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Chapter Text

An old-fashioned schoolbus raced with 100 kilometers per hour over a winding country road. The members of the House of Anubis were on their way on school trip under supervision of Ganondorf and Shadow. Together they made a deafening din that could be heard above the growling of the engine.

‘’Who is this? Draculappila? Waah!’’

‘’Four, Four, give me another lolly, please!’’

‘’And this one’s for the beginning, for when I’m not that tanned yet. Then a few days later I can start with this one, because then I will be less bothered by the sun. But my sunglasses will stay on. Hey! Give that back!’’

The driver of the bus constantly shot compassionate glances to Shadow who desperately tried to give information through the microphone.

‘’Damaltia is a territory in the southern part of Croatia. We will be staying in one of the greatest cities, Trogir. This World Heritage and history of Trogir goes back for 2800 years. We will be staying on the island Ciovo that is connected with main land by a bridge,’’ Shadow shouted through the microphone, but no one listened to his story. Even Ganondorf stared not interested out of the window. They drove through a flat, gray landscape that was just as gray as a wet news paper.

Shadow looked helplessly at the 8 students before and then back at the busdriver who nodded with understanding. The vice principal then at the chaos before him: after five hours of non-stop driving the aisle lay full candy in every color of the rainbow and on one of the chairs a piece of toffee was stick.

Wind had snitched Warriors’ very expensive sunglasses off of his nose and now jumped over the chairs like a monkey to escape Warriors who raced after him.

‘’Give that back!’’ Warriors shouted and rushed past Hyrule who had convinced Legend to show his swimming trunks Ravio gave him.

Hyrule held the fluorescent yellow trunks before him and tried with great effort to keep a straight face. ‘’Very nice,’’ he pressed out and looked as innocent as he possibly could.

‘’You don’t mean that, surely?’’ Legend said with suspiscion and took his trunks back. ‘’I’ll buy a new one in Croatia,’’ he muttered and crammed them in his backpack.

In the meantime, Wind had climbed over the heads of Sky and Four.

Four had a bright red head from how long to hold your breath while Sky looked at his watch with concentration. When Four finally gave up, he stopped the clock.

‘’One minute and three seconds, that’s a shame,’’ Sky said teasingly and yanked his hand back as Four tried to grab the watch.

‘’Give it! You’re lying!’’ Four yelled but Sky held the clock above his head. Four mowed with his arm to reach the stopwatch and accidentally smacked Hyrule on the head.

‘’Ow!’’ Hyrule exclaimed and turned around to angrily looked at the two behind them. ‘’What the fuck?’’

‘’Sorry, ‘Rule,’’ Four apologized and aimed for the watch again.

Warriors had driven Wind to the back of the bus and had his gaze fixed on the little gremlin. With a giant smile he slowly approached with his arms wide. He was sure the boy couldn’t escape now.

Wind stood opposite of Warriors with his back against the back seats. His eyes couldn’t be seen as they were hidden by the dark glasses of Warriors’ sunglasses that stood perky on his nose, but underneath he smiled widely.

‘’What are laughing at?’’ Warriors said and had his gaze fixed on him. ‘’You’ve got nowhere to go.’’

The two of them looked like two cowboys, ready to strike.

Wind slowly pushed the sunglasses up in his hair. In his eyes flickered two dangerous lights and he beckoned Warriors to come closer.

As a wild animal Warriors dived for the boy’s legs, but Wind quickly turned and grabbed his pulse. He yanked Warriors past him with the outcome that Warriors fell on Twilight and Wild’s lap who were sitting in the back of the bus.

‘’Sorry,’’ Warriors murmured. He stood up and turned. ‘’You little, fucking dipshit! Come back!’’ he yelled and ran forward. His foot, however, got stuck on the red carpet and he tripped. With an amazing speed he fell forward and crashed face first on the floor. He turned even redder of anger when he noticed that Wind had stopped and laughed at him.

‘’Stop that! Now! You wild animals!’’ yelled Shadow from the front of the bus. He looked like he was ready to eat his own shoes out of misery.

Twilight and Wild were laughing hard.

‘’Wild animals?’’ Wild said and frowned. She looked at Shadow as the vice principal tried to catch Wind, but the boy was way too quick.

‘’Poor Shadow. He’ll never make it to Croatia alive if nothing changes,’’ Twilight murmured.

Wild shook her head. ‘’He’ll be completely bonkers.’’ She rested her head on Twilight’s shoulder again and entwined her fingers with his’. The whole trip they had sat like this and she never felt so happy in her life. Her hand shot up to the necklace that rested on her chest. When she had stepped in the bus that early morning at the House of Anubis, Twilight had already been there and beckoned her. The butterflies had never flew so wild in her belly as then. Exactly this day the two of them were together for half a year and she had sat there with tension if Twilight thought of that. Twilight is sweet, but he had a negative point on romance. Warriors had said that the cause could be that he studied too much. Wild had to agree with him: Twilight didn’t think about that stuff much.

That’s why she had been so stressed that morning. She didn’t want to admit it to herself, but it would be a disappointment if he had forgotten. But he had remembered.

He had beckoned her and shyly gave her a small blue box. On the soft cotton wool lay a silver necklace with the half of a heart. Wild hadn’t had words when Twilight pulled the other half from under his shirt: it hang on a leather rope.

‘’They fit together.’’

Wild had nodded speechlessly as Twilight placed the necklace around neck. The schooltrip couldn’t had started better. And now they were free for a week, one whole week on a camping in Croatia. She’d seen pictures and already longed for the beaches and the blue ocean… And looking at the sunset, sitting around a campfire at night… and all of that with Twilight. What could be better than one week holding his hand while they stand on the beach just like they were doing now, sitting in the bus?

‘’So sweet,’’ she sighed and her hand searched the heart again. It felt warm in her hand, just like her heart felt. She looked up in Twilight’s blue eyes and hugged him. ‘’A half year,’’ she whispered.

‘’I hope longer,’’ Twilight murmured softly in Wild’s ear.

Wild nodded with her eyes closed. ‘’Forever…’’ she said, barely loud enough to hear. She opened her eyes and looked in Twilight’s eyes. His gaze filled with love.

‘’On a big mushroom, red with white spots, sat Shadow bouncing back and forth,’’ Wind’s voice echoed through the bus.

Shadow’s head was red with anger. ‘’I’m warning you, boy!’’ he threatened but Wind didn’t pay any attention to it.

The boy was swinging back and forth on a handle that was attached on a hatch in the roof of the bus. Warriors’ glasses were still standing on the bridge of his nose and he had a floppy wicker hat on his head that also belonged to Warriors.

‘’Snap then went the mushroom, and with a deep sigh…’’

The busdriver wipped his head around when he saw what Wind was up to. ‘’Hey, flail! Let go! That’s an emergency exit!’’

‘’Both legs, hop, in the air,’’ Wind happily continued and let go. He landed with loud thud on the ground and put both legs in the air.

The next moment the driver put all his weight on the brake and the bus made a huge swing tot he right when it then got off the road and raced through the verge. Little and large trees seemed to pass with an enormous speed. Warriors was screaming loudly and Wind was being moved around like he were nothing more than a ragdoll. Shadow, too, had fallen and desperately cling onto Ganondorf’s leg. The bus took a great left turn and two wheels let go of the ground. For seconds it would look like the bus would topple over, but the driver pulled hard on the steering wheel and the bus was once again on four wheels and with an eardeafening screech, the bus skidded to a halt in front of an oak.

Wild shot forward by the impact, but Twilight quickly pulled her back.

It was a havoc in the bus: Shadow couldn’t keep hold onto Ganondorf’s leg and had crashed against the front window, Wind lay with a broken sunglasses on his nose behind the driver’s seat, Warriors had hit his head against the seat in front of him and Four and Sky tried to scramble back up from under the seats before them.

All the loose stuff were scattered around by the bumping. There was candy everywhere, a can of cola had fallen over that was leaking on Legend’s yellow swimming trunks. But he didn’t mind, he had his mind on Hyrule who had also hit his head and now leaned forward with a hand over his left eye.

A big white cloud rose from the front of the bus, followed by a soft hiss.

‘’Everyone out!’’ Shadow ordered.

‘’My candy,’’ came Wind’s sad voice. His 5 kilogram candybag lay now scattered across the aisle.

‘’My glasses,’’ Warriors whimpered and looked at the broken sunglasses that hung on Wind’s nose. There was only one glass left in it.

The ashen driver jumped out of his shock and pulled a lever. The door opened and he stepped outside, shaking a bit.

‘’Everyone out!’’ Shadow said again. He turned around and followed the driver.

The man was completely out of it as he walked a bit back and started looking at the road. His head shot from left to right and then he sank down to his knees and looked at the asphalt with a dazed expression.

‘’Sir, I don’t think this is the most ideal time to search for mushrooms,’’ Shadow said and crossed his arms.

The busdriver stood back up and turned his bewildered gaze on Shadow and Ganondorf who had joined them. ‘’The girl-,’’ he stammered. ‘’-She’s gone…!’’

‘’Sorry?’’

‘’There stood a girl here,’’ the driver said and poined at the spot where he had sat earlier. He pulled his hand back and started to fiddle with his tie.

Shadow raised an eyebrow and looked at Ganondorf for a second before looking back again.

‘’I’m not crazy!’’ the driver said. ‘’I promise you, she stood right here!...’’ He walked again tot he spot where he’d knelt down. ‘’A girl.’’

‘’And where’s that girl now?’’ Ganondorf asked briskly.

The busdriver looked from Shadow to Ganondorf and then at Wind who jumped out of the bus.

‘’Awesome!’’ the boy yelled. ‘’Can we do that again?’’ After him came Warriors, his forehead already holding a blueish color from the bump. Wild and Twilight followed. The girl’s legs slightly trembling as she stepped into the grass.

‘’What happened?’’ Twilight asked the driver who was still standing in the middle of the road.

‘’I…’’ the man started and rubbed the back of his head. ‘’There stood a girl in front of the bus.’’

‘’You hit a girl?’’ Wild called in shock.

‘’Yes… no… I drove right through her.’’

The entire group grew silent and stared at the man.

‘’Really! I’m not…’’

‘’Very well, can we go on now?’’ Shadow inerrupted, clearly done with the driver’s story.

The man shook his head. ‘’Two tires are flat.’’

‘’In what kind of abominable condition is your bus?’’ Shadow grumbled.

‘’Hey! My bus is completely fine!’’

‘’The bus may be, the driver’s a bit mad,’’ Legend whispered in Hyrule’s ear.

‘’Can we carry on now?’’ Warriors complained. He looked with disgust at a swarm of insects that flew above his head and shivered. He longily looked at the bus that stood half on the road and the front almost touching the oak.

Wild found it to be a miracle that it hadn’t hit any trees, because on both sides grew enormous trees where the wind mysteriously whispered their stories. Somewhere in the far distance a crow cawed.

Not really Warriors’ ideal vacation, Wild thought and looked at the gray sky. And neither is it mine.

‘’Sir?’’ Shadow looked impatiantly at the driver.

‘’Link.’’

‘’Link. How will we solve this tire-problem?’’

The man looked troubled. ‘’We don’t. We don’t easily solve this. I’ve got two flat tires and one spare. We can’t fix this today.’’

A disappointed sigh flew through the group. Shadow helplessly looked at Ganondorf but the other just shrugged. He didn’t knew it either.

‘’Aha!’’ Shadow’s gaze lightened up when he saw a small, rusted sign ‘Time 2 kilometers’. A tiny drawing with a tent hidden in it. The arrow pointed at a sandpath that ran through the trees.

‘’Time?’’ Warriors suspiciously looked at the sign and then at the path that disappeared in the darkness of the trees.

‘’There is a camping,’’ Shadow said. He walked over to Link and gave him a hard pat on the shoulder. The driver jumped up with fear. ‘’Open those cargo areas, Link,’’ Shadow ordered. ‘’We’ll take the tents with us. There is a camping.’’

‘’A camping? But…?’’ Warriors whimpered but he was silenced by Shadow.

Link opened the cargo areas and with the help of Legend and Sky he pulled out all the tents and other stuff.

‘’Grab your stuff,’’ Shadow ordered with his ‘I do not tolerate any contradiction’ voice. He grabbed his cane and tapped it on the ground. ‘’Set up in groups of two!’’

Twilight took Wild’s hand and together they stood before Shadow who had put on his green hunter’s hat. The man was waving his cane around like a general in the army.

‘’Weren’t we supposed to go to the beach?’’ Warriors grumbled who stood next to Wind. ‘’Where’s the beach?’’ He reproachfully looked at Shadow. ‘’Why are we traveling with this rusty tin anyway? Now we’re stranded here, I’ll never get tanned!’’

‘’Call your dad for a chopper,’’ Legend teased.

‘’Good idea!’’ Warriors said and grabbed his phone. He tapped a few times on the screen and then placed it against his ear. His face clouded with frustration. ‘’Of course no service in this terrible place!’’ He put his phone back.

‘’Get on your places!’’ Shadow called. He put his cane in the air. ‘’Here we go. Take a deep breath in…’’ He took a full breath of air. The others followed his example where Wind of course made the sound of a dying monster.

‘’And out. Feel the fresh air flow through your lungs,’’ Shadow said cheerfully as he took a fast walking pace. ‘’One, two, three…’’ He took another deep breath and started to sing: ‘’Come on, outside, all of you, we’ll be searching the Oriole. And if we hear the musician, the summer’s returned.’’ His voice echoed through the damp, dark forest.

Wild looked over her shoulder at Link. Without Shadow seeing, she slipped out of the line and ran to the man who had rested his head in his hands. ‘’Aren’t you coming with us?’’ she asked.

Link shook his head. ‘’No, no, you go. I don’t get it. That girl… She just stood there. Suddenly. I drove right through her.’’ He was silent fpr a second. ‘’I drove right through her.’’

Wild hesitated. Should they leave him? The poor man looked so confused. She didn’t understand, why was he constantly talking about a girl? She looked behind her and saw that Twilight also slipped out and was now waiting for her. She gave Link an encouraging squeeze in his arm. ‘’Good luck, see you later,’’ she said shyly.

She wanted to turn around when she suddenly saw something standing behind the bus on the road. She was shocked.

There was a girl standing in the middle of the road. Exactly on the place where Link had pointed.

The girl wore a sky-blue cape with a hood over her head, hiding a part of her face in the shadows. She looked Wild right in the eyes.

Wild felt a shiver run down her spine. She wanted to call out for Twilight, but her voice was paralyzed, the only sound being a faint whisper. ‘’Twilight,’’ she whispered and turned around.

‘’What?’’ he laughed.

When Wild looked again, the road was empty. She let her gaze flow over the area. Where was that girl? She’d seen it right, hadn’t she? There was a girl!

‘’Wild and Twilight! Back in rank!’’ Shadow ordered.

Twilight took Wild’s hand and guided her back to the group. ‘’You alright?’’ he asked and looked at Wild with worry in his eyes.

‘’Yes… No…’’ Wild looked over her shoulder again.

The girl really was gone.

‘’I saw something weird,’’ Wild softly said as the two of them took places behind Legend and Hyrule.

‘’What did you see?’’

Wild shook her head and made a gesture to Legend. She didn’t want to tell what she’d seen with him being near. She didn’t trust him at all.

Twilight understood. They didn’t talk for the rest of the walking.

‘’Tweedle dee sounds his song, Tweedle dee sounds his song, Tweedle dee other versions wrong!’’ Shadow sang. ‘’All together now!’’ he happily called but everyone kept their mouth shut.

‘’We’re going the wrong way!’’ Legend shouted.

Shadow stopped so abruptly that the group bumped into each other like a harmonica. ‘’Where do we need to go then?’’ he asked. There was no other way, only the sandpath.

‘’Look for yourself,’’ Legend sniggered and pointed at a sign at the side of the road. It was slightly coming loose causing the arrow with ‘Time 1 kilometer’ to point up. ‘’We have to go up.’’ Legend laughed at his bad joke.

The group swarmed onto the sandpath.

Twilight saw his chance and pulled Wild a bit farther away from the others. ‘’What did you see?’’ he asked.

‘’The driver was talking about a girl? I saw her too.’’

‘’What?’’

‘’It’s true. She stood behind the bus. She wore something blue, some kind of thing that nuns used to wear. But when I wanted to call you, she was already gone.’’

‘’Gone?’’

‘’Yes, just, gone,’’ Wild said and blew in the air. ‘’Like she disappeared into thin air.’’

‘’That’s odd.’’ Twilight stared in thought. ‘’What was she doing there?’’

‘’Everyone set up again,’’ Shadow interrupted Twilight and started to count heads. ‘’Where’s Wind?’’ he suddenly asked.

Wind was gone.

Suddenly an awful screech sounded from the bushes beside the path, like if a mythical creature was hidden. A terrible creature shot out from the bushes and rushed for Warriors who screamed and ran.

Wild stiffened with fear but Twilight started laughing.

‘’That’s Wind,’’ he said.

Now Wild also saw it: Wind’s blonde locks peaked from under the rubber zombiemask. He chased the screaming Warriors with terrifying screeches.

‘’Maybe that girl was some kind of ghost. Some kind of forest spirit,’’ Wild murmured. It wouldn’t surprise her if ghosts haunted this forest. Spirits who led travelers into the woods and then let them get lost.

‘’The bus had two flat tires. That’s really weird…’’ Twilight pondered.

A bad thought troubled Wild’s mind. What if this girl deliberately let the bus crash? She deliberately wanted to lead them into the woods? The trees suddenly looked like evil creatures, slowly coming closer to grab you with their throrn arms. And that tree trunk there… The moss making it look like a demonface… ‘’Where are we anyway?’’ she asked, voice bit shaking.

Twilight noticed Wild shaking and he laid his arm on her shoulders. ‘’Very far away from Croatia,’’ he joked.

Wind had put off his mask and stood next to an angry looking Warriors.

Shadow made the group move again and started singing.

‘’I have no idea where we are,’’ Twilight said. ‘’I never heard of Time.’’ He felt for the book in his pocket. ‘’I have a pocket atlas with me.’’

Wild laughed. It was typical something Twilight would do, having the world in pocketsize.

‘’Here…’’ Twilight took the book from his pocket. Something gold stuck through the pages.

‘’What’s that?’’ Wild asked.

‘’I don’t know.’’ Twilight pulled it out. It turned out to be a small golden key.

‘’Is it yours?’’

Twilight shook his head and studied the key. It looked old-fashioned: the top was gracefully forged into three rings.

‘’How did you get this?’’

‘’I don’t know, I’ve never seen this before,’’ Twilight said wonderlingly. He slowly turned the key. In the gold were the form of a heart and a text too prickly to read. He grabbed a compas with a lens.

‘’Do you always carry around a lens with you?’’

Twilight turned red. ‘’This is some kind of survivalset. With a lens you can make fire,’’ he apologized. Or else it would be pretty nerdy to walk around with a lens. He flipped the lens out and started inspecting the letters that were engraved in the gold.

Wild spied a bit on the others, she didn’t want anyone know what Twilight was looking at. She then looked behind her. She still had the feeling that the girl would be there, staring at her, but the path was empty.

‘’It’s Latin I think,’’ Twilight murmured. ‘’Amor verus animi morientis clavis est.’’

‘’Do you know what it means?’’

Wild frightened. She saw how Legend looked at them with great interest. She pushed Twilight’s hand down in which the key lay. He understood the hint and he lowered the key down as non chalantly as he could. Legend turned his head back again.

‘’Do you know what it means?’’ she asked again.

‘’It’s saying something about…’’ Twilight faltered for a second. ‘’Death.’’

Wild was shocked. ‘’What? What with death?’’

But Twilight didn’t know. His Latin wasn’t that good enough to translate everything. Wild looked at Shadow who was walking at the head of the group. He sometimes spoke Latin… Maybe he knew what it meant. But she immediately pushed the idea away. What if it’s something weird? The man would want to know how they got that sentence. And could they tell him? They both didn’t even know how that key got into Twilight’s pocket. She couldn’t push the thought away that this must be connected with the girl she saw behind the bus. The girl that Link drove right through…

Again she searched the path, but on both sides she only saw trees. She even wondered if something like Time even existed, until the path made a sharp bend tot he right and small houses could be seen in the far distance.

‘’Finally,’’ Warriors grumbled. ‘’I’ve got sore feet.’’

The vegetation grew thinner and sandpath was replaced with a simple cobblestone road. They walked past a wooden sign where with curly letters ‘Time’ was spelled. By the roadside stood a small farm. It was completely decayed and the red roof had collapsed. The house next to it wasn’t in any better condition: the roof was crooked and through the broken windows nettles grew in the houses. The path to the door was overgrown with weeds and the mailbox that stood on the road was just a piece of rotten wood standing on a pole. The only letters ‘Vl’ standing out.

‘’Horrorville,’’ Wind said in a threatening voice.

