CHAPTER 41: THE PUPPET MASTER
The shriek and roar of a loud explosion startled the Hylians within the main plaza of the town. They began to jostle about, each trying to shift so as to see past the magicked gates, but the doors on the other side were still shut tight. When at last the archers called down that an explosion had destroyed part of the castle, the men gasped in horror. Already, their fine castle was being demolished by the enemy, and their princess could soon be dead. When terror left their faces, fury replaced it. Each wore an expression of bravery, ready to be released into the courtyards.
But the way remained shut. In their inability to move forward into the castle, the soldiers each grew more and more restless. Many of them began banging the bases of their spears against the cold stones, both in trying to keep their wits and also keep warm in the rain that continued to pang off their armor.
The Group, headed by Rusl, and the general's strongest men were still in the midst of trying to break through the barred archway when a deep horn sounded, almost like the guttural growl of an animal, and the soldiers waited with bated breath as their imaginations took over.
Moments later, the wood of the doors up the incline burst toward the ranks, splintering into small chunks. The largest piece of wood to soar at them was, in fact, not a part of the door but a green giant astride a mighty boar. Its great axe flew through the air as it rode, the corroded metal flying into the heads and torsos of the warriors that had followed.
The general called warning to his men, and all the soldiers save for a few had escaped the reaches of the gateway by the time the speed and sheer force of the ogre's mass broke through Midna's magical hold over it. Its hinges and locks snapped away with a resounding crack and pop. Then the horde descended and the few unlucky Hylians met an unfortunate end at the hooves of the boar, the swing of the giant axe, or the bite of a bokoblin's blade.
Though the swarm filled the square, calling the men to action, defending the town against their sudden onslaught, the way was now open.
The square-jawed general gave a nod to Rusl and the rest of the Group, and along with a few units of his fine Hylian soldiers, the Group marched through the gates and quickly made their way through the debris of the broken doorways. They had to fight their way through, as more and more bokoblins and bulblins continued to pour through into the plaza. The archers atop the battlements covered their men and shot arrows into the invading force to help open a path. Those Hylians who had been ordered to remain behind dealt with the rest.
For the first time in their generation, blood covered the streets of Hyrule.
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Eerie torchlight licked against the checkered tiles of the floor and the ceiling tiles imprinted with some kind of animal design. Though Link stepped lightly along the elegantly painted tiles beneath him, his footsteps still rattled with the pangs of the metal soles and the greaves which protected him. A short hall brought him to an open archway that led him into the grand main room. He cast a glance above to see that the domed ceiling came together in a triangular pattern, and the fires which lit the room so dimly were located across three separate balconies.
A stairway to either side of the room led up to the main balcony straight ahead, leaving the other two inaccessible from here. Grand chandeliers dangled from the ceiling, each suspended at a different height as if the chains controlling their position had been broken, and by the look of their dusty glimmer and tarnished metal engravings no one had dared fix them.
He thought that perhaps it was just the lighting and the state of the place, the way the left staircase had completely fallen to rubble and how the right would prove precarious, that left him with a sense of immediate dread. The sounds of the battle that continued to wage outside echoed into the grand entrance hall, and it brought him back to the matter at hand. Wiping away any lingering doubts of journeying deeper into the domain of the demon thief, Link stepped toward the eastern stair steps.
Skittering footsteps greeted him from the shadows cast by the torchlight, and soon a unit of bokoblins descended upon him. He realized they must have been drawn by the sounds of battle outside, and immediately, Link was in motion. His sword danced in and out through those that weaved about him, and in only moments, Link had cast each body to the floor in a bloody heap.
After the small force had been dispatched, he threw his gaze about to search out any lingering assailants. He found none and moved on.
He traversed the damaged staircase carefully, testing his foot before applying his full weight with each step he took. He clung to the wall instead of the railing, trusting the hard, white brick more than the wobbly golden white bar. His last step nearly proved mortally dangerous, for even though he had tested its stability, it wobbled and jostled out of place. As Link fought to evade its collapse, each stone around it also gave way to meet the floor below. Link leapt upward and landed safely on the secure stone of the balcony as each step then fell like dominoes after the last.
As he made his way for the door, which stood on the north side of the room, he stared out toward the shattered door. He watched as the battle raged, as confusion so thick had scared the allies into attacking their own people. He listened as their howls stretched on into the night, electrifying the thunder that pounded the clouds. A small puddle had formed at the entrance to the castle, but the rainwater had been poisoned with the trails of blood.
Link closed himself to all this as he opened and shut the northern door.
Or so he had thought.
As soon as he entered the next room, he had no time to process his surroundings before a great sword came screaming toward his head. He barely had time to realize what was happening, and if not for the faint shine from its blade and the disturbance it had created in the air, Link would not have had enough forewarning to duck and roll out of its path. As he popped up he unsheathed his blade and faced off against a heavily armored dark knight for the first time since his trek into the Temple of Time.
Link thought back to his first encounter with the similar knight and had to reanalyze his battle strategy. That time he had had Rusl with him, and together they had been able to defeat it. Now, he would have to rely solely on his agility and mastery of the sword.
The force with which the dark knight swung his sword would have killed any man even had the blade been blunt, and Link's arm shrieked each time his shield took the full brunt of its attacks. Link thought the Hylian metal would surely break against his opponent's powerful swings, but somehow the shield continued to refute the dark knight's strength.
The dark knight sliced through the air, its sword crashing down toward Link like the giant axe of the ogre. Link managed to roll out of the way just in time, and as the heavy knight extracted its blade from the now broken tiles, Link landed a few choice hits against the lacings of its armor. Within seconds, the fauld and tuille that made up its armored skirt fell loose as did one of its greaves.
Link continued in this fashion as he dodged while the knight attacked, and once its breastplate, pauldrons, and helmet were knocked free, it gave up its heavy sword--throwing it like a small dagger toward Link, who gracefully dodged--it unsheathed its second and much lighter saber. Now, dressed only in its under armor and its vambraces and the few pieces of metal that remained on its feet, the knight moved much swifter, nearly equal to Link's dexterity.
The Hylian, however, was unmatched, and after a few unsuccessful hits, a feint to the left opened up the knight for the final blow, and Link landed it perfectly.
The knight defeated in a crumpled mass of armor and chainmail, Link finally had the window to dissect the room and his options. Just like the grand entryway, this room had also been lit by only a few torches, which were guarded by dark knight statues; these, thankfully, were only decorations, and it made Link wonder if the knights he had fought had just been enchanted vessels. After all, where there were two statues to his left, only one leaned against the right hand wall, making it seem that its missing brother-in-arms had been Link's opponent.
Link made his way up the checkered stair steps that rose to the north. At the top, he was greeted by two more armored statues each holding a spear and flanked by one blue and one red banner. A decorative silver and gold shield glistened between the display, three spears spread out between it and the wall.
Ignoring the ornamentation of the hall, Link saw that the path had split at the top of the stairs. He did not quite know how to explain it, but a feeling itched at his senses and told him to move left. Perhaps it was the presence of the dead souls of the Hylians that were slain when Ganondorf took over the castle. Regardless from where the instinct had spawned, Link turned left and went through the doors he found at the end of the short, blue-carpeted hallway.
Another blue carpet with golden trim blanketed the hallway beyond the doors and curved left with the room to stop before a door at the south. In the dim light raining in from the windows Link realized, with the adornments hanging on the walls, that this was some sort of gallery. There were shield and spear arrangements along with grand paintings that chronicled the construction of the castle; they must have been centuries old, mused Link, especially since the oil bases of which they had been comprised were cracked and flaking. They appeared to have already been retouched with new paints at least once by the discoloration in their texture.
Another piece that drew Link's attention was a beautiful sword that lay within a niche. Its polished blade looked nearly six inches wide and ended in a dull point. Its hilt had been crafted from the finest gold, with white trim and glistening pommel. A red stone had been set into the face of the guard. There was no inscription to indicate the last bearer of the sword, but Link thought perhaps that it had belonged to a great Hylian soldier, a forefather of the kingdom, or even perhaps Princess Zelda's late father, who it was said had passed on just last winter, leaving the princess still yet to have been coronated.
Something overcame his senses in that moment, and again he felt the presence of departed souls. It was as if they were guiding him along, assisting them even in death, like the gods had allowed them one last service to the Hero that would avenge their deaths. Link did not know if it was his heightened wolf senses bleeding over into his human identity again or whether it was his strengthened sense as a Hero that enabled him to hear their whispers and see them in his mind, pointing toward the end of the hall. At this point, Link had come to accept that both his wolfish abilities and the courage that hailed him as Hero were one and the same.
Slapping himself mentally for having dawdled by admiring the artwork of the gallery, Link moved forward and into the next room … and immediately ducked then spun around with sword in hand to face two new dark knight attackers. Except … they were only spear-wielding statues.
Link blew out a relieved breath. Better safe than dead, though, he thought, as he turned back around and sheathed his sword--only for a mace to plow into his right shoulder.
Thankfully, he had equipped Rusl's armor, otherwise his shoulder would have been shattered completely. At least, however, he knew that his armor would not dent from such a powerful blow. As he pushed off from the floor where he had fallen, he silently berated himself for having let his guard down. Seeing that he was now faced with two dark knights, Link grabbed for his sword and shield, the latter already feeling a bit heavier in his grasp from the smart cascading through his upper arm and collar.
