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"Dimensions", part 2, chapter 1The Legend of Zelda: DimensionsBy: The Destined HeroPart Two - A Journey Torn Chapter One He's coming. "Are you sure?" Absolutely. And he's brought his friends. "How soon will they get here?" Without incident, they would be here in just shy of a week. "Without incident?" They would arrive here too early. "So what do we do?" Anything. You must slow them down. "Why not just kill them outright? Wouldn't that be easier?" Easier? Perhaps. But I get no pleasure out of that. Nothing short of torture for him. "I understand. I prepared for this several years ago. Their journey will be most dangerous." The two laughed maniacally, the sound of one bouncing off the walls of the large throne room. The two elite guards stood by, not flinching, as they had grown accustomed to the ranting and apparent psychotic nature of their master. "Now, dear father, you will bear witness to the demise of everything that you've ever loved." The laughter continued. The waves crested just offshore, spilling water onto the shallow beach. Water lapped at the legs of the body that lay there, on its stomach, its head barely out of reach of the water. The rhythm of the waves was slow, as though the hot sun made the water lazy. A flock of gulls flew across the sky along the shoreline, beginning their search for fresh fish. One of the gulls swooped down and landed gently on the back of the unconscious person. It perched itself there, pecking at the body, trying to figure out if it was food. The gull was raised up slightly, and then lowered back to its original position. The cycle continued and the gull didn't fly away. "Uhn... ugh..." The first sounds out of the body frightened the gull away, and it quickly joined up with the rest of the flock, squawking at the same time. Placing his hand on his face, the newly awakened traveler opened his eyes. All he could see was an endless beach going north, which he figured he was facing. He turned his head, resting his chin on the cool, fine sand of the beach, looking east toward the rising sun. "Damn. That was a hell of a boat ride," Robert said sarcastically to himself. He turned his head again so that he could face south, which was off to his
right. Only about ten yards away lay another body, this one of John.
From where he was, Robert could tell that he was still unconscious. He
closed his eyes again, still groggy. Unable (or unwilling) to move, he
fell asleep. He awoke later in the day; the sun now directly behind him, but still high enough to indicate that there was still several hours of daylight left. When he opened his eyes, he was still looking at the unconscious John. He closed his eyes again, but fought off the urge to doze off. In a desperate attempt to get himself up, he rolled over, trying to get any part of his body to respond. After successfully rolling onto his back, Robert mustered up all his energy and sat upright, facing the sea. He looked south again, now to his left, and could barely make out the outline of two more bodies. Although his gut was telling him that it was Zelda and Nick, he wanted to see them with his own eyes. He forced himself to stand up and nearly collapsed from dizziness. He barely maintained his balance enough to remain standing, and he was grateful for that. Walking the short distance to John's body, Robert stopped and decided that it would be best to get his body out of the reach of the tides. He had a few reservations, though. There was no way of knowing if John's spine or neck had been injured at all, and if they were, moving him could turn out to be fatal. He also was unsure of his own strength. His body felt utterly weakened by the ordeal that they had gone through and it was a struggle just to remain on two feet and walking, let alone carrying someone. "I hope you understand, John," he told him. "But there are too many risks right now." The only response he got was John's slow, rhythmic breathing and the lapping of the waves against his body. Robert turned his attention away from John and to the two bodies that lay further down the beach. "I'm coming, Princess." He tried to walk down the beach to the bodies, but it turned out to be more of a drunken stagger. Walking in a straight line was totally out of the question, and he could barely raise his feet high enough to clear the sand. Several times on his short journey, he tripped over his own feet and was rewarded with a face full of the grainy material. Spitting multiple times, he cleared his mouth of as much of it as he possibly could. The bodies were indeed that of Zelda and Nick, and it appeared as though they were alive as well. As Robert finally reached them, he staggered and fell one more time, his body pointing south, his face turned to the left. He didn't attempt to get up again; instead he closed his eyes, this time not fighting the urge to sleep. "Robert..." he heard just as he was about to lose consciousness