The group continued making their way into the town. The low houses not that decayed, but it seemed as if no one lived here: the curtains were tightly shut and in every garden grew weeds. They saw nobody and it was dead quiet. Even the birds were gone in Time, or they were silent… Something threatening lay over this village. You had to be on guard every moment.

‘’It’s scary here,’’ Warriors said. ‘’Are we leaving?’’

‘’No, we’ll sacrifice you first, then we’ll leave,’’ Legend simply said.

Hyrule snickered but gave his friend a prod.

The group grew quieter with every second. Only Shadow didn’t seem to be bothered. He was still happily walking on, luckily his singing had stopped.

They passe dan old, stone church where half of the roof tiles had fallen off so the beams were visible. The stained glass windows in the curved windowswere broken and the iron gate around the cemetery was rusted. It stood lopsided in the high grass that grew around the church.  The bright-green grass rustled softly in the wind and looked like the only living thing in this dead village.

‘’Corpse ground. Best ground for grass to grow,’’ Wind said. A few gravestones stood above the grass.

They quickly passed the church. The wooden churchdoor was half open and moved in the wind, as if an invisible hand opened and closed it. On the church tower sat a pair of crows who were staring at the intruders.

After the road took a left turn, the group stood at the edge of a village square. Little houses were surrounding it as soldiers in rank.

The square was deserted.

Twilight looked up at a stone portal they were standing underneath. ‘’What is this?’’

Shadow walked on to the other of the portal and beckoned the others to follow him. He pointed at a text that was chisseled into the stone.

‘’Trames septem peccatorum,’’ he said. ‘’It’s Latin. The path of the seven… hm.’’ Shadow frowned and he grabbed a small book. He flipped through the pages. ‘’The path of the seven sins,’’ he finally concluded.

Wind gave Warriors a prod. ‘’The path of the seven suns. You get the chance to tan after all,’’ he said.

‘’I don’t see any suns.’’

‘’Sins,’’ Shadow corrected. ‘’Those are things you may not do.’’ He gave Wind’s hand a tap as the boy was picking his nose. ‘’Like that.’’

Wind pulled his finger back and whiped it clean on his trousers.

Shadow pointed at the gate. ‘’Here they are, the seven sins,’’ he announced. ‘’Superbia, avaritia, luxuria, invidia, gula, ira and acedia.’’ He flipped through the pages again. ‘’Or in other words: vanity, greed, lust, vengeance, voracity, anger and inertia.’’

‘’Wow, you’ve got all of them,’’ Legend told Warriors who gave him a middle finger in return.

Twilight let his gaze slip around the portal. The gray stones were sloppery placed onto each other and between the joints some kind of fungus peaked out. The sides of the portal were covered with ivy. Twilight pushed the vegetation away, making the stones a bit more visible. A thick layer of moss covered the gray stones.

‘’There is more here,’’ he said and brushed his fingers over the letters ‘a’ and ‘r’ that were just visible. The moss was tough and didn’t let go that easily.

''These gates must be a symbol of the cloister- you’ll see more kind of those stuff in other villages,’’ Shadow said with his know-it-all voice. ‘’It probably makes it way to the church.’’ He pointed at the top of the church tower that was just visible above the treetops.

‘’So? This is boring,’’ Legend grumbled. He turned around and walked back to the deserted village square. Four and Hyrule followed and the others joined after a few moments, too. Only Twilight stayed behind. He looked with interest at the letters. He tried to scratch the moss off with his nails, but the plant didn’t budge. It would’ve taken ages for it to nestle so deeply in the chisseled letters: it would take tools to get the moss away.

‘’Hey, you coming?’’ Wild called. She knew this look all too well: if she didn’t pull him away now, he would stay there for another three hours. She softly pulled Twilight by his jacket and together they followed the others who had stopped near a statue in the middle of the village square.

Wild curiously took a closer look at the stone man who stood on a gray plinth. He wore a long cape and under that a chain mail stopped near his hips and his boots reached to his knees. One of his hands rested on a hilt of a sword. The face showed a surly expression and the sides of his head were framed with steep hair that stopped just above his shoulders.

‘’This is probably the local hero of the village,’’ Shadow informed and knocked a few times on the stone.

‘’Or the only survivor from a terrible epidemic,’’ Legend said and looked at the houses around him. The group hadn’t heard nor seen anyone when they set foot here.

Wild shivered. She had heard of those ghosttowns: those were places where people left a long time ago. Maybe because of a contagious disease, or the economy had gone to shit, or the river had dried up, or maybe they were surpressed by the landowner. She looked at the statue again. He looked like an evil nobleman. ‘’He looks kinda scary for a local hero,’’ she said quietly and started fiddling with the elastic of her braid. The man was pretty handsome and his face wasn’t really creepy, but unemotional. He stared over the square with eyes that held no expression as if he had no emotions.

She pulled her gaze off the statue and looked at the plinth. An inscription was written on a plaque that was screwed on the plinth.

‘Time de Beaufort’ it read and under it in smaller letters ‘comes sine animo’.

Shadow bended down and started to translate. ‘’Time de Beaufort. The heartless count,’’ he started.

‘’A count? And he was wicked?’’ Twilight interrupted.

Shadow shook his head. ‘’He wasn’t wicked. It says that he took his own heart away when his lover left him.’’ He tapped on the small letters and stood back up.

‘’So he actually didn’t have a heart?’’ Twilight asked who was already intrigued into the story.

‘’Moron. That’s impossible. You can’t live without your heart.’’ Legend rolled his eyes.

Shadow noticed a small box where Time’s right foot rested on. There, too, was an inscription: ‘pretiosum’.

‘’Most precious,’’ Shadow said.

Legend perked up and was all attention again. ‘’Most precious?’’ he asked greedily and looked at the box with great interest. ‘’What’s in it?’’

‘’That would be obvious,’’ Four huffed. ‘’The most precious thing the count has.’’ He surpressed a yawn. ‘’I’m hungry.’’ He looked at Sky. ‘’Shall we go shopping?’’

‘’Don’t go too far! I want to keep you in my sight!’’ Shadow called after them.

Sky put a hand in the air as sign he heard the principal. He and Four were heading for a house where on the facade the faint word ‘bakery’ was just readible. Wind followed the two while Legend kept staring at the little box.

‘’Can I borrow your dictionary, sir?’’ Twilight asked Shadow who gladly gave the small book, happy at the eagerness to learn of the other.

‘’Of course.’’

Twilight flipped through pages of the Latin dictionary and looked at the text that was written on the plinth.

Wild immediately knew what his plan was: he wanted to translate the text that was written on the tiny key.

‘’Show-off. It’s just a dead moron, you know,’’ Legend said sarcastically. He turned around and together he and Hyrule followed the others, leaving Wild and Twilight behind.

Wild shot glances at Ganondorf and Shadow who were talking and watching the group. She took the opportunity and gave Twilight a little prod.

‘’The key.’’

Twilight reached fort he golden key and held close to look at the tiny letters that were engraved in the metal. ‘’Amor verus animi morientis clavis est,’’ he whispered and started searching the words in the dictionary.

Somewhere in the distance, the faint sound of thunder could be heard and the already grayish sky turned black.

Wild’s gaze flicked back to the statue. She had to admit that Time had a handsome face, but the cruel mouth and cold eyes poisoned it.

‘’He looks so angry. I reckon he used to be a miser who sucked out all farmers in the area,’’ she muttered.

Again the thunder rumbled and from the treetops and flash of lightning could be seen. Wild felt the hair rise on her arms. A tight knot started to form in her stomach: first the crash, then a spirit and now this ghosttown… And on top of that she now stood before a statue of the ‘heartless’ count. He probably was so obsessed with money that he had asked a sculptor to make a statue of himself with a box full of gold underneath his foot!

She followed the curling of the letters that were written on the box with her fingertops: ‘pretiosum’. The stone felt cold and smooth. She had admit that the sculptur did his job right. The cape of the count fell down with such smooth lines you would even think it was hard to believe it was stone. The box was also very detailed: there were two wide lines running from front to back which on both sides held tiny nails.

‘’He’d hide his gold there to…’’ Wild started, but stopped when she noticed something hidden under the lines where some stone had come loose. Had she seen it right?

She bended down and took a closer look. She was right: underneath the gray stone lay gold.

In the gold was a heart engraved, just as it was engraved in the key. And there was even more: in the box was a keyhole.

Wild looked up at Twilight. He’d seen it too. He knelt down next to her and they compared the two hearts. There was no hesitation: these hearts were the same!

Twilight and Wild looked at each other with shock.

‘’Yo, guys?’’

The two both jumped to their feet and bumped with full force their heads together in the process. Legend stood behind and looked both of them with malicious pleasure.

‘’New form of kissing?’’ he scoffed.

Wild’s heart was going insane. What had Legend seen?

‘’It weren’t my idea, but Sky asked if you wanted to have something. From the baker or something,’’ Legend said with reluctance.

Twilight shook his head. ‘’No.’’

‘’No, thanks, I’ll pass,’’ Wild quickly said. She wanted Legend to leave. She was afraid he’d already saw too much.

Legend shrugged. ‘’You’re choice.’’ He put his hands in his pockets and walked away, whistling.

‘’Save your energy,’’ Four said as he approached the statue with the other following. ‘’Nothing’s open in this fucking village.’’

Legend face clouded. ‘’Nothing at all?’’

‘’Nothing,’’ Hyrule repeated and started kicking the plinth in frustration. ‘’No one lives here. This village is dead.’’

‘’Then you don’t eat for a while!’’ Ganondorf snarled. ‘’I’m tired of this dawdle of you all. Keep moving. That way! There’s a camping over there.’’ He walked to a sign with the tiny drawings of a tent and three tiny waves.

Warriors’ face lightened up again. ‘’Swimming!’’ he happily called.

‘’Last one at the pool’s a loser!’’ Wind yelled and rushed off.

‘’Hey, wait for me!’’ Warriors ran after the boy.

Wild shot one last glance at the statue of the heartless count that threatingly in the middle of the square stood. The thunder rumbled above her head and a few drops of rain started to fall from the dark sky. Again she had the cold feeling that something was about to happen… something terrible. And she had the thought that the key in Twilight’s pocket, the girl Link drove right through and the count Time were part of it.

Chapter Text

A soft drizzle fell from the sky as the group finally arrived at the camping. They’d walked for about a kilometer over a trackway which opened up in a wide valley. Warriors and Wind immediately headed for the swimming pool but their smile disappeared when they saw the pool: it was filled a stinking, brown goop that smelled like rotten eggs.

‘’You first,’’ Wind joked.

‘’Never!’’ Warriors exclaimed and took a small peek around the edge.

‘’I bet frogs live in there. Tonight we have frog legs,’’ Wind announced. He grabbed pinecone and threw it in the slime. And just as he predicted, a giant brown frog jumped and dived underwater. But by the splash of the pinecone, a tiny bit of goop flew up and hit Warriors in the face. He was silent for a second by the shock and then started screaming as if his balls were cut off.

‘’Get it off! Get it off!’’

Sky rushed forward and gently wiped away the mud with a handkerchief.

‘’I don’t wanna be here! I want to leave! Leave! LEAVE!’’ Warriors shouted.

Wind could barely hold it together, causing Warriors to get even angrier.

‘’It’s disgusting here! I wanna leave!’’ Warriors grabbed his phone and tried to call his father again. ‘’No service,’’ he whined. ‘’Where have we landed!’’

‘’Save your energy,’’ Ganondorf snapped and gave him a bag. Warriors looked at it with confusion.

‘’What’s this supposed to mean?’’

‘’This is a tent you have to set up. Over there,’’ Ganondorf instructed and pointed at a space some meters away.

‘’And the other one will stand over there,’’ Shadow added and gave Wind a same sort of bag. ‘’Wild, Sky and Four you go with Warriors. Twilight, Legend and Hyrule go with Wind.’’

Wild beckoned Twilight before he could leave. He nodded and made his way to her. He took out the key.

‘’You think…?’’

‘’We can open that box?’’ Wild finished his sentence.

‘’You saw the keyhole yourself, didn’t you? And that sign? It was the same as the key.’’

Wild nodded and took the key from Twilight. She thoughtfully let it turn between her fingers and looked at the tiny letters. ‘’If it fits… What will happen?’’ she murmured. Her voice trembled.

‘’I don’t know. I’ll try to decode the text first. Maybe we’ll know more after we have that information,’’ Twilight said and grabbed the tiny dictionary. Wild returned the key to him.

‘’Dude, you helping or what?’’

As a phantom, Legend stood before the two again.

Wild flinched again. What was it with that guy? He looked at Twilight with suspicion and crossed his arms.

‘’I’m coming,’’ Twilight said and he quickly hid the key and dictionary again.

‘’You’ll turn into a girl if you keep on talking like that,’’ Legend huffed. He turned around and walked to his tent where Hyrule laid out the groundsheet.

‘’Tonight, when everyone’s asleep, okay?’’ Twilight whispered.

Wild nodded. Again she had that ominous feeling swimming around in her stomach. What will happen tonight?

Twilight followed Legend and could just dodge Wind who was hopping around as a blind rabbit in his sleeping bag. But in his own style, of course: he had the sleeping bag zipped all the way up to his head. However, he didn’t see the big tree coming closer and closer until he finally bumped into it.

‘’Ow!’’ Wind’s head popped out as a snail coming out of its shell and he fell down on his back. ‘’Fuck!’’

‘’You all right?’’ Wild rushed forward to help, but the boy didn’t hear her and hopped back to the tent and fell face-first into the fleece fabric.

Wild rolled her eyes and made her way to the other tent where Sky, Four and Warriors halfheartedly tried to put the tent up.

‘’You have to pull a bit more,’’ Four said to Sky who gave a firm tug, causing Warriors to fall forward.

He scrambled up and gave the stick he was holding to Wild. ‘’Here, you do it, I have to clean up,’’ he grumbled and walked to the toilets that stood a few feet away.

It took a lot of pain and effort (and a lot of help from Twilight) to finally get the tent up and ready to go. The other tents were already up and the supervisor’s tent stood in the middle of both of them so it was impossible to skip from one tent to the other.

Shadow and Ganondorf had made a campfire in the middle of a lawn. Shadow had hung a pan containing white beans and tomato sauce above the fire and was stirring it every so slightly once in a while.

Wild had just rolled out her sleeping bag when the principal’s voice echoed over the open field.

‘’Everyone wash your hands and gather around. Diner!’’

Wild heard her stomach growl and hurried out of the tent. She also longed to know what was written on that small, mysterious key. She walked across the dark ground tot he campfire that cast out a bright circle of light cutting through the dark night-sky. Somewhere in distance an owl hooted and the bushes around her rustled softly in the wind. Wild felt the hair rise on her arms and a shiver ran down her spine. She found it childish of herself, but she wasn’t fond of a dark forest around her. She quickened her pace.

She sat down beside Warriors and looked around, but Twilight wasn’t here yet.

Legend and Hyrule came from the toilets and sat down near the fire. Legend bended over to Hyrule and whispered something in the other’s ear. Hyrule nodded and he pulled back again.

‘’Proteins and all other minerals,’’ Shadow informed as he gave everyone a plate with beans and tomato sauce.

Wild took the plate from the principal and bravely took one bite.

White beans with tomato sauce. She wondered if Ganondorf had taken it with him, he had mentioned it the last school trip.

Twilight silently sat down beside Wild. ‘’True love is the key to the dying heart,’’ he whispered softly. For one second Wild looked confused and he continued. ‘’That’s what the text said on the key.’’

Wild’s eyes widened. ‘’That’s what it said?’’

Twilight carefully looked around, not wanting anyone to overhear, but everyone was busy complaining about the food.

‘’If the key fits…’’ he pondered.

‘’You think?’’

‘’You too, right? It says ‘most precious’ on the box and the text on the key is ‘true love is the key to the dying heart’. The count took his own heart away when his lover left him.’’ Twilight was silent for a moment. ‘’I think his heart is in the box.’’

Wild thought deeply as she took a bite of the beans. It sounded logical what Twilight said. Your heart was the most precious thing you have. More precious than money or anything. But was it possible? How did the count do it? And what would happen if they open the box?

‘’If we open it, what then?’’ she whispered to Twilight, but he shook his head. She felt a knot starting to form in her stomach. Twilight seemed to notice the unease his girlfriend was troubled with because he shifted a bit closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Wild gave him thankful squeeze and looked up at the clouds where a few stubborn stars shone through.

‘’What will we do?’’ Twilight whispered.

Before Wild could answer, Warriors interrupted by giving her a small prod.

‘’Disgusting, right?’’ he murmured and let the white and red gunk slip down again on his plate. ‘’What would you eat right now?’’

Wild was amazed. ‘’Err…’’

Warriors stared at the food and sighed. ‘’Everything is better than this,’’ he muttered.

Wild took another bite of the food. It tasted funny, but it wasn’t really disgusting as Warriors said.

‘’Why don’t you ask Ganondorf for a piece of dove?’’ Twilight offered and pointed at the janitor who was enjoying his meal, wiping the fat off his chin that was dripping down his mouth.

Warriors shook his head fiercely and quickly took a bite.

Wild had almost finished. Her grandmother always said that real hunger could make raw beans turn sweet. Wild never had any raw beans, but she understood what would be meant with the reverence. After eaten nothing this day, this didn’t taste as bad as she thought. The knot in her stomach was the only hinder. What should they do? Open up the box where the heart of the count could be in? She thought about his cruel face and the big sword he held. Maybe it was true what Twilight had said and the heart of Time really was in the box. That’s why he was so angry. You couldn’t fall in love without a heart after all…

Wild reached for her necklace. After all that had happened she’d completely forgotten that she and Twilight were together for half a year. But they weren’t at a camping near the croatian coast, but a deserted field in a dark forest near a ghosttown where crows cawed on the very top of a church tower.

Twilight bended forward to her. ‘’We’re going. Tonight.’’

Wild looked at him. The fire reflected in his eyes, giving them a mysterious look. ‘’But what if something terrible happens?’’ she whispered. She wanted to be brave, but from the bottom of her heart she was scared. For some reason she had an ominous feeling about all this.

The moon broke free from behind the clouds and a silver beam fell on the crackling fire. The flames suddenly flared up high and then died down with loud hiss. A big cloud of smoke appeared and slowly spread across the group that sat around the fire. Shadow grabbed a stick and started to poke the wood, but it didn’t do anything. The smoke became thicker and thicker and after a second Wild couldn’t even see the people who sat opposite of her.

‘’Wet wood,’’ Shadow announced and stood up. ‘’We need dry wood. Amice, You helping me?’’

Ganondorf laid down his dove and followed Shadow into the woods.

The smoke was still becoming more and more thick. It made its way in Wild’s nostrils and it tickled the back of her throat. She put her sleeve over her mouth and nose and scrambled a few inches back. The smoke started to prick her eyes and she could feel them tear up.

Wild first thought that the tears were the cause of the weird phantom she saw in the white smoke, but when she rubbed the tears away, the phantom was still there.

She looked at Twilight with eyes as wide as an owl. Did he see it as well?

He stared incredulous at the phantom above the fire and Warriors was stiffened with shock on Wild’s other side.

Everyone could see the appearance.

A phantom with a long cape and a hood.

‘’Help me…’’ came a voice that seemed to come from another world: soft and high-pitched. You had to take the effort to understand what you heard, if you heard it. ‘’True love is the key to Time’s heart…’’

The voice silenced for a heartbeat and a little, white hand appeared from between the folds of the cape. Again the voice was heard, more powerful this time. ‘’The end is near… there is still a chance. Free his heart!’’

The phantom disappeared.

Everyone stared at the fire that started up again. The white smoke was gone.

‘’Waaahaaa!’’

A dark figure jumped in the circle. ‘’The count has come to avenge his lover! Blood is what he wants! Blood!’’ it yelled with a shrill voice and its arms were thrown up to the night sky, causing the hem of the cape to catch fire.

‘’Wind, you’re on fire,’’ Legend said dryly.

‘’Whut?’’ Wind pushed the hood back and looked down at the flames that were crackling near his ankles. He started to jump up and down as daft moron. Twilight rushed up to help him, but Ganondorf was faster and threw a bucket of water over the jumping Wind. The fire immediately died down, leaving Wind all wet, making him look like a drowned rat. He looked so dismayed that everyone started laughing.

‘’Nice one, Wind!’’ Four said and gave a thumbs up.

‘’Really?’’ A small smile already appeared on the soaked boy’s face.

‘’You should’ve kept holding on to that creepy voice,’’ Hyrule added.

‘’That ‘waaahaaa! The count’s come’?’’ Wind said with his best ghost-voice.

Hyrule shook his head. ‘’No, before that. It was very soft and high-pitched. You sounded like a girl. I had goosebumps all over me.’’

Wind looked confused at the other. ‘’But… I didn’t say before that,’’ he stammered.

Before Hyrule could answer a flashlight was flicked on.

