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Description
This is part of my ongoing "Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" fan-novelization. I do not own any of the characters or locations mentioned below, all rights belong to Nintendo, etc. etc...

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"It looked to the men as if a rotting, bony hand with no arm - a Dead Hand - had grabbed Tom's hand. With one final wrench, whatever had hold of Tom jerked him into the mud."
- "The Dead Hand", "Scary Stories 3"
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Link strode into the antechamber, his eyes still barely adjusted to the darkness. A horrible crunching sound came from beneath his feet, and his stomach churned. He thought of insects, of spiders and centipedes and vile, inhuman things that made their homes in the darkness beneath the well…

“Navi, could you light up the floor a little? I want to see what I’m walking on…”

Navi’s yellowish glow illuminated the whole room, and Link shuddered in distaste.

The first thing he noticed was a collection of long, gangly arms, with hideously pale human hands attached to the ends, that were scattered around the perimeter of the room. The arms were long, bloodless and dead, like something that has decayed and putrefied underwater for years. The hands lacked fingertips – the skin at the third knuckles was flayed and torn, exposing snow-white bone barely covered by foul, congealed blood.

The next thing he noticed was what the walls and floor were made of – human skulls, in a thick layer, bound together with blood as a mortar. Even as he gawked in horror, another braincase gave way beneath his feet. The vile crunch echoed around the chamber…

And then, everything went dark.

One of the long arms had come from behind him, and had his head in a grip of iron. The long bones in the tip dug into his skin, bruising the blood vessels and tearing away layers of skin. A vile moan echoed in his ears, and a terrible rattling noise came from a corner of the room…

Link knew that sound, instinctively knew that something had shifted away the skulls in the floor and the walls, something that was now coming for him, something terrible and old and very, very dead…

“LINK!” screeched Navi, “GET OUT OF THERE! IT’S COMING! FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING, GET OUT OF THERE NOW!”
Link’s hands scrabbled upwards, seeking and searching, and they finally found the cold fingers, and shoved them away with a revolted cry…

And then he saw it.

It was only a foot away.

It dangled before him, a vile, bloodless head with decaying gray skin hanging off it in lifeless flaps. The head was attached to a long, flabby neck that bent and coiled into a monstrous, semi-human body. Two short, stunted arms extended from the insensate torso, arms that coiled up in front of the monster like lurking serpents. There were no hands at the tips, but a bloody mass that dangled lifelessly over the floor. On the torso, the decaying skin was stretched loosely over a bent and twisted ribcage, and the bulging stomach beneath it resembled some vile, malignant tumor. Everything beneath that was hidden under the layer of skulls. It worked through the bony floor like a terrible plow, turning up a nightmarish harvest of death. Dark red stains decorated its body, an awful mosaic of blood.

The thing was horrible, as dead and lifeless and mindless as everything else beneath the well, and yet it moved without life, it spoke without breath, a stupid, nauseating voice that spoke of decay and darkness without words…

…and now the mouth was open before Link, a doorway to eternity that stretched wide, much too wide, and sought out the boy’s face…

A revolted scream tore itself from Link’s throat, and the Kokiri Sword whipped out in a desperate blur. The sword tore into the Dead Hand’s mouth, slicing through the jaw and braincase, and the jaw fell to the floor in a bloodless mass… but the thing was still inching mindlessly towards him, as though determined to crush him if it couldn’t consume him…

Link flailed wildly. He couldn’t remember anything having repulsed him so, not skulltulas, not poes, not stalfos or redeads, nothing was as horrible as this mindless, insensate thing from beyond the grave…

“Link! Link, it’s gone! You can stop now!”

Navi’s voice didn’t register for an instant, but Link’s wild swings slowed… and finally stopped.

Dead flesh was scattered across the room, bloodless muscle and tendons and skin, sprinkled across the skulls around Link. The long arms had vanished. The Dead Hand was gone.

Link was breathing heavily, nearly sobbing with horror and repulsion… that monster was just not right… just because dark magic COULD do that to dead tissue, that didn’t mean it SHOULD… nobody should have to deal with something
like that…

“Link… there’s a chest over there…”

Link walked over to the treasure chest, still hyperventilating, the skulls still crunching beneath his feet. He extended his hands to open it, and noticed that they were shaking...

(Live hands, I’ve got LIVE Hands…)

A nervous giggle escaped the boy’s lips, and he looked around for an instant, as though worried it might still be around… but no, the Dead Hand was dead forever.

Link took a deep breath, and opened the chest.

(Yes, I know that's Adult Link we see here. I couldn't choose which Dead Hand battle to show, so I mixed and matched.)

