Chapter 8 - The Village of the Disappearing People

The Village of the Disappearing People



Link had awoken to find himself moving. For a moment, it didn’t matter as would all groggy people find the most abnormal thing when first awakening from sleep. Then he began to piece his consciousness together. If he was moving, the he should be walking… but he was sleeping… and if he was sleeping, then he should be laying down, and if he was lying down he shouldn’t be walking… If he wasn’t walking, then he shouldn’t be moving. Link blinked twice and bolted upright.

“Finally, you’re awake.” Zelda said.

“Zelda!” Link replied, “When did you get back?”

Zelda had been dragging Link around in his bed along the forest floor in hopes that he would wake up, and to her success, he had. She grinned.

“Oh, it was so cute.” She began, “You were drooling and mumbling in your sleep.”

Link glared at Zelda for a moment as he snatched his blanket from her hands, scrunched it up, and turned his back to her. The feeling of embarrassment hushed over Link like flies flying around his ears. Epona snorted and clicked her hoofs on the ground as if she was laughing. Link tried to ignore her as he placed the rolled up blanket on her back. Zelda chuckled to herself as she did the same. She let her cloak drift over her chest and she mounted her horse along with Link who had followed her actions. The strange, exotic birds of the forest chirped in harmony, almost in time with the horses’ footsteps.

“So were your dreams pleasant?”

“Do you plan on harassing me some more?” Link said half-annoyed.

“No, I just want to know,” Zelda replied.

“Well,” Link started, “I dreamt of my home— back when everything was free. Back when the sky still rang with a crystal blue and the white clouds drifted along its hand. I dreamt of the wind singing us songs and the grass rubbing our backs. Vaati, Aryll and I lay on the hills, looking up to the sky, and let the sun bathe our skin all morning. The scent of hay filled our nostrils and the touch of fish echoed into our hands…”

Zelda listened intently to Link, painting the picture in her mind. She imagined herself next to Link enjoying his joys and feeling what he had felt. For a moment her spirit left her body and flew into that world— she felt light and energetic; Zelda could run for miles and miles and never tire her feet. A little wind ran its fingers through her hair and the simplicity of the air ran over her skin. Returning to her senses with a simple smile, she whispered to Link,

“Keep dreaming good dreams…” ‘~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~‘

Off in the distance while dust flew in the air from the barren ground, a small village seemed to rise up from the earth. Link squinted his eyes and leaned forward but a little to get a better view. To him, it was a foreign and exotic place with buildings closer together. There were no fields, no horse corrals, and there wasn’t even a river with a windmill. As they drew closer, Link couldn’t see any people roaming the streets like in his own village. Even the trees were silent— still. To Link, this wasn’t peace and calm, but rather lifeless. And even though the silence hushed the air, this was no sign of peace.

“A ghost town.” Zelda exclaimed.

“What would cause them to leave such a place? There isn’t even very much damage…” Link observed as he and Zelda entered under the town gate.

Zelda stopped her horse suddenly, standing in the middle of the village where a well stood in solitude. When Link realized he was the only one pressing forward, he stopped as well and looked back at Zelda. Just as he turned around, however, a wooden rod was not so far from his nose. He drew back suddenly, but found that he was surrounded by all manner of weapons. These pitchforks, blades, and rods were wielded by the townsfolk that had just emerged from their empty homes. Zelda was surrounded as well, but she calmly stared at them, trying to still her horse the best she could. Link slowly reached for his sword, but became frozen stiff when Zelda set her gaze on him.

“What is your purpose in our town, travelers?” A middle-aged man growled.

“What is your purpose in raising your weapons to us? We have not done any harm to you.” Zelda replied.

“Dismount your horses and remove your weapons.”

Zelda was the first to do so, and when she eyed Link again, he regained his freedom of movement. He followed her movements and removed his sword and placed it on the ground next to him. It was soon taken up by one of the townsfolk as more approached him and Zelda. Weapons were still raised to their chins as they took their arms from under their cloaks and began observing them. They had removed Link’s gauntlets and pulled up his sleeves to reveal the pale exterior of his arms. They flipped them and turned them, observing every bit of the skin on them. When they had finished with both Link and Zelda, there was a bit of stillness, and the whispers that once surrounded them hushed in the wind.