‘’It’s time,’’ Shadow said and pointed the light at each one of the group. ‘’You’ve had one hour of respite.’’ And as if Shadow had ordered, the clock of the church started clinging.

‘’But it is vacation,’’ Warriors tried, but Shadow shook his head.

‘’You all need to rest,’’ Shadow grumbled. ‘’Who knows what awaits you. Be prepared for anything- sleep with your clothes on. All of you won’t know anything that will happen this night.’’

‘’What the fuck is he brabbling about?’’ Legend sighed, his eyes holding an irritating glance.

Shadow ignored the comment. ‘’Think about your sins.’’

‘’So funny, that guy. I’m dying,’’ Legend continued and fake laughed.

Sky gave him a prod as sign to stop making these comments.

‘’Off to bed. NOW!’’ Ganondorf threatingly stood up and threw the dove carcass in the bushes.

Everyone followed his example. All of them knew not to mess with this man.

Wild secretly pulled Twilight behind a juniper bush.

‘’That phantom in the smoke… That wasn’t Wind,’’ she stammered.

Twilight shook his head.

‘’True love is the key to Time’s heart. Did you hear? We have to open that box,’’ Wild said agitatily.

‘’The phantom in the fire… It was a girl…’’

Wild took Twilight’s hand and gave it a tiny squeeze. ‘’It was the same girl I saw near the bus… She said: ‘help me’? She wants us to do something!’’ Wild’s fear suddenly melted away and she looked intensely in Twilight’s eyes. ‘’We have to do this.’’

Suddenly a crackling sound came from the right and the two stiffened as Ganondorf poked his head through the leaves.

‘’Stop with this talking, to bed. Now!’’ the man said briskly and turned away again.

Wild bended forward and gave Twilight a kiss on his cheek. ‘’At twelve. On the square,’’ she whispered. She let go of his hands, but then changed her mind and pulled him back and gave him a more intense kiss on the lips which the man greedily accepted.

She pulled back. ‘’See you soon,’’ she whispered and slipped away to her tent.

‘’It’s eleven o’clock. We all know what that means,’’ Ganondorf’s voice blared over the field.

Wild looked over her shoulder, but Twilight was already gone, eaten by the darkness. Shadow and Ganondorf were watching the 8 students sternly as group split in 2 groups of 4.

Sky already lay in his sleeping bag while Warriors was still busy with his bedtimeritual and tried to hang a mosquito net on a tent pole.

Wild laid next to him with her clothes still on.

‘’Do you keep your clothes on?’’ Warriors asked.

Wild nodded.

‘’Did you hear Shadow? He’s certainly gonna drop us tonight. In a dark forest with spiders,’’ Warriors muttered and finally managed to place his mosquito net on the pole. He climbed underneath i tand then tried to scramble in his sleeping bag.

‘’There are no mosquitos,’’ Four said.

‘’Of course there are! There have to be a few lost ones,’’ Warriors exclaimed and tightened the mosquito net. He hadn’t even tightened it down properly when he let out a terrifying screech. ‘’A spider!’’ He grabbed a bottle from his bag and started spraying. A biting, chemical air started to fill the tent.

‘’You’re killing us!’’ Four yelled, but Warriors didn’t listen and kept on spraying.

‘’It’s still moving!’’

‘’Silentium!’’ Shadow shouted.

Wild sat up and tried to climb underneath the mosquito net. She followed Warriors’ gaze and noticed a small spider. ‘’It’s just a tiny one,’’ she soothed. She took it and released at the entrance of the tent. She looked at the other tent and she had to push down the urge to stand up and walk over there to lay down beside Twilight.

But everything seemed calm on the other side. Or was it? Suddenly a phantom appeared from the back of the tent. Was it Twilight? But it wasn’t time yet?

Wild had planned that she had to leave quarter for twelve if she wanted to be on the square by twelve.

The phantom silently made its way to tiny tent of the supervisors. From the inside a flashlight was flicked on.

‘’Who’s there?’’ Shadow asked. ‘’Who dares to step outside their tent?’’

The phantom didn’t answer but pulled the tent pegs out of the ground, causing the tent to collapse. Laughing hard it ran away, it was obviously Wind.

Wild closed the tent again and silently laid down on her sleeping bag. In the distance the church bell rang once and she looked at her watch. It was quarter past eleven. Half an hour more and then she’ll go.

She chuckled slightly when she saw Warriors. The man was sleeping with a mask over his his eyes. Typical she thought. Hysterical over a spider the first second and then sleeping like rose the other minute.

Wild was relieved. She hoped everyone here would be fast asleep when she had to go. If she did get caught, she’d come up with the excuse she had to go to the bathroom. Wild listened to the wind that made the leaves rustle slightly. With a bit of fantasy you could imagine that the wind was flowing through sea and not through the dark leaves of the trees in this abandoned place.

It is weird, she thought. That the group was now stranded in a ghosttown and not on a beautiful Croatian camping. She pictured the square again with the statue of the count. A box with a keyhole at his feet. The key she and Twilight had found could fit…

She didn’t quite understand, but she had the feeling they had to help the phantom girl. What had she said? ‘True love is the key to Time’s heart…’ And that they had to free his heart… Was Twilight right? Could the heart of the count be in that box? And what would happen if they opened it?

Wild looked on her watch. Ten to half past eleven. She decided to go. Everyone was sleeping, before anyone could wake up, she had to be gone. She quietly sat up and hid the light of the flashlight with her sleeve so only a tiny strip of light came through. In the darkness she slipped past Warriors who held a spraying can in one hand and in the other a mosquito swatter. She then quietly walked between the free spaces of Sky and Four’s sleeping bags.

Wild clicked off the light and on pure feeling she searched for the zipper. She zipped it up and felt the fresh night air touch her cheeks and fill her lungs. She shot her glance to the supervisors’ tent, but no movement or light came from the two. Then she let her gaze sweep to other tent, but Twilight didn’t show himself. Again she got the longing to open up the tent and let herself rest next to him.

Should she wait? She was a bit early. She changed her mind: if they were together Shadow and Ganondorf had a good reason to sent them back to their tent, when she on her own could say she had to go to the bathroom.

The silence of the forest was rudely interrupted by a cough: Ganondorf!

Wild didn’t waste a second and hurried for the trackway that led to the village. Without looking back she followed the path. For a moment she thought she’d seen something at the edge of the road. She stiffened, but nothing happened.

She walked on. The trees stood so close to each other that not one beam of the moon shone through the leaves. Wild looked up but everything she saw were a few stars. On instinct she carried on through the trees and when she was far enough, she clicked on the flashlight again. All around her big shadows moved and from the woods soft noises came.

They’re just animals, Wild thought to calm herself down, but it took great effort to keep the evil and scary images away. From things that come to life at night and follow you in the darkness…

She turned around. The path behind her was empty. Don’t be such a baby, she thought and carried on walking.

Wild almost got a seizure when a little squirrel crossed her path, but to her relief the vegetation grew thinner and she walked past the decayed shed she saw earlier this day.

The clock started banging exactly at the point when she set foot on the square. The houses looked even more creepy and dark than they did in the afternoon. She had the feeling that something was off about the square, but she wasn’t sure what it was.

‘’Twilight?’’ she whispered softly and clicked out the flashlight. She made her way to a street lamp that was moving slightly in the wind. A breeze flew her hair into her eyes and when she pushed the locks away, she noticed what was off: the statue.

The statue of the count was gone.

How was this possible?

Wild carefully walked to the plinth that read ‘Time de Beaufort’ and under it in Latin: ‘comes sine animo’ the count without a heart.

But the plinth was empty. It really was: the statue of the count was gone. And so was the box.

Again a breeze whistled through her hair and Wild had the feeling that someone or something was watching her. The last clang died down: Midnight.

Suddenly the snorting sound of a horse echoed through the dark void. It came from the edge of the square, near the portal of the seven sins.

Wild couldn’t see the portal, a dark fog hid the hills and trees on the other side. Again the horse’s snort was heard and from the fog a black horse appeared with someone on its back. The animal neighed and reared up.

Even though the face was covered and hidden in the shadows, Wild knew exactly it was looking at her. The rider spurred his horse and charged right for her. The rider wore a black cape that flapped behind him in the wind.

Wild turned around and started running. Back to the trackway. She ran and ran but to her horror, she heard the clattering of hooves on the stone square behind her and she could almost feel the warmth of the horse.

At the beginning of the trackway, she looked over her shoulder and felt her blood turn to ice.

The rider was count Time.

He looked at her with cold eyes and tried to grabbed her with a gloved hand. Wild dodged away, but tripped over a tree trunk. Before she could stand back up, she heard footsteps behind her and felt the count pulling her up by her jacket. The count dragged her up with enormous strength. She tried tos cream, but the man immediately put a hand over her mouth. He picked her up as if she weight no more than a feather and threw her on her belly on the back of his horse, before he too ascended.

Wild tried to look up, but her head was pushed down by the count. Her only vision being the ground and the hooves of the horse. She felt the tension of muscles rise in the animal as it took off over the stones.

Where were they going? Where was Twilight? How was this possible? Wild felt panic rise in her. Could get she off the horse?

But the count held her in place with a firm grip and the horse was now charging forward in galop.

Wild turned her head forward. They were heading for the portal, but something seemed off: in the middle of the opening was a milky like whirlpool and behind that flashed light, as if lightning crashed behind it.

The count gave the horse the spurs and they fastened even more.

Wild felt her shoe come loose and fall off.

The portal got closer…

She tightly shut her eyes and disappeared through the gate.

Chapter Text

Twilight shot awake. What did he hear? The clock that sounded in the distance. One, two, three…

He sat up and searched for his travel alarm clock. The glowing arrows pointed both to twelve. Midnight! How was this possible?

Then he saw that the little button was pressed. His alarm hadn’t gone off. And he had promised to meet Wild on the square.

He pushed his sleeping bag off of him and scrambled to his feet. It was deadly quiet in the tent. He heard no breathing, nothing. He clicked on his flashlight and covered most of the light with his hand. In the half dark he saw that the tent was empty. Where was everybody?

Twilight have time tot hink about it, he had to go tot he square. Softly he zipped open the tent and walked as quietly as he could past the supervisor’s tent. The two men were fast asleep. Good.

He looked at the other tent, but everything seemed calm. Wild was probably waiting for him, he had to hurry.

When he reached the trackway, he started running. It was already five minutes after twelve and the bell had stopped clanging a long time ago. He found it a horrible thought that Wild was all alone on the square. Why did they agree to meet seperately? But his alarm hadn’t gone off…

Unaware to for him, he didn’t notice the tree trunk. He ran with full speed into it and fell face first on the ground. He didn’t even feel the pain, he wanted to find Wild as soon as possible. He wanted to call for her, but he was still too far away for her to hear him. He ran on and on and finally he reached the square. He skidded to a halt.

‘’Wild?’’ he softly called, but the only answer he got was the rustling leaves of the trees. Twilight searched the square and walked to only source of light: a street lamp.

‘’Wild?’’ he called again, a bit louder this time.

No answer.

Twilight around the square, but he couldn’t find a trace of Wild. Not near the houses, nor the statue…

Twilight froze.

The statue. The statue was gone. Count Time had disappeared from his plinth just as the box.

Carefully, Twilight approached. Around the plinth lay big gray rocks.

As if the real count was trapped underneath a layer of stone and now had come to life.

What happened here?

‘’Wild?’’

Again no answer.

Where was she? Had she been here?

Twilight put his hand in his pocket to grab the tiny golden key. But how well his searching skills are, he couldn’t find it. The key was gone. He started to worry. Had he lost it? Had someone stolen it? Hyrule or Legend? Legend had always been there when he and Wild discussed the secret key, so why not…

He remembered the moment when Shadow had told the group something about the box where the ‘most precious’ was in. Legend’s eyes had glimmered dangerously. Of course he had thought the box would contain juwels or gold or other stuff… what if he had stolen the key and put it in the keyhole?

Twilight made his decision. He first got to check on Wild’s tent before he lost his mind. He had to keep to the facts. He looked around one more time before he made his way back.

When Twilight reached the camping he hurried for the tent where Wild slept and knelt down under the awning. He wanted to open the tent but changed his mind: he’d first tried to quietly call her.

‘’Wild?’’ he softly called and listened sharply, but not one sound came. ‘’Wild?’’ he called again.

‘’Warriors?’’ he then tried. If Wild wasn’t here, she couldn’t answer.

‘’What are you doing here?’’

Twilight turned around and was blinded by Ganondorf’s flashlight. Twilight tried to think of a good excuse why he was here in the middle of the night.

‘’I…’’ he started.

‘’I thought I heard something. Keep your excuses to yourself. To bed!’’ Ganondorf interrupted.

‘’But…’’

‘’Get on to it!’’

Twilight sighed in defeat, he stood no chance against Ganondorf. He would try again later, when the man was sleeping. Then he would look in the other tent if Wild was still there. He really hoped so…

Ganondorf followed him like a bloodhound and waited until Twilight had slipped into the tent. He zipped it close and looked around and noticed that only Wind had returned and was now sleeping like a rose. But Legend and Hyrule weren’t here.

Twilight let himself fall on his sleeping bag and looked at his alarm clock. Quarter for one. He would would wait one more quater before he checked the other tent again. He stared at the ceiling and listened to the noises outside: the rustling of the grass and leaves and the hooting of an owl…

After a few minutes the sound of footsteps was added and the tent got zipped open.

Twilight clicked his flashlight on and shone in the faces of Hyrule and Legend. ‘’Where were you?’’ he sharply asked.

Legend took off his leather jacket. ‘’None of your business.’’

‘’Have you seen Wild?’’

Legend looked at Twilight. ‘’Yes.’’

Twilight felt a wave of relief flow through him. ‘’You did?’’

Legend nodded. ‘’Behind the toilets. With Warriors.’’

‘’What?’’

Hyrule shot Legend an angry glance. ‘’Of course not!’’ he said. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Legend gave him a prod.

Twilight looked from Hyrule to Legend. What was going on? ‘’So you haven’t seen her?’’ He shot a sharp look at Hyrule who turned his gaze away.

‘’You worry too much about that chick, she’s probably just sleeping,’’ Legend said and laid down on his sleeping bag.

‘’Silence!’’

Ganondorf’s flashlight shone through the fleece. Twilight immediately snapped his mouth shut and clicked out his flashlight.

After half a minute he clicked the light on again and first shone in Legend’s face and then Hyrule’s.

‘’Hyrule?’’

Hyrule reluctantly opened his eyes.

‘’You really haven’t seen Wild?’’

‘’No, I swear. How could I have seen her?’’

Twilight didn’t trust it. Hyrule was way too nervous. ‘’Where were you?’’

Legend opened his eyes. ‘’Twili,’’he drawled. ‘’You’ve heard Ganondorf, didn’t you? Eyes closed and mouth shut.’’ He pushed Hyrule down and turned his back to Twilight.

Twilight let himself sink down again on his back and sighed with frustration. He knew he didn’t get any information out of these dipshits. He would wait until they were asleep before he set out again. He looked at Legend’s back. He didn’t trust him at all. Had Legend and Hyrule really stole that key? But how? The key had been in his pocket all the time and he’d never took off his jacket.

Twilight listened to the breathing of the two, their breaths becoming more heavier with the second. But just as he thought it was safe to go, Ganondorf’s flashlight shone through the tent fabric. The supervisor was still awake. Twilight looked at his alarm clock. It was 2 AM now. Ganondorf had to go to sleep at some point?

But the man didn’t go to sleep. Every quarter he checked on the tent and Twilight heard his breathing outside. He didn’t get one second the chance to step out and check on Wild. And at 4 AM when the birds started singing and the first light of dawn, Twilight fell asleep.

The first thought that flashed through Twilight’s mind when he heard the horrifying screech was Wild. He shot up and fell over Hyrule’s leg as he rushed fort he tent entrance. He almost broke the zipper and scrambled out into the open air.

The screeching stopped. Twilight looked around with confusion and saw Sky’s head pop out from the other tent.

‘’What was that?’’ he asked Twilight as he made his way over tot he other.

Four followed him.

‘’I don’t know. Is Wild…’’

‘’Look!’’ Four yelled and grabbed a big envelope that lay near the died campfire. He opened it up and pulled out a letter.

‘’Dear students,’’ he began.

Twilight saw Warriors coming from the tent, trapped in his own mosquito net.

‘’Help me!’’

Twilight on the mesh. ‘’Where’s Wild?’’ he asked and accidently tore a hole in the fabric, luckily, Warriors didn’t seem to notice.

‘’I thought she was with you?’’

Twilight felt his heart sink and grabbed Warriors by the arm. ‘’No, she isn’t with me. Do you know what time she left?’’

‘’I have no idea. Isn’t she in the bathroom?’’ Warriors pointed at the broken wooden houses.

The final piece of the net snapped loose. Twilight pushed the fabric in Warriors’ hands and headed for the toilets while Four read the rest of the letter.

‘’Follow the trail to the portal and behave. Walk the Path of the Seven Sins and do what others couldn’t. Do the tasks with good sense, keep up your chin.’’ Four pulled out another piece of paper. ‘’It’s a map.’’ He held it up so everyone could take a closer look.

‘’Wow, a scavenger hunt,’’ Legend said sarcastically. ‘’Brought together by our comical duo.’’ He pointed at the place where the third had stood, but the field was now empty. Legend pulled up the collar of his leather jacket and crossed his arms. ‘’I rest my case.’’

Twilight came back from the toilets, Wild wasn’t there either. He pulled Warrriors by his sleeve. ‘’Wild isn’t there either.’’

‘’Where could she be?’’ Warriors started brushing his hair.

Twilight shrugged and looked around with worry. ‘’I don’t know.’’ He scanned the clearing, but he didn’t saw anybody. His worry became stronger and stronger.

‘’What’s wrong?’’ Four asked and gave the letter to Sky.

‘’Wild is missing.’’

Four held up the envelope. ‘’Maybe this has something to do with it?’’

‘’What?’’

‘’The scavenger hunt. Maybe she’s involved.’’

Twilight’s gaze lightened up. He hadn’t thought of that. But he immediately pushed the possibility away. ‘’She would’ve told me. She tells me anything.’’

‘’Apparently not.’’

That comment could only be from Legend. Four shot him a warning look, but Twilight didn’t hear it. He walked back to the other tent and opened it.

‘’Wild?’’

But the tent was empty. Twilight looked at Wild’s sleeping bag, but couldn’t find anything there. He left and walked around the tent but couldn’t find anything there either.

‘’Wild!’’ Four called and walked tot he toilets.

‘’I’ve already been there!’’ Twilight yelled. He looked at the others who were still standing near the ashes of the campfire. He walked to Hyrule and pulled him by the sleeve.

‘’Are you sure you don’t know where she is? You were out last night,’’ Twilight begged.

‘’We were just making a bit of fun,’’ Hyrule murmured, but Twilight didn’t believe him. He saw something in the boy’s eyes. Guilt.

‘’Wild and I were meeting on the square at twelve. I had a key, but it’s gone and someone has messed with my alarm clock. When I reached the square, the statue of the count was gone.’’

‘’The statue was gone?’’ Hyrule repeated and his eyes shot to Legend.

‘’Yes, the statue is gone.’’

‘’Gone like really gone?’’

Twilight nodded.

‘’So not broken?’’

‘’No, what do you know about it?’’ Twilight kept his gaze on Hyrule, but the other stared down at the ground. He took a deep breath to say something, but Legend took him by the arm. Hyrule pulled himself free.

‘’I… We have the box,’’ he admitted and looked at Legend.

Twilight’s eyes widened in disbelief. ‘’What?!’’

‘’Thank you very much, ‘Rule,’’ Legend snapped, but Hyrule didn’t pay attention to the other.

‘’I’m so, so, so sorry! We stole your key and went to the square.

Twilight interrupted him. ‘’Get it! Now!’’

Hyrule didn’t hesitate and ran to the toilets. He disappeared behind a rickety wooden door and thirty seconds later he ran back with a backpack over his shoulder. When he arrived back at the group, he shoved his baggage in Twilight’s arms. ‘’Here,’’ he panted.

Twilight zipped open the bag and grabbed a golden-colored box that looked just like the one of the statue. ‘’What have you done?’’ He angrily looked at Legend.

‘’You know. We stole your key and put it in the keyhole.’’

‘’And what happened then?’’

‘’The box didn’t open. We then pulled it and it shot free from the stone. We then took it with us,’’ Legend explained.

‘’And the statue?’’

‘’Something broke off,’’ Legend began.

‘’And then we ran away,’’ Hyrule finished witha guilty look in his eyes.

‘’You didn’t see Wild?’’

The two both shook their head. Hyrule spat between his fingers. ‘’We didn’t see Wild, I swear upon the dead hamsters of Warriors.’’

‘’Hey! Pick your own dead pet!’’ came Warriors’ comment.