They both bore giant maces, each head the size of Link's torso. The hallway was narrow, which would make it difficult to maneuver around the two of them at once. As they approached him, he noticed two doors, one to the left which surely led back into the grand entrance, and one to the right which he presumed would lead outside since windows had been placed along its wall. Thus, he decided that due to the nature of his circumstances, his best choice of action here was to run. The more time he wasted in dealing with Ganondorf's minions, the more exhausted he would become once he reached the demon king.
As the dark knights closed the remaining distance between them, Link leapt through the gap between their bodies and raced to the outer door. Though the warriors were heavy-footed, Link knew that he did not have time to waste. After exiting, he slammed the doors closed, and his head jerked this way and that like an owl's as he searched for an escape route.
He found that this walkway wrapped around the castle's southern side, towers and spires climbing to the stormy heavens all around him. Rain pelted against his vision as he tried to turn about. Directly ahead was a catwalk that dead-ended in a tower. He realized that these were the very walkways where the bulblin archers had been stationed upon his first entrance into the grounds below. It confused him as to why he did not now encounter any of their kind, but he thought perhaps they had retreated after the explosion and battle had died away.
However, though Link had imagined that the chaos he had created among their ranks should have faded by this point, he could still hear the grueling sounds of bloodshed below. Momentarily forgetting his present danger, he stepped up to the stone railing and peered below. What he found there was his worst fear: the Hylians had broken through. They were the ones that had kept the battle in motion. Already, Link could feel his heartstrings pull and tear and lash him like a whip in his eye for each Hylian scream that he heard.
His lips pursed and he cursed the foul knights and bokoblins that had slackened his pace through the castle. Had it not been for those beasts Link thought he might have already ascended to the heights where Ganondorf surely sat waiting.
Just then the dark knights from within the castle burst through the brown, polished doors. Link dove and landed on his side in order to avoid the splintering masses that flew out like a thousand spiked arrows. One such shaft landed in Link's right arm just above his elbow, and he yelped. Luckily, however, the shard was smaller than most of the planks and it had not dug too deeply into his skin.
A flaming arrow then landed just inches before his nose. He felt his eyes cross as he looked at it curiously, wondering where it could have come from at having imbedded into the stone at such an arc. His eyes followed the leaning shaft up to a niche in the tower at the end of the catwalk. The question of where the archers had disappeared to was answered when he spotted two bulblins nocking arrows.
Gritting his teeth, Link removed the piece of the door from his arm and leapt to his feet. On one side the archers dipped the heads of their readied arrows into braziers of flaming oil, and to his other side the dark knights continued their approach. He had been cornered, caught with no avenue with which to spring an escape. Link continued to turn between the two and dodged when the arrows of the bulblins came speeding toward him. They chimed off the breastplates of the knights behind Link.
Link would have no chance at fighting the dark knights now, and even if he managed to aim quickly and precisely with his bow to slay the archers, the knights would still be next to impossible to battle on such terrain. He had to try something, though.
Just as Link was about to chance throwing down his sword and shield to grab for his bow, careened forward from a sudden and hot burst of wind that pounded against his back. He struggled to stay standing, but the groaning vibrations in the stones displaced his balance and he fell flat on his face. A few seconds later the rumbling ceased and he grunted as he pushed himself back onto his feet.
He looked behind him to see that the dark knights had become piles of motionless armor. Confused and still a little dazed it took him a few more seconds to notice the charred edges of some of the stones on the railing. An arrow bouncing off the solaret dressing his foot brought him out of the trance, and he grabbed his sword and shield onto his back once more as he ran for the heap of armor. Taking one of the more slender swords in hand, Link shook it free of the scabbard and threw it like a javelin toward the archers. Though it did not kill either archer, it did not entirely miss its mark. One bulblin scattered so fitfully in the attempt to avoid the sword that it fell over the side of its niche to land in a messy heap below. The second was struck in the arm by its steel, which was enough for Link to accept that it would no longer cause him any grief.
Now, Link had the time to cast a glance over the edge of the catwalk. What he found was an unexpected sight, one he had rather not seen but one that also came as a very welcome surprise.
The Group had just saved his life.
In the midst of the battle below, Ashei and Rusl had fought off--and were continuing to do so--the enemy hordes that surrounded them while Auru balanced a rather curious device which looked like a large cylinder on a balanced thigh as he knelt. Shad, who stood at the old man's back, appeared to have been loading something into the barrel of Auru's device. Link could only surmise from the construction of the weapon and by the charred remains of the dark knights behind him that they had come up with some way of using bombs as projectile weapons--perhaps even at the assistance of Kakarikan bomb maker, Barnes.
Rusl glanced up to Link's position and finally seeing Link's face emerge from the cloud of smoke and rain, the warmness that burst through him banished the harsh cold of the night from his nerves. He dispatched another bokoblin before having the small window to properly give Link his full attention. Seeing the young man then nod down his thanks and possibly an apology for earlier, Rusl smiled and turned his attention back to the battle that surrounded him and his comrades.
As Rusl fought off one attacker after the next, he watched Link out the corner of his eye as the Hero climbed his way up the wraparound walkway to reach the door at the southern side of the castle high above the shattered grand entry doors.
He was beyond their help now.
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The scent of blood assailed Link's nostrils as he stepped into the room beyond the door, closing himself off once more from the sounds of battle. The sight was worse than the memory of his entrance into the Arbiter's Grounds, seeing all those corpses piled in and overflowing. This sight … this made him the sickest he had been in all his life.
He took a few gentle steps into the ruined room, tiles displaced and crushed, walls covered in red like the finger paints of a careless child. The once beautiful banners hung in tattered strips about the room, and the few sconces that lit the room made everything all the more eerie. Scattered pebbles that once belonged to floor and ceiling tiles crunched as Link stepped ever so slowly, trying desperately not to step on the bodies that littered the floor.
Link could not tell if every inch of the floor had been broken and disjointed, for there was hardly any spot left uncovered. Bodies, some headless, some missing fingers or entire appendages, cluttered the entire room. There were even a few who had been impaled by spears which left them suspended from the walls. Link, try as he might, could not pull his eyes from the dead gazes of each Hylian soldier that he passed. A wave of nausea overtook him and he nearly drowned under its tide, but his stomach was so sick from the sight that his mind had gone numb and his body forgot its desire to vomit. He could not blink away the bodies, could not swallow the sickness. It just hung there, like the scent of their cruel murders sticking to the air.
He did not need to look to know that Midna had ascended from his shadow at last. He could feel her beside him and could sense that her emotions reflected his.
Link stopped, and numbly watched as the browning blood of the soldiers pooled around his boots. He closed his eyes.
Midna pulled her sight from the bodies when Link had stopped, and when he had closed his eyes, she understood because she had done the same thing before they had left the Twilight Realm. He was sending a prayer--or perhaps a promise--out to the dead souls of the soldiers, ensuring them that their deaths would be avenged.
Link opened his eyes then and focused on the stairway on the other side of the rectangular room, which led north and up into the inner sanctum of the castle.
"This ends," said Link, and closed the distance between him and the stairs with careful, meaningful strides.
The fire that burned in Link's eyes frightened Midna, but it also emboldened her. She had never seen Link so filled with rage, and she did not know how it was that he was able to contain his anger. It was burning so furiously right at the edge of his control, tiptoeing the border of his restraint. He contained it so masterfully, allowing it to bare its teeth only just enough for it to fuel him, for it to be a tool in the battle to come.
When Link had marched into the castle, his mind set on facing Ganondorf in battle, he had not quite known where he would find him, but everything within Link told him that a tyrant such as this would be found in the throne room basking in the glory of his victory. He was not entirely sure where this throne room would be located, but his gut instinct had beckoned him toward the castle's highest spires. Now, he stood at the base of the spiraling stairs that Link somehow knew would guide him to that very point.
Link hiked up each set of stairs, each progressively becoming more dangerous to cross as the steps became more and more cracked and broken from the battles that had apparently been waged within their halls. There were three different sets of stairs, each leveling out momentarily before continuing their climb, and at each interval, bokoblins or some other guarding enemies sprang into action in the attempt to thwart Link's ascent.
Each died swiftly.
At each interval Link could see the sky darkening more and more with the raging storm and thunder of the night through the windows that rested along the outside wall. He could barely hear the sounds of battle from the bailey as he continued to plunge higher and higher, and at the last staircase, he had to lean on the assistance of his clawshots to shoot him up and over the missing stairs that had fallen away into the grounds below along with sections of the outer wall. Link was only momentarily exposed to the outside once more as his chain bolted him across the gaps, bringing him at last to the uppermost tier of the stairwell.
He rounded the bend to the left to once more come face-to-face with a dark knight. By the look of the door at its back, it stood guard over the final threshold.
Link unsheathed his sword and shield just as the knight took notice of his presence. The knight slouched into its battle stance, holding its giant saber high behind it in preparation of its attack. By now, Link knew how it would move: slow steps, wide swings, and shield arm held in tight. Link did not have time to wait out the knight or implement the wiser defensive strategy. He took straight to an offensive and charged into battle while Midna hung back. She needed to save her restoring energy for their fight against the demon king.
