The Salesman II

I felt my knees aching against the hard earth below me. I wanted to cry… I wanted to run away and hide but I couldn't… I wasn't strong enough. He would kill us all. My one and only friend was going to destroy everything. He didn't need us anymore. I started to wonder if he had ever really cared about us. My stomach was twisted in wretched knots, and my throat tasted of bile. Nothing was right anymore. How had things become so… wrong? If only you were here… if only the one person who could make things right were beside me, then everything would be okay. She could talk to him and set things straight, and maybe everything could go back to the way it was again. Maybe he was mad at us for something… maybe we did something to hurt him, and that was why he was doing these terrible things. Surely she could make it right again, if anyone could. Thinking again, I grit my teeth reluctantly in anguish. No… not this. Not even she could fix this. My eyes strained to hold back tears I would not allow to fall. He had betrayed us, utterly and completely; there was no getting around that. Nothing we could have done could justify his actions. I was a coward, and I couldn't do anything to stop him now, but she would have known what to do. If only it had been me instead of her… but then… she'd be here with him and he might have hurt her instead… no, it's better this way. Surely she would have made that boy help her escape by now, and then she'd be free. She was so much smarter than I was. If I was ever going to see her again, then I would have to make sure she knew what was at stake. It wouldn't be much, but it would be all that I could do. She couldn't come with us; I would protect her even if it got me killed. I looked up, not really seeing anything. The tears I had tried so hard to hold back were stronger than my will to keep them in. I began to weep softly, careful not to make any noise so he wouldn't hear me. Bitter hate filled me, as I thought of how weak and pitiful I was. Hopelessness accompanied this, fuelling the quiet tears that ran down my cheeks. It wasn't much, really it wasn't, but it would be the one thing I would do to try and fight back. I hoped she would never find us; she was much safer as far from us as was physically possible… but if she did… I lifted my hands and wiped the tears from my face, and noticed with a dull surprise that they were shaking, and felt extremely heavy and weak at the same time. They trembled violently; almost like I hadn't eaten in days. That didn't matter now, however. The tears gone, I placed my palms on the ground and dug in with my nails. I was resolved. No matter how scared I was, the very least I could do was try to protect her. It would be the last good thing I would ever do. Her name danced through my head, then, like a sweet song, and I whispered it softly into the air, making sure I wouldn't be heard.

"Tatl…" after a moment, I gave a start. The voice that had whispered her name was not my own, and yet… it was my own. I knew that voice, because it had always been my voice. I shook my head in confusion, suddenly feeling disoriented. Where was I again? I attempted to look around, but there was nothing to see… literally. Everything was black. I felt so strange; like my body was made of paper, and my head was filled with lead. Had I… died? I attempted to touch my eyes, to see if something was blocking them, but instead my fingers hit a hard surface just before they reached my face. A mask? I tried to pull it off, but something stayed my hand. This mask… it was important. I shook my head again. Why was it so hard to think? After a pause, I decided to remove the mask anyway, but before I could, a booming voice from seemingly everywhere filled my ears and I froze.

"Awaken, Mask Man. Remember who you are," the voice crashed into me like a great wave and rocked me where I knelt. Wait… knelt? Well, of course, you must always kneel when speaking with the spirit of the Mask of Truth. My eyes widened. Yes… of course! Memories flashed rapidly through my mind and I began to recall who I was. To others, I was the Happy Mask Salesman. I was on an important journey, and then… someone stole something from me. Something more precious than all the rupees and all the power in the world. Immediately, everything became clearer.

"Majora!" I cried in shocked remembrance. Upon saying the name, I was able to see all around me again, though I recognized it to be the Mask of Truth's vision. Just ahead of me, seeming pale and drained of colour, was a tunnel entranced by tall mushroom shoots. The tunnel led into complete darkness. That was where they had run off… the boy and that Skull Kid… ah! Skull Kid! That horrid little imp. I almost leaped up to give chase then and there, with no regard for anything else, but then a memory played into my head. It was the smiling image of a tiny white fairy; someone who was once very dear to me. Or who still was. I shook my head once more, trying to recall something that seemed distant. I had been kneeling here and… I had seen through eyes that were not mine. Not the Mask of Truth's… or perhaps, the Mask of Truth had indeed shown me with its own sight the truth of others. The mask was supposed to let you see into the hearts and minds of others; or so it was told. Had I witnessed just this?