The weapons were withdrawn and Link’s sword and gauntlets were returned to him. Link rolled down his sleeves and slipped his gauntlets back on as the townspeople drew back from them except for the middle-aged man. He bowed his head.

“I apologize, but this is a precaution that we must take.”

“An awfully peculiar precaution-” Zelda replied, “Do tell.”

“Come with me.” The man replied, and motioned for them to follow him.

Link and Zelda followed him with quite a distance in between. The distrust around him was still evident, even though he welcomed them into the village. They were led up a hill with dust rolling down and rubbing the sides of the rocks. Link had coughed several times from the hazy, unwelcoming cloud. They were brought to a house decently sized— at least twice as big as Link’s home. Link and Zelda tied their horse’s reins onto poles not far from it, and approached the middle-aged man, who held the door open for them.

Every place of the inside was covered in shadows, except for the light that leapt through the windows. A small bit of their glance would shine on the little things everywhere, so it was enough to see. The man told Link and Zelda to sit at the small, square wooden table while he brought the fireplace to life. A little more light, this time of a soft, orangish color illuminated the shadows. He sat on the other side of the table and sighed as he relaxed in his chair.

“My name is Elliot. I am the mayor of Kakariko Village.” He began, slightly shifting in his chair, “This village wasn’t always in the state that it is in now.”

“I would assume…” Zelda replied.

“It began about a month ago… The woman that ran the village shop had suddenly disappeared one day. There was nothing strange that happened the day before— those that came to her shop agreed. However, she was just gone… there wasn’t any trace of her left. We never knew why until exactly a week later when one of the village men, who had just been married, disappeared. His wife, however, was a witness. She was returning home from the well after retrieving water. She had seen a man with a strange arm burst out of her home carrying her husband.”

“So that’s the reason why you checked our arms?” Link asked.

“That’s precisely why.” Elliot replied, “A demon with a strange arm has been kidnapping a member of our village each week… Our population has been quickly dropping. Tomorrow is when the demon will strike again.”

“Well, this ‘demon’ perhaps has the intelligence of a human… or else the space in between the kidnappings wouldn’t be constant. He’s doing this for a reason.” Zelda claimed, “My good sir, would it be against your wishes if we stayed the night in this village?”

“No, not at all, but why?”

“We perhaps may be able to stop this demon… Or maybe learn more about it.” Zelda exclaimed, “It would benefit both of us in some sort of way, I’m sure.”

Link turned toward her and moved his lips to speak, but his voice fell to interruption when a voice came from another room.

“Daddy, it was loud outside… Were more people taken away?”

A little girl carried herself into the room. Her blonde curls bounced on the side of her face, brushing her rose-red cheeks ever so gently. But her eyes… Her eyes did not hold the spirit of a child— they seemed to be drained, deprived, unfed… She looked at Link and Zelda blankly, and took a couple steps backward, her face hard and cold with her mouth still and straight.

“No need to fear them, Fera.” Elliot said in a higher tone, “Neither of them are the demon with the strange arm that has been kidnapping our people.” He stood up and patted her on the head, “Now run along to your room— there’s nothing to fear as of yet.”

The young girl glided out to the hallway, glancing back at Link and Zelda once more, giving them a taste of her cold glance and brushed her hand along the wooden frame. Fera’s tiny footsteps faded down the hallway and vanished into silence. Elliot turned toward Link and Zelda.

“I must apologize for my daughter’s glances.” Elliot started, “Ever since the beginning of all this, she has been too frightened to trust anyone. A shame for a child… to think that the unbreakable trust of one could be shattered like glass.” He turned his body toward the hallway, “It seems you have nowhere else to stay since you are travelers, and the innkeeper vanished but last week. I will allow you to stay here, so let me lead you to your rooms.”

Zelda stood to her feet and looked back to assure Link had done the same before they both followed Elliot once again. This long wasn’t as long as before, though; it was merely down the hall. Elliot pointed to two doors and informed them that those were their rooms. Then he parted from them, not even bothering to open the doors for them and left them with the knowledge that his wife would just drop off trays of food by their doors when it came to supper time. Uneasy and tight. Those were the two words that had come to Link’s mind. The demon with the strange arm returning to his thoughts, he faced Zelda, who had just turned the doorknob on the door to the right.

“Zelda, how would we benefit from this ‘strange armed demon’?”