Twilight reached out his hand. ‘’The key,’’ he demanded.

Legend put his hand in his pocket and took out the golden key. Twilight it out of his hand and put it in his own pocket.

‘’What do you think happened to Wild?’’ Warriors asked.

‘’I don’t know,’’ Twilight murmured. ‘’She said she went the square last night, but when I got there, she was gone.’’ He looked at the others. ‘’Are you joining me? I’m going to search for Wild.’’

Without waiting for an answer, he turned and walked away toward the trackway.

‘’But what about the scavenger hunt?’’ Wind called after him and held the envelope in the air.

‘’I don’t care about that scavenger hunt! I’m going to search for Wild,’’ Twilight snapped without turning around. Hyrule and Warriors followed him and a few seconds later, the others too walked behind him.

‘’Twilight,’’ Warriors called from the back.

He didn’t answer, but kept walking. He had to find Wild as soon as possible. He looked at his watch. It was quarter after six and the sun was softly shining on his face. In the early dawn the spiderwebs glistened in the verge and the mist was covering the path.

‘’Twilight?’’

Twilight turned. ‘’What?’’ he snapped.

‘’Can you walk a bit slower, please?’’

Twilight tried to walk slower the last meters, but his steps fastened ever so slightly. He wanted tob e on that square as soon as possible. It felt like a bad dream: Hyrule and Legend who stole the key and took the box, count Time who had come ‘to live’ and Wild who disappeared without a trace in this ghosttown where they were stranded after the busdriver had said he drove through a girl. And then that voice…

Unbeknownst to him, he started running. Past the shed to the square.

‘’Wild!’’ he yelled.

His voice echoed against the deserted houses. He ran to the plinth in the middle of the square. The statue was indeed gone and it scared him that it looked even more frightening in daylight, maybe because it wasn’t right, an empty plinth where the day before a massive statue stood upon.

‘’What do we do now?’’ Warriors asked as he stood beside Twilight.

Twilight shook his head. He didn’t know. Suddenly, he felt an harsh flow of anger rising up. He shot his gaze to Legend and Hyrule. ‘’What have you done?’’ he snarled.

Hyrule guiltily looked at the ground. ‘’Well, first we stole your key and then we went here to open the box because Legend said it would contain gold and that it would be worth much…’’

‘’Yeah, put the blame on me!’’ Legend snapped.

‘’It is your fault!’’ Hyrule retorted.

‘’This is all bullshit. It is all planned by Ganondorf and Shadow,’’ Legend said and put his chin high in the air and keeping his gaze on Twilight, causing the other to get even more angrier.

‘’Oh yeah? And how do you explain this?’’ Twilight asked with shaking voice and he pointed at the empty plinth. ‘’That statue was made of stone and now it’s gone.’’ He pointed at Hyrule and Legend. ‘’You did this! It’s your fault that Wild is gone.’’

Legend took a step forward. ‘’Yeah, wait a minute,’’ he threatingly said. ‘’You arranged to meet your girlfriend in the middle of the night and let her walk alone in the woods! We only took away the box, that’s it.’’

He thrushed his head close to Twilight and looked him right in the eye. Twilight stared back just as hard.

Sky could see the rising storm between them and pushed them away from each other. ‘’Guys! Calm down! Wild won’t come back if you two keep behaving like this?’’ he soothed.

Twilight took a step back, but kept Legend in his sight.

‘’What a load of bullshit,’’ Wind muttered. ‘’Let’s do the scavenger hunt.’’

‘’Don’t you want to know where Wild is?’’ Four asked and looked around.

‘’It just makes sense, doesn’t it?’’ Wind said. ‘’I agree with Legend: this is all planned. That statue is fake and the bus wasn’t broken. They just did this to poison our vacation.’’

Four didn’t believe him. ‘’What a load of rubbish.’’

‘’AAAAAAAAAAH!’’

The yell that sounded over the square sounded as if someone had seen the dead rise up and came out of Warriors’ mouth. He stood near the portal and held a shoe in his right hand. His face was paler than ever and he looked with frightened eyes at the group. He held a red shoe in the air.

‘’Oh dear, Warriors found a shoe,’’ Legend scorned, but Twilight also felt the blood drain from his face and he ran to Warriors.

‘’This is Wild’s shoe!’’ Warriors said and therefore comfirmed Twilight’s fear.

Twilight took Wild’s shoe from Warriors. It was Wild’s shoe that she wore yesterday. ‘’Where did you find it?’’

Warriors pointed to a thorn bush. ‘’Here, just before the portal.’’

Twilight looked at the rough stones and the words that were engraved there. Something was off… He looked up… What had Shadow said? This was the portal that opened the way to the path of the seven sins. The others stood beside him and looked through the portal. Behind it they saw a part of the trackway they walked on yesterday, the way that led tot he church.

It looked perfectly normal, but still something seemed off: it felt like they were looking at a painting, because behind the portal nothing moved. No leaf, no grass, not a bird that flew by, no butterfly, no bee, no fly…

Twilight shivered and focused on the portal again. He now noticed the difference: the moss was gone and a big patch of ivy had disappeared. Yesterday he had a feeling and that thought had come true: there was a text chiseled on a marble stone.

‘’This wasn’t here right?’’ Warriors asked.

Twilight shook his head. ‘’It was covered in moss, but the moss is gone now…’’ He started reading.

‘’If you start hot-headed, know you will lose. If you get distracted by lust or beauty, know for whom you choose. One who lingers and hesitates on the path, will never reach the end. Nor the one who fills through mouth, or has only dreams of himself. A heart filled with venom, will petrify without pain. Only the one who can resist them all, will beat the evil of the path. Memorize this all what you do, keep your heart full love and courage.’’

Twilight was silent.

A sigh of warm wind flew through the portal and tickled his face, as if someone were breathing. Even though the wind blew, nothing moved behind the portal.

It was completely silent on the square, everyone had their mouth shut and stared at the text and landscape.

Again the wind blew through their hair.

Twilight didn’t feel Wild’s shoe slip from his grasp. He reached out tot he gate and the wind started blowing harder.

‘’What are you doing?’’ Warriors asked, almost inaudible.

‘’Searching for Wild…’’

Twilight took a step forward. Was he dreaming, or did the landscape seem to bend?

He took another step.

Warriors hesitated, but followed him. Legend was about to turn around, but Hyrule pulled him through the portal.

Who had stood on the square and looked at the portal, had thought they were dreaming, because when the last one entered, the landscape was empty. As if the group was wiped of the face of the earth.

Chapter Text

Wild was shaken back and forth on the running horse. The hand of the count was painfully resting on her neck and her ribs also hurt from the bouncing on the horse. She tried again to break away and run, but Time was way too strong for her and held her firmly in place.

Wild’s heart raced. What was happening? This is the count she saw on the square, right? But how could he live? It echoed in her head and the beat of the galloping horse.

The heartless count. The heartless count. The heartless count. He had no heart. What did he want from her? She was terrified. What was he about to do with her and where were they going?

She had no idea how long they had been riding. She couldn’t look around, because everytime she tried, the count would push her head down and her vision would be the ground and the hooves of the horse. They had been riding in the dark for a long time, and for her feeling they had been riding up and down hills. That’s what troubled her, because, when she and the others had arrived in the small village, she hadn’t seen any hills. And then it went even darker and she figured that they maybe rode through a forest. She also heard water flowing, a lake or a waterfall. They went on and on and on. The horse started sweating harder and damp started to form on the flanks. The sharp horse scent stung in her eyes and they started tearing up.

‘’Hyaa!’’ the man yelled.

They rode up a hill. In the early light of dawn Wild perceived a small sand path. Next to it stood small trees and bushes.

The horse stopped slightly, but charged forward again when the sound of a whip was heard. It passed through a small lake and Wild felt the cool drops immediately after that they rode up a hill again. Then the path changed into a stone path. The clicking of the hooves echoed against walls, they had entered a courtyard.

‘’HO!’’

The horse stood still with trembling flanks. The hold on Wild’s neck loosened and she was pulled up and then carelessly thrown down. She groaned with pain as she landed badly on her hip and her head fell in the pink fabric of her dress. Wild was so surprised that she forgot her pain and fear. What was she wearing?

She pushed herself up and looked at her hands: they were dressed in white gloves, hold in place by a tiny loop around her middle finger. She looked down her body and saw that she was wearing a pink satin dress with bat sleeves.

How was this possible?

The snorting of the horse brought her back to reality. She looked up at the count who stepped down his horse. The black stallion had foam on its lips and trembling flanks that showed how hard they had been riding.

Wild tried to stand up, but the count drew his sword. Without saying a word, he pointed it threatingly at her. He gave a tiny shake of his head as sign for Wild to get up. The girl scrambled back to get out of reach of the sword.

‘’What do you want?’’ Wild stammered with fear.

The count looked at her with cold eyes and kept his mouth shut. He pointed the sword at her again.

Wild was afraid that he would lose his patience so she stood up and put her hands in the air. He nudged his head again. She did what was asked of her and immediatly she felt the sword prick in her back and guide her to a giant wooden door. She looked up and noticed that she stood in the courtyard of a castle. Before her stood an enormous tower and on the right was a wall. Over it she could see the sand path and behind that was a dark forest.

Again she felt the sword prick in her back. She started making her way tot he door. A cat with a mouse in its mouth passed her and disappeared.

Where was she? Should she try to run? But what could she do against the count who was stronger than her and a sword in his hands. His footsteps clicked behind her. She stopped before the door and saw a ring hung like latch. She pulled it and the door opened.

A musty stench waved in her face and she got roughly pushed in the room. She smacked painfully on her knees on the floor and before she could turn around, the door was slammed shut. Then the sound of a key being turned echoed through the room.

Wild scrambled as fast as she could up to her feet and almost tripped over her dress as she rushed for the door. She pulled hard on the ring in the door, but it was locked. She bounded with her fists on the wod.

‘’Hey! Come back! What am I doing here? Come back!’’ she yelled, but the count didn’t come back.

Wild started searching the room for another way out. On the right she saw a stairs that led to another door. She ran up and pulled the ring.

Locked.

She ran back toward the window that were placed high in the walls. She grabbed a chair and tried to open the window, but it didn’t budge. And even if they could open, there was no way she could climb out. The castle was way too high and on this side the ground was 20 meters away from the window. She was trapped in the castle!

Wild stepped off the chair and looked around. She stood in a long room with a wooden table in the middle. In the wall behind it was a fire place that was so big, she could stand in it. The half charred logs were sadly extinguished. Wild shivered caused by a chill. Again she looked at her dress. Why was she wearing this? And how was this possible? She pulled up the skirt of her dress and saw that she was wearing white with pink boots that were closed with laces. She noticed a mirror and walked toward it. She almost didn’t recognize herself.

Her blonde locks were curled and hung down like a brown curtain that stopped halfway her back. She wore a wide pink dress with sleeves so long that they reached the ground. She’d seen this types of dresses as pictures in a history book. It looked like she’d landed in the Middle Ages. But how? What happened? The count had come to life and kidnapped her, but what did he want from her? And where was Twilight?

Wild’s hand shot up to her neck, and to her relief, the necklace was still there. She felt a bit more relieved, as if Twilight was still with her. But he wasn’t, they had arranged to meet at the square at midnight and now the next morning she was trapped in a castle. The sadness flew through as she imagined how worried Twilight would be now…

Wild looked around. The dark room was dimly lit by a chandelier that hang on the ceiling. In the corner near the door stood two harnasses. On the walls hang tapestries and on the chimney hang a shield. Her eye fell on two picture frames. Someone had ripped out the paintings.

Wild took a closer look and noticed two golden nameplates: on the right it read ‘Time’ and the left one read ‘Malon’.

Is that the name of the girl that broke Time’s heart? What had Shadow said? Time was the count without a heart because he had gave it away when his lover left him. Had Malon been his lover? Why would she have left him?

Behind her a door opened. Wild turned around and saw the count standing in the door opening. He held a plate and looked at her with cold eyes.

Wild pointed at the right painting. ‘’Are you count Time?’’ she stammered.

‘’SILENCE!’’ the man shouted.

The sound of his voice echoed against the walls. Time walked to the table and smacked down the plate. Wild saw her chance and tried to run to the door, but Time was faster. Before Wild was halfway of the room, the count was at the door.

‘’Wait,’’ Wild called, but the man didn’t listen and slammed the door shut. She pounded with her fists on the wood. ‘’Let me out! Let me out! Come back!’’

Chapter Text

Twilight didn’t exactly know how it all went, but when he walked through the portal, he had to keep his eyes shut against the wind and now that they were open again, he found himself on a grassy hill. He looked out over a valley with a forest in the distance. He blinked, rubbed his eyes and then pinched himself in the arm to see if this wasn’t a dream. But it wasn’t, it was all real. Behind him stood the portal, free on top of the hill as if a giant hand had grabbed it and placed it back here.

Behind the portal lay also a green valley and in the distance a dark green forest. There was no trace from the village.

‘’Where are we?’’ Warriors asked and looked around dumbfounded.

‘’How is this possible?’’ Twilight walked through the portal again, but the scenery around him stayed the same. He then walked around the portal. ‘’Wild?’’ He called, but there was no response.

‘’Where are we?’’ Legend asked and looked at Hyrule with surprise. ‘’What are you wearing?’’

Hyrule wore a brown trousers with dark brown boots and a brown shirt with a green jacket. He looked completely different from when he walked through the portal. He looked dumbfounded at himself and then at Legend who was also wearing something completely different. He now had a blueish cap on and he wore a red and green tunic.

But Hyrule and Legend weren’t the only ones. Everyone looked different: Sky wore a light green shirt with sandy brown trousers and a blue and white cape, Wind wore a light blue shirt and orange trousers, Four wore a tunic with four colors: green, red, violet and blue, Warriors wore a chain mail and around his neck hung a long blue scarf.

‘’Have we walked through a dressing-up box?’’ stammered Hyrule. He suspiciously looked at the portal behind him.

‘’Spooky…’’ Wind said as he discovered that the backpack where the box lay in had also changed into a leather duffel bag. He stared at it with big eyes, as if he couldn’t decide wether he didn’t like this transformation or he thought it would be exciting.

Warriors didn’t like it at all. He looked at the portal with a terrified glance in his eyes. ‘’We’ve just walked through the portal?’’ he said. ‘’This wasn’t here before we walked through!’’

He took a step to the portal, but immediately backed away again, as if a monster could come through and bite his head off. ‘’What happened?’’ He looked with begging eyes at Twilight, but the other had no answer.

‘’Where are we? Where is the village? I DON’T GET THIS ANYMORE!’’ Warriors panicked.

Twilight walked toward the panicking man and tried to calm him down. ‘’We’re all here,’’ he murmured. ‘’It will turn out just fine. But first we must find Wild.’’

Legend was the first to snap out of his shock and he started pulling on the duffel bag. ‘’You give that to me,’’ he said to Wind, but the boy didn’t let go.

Hyrule started interfere with the two. ‘’Can’t you think about anything but the so called gold?’’ he said with anger, but Legend didn’t hear him.

Hyrule sighed and walked to Sky and Four.

‘’Come on, we’ll go this way,’’ Four said and walked down the hill.

‘’Wait a minute. Maybe Wild’s here,’’ Twilight said and looked around.

‘’Then you would have seen her already, don’t you think?’’ Sky quietly said. He and Four turned around and started walking away.

Twilight looked after them. How could they walk away when Wild is gone?

In the meantime, Legend took another dive for the bag, but Wind made his famous feint and made Legend almost fall face first in the grass.

‘’What is wrong with you?’’ Hyrule snarled. He looked at Legend with disgust and then turned around to follow Four and Sky.

‘’Where are you going?’’ Legend called after his friend.

Hyrule turned around with his arms crossed. ‘’Finding a prince instead of a frog, you happy?’’ he said and walked away again.

Legend hesitated to follow his friend, but pride overtook him and he tried to grab the bag again.

Twilight searched the area. He looked at Warriors with hope who was searching the ground as if he were Sherlock Holmes, but he shook his head. There was no sign of Wild around the portal. Next to him sat Wind on his hands and knees, inspecting every little flower. The bag hang loose on his shoulder. Legend saw his chance and pushed Wind over to snitch the bag.

‘’Hey!’’ Wind called indignantly, but Legend didn’t listen. He took a sprint for the portal and walked through it, but instead of disappearing, he stood on the other side. He stopped abruptly and turned around.

‘’How is this possible?’’

He tried again, but he didn’t go back to the village. His irritation slowly changed into fear. Again he ran through the portal. His eyes shot to the seven words on the portal: Avaritia, luxuria, invidia, gula, ira, acedia, superbia… He shut his eyes tightly and walked through the portal again, when he opened his eyes again, he still stood on the hill.

‘’Are you done with your work-out? If so, can you help search for Wild?’’ Twilight said to Legend.

‘’Wild!!!’’ Warriors voice echoed over the green hills. He fell silent and then kicked the stone portal with frustration.

‘’Wild!!’’ he yelled again.

‘’Wait.’’

A faint voice whispered from behind. A voice they all heard before: it was the voice of the phantom at the campfire.

On the beginning of the path stood a girl with a blue cape and a hood that covered the most of her face in darkness. She slowly pushed it down.

Before the group stood a beautiful girl with bright red hair and dark-blue eyes filled with sadness. She looked at Twilight. ‘’Wild isn’t here,’’ she whispered.

Twilight opened his mouth to say something, but the girl placed her index-finger on her lips as a sign for him to keep silent.

‘’I gave you the key,’’ she continued. ‘’Take it to the castle…’’

Her voice seemed to break and she was quiet for a moment, her sad gaze focused on Twilight. ‘’You are our last hope.’’

‘’Whose hope?’’ Twilight didn’t understand a thing she said. ‘’Where’s Wild?’’

The girl turned around and pointed at the path that ran down the hill. ‘’Wild is in the castle with count Time,’’ she said and raised her finger in a direction where a castle stood in the distance. She turned her gaze to Twilight again. ‘’Go and make haste, Twilight- You must be in the castle before sunset, or else Wild will meet a horrible fate.’’

‘’But what – what do I..?’’ Twilight stammered. ‘’Why did Time take Wild?’’

‘’Time needs seven girls to let his heart turn to stone. Six girls have already petrified. Wild is the last one… If you’re not in the castle by sunset, the same fate awaits her,’’ the girl explained.

Twilight felt the blood drain from his face when he started to understand what the girl was telling him. ‘’What? But why? What… why would he turn his heart to stone?’’

‘’Because he doesn’t believe in love. But you do believe, Twilight! Go! Think about the path of the seven sins – let the virtues win, or else you will petrify as well.’’

The girl started to fade, leaving a faint outline and then she was gone. Twilight walked to the place where she had stood, but she was really gone.

‘’Wait! Come back! What do we need to do?’’ he called out, but when the girl didn’t return he let out a yell of frustration mixed with despair.

‘’What do we do now?’’ Warriors asked. ‘’Who was that girl? And what are virtues?’’

‘’We have to walk this path,’’ Twilight said. ‘’The path of the seven sins.’’

‘’But who was that girl?’’

Twilight thought for a minute. ‘’I think she was Time’s lover. The stone had said something about that his lover had left him, right?’’

Warriors looked at him like he wanted to understand the situation, but the confused glimmer in his eyes betrayed that he didn’t understand a word what the girl just said. And to be completely fair, Twilight was just as lost.

‘’But the path – what are virtues?’’

‘’Good qualities,’’ Twilight explained. ‘’Virtues are the opposites of sins.’’

Legend laughed scornfully.

‘’What are you laughing at?’’ Twilight snapped.

‘’What is this for kind of play?’’ Legend scoffed.

Twilight’s eyes widened in disbelief. ‘’This is real!’’ he yelled.

‘’Yeah sure, and so is the Easter Bunny.’’

‘’Don’t you understand?’’ Twilight called and pointed at the path. ‘’We have to walk the path of the seven sins, or else Wild will petrify. We have to go NOW!’’

He started to walk down the hill. Wind and Warriors followed him immediately and after a slight hesitation, Legend also walked after them. Twilight looked around. Where are the others?

Four, Sky and Hyrule were nowhere to be found. He looked at the forest. High chance they were there. He hoped nothing had happened with them on the path, the path of the seven sins…

What Shadow said the other day had seem dumb and impossible, the path didn’t have anything to do with a cloister. Twilight had never heard or believed that seven sins would play such an important role.

He kept thinking. Virtues were the opposites of sins. But what were they again? Was it important to know them all? The girl had told them not to let the sins overtake, and let their virtues win or else they would petrify. But how was that possible? Could he petrify at any time?

‘’What are the seven sins again?’’ Warriors asked.

Twilight thought for a moment. ‘’Err… fury, eating too much, greed…’’

Suddenly something popped in his mind.

‘’That riddle at the portal,’’ he murmured and tried to remember what it was. ‘’If you start hot-headed, know you will lose. If you get distracted by lust or beauty, know for whom you choose. One who lingers and hesitates on the path, will never reach the end. Nor the one who fills through mouth, or has only dreams of himself. A heart filled with venom, will petrify without pain. Only the one who can resist them all, will beat the evil of the path. Memorize this all what you do, keep your heart full love and courage,’’ Twilight stammered and silently praised himself for his well memory, because a tiny voice whispered it was important if you walked the path.

‘’I didn’t know you could speak medieval-English. Nice job, egg-head,’’ Legend muttered.

The four passed a tiny bush and walked up another hill. Twilight looked at the sun on his left. He had no idea what time it was or when it would start to set, so his plan was to just go as quickly as possible. He didn’t want to take a risk and lose Wild forever. The thought of it broke his heart.

‘’What was that?’’ Warriors asked and stopped walking. Something made a beating sound.

The beating of a heart.

Twilight’s hand shot to his chest and he rested it at the place where his heart was.

‘’It’s coming out of that.’’ Wind pointed at the bag that was hung over Legend’s shoulder.

As if he were stung by a wasp, Legend pushed it off and threw ita way as far as possible. Twilight ran tot he bag and picked it up.

Wind was right: the sound came from the tiny box.

‘’Hey! That’s mine!’’ Legend protested, but Twilight easily pushed him away.

‘’Not anymore. You only want the gold and greed is one of the sins.’’ Twilight hung the bag on his shoulder. ‘’So you shouldn’t have the box.’’

‘’What’s greed?’’ Warriors asked.

Twilight pointed at Legend. ‘’Look at him. Then you know.’’

Warriors gaze lightened up. ‘’Ah, yes. I get it. It means that you would sell your mother for gold.’’

‘’Hey!’’ Legend exclaimed, but Warriors continued: ‘’Or Hyrule.’’

‘’Wouldn’t surprise me,’’ Twilight commented.

‘’You bitches!’’ Legend snapped.

‘’Legend as a friend, how sad.’’

Legend looked furious, but Warriors didn’t care and was about to make another comment before he quickly placed a hand over his mouth. ‘’Is arguing one of the sins?’’

Twilight stiffened. Warriors had a point. ''I think so. That belongs to...'' He started to think. Was it part of anger or jealousy? Was jealousy even a sin at all? ''I don't know,'' he finally said.

‘’Wow, he doesn’t know something. That’s a first.’’    

That could only be Legend’s words…

‘’Shut up!’’ Warriors said, anger edging his voice.

‘’You shut up!’’

They had reached the top of the second hill at last and now looked out over the forest below them.

‘’Where are the others?’’ Twilight murmured worriedly. He hoped he could’ve seen them by now, but Sky, Four and Hyrule were nowhere to be found. The worry slowly took hold over Twilight’s stability. They hadn’t heard the warning of the girl. They didn’t know that they were walking on the path of the seven sins, and they didn’t know that they would petrify if they gave in…

Twilight had to catch up with the others as fast as possible so he could inform them what the path stood for and that Wild was taken by count Time and now held hostage in his castle.

‘’What’s that over there?’’ Warriors pointed at a weird structure that stood at the beginning of the hill. It looked like a tangle of sticks that were pricked in the ground. The sun reflected the iron points that looked razorsharp.

‘’Look out with those,’’ Twilight warned.

He could hardly believe that this stood for decoration. Maybe this is one of the seven sins, but which one? Twilight’s thoughts were going crazy while carefully came closer and closer to the obstacle.

‘’It’s a super-hyper-mega-mikado!’’ Wind exclaimed with excitement.

‘’What do you see?’’ Warriors asked.

Twilight searched through the spears. ‘’A key,’’ he said and pointed: In the middle of the structure hung a big, silver key.

‘’A key?’’ Wind repeated.

‘’But… Shouldn’t we walk further?’’ Warriors looked at the path that disappeared in the woods.

Twilight shook his head. They need that key. But where are the others?

‘’Dude, where are the others?’’ Legend asked as if he could read Twilight’s mind. ‘’Where’s Hyrule? Did they pass this?’’

Nobody answered, but instead they looked with caution at the spears.

‘’It’s a test,’’ Twilight said. ‘’The first test on the path of the seven sins.’’

‘’Bullshit. You can just grab the key,’’ Legend huffed.

‘’Yes, Legend, if anything is so easy…’’ Twilight flashed back. He can’t be serious! Did he really think he can just grab the key? Between those sharp points?

‘’Watch and learn, dumbass.’’

Legend took a step into the structure. There was weird ‘woosh’ sound and a spear shot out of the earth, right between his legs. He stiffened with fear as the spear stopped right before it could harm him.

‘’Bullshit, right Legend?’’

Twilight’s comment got lost in an unlikely high-pitched scream from Warriors. He pointed at a pile of clothing in the middle of the structure.

‘’Who’s clothing is that?’’

Legend’s face turned white with fear and scrambled away as far as he could until he was sure he wasn’t in danger anymore.

Warriors screamed again and spotted another pile of clothing, only this time it lay closer to the key.

Did those clothes belong to two people who tried to get the key? What happened tot hem? Where were they now? What were you supposed to do here? Why did those spears shot out of the ground?

‘’Where’s Hyrule?’’ Legend stammered. He kept staring at the spear that had shot out of the ground.

‘’They walked past this, I’m sure,’’ Twilight murmured, but Legend shot past him and headed for the trees, not looking back.

‘’Hey! You can’t just run away!’’ Twilight called after him, but it was no use.

‘’Can’t we just walk on, too?’’ Warriors asked.

‘’We need that key.’’

‘’Go ahead,’’ Wind said and put a hand before his jewels. ‘’I keep these safe.’’

Twilight sighed and looked at the spears. They had to hurry if they were gonna have more problems with these puzzles. If they would make it.

‘’There are rules,’’ Twilight murmured and inspected the spears.

‘’What are those rules?’’ Warriors asked.

‘’I don’t know.’’

Wind sighed. ‘’That’s a good start.’’

Twilight carefully took a step forward and searched for more clues, but he couldn’t find a thing. There was nothing written on the wood, nothing on the ground…

‘’Think, think,’’ he mumbled. ‘’It has to do something about the seven sins. But which one?’’

He started searching through his thoughts, but it all stumbled together into one big mess. He kept thinking about greet and voracity. He thought he knew one just then, but the tension had loosened his grip on his thoughts. What were the other five? He just had to try…

He calmly stepped over a spear that was about a knee-height. Nothing happened. He was in! He quickly took another step, but he flinched when he heard the woosh of spear and he felt the point graze his cheek. Behind him he heard Warriors’ gasp.

‘’Okay, I did something wrong…’’

Inertia is also a sin!

‘’Maybe I have to do it fast,’’ he called.

‘’Yeah! Get on with it!’’

Twilight took two steps forward, more of luck than wisdom.

Swoosh, swoosh!

Two spears just missed him. Twilight closed his eyes. The spear had passed his face so close that he could feel the wind. When he opened his eyes again, he looked straight at the iron point of a spear.

‘’Ow!’’

Something hit him on the side of his head and he saw an acorn land at his feet.

‘’Eat it, maybe it’s greed,’’ he heard Wind call from the back.

Twilight couldn’t help it, but he felt an amazing anger rise in him. He almost got spiked like chicken on a skewer and Wind threw him an acorn because he thought it was greed.

‘’What is that supposed to mean?’’ he yelled.

Immediately the ground rumbled and a spear swished up from the ground. Twilight could just step aside before it could strike right through his right foot. He had to fight back the panic that surged through him. Why did this happen? He didn’t even take a step! What was he supposed to do? What was he supposed to do? And what shouldn’t he do? He felt the sweat trickle down his spine and his forehead, too, was beginning to get wet. If he continued like this, not knowing what to, it would end up with the same risks as the game Russian Roullete or if you jump in a pool with sharks while you have a bleeding wound. But did he have a choice? He had to keep going.

‘’Go on!’’ Warriors urged.

‘’I don’t know what to do!’’ Twilight called back with frustration.

Immediately the sound came.

Two spears shot out of the ground and blocked the way. Twilight stiffened and felt how his fear started to raise. Every moment he expected a spear to shoot up from the ground, and what then? The thought of never seeing Wild again…

‘’Twilight! Stop!’’ Warriors called.

‘’No!’’

Woosh.

A spear shot up from behind him. Twilight’s legs almost gave in. He looked at the key that only hang about two meters away from him. Two meters… Couldn’t they make a rod and hook the key out? But he knew that wouldn’t work. He had to pass his sin, but what?

‘’Okay, think… What did I do?’’ He looked down at the grass. ‘’I didn’t stand on anything.’’

He closed his eyes and tried to think, but he expected the sound to come and that this time the spear would hit his target…

His heart started to beat faster.

Don’t panic, Twilight thought and took in a deep breath. What did he do when he didn’t know the answer on a test? Breathing calmly. He kept his eyes closed as he slowly calmed down. His hand shot up to the leather cord and he could see Wild before him as they had sat in the bus, and she had smiled at him. ‘’Forever,’’ she had shyly whispered in his ear.

His sweet Wild. She would never give up. He had to keep going.

It seemed as if a door opened in his mind.

The little rhyme on the portal… If you start hot-headed, know that you will lose. Hot-headed… That meant that you couldn’t keep yourself together, that you get angry at anything…

‘’It’s anger!’’

He turned around to look at Wind and Warriors who looked at him with confusion.

‘’It’s anger,’’ he said again.

‘’This is anger?’’ Warriors repeated and pointed at the spears.

‘’He just said that!’’ Wind said.

They both looked at Twilight who easily swished through the spears. Warriors face lightened up. He punched Wind hard on the right arm.

‘’Stupid moron,’’ he hissed. ‘’You are such a stupid and annoying horrorfreak with your stupid jokes that no one likes.’’

Woosh.

Twilight flinched back when a spear shot up. What happened? He wasn’t angry, right? Had he misunderstood the test? He carefully took another step forward, while Wind looked at Warriors with confusion glimmering in his eyes.

‘’Look at yourself, fashion boy,’’ Wind flashed back.

‘’You have to play along,’’ Warriors said softly. ‘’We have to argue because the test is anger.’’ He gave Wind another shove.

‘’No, don’t argue,’’ Twilight said.

He hadn’t said it, or another spear shot up. It cut through his trousers and flesh and he felt blood starting to form in the wound. That was close…

Again the sound came and two spears shot past both his elbows.

Warriors and Wind were facing each other like two fighters, ready to strike. Warriors charged forward, but Wind easily dodged. Twilight was completely stuck within the spears and tried to reach for the key. He was almost there…

But again a spear surged forward, cutting open his wrist. Blood welled from the wound and Twilight immediately pulled his hand back. The sweat was pouring down his forehead now.

‘’Hurry!’’ Warriors urged.

‘’You can do it!’’ Wind added.

The ground started to rumble underneath Twilight’s feet and he had nowhere to go. If a spear would shoot up right now…

‘’Can you please shut up?’’ Twilight calmly asked. It took him all his willpower, but the thought of never seeing Wild again, gave him strength. ‘’You have to keep calm and not give in to anger.’’

‘’Oh.’’ Warriors’ face turned red with shame and he looked down at his feet, Wind doing the same.

The rumbling stopped underneath Twilight’s feet. He sighed with relief and carefully reached out for the key. He stood on his toes, reached… his fingers touched the silver…

‘’Gotcha!’’

Twilight triumphantly held the key up in the air. The first test was done.

Chapter Text

Wild was restless. How long was she stuck in this castle? One hour? Two? There was no clock anywhere. Even though she didn’t want it, she had eaten the soup the count had brought. The soup had been cool and tasted like cartboard. The bread had been as hard as a brick, but she had eaten it all. After that she had searched the room for matches, because the room felt as cold as ice.

After a while, she had figured out that if she ricocheted two stones, sparks would form. After many tries, she finally succeeded to make a fire.

She gratefully held her hands above the fire. Now that she was warm and fed, her head felt clearer. She looked around, there had to be a way to escape? She climbed on the chair again and felt with her hands along the windowsill and pulled at the wood. It was hard, but bit by bit, it went up until she could stick her head out.

She looked down. Beneath her ran a steep cliff. Even if she had a rope, she would never reach the ground alive. The cliff was too steep. Far in the distance she saw a small brook.

Wild jumped off the chair and tried to block out a small voice in her head: ‘’You’ll never escape. You’re trapped.’’

But why was she held hostage? She felt like a damsel in distress like in a fairy-tale waiting for a prince to safe her…

Twilight…

But she wasn’t helpless! She had to find a way out! Maybe in the castle was a rope she could use to climb out of the window. Or she could tie sheets and make a rope… The only problem here, was that there wasn’t a rope here, nor sheets. On the wall hung tapestries. She couldn’t tie those together. She thought about the story of Rapunzel: Rapunzel was kidnapped by an evil witch and held captive in a tower without a door. All alone and if the witch wanted to come up she would say ‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair’. The girl would hang out her hair so the witch could climb in.

Wild had never understood why Rapunzel never cut her hair and used it to escape.

She looked at her own hair. It was long, but not that long.

She pushed the idea away. She had to find another way… There were three doors in the room: one to the courtyard, a little door at the end of the stairs and a door next to the stairs.

Her eye fell on an enormous sword that was stuck in an iron harnass. It took a little effort, but after a few pulls, she managed to get the weapon. With determination, she walked to the door that led to the courtyard. She raised the sword and struck.  It bounced back with a force that almost knocked her over. She looked at the result.

Nothing.

Not even a little scratch.

The wood was way too thick and that sword could be made to cut off heads, but it wasn’t sharp enough to penetrate wood, she would need an axe for that. She walked to the other big door. The sword felt heavy in her hands. Again she lifted it and struck it down with all her power.

Nothing. The door was just as thick. She dropped the sword and started pulling on the rings, but the door didn’t open. Not even an inch.

She grabbed the weapon again and tried the small door at the top of the stairs. She rattled the ring and to her surprise, it opened a bit until a thin chain kept it closed. Wild put the sword against the chain and pushed down, making tension.

A little bit more…

She heard footsteps. Heavy footsteps. The count had heard her! She pushed with all her strength. She heard the key turn in the keyhole when the chain finally broke. Wild dropped the sword and slipped through the small door into the room. Before her was a dark, low room, it was a sort of storage… Wild ran to the left, up a small stairs. Behind her she heard the squeaking of the door. The count cursed. As silent as possible, she opened a door and half-fell into a half-round chamber. She slammed the door shut and started searching for a place to hide. She pulled open a closet, but it was full and had no place left to hide inside. Her eyes then fell on an enormous stone standing next to the closet. She pushed herself behind it and just when she pulled the fabric of her dress out of sight, the count crashed into the room.

‘’Where are you?’’ he called through the room.

Wild tried to get her breathing under control. She couldn’t see the count, but she could hear him come closer.

‘’You can hide all you want, but you won’t escape your fate,’’ his cold voice echoed.

Wild flinched back as far as she could.

Time chuckled. ‘’That friend of yours… Twilight is his name, right? He’s not doing bad. He somehow passed one of the tests.’’

At the sound of Twilight’s name, Wild could just suppress a sob.

The boots of the count bounded hard on the wooden floor. He suddenly pulled open the closet where Wild was hidden behind. She put a hand over her mouth. He was so close now that she could catch a glimpse of his face. On his left cheek was a red mark. It hadn’t been there before, right?

‘’You think your love will come and safe you, don’t you?’’ he said with threat edging his voice. He turned around. ‘’That’s what they all thought. All six girls had been waiting for their love, but no one came.’’

Wild didn’t understand a word he said. Six girls? And why had they waited?

‘’You are the last one. Number seven. What an honor. If you petrify, my heart will as well. Finally,’’ he said and reached out with a hand to gently touch the stone where Wild sat behind.

Suddenly Wild understood everything: the stone where she was hidden behind… That was once a girl… And if Twilight wasn’t here before sunset, she would petrify as well!

Trembling with fear she looked up at the count with the red mark. He wanted to petrify his heart and for some reason he needed seven girls. And she was the last one… That’s why he looked so cold: He didn’t have a heart…

She was scared he would notice her any second, but his gaze was fixed on the stone.

That was once a girl…

He smiled, as if he was enjoying the fact that she met a horrible fate.

Wild felt anger rise in her. What kind of brute was he? Then you didn’t have a heart, did you?

But he didn’t have a heart.

‘’I know you can hear me,’’ Time said. ‘’I know you’re here somewhere.’’

He walked back to the door. ‘’It doesn’t matter if you hide, you’ll never escape your fate! And I will make sure that Twilight will never reach you. Never! You hear me?’’

He yelled the last words and after that he disappeared.

Wild scrambled away from her hiding spot. ‘’Wait! I want…’’ She pulled open the door and ran down the stairs, back into the hall. She tried to reach Time, but the door that led to the courtyard slammed shut. She pulled the ring, but it was locked.

‘’No! Let me out!’’

She heard the neighing of the horse. He was leaving. He was going to make sure that Twilight wouldn’t make it.

‘’NO! NO!’’ she cried, but it was no use, he was already gone.

Wild ran the stairs up again until she reached the little tower again. She looked out of the window how the count hurried away on his horse. It was a scary image: the black rider on his black horse.

Wild pushed open the window.

‘’COME BACK!’’ she yelled. Her voice echoed through the trees. Time must have heard her, but he didn’t look back.

Wild had never felt more helpless. She turned and sank down to the ground. Hot tears fell down her cheeks and her fingers reached for the necklace. Time was on his way to Twilight and there was nothing she could do to stop him. Nothing.

She looked around the tower and counted the stones. How couldn’t she have seen them before? They were everywhere: behind the closet, between the chairs, next to the altar. One, two, three, four, five, six white stones. Wild’s tears started to fall faster. Had the other girls also cried, here, while they saw the sun sink down? That they knew there was no hope left and that the tears slowly petrified on their cheeks?

Chapter Text

Twilight, Warriors and Wind didn’t have time to celebrate their victory. After Twilight had found his way out of the spears, he discovered that the bag that Wind was holding had disappeared.

‘’Legend,’’ Twilight murmured. He put the key in his pocket.

‘’Legend suffers from a bad case of greed,’’ Warriors said wisely. ‘’Where do you think that key is for?’’

‘’I have no idea.’’

The three made their way to the forest. Twilight looked back one more time at the spears. One of the seven sins were down. Anger.

‘’What kind of sins do we have left now?’’ Warriors asked.

‘’Greed, voracity, inertia…’’ Twilight mumbled.

‘’And the other three?’’

Twilight shook his head. ‘’I don’t know. Let me think about those.’’

They had reached the edge of the forest when Warriors abruptly stopped in his tracks. ‘’Do we have to go in there?’’ He peered through the trees.

Twilight gave Warriors a friendly prod. ‘’We got each other.’’

But that didn’t calm Warriors down. ‘’You go first,’’ he said and then turned to Wind. ‘’And you go behind.’’

Twilight sighed, but entered the forest. He carefully pushed away any branches. The air started to get damp and cold around him and smoke started to form from the grayish moss underneath their feet. It was dead-quiet and nothing moved. It looked like they were walking through a dead forest where no animals lived and no bird dared to sing.

Twilight kept his hand in his pocket and held the keys trapped between his fingers. He was terrified that he would lose them. If they could only get that box back… He still couldn’t believe that Legend had snitched it again, even if he almost got spiked.

But was it Legend?

They didn’t know what walked around here. In what kind of world had they landed? He looked up at the dark-green leaves of the trees. The sky wasn’t visible and neither was the sun. He started to worry: they had to overcome six more sins, did they have enough time fort hat? He started to walk a bit faster.

‘’Are we there yet?’’ Warriors asked from behind him.

‘’Where are we?’’ Wind asked.

Wind was right: they didn’t know where they were going. The only thing they knew, was to follow the sandpath.

‘’Where are the others?’’ Warriors asked. ‘’Shouldn’t we have seen them a while ago?’’

Twilight hoped that the others had walked the path. Or else they wouldn’t catch up. And what then? What would happen if they didn’t make it to the castle before sunset? Would they all petrify? They couldn’t turn back, they had to keep going, all the way to Time’s castle. To Wild… He wondered how she was doing.

The three entered a small clearing where the sun shone on a bush with red berries. Butterflies flew around the flowers and in one of the bushes a bird was singing its song. Warriors sighed with relief and sat down in the grass.

‘’Can’t we just stay here?’’ he offered.

Wind also sat down and closed his eyes, but Twilight looked at the grass that had been stamped down. Someone has been here…

There was a creaking sound from the bushes. Warriors shot up and stood behind Twilight.

What should they do? Fight? Run?

A few branches moved.

It was Hyrule. And he cried. He hadn’t even noticed the others standing before him.

Warriors rushed forward and grabbed him by the shoulder. ‘’Hyrule? What’s wrong? Where are the others?’’

Hyrule flinched back for a second, but relaxed a bit when he saw Warriors. He pointed at the path.

‘’Is something wrong?’’ Twilight asked worriedly.

‘’No,’’ Hyrule stammered.

‘’Has someone taken your ball?’’ Wind asked, but he quickly snapped his mouth shut when he met Warriors’ famous ‘how-can-you-say-something-like-that face’.

Warriors put his arm around Hyrule.

‘’Legend, he’s got the box… He only thinks about the gold,’’ Hyrule muttered. ‘’I walked away and he didn’t follow me. He just left me alone…’’ He swallowed. ‘’I want to go home.’’ He closed his eyes.

‘’We can’t go home. We can’t go back,’’ Twilight said. ‘’We’re stuck in another dimension.’’

He, too, got Warriors’ killing ‘shut-up’ face. ‘’Hey, shh…’’ he calmed him down.

‘’He doesn’t care about me,’’ Hyrule muttered.

Warriors looked him right in the eye. ‘’I’m one hundred percent sure that he cares about you.’’

‘’Really?’’

Warriors nodded. ‘’Right?’’ He looked at the others for back-up. Twilight and Wind smiled and nodded, but Hyrule wasn’t convinced yet.

‘’We just go to him and then you’ll make up.’’ Warriors said.

‘’And then we’ll grab the box,’’ Twilight whispered to Wind.

Hyrule took a deep breath and looked around. ‘’What’s happening?’’ he asked. ‘’I don’t understand any of this. How is this possible? And why am I wearing this?’’ He looked down at his clothing.

‘’This is…’’ Warriors began and looked helplessly at Twilight. How should he explain this?

‘’We’re walking on the path of the seven sins,’’ Twilight explained. ‘’I think we have to complete seven tasks that have something to do with the seven sins.’’

He told Hyrule about the test they had just finished and showed him the key. He also told him about the girl with the blue hood.

‘’She said that we had to take that box to the castle where the count took Wild.’’

Hyrule didn’t get it. ‘’The count has Wild? What count? And why?’’

‘’The count without a heart- the statue on the square. The girl said that he wants to petrify his heart and that is only possible if seven girls are sacrificed. Wild is the last one.’’

Hyrule stiffened.

‘’We have to reach the castle before the sun sets. Or else it will be too late.’’ Twilight was quiet for a moment. ‘’For Wild- but I think it will also be too late for us.’’

That last part seemed to hit the others like a brick in the face.

‘’Do you really think we will petrify too when the sun sets?’’ Warriors stammered.

‘’I don’t know for certain- but what would otherwise happen to us? We can’t leave this place… If Wild petrifies, the heart of the count will as well and then everything will be lost.’’

‘’What are we waiting for?’’ Warriors pulled Hyrule to the path. ‘’We have to hurry.’’

While they walked the path, Hyrule told the others what happened to Four, Sky and him when they left the portal: they walked on the path, past the spears. Then they walked a while through the forest, until they stumbled upon the clearing. There they had sat for a while.

‘’That’s what I saw, the grass was flattened,’’ Twilight said.

Hyrule nodded. ‘’We decided to stay put for a while and then Legend came running in. He was completely freaked out.’’

‘’That’s because he almost got his balls pierced,’’ Wind said.

Warriors gave him a prod to shut up.

‘’He said he wanted to leave and pulled me with him, but he didn’t say why he wanted to go,’’ Hyrule cast Wind a sideway glance. ‘’We continued walking the path, we followed Sky and Four.’’

‘’Why did you came back?’’

Hyrule sighed. ‘’I saw that he had the bag again. So… he had stolen it again from Wind. I got mad. I said that all he cared about was the gold.’’ Hyrule was silent for a moment. ‘’And he just walked away. He left me alone.’’

‘’It’s just his pride. You know him,’’ Warriors tried.

Hyrule nodded and stopped walking. ‘’Do you guys hear that?’’

The others looked at him with confusion.

‘’I hear music.’’

The soft sounds of a harp echoed through the woods. It was beautiful- as if angels had come from heaven to sing for them. Curious now, they slowly approached the music. They walked through a sort of gate made of ivy and flowers. On the left flowed a small river and around them were the most beautiful plants they had ever seen. The smell of the flowers mixed with the sweet scent of fresh fruit. The trees were full of apples and on the side of a small bridge hung many bunches of grapes.

Wind mouth fell open. As in a trance he walked to the closed tree and reached out for an apple.

‘’Luxuria…’’

‘’Who said that?’’ Warriors looked around. ‘’Did you hear that?’’

Hyrule nodded.

‘’Luxuria…’’

Again a soft voice echoed in the wind.

Twilight took a step forward and pulled Wind away from the tree. Wind looked disappointed, but Twilight shook his head.

‘’Luxuria… that is lust. Lust is one of the sins.’’

‘’Appetite, too? I’m hungry,’’ Wind complained, but Twilight kept his gaze fixed on the other. ‘’You’ll petrify if you give in.’’

Wind understood and placed his hands behind his back, but he kept looking at the apple.

Bit by bit they walked past the water. The music got louder, and even though it was a beautiful sight, Warriors held a bit back.

‘’What do we need to do here?’’ Hyrule asked.

‘’What shouldn’t we do here,’’ Twilight said. ‘’We passed anger.’’ He thought about the rhyme. ‘If you get distracted by lust or beauty, know for whom you choose.’ ‘’Lust is a sin… So we mustn’t give in to lust.’’

Hyrule looked around. ‘’So we are forbidden to eat from that fruit. That would be simple.’’

Twilight listened to the singing. ‘’It’s too simple.’’

Even though how beautiful this place seemed, it had a dark side. Like a vulcano that could errupt at any moment and destroy everything with its ash. He looked at the bees that were flying from flower to flower, heavy with the nectar. It looked like a paradise.

If you get distracted by lust or beauty, know for whom you choose.

What should they choose? For who? Or what?

He jumped from stone to stone to cross the water.

‘’Legend!’’

Hyrule’s voice echoed through the clearing. Right before him stood Legend. He had his back to the others and he reached out to something with his right-hand…

Hyrule walked through the water. ‘’Legend!’’

He stiffened: behind Legend stood a beautiful girl in a long white dress. Her long brown hair were decorated with a diamond tiara. Her eyes were as blue as the sky.

‘’Legend!’’

Legend turned around, but he didn’t seem to see his friend. The girl chuckled and smiled.

‘’Legend!’’

But Legend didn’t hear him and turned back to the girl. He reached out with his hand…

‘’Don’t!’’ Twilight yelled.

‘’No! Don’t touch him!’’ Hyrule shouted and he pushed the girl away.

Legend seemed to wake up from a trance. He shook his head and looked at his friend.

‘’Hyrule?’’

But Hyrule didn’t answer, but in his eyes was a clear message: it’s okay. He reached out for his friend. Legend stiffened: Hyrule’s fingers turned gray. Then his hands, his arms, his face…

In less than 10 seconds, Hyrule had petrified.

In the middle of the river now stood a gray stone, Hyrule’s face barely visible.

‘’Hyrule?’’ Legend whispered. He couldn’t believe his eyes and wanted to touch the stone, but Twilight pulled him away.

‘’Don’t touch it!’’

Twilight looked around. There were more girls standing next to the river, all wearing a white dress and just as beautiful as the girl that had seduced Legend. They were like nymphs, that seduced you with their beauty. But if you touched them, you petrified…

The girl that had tried to seduce Legend, appeared from behind the petrified Hyrule. Her blue eyes weren’t blue anymore, but now held a yellowish color that gave her face an evil glance. Her movements, too, had changed: she seemed to jerky approach them, like in an old movie. The other nymphs also approached them in the same way.

‘’Oh oh…’’ Wind murmured. He stood behind Warriors.

‘’Don’t touch them!’’ Twilight warned. He tried to pull Legend away from the stone, but the other seemed paralyzed. ‘’We have to go,’’ he begged. ‘’It’s too late for Hyrule…’’

‘’Hurry!’’ Warriors urged. He looked around and tried to keep all nymphs in his sight. They came closer and closer.

Legend looked at the nymph with the most evil glance in his eyes. ‘’I’ll fucking get you,’’ he snarled.

‘’Run!’’ Warriors yelled.

The four ran through the water with the nymphs on their heels.

‘’Over there!’’ Twilight yelled and pointed at a gate made of flowers.

Warriors pulled Wind just out of reach before a nymph could touch his ankles. They ran over the clearing. They were almost there…

Suddenly, a dark shadow loomed over them. It was Time.

‘’Look out!’’ Warriors screamed.

Time pulled hard on the duffel bag, but Legend gave a firm tug and the other had to let go. Legend ran as if his life depended on it. The nymphs and the count followed.

Twilight, Wind, Warriors and Legend stumbled through the gate. There was a terrifying screech and the count brought his hand up to his face. The mark on his face had grown bigger.

Legend turned back to the gate. ‘’Hyrule… I…’’ he stammered.

Twilight grabbed him by his arm and pulled him away, into the woods, away from the count, the yellow-eyed nymphs and the stone that stood lonely in the river.

Chapter Text

The sun had sunken a bit and cast long shadows on the floor. Wild pulled her head up from her knees and sat up. When would the count return? Had he harmed Twilight? Was she lost? She was sick with worry and felt helpless. She looked around the room and tried to think of a plan. If she couldn’t escape, there had to something else she could do. The count had to petrify seven girls before he could petrify his own heart. But who told him? And that he wanted it in the first place? Shadow had said something about a lover that left him. Was that Malon? Thousand questions flew through her mind. Why had Malon left him? And what happened after that? Had he tried to find her again? Had she left with someone else? And how could his heart petrify? That wasn’t possible, right? Was he a wizard? Or had he searched for help? A witch?

Wild shook her head. This wasn’t a fairy tale, was it? But it felt like it. They lived happily ever after. That’s how every fairy tale ended. But this? The fairy tale of the heartless count…

Wild’s gaze fell on one of the petrified girls. You could barely see the face contours. Her eyes looked at the sky, as if she was praying when she petrified. That wouldn’t surprise Wild. But she didn’t want to pray. She wanted to fight.

She stood up. If Time had used some sort of magic to petrify his heart, there had to be a way to stop it, or even better: to reverse the process. She walked to the closet where had hid earlier and pulled it open. She grabbed a pile of papers and placed it on the ground. She sat down and started to search for any clues.

They were pieces of music. Endless pages of music. At the top of every paper was a title written that was barely readible. The curly letters were almost faded away and the language seemed to be Medieval English what she couldn’t understand.

She grabbed another pile of papers. Even more music. She threw the documents away and focused on a new pile, but it was all music: yellowed, torn, dusty papers with spider eggs hidden between them.

The last plank in the closet had more information: it were old scripts. The black ink had turned brown.

Wild held the paper close.

Time de Beaufort holds 3000 hectares of land.

It were endless lists full of properties: how much land, animals, workers, horses, forests, buildings and all that was in his castle: chairs, tables, silverware, tapestries, gold, tableware… It didn’t stop.

Wild dropped the paper with a sigh. It looked like he owned everything in the world, except the most important thing: his heart.

Wild shivered. It was cold in the room. She had searched the whole closet and found nothing that could help her. She decided to go down. If she got the fire started, she would get warmer.

She ignored the little voice in her mind that whispered that it wouldn’t change anything if she was cold, after a few hours she be just as cold as a stone.

She walked down the stairs. The fire had died down, but with the help of the flintstones and new wood she got it burning again. Her gaze fell on the frame where the painting of ‘Malon’ had hung. What happened to her?

Wild turned the whole room upside down. She pulled drawers out of the tables, but there was not one clue that could help her. Well, not that candles and silverware could help her. This was so frustrating! She walked to the wal land pulled off a tapestry. And another one, and another one. They fell with a loud thud on the ground and enormous clouds of dust flew up, making Wild tear up as the tiny dust particles pricked in her eyes. That Time was a brute and useless. It was a dusty mess in here. Couldn’t he at least clean this place up once in a while? She found it funny, she could turn into a stone at any moment and she thought about cleaning…

The dust slowly fell down.

What was that?

There was a hole in the wall.

In the hole was a box.

She pulled at it to try and get it out of the wall. It was so heavy, that she couldn’t hold it. It fell with a loud bang and the floor and broke off a piece of stone. The lid was bended by the blow. Wild bended down and tried to open the box, but it didn’t open. She stood back up and rushed back up the stairs to grab the sword that she had left in the other room. She picked it up and walked back.

She stiffened: someone was walking there.

She raised the sword and slowly looked to her left, where she had seen something.

She lowered the sword and laughed. She looked to her own reflection in the mirror: she had seen herself run.

She knelt down next to the box and put the point of the sword underneath the bended lid.

PATS.

The box snapped open. Wild pushed her hair behind her ears and curiously looked at the content. It was a rolled up piece of paper. She picked it up with trembling fingers. It was thicker than paper, a kind of fabric; painter’s linen. Carefully, she straightened the linen. It was the portrait that belonged in the empty frame. It was Malon’s portrait.

And she recognized the face.

The girl that she had seen behind the bus now looked at her with painted eyes. Wild couldn’t have seen the face clearly then, but she was sure: this was the girl with the blue hood. But it was still different: her eyes seem to shine here. They sparkled and she was smiling. This girl was in love and the painter had put it perfectly on the linen. If this was Time’s lover who left him, then Wild understood why he had cut it out of its frame: the sight of the sparkling eyes full of love would be unbearable for him when he was left all alone in his castle.

Even though she couldn’t ignore his evil plan, Wild felt an enormous pang of pity for the man. He must have loved this girl so much that he was willing to petrify his heart after she’d left him. And Wild understood: it wasn’t just the beauty of the girl with her dark-red locks, but she seemed kind. Not the type to leave someone.

Wild looked up and flinched. Again she saw something moving in the mirror. Was she shocked again from her own reflection?

But she was knelt down, too low for the mirror…

Wild looked to her left, her heart racing. The reflection… just behind her…

She turned around.

‘’Malon?’’

The girl nodded and pushed her blue hood down. A ray of sunlight shone over her beautiful face with her sad gaze.

‘’Wha…’’ Wild stammered, but Malon motioned for her to keep silent.

‘’Shh- listen carefully… It’s not too late… Time’s heart hasn’t petrified yet,’’ she said.

Wild looked confused. ‘’I don’t get it, why am I here? And why is he so cold? Has he really lost his heart?’’

‘’Time and I…’’ Malon started who didn’t seem to have heard Wild’s questions, she stared at something in the past, a thing only she could see. ‘’We were so in love… but my father forbid me to marry him. He locked me up in a convent and told Time that I left with someone else.’’

‘’Oh no…’’

‘’But I loved him so much,’’ Malon whispered as she tried to fight her tears. ‘’But I couldn’t tell him, because I was locked up. He was so hurt that he started searching for a way to make the pain go away. And he found one: he found a way to petrify his heart. He sold his heart to the devil, but in exchange he had to find seven girls that had to petrify. You are the last one, Wild. If you petrify at sunset, his heart will be lost forever.’’

‘’But- I don’t understand,’’ Wild stammered. ‘’What is the path of the seven sins?’’

‘’Time made it to prevent that the lovers would reach the castle.’’

Now Wild was at a complete loss. Why were lovers forbidden to reach the castle?

Malon explained that there was a way to stop the curse, the box that contained his heart had tob e opened in the castle. Only then the curse could be broken. Time had made the path of the seven sins so that the lovers would never reach the castle before sunset. You could only walk the path if the boy truly loved his girlfriend. But Time had only picked girls who hadn’t have a true love. That’s why all the six boys failed and the six girls had petrified.

‘’Wait! I don’t get it. When did this happen? How is this possible?’’ Wild asked and grabbed the hem of her dress. ‘’Why am I wearing this? How long is this going on?’’

Malon sighed. ‘’Very long ago. Too long ago.’’

‘’But why did Time wait so long to pick me? And how is he still alive?’’

‘’I escaped from the convent and heard that six girls had already petrified,’’ Malon said and gave a quick glance at the door, as if Time could come in at any second. ‘’I got the right to pick the final girl, so I could pick one who has a true love, because only true love can pass the seven sins. But true love wasn’t very common here…’’ Her eyes were dull with exhaustion, as if she had waited centuries.

But she has, Wild thought.

‘’That is why I gave Twilight the key of the box. If he reaches the castle in time and opens the box…’’

‘’But how do you know that Twilight and I are each others true love?’’

‘’I feel it. But remember: Twilight has to open the box in the castle.’’

‘’But why haven’t you walked the path yourself?’’ Wild asked. ‘’If you and Time are each others true love.’’

‘’I couldn’t.’’ Malon’s eyes darkened with sadness. ‘’The devil helped me too. To prevent Time picking a random girl, I turned him into a statue. Until I had found a couple.’’ She swallowed. ‘’But I had to make an enormous sacrifice… The most valuable thing I possess…’’

The door slammed open and Wild turned around.

Time stood in the entrance. Sweat trickled down his forehead and the mark on his cheek had grown bigger. It looked like if someone had placed an burning iron on his cheek.

Wild shot a quick glance over her shoulder. Malon was gone. She turned back again and stared at the count, chin held high. ‘’What is that?’’ she asked and pointed at his cheek.

Time ignored the question. ‘’What a shame. Twilight hasn’t made it,’’ he murmured. ‘’He has fell for one on my lovely nymphs in the garden of delights.’’

Wild stiffened as his words slowly started to get through to her. Twilight? He hadn’t made it?

‘’That’s how much he loved you: he fell for another.’’

Wild felt sick. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be true!

‘’YOU’RE LYING!’’ she screamed and slammed her fists on Time’s chest. ‘’You’re lying, you’re lying, you’re LYING!’’

Time pushed her away, making her fall over. His eyes were full of rage. He pulled off one of his gloves and reached his hand out until it almost touched Wild’s cheek. ‘’I can also petrify you right now,’’ he hissed.

Wild flinched back, but then stopped. She had seen something in his eyes: fear. It was well hidden behind the black shadow in his eyes, but she had seen it.

‘’Do it then,’’ she challenged him.

He brought his hand closer. She could feel the warmth of his skin. If he touched her, she would petrify. If Twilight was petrified, she wouldn’t want nothing more, but she knew that he wasn’t. Twilight had made his way through the garden of delights, whatever that may be. Because he was her true love. She had to believe in that.

‘’Go on,’’ she said again. ‘’But that’s forbidden, right? Then you will break your deal with the devil.’’

Time stood up and towered over her. ‘’I’ll let you suffer. Now you just have to wait until you petrify as well. True love doesn’t exist.’’

Wild grabbed the portrait from the ground and showed it to him.

‘’And what about Malon?’’

Time snitched it out of her hold with his bare hand. It hardened into white stone and he smacked on the ground, breaking it to pieces. ‘’DON’T SAY THAT NAME!’’

He turned and headed for the door.

‘’I saw her!’’ Wild said and ran after him. ‘’She loved you, it was a misunderstanding!’’

For a moment he seemed to hesitate.

‘’Listen to me, she loved you!’’

But Time ignored her and slammed the door shut, leaving Wild, once again, alone.

Chapter Text

Twilight, Legend, Warriors and Wind ran as fast as they could away from the garden of the delights. Warriors pulled Wind by his arm on the sandpath through the trees; they went into a forest again. Wind panted, but he kept on running.

Legend pushed a few branches out of the way and bumped face-first into Sky’s back.

‘’Run! Run!’’ Warriors shrieked and pushed Four forward.

Twilight looked behind him, the path was empty.

‘’Wait!’’ he said and slowed down to a walking pace. ‘’They’re gone.’’

Everyone stopped and tried to catch their breath.

Wind hung with his head upside down and leaned with his hands on his knees. Four and Sky looked confused.

‘’What is it?’’ Sky asked.

‘’They’re gone? Who are ‘they’?’’ Four looked at the path. ‘’Where is Hyrule?’’ He looked at Legend with a worried glance in his eyes, but Legend stared right through him.

‘’He pushed me away…’’ he stammered. He swallowed and rubbed his face with his hands. He looked over his shoulder at the path, where Hyrule stood as a stone in the river.

Sky and Four didn’t understand him and looked at the others for an explanation, but everyone was silent as Legend tried to fight away his tears.  

‘’I REALLY didn’t want it… I lost control!’’ he yelled, voice cracking.

Warriors couldn’t handle it anymore and wrapped an arm around Legend’s shoulder.

‘’It’s my fault,’’ he stammered. ‘’My fault!’’

‘’It wasn’t your fault,’’ Warriors tried to assure him.

Sky had no idea what to do. ‘’What is your fault? What happened to Hyrule?’’

‘’He’s… He’s…’’ Legend couldn’t make himself say what had happened to his friend.

‘’He has petrified,’’ Twilight said. He searched for words. ‘’By one of those nymphs… those demons…’’ He pointed at the path behind him. ‘’In that garden.’’

Four stared at him. ‘’How is that possible?’’

‘’I’m going back!’’ Legend pushed Warriors’ arm off and wanted to run back, but Twilight stopped him. Legend tried to pass him, but Twilight pushed him back.

‘’Hyrule… I have to…’’

Twilight took a firm hold of Legend and forced the other to look at him. ‘’It wasn’t your fault,’’ he stated. Legend wanted to turn his head away, but Twilight held it in place.

‘’IT WASN’T YOUR FAULT!’’ he said again.

Legend calmed down a bit. He looked at Twilight with a helpless glance in his eyes, as if they begged for an explanation. ‘’He sacrificed himself. For me. While I…’’ Legend’s voice caught in his throat. His grief was so big that you could almost touch it.

‘’You HAVE to keep going, Legend. For Hyrule. If we make it, he may come back,’’ Twilight said.

‘’You think?’’

‘’I don’t know, I really hope so.’’ Twilight hoped it with all his heart. If they made it… He looked up. Above the trees shone the sun. How long did they have left?

Legend looked back one more time before he stepped on the path again. He walked with big steps in the opposite direction from Hyrule, back on the path of the seven sins.

While they walked, Twilight told Sky and Four about the first test where they just walked past. After that they talked about the garden of delights. Sky and Four hadn’t really understand what was so special about that place. They had walked up on front, so they hadn’t noticed that Legend got seduced by the nymph.

‘’When we didn’t saw him anymore, we both thought that he had gone back to Hyrule,’’ Four said and he shot a guilty glance at Legend.

Legend ignored them and kept walking on the muddy path.

‘’How didn’t it affect you, Twilight?’’ Sky asked. ‘’Wild wasn’t with you.’’

‘’She was,’’ Twilight said shyly. ‘’Here.’’

He placed his hand on his heart. It was true, he hadn’t felt anything for those girls back there. He loved Wild so much that no nymph could ever take her place. He could only think about her, how she sat alone in that castle, waiting for him.

Maybe in vain.

Twilight pushed the voice to the back of his mind.

The surroundings around them had changed as they moved on. Most of the trees were replaced by rocks. They climbed up a steep hill and suddenly a flash of lightning crashed through the clouds above them. When they reached the top of the hill, the sky was black and in the distance a rumble was heard.

Where they once stood dry, now rain was pouring down and the lightning shot through the sky.

Within seconds they were drenched and Warriors was hysterically screaming about not finding cover underneath a tree because that attracts lightning. He had just closed his mouth when another rumble sounded from above. A moment later the lightning struck down on a tree that stood next to a cave.

A rain of sparks flew up and a burning branch fell down.

‘’Over here!’’ Twilight yelled when he saw an entrance in the cave. The six ran to the cave and stumbled upon an iron gate.

‘’It’s locked,’’ Four said. ‘’We can’t go any further.’’

‘’Yes, we can.’’ Twilight reached in his pocket and grabbed the silver key he obtained after the first test. ‘’Bet it’ll fit?’’

Again the lightning struck down, this time in a bush not far from where they were cramped up, ready to enter the cave.

‘’Hurry!’’ Legend shouted over the sound of the thundering rain.

Twilight put the key in the keyhole and turned it. With a squeak the gate opened and he slipped inside.

The lightning struck into a tree and a burning branch fell just before the entrance.

‘’Come on!’’ Twilight shouted.

Warriors hesitated. ‘’Do I have to go in there? It’s dark and scary and I bet there are enormous spiders and cockroaches and…’’

Wind pushed Warriors through the gate.

‘’Sky!’’

Four turned to his friend who had run out in the rain to grab the burning branch.

‘’We need a light, do we?’’ Sky answered and walked through the gate. But the wood was too wet and after a few moments the fire died down, leaving them in the dark.

Behind them, a squeak sounded and the gate closed.

‘’Who did that?’’

Legend walked toward the gate and rattled it. ‘’It’s locked.’’

‘’We can’t go back,’’ Twilight whispered. ‘’Only forward.’’

‘’To where?’’

It was pitch-black in the cave.

‘’I think I can see a light, over there’,’’ Twilight said. He took a step forward and immediately hit his head on an overhanging rock.

‘’Ow!’’

Suddenly some sort of sigh flew through the cave.

‘’Can’t we leave this place?’’ Warriors asked.

‘’The gate’s closed, remember?’’ Legend retorted.

‘’dne eht hcaer reven lliw…’’

Mysterious voices echoed through the cave while the six slowly made their way forward in the dark.

‘’htap eht no setatiseh dna sregnil ohw eno…’’

‘’This is a haunted place,’’ Wind whispered.

‘’dne eht hcaer reven lliw htap eht no setatiseh dna sregnil ohw eno…’’

‘’What are they saying?’’

‘’dne eht hcaer reven lliw htap eht no setatiseh dna sregnil ohw eno…’’

Again, they were met with a warm breeze. Carrying the scents of moss and rotting wood.

‘’dne eht hcaer reven lliw htap eht no setatiseh dna sregnil ohw eno…’’

‘’I don’t know,’’ Twilight murmured.

Water dripped down from the rocks and all around them a rustling whisper came, as if they were surrounded by tiny animals. The mysterious voices grew louder and the breezes came more often. The wind felt cold and clammy on their skin. The hallway became narrower and lower and after a while they had to bend to continue. No one saw something and Twilight had to fight to keep his panic under control. He felt as if something could grab him by the throat at any moment.

He pushed his fear away. He had listened too much to Wind’s horror stories. He thought about the next test, somewhere in this cave he expected another one. They had passed two: anger and lust. What was the next one? Greed? Voracity? And what were the other three?

‘’Where do we need to go?’’

The hard sound of Four’s voice echoed through the small cave and a shower of grit fell down.

‘’Yeah, don’t do that again,’’ Twilight whispered.

‘’Sorry.’’

The sound of a match being lid made the others look up at a tiny point of light: Wind held a burning match in his hand.

‘’Yeah, nice. Couldn’t you have done that earlier?’’ Legend asked.

‘’Apparantly not,’’ Wind answered. In the little light they had, they spotted a torch.

‘’Lucky.’’ Sky grabbed the torch.

Wind lid another match. The torch caught on fire and a strong sulfur-scent flew through the cave. They had light! The yellow flame flapped in the wind and made scary shadows. Sky gave the torch to Twilight and then made his way back to the rear.

Now that they had light, it all went a bit quicker. Twilight pulled a big spiderweb out of the way. He tried to ignore the size of the spider who would be able to make those kind of webs.

The hall became bigger and higher

‘’Look!’’ Twilight excitedly fastened his pace.

He pointed to the end of the hall where a bright light shone. Suddenly someone pulled him back. Twilight fell backward and had to drop the torch into a deep abyss where he almost stepped in, if it weren’t for Legend. Somewhere in the deep was a hissing noise and the fire died down. They were standing in darkness again, until Wind lid two torches that hung on the wall.

They looked over the side of the abyss that was so deep that you couldn’t even see the bottom. Twilight felt his legs shaking and he looked at Legend with a thankful glance in his eyes.

‘’Thanks.’’

Legend gave him a friendly prod. ‘’No problem,’’ he said. ‘’I believe we still need you.’’

‘’How do we get across this abyss?’’ Warriors asked.

The abyss was at least two meter wide, too wide to jump over.

‘’That way.’’ Sky pointed at a few cutouts in the wall where you cut put your feet. Above that were ledges you could grab with your hands.

Sky went first. Easily, he made his way to the other side, he then turned and beckoned the others. ‘’It’s not that hard.’’

One by one they followed. Twilight didn’t try to think about the depth of the abyss and he definetely tried to ignore the thought if someone before him had ever fallen in.

Warriors took a deep breath and slowly made his way to the other side, constantly saying ‘I can do it, I can do it, I can do it’ as if it were a magic spell.

‘’dne eht hcaer reven lliw htap eht no setatiseh dna sregnil ohw eno…’’

The voices were back. Legend was the last one to cross the abyss. He threw the bag to the other side and put his feet in the cutouts and grabbed the ledges with a firm hand.

‘’dne eht hcaer reven lliw htap eht no setatiseh dna sregnil ohw eno…’’

One foot, two feet… He was halfway now.

‘’dne eht hcaer reven lliw htap eht no setatiseh dna sregnil ohw eno…’’

Suddenly a rumbling sound echoed through the cave and the ground shook.

Legend lost his grip: first his left foot and then his right…

Warriors screamed. Sky reached forward, but wasn’t close enough.

Warriors’ scream echoed through the cave, followed by an enormous roaring sound. It came closer and closer. Twilight looked behind him and saw a dark cloud approaching him and before he noticed what it was, thousands of bats flew past him that had awakened by Warriors’ voice. They flew with their leather wings past the six. Everyone brought their hands up to protect their face.

‘’My hair! My hair!’’ Warriors screeched.

But Legend yelled harder. The left ledge had broken off and now he hang with one arm above the abyss. Sky didn’t hesitate: he climbed his way to Legend, but the ledge he was hanging on, didn’t hold it much longer: it began to sag.

Legend looked desperately at Sky, who had almost reached him. He reached out his hand…

Just at the moment when the ledge broke off, Sky grabbed Legend’s wrist and swung him over the abyss, where Legend landed with a thud and lay there on his back with his eyes closed.

Sky climbed back and bended over Legend. ‘’You alright?’’

Legend opened his eyes and a weak smile appeared on his pale face. ‘’Because of you, yes.’’

Sky helped Legend to his feet.

‘’I’ve never been swung through the air by someone,’’ Legend said and shook his head. ‘’How strong are you?’’

Sky just shrugged.

‘’Shall we go on?’’ Wind urged.

They walked toward the light at the end of the tunnel. They entered a round room where a mysterious light shone out of the walls. Sky put the torch in a stand and carefully looked around.

‘’dne eht hcaer reven lliw htap eht no setatiseh dna sregnil ohw eno…’’

Again with those mysterious voices.

They were all on edge. Twilight looked at the big round stone in the middle of the cave. What was the task?

‘’It comes to a dead end here,’’ Sky said.

‘’Look at that.’’ Wind pointed at a rock that stood at the opposite side from the way they entered the cave. ‘’That looks like a guy.’’

Wind was right: it looked indeed like a man. He held a part of the ceiling up with his stone arms.

Twilight slowly approached and curiously looked at the man who suddenly opened his eyes. Twilight flinched back.

The man was staring at him.

‘’Inertia will bring you where I am now,’’ he said. ‘’But rapid speed is not good, too.’’

Twilight bumped with his back against the mill stone in the middle of the cave. A beam of light shone and from the ceiling tiny stones fell down and kept floating in the light.

Twilight turned and looked at the stone. On the edge of stood a circle with symbols. He looked again at the man. ‘’What… what do we need to do?’’

‘’Choose wisely and do not linger,’’ the voice echoed. ‘’The choice is yours.’’

Twilight looked at the stone.

‘’What is it?’’ Sky asked.

‘’I think some sort of puzzle.’’ Twilight pointed at the symbols: a cat, a triangle, a heart, a star, a sun, a peacock, a pig…

In the middle was an arrow that pointed at the man.

‘’Cool,’’ Wind exclaimed and reached out stones, but when he touched the light, an enormous cloud of grit fell on them.

‘’Choose wisely and do not linger,’’ the man said again.

‘’Yes- I can hear you,’’ Wind said with rising irritation and he took a step back. ‘’Sorry,’’ he apologized to the others.

‘’Choose wisely and do not linger, what sin is that?’’ Twilight asked.

‘’Stupidity,’’ Legend said and gave Wind a significant glance.

‘’No, no that’s not one of them.’’

Twilight looked at the petrified man. ‘’What was the first part?’’

But the man didn’t answer.

‘’Wow, very helpful,’’ Four muttered.

‘’Something with ‘Inertia will bring you where I am now’, that’s what he said,’’ Warriors told Twilight.

Twilight’s thoughts were a mess. Inertia will bring you where I am now… what did he mean by that? If you were slow, you became like him? He was made of stone. So he petrified. And you pertrified if you gave in to your sin…

The stones started to turn, faster and faster until it was a white cloud in the golden light. After that it formed a symbol.

‘’It’s an eye,’’ Warriors said.

Twilight stared at the eye that floated in light. What did they need to do? He had the feeling they had to hurry…

How was the rhyme again? And what had the voices said? He couldn’t understand them, but it had to mean something, right?

‘’dne eht hcaer reven lliw htap eht no setatiseh dna sregnil ohw eno…’’

Suddenly he knew what the voices said. It was a part of the rhyme, but backwards: ‘’One who lingers and hesitates on the path, will never reach the end,’’ he said to the others. ‘’Linger. Slowness! It’s inertia! That is a sin! It’s a game of skill, at speed.’’

He noticed that the edge was loose from the stone and he saw an eye.

‘’The arrow has to point at the eye,’’ he said. ‘’We need to turn!’’

He pushed against one the wooden supports, but nothing happened.

‘’Come on! It has to be fast!’’

Legend, Warriors and Sky joined him and pushed with all the power they had, but they were too late: the eye disappeared and above them a rumbling sound came. Big pieces of rocks fell down. A piece grazed past Four’s face and Wind got a rock on his shoulder.

‘’A cat! Now it’s a cat!’’ Wind yelled and pointed at the stones. The four started pushing again and just before the symbol disappeared again, they managed to get the arrow to point at the cat.

There was a crumbling sound and next to the man a piece of the cave opened. They cheered.

‘’Choose wisely and do not linger,’’ the man whispered again.

‘’Can that guy shut up? He’s driving me nuts,’’ Legend muttered.

‘’A big mouse, no, a rat!’’ Four said. ‘’Over there!’’ He pointed at a symbol at the left of the circle and the others started to turn, but they weren’t fast enough.

‘’The ceiling is coming down!’’ Wind yelled.

‘’Choose wisely and do not linger.’’

Legend turned around and faced the man. ‘’Can’t you say something else, you gray cave troll?’’

The last part he said a bit softer, but it started rumbling again and a giant crack appeared in one of the man’s arms.

Sky pulled Legend back to the stone.

‘’A heart!’’ Sky said and pointed at the symbol. He started to turn the stone and with the help of the others, he made it in time and the exit became bigger.

‘’A dog! No, a pig!’’

They turned as fast as they could and they were in time again. The exit was even bigger now.

‘’How many more?’’ Warriors asked and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

‘’Until it’s all the way open,’’ Twilight said and nodded to the exit.

‘’A peacock!’’ Wind yelled.

Four grabbed the box and headed for the exit. ‘’I’ll go and make sure that the box is out for if the cave collapses or something.’’ He walked away, quickly followed by Wind.

‘’No!’’ Twilight yelled.

‘’Rapid speed is not good, too’’ the petrified man laughed. The walls around them started to crumble apart. An enormous rock fell down from the ceiling and crashed into the mill stone.

‘’RUN!’’ Sky yelled and he pushed Legend through the entrance. The cracks became bigger and the arms of the man broke off. A rock slab fell down and was about to crash on Twilight and Warriors, but Sky took a dive forward and held it up.

‘’Hurry!’’ Sky grunted. ‘’I can’t keep it up for much longer!’’

They hesitated for a second, but Twilight saw something terrible: Sky’s hands and feet were gray: he was pertrifying!

‘’Sky!’’ Four yelled. He had come back when he noticed that cave was rumbling.

‘’Hurry! Go to the castle… Safe Wild… Wild,’’ Sky whispered. Then the gray color reached his face: Sky had petrified.

‘’Go!’’

Twilight pushed Warriors and Legend to the exit and pulled Four with him by his arm, but the other pulled himself free and ran back.

‘’Come back!’’ Twilight shouted, but he didn’t listen.

‘’I’m sorry,’’ was the last thing he said, before the ceiling fully collapsed and blocked the exit. Twilight and Legend started to try and clear the path, but they couldn’t go back.

‘’Sky! Four!’’ Legend yelled while he was grabbing stone after stone and threw them away.

Twilight grabbed him by the shoulder. ‘’They are petrified, you can’t do anything to change it.’’

‘’I can! I have to safe them,’’ Legend screamed, but Twilight pulled him away. ‘’We have to leave this place, the other parts will collapse soon.’’

Twilight was right, the ceiling in the tunnel started to crumble apart. He pulled Legend up and together they ran to the daylight that shone at the end. They ran as fast as they could, and covered in dust they broke out of the cave, bumping into Warriors. Behind them the tunnel collapsed and a cloud of dust flew tot hem. They kept running until Legend almost fell down. He stopped and coughed hard.

‘’Where were you?’’ he asked half-angry, half-relieved.

‘’I went after Wind. He’s guarding the box. Where are the others?’’ Warriors asked.

‘’In the cave,’’ Twilight coughed. ‘’Everything has collapsed.’’

They looked at the smoke that slowly descended. They’ve lost Sky and Four.

‘’Sky and Four,’’ Warriors sadly murmured.

Twilight nodded. ‘’Petrified.’’

‘’Where is Wind?’’ Legend asked and looked over the path that went down a hill.

‘’Somewhere here, he’s guarding the box.’’

Chapter Text

‘’Where are Sky and Four?’’ Wind asked when the others reached him. His eyes widened when no one answered. ‘’Oh no… Have they petrified.’’

‘’When Four walked away with the box, the whole place collapsed. The stone man broke and Sky took his place.’’

‘’And Four?’’

‘’He ran back, he felt guilty and didn’t want to leave him.’’

Wind sighed. ‘’So now they’ve petrified together.’’

Legend lost his patience. ‘’Yes, and if we keep standing here, then we also could’ve stayed there and played for pilar.’’

‘’Right,’’ Twilight agreed. ‘’We MUST carry on. Now!’’

Wind threw the handle of the bag over his shoulder and the four continued their journey on the path of the seven sins. Twilight looked at the others and wondered what would be waiting for them. Wherever they came, they lost someone. He was worried. What if the count would return? They had to bring the box to the castle, but he did everything to prevent that. Could they fight him with the four of them?

His hand reached for the leather cord around his neck. How was Wild doing? He was worried sick. If Time was really that heartless… He pictured Wild sitting in the highest tower of an old castle, looking out over the hills into the woods where he was walking now. She was waiting for him and he didn’t want to let her down. He had to make it. Only true love could walk the path of the seven sins. But was Wild his true love? Doubt started to bother his mind and slowly made his way into his heart, but he wouldn’t allow it to take over and instead focused on each step he took. Each step was one step closer to Wild.

The forest was dark and colored everything into a dirty green. The path was barely visible, causing them to lose it time after time. For a short time tension started to rise: had they lost the path? Luckily they found the muddy path again and the journey continued. They didn’t spoke to each other, but only cast glances around them, afraid that the count would show up in front of them.

Suddenly an awful scent reached them: it smelled like sulfur and a fart-like sound rose up from the ground.

‘’Warriors!’’ Wind said appalled.

‘’It wasn’t me!’’

Again a fart noise echoed through the trees.

‘’Someone bothered with the white beans in tomate sauce from yesterday?’’ Legend asked and pinched his nose.

Another fart and another and another. Warriors also brought his hand up.

‘’Gross. What is that?’’

The sulfur smell became stronger and Twilight placed the fabric of his shirt over his nose. He looked at his feet: swampy, brown water rose from beneath his boots. The wet path led to a dense bush and the four pushed their way through.

Suddenly they stood at the edge of a swamp. A thick white mist floated above pools of water that held an awful smell. Enormous mud bubbles rose up and exploded with loud fart noises. Between the pools of mud stood the sad skeletons of dead trees. The fog was so thick that the other side wasn’t visible. They had no idea how big it was.

Warriors looked down and saw that the mud had reached his ankles. ‘’No! My shoes!’’ he whined. He took a step aside, but that didn’t solve the problem.

‘’Is this another one of those funny tests?’’ Legend asked, his nose still pinched shut.

‘’Do we have to go through here? I’m not doing that,’’ Warriors said and looked at the mudpool underneath his feet.

‘’We have to. There’s no way back.’’

‘’Nice,’’ came Legend sarcastic comment.

Twilight searched the swamp for any clue, but he couldn’t find anything. ‘’What do we need to do? What is the catch?’’

Wind didn’t seem to mind the smell, he was probably imune for it, maybe because of the amount of stink bombs he’s made over the years. He took a step forward, but Twilight pulled him back.

‘’You don’t know what you need to do here,’’ he said. ‘’What have we had? Anger, lust, inertia… what are the other four?’’

‘’Aren’t you supposed to know that?’’ Legend asked who was also looking at the mud with a disgusted face. He, too, was ankle-deep in the water. He pulled his foot up from the mud and tok a step back.

‘’Voracity, greed… no that’s not it,’’ Twilight murmured. ‘’Oh! And we have vengeance!’’ He smiled, happy that he could at least come up with three.

‘’There’s one more. You’re missing one,’’ Wind encouraged him.

Twilight opened every drawer in his brain, but they were all empty. Why couldn’t he remember what Shadow had said? Anger, lust, greed, inertia, voracity, vengeance and… and… and…

The others looked at him with expectation.