I thought hard, concentrating. I had seen… a woman; working on a ranch. She was… such a sad woman… she fought so hard against the pain she felt each day. She was a hard working, and good woman, however. She didn't deserve what had happened to her; first her father, dying tragically, and leaving her with the responsibility of raising her sister alone and running the family ranch. Then there were the vandals who had been breaking into her storehouse of late, and destroying her milk supply. She suspected the ranchers on the plot next to her; the 'Gorman Brothers', but she had no proof. Her sister had also been acting odd lately; something about "ghosts". That memory was vague and ill-formed, though, as I couldn't remember her actually having this thought tangibly during whatever vision I was recalling. I remembered there was something about a man, too… a man with raven hair. And a wedding… but for some reason, this memory was too painful to think on, and I couldn't recall anything more. Then, there was that boulder… placed there… by Skull Kid. My brows furrowed, half in fury, half in despair. Tael… the fairy who's eyes I had also seen through, flashed into my mind. I began to recall images of this second vision; the one I had just exited, and the one that had left me confused about my identity. Tael was still trapped with Skull Kid, I realized with a sinking feeling. My heart ached when I thought of him, so full of despair and self-doubt; he had more courage inside him than he could ever understand. It just needed a little time to show itself. After a time, I began to recall important details. I looked ahead of me then. This tunnel… if I followed it, it would take me to another world; a world called Termina. Unless, to my misfortune, the gate had been closed, in which case I'd be trapped inside like the little hero had been. I tried to remember, but I couldn't recall Skull Kid closing the gateway in Tael's memory. Hopefully, it would still be open. Even if I did get through though, it seemed this other world was doomed… all they had was three days. I thought of that giant moon, looming ominously over their world with that horrid, red-eyed, grin. I would die if I stayed any longer than that. As long as the gate stayed open, I could leave relatively easily, even if the gateway was on the ceiling of that underground chamber. I had many masks with all different manners of powers; and a few tricks all my own. The only problem would be the time. Even at full strength, I could never best Skull Kid as he was now. No manner of 'trick' was going to change that. I felt disheartened. I would give chase, and for what? How was I to get back Majora? After a moment of pause, I looked forward determinedly. It didn't matter. I would go, and I would figure it out somehow. And even if I didn't, I had to go anyway. I had already decided that my life was forfeit as soon as Majora's Mask was in my hands. Nothing was more important then getting it back, safe and sound. I nodded slightly to myself, and attempted to stand.

The second wind that had carried me here was not only gone now, but in its wake I felt – for the first time since my strange visions had ended – a horrible, crippling nausea, a massive headache that shot through my brain like an arrow the moment I tried to stand, and a terrible, violent, trembling that gripped my whole body like a vice. Standing should have been nothing less than impossible. In my heart, I knew that I was dying. I did stand, however, using every scrap of willpower within me to hold myself erect. This was a pain I had never known; more intense and unbearable than I felt I should have been able to handle. Apparently, I was stronger than I gave myself credit for. I thought of a small, purple fairy. I realized with a start that I was still wearing the Mask of Truth. The mocking 'tick, tock' had ceased, and silence, save the sounds of the forest, reigned. I stood, recalling the visions, and the mask who had shown them to me… and the mask who had always shown me the way.

"Thank you," I whispered. I wanted to kneel again, but I was near certain if I did, I would not be able to get back up. There was no obvious reply at first, but as I waited, I heard – as if far in the distance – a clamouring sound, like deep bells tolling in a high wind. I smiled, and took the mask off my face.

Suddenly, the world flooded with brilliant light and bright colours. I took a moment to let my eyes adjust, blinking rapidly and squinting in the harsh light, then prepared to set out. My bag sat on the ground to my left, and with some effort, I managed to place the Mask of Truth back inside and reach back in for the stone-faced mask I had been wearing earlier. Once on my face, the plain face of the Stone Mask enveloped me in its magic and made me appear no more interesting than a stone to most people who would have seen me. For all intents and purposes, I was invisible. I carefully slung my bag onto my back once more, feeling as though it weighed a ton now, and I looked into the dark before me. I noticed, with slight amusement, that it was barely dawn, and the light was dim and grey around me. The tall mushroom shoots that formed an arch on front of the tunnel were a bright green, however, and almost appeared to glow. I swallowed, staring into the darkness and facing complete uncertainty. With one last glance back from where I had come, I etched an image of my home, the land of Hyrule, permanently into my mind, and with a deep, shaky breath, took a step forward into the enveloping black.

Carefully, step by step, I inched my way through the darkness and squinted to try and help my eyes adjust as I went; which was especially hard with a mask over my face. However, there was simply darkness, no matter how much I squinted. My feet slowly inched ahead of me, shuffling along the earth and feeling out the ground below. I extended my arms to either side, letting the cold, earthy walls of the tunnel guide me forward. I continued this way for a few moments until abruptly one of my feet seemed to fall into nothingness. With a sharp gasp, I drew it back quickly and inched my foot forward once again, carefully feeling the edge of the earth as it gave way to a deep hole. My foot could not find the bottom. I withdrew my foot once more and leaned forward as far as I dared, squinting hard. I began to make out the edge of the ground and how it seemed to suddenly cut off and become a big, black, nothing. I swallowed. I was going to have to jump. Steeling myself, I sighed deeply, drew back slightly, and on a prayer to the Goddesses to 'please let me not die doing this', I leapt forward with all my might and felt that horrible, sinking feeling in my stomach as I fell through nothingness.

As I began to descend, strange, colourful and chalky images flew past me in a slow flurry. I was able to examine some, and to my surprise, I recognized some of them. They were images of masks, all in different shapes and colours. Time was beginning to feel gradually slower, and falling felt more like slowly sinking into some viscous liquid than plummeting through the air. I veered off to the right, sort of sinking into the spot as the mask images swirled around me and my body became subject to the will of the descent. I looked beneath me for an end, but saw only darkness and more mask images appear from below and then drift past me. My vision began to swirl then, sending everything into an odd sort of vertigo effect as the mask images around me appeared to spin rapidly all at once. I shut my eyes, starting to feel nauseous. Not a moment later and I felt my bottom hit the ground with a dull thud.

I opened my eyes; rubbing my bottom absent-mindedly, assured it was now bruised. All around me was the underground chamber that opened up beneath the gateway, shown to me in my vision. I had landed to the right of the pool of water where the little hero had landed, and with great shock, I looked into the chamber and saw something else that had been in my vision.

"S…s…Sis!" Tael cried out from behind the large opening at the other end of the chamber; just before the door crashed down in front of him. I gaped in astonishment, staring where the small, purple fairy had been; hadn't this already happened? I looked to the two figures in the center of the room. A miserable looking Deku child sat on the floor, arm up slightly as if having been pushed down. A small, white fairy floated above him, staring down at him, radiating malice. As the door slammed down with a thunderous boom, the fairy seemed to come to, turning slowly as if having just awoken from a dream. Staring at where the noise that had alerted her came from, she looked to the sealed door at the end of the chamber, and what had happened became crushingly clear to her all at once. She jumped up, crying out in surprise and flew, swift as an arrow, to the door.

"Whoa! Whoa! Skull Kid, wait for me! I'm still here!" Tatl cried desperately, "Tael, you can't leave without me!" she began throwing her tiny body at the door, ramming into it repeatedly. Of course, it was futile. After a rapid flurry of attempts, she stopped, hovering in front of the door in silence. Her wings drooped hopelessly in defeat. Then, abruptly, she straightened, turning on the Deku child. Despite not seeing her face behind her tiny glow, there was no doubt in my mind that she was frighteningly angry.

"You!" she shouted, icily. She flew over to the Deku child, stopping to hover just in front of his face. He had stood back up while she had been at the door, and he stared levelly at her now, as she flew toward him and began to yell, "If I hadn't been dealing with you, I wouldn't have gotten separated from my brother!"

As the scene played out I began to realize what this was. Wait… his fault? My jaw nearly dropped. What a horrid little fairy! It was clearly her own fault for pushing him down. The Deku child merely stared at her however, still as an oak. His gaze was pure misery, but something else hid behind his sad eyes. It was a strange sort of calm that was unseen in a child; like a man who had experienced many trials and had learned to take all things simply as they were. It was a tempered patience, and a keen, discerning eye that was hidden. I found myself admiring the boy fondly; such courage and strength. He was Link, the Hero of Time. There could be no doubt of that anymore. The fairy continued on, shrilly.

"Well, don't just sit there Deku boy! Do something!" on the edge of anger was a thin waver of hysteria gripping her voice. I realized that, more than angry, she was afraid. She always hid her feelings like that…

I stiffened, feeling uneasy. That last thought had not been my own. I shook my head, assuring myself it was just a side effect of the vision.

"…Why are you looking at me like that?" Tatl continued, sounding uneasy. The boy was just staring at her, saying nothing, "What, is there something stuck on my face?" she went on heatedly, "Will you stop staring and just open that door for me?!" she sounded afraid again; though I wasn't sure if anyone else would have been able discern that at this point, "Please! C'mon, a helpless, little girl is asking you…" she went on. I almost laughed aloud. She was the farthest thing from a helpless little girl that I could imagine, "So hurry up!" she snapped, angrily. She lifted into the air and stared at the door, after her brother and Skull Kid.

"Ohhhh Tael…" she lamented softly; a stark contrast to her previous screeching, "I wonder if that child will be all right on his own?" my stomach lurched guiltily at the truth of that sentence. He was not alright, and was in more danger than any of us even if that moon did destroy everything in this world. She fluttered over to the door and waited, flitting up and down impatiently.

I finally had a moment to think; though brief. The visions from before, I now realized, were things that had not yet happened. Tael was with Skull Kid right at this moment, likely just visiting the Great Fairy, unaware of Skull Kid's intention to destroy her. I felt horrible knowing all that was to befall him and yet having no way to stop it. With an effort, I pushed the feeling away; if I was successful here, he would be free from Skull Kid's tyranny, and so I tried to focus on what was most important. Link, transformed into a Deku, had come to this place only moments before I had. Perhaps we were even trapped in the gate together and I was let out only a few moments after due to the strange time anomalies of the gateway. Whatever the case, he was only a few meters from me, playing out the unseen events of my vision. And, no matter what shape he had taken, he was still the Hero of Time; a fearsome fighter, courageous in every sense, intuitive and bright, and most of all, empathetic to the well-being of his fellow men. I was no match for Skull Kid… but I was wrong when I had said no one was. This child, transformed into the small creature before me, was still more than capable of saving a world; if only he believed in his strengths. And if he was willing to help me… the matter of his condition was not hard to fix; as things were, I could not do it myself, unfortunately, but if he had his Ocarina back, I could teach him how to free himself from the form that had encased him. I brightened, hope beginning to swell within me. I formed a loose plan in my mind and began to right myself; the pain of starvation and death were almost a separate entity now, barely palpable under the new-found joy I felt. With this boy here, I believed there was real hope. Fate was a miraculous thing, I mused; something so wonderful as this could only be ordained by the Goddesses themselves. Perhaps they cared for more than just the balance of our world, but of all worlds. I stood now, still shaking slightly, but not visibly. My determination had me anchored solidly in place.

After no more than a brief moment, the boy ran toward the large door after the little fairy, and I had to run after him to make sure I was not left behind. The door – a massive, dome-shaped thing, with a strange red insignia in the center that I didn't recognize – slid open at his approach, and he ran through as Tatl slipped underneath. I ran just beside him as the door slammed close with a thud behind me. Before us was a tall, wooden hallway that curved out of sight. On either side of the hall were beautiful, green borders touching the floor. It looked like large, strange plants were growing all along the sides of the walls, some with strange red buds, and others curled with little yellow buds. I backed away to make sure Link couldn't accidently touch me, putting my back against the wooden walls of the large hallway. I made sure to keep my distance at all times; discovery at this point was not something I particularly wanted. The boy ran off ahead, his small legs hobbling along in a rapid patter down the hall. Before following, I looked to the door and saw Tatl was hovering still, just inside of it, seeming to ponder something absent-mindedly. I followed after the boy, leaving her behind. Perhaps it would be best for the hero if she decided not to come along. Keeping just behind him, we rounded the curvature of the hallway and reached a somewhat larger chamber than the one before.

"Hey, wait for me!" a small voice cried from behind. Tatl's bright body shot from out of the hall, rounding the corner and stopping to float directly in front of Link's face, "Don't leave me behind!" she exclaimed breathily. She paused, meeting Link's quiet gaze. With a quiet sigh, I supposed leaving her behind was no longer an option.

"So, um… That stuff back there…" Tatl began tentatively, "I…um…apologize, so… So take me with you!" it sounded like more of a demand than a request. She may have had zero tact, and was more of a burden than anything else in my opinion… but she was sort of cute in a way. Tatl inched closer to Link's face.

"You wanna know about that Skull Kid who just ran off right?" she insisted excitedly, "Well, I just so happen to have an idea of where he might be going. Take me with you and I'll help you out. Deal? Please?" without waiting for a reply, she perked up, flying a bit higher into the air, "Good! So then it's settled!" her voice was all self-satisfaction, "Now then, I'll be your partner… or at least until we catch that Skull Kid…" as if remembering, she added, "My name is Tatl. So, uh, it's nice to meet you or whatever. Now that we've got all that straightened out, can we stop messing around and get moving?" with a shake of my head, I immediately took it back; she was the farthest thing ever from 'cute', "If I figure something out, just look up and I'll tell it to you," she went on, "Hopefully, you'll manage to get by without my help until then!" on that note, Tatl flew up above his head and hung there determinedly. Link shrugged helplessly and shook his head. Clearly he was going to have no say in this matter. 'What a fairy!' I thought. The whole thing was actually quite comical from the outside, but I did feel bad for Link, having to deal with such a… spirited, companion.

I took the momentary silence to get a better look at the chamber we had run in to. Like I had noted before, it was somewhat larger than the chamber we had been in before, but instead of having even ground like the last chamber, the hallway had let out on to a moderately sized, semi-circular ledge that overlooked the ground only a few meters below. The earth beneath my feet was soft and spongy with fresh grass, and below seemed to be just as lush. At the other end of the chamber, another semi-circular ledge at pretty much the same height stood against the opposite wall, and a heavy, wooden door leading out was on top of this. A normal sized, rectangular door, it appeared to have no doorknob or handle, and presumably opened with the same magic the massive, wooden door in the previous chamber had. All around the door was a large red insignia, like the towering of great flames. There seemed to be many strange symbols in this place. I looked up and noticed the ceiling was far out of sight, and all I could see was darkness. Link continued forward almost immediately, and I couldn't examine the room further. Not two steps later, he stood atop another large, pink deku flower that had grown in the center of the ledge, and Tatl chimed like a bell, grabbing his attention. Link looked up as he had been instructed to.

"Hey! If I call you, look up right away!" she called out impatiently. I tried to decide just how fast he needed to be in order for her to ever be satisfied, and then I realized I was trying to imagine a world in which a fairy like this would be satisfied with anything anyone ever did but herself. I actively withheld a chuckle, "I can tell you're not very used to your Deku Scrub body yet," she went on, "Alright, listen up! If you spin as a Deku Scrub while standing on a Deku Flower, you can dive into it! If you wait a bit before jumping out, you'll launch out of the flower. Just pull down while flying to descend. Did you get that?"

"Yes," Link replied. His Deku Scrub voice was extremely high and wavery – almost like a baby – but even so, he maintained a level of calm and control that was truly admirable. This body really didn't suit him, however. I would happily rid him of it, if only I could get back my precious mask.

"Are you sure?" Tatl asked. Without waiting, she added, "One more thing: you can spin when you're on the ground to perform a spin attack!" then, satisfied with herself once more, she flew herself toward Link and slid herself inside his large hat. After a moment, Link attempted to spin in place, as instructed, and was suddenly plunged inside the Deku flower he stood atop. I gaped; the slightly puckered center of the flower was the only hint that anything was inside it, let alone a thing nearly it's own size. A moment later and Link emerged from the center, launching into the air with two large, pink flowers in either hand; their petals spinning rapidly like pinwheels. Link's expression, despite his downcast eyes, seemed to widen in shock, and what was more… muffled amusement.

All in an instant, I had to make a critical decision. While Link now had a way across to the other ledge, I did not. Surely I could run ahead and climb to the top of the other ledge from the bottom, but with his much quicker method, he might have gotten out of sight by then. With a movement quicker than the eye could catch, I reached inside the lining of my vest and pulled out a small pinch of lavender coloured powder. I threw half of the powder onto my tongue, swallowing hard, and the other half over my shoulder and onto my bag. As the little hero erupted from the Deku flower and began ascending into the air, I leapt up and grabbed his ankles, holding on for dear life.

Now high above the ground, Link did not sway or drop; in fact, his body did not react to the extra weight at all. This was because there was no extra weight. The powder I had swallowed made whatever it touched unsubstantial, save to the user. To Link, he would see and feel nothing, and if he tried to touch me himself, his hand would slip right through, as if through air. I, however, could interact with whatever I pleased, without the subject knowing I had ever been there. This particular powder had been enchanted to make it so whatever I used it on could not be interacted with by anyone but myself. A master potion maker in Hyrule had made this, and many other powders, over the course of her lifetime. This one had taken nearly her whole life to perfect, imbued with ancient magic and ingredients gathered over generations. It only took one single grain of the stuff to enchant whatever object it touched. With animals, who were complex living, breathing, beings; the powder needed to be ingested to take effect. Thankfully, though the pinnacle of her work, I had something she wanted more dearly than the powder she had slaved over, and so, she had enchanted the powder to only respond to myself in exchange for the thing she wanted. There was only a handful of the stuff, and so I tried to avoid using it when I could.

We had done a lot of business together, over the years; always seeming to have something the other wanted. If I had to think about it, she was probably one of the closest friends I had ever had. Though we never really spoke of anything profound or meaningful – I didn't even know her name – she was the one person in Hyrule I could feel understood me, or at least, understood me more than anyone else. This was probably because she was one of the oldest living people in Hyrule. There were few in this life who came even close to my age anymore; many of my old companions living and dying as my life continued to go on without them. Link lurched forward jerkily then, and all wayward thoughts of the old hag from the potion's shop left my mind as I clung desperately to his ankles.

Link's tiny body began to cross the open expanse of the chamber, pivoting forward and propelling the flowers he held toward the door at the other end. The thick, pink, flower petals filled the air with a rhythmic whooshing as they spun rapidly, and I tightly gripped Link's lanky, wooden ankles. Sweat beaded heavily down my forehead and cheeks, as the effort of holding myself up began draining me of the extremely small amount of strength I had left. Like before, through the agony and strained exertion, I pushed my body past what it was capable of with sheer willpower; I would see this to the end. I felt my arms begin to shake violently, and my hands were coated in a layer of sweat that made me fear I might slip. I heard the flower petals whooshing slower, and Link started kicking the air in an attempt to keep himself aloft. With the sudden jolt, I held on as tightly as I could, but with every lurch that followed, I knew I was slipping. I looked down and realized with elation that Link had just started passing over the opposite ledge. Without waiting for him to drop, I released my grip on his legs, feeling the pit of my stomach sink uncomfortably in free-fall. My feet crumpled below me as they impacted the ground. I fell awkwardly to my side, the stone mask on my face falling to the ground with a thud. My bag slipped off my back and rolled away from me. I looked up to see Link fall to the ground, the petals of the flowers exploding away from their stems in a shower as they rained down toward the earth. He landed a meter or so ahead of me with a soft thud on his tiny feet, and managed to stay completely upright; he was so light the fall had barely affected him. I felt somewhat embarrassed, but despite the pain and fragility of my now thoroughly exerted body, I hurriedly righted myself and snatched the stone-faced mask, tossing the now useless thing in my bag, and slinging that back onto my shoulders in one, fluid motion. Link ran and approached the door, and I was no more than a step behind him as the heavy wooden door rose, allowing him to pass. As I slipped under the door with him, it slammed closed behind us with an echoed crash. I looked back, and saw thick, metal bars had slipped over the door and into the ground; barring us from going back. With a feeling of unease, I looked forward to examine the room we had entered. All at once, my heart sank to my feet, and I stifled an anguished moan.

End of Chapter Four, Part I