“Have you yet considered it could be one of the Winged Darkness’ followers? With the release of the star, its influence is spreading rapidly throughout the whole world, I’m sure. We should question some of the villagers in the morning.” Zelda paused for a moment and cocked her head, “You’re beginning to say my name calmer and calmer now. You’re not screaming it like you did back at the castle.”

Link blinked his eyes. Why would she take note of that? In fact more strange was why did those words impact on him so much? Everything was so strange… Link brushed it aside, however, and simply replied with a small and light, “huh…” and opened the door to his room on the left and walked in, so walls could separate his eyes from Zelda. He looked around the room to change the course of his mind. This little room was cramped as well with little trinkets here and there, papers covering the floor, and dozens of portraits and pictures covered the walls and stood like statues on desks and surfaces. This was a study. Figures. Link was accustomed to this type of environment of slight poverty, being raised in a village where the farmer was the ideal carrier. There was a comfortable sofa for him to lie on, though. Dust flew from the cushions when he seated himself on it and he swung his legs up and rested his feet on the other side where the arm of the sofa was. He lay down, staring up at the cobweb-covered ceiling, counting the individual splints that hung from the wood. Then he realized that his satchel was still on Epona’s back outside…

‘~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~‘

The day dragged on, and Link awoke from his nap when Elliot’s pale-faced wife, dull and lifeless, came knocking at his door with a small tray of food. When she came, she said nothing, and only had her mouth hanging open a little and her dark eyes, which were over prominent lines on her cheekbones, blinking only a little bit. Her thin blonde hair covered her face when she left in the middle of Link’s “thank you.” He faced the closed door for a while, and then retreated to the back of the study. He took a bite of the bit of bread on his plate and his tongue twinged when he found that it was dry and brittle. However, Link’s face did not show the same expression. Just then, he realized he hadn’t eaten in a day or so, since he and Zelda began journeying from the castle. Even if this was a meal of a poor mayor to a poor village, he felt as if he ate like a king. But the welcoming here was hardly pleasing. Though he managed to find many similarities with this foreign place to his own home, there was still an emptiness of refuge.

Link had occupied himself for a little bit by reading one of the books off of the shelves— a fairy tale written for children. However Link couldn’t read or write. The only thing he could understand were the pictures beautifully drawn on the book’s delicate pages. One of them was of a castle, similar to Zelda’s, but larger, more elegant, and grand with tall towers reaching up to the clouds. Eventually his eyelids grew heavy and he began to leave his stream of consciousness. He gradually fell asleep with the open book resting on his chest.

The night carried on to its further darkness. Link’s sleep was not deep, however, for he woke up several times during the shaded hours. To drift back to sleep, he would stare at the ceiling, but he would shortly wake up soon after. Once he had awakened to hear footsteps outside his room. Keeping his eyes closed, he listened. They came from the room next door, so he had assumed it was Zelda pacing about. The door to his room creaked open with a high moan. Still he kept his eyes closed…

---

Zelda peered into the room, but still tried to keep her face obscured by the door. The moonlight from the window bathed the wooden floor and surfaces in front of the shadows. But most noticeable, was how the light fell upon the sleeping figure that lay on the sofa. She kept her face in the shadows and her hands as close to her as possible. When Zelda stared at Link’s face, it reminded her of the time back at the castle, when he had saved her from Winged Darkness’ nothingness… the way he had laid before her. Never had she experienced or witnessed that kind of act. Not necessarily the action, but the meaning of it. Zelda knew not of the sudden compassion that Link displayed for her. However, she surprised herself— she didn’t feel anything to return it. Was she supposed to? Her heart was more confused than anything and yet, when Zelda stared upon Link’s face she felt more at ease than ever before. But no matter how much she dug into that ease in her heart, she could find nothing else. No other emotion.

Was it because of her demon?

---

The door quickly closed when Link had stirred only a little bit. He rose from the sofa and stared at the door for a moment. “It probably was Zelda”, he thought in his mind. Something inside him grew, though it was still too small to notice. It was new, it was foreign. Link didn’t like it. In fact, he hated it. The something that grew within him held some words that would normally come out of his mouth, and it moved his gaze away from some sights. His mind was full with just about everything at that moment. Because of it, the one emotion that floated to the surface was frustration. Link then fell back to the sofa, groaning and closed his eyes, his hand resting on his forehead.

