Living With Myself

Chapter 18

Sheik said nothing when Link showed him his tiny house on the edges of the forest, far from any village or city. Oh, he had a lot to say, but he had to pace himself and take one thing at a time.

"I know it's not that much, I fixed it in a hurry. Dark tried to help, but kept misplacing the tools, and falling asleep, and...well, I hope you don't mind spending the night here. We'll get going to the city tomorrow morning."

"It's very nice," he said, and Link sighed in relief.

Sheik looked at the rackety cabin made of wood again. On the left of the door was carved 'Dark wuz hier'. He laughed at seeing that, and Link peered closer.

"Oh, goddesses! Dark! What do you think you're doing?! Zelda could see that!"

"I was booored." Said the shadow from the window of the second floor, which looked like it had been built on a second thought. Dark put down the mirror in his hands and glared down at them. "And that's not important now! You have to tell Oni to turn me back!"

Link scratched his head. "Have you tried turning into a shadow and then back again?"

Dark rolled his eyes. "I have. Twice!"

Link could only shrug at him. The truth was that he didn't mind the change so much, and it made for less paranoia that someone might see Dark and realize that he was a creature of darkness.

"You look fine to me," was the only thing Link could say.

The shadow groaned and threw the mirror down at them. Then he climbed back into the house, and stalked downstairs to the kitchen, where the fierce deity rummaged around the pantry.

"Stop this!" demanded Dark.

Oni Link didn't even deign to acknowledge his presence, and just kept on inspecting jars of honey and bottles of wine.

"That's mine!" cried Dark, trying to grab the bottle, but the deity held it up beyond his reach. "You said you don't eat, so leave my stuff alone!"

"I don't eat," said the deity, walking out of the kitchen, with the jars stil in his hands. "And your rage is unnecessary. The colors of your skin and eyes are only a simple illusion. You have not been changed in the least." he took the jar of honey and threw it to the fire burning in the living room.

"What the fuck are you doing?" asked Dark. "I'm telling Link!"

"I demand sacrifices done in my name," said Oni, and poured the wine over the fire.

"You gods are fucked up. Look, fine, whatever," said Dark, holding Oni's arm and taking the bottle of wine away from him. "You want sacrifices? I'll sacrifice something cool for you. You want really good wine? Virgins? Virgins drinking wine? That's cool, I'll get that shit for you, but stop this skin tone bullshit ok?"

Oni huffed, then held Dark's face, and pressed their foreheads together. Dark blinked, and tried to scream, but found his limbs paralyzed.

Another blink.

Everything around him shone with white light and vanished. He stared at an expanse of white nothingness all around him.

Another blink, and Oni Link stood in front of him.

White.

White hair. White clothes. White eyes. Even the blue and red battle paint in his face had vanished from his porcelain white skin.

"You can now alter your appearance as you please," said Oni, without opening his mouth. His voice seemed to just drift into Dark's head. "I don't want any virgins. Wine and honey is good enough. Blood is good too, but I prefer to shed it myself."