Chapter IX: The Shadow

The temple was not exactly as Link remembered it, mainly due to the fact that during his original quest he had spent more than half of the time lost or going in the wrong direction. In fact, had it not been for Navi’s guidance he probably would have spent the rest of his life down there trying to find the way out. He was at least comforted by the lack of booby traps, Tektites, spikes and rotating shell blades flying after him.

As Link sat down to remove his iron boots in the main corridor after having pulled himself from the watery entranceway, Navi flew out from under his hat and joined Sheik, who was standing at the mouth of the corridor and looking out into the main chamber of the temple, wringing the water from his platinum blond hair. “I hope that the three lower levels being flooded is a good thing,” he said to the fairy as he stared down at the submerged floors beneath the platform they were standing on.

Link appeared behind them and added, “And let us hope you remember where the chamber of illusions is, Navi.”

“It’s down in the basement,” she replied pertly.

“I don’t think I can hold my breath that long,” Sheik muttered.

“I’m only fooling you,” the fairy said. “I have no idea what level it’s on.”

There was a long silence and two very shocked-to-the-point-of-being-sick faces staring back at her. Navi laughed. “You actually believe I forgot? Honestly, men are the most gullible creatures to walk the earth.”

“Oh ha ha,” Link said with anemic humor. “Very funny.”

“We love you, Navi,” Sheik smiled sarcastically.

“All right, all right, don’t be cross,” the fairy said. “The chamber is on this level, so thankfully we won’t have to perform any aquabatics for the time being. Now come along!”

Link began to follow but halted when Sheik stepped in front of him. “There may be an ambush waiting around any corner; you should let me walk in front.”

“Oh really? I always thought it was the straggler in the back who gets picked off first.”

“You’re just saying that.”

The Hylian made a sweeping gesture with his arm and said, “Of course I am. Age before beauty.”

Sheik laughed dryly. “And how old are you, Link?”

“Sixteen,” he replied quickly, though he had no certain idea. He simply chose the youngest age he could think of without appearing ridiculous.

“Really?” Sheik commented as they both followed Navi across the main chamber. “I would have guessed younger.”

“I’m sure you would have, old man,” Link teased with a sly grin.

“Old man?” Sheik echoed in mock-offense. “I’m barely twenty years old.”

“That’s still old.”

“To a seventeen year-old, it must be.”

“Sixteen. I said I was sixteen.”

“Of course. And I was born yesterday. No, Link. You’re seventeen. Going to be eighteen in a few months.”

Link stopped Sheik. “How do you know my age? Did you know my parents? Tell me!”

The Sheikah’s expression became soft with sympathy when he saw the desperation in the young man’s blue eyes. “No, sadly, I did not. But I seem to have a sixth sense when it comes to guessing peoples’ ages.” He placed a hand to his chest, over the red symbol. “The Eye of Truth sees everything.”

Link reached over and put his hand over Sheik’s, and he whispered sullenly, “Can you?”

“. . . Sometimes,” the Sheikah replied, lost in Link’s gaze for what seemed like an eternity, icy blue but burning with a heated fervor unlike any eyes he had ever seen before.

“EXCUSE ME.”

The two young men snapped back to reality, dropping their hands and taking a step away from each other. “Yes, Navi?” Link grumbled.

“In case you had forgotten about our mission,” she coughed conspicuously, “I’ve found the door that leads to the maze of rooms, and the chamber of illusions. Unless you and Sheik would like to stand here and make pretty eyes at each other all night, I suggest you follow me.”

They both turned a little red then. Link took up position behind Sheik as Navi led the way. “Bloody fairies,” he muttered.

The way to the chamber was difficult and slow-going, past the cascading falls and through the puzzling room filled with dragon statues. Navi flew easily enough, scouting ahead in case of danger and encouraging her two human companions that it was not much further. Sheik seemed better suited for the journey, springing nimbly from platform to platform like a graceful deer, landing lightly and soundlessly. Link tried not to feel embarrassed for himself as he jumped and teetered and scrambled, aware of just how clumsy and clunky he must appear.

