Chapter 8 - Chaos Theory

Link's mouth opened of its own accord, but there were no words to put into it. He didn't know what the biggest shock was. The fact that the goddess actually existed, the fact she was talking to him, or the fact that she was talking through his girlfriend... That is, if it was actually Farore... but who else could it be?
"Why are you so surprised, Oni'kara?"
The use of the name shocked Link out of his trance. No matter who it was who was talking to him, he was going to get one thing straight. "Excuse me... that's not my name any more. I'm Link."
"The Hero of Time goes by the name Link. Not the Guardian of Time..."
"That's it! What does that mean, anyway? I mean, Sheik, Zelda, said that to me, when I was..."
"When you were in another timeline? Don't you think I know that? I was the one who told her in the first place! I was the one who saw you for who you are..."
"What do you mean?"
Calmly, Farore began to explain.

"Time flows like a river, Oni'kara."
"Link."
She ignored him. "Though to someone within its stream, it seems to be all there is... from outside, it is clear just how fragile it is. Everywhere along its course, it forks away into different histories... every decision taken, every action made, changes the path of time. A butterfly could flap its wings in Zora Falls... and a sandstorm would blow up in the Haunted Wasteland that wouldn't have done so before. Time is relative... reality is relative...

"You have seen just how easily time splits, yourself. And that is because you are destined to be its guardian. It is your duty to see that history always follows its true path. You must fight the battles that history's course demands... you said it yourself once, what is right doesn't matter, only what will happen..."

"No! That wasn't me... I don't think like that... That was the Fierce..." Link's mouth snapped shut, realising the trap he'd walked into.
"It was you, Oni'kara." This time, Link didn't even protest. "But there is more to your fate than that... Many individuals have sought to control the powers of time for their own good. Even at this moment, one is doing just that. I believe you know him... In fact, he seeks for you, to destroy you while you are still weak."
"Weak?!" yelled Link. "I'm not..."
"Compared to how you were, and how you will be again, you are. You are destined to be the eternal warrior, the link between past and future, darkness and light, order and chaos, one world and another... The one who will protect the flow of time from those who would seek to turn it to their own ends... More than a hero... "

For a moment, there was silence as Link tried to take it all in.

"Okay. Say I believe you. Why me, of all people?"
"I should have thought that was obvious. You know what it is to alter the flow of history. You were Hyrule's Hero of Time, and the protector of Termina, after all. But even apart from that, there is one special reason why it could never be anyone else..."

Malon pushed open the bedroom door, and listened to the latest part of the tale unfolding as Farore began to speak.

-

In the beginning was nothingness, a world without form or life.
Until they came. The three golden goddesses, Din, Farore, Nayru. Those who would create a world anew. And on their departure, leave behind them a sacred sign of their power...
But they were not alone as the deities of the fledgling world. Another came with them. A silver god, their brother. While his sisters concerned themselves with creation, with the present, Oni'kara concerned himself with the past and the future and gave the gift of time to the realm. While the goddesses were content to leave their worlds after their formation, he was not so. Life, activity, fascinated him.

And as time passed, he grew more and more attached to the physical worlds - and to their inhabitants. In a realm that would one day become known as Termina - he found a true love. A young girl of a noble family, fair and kind. Her gentle nature was a complete opposite to the fierce Oni'kara, but he was attracted to her as two poles of a magnet. Unaware of her admirer's true status, believing him to be a prince of some far-off land, she returned his feelings completely...
But a god and a human - it was never meant to be...

The goddesses were angry at what they saw as their brother's treachery. He was cast out from his position at their side, to live his life as a mortal man... At last, he believed that he could find peace with his beloved. Yet he was still immortal, deep inside, and as the creator of Time it did not touch him. While he watched as his lover aged, withered and eventually died, and their children too - he remained physically young. To all appearances, he was a youth on that fine dividing line between man and boy. And he knew that he would live forever to remember his fate.
For thousands of years, he wandered the worlds, hoping to find solace inside - but it was an empty hope. Although in time he found his place in myth and legend as a powerful warrior - his very name being adapted to mean 'war' or 'chaos' - he never found the rest he desired. The inner rage ate at his soul, until he could not remember what contentment had felt like. In the end, it was all too much. The only peace he could achieve was in death - and as it would never come naturally, Oni'kara took matters into his own hands.

But as he was an immortal, he could never truly die...
And the next day, he opened his eyes again, a baby boy oblivious to his past.

-

"You will be the Guardian of Time... because in your past life, you were its creator. Inside you is the spirit of the exiled Oni'kara - though your body is currently that of a mortal, your soul is not. You are the Fierce Deity, for all that you try to pretend that you are not any longer. And you can never deny the darker side inside you, the part of your heart that longs for the battles of the infinite worlds..."

