Rise of the Goddess

Chapter Sixteen - Raeden

Raeden had been locked up in an empty room for almost two days. Guards kept him under constant watch. As that first day ended, they moved in a crappy bed and left a chamberpot. The next morning, they took to feeding him. It seemed nobody knew where Zariah was or what she was doing.

He felt numb and everything felt sore. He still wore the red skin tight suit he despised, the red scarf still draped around his neck, he lost the mask a long time ago. He sat on the bed, his head down, his clutched his bloodstained hands. His father's blood. He hadn't had the chance to wash it off.

For years now, he had been torn between what he wanted and what his father wanted, but at the end of the day he always followed his father.

Now he was gone.

And still he felt torn in two. He started hearing his voice in his ear, telling him he didn't have to stay locked up here, he could leave at any minute. He was right, Raeden felt his power still coursing through him, but he didn't want to. He knew he would have to face Zariah.

He gripped his hands tighter, flakes of his father's blood fell to the ground.

His split had reached a breaking point as soon as it all came to an end. He continued to follow his father, he betrayed Zariah, he gave her the very drink that tortured her, he stood by and did nothing when she nearly was torn apart by the Triforce and still he couldn't help but think about what his father would want for him right now.

He sighed. He lost, he lost it all, and now he had no idea what to do.

The door slid open and he saw her. Instantly his mind was overwhelmed with emotion. She wore a simple silk blue dress, that flowed down to the floor, with thin straps holding it up, her hair was held up in a messy bun.

The second he saw her, his heart pounded painfully in his chest, his head fell, tears threatened to come to his eyes as several images came to mind, all of them of her. The first time he saw her, laying in the frigid waters of Mount Lanayru, her skin had turned blue, she was freezing to his touch. He saw her in the hallways of the Castle, in a simple white nightgown, she seemed so overwhelmed. Then when he rode after her, watching her ride her horse faster than anyone he'd ever seen before. He saw the first time he found her screaming from her nightmares, he saw her practicing in the Faron rain, he watched as she saw her mother for the last time, he watched her ride away for help when his father had caught the woodland stable aflame, he saw her drown in the spring of power, when he saw her again alive and well in Akkala, the first time he kissed her...

He remembered seeing her at the funeral, then that night by the fissure, and then again writhing in pain due to the ropes he had tied around her.

What had he done?

The door closed behind her, with a slight flash, a chair had appeared before him and she sat down.

"Look at me," she said, her voice had gone rigid, it lacked the warmth he was so used to.

He looked up into her clear blue eyes.

"What happened? After the..." he trailed off and looked away.

"I've been sleeping," she said, "I woke up this morning and they told me a few days had already passed,"

They fell silent again.

"I don't even know what to do," Zariah said finally, he looked and their eyes connected again, that was a mistake, "I just don't understand," she paused, "Tell me, why?"

Raeden's chest hurt as he started, "It started years ago, before I became a Royal Guard. I was 17, my mother grew deathly ill. Me and my father did everything we could, but nothing seemed to work. Then we heard a rumor that the Triforce of Wisdom could heal any wound, stop any disease. My father pleaded to anyone who would listen to get an audience with the Queen, he thought that decades of dedicated service as a knight would account for something, between his years as a knight and mine. When he finally got an audience when the Queen, she refused to help us. My mother died a week later. My father became depressed, he retired, he didn't leave the house for years. I fought just to keep us both going. When he got better he had changed, he swore vengeance for what had happened to her. He found others, all people disgraced by the Royal Family, they all decided they would bring pain whenever they could.