Babble - Beyond Dimensions

Chapter 31: The one where they find the truth

Did Four feel bad for snooping? To be honest, he was a bit torn on that topic.

On one hand, yes, they had been so friendly and hospitable and they could always trust Zeldas, on the other, no, there was so much to learn about this strange new world. Also, Legend totally had planned on prying and if the veteran was allowed to sneak, why not Four also? Everything else would be unfair.

Furthermore, that way he could control what Legend snooped through, the last encounter with poor Babble’s journal in front of his mind, Four had then decided to join Legend on his quest for knowledge.

And so the two heroes travelled through the halls and up a set of stairs and then more halls, Legend keeping his probably paranoid prying to the minimum, only briefly opening a door to look inside, before gently closing it again and moving on to the next room.

And so Four watched him move quietly, hoping that this would soon be over, because while he was also very much curious, he also knew that this sort of excessive investigation was entirely unnecessary.

Finally, after way too many doors, he spoke up: “I don’t think our toilet excuse is going to work any longer. We should head back soon.” The veteran paused and tensed, before giving a strained nod, seeing the sense in the smith’s words. “Just the rest of the hall” he then insisted, before moving on to open the last three doors this hallway had.

The first was another bathroom, the huge bathtub nearing a small pool in size.

The second was just as innocent, it seemed to be another unoccupied guest bedroom.

The last was dark and Legend reached for his satchel to remove a lamp for some light, only to not have the magical bag hand him the wanted item. While the veteran stumbled horrified into the dark room, hand in the small and very much empty bag - now that the magic supplying the extradimensional space magic holding his items and trinkets was gone – Four quietly followed, slipping into the dark room behind him and closing the door behind them as to not cause a ruckus on the hallway, thus bathing them in black.

“Your bag” the veteran practically hissed frantically, while reaching within his own with the urge of a man stranded on an island with no water and now fumbling with his suddenly empty water flask. “Can you use it?”

Four reached for his own bag to feel the magic upon it gone as well and shook his head wordlessly, an action that couldn’t be seen by Legend thanks to the darkness shrouding them. But his silence was enough of an answer as the elements within the smith awoke and trembled in confusion, uncertainty, trepidation and apprehension, but they needed to stay calm and clear their head and so Four breathed and calmed while the veteran only grew more frantic.

“Light! We need light!” he spoke almost desperately, as if that simple force could clear all their sudden troubles away. Four nodded and scrambled along the wall to find that little square he had watched this Zelda use to lighten the living room they had been staying in, hoping to find a similar one here. Finally his searching fingers found lucky purchase and he flipped the switch and his sight returned with the light.

For a second, his eyes found Legend’s who’s looked like a cornered animal’s, ready to bolt at any giving moment.

And then his sight wandered and dread fell heavy into his stomach, while silence fell between the two heroes as they got the chance to finally acknowledge their surroundings, their bag problem quickly forgotten. Four felt a storm brewing within as he took in the view of the huge room, of the hall, they were in.