More Chapters: [link]

Description
This is part of my ongoing "Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" fan-novelization. I do not own any of the characters or locations mentioned below, all rights belong to Nintendo, etc. etc...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It looked to the men as if a rotting, bony hand with no arm - a Dead Hand - had grabbed Tom's hand. With one final wrench, whatever had hold of Tom jerked him into the mud."
- "The Dead Hand", "Scary Stories 3"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Link strode into the antechamber, his eyes still barely adjusted to the darkness. A horrible crunching sound came from beneath his feet, and his stomach churned. He thought of insects, of spiders and centipedes and vile, inhuman things that made their homes in the darkness beneath the well…

“Navi, could you light up the floor a little? I want to see what I’m walking on…”

Navi’s yellowish glow illuminated the whole room, and Link shuddered in distaste.

The first thing he noticed was a collection of long, gangly arms, with hideously pale human hands attached to the ends, that were scattered around the perimeter of the room. The arms were long, bloodless and dead, like something that has decayed and putrefied underwater for years. The hands lacked fingertips – the skin at the third knuckles was flayed and torn, exposing snow-white bone barely covered by foul, congealed blood.

The next thing he noticed was what the walls and floor were made of – human skulls, in a thick layer, bound together with blood as a mortar. Even as he gawked in horror, another braincase gave way beneath his feet. The vile crunch echoed around the chamber…

And then, everything went dark.

One of the long arms had come from behind him, and had his head in a grip of iron. The long bones in the tip dug into his skin, bruising the blood vessels and tearing away layers of skin. A vile moan echoed in his ears, and a terrible rattling noise came from a corner of the room…

Link knew that sound, instinctively knew that something had shifted away the skulls in the floor and the walls, something that was now coming for him, something terrible and old and very, very dead…

“LINK!” screeched Navi, “GET OUT OF THERE! IT’S COMING! FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING, GET OUT OF THERE NOW!”
Link’s hands scrabbled upwards, seeking and searching, and they finally found the cold fingers, and shoved them away with a revolted cry…

And then he saw it.

It was only a foot away.

It dangled before him, a vile, bloodless head with decaying gray skin hanging off it in lifeless flaps. The head was attached to a long, flabby neck that bent and coiled into a monstrous, semi-human body. Two short, stunted arms extended from the insensate torso, arms that coiled up in front of the monster like lurking serpents. There were no hands at the tips, but a bloody mass that dangled lifelessly over the floor. On the torso, the decaying skin was stretched loosely over a bent and twisted ribcage, and the bulging stomach beneath it resembled some vile, malignant tumor. Everything beneath that was hidden under the layer of skulls. It worked through the bony floor like a terrible plow, turning up a nightmarish harvest of death. Dark red stains decorated its body, an awful mosaic of blood.

The thing was horrible, as dead and lifeless and mindless as everything else beneath the well, and yet it moved without life, it spoke without breath, a stupid, nauseating voice that spoke of decay and darkness without words…

…and now the mouth was open before Link, a doorway to eternity that stretched wide, much too wide, and sought out the boy’s face…

A revolted scream tore itself from Link’s throat, and the Kokiri Sword whipped out in a desperate blur. The sword tore into the Dead Hand’s mouth, slicing through the jaw and braincase, and the jaw fell to the floor in a bloodless mass… but the thing was still inching mindlessly towards him, as though determined to crush him if it couldn’t consume him…

Link flailed wildly. He couldn’t remember anything having repulsed him so, not skulltulas, not poes, not stalfos or redeads, nothing was as horrible as this mindless, insensate thing from beyond the grave…

“Link! Link, it’s gone! You can stop now!”

Navi’s voice didn’t register for an instant, but Link’s wild swings slowed… and finally stopped.

Dead flesh was scattered across the room, bloodless muscle and tendons and skin, sprinkled across the skulls around Link. The long arms had vanished. The Dead Hand was gone.

Link was breathing heavily, nearly sobbing with horror and repulsion… that monster was just not right… just because dark magic COULD do that to dead tissue, that didn’t mean it SHOULD… nobody should have to deal with something
like that…

“Link… there’s a chest over there…”

Link walked over to the treasure chest, still hyperventilating, the skulls still crunching beneath his feet. He extended his hands to open it, and noticed that they were shaking...

(Live hands, I’ve got LIVE Hands…)

A nervous giggle escaped the boy’s lips, and he looked around for an instant, as though worried it might still be around… but no, the Dead Hand was dead forever.

Link took a deep breath, and opened the chest.

(Yes, I know that's Adult Link we see here. I couldn't choose which Dead Hand battle to show, so I mixed and matched.)

More Chapters: [link]