‘~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~’~‘

The morning finally came. The sun finally rose. The clouds at long last covered the stars. The blanket of the long and drawn out night had finally been pulled back, as everyone would move their sheets forward and rise out of bed. Link had no blankets, or sheets, though- only his cloak. He, in fact, rolled out of bed and crashed on the floor. The sudden start immediately woke him up. He groaned again and crawled for a moment before he stood up on his feet. He walked toward the door and opened it. Zelda waited for him, leaning against the wall. Of course… one might think that after last night, Link would cast his gaze away, but he felt nothing like last night. He smiled and greeted her with a simple,

“Good morning.”

She nodded and let her arms fall to her side. What is it about emotions during the night being so different than the ones during the day? Perhaps the darkness covers our sight of the world that holds us back from so many things. The curtain is cast, and words and feelings are free to fly to the sky. They roam and dance through the air for all to see. But when day comes, we act as if nothing had happened… and everything is put back into the safe and locked away.

Just at that moment, Elliot’s wife came hurrying past them, carrying a bucket of water with a doused cloth hanging out of it.

“What’s the matter?” Zelda asked.

Elliot’s wife turned around slowly and hesitantly spoke, stuttering, and choking on her words, not looking at either of them.

“He has a fever…” She timidly whispered.

Link and Zelda followed her further down the hallway until they reached the main bedroom, where Elliot lay sick and pale. He coughed and moved his hand at his side as his wife entered the room with the bucket. She carried the towel from it, folded it twice, and placed it on his forehead.

“Oh…” He moaned when he saw Link and Zelda at the door frame, “I see you’re up and about… are you going to stay here longer?”

“Yes, indeed we are.” Zelda said, “We would like to question some of the witnesses to the strange armed demon.”

“You may do so…” Replied Elliot, his voice raspy and cracking.

“Thank you… and I am sorry for your sickness. I wish you the best of health.” She said before turning toward Link, nodding, and going down the hall once more.

Both she and Link strapped on their swords however the way they would go about it, and left their traveling cloaks behind. They exited the house and looked over the barren village with not a person in sight. Both of them climbed down the hill and down into the main village area, where they began to knock on the homes of the other residents.


Several hours had passed since that morning, and Elliot’s wife still sat by the bed, keeping her husband company. She rubbed his cheek with her bare hand, and brushed his nose bridge with her finger. He was sleeping. Fera came into the room and glanced at her mother and father.

“Good morning, Fera.” Elliot’s wife greeted, “Your father is sick today.”

The little eight year-old daughter said nothing. Elliot’s wife glanced at the bucket of water, slightly cloudy from the used rag, constantly being wet over and over again.

“Could you go out to the well for me and change the water? Be careful though…”

Fera said nothing. She only set her hands on the either side of the bucket, traveled down the hall, and exited the house. The dust blew in her face as she traveled down the hill and toward the well in the middle of the town. She tilted the bucket and allowed the water to spill all over her feet. She pulled on the rope and watched the bucket fall into the well. She waited and waited until she heard a quiet splash, then began to pull the rope again to reel the bucket out of the well’s darkness. Just then a shadow passed over her head and onto the rim of the well. Fera froze, and slowly turned around when large footsteps behind her crunched the ground beneath her feet had suddenly stopped. Her eyes wide with terror, the breathing of the one behind her grew more and more harsh as he reached out toward her, stretching his arm out far beyond any human could do, and gripped her at the neck.

Not far, Link and Zelda could hear the high shrill of the girl off in the distance. They glanced at each other for a moment and darted toward the sound. It was brief, but when they had sight of the center of the village, they caught the glance of a dark figure running off into forest a ways away. Zelda pulled ahead of Link and gripped her rapier.

“Is that a demon?”

Link gripped his sword, ready and determined with the skills he had been taught by Zelda before. His eyes were narrow and sharp, keeping the lookout for the figure that had suddenly run off. Eventually, they had plunged into the forest that was off in the distance from the village. Trees zoomed past in their peripheral vision. The wind howled and screamed against their ears and the leaves cried from the trees.

Then there he was— the figure that had run off so quickly. A green skinned man with fiery red hair and eyes glowing yellow as bright suns. He stood alone, a sneer on his face, looking Link and Zelda straight on. He grinned and greeted,

“Why hello, there!”

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment