Chapter Six
Dinner was boring as usual. The main course was a vegetable soup that Auralii had asked for. Before the soup was a garden salad, and afterwards was a fruit salad, which Kalunera, Sapphira, and Auralii enjoyed, for they were all vegetarians.
Dinner ended a little early, so Auralii grabbed her book and went to relax in an empty antechamber. As she finished the section on the Water Temple (which went back to its normal monotony after the one burst of interesting writing), the door opened and shut with a soft slam. Auralii’s head shot up. “Oh, it’s you,” she said.
“Hello to you, too,” replied Link. “Does Kalunera always do that?”
“Do what?”
“Pick a number between one and ten?”
“Oh, yeah. That’s how she makes decisions.”
“Isn’t she going to be the Queen?”
“Yep.”
“Wow. You know, someday, she’s going to be faced with an important decision, and she’ll have to do it all on her own.”
“That’s what I keep telling her. So, she chased you into here?”
“Sort of. I heard someone ask her a question, and she said, ‘I’ll be right back.’ I had a feeling that if she saw me, I’d have to pick another number.”
Auralii laughed. “Welcome to my world. You get used to it after a while.”
“I don’t know how. What are you reading?” He walked over to her so he could see the cover.
“It’s a book on the six Hyrulean temples. It’s rather dull, but Kalunera bought it for me, and I said I’d read it.”
He looked surprised. “What kind of information does it have?”
“Boring stuff, like the temples’ origins, the guardian sages, specific rooms, legends and rumors. You know, that kind of stuff.” His face held an odd, somehow haunted expression. “What, are you actually interested in this stuff?”
He snapped back into reality. “What? Oh, well, a little. I am from Hyrule, as you might recall. What’s the date on it?”
“This year.”
“Wow. Does it say anything about people making it through the temples?”
“So far, I’ve only read about the Forest, Fire, and Water temples. The Water Temple is the only one where no one has made it out alive. The other two say that people have survived, but only several years ago when Hylians were said to have been stronger.”
“But no one’s survived the Water Temple.”
“Nope. It’s a good thing, too.”
“What makes you say that? Do you even know why people go in there?”
“Not exactly. The book has thus far failed to mention that.”
“Evil people have sent monsters and minions into the temples to mess with things. That way, the places that the temples guard over are filled with turmoil. People go into the temples to destroy the source of black magic, to set things right. So it would be a good thing for a person to even survive a temple, even if they didn’t succeed in righting the wrong.”
“Well, you obviously don’t know about the Lake of Shadows.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s in the Water Temple. It creates an evil shadow of the person who steps across it. The person must defeat their dark self in order to exit the room alive. Once the person dies, though, their shadow dies with them.”
Link’s face went pale. “That’s…that’s terrible. Does it say what happens if the person lives?”
“No one’s ever lived, Link. Wake up.”
“Oh, right. You already said that.” He sat down in a chair beside her. “Let’s get off the subject of temples, shall we?”
“Sure.” Man, he’s really bad at being mysterious. He knows something about the temples, and he’s covering up for it poorly. “So, what’s it like to be a celebrity?”
“Wouldn’t you know? You are a Princess.”
“Yeah, but I’m not the Crown Princess. You, though, you’re famous throughout the kingdoms. Come on, what’s it feel like?”
He sighed. “I just wish that I lived a normal life sometimes.”
“Really? But isn’t it exciting?”
He sounded angry. “Oh, yeah. It’s really exciting. Walking into a dark maze, killing horrifying monsters, knowing that the fate of the world rests on your tired shoulders. There’s no time-out, no break, no day-off. I didn’t even have to apply for this job. And it’s nothing like a good story. There are no guarantees here. You have to win, or die trying.” He sighed. “But there’s nothing I can do. The Goddesses created me for this. I have no choice.” He laughed. “Kalunera would like that. No choices. Although she would be responsible for everyone, but she’ll have to be responsible as Queen, too.”
Auralii suddenly felt guilty. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“It’s just that I’ve always wished for adventure, for something to happen to me. My life is so boring.”
“I know what you’re saying. There is a healthy medium. I just wouldn’t wish for something to happen to me. You have got to be very careful about what you wish for.” A clock struck the hour. “Whoa, it is late. I’m going to bed. See you tomorrow.” He got up and started to walk out of the room.
“Wait for me, I’m coming, too,” she called. She shut the book and hopped out of her chair.
Once she got back to her room, she pulled her hair down and changed into a comfortable nightdress. It wasn’t her favorite one, but the nights were getting chilly, and this one was warmer. As she was about to climb into bed, she heard a sound coming from the balcony. It’s probably some injured little bird again. I’d better go check. She opened the glass door and stepped out onto the cold marble.
“Hmm,” she said to herself. “I could have sworn I heard something.” Maybe it fell of the balcony. How gruesome. She walked to the balustrade slowly. Her footsteps echoed oddly, as if she was stepping in time with someone else. There is something very wrong here. Fear rose up in her, even as she tried to push it away. Finally, it got to her. She turned to go back to her room.
Link stood in front of her, his face devoid of all expression. “Link? What are you doing here?” she asked. Her voice was very unsteady.
He didn’t answer. Before Auralii could say anything else, he made his move. Jumping with an agility she could have never guessed, he landed next to her in a split second. As she began to scream for help, he slapped a reeking cloth across her mouth. As the powerful scent dragged her into darkness, Auralii looked up into eyes that she knew immediately were not Link’s. These red eyes were the last things she saw before she fell into oblivion.