I banged my new hands on the door, they didn't make a sound, I could hardly even feel the door behind my hands. I heard his laughter with my new ears, felt the trembles of my new yet still intangible form, and knew for certain that I was still trapped. If the man had broken the sages' power, powers that not even I could break, how could a mere shadow of a boy break it?

 

 

 

Waiting… still waiting.

 

 

 

I used what little power the man had bequeathed me to set up an illusion around the room. The illusion of an open space, where I could look out and never see the walls that bound me. I couldn't hide the doors, however. They refused to let the illusion take, perhaps the man's taunt that they were my only true way out. I don't know, I tried to ignore them as best as I could.

 

I made a small island in the center, grew a tree out of the ground. No matter how hard I tried, stamped my almost-there feet against the never-there ground, the tree wouldn't bear leaves. I couldn't make them. No black leaves, no crimson leaves, no black and crimson leaves! Couldn't even do green leaves. It remained barren and twig like until I finally accepted it wouldn't change for me. I think I fell asleep shortly after that, I don't remember anything other than waking up, hearing the door to the chamber open.

 

 

 

Are you here?

 

 

 

I stayed blended against the tree, you never even noticed me as you rushed past in your hurry to get to the next door. You too, were perplexed by the iron bars that bound us both here… Idiot. Fool. Why did you enter? What drew you here?

 

When I stepped away from my lifeless tree, your squawking bug honed in on me immediately. I watched you turn towards me and felt my body slowly tense up, waiting. Always waiting… Have I been waiting for you?

 

You draw your sword and I draw mine, perfectly imitating you. It feels like I no longer have control of this body, the body that is yours in reverse. Each move you make, I'm compelled to copy, to imitate in order to block and parry.

 

Why do you have substance and I have none?

 

Your sword pierces through me once but I reform, slightly weaker but I notice something. When my blade draws your blood, my form grows darker, I get stronger. The man's words ring in my head, loud and fresh. Kill him and his form is yours.

 

The closer I bring you to death, the closer I come to life. I fight you now with renewed energy.

 

I want to kill you, bring you to the brink of death and watch your blood pool around you and give me form again. Maybe as you lay there dying I'll take your lips to mine, crush them against mine (yours) and take your soul and swallow it whole. I'll drown you, make you scream inside me for release that will never come, rest that you'll never have. You can watch as I find those close to you, run them through with your sword while smiling at them with your eyes turned scarlet.

 

My thoughts distract me and you almost land a blow but I managed to evade by hoping onto your sword. I'm not sure who is more surprised by the trick, you or I, but at any rate, I take your moment of surprise to hit you with my blade, leaping off once the damage has been dealt. You try and step away, take a moment to breathe but I don't allow it. I'm up close, leading the dance of existence and extinction, life and death, one but not two. Do you know, only one of us will leave this room?

 

Your eyes so wide, so young (or am I so old?) are as open and boundless as the room I've made, the illusion I've created. …but you aren't an illusion, are you? I am.

 

You're sword cuts through me again, forcing me to reform once more.

 

 

 

Where are you?

 

 

 

Behind me, you try and leap at me but I jump aside, quickly retaliating before you can get up, my sword digging into your back. I hear your strangled cries of pain and feel myself grow even stronger. Your tears mingle with your blood and you remind me of the fun I use to have when I had my own shape, my own body, when I had those who feared me. But you don't fear me, do you? No matter, your pain is still pleasant and feeds my hunger. I'm even generous and allow you to rise before continuing again.

 

You block me, tiredly, trying to keep from taking more damage. Your stupid bug is shouting, trying to distract me or you, I cannot tell. Either way, she annoys me but I can't take the time to chop her in two least I give you the opportunity to return the favor to my… flesh? Substance? Essence? I don't even know what I am.

 

You're almost done, aren't you? You've hardly got the strength to lift that sword… let me take it from you, I promise to put it to good use…

 

Would it be too overly cruel to slaughter you with your own blade? Well, perhaps a nick or two before you die…

 

I'm no longer going in for the kill, can you tell? It's more interesting to cut away your lovely blue tunic. Not the same color as your eyes (especially with the blood seeping into it) but well made. Zora brand, right? Let me cut it away for you, it won't do you any good.

 

I think you're letting me win now, you're not even trying. Oh, but you make the sweetest sounds when I cut you. Little gasps, like the sounds of butterflies dying. What do you want, boy? Death or life?

 

 

 

Waiting…

 

 

 

Our swords lock, you try to hold me back but you're shaking now. I can hear your heart, it's screaming in loud `thuds' just as your eyes shriek silently. Afraid of me? I can't help myself, I need a taste.

 

With our blades still locked I lean in and take your lips for myself. Your blood, your tears, your sweat… You push me away with strength I didn't think you had and try to stand defiant but it's more of a slouch, your panting heavy and ragged. Your eyes are more focused now, not so distant. I lick your taste off my lips and long for more. You're exquisite.

 

Suddenly I know I don't want you to die.

 

As much as I want my form, I want you more. You, with your eyes that span unto forever, you with your taste of wild lands and spicy fruits, you who have the scent of wind and horse sweat. For now, I'll let you win. I'll pretend, just as you'll pretend that my kiss meant nothing to you, that it didn't make your heart skip a beat. Just as your bug will pretend it didn't happen and forget to bring it up later, I'll pretend to let you win. I'll let you cut me, fend me off. When it seems like you're going to tire or fall on your face, I'll hold back a second more than I should. And, when it seems like enough blows have been dealt, I'll let you give me one more blow, just one. I'll yell in pain and “vanish” to the bottom of the lake, let my illusion fade. The door will open for you now and let you move on.

 

Till you defeat the man, I'll be in here…

 

 

 

 

 

Waiting.