Muerante Chapter 1

By Ness

Link found himself alone in a forest he'd never seen before. He could see the full moon over the treetops, but it was tinted to almost blood red color. It gave little light, but there was a mysterious light that had no source Link could spot. It just seemed to be there. The light gave little in the ways of illumination, and only added to the length and gloominess of the shadows.

The forest itself seemed to stretch on as far as Link's eyes could see. There were no signs of life at all besides the trees and some undergrowth, and there was an aura of solitude surrounding the place. It didn't seem to pleased at Link's intrusion.

The place had an ethereal feel to it, and the stillness of the trees didn't help Link's feeling of unease. They were gnarled and their roots were bent, almost to the point of cracking. Their branches had knobs on them and were bent at odd angles. This forest was completely unlike any he had seen before. Nothing even in the mysterious Lost Woods came close to the oddity of this forest.

Link thought hard on how he came to be here, with all of his equipment gone, save the Master Sword and his Hylian Shield. He could not come up with an answer. He thought a few moments more, and then something compelled him to start walking. He felt so out of place and unwanted, he didn't resist.

Link walked on, his senses of time and location gone, until he reached a clearing. In the center of the clearing was a tower, that shot far above the treetops and into the clouds. There was a small path leading directly to the door from where he was standing. What bothered him most was that he was unable to notice this until he was right on top of it. Magic had been used, or still was being used in the tower.

He studied the tower a minute longer. There were no windows that he could see, and there was a slight archway above the door supported by columns decorated with carvings of vines. The door itself was of plain wood, with a knocker in the shape of a lion's head. There was nothing else decorating the tower, it was made of plain stone, and was not overly long or wide. Mainly it was just tall.

Link couldn't decide what to do. The only place within miles seemed to be this tower, and the forest was very uninviting. Link was very uneasy at the prospect of magic being used on the tower, and he never liked being led somewhere without knowing why.

He was still trying to decide what to do when his decision was made for him.

A flash of light stunned Link and a few seconds later he heard a booming sound. He looked up only to be hit in the face by a raindrop. It started pouring. Lightning struck, thunder pealed and abruptly it started hailing. Link was in no condition to shield himself from the elements. A freezing wind started up, one that threatened to chill him to the bone. Rain soaked him, and hail crashed into him from all directions. Amazingly it all managed to bypass the treetops, only leaving the tower for protection. He had no choice but to enter.

Link went to the door and found it unlocked. He opened it and stepped inside.

Link could find no source of light, but the tower was bright compared to outside. This again spoke of magic. The room he entered into was more of a hall. The walls and floors were bare, and the only thing he could see was a marble staircase and railing. He decided to climb.

The staircase seemed to stretch on forever, and each landing looked exactly like the last. As he climbed the air seemed to become more and more stale. With each step Link began to feel more and more uneasy. It wasn't like the forest, where he simply felt out of place. He began to dislike his surroundings more and more as he trudged along. At each landing he would stop and wonder why nothing had happened yet, why no one had stopped him. He became more and more frantic, "Why haven't I reached the top?", "Will this ever end?", "I can't take it anymore!"

Link seemed ready to quit, when finally he reached another door. He breathed a sigh of relief, he had made it to wherever he was going. He was about to open the door when he remembered that this might turn into a hostile confrontation with the owner of the tower, if there was one. He decided to take no chances. He unsheathed his sword and readied his shield. He opened the door.

As soon as Link cracked the door open, a deep sense of evil permeated through and washed through him. There was a faint red light coming from inside and a faint stench of brimstone. He opened the door and walked in.

The room was overall quite small and quite empty. It was tinted a sickly red. Link looked for the odd light's source, and his eyes came to a table he hadn't seen when he first scanned the room. On top of it was a book, it's cover appeared to be made from some sort of skin, and there were glyphs on top that Link couldn't read. Something seemed dreadfully wrong with the book, and then he realized that the cover was made from Hylian skin and the glyphs were written in blood. He heard a deep laugh filled with malice and pure unaltered evil. He had heard that laugh before.

Suddenly the evil he had felt hit him stronger, with more force than ever before. He stepped back from the book. An unseen hand opened it and it flooded the room with darkness. Link was flung back and out through the wall. There was nothing more.

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