As soon as he came close, the dark knight did exactly as Link had predicted; its right arm began its downward swing and brought its shield in close. Link sped toward where the tip of the blade would make contact, and at the last moment, he skipped to the right and the giant sword impaled the tiles. While the knight was preoccupied in retrieving its blade its shield hand had slackened its defense, and Link lurched forward to cut loose the plates protecting its breast. The knight tried to cast Link off with a thrust of its shield, but Link merely leapt to the left, kicked off its struggling right arm and landed balanced--but only momentarily--on the top rim of its shield.
The knight flicked its shield like a hand swatting at a bee, but the motion only helped to propel Link upward. With a quick twist of his blade, a faint crimson shimmered along the surface of the metal, and Link descended. The Master Sword pierced the knight straight through its layer of under armor across its chest, a tide of scarlet light drowning the life from it and the room.
All at once the knight was nothing more than a mound of armor like its deceased brethren.
Link huffed a breath as he stood there, trying to set his breath back to an even pace. He gritted his teeth behind tightly closed lips and breathed through his nostrils as he reset his sword and shield. It was a moment before his left hand released the grip on the Master Sword; it was almost as though he and the sword hungered for the final strike.
He did not know whether it was the adrenaline from the fight, his anxiety at knowing what lay ahead, or the anger still feeding his nerves, but something had given him the boost he needed to face the large door before him. The crest of the royal family had been stamped onto its surface. He had seen this crest in so many places throughout Hyrule, the body of a mythical bird holding the Triforce between its wings in place of its head. Link stepped up to the door and stretched out a hand as if to touch the symbol, but it was too high.
The faint burning sensation of the Triforce within him returned and resonated within his hand. It was not a powerful feeling, like he knew it could be, but it was all the evidence he needed to know that he was close to his goal. Somehow, he knew that the power within him had felt the presence of its sisters. And without knowing exactly how, he knew that it was this power within him that raised the heavy door, slowly creaking as a rumble thundered through the floor and walls.
The way opened to the dark and stormy sky, even darker and more sinister than Link had remembered it being only minutes ago. Deep reds and blinding yellows that seemed to flash even brighter with every trickle and blast of lightning that splattered the sky were smeared betwixt splotches of deep shadow and black clouds. The rain continued to pour like poison from the menacing sky, splattering against the wet stones of the balcony.
Link stepped out into the cold night air with Midna at his side. She had hung beside him as his constant companion throughout everything. It was hard to believe that they had but a few more steps to tread before it all ended … one way or the other.
They stepped up to the edge of the balcony, and Link took a moment to look out beyond the castle and its town. He faced directly south, and he could see the tops of the trees of Faron…. Home, and yet … not home. The woods of Faron had been where he had been raised by a kind man and a generous people, but it had never truly been his home. Hyrule, its fields, its mountains, its oceans of water and sand … all of it--every inch--had been his home, the land he had always been meant to protect from evil.
He saw the distant mountains of Kakariko Gorge and was able to pick out Death Mountain, the highest and most dangerous peak in all of Eldin province. The one mountainside in all of Hyrule he longed to see once more, to sit on its red rock and watch in utter peace and silence as the sun set on the horizon.
The wind at this height was much more intense and it pounded against him, threatening to blow Link over the railing. To protect himself against its strength, he laid a hand over the railing, but an eerie feeling washed over him then as he looked into the courtyard below. A wave of darkness had overcome him, like he had just touched something evil.
Lightning flashed and woke him from his musings. He turned an eye to Midna, and she turned to him. They shared a short glance, and in that silence they thanked each other. Neither could put to words the feelings that they held for the caring and selflessness of the other, and there was no need. They had been tested against so much together and had risen above and beyond each challenge. They had become stronger. Whatever harsh or cruel feelings they had once had for each other in the beginning, those feelings no longer mattered. They had grown beyond their resentment for each other, learned to respect one another, and even trust one another. They had become true companions.
They turned to the dual staircases which rose up on either side of the balcony entrance, rising and leveling out above the open doorway. At the top of these rain-soaked stairs, was the highest building of the castle. Towers grew from its ceiling, like mountains in the heavens. Link climbed the steps slowly, casting his gaze this way and that through the thickening rain, cautious of any foe that might try to thwart their final advance.
Link reached the top of the stairs and came face-to-face with another, very wide set of steps that led directly into the entrance of the building before him, which he could only assume to be the throne room. At this distance Link could manage to see that the ceiling was vaulted and ended in a dome with some kind of statue near the back. He could make out a figure and the distinct shape of triangles. As he grew closer with each stair step, he could see more and more of the statue that seemed to float at the dome end of the room.
When they reached the middle of the stairs, the throne room began to cloud over with a thick shadowy mist, and two dark knights suddenly emerged from within. Before Link could even contemplate the thought of drawing his sword, Midna snapped her fingers. In that instant the two knights were plucked up by invisible strings and clanged together. The force of the hit knocked each immobile to the stone ground flanking the throne room entrance.
She sent a small grin to Link, and he knew by that look that she had fully recovered from her use of the Fused Shadows. It made him feel much more at ease knowing that she had the full use of her powers again.
And so they stepped up the last of the stairs, reaching a finely woven blue carpet of gold trim. Like so many of the delicate carpets they had walked, this one, too, had been stained an odd violet color from lustful bloodshed. They followed its ominous path into the throne room.
They had escaped the rain but not the cold. Thunder echoed within the room viciously. A row of inner columns bordered them, and as they looked around, they realized that the throne room's side walls had been constructed in a similar way. Rows of pillars held the ceiling in place and there placement gave the illusion of grand, open windows.
Link nearly tripped on a stone just then, and he turned his attention back to the path. A giant stone head, female by the looks of its fine, curved features, lay broken before him. Midna inched forward for a closer look, and they both came to the same realization. The head had belonged to the statue figure they had seen on their first approach to the throne room doors. Gasping, they looked up at the once magnificent statue carvings.
A great circle was held within the grasp of the giant wings of the royal family's crest. Three gracefully sculpted feminine bodies surrounded the circle, though each had been beheaded. On the face of this circle rested a giant carving of three golden triangles, the very symbol of the Triforce. Yet, within the center of these three perfect triangles was a fourth body, small and human.
Princess Zelda.
She hung within the invisible grip of some magical force, eyes closed and body limp. She was still devoid of the life force she had bestowed upon Midna, and without it she was nothing more than a soulless body, barely--if at all--alive.
Link's vision descended, following the sculpture down to see that the base of it rested behind the throne. A single body sat within the red velvet seat, its long back bearing a depression of the mark of the goddesses.
The Hero's voice choked and he took a step forward, but Midna threw out an arm to halt his advance. Link steadied himself behind her and swallowed his impulse to charge, to immediately set Zelda free.
Several strikes of lightning lit the room, casting deep shadows across Link's features and the ominous figure sitting on the throne of Hyrule. The echoing thunder that followed brought an air of menace to the demon king's words. "Welcome to my castle." Link could see the grin on the evil man's face, and his soft but deep chuckle that followed seemed to take everything within the room prisoner.
There he sat, the mastermind behind the plight of Hyrule, and he sat there so … comfortably, so unafraid. His square jaw rested casually on his fisted right hand as it rose propped up on a knee. His eyes were small under such enormous red brows, narrowed in a sneer, but Link could see their yellow color glaring straight at him. A large nose rested above thin, wide lips. A thick and neatly trimmed beard covered the length of his face save for his upper lip; the red curls continued up the sideburns next to his jeweled ears to meet the finely woven hair on his scalp. His blood red hair had been curled tight at the back of his head, pulled into tight spools of hair by the intricate, golden headdress he wore. Delicate chains drooped from several points on his headdress, ending at the center point of his forehead where a golden stone hung.
The appearance of this man was more than Link had expected. He had had every right to picture the demon king as a nasty and diseased man, with tattered clothing and wild hair. This man with his dark skin--tanned no doubt from his years living in the desert--and finely trimmed appearance had the regal look of a king.
But this man was not the king of Hyrule. He was no king at all. This man, who had swept hell and fury across the lands of Hyrule, was no less the demon than Link had heard tell of from the sages and the myth of which Auru had spoken.
"So, you're … Ganondorf." Link heard Midna sneer as she said his name.
Ganondorf returned her leer with a growling laugh. He stood slowly and brought himself to his full height, matched by the throne behind him. He grasped a curious sword in his left hand, still sheathed, but its hilt shined as if by a magic all its own. A red and black cape fell about him, floating behind his darkly armored body. The armor and clothing underneath covered the length of his body, black pants dipping into large, plated boots. His stature was made to look even more menacing by his broad shoulders and the armor that adorned them. He was a large man made a giant by his attire and proper posture. Just by the way he held himself Link knew that this man had been given--or taken--everything that he had ever wanted, and he had been unsuccessful in claiming his desires only once.
The mark of his failure had been tattooed across his torso. A large white light stained his chest where his heart surely rested, and Link realized that this must have been the very place that the sages' sword had once impaled him. Ganondorf did not seem discouraged by the scar, however; he almost seemed to stand with his chest puffed out a bit, as if it were a mark a testament to his power--the power that would deny even death.
