A Journey Worth the Soul

Chapter 1

Haunting my Dreams

The hallway stretched on into the distance, his footsteps sending a never-ending echo annoucing his presence to the world. Small torches spaced evenly down the corridor cast a dim glow onto the ground as he made his way down the hall. Dripping sounds echoed from the large room behind him as he kept walking forward, glancing at the ground every now and then as he stumbled in the dark.

He knew this was a dream…he had been here before many times, always the same. It didn't feel like he controlled his motions.

He just…walked.

Turning a corner, he saw a small reddish glow coming from the end of the hall. Large stone doors lined the passage every few feet, the torches near them causing the shadows to flicker and dance on their rough hewn surfaces. A thought passed through his mind as he stepped through a small puddle for the hundredth time.

Why must this always be the same…why can't something change?

The passage opened to a wider room as he progressed forward, the walls seeming to edge away from him like a fawn from a hungry wolf.

And here we go with the….

One by one the lights at the edges of the room flickered out with small pops as if by magic.

…why is it always the same?

The reddish glow beckoned him forward, almost subconsciously calling him towards it as a moth to the flame. Even though this cavern chilled him to the bone, the light seemed to bath him in a feeling of warmth…a feeling of excitement. A chill ran through his body as he walked up to the small standing torch in front of him, no coal or oil powering it, yet it burned brightly. A small wooden stool, ornately engraved sat next to it, seeming so out of place among the dank recesses of this dungeon. As he ran his hand over the stool, the lines seemed to glimmer and dance with a pale blue light as if by...

Magic…

As always, he reached out his hand and waved it over the flames, watching them twist and turn at the sudden rush of air. The scene reminded him of pictures he had seen of fire dancers, an evil being ruled by insidious magic that destroyed as it pleased.

And here he comes in five…four…three...two…

His body twirled around without the permission from his mind as a tapping sound could be heard in the distance, coming from the corridor that he had just left. A small hooded figure, bent over with age and leaning on a gnarly wooden staff came into view, hobbling along at a quick pace for one who looked and acted so old.

His hand reached for his sword handle as the figure ambled towards the chair and with a loud "oomph", almost seemed to fall down onto it. For several seconds they simply gazed at one another, Link feeling as if this man was probing his very soul.

"So you are the one," the old man wheezed, "who has decided to pay the ransom."

Link nodded slowly, "I am."

A small cackled issued from under the old mans hood. "Good, good, then I believe that you were notified of what the payment was then, correct?"

Link again nodded, more slowly as what he was doing again sunk into his mind. An impulse to run flashed through his mind which almost sickened him. He couldn't do that. He couldn't let everyone down…again.

"Second thoughts it seems like you are having?" The old man said with a cough.

The thoughts of running vanished as the old man wheezed out a sickly laugh.

"I am here with the payment, now keep your end of the bargain," Link stated as he glared at the old man. "I have kept my side of the deal, now you keep yours."

"Very well, very well," chuckled the old man, "It does seem like you have kept your side of the bargain so I will be honest. I won't keep you waiting any longer."

The man raised his staff and tapped it on the ground twice, sending a swirling cloud of blue mist into the air. The vapor swirled across the floor, dancing upward until it formed into a sphere on the ground. As it swirled around, it began to dissipate until the huddled form of a woman and small creature appeared laying on the ground, apparently unconscious.

Link walked towards the two prone figures, crouching down on one knee to check each of their pulse, finding with relief that both were alive and breathing. He turned his head towards the old man, "Now what?"

The older man pushed himself up from his chair. "You will now come with me. I believe a deal is a deal." As he spoke, he tapped his staff twice on the ground, then, with a little effort lifted it above his head. He muttered softly under his breath as the staff began to glow a bright red, sending out sparks of flames in all directions.

Link watched as the man let go of the staff, letting it float above him. The head of the staff turned, facing behind the man and with a loud bang, let loose a stream of energy behind him. It went for several feet before hitting an invisible barrier and started sliding down towards the ground, spreading and growing until even King Dedede could waddle through it.

