Chapter 21 Fallen to temptations…

Chapter 21

 

Fallen to temptations……

 

 

‘Dahrin.’

........

‘Dahrin, my son; wake up.’

 

Dahrin opened his eyes and gasped a breath into his air deprived body. It hurt to breathe past his bruised throat but he gulped in another breath and then another. He glanced over his shoulder and saw teeth. He curled and felt something brush him. He landed hard on the stone floor of the cavern. The monsters fought each other to be the only one to eat him. Panicked he felt his energy gather and a shield envelope him as some of the monsters bit to see if they could get a mouthful.

He cried out in fear as more tried and also used their claws to get through the shield. He watched in horror as cracks started to appear from the pressure.

 

‘Let me come out to play.’

 

Dahrin thought he was going crazy, he couldn’t have heard a voice in this racket. His oxygen deprived brain was messing with him.

 

‘Let me help you, if you don’t you will die and I have nowhere to go so I will as well.’

 

“Who is that?” Dahrin asked out loud.

 

‘You know who I am. I’m your true self. My dear Dahrin.’

 

Dahrin looked to the left and saw…Dahrin staring back at him, except this Dahrin was different. The only thing Dahrin could think of to describe him was evil. Eyes of black, like Sheik’s when he used his sage powers, stared calmly into his amber ones.

“Let me save you, Dahrin.” He purred holding out his hand towards him. Dahrin started to stretch out his hand but hesitated.

“NO!”

Dahrin jerked his hand back and looked to his right and saw another Dahrin. This one was normal looking, except for the bright orange eyes.

Dahrin looked back at Black, who was an inch away from his face.

“You ready for this my sweet?” Black purred. Dahrin looked at him confused and then felt a sudden pain pierce through his heart. He looked to see Black’s hand sticking into his chest. A black mist crept its way over Dahrin and completely enveloped him.

The monsters cried in hungry anticipation as the spirit shield collapsed.

 

Lara smiled as she heard the screams of the dying, then stopped when she realized some of them were coming from behind her and belonged to her monsters. She turned in time to see the pile that had jumped on Ganondorf’s brat’s body violently blown apart. She covered her face as the gore rained around her.

She looked up to see Dahrin standing there amidst the bodies of her broken monsters, grinning evilly. His eyes were a mixture of orange and black that swirled constantly. He spread his hands and two swords materialized into them.

“Ready for the next dance, my sweet?” Dahrin asked her, his voice wasn’t the same, it echoed in a higher pitch. Lara smirked.

“Of course, my pet.” She stretched out her hand and her own blade materialized.

Dahrin charged, laughing insanely.

 

“Things never go according to plan because we never plan!” Gerad yelled to Sheik as he dodged another tentacle. Sheik laughed as he ran up one of the tentacles to an eye and stabbed his daggers into it.

The monster screamed, from anger or pain Sheik couldn’t tell as he was knocked away by a tentacle. It wrapped around his body and slammed him into the water. Under the water the tentacle squeezed and Sheik cried out.

He looked up to the surface and saw a bright flash of light and the tentacle released its hold on him. He swam as fast as he could to the surface. He scrambled onto the landing and rolled as one of the tentacles slammed into the place he was just at.

Sheik stood up just as Selene threw another light spear at the monster. Sheik bent backwards and the spear barely missed him. He stood back up and moved out of Selene’s line of fire.

“Sorry Sheik!” Selene called to him.

“No problem. You just almost took my nose off is all.” Sheik said back with a smile.

“We’re taking too long!” Sasha called from somewhere to their left.

“Yeah, but there really isn’t anything we can do about that.” Gerad called back from their right.

“What do you suggest we do?” Meria called from right behind Sheik who jumped.

“Weren’t you just over there?” Sheik asked.

Meria chuckled, “Yes.”

A tentacle headed straight for them and there was no where to dodge. Sheik grabbed Meria and they both sank through the shadow. They reemerged out of the shadow of the column by Gerad.

Gerad hacked at one of the tentacles and managed to sever it off. Selene kept shooting light spears as fast as she could. Sheik went through one shadow to another striking at different places on the monster. They all fought long and hard till finally the monster lay in pieces dying around them.

Gerad walked to where Selene stood propped against a column, “How’re you holding up?”

Selene chuckled, “I’m alright. Where’s Sasha?”

“Here.” Sasha called to them from the other side of the landing. Gerad helped Selene stand up and they both headed to where Sasha was. They met up with Sheik and Meria there with Sasha.

“Now what?” Sheik asked.

“I haven’t the faintest idea where Lucius could be in here.” Selene said squatting down to catch her breath. Throwing a lot of spears left her drained.

“I think he’s this way.” Sasha said pointing into the water. Gerad looked to where she was pointing and could just make out a door on the bottom floor.

Gerad shrugged, “Good a place as any to start looking.”

Sasha dove into the water and the rest followed her. They made it to the door and Gerad pulled, it didn’t budge.

“It must be locked.” Selene said.

“Wait, Sheik, can’t you use the shadows to look for Lucius?” Meria asked turning to him.

Sheik thought about it for a bit then nodded, “I don’t see why I couldn’t give it a shot.”

Sheik closed his eyes and gathered his energy; his shadow swelled from the floor and covered him completely. The rest of them waited in silence as he searched.

A few minutes later they heard the door click and Sheik’s shadow slid back onto the floor. He opened his eyes and grinned.

“I found him and I got the doors unlocked.”

“Do you remember the way?” Gerad asked pulling on the door, it still didn’t move. Sheik pushed on it and it slowly opened.

“Yeah, I think so.” Sheik said as he led the way. Gerad rolled his eyes and swam in after him. Sheik led them through doors and corridors and down staircases.

“Why aren’t there any monsters?” Selene asked.

“Maybe that big one ate them all?” Meria suggested.

“Either way, stay alert.” Gerad said as they came to another door at the end of the tunnel they were in. Sheik turned the handle and pulled it open slightly, he peeked through the crack made by the side of the door that was connected to the frame.

“See anything?” Sasha asked.

“Looks clear.” Sheik replied opening the door more so Gerad could get through. Gerad surveyed the circular room with the sandy floor and broken columns as he waited for the others to come in after him.

“Lucius is over there.” Sheik said pointing to the middle of the room.

Gerad nodded his head; he had already seen the crystal chunk with Lucius inside of it.

“Lucius!” Sasha cried seeing him. She swam up to the crystal block and banged on the surface as she screamed his name.

“How do we get him out?” Gerad asked as he ran his hand over the surface of the crystal. The crystal began to hum and Gerad jerked his hand back.

“Well, if it’s what I think it is, we have a problem.” Sasha said calming down a little bit.

“What do you mean?” Meria asked, she, Sheik, and Selene were scouting out the rest of the room. Sasha studied Lucius’s face. He looked so peaceful.

“Well, if this is the crystal seal, one of us has to trade places with him to get him out. Once we do that he should be able to get us out assuming he can get Lara back here to seal her inside of it.” Sasha replied studying the crystal block.

“And if he fails to get her back here?” Selene asked.

“The one inside will be stuck in there till he does. You see the way it works is the person has to be willing to trade places, unless the Water Sage is involved then he can force someone to trade places.”

“And if he dies in the process?” Sheik asked from where he sat on one of the fallen columns.

Sasha turned and gave him a sad smile, “They will be stuck in there for forever.”

She chuckled, “Unless someone else changes places with them.”

“Ok, how do we decide who it’s going to be?” Meria asked.

“There’s no deciding, I’ll do it.” Gerad said looking at Lucius.

“Says who?”

“How come you get to decide?”

“I don’t think so, it should be me.”

Gerad sighed as their protests continued and escalated in volume.

“It can’t be any of you.” Sasha said calmly. Gerad looked at her as the others fell silent.

“Why not?” Meria asked.

“Because only a Zora can trade places, I don’t know why but that’s the way it works.” Sasha replied.

“How do we know you’re telling the truth?” Selene asked her.

Sasha laughed, “You don’t. But I would hope I didn’t ever give you cause to think me a liar.”

“Besides, Lucius is going to need all of your help to defeat Lara and seal her again. I can’t do much, I’m not a warrior. I’m just a sculptor after all.” Sasha said with a smile.

Gerad stared at Sasha. Selene watched her brother, “You can’t be considering this?”

Gerad looked at her, “It’s the only way it seems. And besides I don’t think she’d tell us how to do it, her mind is made up.”

Selene rolled her eyes, “Fine, Sasha, what do we do?”

“First we need to empty the water in here. So you guys can fight better, in case something attacks while I’m working.” Sasha answered.

“Ok, how do we do that?” Sheik asked.

“Well there should be a picture of the royal family of Hyrule somewhere on the bottom floor that controls the water level. See if you can find it like you did earlier.” Sasha suggested.

“Ok.” Sheik said.

“Wait, don’t you need an Ocarina? I remember our father telling us a story from his adventure about the Water Temple.” Gerad asked.