Ganondorf smirked with a hum, looking down on Link and Midna with his darkened yellow eyes as if they were mere insects in relation to his power. It was a sneer that dared them to act against him, a look that threw his disgust in their face.
Midna did not let it intimidate her, and Link's hands flexed as he stood beside her. Midna tossed away his insult with one of her own. "I've been dying to meet you," she said, and she gave him a glaring grin that offered the presence of her single fang. She had chosen her words carefully, throwing the irony of her statement at him fully, daring him in return, daring him to attack.
Her remark did nothing to offend him; instead, he took a clanking step forward. "Your people have long amused me, Midna. To defy the gods with such petty magic, only to be cast aside…. How very pathetic." Midna's small fingers fisted at his affront but contained her power. She would not be so easily rattled. Ganondorf saw this and continued, "Pathetic as they were, though, they served me well." He extended his hand and fisted his fingers so tightly that the leather of his gauntlet creaked. "Their anguish was my nourishment." He laughed at Midna, at the weakness of her people. "Their hatred bled across the void and awakened me. I drew deep of it and grew strong again."
Link watched Midna closely, ready to halt her advance as she had done for him.
"Your people had some skill, to be sure … but they lacked true power." Ganondorf shifted and cast his gaze up at the suspended figure of the princess. "The kind of absolute power that only those chosen by the gods may wield." He grinned at Zelda's helplessness and his triumph in claiming her as his trophy.
He turned back to face Midna and Link once more. He held up the back of his right fist so that they could see how the symbol of the Triforce began to glow with a blinding golden light. "He who wields such power would make a suitable king for this world, don't you think?" His fingers grew tauter as he chuckled in a low and sinister rumble.
This made Midna laugh. "Such conceit!" Link watched Ganondorf as he listened. Her words did nothing to even dent his jubilant mood. "But if you are one of the chosen wielders of power, as you claim…" continued Midna, as she gathered her hands over her heart. "I will risk everything to deny you!" Her arms opened wide as if demonstrating the meaning of her words. Her eye tensed on his frame, soaking in that callous grin he continued to offer her.
He merely hummed a laugh in reply. Ganondorf looked from the foul imp to her companion, realizing the full extent as to why she was here. He could see into her, and what he saw entertained him greatly. "Shadow has been moved by light it seems." His grin opened wide when he turned back to Midna. "How … amusing."
Midna's fang made a reappearance, and before she struck out against him, Link unsheathed his sword and grabbed her forearm. She did not take her eyes from Ganondorf, but she relaxed … only partially.
Ganondorf's yellow eyes fell on the young Hylian once again and sized him up. This youth was so very like that little boy all those years ago. A meddlesome little brat. His grin turned to a frown. "You … you are so like your ancestor, boy. He, too, thought that he could keep me from what is rightfully mine."
"Hyrule will never bow to you," Link pronounced, hand tightening round the hilt of the Master Sword.
This made Ganondorf hum another tune of laughter. "Hyrule is but a steppingstone," he boomed. "But the power of the gods … now that is the real prize. That boy thought he could keep me from it, but the gods' power was granted unto me nonetheless. With this kingdom's princess and its pathetic hero at my fingertips, soon I will have the power to grant my one true desire."
Link's knuckles turned white hot, and he could feel Midna's muscles tensing under his grasp. Ganondorf's smile reigned anew; he spread his fingers of his raised fist as speckles of shadow began to radiate upward from his body. The room seemed to darken as he spoke. "Very well. Deny me then." He turned his attention from Link to the princess above him. "Yes, try to deny me … you and your little friend."
The cloud of shadow continued to grow about his body, consuming him in its embrace as the speckles grew denser and denser. He raised his left hand toward the princess of Hyrule, calling forth his power.
Midna's breath caught; she understood what it was he was about to do, and she had to stop him. All at once, she wriggled free of Link's grasp and raced against the rising black droplets. "Midna!" Link reached out his arm, but she was already out of his reach. He watched as she put herself between the demon king and the princess, her arms and legs spread far apart in defense of Zelda.
Ganondorf merely grinned, however, and his body turned to shadow dust in an instant, the fog he had now become rising to Midna and Zelda's level. Link watched as the cloud hung there only momentarily. He could do nothing for Midna, and he felt utterly helpless for the first time.
The speckles flew toward Midna like a volley of darts, and she shrieked a groan as they came at her. On instinct, she closed her eye tight, and Link watched as the droplets passed not through her but around her to assail the body of Zelda in a fit of spasms. Once the dark shards had completely dissipated into the princess's body, Midna slowly opened her eye in a grimace to the silence of the room. Startled that nothing had happened to her, she looked herself over. It was then she sensed it. The darkness lingering behind her. She became all too aware of what Ganondorf had done as she turned to the limp body of Princess Zelda.
Midna flew up to Zelda's face and could feel the lusting darkness within her building and festering. She had to attack before it was too late, before the demon king had time to fully take over the princess's body. She reared back her right hand and lashed out … but stopped midstream. She fought her instincts, fought the knowledge that she had to kill Ganondorf. Doing so now would likely result in Zelda's death as well. But with each moment the king drew stronger. Her fingers flexed with the pain of her dilemma, and within a few more seconds, her hand relaxed. She could not bring herself to harm the person who had saved her life so long ago, the person who had given her a second chance.
She closed her eye, gritting her teeth. Zelda would want her to do it. She would want her to save her kingdom from Ganondorf no matter the cost. Midna extended her hand and rested it on the princess's cheek. She opened her eye to look upon the face, the life, she had to end for there to be peace.
But it was too late. Midna's hesitation would be her death.
Zelda's eyes flashed open like yellow lightning as the thunder boomed and echoed within the room. Midna screamed at the intense pain that then coursed through her body from Zelda. The princess had not lifted a finger, and yet, the power that flowed through Midna stunned her, paralyzed her, and sent her spiraling backward.
Her companion raced after her body as she was flung through the air toward the entrance to the throne room. Midna landed just outside on the cold steps, raining pelting against her tiny, motionless figure. Just as Link came close, an orange wall rose up before him. He skidded to a stop, Midna just out of reach beyond the magic of the translucent barrier. She was not moving, and fear unlike anything else he had ever felt before welled within him. He started to call her name, but a strange laugh cut into his thoughts.
Light steps echoed behind him, and he swiveled about to find Princess Zelda standing a few meters away. Her fair skin had changed from the way he remembered it. Now, her features were paler and with a green tint. A pattern of lines had blackened her skin like some disease. Everything about her seemed darker, more sinister, from her ashen skin, her yellow eyes, to her violet kirtle and white skirt.
"Both of you, faithless fools who would dare to take up arms against the king of light and shadow." This was Princess Zelda's voice, but her voice had deepened and her accent had slightly changed. Link had not wanted to believe it, but … this was no longer his princess. The demon king had possessed her lifeless body and taken her as his own.
"So you choose…" said Zelda, and as she sneered at him, her body lifted from the floor, sword in her right hand. "And so you shall feel my wrath!"
Zelda hovered far above him, eyes filled with such bloodlust that Link's heart tugged at his chest. He could not look on her and see Zelda any longer. He had to see the enemy that now infested her body like a virus, or else he would fail. This was Ganondorf, mastermind behind the cruelty and death that had befallen Hyrule, the master puppeteer who had been pulling Zant's strings from the very beginning.
Link twirled his sword in his grip, feeling its momentum again, and drew his shield out before him. If there was a way to save Zelda, he would find it. If not … he would do what he must. The Zelda he had known would have wanted him to stop Ganondorf any way he could.
Suddenly, he had no more time to think over his options. Ganondorf raised his sword as he floated like a wraith in Zelda's body. An electrified orb of golden light formed at the tip of his sword, and he cast it toward Link before he could react. The energy crashed into Link and sent him to his back immediately. His muscles tensed and convulsed at the pain. Luckily, however, the intense pain did not grapple him for long, and within a few seconds he was able to pull himself back up.
Just as he did so, however, Ganondorf was flying toward him like an arrow racing for its target. Sword extended before him, the demon king came within inches of thrusting his blade through Link's heart. Link had rolled out of the way just in time, but the king had redirected himself with such dexterity and swiftness that Link had little time to react.
Without the time to roll or leap out of the way, Link managed to lift his body up from the floor halfway, leaving him enough room to bring his shield up and ram into Ganondorf. The king had been flying toward him with such speed, that when he hit Link's shield the swinging force of the sudden obstruction sent him spiraling sideways into one of the inner columns.
Ganondorf grunted as he slammed into the stone and shook it off quickly, but this had given Link enough time to recover and balance himself. Link constantly shifted his weight from one foot to the other, prepared at all times to fight or dodge accordingly.
A guttural scream exploded from Ganondorf, its feminine quality seeming to add a layer of anxiety in Link. His fingers flexed and he twirled his sword again. Link had noticed this tick in himself long ago, even from his days of training with Rusl. He had come to realize that this motion was his body's way of filling in the lack of movement as his mind worked to observe or wait out an enemy, making them think twice about advancing for the attack.