For a second, there was a deep pause. Link couldn't accept what he was being told, wouldn't even try to believe it. It made an interesting legend, but he couldn't be... Something struck him. "But... a few months ago - I saw him! I saw the Fierce Deity face to face..."
"And you won that battle. Doesn't that strike you as strange? What you fought that day was the darker part of your spirit. As you were, the darkness and the light were still struggling within you. You'd spent ten years as two different people, after your soul had been severed from your body. Ironic, isn't it? Kaelon was just as much the Fierce Deity as the part of you who believed he was. Anyway... to pull yourself together again, your own unconscious mind created the illusion that you were fighting with yourself."
"That was an illusion?" muttered Link. "It certainly felt real..."
Farore continued after the interruption. "When you believed you had destroyed him, you brought your own soul back into balance. You threw off the mask that day - but you've never been able to destroy it, because inside it is still trapped your own power. When you truly accept it again, Oni'kara - " Link grimaced - "you will return to full strength. Even we will not stand in your way. We understand that we were wrong to exile you..."
Link thought hard. It was strange, how she talked to him as if he was the prodigal brother that she'd just mentioned. For a fleeting moment, the impression that it all seemed familiar crossed his mind, but vanished as quickly. There was no way he could be, not if...

"Hang on. I know that there's other versions of me in different timelines. Other Links." He stressed the last word. "What does this mean for them, then?"
"No. They will not be affected. They will live out their lives, never knowing their past ones - live a mortal existence, never knowing their own immortality. You are the only one, you are unique. Out of all eternity, you are the only one who has experienced the full force of his powers over a long time - and returned to his old self to understand them. That makes you special."
"My powers? That was all the mask..."

"Haven't you been listening to me? Those powers - those were all your own! The wisdom to see the paths between worlds; the power that lets you fight any battle those worlds have to offer you and emerge victorious; the courage to never run from a challenge that presents itself. Still, as you were and as you are, you could not take control of what is rightfully yours... We made it so that when you first wore the mask representing your true face, you would unlock the powers within your heart - but there was a problem."
"You're telling me!" In the shock, the remark about his 'true face' passed over Link's head.
"When you discovered the mask, you were only a child. We were sure that your mind was still as strong as that of who you had been - but it was not. Your spirit could not handle the powers placed upon you. You survived the first encounter with them intact, but on the second..."
"I know. I cracked. But those were powers of darkness... and you say that... ?" Link was surprised.
"For you to be the eternal warrior you were always destined to be, you must know both the darkness and the light. Darkness alone will destroy itself. Light, too. But the two, balanced, will create a force unequalled. You and your heroic spirit are the light; but to match that, you must wield the powers of the dark and the chaos. It is your destiny to take them up again..."
Link totally ignored the fact he was addressing a goddess. After all, he reasoned, if I'm supposed to be the Fierce Deity, I'm her equal... "Don't tell me about destiny... I've played your games long enough! Leave me alone!"
"It's not that easy," whispered Farore. "The links in the chain of fate have been forged, and it is beyond even my powers to break it now." The light around the form she shared began to fade. She smiled faintly. "You're one of us.
"Power... Din.
"Wisdom... Nayru.
"Courage... Farore.
"Time... Oni'kara.
"Don't think that you can truly survive, if you try to believe yourself to be just who you do. Only Link? No. Oni Link? Yes. Look yourself in the eye, and say you're not the Fierce Deity, the Guardian of Time..."

Farore closed her eyes.
Alena opened them again, their usual sapphire colour. "Link... what just happened? Oh... my... I didn't... I wasn't... a ...?"
Link nodded. "Do you remember?"
"Yes... but how? Is that what it felt like to be..."
"What did it feel like?"
"Sort of... like I was watching a play, and I was one of the actors. My body was doing and saying all these things, but there was this little bit of me deep inside that was saying 'hey, what's going on here?'" She sighed. "I'm glad that's over, anyway. I'm okay now, but it's not nice not having your head to yourself..."
"I understand exactly," he replied sympathetically.
A voice came from the doorway. "And what was going on, then?"
"Uh... Malon? Sis? You saw that?"
"I saw something. I don't know what it was. You two arguing, I thought, but then... I think we all need a talk. All I know is that something or someone wants you to go back to the way you were..."
"I'm not going anywhere," Link snapped. "You know perfectly well that there isn't a chance in the Sacred Realm that I'm going to put that mask to my face again. Not in a million years..." But, a traitorous voice in his head whispered, there probably aren't going to be a million years left if you don't - because those million years are yours to protect. "Shut up."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing. Just talking to myself." Talking to Oni'kara, more like...