again. He lifted his head and turned it the right, where he let it plop down on the sand again. Looking right at him was Nick. "Hey, Nick," he said, weakly. "Are we alive?" Robert tried to laugh, but it came out as a weak cough. "Yes, my friend," he coughed again, his attempt at laughter punishing him. "We're alive." "Good." After a long pause, Nick continued, "I think I'll go back to sleep now." "Uh huh," was all that Robert could muster before he passed out. The sun broke over the horizon, beginning a new day. Robert awoke with the crack of down and he was relieved that he felt some of the strength return to his body. He slowly stood up, fully aware that he was nowhere near fully recovered. He looked at Zelda and was reassured that she was alive. Her eyes were open and her breathing was normal, although he could tell that her mind was still foggy. It was then that he first noticed that Nick was no longer lying beside either of them and his heart nearly leaped from his mouth as the worst-case scenario popped into his head. What if he drifted out to sea? his mind screamed at him. Although unlikely, there was still the chance. Frantically, he looked around, hoping to see his friend. To his delight, he spotted Nick dragging John's body up the beach. "Nick!" he yelled. Instantly, Nick stopped moving John and peered down the beach. As he walked toward him, Robert continued, "Are you sure that's wise? He could have serious injuries!" "He's fine! Said so himself!" Nick went on dragging the helpless John up the beach, away from the incoming tide. Once at a distance he felt was good, he stopped. By that time, Robert had joined him beside John. "We should get the Princess up here, too," Nick said, his breathing already heavy. He began to walk back down the beach when Robert grabbed his arm. "Oh, no you're not," he scolded. "Look at you. You're already exhausted!" "I'm fine," Nick said between breaths. Robert simply stared at his friend. "Robert, I'm fine," Nick repeated as he pulled his arm away from Robert's grasp. Robert watched on as Nick began to walk back to Zelda. He made it only a few steps before he started to swoon. Reacting quickly, Robert ran behind and caught Nick before he could fall to the ground. "You're fine, huh?" "Maybe I need a little rest," Nick admitted, his eyes fluttering. Robert brought him back next to John and placed him on his back. "Stay here," he commanded. "I'll get the Princess." Leaving the other two where they were, Robert made his way to Zelda. She was slightly more conscious now, able to communicate and move a little. As he reached her, she looked at him. "Robert..." "Easy, Princess." "Where... where's Link?" Robert sighed, "I don't know. I can't find Aaron, William, or Michael either. That's enough talking. You need to save your energy. Now, I'm going to carry you back to where John and Nick are, okay?" She nodded. Robert knelt down and placed his left arm behind her back and his right under her knees. Taking in a mouthful of air, he lifted the Princess up and turned around to face his goal. Zelda was light, and he was very thankful for that. Under the circumstances, he wasn't sure if he would have been able to carry her if she weighed any more. Slowly, he made his way back to the others. After placing her down gently, he was surprised that he still seemed to have energy. Looking down on the other three, it was clear to him that there was no way any of them was getting up any time soon. His mind drew a blank on what to do next, but his stomach reminded him of what's important to a speedy recovery. Food. I better get some food before we all die. "If any of you can hear me, I'm going to search for some food and clean water. I won't be gone long, but in the meantime, I want you all to stay here. Is that clear?" He got no response. "Okay, if there are no objections..." he trailed off as he left them there to
search for food. "I thought you said that there was a town around here!" William yelled at Michael. "I could be mistaken..." "Mistaken?" William repeated, loudly. "We've been walking for a little over a day now because you remembered a town on the map! So where the hell is it?" "Calm down, William," Link said, not raising his voice. "I am calm!" "Yelling about it isn't going to get us anywhere!" Aaron bellowed, getting right in William's face. Taking the hint, William shut up for the time being. Taking advantage, Link tried to get the conversation back on a productive level. "Michael, are you sure you saw a town on the map?" "I think so..." "No. I don't want to hear 'I think so.' Do you remember a town on the map or not?" Michael thought back to the ship and tried to recollect the map. His mind was telling him that there was a town nearby, at the mouth of a river. He even remembered the name. "Halbat." "What's that?" Aaron asked. "That's the name of the town. Halbat," Michael told them. "It lies at the mouth of a river." "Good," Link said, satisfied with Michael's answer. "Then we should continue to follow the shoreline until we reach the mouth of a river. Hopefully, that should be Halbat." Aaron turned to William. "I think you owe Michael an apology." William shot Aaron a look, but Aaron didn't flinch. Swallowing his pride, William walked up in front of Michael. "I... I'm sorry. I was wrong to act the way I did." "Don't worry about it," Michael told him and smiled. William smiled back and the two hugged and gave the stereotypical male hand-pat on the back. "If you're done, ladies," Link said mockingly. "We still have a long way to go." They separated and all four of them continued down the shoreline. They walked beside the beach, not wanting to walk in the sand because that would make the trip even more taxing. Nevertheless, they were still within fifty yards of the ocean, its unpolluted water gleaming in the midday's sun. A solitary gull swooped down and skimmed the water, catching a fish in its mouth. On the beach, three other gulls were busy pecking away at their meals. The sight of the birds eating only made the trek harder on the four travelers, as each of them were beginning to experience hunger pains from lack of food. They had tried to hunt for some meat earlier, but the surrounding land wasn't home to anything significant. Link tried to bury the hunger with thoughts of Zelda, but they only led to more pain. He had no idea where she was or if she was safe. He felt guilty for not jumping through the fire on the ship and running to her, but his mind knew that he would've only gotten himself killed that way. His mind then drifted to his children. He worried about Michelle, his three-year-old daughter that they had left in Hyrule with the maids and servants. But most of all, he worried about Evan. There was no telling what could have happened to him when he entered this world. A boy of only eleven couldn't defend himself in a savage world like this, even if he was gifted with magic. All his thoughts depressing him, Link decided he would rather feel the hunger pains. He pushed the thoughts away. "This doesn't look good," Aaron said, looking toward the sky. Link looked toward his friend and followed his gaze skyward. Above them, but still toward the south, storm clouds were beginning to form. "Damn," William said, also noticing the weather. "That looks like a big storm." "Hopefully we'll reach our destination before it hits," Link said. Michael frowned and took his eyes off the approaching storm. "I don't think we will." "It all depends on how far the town is," Aaron stated, although that was obvious. "Maybe we should quicken the pace a little," William suggested. "Good idea," Link agreed, picking up the pace to a fast walk. Without further instruction, the other three matched his speed. "This town better be there," William said under his breath. They sat around the fire, awaiting their food to be cooked. Each of them sat upright, some of their strength returning to them. Robert slowly cooked the deer over the fire, making sure not to overcook it. The delicious scent of the meat enticed them all and they could hardly wait any longer. Robert had been very successful in finding food for them. There was an open field with several groves of trees not far from their current location. It was there that Robert had shot the deer, the arrow piercing the animal's heart. He had been carrying the carcass back over his shoulders when he spotted a building to the north. It stood alone on top of a hill, and he was surprised that he hadn't noticed it earlier. He stopped briefly and looked it over from a distance, but couldn't make out what kind of building it was. Deciding that he would wait for the others before investigating it, he had continued the walk back. The deer fully cooked, Robert removed it from over the fire and placed it on a piece of cloth that he had in his pack. As soon as he placed the venison on the cloth, the other three reached out greedily and grabbed what they could. Robert was caught completely off guard, especially by Zelda, who engulfed the food in the same manner as a starving homeless man. As the others wolfed down their meat, Robert sighed, shook his head, and chuckled. "What's so funny?" John asked between mouthfuls of meat. "You three. You're all pigs." Each of them stopped chewing and shot Robert a look. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds before they returned to their meal. Shrugging his shoulders, Robert reached for his portion and began to eat. Halfway through his meal, Robert decided to bring up the building. "I saw a single building to the north of here." Zelda wiped her face with a handkerchief. "What kind of building?" Robert swallowed another mouthful before answering, "I'm not sure. It was too far away for me to determine. And I thought I'd wait for you three before I went up there." "Did it look inhabited?" Nick asked. "Don't know. I couldn't see anyone outside." "I suppose we should check it out. See if there's anyone there that can help us," Nick continued. John swallowed. "Yeah, and maybe give us some information. Like where we are." "What if they're not friendly?" Zelda asked, always worried about the underlying feelings of people. "Don't worry, Princess," Robert assured her, "Whoever is up there wouldn't stand a chance against the three of us. Right guys?" All he got in returned was a couple of muffled "Um hmm" from John and Nick as they each continued to devour their food. "Anyway," Robert continued, "we'll head up there after we eat and rest up some more. That way, more of our strength should have returned." They all went back to eating. Alexandra sat next to her second-floor window, staring out into the rain. It was pouring out, and there was nothing else for her to do on this dreary day. Business at the family bed and breakfast had been slow for quite some time now. As she thought about it, she realized that it had been several years since she had produced a profit. The town no longer attracted as many tourists as it once did, and without tourism, the town became poorer and poorer. She gazed out over the river mouth, looking out to sea. There didn't seem to be any sign that the storm would cease anytime soon, and she really didn't care. Although the town was still heavily populated for its size, she never felt more alone in her life. Her parents had long since moved on from this world, along with her younger sister, all victims of a terrible massacre. There wasn't a day that went by where she didn't wonder why they had been taken and not her. She felt a sense of guilt, as if she had betrayed her family by remaining alive. Of course, she knew that was ridiculous, but that didn't stop the pain. She stood up and walked directly beside the window. She continued to look over the town, not surprised that no one was out in this torrential downpour. She sighed and was just about to leave the window when she spotted four figures running frantically toward the town from the southwest. "Who would be out in this storm?" she asked herself. She watched the figures run closer to the town, desperate to get out of the
rain. Making up her mind, she ran from the window and headed down the
stairs. She grabbed her raincoat as she ran by the coat stand and headed
out into the storm. "We're almost there!" Aaron yelled, as he pointed directly in front of them, the town now no more than a half-mile away. They ran as fast as they could, the rain soaking them through. The ground underneath them had begun to flood from the awesome amount of rain, not fully able to soak it all up. Their clothes were now much heavier, and the slippery ground made the task of running that much more challenging. "Watch out for this puddle!" Link yelled from in front of them, as he ran to the side of the puddle. William wasn't too worried about a puddle, so he continued running straight ahead. He soon realized that he made the wrong choice when his right foot stepped into the puddle. Instead of stepping through a shallow puddle, he found himself knee-high in a large hole. He cursed himself for being so stupid and as Michael and Aaron ran by him, he pulled himself up. Seeing William fall into the deceptively large puddle, Aaron stepped aside and around the puddle, not even bothering to offer William any help. Michael ran passed him too, figuring that William could easily get out of the deep puddle. In front of them, Link had put some distance between them. Aaron pumped his arms harder, causing his legs to move faster, trying desperately to catch up. In his attempt, he briefly closed his eyes and he failed to see the raised root directly in front of him. His left foot caught it, sending Aaron into the air. He didn't even have a chance to yell before his body hit the ground hard and slid through the mud. Michael had been running directly behind him and had no time to dodge the falling Aaron. He attempted to leap over him, but Aaron's outstretched legs caught Michael's right leg, knocking him to the ground as well. "Thanks, Aaron." "No problem," Aaron replied, picking himself up off the ground just as William passed them by. The three of them now ran one by one, but they each ran off to the side of each other to avoid any other collisions. Up ahead, Link had stopped on the outskirt of the town, waiting for them. "Come on! Let's go!" he was yelling at them. When they finally reached him, they all stopped to catch their breaths. Aaron bent over, placing his hands on the top of his knees. "Damn!" he cried aloud. "I'm filthy!" "We need to get out of the rain!" Michael shouted over the rolling thunder. Link looked around the vicinity and noticed an awning over the building across the street from them. "We go there!" he yelled as he ran for cover. They all followed, and once there, they all took a much-needed breather, the building to their backs, the rain in front of them. After several minutes of nothing but heavy breathing, Aaron finally broke the silence. "Is this Halbat?" Michael