“My, is anyone else getting the impression that no one was intended to go where we are going?” Link panted with heavy sarcasm after just having slammed himself into a pillar for the umpteenth time due to his bleary recollection when it came to operating the longshot.

Sheik crouched down to where Link sat upon the marble floor, saying, “Steady now. We’re almost there.”

“You’ve been saying that since we started.”

“What better way to encourage someone?”

“I don’t know. I just hope you mean it this time.” Link sighed, exhausted, and rested his head again the Sheikah’s shoulder. “I’m so tired . . . I just want to get this over with.”

Sheik frowned slightly and allowed the Hylian a few moments’ rest, murmuring almost to himself, “I wonder if you are not feeling the effects of the shadow as we draw closer?”

“It’s the middle of the damned night outside,” Link said. “And it’s already been such a long day.”

“Indeed.”

Navi appeared from above, exclaiming, “I’ve found the door! It’s up here!”

“Come along, Junior.” Sheik gave Link a gentle shake, stirring him and helping him to his feet. “Wake up. That’s it. Be alert. Be prepared.” He patted Link’s cheeks sharply with the back of his hand.

“Is he all right?” Navi asked worriedly.

“He’s fine. Just a little drowsy.”

“I’m awake. All right, I’m awake!” he cried angrily, swatting away Sheik’s hand. “You can stop slapping me already.”

“Sorry. It felt natural,” he replied cattily.

Link had to resist the urge to stick his tongue out; Sheik gave him a boost up to the platform above them. Once they had both climbed over, all three travelers gazed at the large door at the other end in silence.

“Well, Link,” the fairy said. “Are you ready to face your shadow for the second time?”

With a natural grace, the young man slowly drew the Master Sword from its sheath and pulled his shield onto his arm, bolstering his resolution and filling his heart with courage. “I am,” he said with assurance. “And it shall be for the last time.”

The door opened with a rusty creak and then was still. Though the temple was dark and shadowy, a light like that of misty morning greeted their eyes, and a great waft of heavy mist came rolling out to pool around their feet, the scent of still water with it. Sheik nodded to Link, allowing him to enter first; they each followed after him, until they stood upon a small dais overlooking shallow water that stretched off into an unknown horizon, obstructed by fog and cloud.

“Déjà vu,” Link whispered.

“Power still lingers here,” Sheik said softly, gazing around in wonder. “This place is a world of its own, or simply a futile attempt at one. It was as if the Goddesses had used it as a rough basis for the world in which we live now. I feel . . . such sadness around us, such mourning . . .” He trailed off, unable to complete his thoughts.

“Such longing,” Link finished.

“You feel it as well?”

“No. I . . . am it.” As if in a trance, the Hylian stepped off the dais and into the water that came just halfway up his boots. He walked into the mist, saying as he went, “It is calling me back.”

“Link, wait!” Navi cried, but he had already vanished, swallowed by the pillows of fog.

Sheik cursed softly and jumped into the water after him, searching blindly and unable to call to him for fear of their presence being made known.

Link’s feet moved of their own accord, deeper into the fog that parted as he walked through it. His head was light and he felt the fatigue overtake him several times; he forced himself to clear his mind and remain conscious of what he was doing. As he scanned the mist, his skin prickled with the eerie sensation that he knew not what lay beyond the next wall of cloud; the whole world may have come to an end on the other side, and he may plunge down into nothingness, falling for ever and ever. He didn’t know what to expect, fearing that perhaps the shadow he had faced—so long ago it seemed—had mutated and become a fearsome predator that was hunting him, watching him this very moment.

Link walked faster onwards, into the pale void of water and mist, his heart pounding and his breath coming in gasps. As the fear reached a pinnacle in his frantic mind, he suddenly thought he saw a dark shape to his left and ahead of him a few yards. He slowed himself, taking careful, quiet steps toward it, trying as hard as he could not to disturb the water. His left hand tightly gripped his sword, and the shield strapped to his arm felt suddenly very heavy.

And, like a ghost materializing before him, the slender trunk of a dark tree came into view, the same tree Link remembered seeing the last time. Only this time, it was not unchanged; for when before its limbs and branches were barren and twisted like the fingers of skeletons reaching toward an unseen heaven, it was now filled full with green leaves and small, delicate white and pale pink flowers who peppered their petals into the water around its small island.