“Do you have one?” Sasha asked him.

“I do.” Selene said digging into one of her pouches. She pulled out a green Ocarina.

“Yeah, that’ll work. Sheik, find it then use your Shadow portal to get Selene there so she can play the song and then come back.” Sasha said.

Sheik nodded and gathered his energy once more. His shadow swelled up as before and they waited for him to finish. Finally his shadow sank back down.

“I found one. Selene, hold onto me tightly, and don’t be scared.” Sheik said with a smile, which was kind of frightening with his black eyes. Selene grabbed Sheik’s hand and he guided her onto his shadow. They sank through and disappeared.

Gerad leaned against one of the stones and waited. It seemed to take forever till finally they heard a noise that sounded like water draining through pipes. The water level in the room lowered to about ankle depth. Gerad was wringing out his clothes when Sheik and Selene appeared from his shadow.

“Welcome back.” Gerad said brushing his wet hair out of his face.

“Thanks.” Selene said wringing out her hair.

They turned to Sasha and Gerad asked her, “Now what?”

Sasha smiled, “Move to the entrance, so you don’t get hurt.”

They followed her instructions and moved to stand by the door. Sasha put her hands on the crystal palms flat. The crystal began to hum and then started to glow. The volume of the hum increased as the light intensified. The rest of them hid their eyes from the light unable to look at it directly. The hum grew so load it started to hurt, just when it almost became unbearable it stopped and the light disappeared.

Gerad looked up to see the crystal still there but Sasha was inside and Lucius was lying on the sandy floor. Gerad ran to Lucius’s side and checked his pulse.

His eyes fluttered open, “Sasha?”

“Um, she’s ok. I think.” Gerad answered him helping him sit up.

Lucius sighed, “She’ll be alright, assuming I don’t fail.”

Gerad helped Lucius stand up as the others came over from the entrance. Lucius put his hand on the crystal and whispered, “I promise I’ll get you out soon.”

Lucius smiled a half smile at them as they came up.

“How are you?” Selene asked.

“I’m fine.” Lucius answered her standing on his own.

“Good.” Selene said then punched him across the face.

“That was for going off on your own you idiot.” Selene said pointing her finger accusingly at him as he rubbed his jaw.

Lucius chuckled, “Sorry.” The others chuckled as Selene rolled her eyes.

“We should get back to Zora’s Domain; we have to save Sasha now.” Meria said.

“I don’t think so.” A voice echoed around the room as the door slammed and locked shut.

Lara materialized on one of the fallen columns and glared at them.

“Great.” Lucius whispered.

“Lara! What are you doing here? And when did you shrink?” Sheik asked.

“That’s Zara.” Lucius corrected him.

Sheik looked at him confused, “You mean there’s two of them?”

“Well, sort of. Lara is part of Zara, who was sealed away a long time ago by a Water Sage.” Lucius answered.

“Is she dangerous?” Meria asked.

Zara stretched out her hands and about twenty spears materialized around her, “You won’t take him from me again!” She pushed her hands in front of herself and the spears came at them.

Sheik and Meria dodged to the right behind a standing column while Gerad, Selene, and Lucius ducked behind a fallen one to the left as the spears rapidly approached. Ducked down behind the column they heard thunks from the other side. Gerad peeked over the top of the column and saw the spears imbedded half way up their shafts.

“Does that answer your question?” Lucius asked.

Reviews

[W.J.Quinn]

Not uninteresting, and I am coming in at an advanced chapter, so picking this up as I go.

You have pace in the writing, you keep it moving, which is something that is often lacking in fantasy adventures.

Your dialogue is quite natural, it doesn't clunk.

I think, however, your points of view could be tightened up. There are, at least, three in this one chapter. It makes for a slightly jarring effect.

It's not entirely clear who we're following in the main, final section. I think there are two chapters here, the first dealing with Dahrin, and the next dealing with Sheik and co.

It's ok to have a short, one-page chapter. And I think it would work nicely.

Interesting though, and I don't mean that negatively at all.

[Dreamer]

Thank you very much for the review. This piece was actually written close to ten years ago, so for you to say it was good makes me very happy :)
I was trying to write the book with the group as the "main character" I believe (if i'm remembering correctly) it begins to focus more on Gerad with POV thrown in sparringly. It has been awhile since I've touched this story. I've been focusing on my Caster book instead since it is original work and not Fan-Fiction like this one :)
But still thank you for the review!!

[W.J.Quinn]

You're welcome! Happy centenary!