nodded, "I believe so." William looked around the town and didn't like what he saw. "Seems pretty dead around here. There's nobody around." "Probably all staying out of the rain," Link suggested. "Which is what we should be doing." "So where do we go then?" William asked, still panting. Link shook his head. "I don't have a clue. Any ideas?" he asked everyone in general. "You could stay here." The voice came from directly behind them. Unexpected, it had startled them all. Aaron and William jumped so far that they were back out in the storm, five feet away from the protection of the awning. Link and Michael had jumped to the side, but were still protected from the rain. "Where the hell did you come from?" William asked, pointing his finger at the woman that stood in the doorway. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you like that," she replied in her sweet, soothing voice. Link walked up closer to her and stopped when he was within five feet to her right. "Where did you come from?" "I live in this building. I saw you running toward the town and figured I'd come out and help you." Link smiled. "We would gladly accept any help. You see, we were on a... journey, I guess you could call it... when the storm hit us a few miles out." "You poor things!" she exclaimed. "You must be freezing from being out in that downpour! Please, come inside!" She motioned for them to follow her into the building, and they did just that, appreciatively. "You live here?" William exclaimed as soon as they were inside. The place was quite large, with a bar down the left side and a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling over the center of the room. "Yes. This is my family's bed and breakfast. But there hasn't been much business lately." "I'm sorry," Link said sympathetically. "It's not your fault." "What's your name?" "Alexandra." "Pleased to meet you, Alexandra. My name is Link, and this is Michael, Aaron, and William," Link said, pointing to each of his friends as he called out their names. "Pleased to meet you all," she politely said, with a curtsy. "Now, let's get you into some drier clothes. I believe I have enough upstairs in the closet. This way." Still dripping wet, they all followed her up the stairs, leaving small
puddles wherever they went. They now stood within two hundred yards of the solitary building on the hill, and from this distance they could tell that it was a dwelling. For whom, they had no idea, but they were determined to find out. "We need to find out where we are at least," Nick was saying. "Hopefully, whoever's inside will be willing to help." "It'd be nice if we could get more supplies like food and water, too," John added. Zelda looked at the old rundown house. "What kind of person lives there, do you suppose?" "Probably an old hermit. Or at least someone who doesn't want anything to do with civilization anymore," Robert answered. "We're just wasting time standing around talking like this," Nick contested. "The only way we'll know for sure is to go up there and knock on the front door." "You're right," Robert agreed. "No use just standing here and speculating. Let's go." They began the uphill walk. The hill wasn't steep at all and walking up it proved to be simple enough. As they neared the rear of the house, they could hear a squeaking from around front. Gesturing with his head, Nick indicated to the rest that they should go around the house. They walked around the left side of the house and as they rounded the front corner, an old man, rocking in a chair and completely shrouded in a brown robe, greeted them. "Greetings," he said in his raspy old voice. "I've been expecting you." "You've been expecting us?" John asked. "Why?" "Let's just say that your arrival here was predestined." "What the hell are you talking about, old man?" Robert said, rather sharply. "Now, there's no need to raise your voice at me. I mean you no harm." Nick spoke up, "Then why are you here?" "My task is to give you some guidance." "Guidance?" Zelda asked, repeating the old man. "What guidance could you offer us? You don't know anything about us!" Robert exclaimed. "On the contrary, I know a great deal," he paused, "Robert." "How did you know his name?" John demanded to know. "I know all about you, and your journey." "Tell us what we need to know," Nick demanded. "Very well, I will relay my information to you. Let's go inside, shall we?" Without waiting for a response, the old man rose to his feet and walked into the house. The four travelers remained outside, unsure whether to follow him or not. "I don't want to go in there," Zelda finally said. "I don't think we have a choice, Princess," Nick admitted. "If he knows so much about us, then maybe, just maybe, he'll be of use to us." "Well never know if we stand out here, though," John said, repeating what Nick had said earlier. They all nodded to each other, indicating that they were ready to enter. With one last breath, Robert led the way inside. |