A Link Without Zelda [COMPLETE]

5. The Inverted Force

"What kind of sorcery is this?" says Link, standing up abruptly.

She laughs. "Do not be scared child for this information comes from the spirit world. A place of purity. It is not their intention to scare you, nor is it mine. Come sit, and we will decipher this together. He does what she asks. He looks down at the picture. He was so startled by his image that he didn't have the chance to really look at the picture. The face staring back at him is Link alright. But something is a little off. It's almost as if someone done a sketch of him based on a description. He isn't' sure exactly what is off though.

"You wonder how you can make this happen and the goddess reveals your answer. It's looking back at you right now."

"That makes no sense."

"Doesn't it? It means the answers to your questions are closer than you think they are."

"So deep within I have the answers?" says Link laughing.

"Maybe. Or maybe it's something a little less abstract."

"Like what?" he says flatly.

"That is something for you to determine."

"So you are you telling me that a way to connect Elrule and Hyrule is to reconnect this Inverted Force with the Triforce and that the way to obtain this Inverted Force is within me?"."

She nods though it's barely detectable. "That is what I am seeing."

"That's bullshit!" he says louder than what he meant, garnering the interest of others. He gives them an apologetic smile. "Is there anything else you can give me?" he says more calmly. 

"There are no cards left on the table."

Link scoffs. "Even if such a relic exists within these lands, it still doesn't bring me closer to home. The Triforce is with Adel, in Hyrule so none of this was helpful anyways," he says standing abruptly.

"Well, I suppose," she says as Link is about to walk away. "If I were to tell you something, it is that the ones who are secretive know the answers."

"Those who are secretive," says Link to himself.

"And that's all I have to offer."

Link rolls his eyes and reaches for his wallet.

"I don't want your rupees, child. I am sure you will repay me in another way."

Link looks at her curiously then reconvenes with his horse after he mumbles a thank you. He doesn't think of the odd statement she made and what she meant by it until he is back home in bed.

"Repay me in another ways?" He huffs, sending his hair away from his face. "Goddess only knows what I might have just gotten myself into. I guess that's what I get for trusting some old hag to do a free fortune reading." He rolls on his back and looks at the palms of his hand. "I wonder what they are actually looking at when they read palms. Probably nothing," he says feelings the lines of hands and studying them in a way he has never done before. He squints his eyes when he notices something that he has never paid much attention to before. It's faint, but the lines on his left palm connect in an unusual way. The typical curved lines are more straight and rigid.

"Am I losing it?" he says as he traces the lines with his fingertip. He hopes he isn't losing his mind, but it's there. Three points connected by three lines. A triangle. More specifically, an upside down triangle.

He props himself up on his elbow. Studying his hand a little more. He presses on the edge of the line, and he swears that he feels something.

"It could be bone or cartilage," he says to himself. He's not so sure though. He is nearly convinced that below the flesh and muscle, there is something there and the only way he can be completely convinced is after a little home surgery.

He lights a few candles and sits at the kitchen table with tweezers, alcohol, bandages and a scalpel laid on the table. He wipes the scalpel with the alcohol and waves it around to dry it. Then, with his finger tips he confirms the edge of what it is he feels, and then takes the sharp blade to slowly make one thin, clean incision. He doesn't even wince at the blade passes through the flesh and begins to cut. When the wound is big enough, he uses the tweezers to feel it. His heart races when it grabs hold of sonething. He takes a few breaths before he tries to haul it back. Not to prepare him for the pain but to prepare him for the disappointment he will endure if it is in fact bone and he butchered his hand for nothing. 

To his surprise though, whatever it is begins to shift and move and he pulls it out. And now he grits his teeth to hold back the agony from the corners of whatever this is as it tears his flesh and barbarizes the clean incision he originally made. He makes one quick jolt with his hand as he screams in pain, but he got it. He looks at the object but it is difficult to analyze since it's covered in blood. He lays it on the table and tends to his wound first. He puts a towel in his mouth and holds its tight with his teeth as he pours the alcohol over his hand, it sizzles as it bubbles over the flesh. He keeps the towel in his mouth as he stitches the wound and wraps a bandage around it. It's late at night by the time he has finished but there is no way he is sleeping without deciphering what just came out of his flesh and why it is there in the first place.