But attack Ganondorf did … just not in a way Link had expected. He felt the hairs on his neck stand on end, felt the soles of his feet beginning to burn. All around him, a triangular section of the room lit up with the most precarious light. As he rolled out of the reach of the triangle, its rays ascended into the room like a million thirsty pine needles stretching upward to sap Link of his energy.
The king dispelled the energy and floated about to bring himself close to Link once more, hovering above him like an ominous cloud just waiting to rain death upon whatever should lie beneath it. Ganondorf backed him into the southern wall, the wall which bore the barrier keeping Link from his partner. He still could not tell if she was alive or not.
Once Link had been cornered against the wall, Ganondorf powered his blade again. It shimmered with a thick coat of yellow luminescence before this energy was bottled to the point of his sword. Another sparking orb of golden light emerged and hung on its tip. With a mighty swing, Ganondorf sent it sailing.
Link was prepared for the attack this time, but he still was not sure how to drive the light away. On some instinct he barred the path of the orb with the flat side of his saber, and, to his great astonishment, the magic splattered against his blade and hummed through the length of it as it was scattered into a hundred specks of harmless light.
As he looked down the length of his sword in wonderment, Ganondorf growled. Then he heard a faint voice behind him. "Link!"
It was Midna. He turned, relieved, toward her, but before he could speak, she moaned as she told him, "Those orbs…. You have the power now … from my realm…. You can probably use that light to deflect his magic."
Link knew the light she spoke of, the light from the Sols that had imbued in his blade. Light to cast away shadow.
The Hero turned to Ganondorf again, who had been unable to hear the faint whispers of the wounded Midna. The king continued to toy with him, bouncing around in the air, making the young Hylian give chase and keep his guard up at all times. He raised his sword several times to call upon his magicks, turning the stones hot with light a few more times, and when that continued to fail, Ganondorf lunged forward, propelling his new body through the air like a spear.
When the king failed to even scratch Link with this tactic, he sent his third ball of golden light toward the youth. A mistake he would not have the fortune to take back. As the orb sailed toward Link, he lowered his shield, which gave Ganondorf the false impression that his attack would meet its target. Yet, at the last moment, Link sliced through the air. The steel of his legendary blade batted the sphere backward and it smacked directly into Zelda.
The roaring scream that burst forth from Zelda's lungs then was a combination of her strong feminine character and the evil and deep voice that now possessed her. Her body slowly descended, convulsing from the electrifying magic that flowed through her veins. Her once beautiful hair stood on end, and by the time she landed on the ground with a soft thud, the sparking energy that had surrounded and thundered through her has dissipated. She was left as nothing more than an unmoving heap of flesh.
If Link had killed the princess of Hyrule he did not know if he could live with himself.
But the way remained shut. In their inability to move forward into the castle, the soldiers each grew more and more restless. Many of them began banging the bases of their spears against the cold stones, both in trying to keep their wits and also keep warm in the rain that continued to pang off their armor.
The Group, headed by Rusl, and the general's strongest men were still in the midst of trying to break through the barred archway when a deep horn sounded, almost like the guttural growl of an animal, and the soldiers waited with bated breath as their imaginations took over.
Moments later, the wood of the doors up the incline burst toward the ranks, splintering into small chunks. The largest piece of wood to soar at them was, in fact, not a part of the door but a green giant astride a mighty boar. Its great axe flew through the air as it rode, the corroded metal flying into the heads and torsos of the warriors that had followed.
The general called warning to his men, and all the soldiers save for a few had escaped the reaches of the gateway by the time the speed and sheer force of the ogre's mass broke through Midna's magical hold over it. Its hinges and locks snapped away with a resounding crack and pop. Then the horde descended and the few unlucky Hylians met an unfortunate end at the hooves of the boar, the swing of the giant axe, or the bite of a bokoblin's blade.
Though the swarm filled the square, calling the men to action, defending the town against their sudden onslaught, the way was now open.
The square-jawed general gave a nod to Rusl and the rest of the Group, and along with a few units of his fine Hylian soldiers, the Group marched through the gates and quickly made their way through the debris of the broken doorways. They had to fight their way through, as more and more bokoblins and bulblins continued to pour through into the plaza. The archers atop the battlements covered their men and shot arrows into the invading force to help open a path. Those Hylians who had been ordered to remain behind dealt with the rest.
For the first time in their generation, blood covered the streets of Hyrule.
===============
Eerie torchlight licked against the checkered tiles of the floor and the ceiling tiles imprinted with some kind of animal design. Though Link stepped lightly along the elegantly painted tiles beneath him, his footsteps still rattled with the pangs of the metal soles and the greaves which protected him. A short hall brought him to an open archway that led him into the grand main room. He cast a glance above to see that the domed ceiling came together in a triangular pattern, and the fires which lit the room so dimly were located across three separate balconies.
A stairway to either side of the room led up to the main balcony straight ahead, leaving the other two inaccessible from here. Grand chandeliers dangled from the ceiling, each suspended at a different height as if the chains controlling their position had been broken, and by the look of their dusty glimmer and tarnished metal engravings no one had dared fix them.
He thought that perhaps it was just the lighting and the state of the place, the way the left staircase had completely fallen to rubble and how the right would prove precarious, that left him with a sense of immediate dread. The sounds of the battle that continued to wage outside echoed into the grand entrance hall, and it brought him back to the matter at hand. Wiping away any lingering doubts of journeying deeper into the domain of the demon thief, Link stepped toward the eastern stair steps.
Skittering footsteps greeted him from the shadows cast by the torchlight, and soon a unit of bokoblins descended upon him. He realized they must have been drawn by the sounds of battle outside, and immediately, Link was in motion. His sword danced in and out through those that weaved about him, and in only moments, Link had cast each body to the floor in a bloody heap.
After the small force had been dispatched, he threw his gaze about to search out any lingering assailants. He found none and moved on.
He traversed the damaged staircase carefully, testing his foot before applying his full weight with each step he took. He clung to the wall instead of the railing, trusting the hard, white brick more than the wobbly golden white bar. His last step nearly proved mortally dangerous, for even though he had tested its stability, it wobbled and jostled out of place. As Link fought to evade its collapse, each stone around it also gave way to meet the floor below. Link leapt upward and landed safely on the secure stone of the balcony as each step then fell like dominoes after the last.
As he made his way for the door, which stood on the north side of the room, he stared out toward the shattered door. He watched as the battle raged, as confusion so thick had scared the allies into attacking their own people. He listened as their howls stretched on into the night, electrifying the thunder that pounded the clouds. A small puddle had formed at the entrance to the castle, but the rainwater had been poisoned with the trails of blood.
Link closed himself to all this as he opened and shut the northern door.
Or so he had thought.
As soon as he entered the next room, he had no time to process his surroundings before a great sword came screaming toward his head. He barely had time to realize what was happening, and if not for the faint shine from its blade and the disturbance it had created in the air, Link would not have had enough forewarning to duck and roll out of its path. As he popped up he unsheathed his blade and faced off against a heavily armored dark knight for the first time since his trek into the Temple of Time.
Link thought back to his first encounter with the similar knight and had to reanalyze his battle strategy. That time he had had Rusl with him, and together they had been able to defeat it. Now, he would have to rely solely on his agility and mastery of the sword.
The force with which the dark knight swung his sword would have killed any man even had the blade been blunt, and Link's arm shrieked each time his shield took the full brunt of its attacks. Link thought the Hylian metal would surely break against his opponent's powerful swings, but somehow the shield continued to refute the dark knight's strength.
The dark knight sliced through the air, its sword crashing down toward Link like the giant axe of the ogre. Link managed to roll out of the way just in time, and as the heavy knight extracted its blade from the now broken tiles, Link landed a few choice hits against the lacings of its armor. Within seconds, the fauld and tuille that made up its armored skirt fell loose as did one of its greaves.
Link continued in this fashion as he dodged while the knight attacked, and once its breastplate, pauldrons, and helmet were knocked free, it gave up its heavy sword--throwing it like a small dagger toward Link, who gracefully dodged--it unsheathed its second and much lighter saber. Now, dressed only in its under armor and its vambraces and the few pieces of metal that remained on its feet, the knight moved much swifter, nearly equal to Link's dexterity.
The Hylian, however, was unmatched, and after a few unsuccessful hits, a feint to the left opened up the knight for the final blow, and Link landed it perfectly.
The knight defeated in a crumpled mass of armor and chainmail, Link finally had the window to dissect the room and his options. Just like the grand entryway, this room had also been lit by only a few torches, which were guarded by dark knight statues; these, thankfully, were only decorations, and it made Link wonder if the knights he had fought had just been enchanted vessels. After all, where there were two statues to his left, only one leaned against the right hand wall, making it seem that its missing brother-in-arms had been Link's opponent.
Link made his way up the checkered stair steps that rose to the north. At the top, he was greeted by two more armored statues each holding a spear and flanked by one blue and one red banner. A decorative silver and gold shield glistened between the display, three spears spread out between it and the wall.
Ignoring the ornamentation of the hall, Link saw that the path had split at the top of the stairs. He did not quite know how to explain it, but a feeling itched at his senses and told him to move left. Perhaps it was the presence of the dead souls of the Hylians that were slain when Ganondorf took over the castle. Regardless from where the instinct had spawned, Link turned left and went through the doors he found at the end of the short, blue-carpeted hallway.