-

An exhausted Link slung a bale of hay into Epona's stable and laughed as his mare nibbled at his hair instead, pulling on the chain of the amulet around his neck as she went. "Is that it, girl? Do you think I look good enough to eat? Well, lay off. I've still got two more horses to go..." She whinnied pathetically, sounding almost human. Struck by her sound, Link began to talk as he worked. "Oh, quit it! You know, it's a good job you don't know what I'm saying, because I'm about to talk nonsense to you. Who do you think I am, eh? Link, right? I'd say the same thing. So would Lena and Mally. But you ask just about anyone - well, you can't, but anyway - they'd probably call me the Fierce Deity, still. And now I hear that's who I'm supposed to be. Well - " he jabbed a pitchfork into the straw - "the great goddesses themselves can say it, but it doesn't make it true. What did she mean that I can't survive much longer? Rubbish. I've got every intention of living, right? You hear me?" He reached over to give Epona a scratch on the nose, and closed his eyes...

-there-

"Kaelon! You're still not done in there?" Link blinked his eyes open, and looked around at Malon looking over the stable door. Well, he was nearly done, but why did she just call him by... I've just jumped again, haven't I? He was about to respond, when a yell came from the next stable along.
"I'm in here, Sis!" His own voice, Link recognised. "And I'm done, too, so don't start throwing a strop." Malon looked back over her shoulder. Another Link was heading around towards her, identical but different to the one who rested his hand on the horse's nose.
"Huh - Kae? But - if you're there, who's this?" She gave Link an accusing stare. "Horse thief? Trying to fool me into thinking you're my brother... but it's creepy, you two look identical. I'll have to get Mum..." She turned and headed away.
Link realised what had happened, as soon as the last word was out of Malon's lips. In this world, his mother had found her way to the ranch and not to the forest. This was the family he could have known...
The alternate Link allowed himself a smile. "So what are you doing there, eh? Usually, Epona goes mad if anyone 'cept us two goes near her. Or the Heroine."
"Who?..."
"Pfft. Oh, come on. You know? Heroine of Time? Five years ago? Lost heir to the throne, used to live in the forest? Everyone knows that, surely... Unless you've been living somewhere up Death Mountain since Nayru-knows-when. "
Zelda - in my place? Link nearly blurted out, but bit his tongue. After all, it wasn't his place here, and she wouldn't be going by that name... What's in a name, anyway? "I've not been up Death Mountain. I've been in another world..."

-there-

The cold hit Link like an ice arrow. This was not the cosy insides of a stable. This was a wintery blast. In the middle of summer? What sort of world have I arrived in now... Wait. I've jumped again - but to somewhere else? Not back home?
...It's not your home anymore...
Get lost. It's my home if I say it is.
...Words, Link, Oni'kara. Just words...

He saw two mounted figures galloping towards him. One was a parallel, almost unsurprising after so many timeline shifts, but with an arrogance written on his features which would have been more fitting if those features had included white eyes.
...Like your own...
Shut up!
The second - Link swallowed - was, was... was Ganondorf.
They rode side by side.
How? That's not possible!

-there-

It was a relief to get away from that world, although Link's curiosity was piqued.
...Perhaps you'll see it again as its guardian?...
Not a chance! Since I'm not going to be its guardian!
He saw someone coming towards him again. Tall, robed in ornate cloaks...
His body took the initiative.

He's escaped again! But I saw him go that time... I can follow him!

-there-

A volcanic crater...

-there-

An icy waste...

-there-

Faces...

-there-

Slowly...

-there-

falling...

-there-

into...

-there-

darkness...

-here-

Link collapsed, knocking down a water bucket in the corner of Epona's stable. The mare whinnied in shock, sending Malon running out to hear what the commotion was. "Link - what's up? Don't start playing dead on me! Oh, come on - wake up!" She reached for his wrist and felt a weak, fluttering pulse. "What happened now? How did you knock yourself out..."
Weakly, he struggled awake. "The worlds... too much..." Blue eyes locked together for a fleeting second, before Link's slid shut, their colour flickering as they did.
"Oh... damn." She turned back to the ranch house and yelled. "Hey, Alena! He's out cold! Can I have a hand here?"

-

He lay asleep, comatose, resting. Alena leant down to his ear. "You told me this once, when I was in the same place you are, now I'm telling it to you. I love you, Link. I don't want to lose you... you're going to pull through... you can't die like this..." Her speech broke down into sobs. Suddenly, it struck her. She called over to Malon.
"...She... said that Link could not survive much longer as he is."
"Do you think... that..." She didn't want to put words to her fears.
That, to get her best friend, her adopted brother back, she would have to lose him forever...
That Link might not survive - but Oni certainly would...

She unclipped the amulet from around Link's neck, knowing he would have no more use for it, and picked the mask from out of the drawer.