Twilight thought about the rhyme.

‘If you start hot-headed, know you will lose.’ That was anger. ‘If you get distracted by lust or beauty, know for whom you choose.’ That was lust. And after that? ‘One who lingers and hesitates on the path, will never reach the end.’ Inertia. That was three, they’ve finished those. ‘Nor the one who fills through mouth, or has only dreams of himself.’ That would be greed and voracity… ‘or has only dreams of himself.’ That last part got him thinking about the Greek Mythology about Narcissus, a handsome boy who had declined the nymph Echo. As a punishment the goddess of love, Aphrodite, had cursed him to fall in love with his own reflection. He was so obsessed with his reflection in a pond, that he couldn’t look away, until he eventually transformed into a daffodil.

Warriors was getting impatient. ‘’This is sooo bad for my skin,’’ he complained.

Twilight looked at Warriors and laughed at his concern. They could petrify any moment, there were countless dangers on the path, they may never escape this, but he thought about his shoes or if he could get any pimples.

‘’Vanity,’’ Twilight suddenly said.

Warriors turned to him. ‘’I am not vain.’’

‘’Yeah, of course not,’’ Legend said sarcastically.

‘’No- it’s vanity, that is one of the sins,’’ Twilight explained.

‘’Oh- that’s easy,’’ Wind said and bended down. He grabbed a hand full of mud and rubbed it on his face.

‘’What are you doing?’’ Warriors asked and looked at Wind as if he had turned into count Time.

‘’Mudmask- that’s part of vanity, right?’’

‘’No,’’ Twilight sighed. ‘’You mustn’t give in to vanity.’’

Wind startled and immediately wiped the mud off of his face, making brown drops fly into the air. ‘’Maybe we have to fart back,’’ he then offered when his face was clean. He turned around and bended.

‘’HNGGG,’’ he grunted and a loud fart escaped his butt. ‘’That’s refreshing.’’

‘’No way I’m doing that!’’ Warriors gasped and his face turned pale.

‘’We have to enter.’’ Twilight took a step forward and immediately sank knee-deep into the mud. The disgusting scent grew stronger and he had to try his hardest not to throw up. Legend and Wind followed bravely, but Warriors stayed back.

‘’No- come on, wait a sec,’’ he begged.

‘’Are you coming?’’ Twilight called impatiently.

They could really use this right now, they had to hurry. And they didn’t even know what the task was. How could you get over your vanity in a stinking swamp?

‘’Come on, we need to carry on- this is the only way.’’

Warrior stook one step forward. ‘’This is the dirtiest thing I’ve ever done.’’ He staggered and almost fell.

‘’Gross.’’ Shiverly he took one step after the other until he found solid ground beneath his feet. He looked down at his shoes who had changed from normal brown to shit-brown.

Legend laughed hard at Warriors’ face, so he couldn’t see where he was going. He tripped over a tree root and fell face-first in the mud.

‘’Who’s laughing now?’’ Warriors snapped back at Legend who scrambled to his feet. His whole front was covered in mud and he spat some out, too. After that he tried to clean his face, but he hardly succeeded.

‘’You just hurry and get over here,’’ he snarled. ‘’I want to leave this place.’’

The walked on, but it didn’t seem to have an end. Twilight started to worry. How long were they walking? Where were they headed? And what was the test?

‘’When does it stop?’’ Warriors asked.

Twilight startled. ‘’That tree…’’ He pointed at one of the dead trees. ‘’I’ve seen that one before.’’

‘’Are you sure?’’

Twilight nodded. He knew that, because he thought that the bark looked like a face. ‘’We’re walking in circles.’’

‘’Are we lost?’’ Wind asked.

Twilight’s face told enough.

‘’That way,’’ Legend said and turned right. He took one step forward and immediately sank in the water. He took another step, and another one. It looked like the pool was slowly swallowing him up.

‘’It gets deeper here,’’ he said and kept on walking. The mud had now reached his abdomen. Wind and Twilight followed him, but Warriors stayed back again.

‘’Come on!’’

But Warriors shook his head.

Suddenly something moved. Something raced through the water their way, like the fin of a shark.

‘’Look out!’’

The thing headed straight for Legend.

‘’Legend!’’

Legend turned around and saw the thing approaching him. He yelled and headed back for higher ground as fast as he could, but it swam past him and the water calmed down again.

Legend turned around and around. ‘’Where is it? Where is it?’’

‘’Get out of there!’’ Twilight shouted and reached out his hand. Legend and Wind waded their way to higher ground. Twilight pulled Legend up and was about to grab Wind, but something grabbed the boy’s legs and he was pulled back into the water.

‘’Wind!’’

Again the ripple in the water… It had almost reached Wind…

‘’Look out!’’

Wind was desperately moving his arms. It seemed like danger was away, but the next moment Wind went under.

‘’WIND!’’

A few meters away, Wind popped above the surface. He was flailing helplessly in the water.

‘’Help!!’’ he screamed before he went down again.

Warriors didn’t hesitate and jumped into the swamp. He went all the way down, and then made his way to the place where Wind was last seen. He dove face-first in the water. Twilight and Legend jumped back in the mudpool, but Warriors came up again. He held Wind in his arms.

‘’Quickly! This way!’’ Twilight called, but he saw something move in the water, that thing came back! Warriors saw it, too and he started to slap the water like a crazy man.

‘’Get out! Get out!’’ he screeched.

Legend had reached them and took Wind from him. Together with Twilight, they pushed Wind on the shore who coughed up a mouthful of mud. Warriors waded his way back to higher ground, and pulled himself up.

The four stayed there for a couple minutes to catch their breath.

‘’You still got the box?’’ Twilight asked.

Wind held the bag in the air. Then he looked at Warriors who lay on his back in the mud. His hair was stuck to his forehead and rotten leaves lay on his cheeks, shoulders and arms.

‘’You saved me!’’ Wind breathed.

‘’I saved you once, don’t make me save you again,’’ Warriors grumbled back.

Twilight stood up and looked at the mudpool before them. The thing didn’t show itself anymore. And there was something else…

‘’The fog! It’s clearing up!’’

They looked at the thick, white mist that became thinner and thinner. Above them, the sun started shining.

‘’That was it,’’ Twilight said and turned to Warriors. ‘’You have overcome your vanity!’’

Warriors looked with a disgusted face at his clothing. ‘’Really?’’

Twilight nodded.

Warriors looked in the distance, at the fresh-green trees that stood at the edge of the swamp. Over there was the exit… He stood up and stumbled his way forward, his feet making a slurping sound and waves of brown water splashed out of his boots. He turned around and faced the others. Brown drops stuck to his forehead and dripped from his hair.

‘’Can we then please get the heck out of here?’’

Chapter Text

Wind, Warriors, Legend and Twilight were almost completely dried up. Wind was brabbling about the monster he escaped from, but Twilight didn’t listen. He was worried: he had the feeling they had been walking for hours, but after the test with the swamp, they hadn’t found any other tests. There were still three more, right? He didn’t get it, had they missed something? But they were still walking the path…

They slid down a hill that was covered with brown leaves. Warriors fell on his back, but he didn’t seem to mind to get even dirtier. They walked over to the opposite hill, where the trees suddenly stopped. They stared out over a valley covered with juicy, green grass.

And Twilight saw something else: in the distance, between the trees, were two towers.

‘’The castle!’’ Warriors called.

But Twilight noticed something terrible: the sun had changed into an orange ball and sunk down behind the trees. Sunset!

‘’We must…’’

Twilight got pulled down with a strong jerk. He was so surprised that he didn’t have the time to be scared when he saw who was holding his ankle: it was count Time. His with hate contorted face was covered with a huge red mark. He pulled Twilight even further down. ‘’Where is the box?’’ he hissed.

Twilight tried to pull his foot free, but the count was too strong. With his other foot he tried to kick the hand of Time, but the other easily pushed away the leg and laughed.

‘’Go on! To the castle!’’ Twilight shouted. The others had to carry on. Wind had the box, it had to reach the castle, the sun was setting…

‘’Hey, bitch!’’

The count looked up the hill. Legend stared down at him with a disgusted look on his face. He held something under his tunic.

‘’Yeah, you, with your bad skin,’’ he said to Time. ‘’I’ve got something for you…’’

Time squinted his eyes. Legend took a step back. ‘’You want that box so badly? Come and get it!’’

After he said that, he turned and headed for the trees. The count didn’t hesitate and let go of Twilight’s ankle. He stood up and charged after Legend.

Twilight felt a hand around his wrist and Warriors and Wind pulled him up. Wind had the bag over his shoulder.

‘’Come on, hurry.’’

Twilight looked in the direction where Legend and the count had disappeared.

‘’He’s got stones underneath his tunic,’’ Warriors informed.

Suddenly they heard Legend’s voice coming loud and clear from somewhere in the forest. ‘’Missed me!’’ he yelled. ‘’That one’s for Hyrule, fucking bitch!’’

They heard Time yell with frustration. Wind was about to go after the two, but Twilight pulled him along. ‘’We have to go, the sun… then everything will be lost!’’

They ran through the green valley. They didn’t dare to look back, afraid that the count might grab them. After the hill a forest began again, where they ran through a tiny brook.

After that the way went up again and the castle stood firmly on top of the hill. Behind the castle, the sun started to sink lower and lower…

Twilight’s lungs almost burst, he was so thirsty, but he had to carry on, they were almost there…

The sandpath switched for a stone path that led straight up and made a turn tot he right. On the left was a tiny tower, on the right was a gate where they could walk through with behind that the rest of the castle.

‘’Right,’’ Twilight decided. They ran onto a small courtyard. On the lef tand straight ahead were two big, wooden doors. Twilight sprinted to the door before him, but it was closed.

‘’Wild!’’ he shouted, but no one answered.

‘’This door is open.’’ Wind opened the door on the left and pushed Twilight inside with the box in his hands. ‘’You’ll need this,’’ he said.

They entered a long room.

‘’Oh,’’ was the only thing Warriors could say. He looked at a long table in the middle of the room where the most delicious dishes were served: a steaming turkey, fruit that looked so fresh, that it must be picked this day, a beautiful chocolate-cake with a thick layer of pink frosting that spread a sweet scent across the room… Between that stood jugs of lemonade with slices of lemon in them.

‘’Thirsty,’’ Wind said and he licked his lips.

Twilight was also thirsty. His tongue felt like it were made of leather, but he knew that they weren’t allowed to eat or drink, not yet.

‘’Don’t,’’ he said to Wind who walked over to the jug. ‘’That is voracity, and that’s a sin.’’

Wind stared at the table. ‘’But we’ve reached the castle, right? We made it.’’

‘’We still have to overcome voracity, greed and vengeance. Don’t touch anything!’’

Twilight searched for a door. Wild wasn’t in this room, but she had to be somewhere in the castle. He walked around the table and noticed a door hidden behind a red curtain in the back of the hall. He ran towards it and slammed on it. ‘’Wild!’’

For one scary, everlasting second he heard nothing.

‘’Twilight!’’

Wild’s voice sounded through the door.

Twilight felt a wave of relief surge through his body. ‘’Open the door!’’ he shouted. ‘’The sun is almost setting…’’

‘’I’m trapped inside.’’

Twilight was so worried about Wild that he didn’t notice what happened behind him. Warriors saw his reflection in a big mirror and stared at himself. He looked at his dirty clothing and his blonde hair that now held a brownish color. He brought his hand up and tried to get his fingers through his hair, but it was all a huge mess. His eye fell on a silver brush that lay on an antique table close by. He reached out for it, but instead, he grabbed a beautiful sky-blue scarf. He took off the dirty one and dropped it on the ground. In the reflection of the mirror, he saw how Wind reached out for a piece of the chocolate-cake. He looked at himself again and placed the scarf around his neck.

‘’Warriors!’’

Warriors turned around. Wind looked at him with a surprised glance in his eyes. He slowly lifted his hand. His fingers were gray. His hands, his arms…

Twilight looked at his two friends.

‘’NO!’’ he screamed, but it was too late: Warriors and Wind had petrified.

‘’TWILIGHT!!!’’ Wild rattled the door.

Twilight pulled himself together. It was too late for Wind and Warriors, but was not too late for Wild. He had to reach her! He looked around and saw an old armor with a huge sword. He pulled it free by force.

‘’Wild, stand back!’’ he yelled.

With immense force which was prompted by fear, hope and desire to see Wild, he lifted the sword and broke down the door. He stumbled into the other room.

Wild first couldn’t believe it: she had seen the sun sink down further and further and she had almost given up hope to see Twilight again, but here he was: before her on the ground, a sword in his hand She knelt down next to him and he scrambled up. He dropped the sword and hugged her.

‘’I knew you’d come,’’ she whispered.

He nodded and kissed her.

Wild’s heart leaped with joy, but they had to do something first! They had to open the box!

‘’The box, you have the box?’’ she stammered. ‘’We must open it.’’

Twilight pulled the bag off of his back and with trembling fingers, he loosened the rope. He put the box between them and grabbed the golden key from his pocket. He wanted to put it in the keyhole, when they suddenly heard a noise.

Twilight grabbed the sword and blocked the hit from Time with more luck than wisdom. The key slid through the room. Wild screeched, while Twilight scrambled to his feet and blocked another hit that Time gave. Twilight faced Time with the sword in his hand. Time raised his sword above his head and stroke down hard.

Twilight dodged and the sword struck down deep in the wooden table where Twilight stood before just a second ago.

Time pried, but the sword didn’t come out instantly.

Wild looked at Twilight who was looking at Time like a cat looking at its prey. She didn’t get it, why didn’t Twilight attack? He had the time, the count was helpless now that his sword was stuck!

But the count had pulled his sword free and he charged for Twilight again who blocked the blow. But Time pushed him backward with his other hand, so that he hit his head on the wall. Twilight shook his head to clear his mind and blocked another attack.

‘’Please! Fight!’’ Wild called. She didn’t understand, why was he only defending himself?

But Twilight didn’t fight back. Instead he walked backward while the count struck another blow and laughed.

‘’That’s a shame, he can’t,’’ he laughed and attacked, the sword just missed Twilight’s shoulder. That was close! Another blow followed that Twilight could just hold back. Wild saw that he almost couldn’t hold on.

‘’I have to admit that you’re smart,’’ Time said and wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

‘’Why aren’t you fighting! Please, fight!’’ Wild pleaded.

Time approached Twilight who took a few steps back.

‘’If your love fights back, he will petrify. The last sin, remember, Twilight? A heart filled with venom, will petrify without pain… Vengeance. So he can never win.’’

Wild understood. Twilight couldn’t fight back, if he did, he would petrify. But how long could he defend himself?

Time came closer and closer… Twilight stood with his back to the room where Warriors and Wind had petrified.

Time raised his sword.

‘’RAAAAGH!!’’

Wild squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t watch it any longer.

Twilight could block the blow, but the force was so strong that he stumbled back, off the two steps, into the other room. The sword fell out of his hand and slid away under the table.

Wild looked around. She saw the box. She had to open it… That was what Malon said: the box had to be opened in the castle. She scrambled in the direction where the key had disappeared. If only she could find it. She slid her fingers through the dust underneath a wooden closet. She wanted to give up, but finally she felt the cold metal of the key. She was so tense that her legs didn’t work anymore and she crawled her way to the box. She put the key in the keyhole…

Twilight fell into the room. Time threw him in the hall where Wild was. Wild looked at Time’s mutilated face and those eyes full of hate. She knew what he wanted: he wanted to finish with Twilight while she saw it.

Twilight lay a few meters away from her. He scrambled back, but the count lifted his sword…

Wild turned the key with shaking fingers and pulled the lid off the box.

‘’WAIT!’’ she yelled with a cracking voice.

Time was distracted long enough for Twilight to roll away and the sword hit the floor instead of Twilight’s throat.

‘’LOOK!’’ Wild stood up and showed Time the box. A golden light shone from it and Time’s eyes filled with surprise.

‘’Your heart,’’ Wild murmured.

Behind them sounded a voice. ‘’And mine.

Time ripped his gaze away from the two hearts. He didn’t seem to understand who was standing right in front of him: it was Malon who stood in the middle of the room, wearing her blue hood.

‘’Time,’’ she murmured and reached out for him.

Twilight rushed to Wild and protectively put a hand around her shoulder. Time dropped his sword.

Wild looked at the two hearts in the box. She understood. She now understood what Malon’s biggest sacrifice had been, so she could petrify and find a couple who were each other’s true love. She understood why Malon couldn’t have walked the path of the seven sins: Malon had sacrificed her own heart to do that.

Wild was so moved by it, that tears started to form in her eyes. She looked at Time who could only stare at Malon. He didn’t seem to understand what was happening and he looked at the box again.

‘’I told you she loved you,’’ Wild whispered.

She suddenly noticed how scared the count really was. He wasn’t evil, he was just scared, scared to feel pain, to be hurt… She felt pity for the man and a sob escaped her body.

Time looked at the two hearts that lay next to each other.

‘’This is my heart and… yours,’’ he said surprised.

‘’I gave it to the devil. For you,’’ Malon murmured and she pointed at Wild and Twilight. ‘’So I could choose them to free your heart- and mine.’’

‘’But… why? You loved another.’’

Malon slowly approached Time

‘’That was a lie- I only loved you- I’ve been waiting for you.’’

She placed her hand on Time’s fire-red cheek, but he pushed it away and hid his face in his hands.

‘’My face,’’ he stammered. ‘’Every test he succeeded, it got worse. I am deformed.’’

Malon pulled her hands back.

Wild’s eyes widened. The mark had disappeared!

Malon put her arms around Time and looked him in his eyes with love glimmering in her’s.

‘’I still love you… so much.’’

‘’I…’’ Time started and a surprising expression appeared on his face. ‘’I love you, too,’’ he whispered and he put his hand on the place where his heart was, as if he could feel it beating again and where he could feel love again.

His face changed.

Wild couldn’t describe it otherwise. His expression softened and his eyes started to shine. Wild could see how beautiful he actually was with his sky-blue eyes and blond locks. He took off his leather gloves and threw them on the floor. He then embraced Malon and held her close.

She looked up at him and he kissed her.

A bright, white light shone from the box and the two hearts disappeared. It became brighter and wrapped around Time and Malon.

Wild looked at two lovers who had found each other again. She felt Twilight’s hand around her shoulder.

The light became brighter and they had to close their eyes. There was a gush of wind and then world went black.

Chapter Text

Wild felt something tickle her face and she brought her hand up to her cheek. She felt the sun warm her face.

Sun? She was inside the castle, right?

She opened her eyes and looked up at a blue sky. Somewhere in the distance, a bird was singing its song and a bee flew above her nose.

Suddenly Twilight’s face entered her eyeshot. He was smiling widely and helped her to her feet. She looked around and then noticed where they were: they lay in the middle of the village square, against the planth of the statue of count Time.

Wild saw Legend scramble to his feet next to her. He was just as lost as she was.

‘’Wow,’’ he breathed and shook his head. He suddenly noticed Hyrule who lay next to him with his eyes closed.

‘’Hyrule?’’ he murmured hopefully and he gently shook his friend’s arm.

Hyrule’s eyes snapped open and in instinct he hit Legend in the face with his right hand.

Wild saw Legend secretly wipe away the tears that formed in his eyes and he put his hand up to his nose where Hyrule had hit him. He didn’t even seem to mind that his friend just hit him in the face, he was just so glad that Hyrule was alright.

Sky slowly sat up and looked around.

‘’This is weird,’’ he muttered.

‘’True, right?’’ Four agreed.

Wild smiled. But where were Warriors and Wind? She turned and saw the two were laying side by side.

Wind yawned and stretched himself.

Wild looked at Twilight.

‘’That was weird,’’ she said. ‘’Did we dream?’’

Twilight shrugged and wanted to say something, but suddenly a loud voice echoed over the square: ‘’Where were you? We’ve been searching everywhere!’’ Shadow approached the group with big steps. He looked furious.

Ganondorf followed, looking just as angry.

‘’Have we set up a scavenger hunt, we find you doing nothing!’’ the vice principal said.

Wild and Twilight looked at each other. They didn’t had the feeling that they hadn’t been doing nothing…

‘’Twilight…’’ Wild pointed at the sword that lay before their feet. Twilight gently picked it up. It was the same sword he had used to defend himself against Time. In the handle were two hearts engraved…

‘’It was true,’’ Wild whispered. ‘’Time and Malon are together again- you’ve walked the path of the seven sins.’’

Twilight looked at her. ‘’Because of you.’’

‘’Because of us,’’ Wild whispered and kissed him on the lips.

The group turned to the statue of the count. On the plinth it still said ‘Count Time de Beaufort’, but the Latin sentence ‘’comes sine animo’’ had disappeared.

‘’His face…’’ Wild murmured.

The angry expression on his face had disappeared and had switched for a friendly smile: the heartless count had found his heart again.