Another blue carpet with golden trim blanketed the hallway beyond the doors and curved left with the room to stop before a door at the south. In the dim light raining in from the windows Link realized, with the adornments hanging on the walls, that this was some sort of gallery. There were shield and spear arrangements along with grand paintings that chronicled the construction of the castle; they must have been centuries old, mused Link, especially since the oil bases of which they had been comprised were cracked and flaking. They appeared to have already been retouched with new paints at least once by the discoloration in their texture.
Another piece that drew Link's attention was a beautiful sword that lay within a niche. Its polished blade looked nearly six inches wide and ended in a dull point. Its hilt had been crafted from the finest gold, with white trim and glistening pommel. A red stone had been set into the face of the guard. There was no inscription to indicate the last bearer of the sword, but Link thought perhaps that it had belonged to a great Hylian soldier, a forefather of the kingdom, or even perhaps Princess Zelda's late father, who it was said had passed on just last winter, leaving the princess still yet to have been coronated.
Something overcame his senses in that moment, and again he felt the presence of departed souls. It was as if they were guiding him along, assisting them even in death, like the gods had allowed them one last service to the Hero that would avenge their deaths. Link did not know if it was his heightened wolf senses bleeding over into his human identity again or whether it was his strengthened sense as a Hero that enabled him to hear their whispers and see them in his mind, pointing toward the end of the hall. At this point, Link had come to accept that both his wolfish abilities and the courage that hailed him as Hero were one and the same.
Slapping himself mentally for having dawdled by admiring the artwork of the gallery, Link moved forward and into the next room … and immediately ducked then spun around with sword in hand to face two new dark knight attackers. Except … they were only spear-wielding statues.
Link blew out a relieved breath. Better safe than dead, though, he thought, as he turned back around and sheathed his sword--only for a mace to plow into his right shoulder.
Thankfully, he had equipped Rusl's armor, otherwise his shoulder would have been shattered completely. At least, however, he knew that his armor would not dent from such a powerful blow. As he pushed off from the floor where he had fallen, he silently berated himself for having let his guard down. Seeing that he was now faced with two dark knights, Link grabbed for his sword and shield, the latter already feeling a bit heavier in his grasp from the smart cascading through his upper arm and collar.
They both bore giant maces, each head the size of Link's torso. The hallway was narrow, which would make it difficult to maneuver around the two of them at once. As they approached him, he noticed two doors, one to the left which surely led back into the grand entrance, and one to the right which he presumed would lead outside since windows had been placed along its wall. Thus, he decided that due to the nature of his circumstances, his best choice of action here was to run. The more time he wasted in dealing with Ganondorf's minions, the more exhausted he would become once he reached the demon king.
As the dark knights closed the remaining distance between them, Link leapt through the gap between their bodies and raced to the outer door. Though the warriors were heavy-footed, Link knew that he did not have time to waste. After exiting, he slammed the doors closed, and his head jerked this way and that like an owl's as he searched for an escape route.
He found that this walkway wrapped around the castle's southern side, towers and spires climbing to the stormy heavens all around him. Rain pelted against his vision as he tried to turn about. Directly ahead was a catwalk that dead-ended in a tower. He realized that these were the very walkways where the bulblin archers had been stationed upon his first entrance into the grounds below. It confused him as to why he did not now encounter any of their kind, but he thought perhaps they had retreated after the explosion and battle had died away.
However, though Link had imagined that the chaos he had created among their ranks should have faded by this point, he could still hear the grueling sounds of bloodshed below. Momentarily forgetting his present danger, he stepped up to the stone railing and peered below. What he found there was his worst fear: the Hylians had broken through. They were the ones that had kept the battle in motion. Already, Link could feel his heartstrings pull and tear and lash him like a whip in his eye for each Hylian scream that he heard.
His lips pursed and he cursed the foul knights and bokoblins that had slackened his pace through the castle. Had it not been for those beasts Link thought he might have already ascended to the heights where Ganondorf surely sat waiting.
Just then the dark knights from within the castle burst through the brown, polished doors. Link dove and landed on his side in order to avoid the splintering masses that flew out like a thousand spiked arrows. One such shaft landed in Link's right arm just above his elbow, and he yelped. Luckily, however, the shard was smaller than most of the planks and it had not dug too deeply into his skin.
A flaming arrow then landed just inches before his nose. He felt his eyes cross as he looked at it curiously, wondering where it could have come from at having imbedded into the stone at such an arc. His eyes followed the leaning shaft up to a niche in the tower at the end of the catwalk. The question of where the archers had disappeared to was answered when he spotted two bulblins nocking arrows.
Gritting his teeth, Link removed the piece of the door from his arm and leapt to his feet. On one side the archers dipped the heads of their readied arrows into braziers of flaming oil, and to his other side the dark knights continued their approach. He had been cornered, caught with no avenue with which to spring an escape. Link continued to turn between the two and dodged when the arrows of the bulblins came speeding toward him. They chimed off the breastplates of the knights behind Link.
Link would have no chance at fighting the dark knights now, and even if he managed to aim quickly and precisely with his bow to slay the archers, the knights would still be next to impossible to battle on such terrain. He had to try something, though.
Just as Link was about to chance throwing down his sword and shield to grab for his bow, careened forward from a sudden and hot burst of wind that pounded against his back. He struggled to stay standing, but the groaning vibrations in the stones displaced his balance and he fell flat on his face. A few seconds later the rumbling ceased and he grunted as he pushed himself back onto his feet.
He looked behind him to see that the dark knights had become piles of motionless armor. Confused and still a little dazed it took him a few more seconds to notice the charred edges of some of the stones on the railing. An arrow bouncing off the solaret dressing his foot brought him out of the trance, and he grabbed his sword and shield onto his back once more as he ran for the heap of armor. Taking one of the more slender swords in hand, Link shook it free of the scabbard and threw it like a javelin toward the archers. Though it did not kill either archer, it did not entirely miss its mark. One bulblin scattered so fitfully in the attempt to avoid the sword that it fell over the side of its niche to land in a messy heap below. The second was struck in the arm by its steel, which was enough for Link to accept that it would no longer cause him any grief.
Now, Link had the time to cast a glance over the edge of the catwalk. What he found was an unexpected sight, one he had rather not seen but one that also came as a very welcome surprise.
The Group had just saved his life.
In the midst of the battle below, Ashei and Rusl had fought off--and were continuing to do so--the enemy hordes that surrounded them while Auru balanced a rather curious device which looked like a large cylinder on a balanced thigh as he knelt. Shad, who stood at the old man's back, appeared to have been loading something into the barrel of Auru's device. Link could only surmise from the construction of the weapon and by the charred remains of the dark knights behind him that they had come up with some way of using bombs as projectile weapons--perhaps even at the assistance of Kakarikan bomb maker, Barnes.
Rusl glanced up to Link's position and finally seeing Link's face emerge from the cloud of smoke and rain, the warmness that burst through him banished the harsh cold of the night from his nerves. He dispatched another bokoblin before having the small window to properly give Link his full attention. Seeing the young man then nod down his thanks and possibly an apology for earlier, Rusl smiled and turned his attention back to the battle that surrounded him and his comrades.
As Rusl fought off one attacker after the next, he watched Link out the corner of his eye as the Hero climbed his way up the wraparound walkway to reach the door at the southern side of the castle high above the shattered grand entry doors.
He was beyond their help now.
===============
The scent of blood assailed Link's nostrils as he stepped into the room beyond the door, closing himself off once more from the sounds of battle. The sight was worse than the memory of his entrance into the Arbiter's Grounds, seeing all those corpses piled in and overflowing. This sight … this made him the sickest he had been in all his life.
He took a few gentle steps into the ruined room, tiles displaced and crushed, walls covered in red like the finger paints of a careless child. The once beautiful banners hung in tattered strips about the room, and the few sconces that lit the room made everything all the more eerie. Scattered pebbles that once belonged to floor and ceiling tiles crunched as Link stepped ever so slowly, trying desperately not to step on the bodies that littered the floor.
Link could not tell if every inch of the floor had been broken and disjointed, for there was hardly any spot left uncovered. Bodies, some headless, some missing fingers or entire appendages, cluttered the entire room. There were even a few who had been impaled by spears which left them suspended from the walls. Link, try as he might, could not pull his eyes from the dead gazes of each Hylian soldier that he passed. A wave of nausea overtook him and he nearly drowned under its tide, but his stomach was so sick from the sight that his mind had gone numb and his body forgot its desire to vomit. He could not blink away the bodies, could not swallow the sickness. It just hung there, like the scent of their cruel murders sticking to the air.
He did not need to look to know that Midna had ascended from his shadow at last. He could feel her beside him and could sense that her emotions reflected his.
Link stopped, and numbly watched as the browning blood of the soldiers pooled around his boots. He closed his eyes.
Midna pulled her sight from the bodies when Link had stopped, and when he had closed his eyes, she understood because she had done the same thing before they had left the Twilight Realm. He was sending a prayer--or perhaps a promise--out to the dead souls of the soldiers, ensuring them that their deaths would be avenged.