Link lowered his sword and opened his mouth in awe, approaching it with stunned silence. It was a lovely tree, indeed, and the very last thing he expected to see here in this blanched, dreary room of sad illusions.

Do you like it? I made it just for you.

Those words ran through Link’s head and left him puzzled. What had provoked that? Was it his imagination?

Have you come to stay?

What was going on?

Please don’t go. I have waited so long for you.

“Stop it!” Link shouted, turning about, searching for a source he could strike. “What are you doing to me?” He spun frantically like a cornered animal, feeling helpless and completely at the mercy of whatever was out there.

Do not be afraid . . . You have nothing to fear.

“Show yourself! I know you’re out there!”

There came no response from inside Link’s head, and he prepared himself for meeting whatever was there in the mist with him, his stance ready to strike and his heart racing. It would most likely be a sudden attack like it had been the first time, he thought with his warrior’s mind. It will probably be an attack from the rear, where he was unguarded and vulnerable…unless his enemy could read his mind, in which case he could easily expect a frontal assault. Which direction would it come from? How will it strike? How could Link possibly counter a blow when he was lost, disoriented and blinded by fog? What could he do? How had he become separated from his companions? If only Navi were there with him!

Link saw movement in the corner of his eye, and instinctively threw his full attention toward it, sword raised in defense and shield held ready. A dark silhouette appeared within the curtain of mist, taking slow, cautious steps in Link’s direction. The Hylian withheld his attack in confusion, wondering if this was some sort of mischievous devilry, a cunning trick. But where was the attack?

“Come out where I can see you,” Link ordered.

The silhouette obeyed, and Link could see the small waves roll across the water’s surface as it approached. Keeping his eyes fixated on the figure as it drew nearer, the young warrior braced himself for anything.

But nothing could have prepared him for what happened next.

A young man with ebony black hair, gray eyes like steel, and a kind, gentle expression took a few more timid steps and then stopped a few yards from Link, blinking rapidly and staring back at him in awed wonder. The Hylian very nearly let his sword slip from his hands, gazing back at his shadowy twin with mutual amazement. His tunic looked ancient and ragged, fraying at the hems and soaked with dew. Dirt smudged the pale cheeks of the youth, giving him the appearance of some shipwrecked wretch that had been lost on an island for years. He was unarmed, carried no sword or shield, yet he still wore the black leather sword gloves that were a grim copy of Link’s own. He was truly his twin, only dark and disheveled and dirty and positively pitiful-looking. Yet toward him, Link felt no pity.

The shadow’s bottom lip quivered as he opened his mouth and said in a deep, breathy whisper, “I knew you would return again. I’ve . . . waited for so long-” He took another step toward Link but the Hylian brandished his sword out, causing the shadow to stop in his tracks, a frightened and confused look on his face. “Master? Please, I mean no ha-”

“Shut up,” Link snapped. “I killed you!”

To his surprise, the shadow smiled. A smile of pure joy. “No,” he said. “You gave me life.”

A wave of light-headedness hit Link like a physical blow. His vision blurred and his head rolled as he struggled to remain conscious. His arms went limp and he tried to breathe, gasping for air as if it were being robbed from his lungs. And suddenly the shadow was before him. Link could smell the scent of musty, stale cloth and stagnant water as the dark haired young man placed his warm hand to Link’s cold cheek, cupping it gently and lovingly as he whispered words that Link’s ears did not hear. His mind was swimming and he closed his eyes.

He felt an arm encircle his waist, pulling him against a warm body burning beneath cold, wet clothes. Living flesh. A heartbeat. How could this be? A hand placed itself to the small of his back, and he heard a trembling sigh, felt it against his neck, warm also. Something was flowing out of Link like blood, though he felt no pain. It was much deeper than blood, like something from his soul. A force.

He’s sucking out my soul, Link thought helplessly, feeling his consciousness weave in and out like tree limbs swaying in the breeze. He struggled to open his eyes. Flower petals raining down. Was he falling as well? No, his legs had given out from underneath him, and his shadow was holding him up.

