The Revival of Shadow Link

7:

The stranger must have been a girl, and they appeared the same age as me, possibly older.

She had olive skin and ebony hair, crimson roses intertwined with the curls at the end of the black hair that cascaded down her back. She had black eyes like drops of ink and was probably my height. Her lips were a wine red and she donned a grey off shoulder dress that ghosted over her hips and faded to a white, hovering a little below her knees. She wore red heels and had a silver chain around her wrist. She was slightly curvy and like me, was kinda short, her heels making her just barely an inch taller than me.

I had no idea who she was.

Maybe she didn't notice that I was conscious as she stepped towards me, leaning down, wrapping a dainty hand with slender fingers around the handle of the blade—

"N-No."

She quickly let go of it and scanned my face with her eyes, looking stunned. "Are...you, Shadow Link?"

I felt small compared to her. She held herself in a way that made her seem...better, stronger, than me, than anyone she had ever encountered. It didn't help that was sitting down and she was standing, my head only coming to about her waist,

"Yes...wh-who are you?"

She flushed. "Ah, of course! I-I'm Briar!" She bowed deeply, face as red as the flowers in her hair. "An acquaintance of and Royal Advisor to Her Highness, Princess Zelda Hyrule, of the Hyrulean Kingdom. I'm to assist the Violet Link, who is trying to find a way to free you from—" she waved her hand around, apparently not knowing how to finish the sentence. "—your prison you are being held in."

I took the time to notice that all the colors on her seemed...faded, like an old pictograph. She seemed somewhat see-through.

"I am communicating with you via ancient magic. No one but the person I am trying to contact—which is you—will be able to see me unless they are very skilled in magic and or sorcery."

"You mean everyone who'd be able to see me? Vaati's the one keeping me down here, he's a Wind Mage. Or maybe it's a sorcerer. I don't know, either way."

Her eyes widened and she stared at me. "Shit."

"Well, at least the rats I keep seeing won't know."

"Animals can see me," Briar said.

I sighed.

She laughed nervously. "Are you in pain?"

I stared down at my arm, noticing that that was a lot of blood pouring out of my arm. "It hurts like hell." My voice was surprisingly calm, much calmer than I felt.

"Well, removing it could quite possibly cause you to bleed out. Maybe—"

I cut her off with a string of swears as I removed it.

"What the HELL?!" She shouted, now looking alarmed at the blood. She seemed much more pale now, and I realized that she must have been squeamish it afraid of blood. I found myself hoping she didn't faint. I had no idea how she had got here, and she'd need to leave before Vaati came back.

She dropped to her knees and grabbed my arm despite my reluctance to remove it.

She whispered something I couldn't understand and flames appeared at her fingertips. It took all of my willpower to not yank my arm out of her grip when I felt a burning sensation over my giant wound.

I tore my gaze away from it, because I had no idea how I wasn't dead yet and watching Briar slowly burn my skin—which was painful but helpful to stop my bleeding—was just as pleasant as you'd think.

She finally let go and grinned, apparently satisfied with what she had done. I had no idea how the knife hadn't cut into nerves and done more damage than just a couple cuts but what was Once sheer shine whenever I moved was now a full throb. She had good reason to be satisfied.

"Now that you probably won't drop dead, would you mind sharing with me what exactly has happened for the nine weeks you've been imprisoned?"

"N-Nine...nine weeks?"

She cleared her throat. "I understand that the time I'm giving you might be a bit more than you thought—"

"I've been here for nine weeks?!"

She looked alarmed. "I-I...my sincerest apologies, it's just that it took us so long to be able to pinpoint your location and then there was the matter of actually getting to your location, it took quite some time."

"Nine weeks," I said now feeling numb.

"I'm so sorry." She laced her fingers together and looked at me...like she was scared.

Nine weeks of staying in this cell. Nine weeks of trying to keep it together. Nine weeks of nightmares, of torture, thinking about Vio, slightly hating him for what he had done, hating myself for not understanding.

Nine weeks of nothing but suffering.

"You mentioned Vio earlier," I said.

"Yes, the Violet hero. I've...heard many things, he said you were...close." She kept hesitating like one wrong word and I was gonna rip her throat out.

Maybe that was how she viewed me; a monster who had harmed all residents in Hyrule somehow, a beast ready and willing to snap at her if she messed up.

"How is he?" I asked. I needed to know this before I needed to know anything else.

"I've heard he's been better. But I know that when I left he was alive and well."

I swallowed.

And then I heard footsteps.

"What was that?" Briar asked, paling. A fire started at her feet and she turned to me as it rose up, as if trying to burn her body and leave no trace that she had been here.

"He's coming! You need to leave!" I hissed.

"I'm going. Just know that we're going to get you out of here, and that all your crimes have been forgiven, you have been forgiven."

I nodded as she disappeared, leaving soot where her red shoes once were.

I heard a door open and instantly sprung for the knife, shoving it in my boot. Having weapons never hurt anybody, right?

You see, that's the type of thinking that made you destroy a third of the kingdom, you stupid shadow.