Chapter 2
As Link continued braving the cold in his path through the sleeping woods, he was mentally cursing at himself for letting one of those wooden monstrosities to bite down on his shoulder - making it a miracle, since the creature missed his neck in its eagerness.
On the way, Link had to make a stop at the river - putting the pouting filly on the cold snow first - before ripping off a piece of his cloak to use as a makeshift bandage.
“Now… I want you to promise me to only talk when we are close to town… can you do that?” Link asked pointedly at the cute, pouting filly, as he kept his stare at her.
Pawing the snow off her ground, she sighed before saying “... I’ll try.”
Nodding to himself, Link finished bandaging his shoulder… and once done, he picked up the filly under his arm, and quickened his pace to get her home - before the local predators smelled his blood, and thus drew their unwanted attention to them.
“So… what exactly are you?” She asked in curiosity - her pout now over - looking up at him with those innocent purple eyes of hers. Link didn’t respond to her.
‘The less information I give her, the more likely no one will believe her.’ Link thought grimly as he bit through the dull pain in his shoulder, as it slowly got worse.
“Can I have the mask for my assignment? Can I borrow it? Please? Why aren’t you listening?” She kept talking on and on about this topic… while Link started to believe that it was, in fact, her favorite subject to talk out of.
‘How funny it is, that for the ten years I've been here, I haven’t really gotten to use everything that came with my magical pouch of pocket dimension space.’ Link wondered inwardly, while trying to drown the filly’s voice, since they were getting close to the town near the woods.
‘I don’t understand why most of my powers and equipment match my current looks… but those four particular versions of Link? Why them?’ Link questioned as he remembered what he knew of that particular franchise back home.
‘Majora’s mask, Ocarina Of Time, Twilight Princess, A Link to the past... those views of Link were superimposed upon my own - and for ten years that I’ve been looking for answers, I’ve yet to get any.’
‘Why am I here? Why this body? Why everything around here doesn’t match the lore from the franchise? Why isn’t the world related to Hyrule, but somewhere else entirely?’
Sighing inwardly in frustration, Link kept going down his extensive chain of failure at finding his answers.
‘I’ve tried doing so many things get home - all sorts of spells from those wise people I’ve met in my journey all around the world I know so far… from shaman; to wizard; asking sorcerers; and inquiring with witches… and from them I learned about mirrors, portals and gateways to other worlds… and searched for them all over.’
‘I’ve even looked under the roots of the trees of this magic-reeking forest of the damned.’
Sighing in despondency, causing the filly to pause and look at him in confusion, Link kept thinking, ‘Sadly, the only progress I've made so far was in the way of knowledge… plus a lot of scene-making when circumstances forced me to be a hero to non-human sapient creatures I knew nothing about. If I could throw away my conscience, I’d be able to continue with my life, without putting it at risk for others.’
”Hey m-mister!” The filly’s urgent and quivering tone in her voice as she called out loud to Link broke him out of his reverie, letting him realize he had zoned out. “I t-think t-there’s something out there.” She pointed a hoof to her left, which Link followed with his eyes…
With a quick motion, he jumped behind a leafless shrub - making the filly almost squeak - right before having her muzzle clamped by his free hand… looking in the direction that the filly had pointed out…. With a frown, Link focused in listening to his surroundings.
He could hear sniffing coming in that direction, along with heavy breathing… where out of the shadows a manticore came out, following their trail as if it were a hungry hound looking for his food. Even at this distance, Link could see the hunger in its eyes as it opened them.
Taking a quick glance around to make sure it was the only thing hunting for them, Link lept on his feet at once - causing the filly to squeak mutedly from the sudden movement - as he made a mad dash, trying to run for their lives-
-all of which drew the predators’ attention towards him.
‘The stone mask is out of the question! It won’t conceal my smell and the smell of blood, and I doubt it would yield any results for the filly as my scent and smell of blood is on her too.’
Link dared to quickly dart a glance behind him - only to find the manticore almost on top of him.
‘Fffffffff-!’ Link cursed inwardly as he kept trying to outrun the hungry manticore as he returned his sights to his path. ‘I shouldn’t have turned! I should’ve just run this whole time, I should of r-!’
Link’s inner self-reproach was cut short as he was tackled from behind, throwing the filly out of his arms by the impact - and dislodging his mask off his face, letting the manticore have a clearer sight of him.
”Run!” Link commanded her with a yell, right after which he turned his body to face the beast.
The manticore was already trying to go for the kill when its maw opened wide, no doubt going for his throat.
With his mind made, Link channeled Din’s Fire within his hand - right before thrusting it towards the manticore’s chest - causing a small explosion of fire to erupt… burning the manticore at the point of contact with the spell, making it roar in pain and rage from the burn as it was forced to make a distance from Link.
The creature growled threateningly as it started to circle Link in an attempt to get to his back.
He quickly appraised his situation, ‘I’ve had my experience with those - they’re fast; strong; and most important thing: it’s deadly because of its stinger - I need to keep my distance and avoid being hit by its stinger.’
Quickly reaching into his sheath on his back, Link pulled out the Ordon’s Sword and Hylian Shield to defend himself.
Apparently the manticore didn’t like where this was going, as the animal took offense to this - roaring at him - before going into a defensive position at a distance.
So, the duel between hungry beast and desperate human began… with the two circling each other, the two of them keeping their sights on the adversary… seeking out who would make the first move against the other.
Straining its body, the Manticore made the first move by thrusting its tail straight at Link - who reacted immediately by raising his shield to block it - where it decided to play it safe and barrage him with more stabbing motions from its tail.