The man motioned for him to follow as he walked towards the shimmering portal. "Come, he is expecting you."

Link walked towards the portal, ignoring the bright bolts of light it sent out towards him. The old man walked through the portal, disappearing in a small flash of light. As he approached, Link turned and looked one last time at the figures on the ground. His heart tugged as he saw the woman started stirring, pushing herself up onto her elbows as she glanced towards him, a soft smile about to form before it was quickly wiped away by his forlorn gaze he returned to her. He jerked his head away from her, not wanting to see her face at what he was doing as he slipped through the portal, mouthing a single word, hoping she would hear it.

"Goodbye."

-O-

Link woke up with a start, sweat streaming down his face as his eyes stared into the empty darkness of his room. Slowly, he dropped his head back to his pillow, bemoaning what again was a horrible nights sleep.

Why do these dreams keep on coming back, night after night... He scowled, watching the shadows on his walls dance in the pale moonlight as he tried to slip back into a fitfull slumber. After several uneasy moments, he finally threw the covers off his bed and made his way to his personal bathroom, throwing the door open and fumbling to turn on the light. He rolled his eyes as he saw a clock read 2:47am.

"Great, only got about three hours..." he grabbed a nearby cup, filling it with cold water from the sink and downed it in several thirsty gulps. "And I have a match today as well...super..." He stared at his reflection in the mirror above the sink, scoffing slightly at his bloodshot eyes and haggard, umkept hair. "Almost look like a redead now..."

For months now, Link had barely been able to get a wink of sleep at night due to this one, recurring dream. The nights when he hadn't awoken in a panicked sweat felt almost, abnormal. As if the dreams were supposed to be happening every night. Sometimes the dreams had different endings, sometimes different beginnings, but the one thing that stayed the same in each of them, was the dank, mysterious hallway that he always was walking down.

Just thinking about the hallway sent shivers down his spine that only another splash of cold water on his face could get rid of. The cool liquid trickled down his face as he bent over the sink, waking him up slightly as he turned the faucet off. Right now he didn't need to feel more awake, he needed sleep. A dreamless night to be more exact.

He chuckled softly as he turned away from the sink and towards his bedroom, giving the light switch a solid whack with his hand as he passed, jamming it back into the off position. He probably had broken it, judging how the switch now was twisted sideways, but, he didn't care. By now he had broken so many electrical, things, in this place that what was another light switch. His first day in the competition he had tried to vanquish the toaster with his sword, only to find that the oncoming shock hurt would hurt worse than any type of blast from Pikachu. A slight smile formed as he stopped and laughed, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes.

Good times…good times.

Slowly, Link sluggishly walked back to his bed, plopping down onto it and flinging the covers over his head to get rid of the light from the window. The covers jerked past his knees, leaving his lower legs uncovered to the cold of the night, yet he was too tired to even wiggle his legs around to get them covered.

Seconds turned into minutes as his brain tried to slow down to a stop so he could get back to bed. Somewhere, off in the distance, an owl began to hoot. Link pulled the pillow tighter around his ears as the hooting grew in volume and consistency.

Looks like even nature wants me to lose today... he thought as he rolled over in bed. The sound of flapping wings reached his ears as a soft hoot came from the window. He slowly opened his eyes, severly annoyed when he saw an owl perched upon his windowsill.

"Could you please leave me be. Just...shoo," he mumbled as he waved his free hand towards the bird. The owl simply rotated its head, while giving him another, somewhat louder hoot, before flying away into the night, leaving Link to try and get back to sleep. However, one thing, besides the match later that day kept on bothering him, keeping him from sleeping.

His newfound hatred of owls.

Kind of short and it seems like a pattern that I start out my stories with a dream sequence. They seem to leave so much open for the next chapter...makes you want to read it when it published more. I'm so mean like that. The next chapter should be up sometime within a week or so until then, you will just have to wait.

Also, anyone know why Link hates owls? Even before this fanfic was written? If you give me the answer, I'll give you brownie points. Or kudo's, not sure which is better...