Link opened his eyes then and focused on the stairway on the other side of the rectangular room, which led north and up into the inner sanctum of the castle.
"This ends," said Link, and closed the distance between him and the stairs with careful, meaningful strides.
The fire that burned in Link's eyes frightened Midna, but it also emboldened her. She had never seen Link so filled with rage, and she did not know how it was that he was able to contain his anger. It was burning so furiously right at the edge of his control, tiptoeing the border of his restraint. He contained it so masterfully, allowing it to bare its teeth only just enough for it to fuel him, for it to be a tool in the battle to come.
When Link had marched into the castle, his mind set on facing Ganondorf in battle, he had not quite known where he would find him, but everything within Link told him that a tyrant such as this would be found in the throne room basking in the glory of his victory. He was not entirely sure where this throne room would be located, but his gut instinct had beckoned him toward the castle's highest spires. Now, he stood at the base of the spiraling stairs that Link somehow knew would guide him to that very point.
Link hiked up each set of stairs, each progressively becoming more dangerous to cross as the steps became more and more cracked and broken from the battles that had apparently been waged within their halls. There were three different sets of stairs, each leveling out momentarily before continuing their climb, and at each interval, bokoblins or some other guarding enemies sprang into action in the attempt to thwart Link's ascent.
Each died swiftly.
At each interval Link could see the sky darkening more and more with the raging storm and thunder of the night through the windows that rested along the outside wall. He could barely hear the sounds of battle from the bailey as he continued to plunge higher and higher, and at the last staircase, he had to lean on the assistance of his clawshots to shoot him up and over the missing stairs that had fallen away into the grounds below along with sections of the outer wall. Link was only momentarily exposed to the outside once more as his chain bolted him across the gaps, bringing him at last to the uppermost tier of the stairwell.
He rounded the bend to the left to once more come face-to-face with a dark knight. By the look of the door at its back, it stood guard over the final threshold.
Link unsheathed his sword and shield just as the knight took notice of his presence. The knight slouched into its battle stance, holding its giant saber high behind it in preparation of its attack. By now, Link knew how it would move: slow steps, wide swings, and shield arm held in tight. Link did not have time to wait out the knight or implement the wiser defensive strategy. He took straight to an offensive and charged into battle while Midna hung back. She needed to save her restoring energy for their fight against the demon king.
As soon as he came close, the dark knight did exactly as Link had predicted; its right arm began its downward swing and brought its shield in close. Link sped toward where the tip of the blade would make contact, and at the last moment, he skipped to the right and the giant sword impaled the tiles. While the knight was preoccupied in retrieving its blade its shield hand had slackened its defense, and Link lurched forward to cut loose the plates protecting its breast. The knight tried to cast Link off with a thrust of its shield, but Link merely leapt to the left, kicked off its struggling right arm and landed balanced--but only momentarily--on the top rim of its shield.
The knight flicked its shield like a hand swatting at a bee, but the motion only helped to propel Link upward. With a quick twist of his blade, a faint crimson shimmered along the surface of the metal, and Link descended. The Master Sword pierced the knight straight through its layer of under armor across its chest, a tide of scarlet light drowning the life from it and the room.
All at once the knight was nothing more than a mound of armor like its deceased brethren.
Link huffed a breath as he stood there, trying to set his breath back to an even pace. He gritted his teeth behind tightly closed lips and breathed through his nostrils as he reset his sword and shield. It was a moment before his left hand released the grip on the Master Sword; it was almost as though he and the sword hungered for the final strike.
He did not know whether it was the adrenaline from the fight, his anxiety at knowing what lay ahead, or the anger still feeding his nerves, but something had given him the boost he needed to face the large door before him. The crest of the royal family had been stamped onto its surface. He had seen this crest in so many places throughout Hyrule, the body of a mythical bird holding the Triforce between its wings in place of its head. Link stepped up to the door and stretched out a hand as if to touch the symbol, but it was too high.
The faint burning sensation of the Triforce within him returned and resonated within his hand. It was not a powerful feeling, like he knew it could be, but it was all the evidence he needed to know that he was close to his goal. Somehow, he knew that the power within him had felt the presence of its sisters. And without knowing exactly how, he knew that it was this power within him that raised the heavy door, slowly creaking as a rumble thundered through the floor and walls.
The way opened to the dark and stormy sky, even darker and more sinister than Link had remembered it being only minutes ago. Deep reds and blinding yellows that seemed to flash even brighter with every trickle and blast of lightning that splattered the sky were smeared betwixt splotches of deep shadow and black clouds. The rain continued to pour like poison from the menacing sky, splattering against the wet stones of the balcony.
Link stepped out into the cold night air with Midna at his side. She had hung beside him as his constant companion throughout everything. It was hard to believe that they had but a few more steps to tread before it all ended … one way or the other.
They stepped up to the edge of the balcony, and Link took a moment to look out beyond the castle and its town. He faced directly south, and he could see the tops of the trees of Faron…. Home, and yet … not home. The woods of Faron had been where he had been raised by a kind man and a generous people, but it had never truly been his home. Hyrule, its fields, its mountains, its oceans of water and sand … all of it--every inch--had been his home, the land he had always been meant to protect from evil.
He saw the distant mountains of Kakariko Gorge and was able to pick out Death Mountain, the highest and most dangerous peak in all of Eldin province. The one mountainside in all of Hyrule he longed to see once more, to sit on its red rock and watch in utter peace and silence as the sun set on the horizon.
The wind at this height was much more intense and it pounded against him, threatening to blow Link over the railing. To protect himself against its strength, he laid a hand over the railing, but an eerie feeling washed over him then as he looked into the courtyard below. A wave of darkness had overcome him, like he had just touched something evil.
Lightning flashed and woke him from his musings. He turned an eye to Midna, and she turned to him. They shared a short glance, and in that silence they thanked each other. Neither could put to words the feelings that they held for the caring and selflessness of the other, and there was no need. They had been tested against so much together and had risen above and beyond each challenge. They had become stronger. Whatever harsh or cruel feelings they had once had for each other in the beginning, those feelings no longer mattered. They had grown beyond their resentment for each other, learned to respect one another, and even trust one another. They had become true companions.
They turned to the dual staircases which rose up on either side of the balcony entrance, rising and leveling out above the open doorway. At the top of these rain-soaked stairs, was the highest building of the castle. Towers grew from its ceiling, like mountains in the heavens. Link climbed the steps slowly, casting his gaze this way and that through the thickening rain, cautious of any foe that might try to thwart their final advance.
Link reached the top of the stairs and came face-to-face with another, very wide set of steps that led directly into the entrance of the building before him, which he could only assume to be the throne room. At this distance Link could manage to see that the ceiling was vaulted and ended in a dome with some kind of statue near the back. He could make out a figure and the distinct shape of triangles. As he grew closer with each stair step, he could see more and more of the statue that seemed to float at the dome end of the room.
When they reached the middle of the stairs, the throne room began to cloud over with a thick shadowy mist, and two dark knights suddenly emerged from within. Before Link could even contemplate the thought of drawing his sword, Midna snapped her fingers. In that instant the two knights were plucked up by invisible strings and clanged together. The force of the hit knocked each immobile to the stone ground flanking the throne room entrance.
She sent a small grin to Link, and he knew by that look that she had fully recovered from her use of the Fused Shadows. It made him feel much more at ease knowing that she had the full use of her powers again.
And so they stepped up the last of the stairs, reaching a finely woven blue carpet of gold trim. Like so many of the delicate carpets they had walked, this one, too, had been stained an odd violet color from lustful bloodshed. They followed its ominous path into the throne room.
They had escaped the rain but not the cold. Thunder echoed within the room viciously. A row of inner columns bordered them, and as they looked around, they realized that the throne room's side walls had been constructed in a similar way. Rows of pillars held the ceiling in place and there placement gave the illusion of grand, open windows.
Link nearly tripped on a stone just then, and he turned his attention back to the path. A giant stone head, female by the looks of its fine, curved features, lay broken before him. Midna inched forward for a closer look, and they both came to the same realization. The head had belonged to the statue figure they had seen on their first approach to the throne room doors. Gasping, they looked up at the once magnificent statue carvings.
A great circle was held within the grasp of the giant wings of the royal family's crest. Three gracefully sculpted feminine bodies surrounded the circle, though each had been beheaded. On the face of this circle rested a giant carving of three golden triangles, the very symbol of the Triforce. Yet, within the center of these three perfect triangles was a fourth body, small and human.
Princess Zelda.
She hung within the invisible grip of some magical force, eyes closed and body limp. She was still devoid of the life force she had bestowed upon Midna, and without it she was nothing more than a soulless body, barely--if at all--alive.
Link's vision descended, following the sculpture down to see that the base of it rested behind the throne. A single body sat within the red velvet seat, its long back bearing a depression of the mark of the goddesses.
The Hero's voice choked and he took a step forward, but Midna threw out an arm to halt his advance. Link steadied himself behind her and swallowed his impulse to charge, to immediately set Zelda free.
Several strikes of lightning lit the room, casting deep shadows across Link's features and the ominous figure sitting on the throne of Hyrule. The echoing thunder that followed brought an air of menace to the demon king's words. "Welcome to my castle." Link could see the grin on the evil man's face, and his soft but deep chuckle that followed seemed to take everything within the room prisoner.
