A Terminian and the Twilight of Danger (MM/OoT Fanfic)

Variants

Hey all! This is where the 'horror' aspects of the story finally begins. I'm really proud of it! Enjoy!
-Jooostan

A Terminian and the Twilight of Danger
Chapter 7: Variants

Link arose slowly, looking around. His mind felt hazy, but he was met with the image of his room. When he sat all the way up, he was blinded by the sun peeking through his window. Getting out of bed, he left the room, his eyes squinted.

Link took a second to situate himself. Something felt wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Finally deciding everything was alright, he left the bedroom and descended down the stairs to get some breakfast.

"Mom? Dad?" Link called out. No response.

"Romani? Jim? Skull Kid?" Link hollered as he walked through the living room. Still nothing.

Then he heard a faint crawling sound. A shiver crawled down his spine and he spun around. Squinting his eyes again, they darted around, searching for whatever made the noise. He heard it again, now closer. He went into a defensive position and considered reaching for something to use as a weapon. His heartbeat started to pound in his ears, but he still couldn't see what was making him go mad.

Finally, the crawling stopped. Relaxing, he lowered his guard, but was suddenly knocked to the ground. He rolled over, and as he did, the room changed. The wall morphed into deep wood, and the floor became covered with webs. Now the horrible sound was above him. Now he recognized where he was.

Inside the Great Deku Tree. In the lair of one of the only creatures he feared. Looking up towards the ceiling, he greeted his old adversary.

"Gohma..." Link said, looking at the spider queen. The creature who killed the only father figure Link had before Kafei then spotted him, and a deafening roar came forth.

Gohma landed on the ground with a thud, and its yellow eye never wandered. Link reached for his sword, but an expression of horror grew when he realized he had no weapon.

The parasitic arachnid charged and swiped at Link, sending him flying. He crashed into the wall and fell to the ground. Slowly getting up, he was slammed right back down again by Gohma's armored appendage. Picking the hero up by his foot, it gazed into his eyes as he dangled about. The queen took one of her free arms and slashed Link's chest, tearing the tunic and his skin.

Gohma threw Link again, and he slid across the ground before finally hitting the wall all the way on the other side of the arena.

The teen clutched his wound and looked at it. The hole in his tunic was now a deep red, and he tried in vain to stand. When Gohma grabbed his torso and lifted him up, an overwhelming feeling of helplessness consumed him.

"D-Damn it!" He yelped.

Facing Gohma again, Link struggled to free at least one arm. Once it came loose, he waited for the creature to bring him a little closer to her face. When he was in range, he punched the spider right in the eye. He didn't fall from her grasp, but the arachnid queen recoiled and slammed her eyelid shut. The teen in green laughed at the beast's pain. It was better than crying out in agony.

However, Link wasn't ready for what happened next. Gohma slowly turned back to the hero and opened her eye. A number of thin tentacles appeared from behind the spider and stabbed into and through the boy's arms. They grew hooks and dug into the opposite sides of his limbs, ensuring they couldn't be removed.

Link was brought even closer to Gohma's eye. Then, the eye itself opened, presenting many rows of teeth. Blood and saliva hung about within its mouth and a low groan came forth.

All Link could do was widen his eyes and scream. He never felt so afraid. As he yelled, a thick strand of hair on the left side of his head started to change. It went white with fear. When it finished, his golden locks were normal from right to left, but abruptly ended. A streak of his hair, about an inch wide, had become entirely silver.