Link opened his eyes again, and found himself staring into the colorless gray irises of his shadow, who had tears welling in his eyes and pale trails from the ones that had already rolled down his dirty cheeks. Their faces were so close together that Link could not focus his eyes upon him.

“Master . . .” the shadow breathed, and Link tasted his breath on his tongue.

Why am I not resisting?

Lulled into a sleepy numbness, Link could only moan softly and he felt a pair of soft lips descend upon his own. Just then, he heard his own name. Someone was calling to him!

In a flash the Hylian’s head was cleared from the spell holding him captive; his eyes snapped open and he was instantly aware that he was in the arms of his shadow, their mouths pressed together in a shallow kiss. A rainbow of passionate and furious emotion went ripping through Link’s body as he jerked his head away, and with a cry of, “Get off!” he brought his shield up and into his foe with a smash, sending the shadow sprawling backwards into the water a good two paces.

An angry hue of crimson burnt its way onto Link’s face as his twin, stunned but uninjured, scrambled to his feet with a splash. “H-how . . . dare you!” Link sputtered. “You-! You-!”

Suddenly from the wall of mist behind him, Sheik burst through and leapt to Link’s side, Navi flying in hot pursuit. “We heard you shouting and came as fast as we—gods!” He laid eyes upon the dark Link and with a quick motion of his arms, drew three needle-sharp blades from between the fingers of each hand, poised to throw them at the figure.

“Don’t!” the shadow cried, still reeling from the mighty blow and raising a hand before him in an attempt to halt a possible onslaught. “Please, do not hurt me! I mean none of you harm!”

Sheik’s mouth dropped open and his single visible eye went wide. “It is the living darkness,” he uttered.

The shadow sobbed for breath and placed a hand to his chest, wincing. “Master hurt me . . . Why? Master . . .”

“Does he mean, you, Link?” the Sheikah asked.

“I am not his master,” the Hylian seethed, still bright red with anger and humiliation.

The shadow looked up at him and grinned weakly. “But you are,” he said. “For you are my light, my keeper. My salvation.”

“My word,” Sheik murmured.

“You can talk now!” Navi noted with wonder, flying about the shadow to examine him more closely.

“I never knew I had a voice until the Master released me from the chains of evil,” the shadow said as he cast a look of complete adoration toward Link. “When he freed me I found my tongue, and since then I have practiced his words so that . . . when he returned, I would be able to tell him how grateful I am, and how I plan to spend the rest of my life beside him.”

“What?” Link gaped. “I didn’t free-! You-!” He narrowed his eyes and pointed his finger accusingly at his dark twin. “You are not spending any amount of time beside me, that much is certain.”

“In fact,” said Sheik levelly. “He was sent here to destroy you.”

“Destroy me?” the shadow’s face grew pale with fear as he gazed at Link, a look of betrayal causing his bottom lip to tremble. “But why does the Master wish that?”

Link raised the Master Sword slowly and took a step forward, his features grim and his hand steady. “I’m sure your maker will tell you once I send you to join him.”

The shadow darted backwards in barely enough time to avoid having his head taken off as the great sword clove horizontally through the air; but he was not so fast as to avoid being shallowly slit from his right cheek to the bridge of his nose. A few strands of dark hair, neatly trimmed by the razor sharp blade, fluttered down to the water below as the shadow cried out in shock and placed a hand over his face, stumbling back with a loud splash.

“Master!” he pleaded. “Don’t strike! I shall do anything you wish of me if you but tell me first!”

Link wasn’t listening. As he prepared to move in and finish what he had started, Navi flew into his face and momentarily blinded him. Fighting the instinct to swat her away like an insect, Link cursed, “Damn it! Get out of the way, Navi!”

“Link, stop!” she cried. “Something is wrong! Look! His blood!”

The Hylian lowered his sword and stared at his unarmed shadow, still holding his face in his hand. Between the parted fingers, red blood was flowing down across his knuckles. Bright, living, red blood, as rich as the color of rubies. It was then that Link saw the precise tear in the black leather of his twin’s gloved hand, and with a flash he recalled the first strike he made—so long ago—that had sent his opponent’s sword flying from his hand, and the black blood that had run from the wound.

