The Legend of Zelda - Endless (Zelink)

Chapter 6

After she'd snapped at me, Zelda continued on for the next few days as if nothing had happened. We'd resumed with our daily activities, Zelda assisting the women of the village with their cooking and looking after the kids, me helping Fado with the goats and spending some time with Rusl. All was harmonious, it seemed. 

One evening, Zelda had gone up to the house before me as she was tired after a long day with the children, so I had sat down along the wooden benches with everyone else to finish dinner. Every Sunday, the whole village sat down to eat dinner together outside. The atmosphere was calm and joyful, and a time that everyone looked forward to. After dinner, we would often sit outside for a couple more hours, chatting to eachother about the good old days. 

"This is lovely, Uli." I said, as usual. Her stew had always been the tastiest. When she didn't reply, I looked up at her to see that she was staring, in utter shock, right ahead  of her, as was everyone else on the opposite side of the table. I slowly twisted round to see what was going on. 

At the top of the village, where the alley from my house ended, was Zelda. She was not alone. 

Next to her, two guards. Seemingly from the castle... but they had a different air about them. There was something dark there. Something that wasn't present within the guards of Castle Town. One of them had Zelda in a headlock. Her face was blank. As if she was used to this sort of thing happening, but I could detect fear in her eyes.

In front of her was an anonymous figure, dressed in a long, brown cloak, which had a huge hood to mask the persons face. They held their hands in front of them and stood calmly. This unsettled me greatly. Before I knew it, I was running towards them, to the alarm of the villagers. But with a flick of the wrist, and the feeling of being kicked in the chest, the cloaked person had me on the floor. 

"I am here to strike... a deal, so to speak." It said, taking a stroll around me, looking down at me as if I was the mud underneath the grass. "I get what I need, Ordon lives happily ever after, you get the picture." It continued. A strange mixture of pain and anger surged through my body, sending a glare towards the black hole in the hood of the cloak. "You see, Sir Link, I require your precious little princess here. I know, I know, you two were just warming up to eachother but I'm afraid your little love story has to come to an end." The way he referred to Zelda disgusted me. 

"Over my dead body." I grunted through gritted teeth, continuing to stare into eyes I couldn't see.

"Very well then." It said, motioning with it's hand.

"Don't you dare!" Zelda shouted at it, startling it slightly. It turned towards her and chuckled darkly. He nodded at one of the guards and they preceded to tie a rag around Zeldas mouth. She didn't struggle.

"I initally hoped that she would co-operate, but it's always good to bring in some punishment, yes? At first, her petty resistance irked me, but it's an opportunity to have a little fun." 

"Who are you?" I spat.

"Dear me! Where are your manners, boy? I simply don't have the time for introductions, I'm afraid. As I mentioned, I need her. And I need you," He pointed at me patronisingly, "To leave me be. I understand that you have a reputation for... nosing around in business that isn't yours."

"You.. are not having her," I struggled to say, the longer this thing held me on the ground, the more pain entered my body.

"That leads me to my next point. You see, if you decide to meddle, and interrupt important affairs, you and your little band of pathetic villagers will have to go. I simply can't deal with it."

Before I could say or do anything else, he was walking away, with Zelda in tow. I gathered up the remainder of my energy and tried to stand and go after them, but the force keeping me on the ground remained present. 

Suddenly, though, it disappeared, which was a clear indication that it had warped to an unknown location. Upon discovery of this, I let the pain take over again and collapsed in a heap outside of my house.