Episode 10
Between Heaven and Hell part 1: the Malicious Assassin
The door slowly opened, creaking almost as if time was slowing. Link covered his eyes as the area hall was submerged in light. The light eventually receded, allowing the team to see into the brightly lit sanctum. Inside, literally hundreds of benches sat in rows, all forming straight aisles to the large podium. On the podium, a large book sat, with a rose in the middle like a bookmark. The ceiling was towering and domed, with many beautiful drawings and paintings that all led up to a mural of the three goddesses. There were two mammoth brass pipe organs all of which had pipes that stretched to the dome ceiling. There was an odd humming, one like the temple of time. Link believed it was the song of the Goddesses, one which was peaceful yet demanding. Toray and Deity stared in awe, but Jabrow and Link stood with a stone glare on their faces.
“It way to calm in here…” Jabrow muttered. Link nodded, and began to scan the room, seeing if there was anything out of the ordinary.
“So! I see that even a holy setting like this can’t calm down the four great swordsmen who tracked me!” An authoritative voice yelled. Suddenly, the humming began to slow, and the melody to the humming got darker and darker. The light in the room began to fade, starting the top, and lowering to the bottom. Link began to stir, but not panic. The moment had finally arrived when the light had fully faded. Now, in the shadowy sanctum, a silhouette appeared near the altar. It was tall, with odd shapes protruding from the shoulders. A huge hilt could be seen, even in the darkness. And the last that could be seen was a set of glowing orbs, more than likely, the eyes.
“So, you’re the man who snuck into my head! Well, can’t let ya get away with that, now can I?” Link stated, very arrogantly.
“Hum…it’s good to see a solider with good humor! That’s very rare! I’m guessing that you’re Link, the Hero of Time!” Link’s smug exterior dropped as Haku said that. Haku saw right through his intimidation act.
“Hmm…no need for formalities! Let’s get right down to business!” Toray said, unsheathing his sword.
“So, you there, the half Palinon! You’re Toray, aren’t you?” Haku asked. His silhouette seemed to turn to where the man was completely visible.
“Yeah, what of it?” Toray said, trying to get Haku mad.
“Nothing…it’s just sad to see a depleted man as yourself! I almost pity you, for you have never had it easy! You, a person who is born with noble blood can’t even claim his seat as the king of Palis! Also, you have been overshadowed by every rival you ever had! No matter what the occasion, you were always second best! First, it was to your own brother…then to Link, and even to Deity and Jabrow! You’ve stood by and allowed yourself to be known as the second rate fighter! Do you truly think that Link sees you as an equal?!” Haku said, trying to strike a cord in Toray’s mind, “Also, I seem to have found out a different little trail in your life…Your wife, Pamela…is barren! She can never give birth to a child! For some odd reason…you still married the worthless woman! Maybe it was the fact that your didn’t want Link to get to far ahead of you in the game of life as well!”
“Haku…leave Pamela out of this !I don’t know how you knew that, but for your information, I married her because I love her! Her good things and her bad!” Toray yelled.
“Hey, do you think that by getting us mad, you can stop us? We came to far to be stopped now!” Deity yelled.
“Well, so the Fierce Deity himself wants to speak. Y’know, it’s odd to see you say how far you’ve come…when you can’t even overcome your fear of Zelda. Your love for her drives you mad…and you can’t do anything about it. She holds your heart…and she has stepped on it! Deity…maybe you should stop trying to overcome your past, and falling in love…You should return to being the fearsome Fierce Deity, the man whose sword is stained with the blood of hundreds!” Haku said, trying the same tactic on Deity. Deity clenched his fists, and growled slightly.
“Oh, ho! I’m not done yet! I still have to get Jabrow!” Haku yelled, obviously enjoying his torment.
“Hmm, so your gonna bring the worst out of all of us? Well, there’s nothing that can be said that will deter me from my goal! Even if you could reach my past, I can’t be distracted! I’m a Palinon!” Jabrow yelled.
“Oh yes? Well, picture this! You have always been the one who everyone looked up to! You were a talented warrior, and a great leader…but you never took the time to realize your own skills! You were always down on yourself because of the mistakes that you made! You hated yourself because of the choices that you made! You knew that your actions would have a hellacious effect on others! I won’t tell everyone what the mistake is…but that mistake cost Lena her sanity! She’s plunged so far into darkness and grief that she no longer can hate you for what you did! She doesn’t know how to anymore!” Haku cackled. Jabrow clenched his fists, and his hair began to wave upwards. Link glanced at Jabrow, and noticed that his eyes were hollow, except for the two golden outlines where the pupils would be.
“He’s beginning the transformation…” Link stammered. Link could feel the wind flowing from Jabrow’s body.
“He truly believes that by trying to use his godly bloodline, he can defeat me. Fool…Now, the one and only Link. Let’s see, you’re the hard case… It would be much easier to show you your mistakes!” And with that, Haku raised his hands into the air and held it there. Link looked at the ceiling, and saw the omen. The middle of the roof became brighter and brighter, and the area around it became blue, like the sky. Link looked around, and the group was no longer standing in the Sky Temple, but in a large field, with a somewhat rickety fence and dozens of horses running around the pen.
“Lon-Lon Ranch?” Link muttered. He looked around the illusion, trying to see what he was supposed to see. In the middle of the field, two illusions began to waver into view. It was Link and Malon, bother were laughing and Link was holding two large suitcases. Malon held onto Link’s arm as she laughed.
“Looks peaceful? Malon’s happy, you’re happy, you’re all about to leave Hyrule on a three week vacation, but, watch…as your sense of duty screws everything up!” Haku’s voice echoed in. Link then watched as an illusion of a royal guard ran up to Link and Malon.