Backing off him, Link was pushed backwards as he was forced to be on his toes - with the scorpion tail thrusting in and out at every direction it could aim at his body. Link found it hard to keep his rhythm at blocking its strikes - feeling his heart pumping, and the adrenaline rushing through his veins, keeping his senses sharp under the strain.
The moment it saw that it was making no progress with its stinger, it launched itself at him - swinging a claw against the shield, making Link stagger backwards. Taking its chance, it tried to trip him by swinging its venomous tail at his feet, to which Link avoided it by leaping backwards to avoid it - only to make a fatal mistake when he suddenly lost his footing on a frozen branch.
Not missing its chance, the manticore leapt at him - knocking both his shield and him down - crushing his body under its weight.
‘What is with those animals, and wanting to knock me down!?’ Link inwardly screamed in rage as he fought the pressure off his torso - only for the manticore to make a raking swipe with its free claw upon his chest - making Link scream of pain.
Ignoring the searing feeling of the torn skin and flesh, Link pulled out - as his consciousness kept trying to go black - a Deku Nut that he threw at its face with a cry, making the beast go temporarily blind with the blinding light that blasted its face.
Jumping back in an instinctual response, the manticore began pawing at its face, as if trying to clear its sights by doing so.
Taking his chance, Link gathered his strength and rose from his landing spot, where he quickly pulled out his Hero’s Bow, notched it with an arrow, then willed ice magic into its tip.
Aiming quickly, Link made the shot count… where the enchanted dart pierced the manticore’s shoulder - quickly encasing the beast in solid ice - as it mewled pathetically in pain before going silent.
Gasping for breath, and ignoring the biting cold air, Link took off swiftly his red cloak…
Inspecting his chest, he realized that not only the claw had managed to tear his tunic open, but also managed to tear through a good bit of his chainmail - just enough to leave a nasty claw mark down his chest… it had managed to tear the skin off the affected area, blood seeping out of the torn skin, making him hiss as a chilled wind made contact with his wounds.
At this very moment, Link knew without a doubt that he was going to need to seek out medical help.
‘No fairies; no red potions; no dropped hearts to stop my bleeding.’ Link thought grimly as he hissed again, taking off his torn chainmail before using his cloak as a makeshift compress upon his naked chest, pressing with his free hand upon his wound.
‘Other than the wolves, this Manticore was the very first I’ve fought while all the other times I managed to avoid them through the stone’s mask.’ Link self-reproached himself, right before he turned his sights to his shield on the ground, picking it up and placing it on his back, the cold air biting in his exposed skin as he sheathed his blade back in place.
Turning around slowly, wincing every time he took a step, Link began to slowly trek in the direction of the closest town - one named Ponyville - which could be found after the river that separated the woods from their borders.
Link began feeling as if on the verge of fainting, his breath too fast to his liking, as his body started to slowly fall asleep… with every step he took he was hating himself for his cowardice.
‘I should have used the Goron Mask! I should have used the freaking Goron Mask!’ Link chided himself as his thoughts began to feel like molasses.
Breathing was starting to become harder for him, shallowing with each breath taken as he fought for air as he dragged his feet, on in front of the other.
He halted his steps when he heard the sound…
‘Wha? Is-is that the sound of a stampede?’ Link thought sluggishly as, soon and sure enough, a group of colorful ponies came through the foliage - and saw his state, stopping to gawk from the surprise.
“Mister! I brought hel-” the young filly said aloud before noticing Link’s state. She ran towards him - only to stop to a skid as she widened her eyes in shock, saying “Oh no...”
At this moment, Link’s strength failed him.
And felt himself creep deep into darkness… feeling colder by the moment…
… surrounded by black, he simply was - until the one he had been evading for the last ten years graced him with her unfortunate presence.
The Night Mistress, the one that tried to break him over the last time she got into his dreams… and the reason he used the All-Night mask as an aid to rest.
Link just stared in disbelief at her form in front of him, inside the pitch black of his mind.
‘I am supposed to be dead.’ Link thought to himself.
Before he could speak or react, she sent forth a spectral of nightmares that Link knew he was going to suffer for an eternity while he remained stuck in dreamland.
He didn’t know how long he was trapped inside that dark place, but to him it was the worst experience he had suffered - even surpassing the one where he met her the first time.
From being a puppet in her hooves, feeling the strings being cut as if she were dismembering him; to where he was possessed and used to fight a white horned and winged pony, forced to feel all the pain it caused him in the battle while being unable to even voice a cry for help; up to the point where it felt as if drowning in tar, it burning through his lungs while being kept alive by foul magics.
Every possible variation of mind-bending night-terrors and bad dreams were unleashed upon him, as he was forced to live through each one of them in a paralyzed state…
Nothing but feeling never-ending dread as he forced himself to refuse her offers to take away the pain if he were to become hers…
After what felt like an eternity, Link felt as if losing his mind from the siege the dark entity was performing on his resolve - up to the point where she showed him, out of all things…
‘... Koala bears? What.’ Link thought befuddled at the absurd nightmare…
… only to break out in laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation, all feelings of dread and fear slipping away. Without his fear to mold, The Night Mistress lost all the power she had on him.
As the nightmare began to collapse around them, she screamed in rage, “What? No! You should be under my spell! How does my nightmare give you strength to defy me!?,” she wailed as the entire terrorscape eroded into nothing.Link couldn’t answer, as he kept laughing, no longer paying attention to the invader as she was forcefully pulled out of his dreams…
… them being replaced with better things, dreams of friends and family… dreams of things worth remembering - and fighting - for.