Link gazed down at the legendary sword in his hand, its tip bearing the faintest smear of red. Looking back up at his old foe, he uttered, “What are you?”

The shadow threw himself to his knees in the water and cried, “Master! Please do not kill me, I beg you! I would never harm you! Forgive me for my past-!”

“It was not your fault,” Sheik spoke, almost as if in question, as he stood by Link’s side, gazing down at the creature of shadow.

The Hylian turned to stare at the Sheikah as if he were out of his mind. “Are you insane?” he demanded.

Sheik took Link by the shoulder and led him away from the shadow, then leaned in close and whispered to him, “You know as well as I that Ganondorf was powerful enough to seduce minds into obeying his orders.”

“You think that’s what happened to him?”

“I can’t be certain,” Sheik said. “But I know enough that evil beings do not plead for their lives. This creature is no longer evil.”

“But he was evil before,” Link whispered back. “He cannot be trusted. He must be destroyed, just to be safe.”

“But he’s obviously not evil now.”

“How sure can you be? I say we slay first and ask questions later.”

“That kind of attitude is asking for trouble.”

“What if you’re wrong, Sheik?”

“And what if I’m right? You will have taken an innocent life, Link. All that you have slain, you have done so out of justice. But this is murder, Link. How will you sleep knowing that you have murdered someone?”

“And what if I’m right?” Link demanded. “What if he’s been festering down here all these years and become so saturated with hatred and evil that he’s become as good a deceiver as Ganondorf? What if he’s waiting for us to free him from this prison so that he can go wreak his havoc above ground?”

Sheik stabbed a finger in the shadow’s direction. “Does that frightened and injured man over there pose that much of a threat to your life right now that you would murder him in cold blood without a second thought?”

“Listen, that so-called ‘frightened and injured man’ is a being that was created by Ganondorf. Ganondorf, Sheik!”

“Does that give you reason enough to cut him down as if he were nothing?”

“Are you actually sympathizing with a minion of evil?”

“I sympathize with all living creatures who have a divine right to live.”

blasphemy that the Goddesses created lives that were destroyed by Ganondorf’s evil, and yet his own sick creation is allowed to live. To think that that abomination is to be shown mercy when Ganondorf’s victims were not. It’s so—I, I cannot stand it! I will not bear this burden, not for you, not for Zelda, not for anyone! The shadow must die.”

Sheik crossed his arms over his chest and said calmly, “What’s stopping you, Link? Go on. Kill him. Just know that a murderer is a murderer, whether you’ve killed one or a hundred.”

Link turned away slightly, too angry and confused to answer.

“Ganondorf was a murderer, too,” Sheik murmured. “Do you honestly want that weighing on your conscience? Or do you even have one, I wonder?”

The Hylian faced his friend with lips drawn thin, and a helpless expression of frustration on his fair face. “How dare you even say that to me.”

“I apologize, but someone had to say it.”

“I have a conscience.”

“Then use it. You’ve shown mercy to those like Ingo and Nabooru, people whose minds were taken over by Ganondorf’s evil. Why do you not show mercy to your own shadow?”

“Because,” Link said lowly, “the Goddesses meant for there to be only one of me, not two.”

The two young men gazed across the way at the nameless being, still on his knees in the water and watching their conversation with both worry and hope upon his face.

Link turned to the Sheikah and muttered, “I don’t know what to do with him. For the first time in my life I am unable to discern friend from foe. Though my mind tells me that we can’t trust him, my heart wishes we could. Why, I don’t know. All I know is that, be he evil or not, I don’t have the wisdom or the authority to decide whether this creature should live or die.”

“Then we need to take him to somebody who does,” Sheik replied. “Someone who can judge him and make a decision.” He placed a confident hand upon Link’s shoulder. “The Sages will know what to do with him.”

The Hylian nodded. “The Sages . . .” He sheathed his sword and called to his dark twin, “Get up. You’re coming back with us.”