“Link, there has been a small skirmish in the market. Zelda is away, and all we have are new recruits. They don’t even know how to fill a report out! It would be a lot easier if you came and sorted out the issue,” The guard informed. Link’s mind burned as he remembered this moment. He had decided to sort the issue out, which had taken longer then expected. When he got back, Malon had unpacked everything, and called of the vacation.
“Malon, I have to go…” Link’s illusion said.
“But Link, you promised that we could spend some time together, no interruptions! C’mon, he’s a senior officer…he can handle it,” Malon pleaded.
“I’m sorry…hey, If I get back before noon, we’ll leave, no hesitation.” Link’s illusion said, and then it ran off.
“I know…but you say that every time…” Malon’s illusion stated no louder then a whisper. She stared as Link ran with the guard, and her eyes began to water, “Why is it that everything always comes before me and Tele…Link…” The real Link wanted to run to Malon and beg for forgiveness. He wanted to take her anywhere…and be by her side, and no one else’s…but as he began to step to the illusion, the dark form of Haku appeared behind Malon.
“All she wants is to be with you, but you always leave her like this. I bet that thoughts of you partying with the many beautiful women in Hyrule crossed her mind right then…You know…I bet she could deal better with a good husband…one that would treat her like the queen she is…one name Haku,” Haku slithered his hand to her face, and began rubbing his evil palm across her cheek. Link’s eyes began to narrow, and his breathing increased. His fists clenched, his nails felt like they were breaking through the gloves and cutting his palms. Haku laid a kiss to the forehead of Malon’s illusion, and Link’s eyes widened. His soul was no longer thirsting for victory, his entire being wanted Haku’s blood.
“Haku…” Was the only word Link could muster. His green aura began to appear all around his body, as he began to get stronger and stronger.
“Link…Don’t do it…” Link heard a voice in his head. He snapped out of his near devilish condition, and looked to see who was calming him.
“Hey, you moron, you can’t let him get on your bad side!” Link heard Toray’s voice say.
“Yeah, you lose focus, then you’ll end up six feet in dirt,” Deity’s voice said.
“Come on, mister Hero of Time! You’re supposed to be able to avoid losing your cool. He said things to the rest of us, and yeah, we got mad! But listen to us now! We’re ready to fight, because we got over what he said! Besides, who is he to judge anything you do! He’s just trying to show you your faults, but because of hid dark thoughts, he’ll never know one truth that you do know!” Jabrow’s voice interjected.
“Yeah…you’re right! Haku, you can show me all of my mistakes…but what you don’t understand is that I can make up for my mistakes! I can make things better! Watch Haku! Watch as I defeat you! I’ll show you that no matter what the evils are, you can atone for them!” Link’s entire mind set of killing escaped him, and his eyes returned to the way they were. His aura didn’t disappear, yet is exploded. The illusion of the ranch returned to being the reality of the Relic Sanctum. Behind him, Jabrow, Toray, and Deity were all glowing their aura colors.
“Listen, Jabrow, it’s time to engage this idiot! It’s time to see if your bloodline truly does belong to the God of Light! I need you to transform during the fight, all right?” Jabrow nodded with Link’s statement.
“So, even though you know that I am the God of Darkness himself, and you know that your only way of defeating me is an unlikely hunch, you still wish to fight?” Haku asked, with a confused voice.
“Haku…no matter what you think…we’re not fighting because of a hunch…we’re fighting because of our hopes and dreams! Dreams for the future, and hopes of the present! You wanna know what my dream is? I wanna defeat you, the stay with my wife!” Link yelled.
“You’re throwing your lives away, you fools! You’ll never have a chance against a god like me!” Haku yelled. His body began to float, higher and higher into the sanctum. He stopped right in front of a huge statue of the Dark Triforce, and looked down at Link. His body was slowing being covered by a dark cloud, but the wisps of smoke began to circulated around him. The smoke around his arms hardened and became a lustrous black armor. The same happened to his chest and legs. Two large horns protruded from his back, and curved to the floor. More smoke circulated around his head, and it hardened into a spiky black helmet that covered his mouth but not his eyes. Horns began to push through his shoulders, and one even began to rise from the center of his forehead. Haku held his hand out, and when he did, the humming in the sanctum resumed, but this time, it was very fast, and sounded like a dark march A dark light radiated from his hand, ad when the light cleared, a sword made of black crystal materialized in his palm. He grasped the sword, and looked down at the group, very satisfied.
“Come, and I’ll show you how futile your existence is!” Haku yelled.
“This is it, there’s no looking back, I can’t lose now! I won’t lose now!” Toray yelled. He materialized his Helix sword, and prepared for battle.
“Yeah, he’s strong, yes, but he doesn’t have our will to survive!” Deity joined in, and he did the same as Toray.
“Lena…I won’t lose to you Haku…Lena…would never have peace if I did!” Jabrow yelled. He pulled his entire sword and scabbard from his back. He unsheathed the sword, and held on to it in his right hand, in the left, he held his sheathe like a sword.
“You keep on telling yourselves that! I’ll enjoy killing you all!” Haku retorted.
“You can say all you want…but we all have an incredible will to live, and all for different reasons…You can try and kill us, but you’ll be burying your own grave…and if that’s what you want, then I’ll give you a hand!” Link yelled. Haku dropped down, and got into his fighting stance. Link unsheathed the Sword of Eternity and lowered his knees into his stance. The two sides stared each other down, neither one willing to lose to the other.