There he sat, the mastermind behind the plight of Hyrule, and he sat there so … comfortably, so unafraid. His square jaw rested casually on his fisted right hand as it rose propped up on a knee. His eyes were small under such enormous red brows, narrowed in a sneer, but Link could see their yellow color glaring straight at him. A large nose rested above thin, wide lips. A thick and neatly trimmed beard covered the length of his face save for his upper lip; the red curls continued up the sideburns next to his jeweled ears to meet the finely woven hair on his scalp. His blood red hair had been curled tight at the back of his head, pulled into tight spools of hair by the intricate, golden headdress he wore. Delicate chains drooped from several points on his headdress, ending at the center point of his forehead where a golden stone hung.
The appearance of this man was more than Link had expected. He had had every right to picture the demon king as a nasty and diseased man, with tattered clothing and wild hair. This man with his dark skin--tanned no doubt from his years living in the desert--and finely trimmed appearance had the regal look of a king.
But this man was not the king of Hyrule. He was no king at all. This man, who had swept hell and fury across the lands of Hyrule, was no less the demon than Link had heard tell of from the sages and the myth of which Auru had spoken.
"So, you're … Ganondorf." Link heard Midna sneer as she said his name.
Ganondorf returned her leer with a growling laugh. He stood slowly and brought himself to his full height, matched by the throne behind him. He grasped a curious sword in his left hand, still sheathed, but its hilt shined as if by a magic all its own. A red and black cape fell about him, floating behind his darkly armored body. The armor and clothing underneath covered the length of his body, black pants dipping into large, plated boots. His stature was made to look even more menacing by his broad shoulders and the armor that adorned them. He was a large man made a giant by his attire and proper posture. Just by the way he held himself Link knew that this man had been given--or taken--everything that he had ever wanted, and he had been unsuccessful in claiming his desires only once.
The mark of his failure had been tattooed across his torso. A large white light stained his chest where his heart surely rested, and Link realized that this must have been the very place that the sages' sword had once impaled him. Ganondorf did not seem discouraged by the scar, however; he almost seemed to stand with his chest puffed out a bit, as if it were a mark a testament to his power--the power that would deny even death.
Ganondorf smirked with a hum, looking down on Link and Midna with his darkened yellow eyes as if they were mere insects in relation to his power. It was a sneer that dared them to act against him, a look that threw his disgust in their face.
Midna did not let it intimidate her, and Link's hands flexed as he stood beside her. Midna tossed away his insult with one of her own. "I've been dying to meet you," she said, and she gave him a glaring grin that offered the presence of her single fang. She had chosen her words carefully, throwing the irony of her statement at him fully, daring him in return, daring him to attack.
Her remark did nothing to offend him; instead, he took a clanking step forward. "Your people have long amused me, Midna. To defy the gods with such petty magic, only to be cast aside…. How very pathetic." Midna's small fingers fisted at his affront but contained her power. She would not be so easily rattled. Ganondorf saw this and continued, "Pathetic as they were, though, they served me well." He extended his hand and fisted his fingers so tightly that the leather of his gauntlet creaked. "Their anguish was my nourishment." He laughed at Midna, at the weakness of her people. "Their hatred bled across the void and awakened me. I drew deep of it and grew strong again."
Link watched Midna closely, ready to halt her advance as she had done for him.
"Your people had some skill, to be sure … but they lacked true power." Ganondorf shifted and cast his gaze up at the suspended figure of the princess. "The kind of absolute power that only those chosen by the gods may wield." He grinned at Zelda's helplessness and his triumph in claiming her as his trophy.
He turned back to face Midna and Link once more. He held up the back of his right fist so that they could see how the symbol of the Triforce began to glow with a blinding golden light. "He who wields such power would make a suitable king for this world, don't you think?" His fingers grew tauter as he chuckled in a low and sinister rumble.
This made Midna laugh. "Such conceit!" Link watched Ganondorf as he listened. Her words did nothing to even dent his jubilant mood. "But if you are one of the chosen wielders of power, as you claim…" continued Midna, as she gathered her hands over her heart. "I will risk everything to deny you!" Her arms opened wide as if demonstrating the meaning of her words. Her eye tensed on his frame, soaking in that callous grin he continued to offer her.
He merely hummed a laugh in reply. Ganondorf looked from the foul imp to her companion, realizing the full extent as to why she was here. He could see into her, and what he saw entertained him greatly. "Shadow has been moved by light it seems." His grin opened wide when he turned back to Midna. "How … amusing."
Midna's fang made a reappearance, and before she struck out against him, Link unsheathed his sword and grabbed her forearm. She did not take her eyes from Ganondorf, but she relaxed … only partially.
Ganondorf's yellow eyes fell on the young Hylian once again and sized him up. This youth was so very like that little boy all those years ago. A meddlesome little brat. His grin turned to a frown. "You … you are so like your ancestor, boy. He, too, thought that he could keep me from what is rightfully mine."
"Hyrule will never bow to you," Link pronounced, hand tightening round the hilt of the Master Sword.
This made Ganondorf hum another tune of laughter. "Hyrule is but a steppingstone," he boomed. "But the power of the gods … now that is the real prize. That boy thought he could keep me from it, but the gods' power was granted unto me nonetheless. With this kingdom's princess and its pathetic hero at my fingertips, soon I will have the power to grant my one true desire."
Link's knuckles turned white hot, and he could feel Midna's muscles tensing under his grasp. Ganondorf's smile reigned anew; he spread his fingers of his raised fist as speckles of shadow began to radiate upward from his body. The room seemed to darken as he spoke. "Very well. Deny me then." He turned his attention from Link to the princess above him. "Yes, try to deny me … you and your little friend."
The cloud of shadow continued to grow about his body, consuming him in its embrace as the speckles grew denser and denser. He raised his left hand toward the princess of Hyrule, calling forth his power.
Midna's breath caught; she understood what it was he was about to do, and she had to stop him. All at once, she wriggled free of Link's grasp and raced against the rising black droplets. "Midna!" Link reached out his arm, but she was already out of his reach. He watched as she put herself between the demon king and the princess, her arms and legs spread far apart in defense of Zelda.
Ganondorf merely grinned, however, and his body turned to shadow dust in an instant, the fog he had now become rising to Midna and Zelda's level. Link watched as the cloud hung there only momentarily. He could do nothing for Midna, and he felt utterly helpless for the first time.
The speckles flew toward Midna like a volley of darts, and she shrieked a groan as they came at her. On instinct, she closed her eye tight, and Link watched as the droplets passed not through her but around her to assail the body of Zelda in a fit of spasms. Once the dark shards had completely dissipated into the princess's body, Midna slowly opened her eye in a grimace to the silence of the room. Startled that nothing had happened to her, she looked herself over. It was then she sensed it. The darkness lingering behind her. She became all too aware of what Ganondorf had done as she turned to the limp body of Princess Zelda.
Midna flew up to Zelda's face and could feel the lusting darkness within her building and festering. She had to attack before it was too late, before the demon king had time to fully take over the princess's body. She reared back her right hand and lashed out … but stopped midstream. She fought her instincts, fought the knowledge that she had to kill Ganondorf. Doing so now would likely result in Zelda's death as well. But with each moment the king drew stronger. Her fingers flexed with the pain of her dilemma, and within a few more seconds, her hand relaxed. She could not bring herself to harm the person who had saved her life so long ago, the person who had given her a second chance.
She closed her eye, gritting her teeth. Zelda would want her to do it. She would want her to save her kingdom from Ganondorf no matter the cost. Midna extended her hand and rested it on the princess's cheek. She opened her eye to look upon the face, the life, she had to end for there to be peace.
But it was too late. Midna's hesitation would be her death.
Zelda's eyes flashed open like yellow lightning as the thunder boomed and echoed within the room. Midna screamed at the intense pain that then coursed through her body from Zelda. The princess had not lifted a finger, and yet, the power that flowed through Midna stunned her, paralyzed her, and sent her spiraling backward.
Her companion raced after her body as she was flung through the air toward the entrance to the throne room. Midna landed just outside on the cold steps, raining pelting against her tiny, motionless figure. Just as Link came close, an orange wall rose up before him. He skidded to a stop, Midna just out of reach beyond the magic of the translucent barrier. She was not moving, and fear unlike anything else he had ever felt before welled within him. He started to call her name, but a strange laugh cut into his thoughts.
Light steps echoed behind him, and he swiveled about to find Princess Zelda standing a few meters away. Her fair skin had changed from the way he remembered it. Now, her features were paler and with a green tint. A pattern of lines had blackened her skin like some disease. Everything about her seemed darker, more sinister, from her ashen skin, her yellow eyes, to her violet kirtle and white skirt.
"Both of you, faithless fools who would dare to take up arms against the king of light and shadow." This was Princess Zelda's voice, but her voice had deepened and her accent had slightly changed. Link had not wanted to believe it, but … this was no longer his princess. The demon king had possessed her lifeless body and taken her as his own.
"So you choose…" said Zelda, and as she sneered at him, her body lifted from the floor, sword in her right hand. "And so you shall feel my wrath!"
Zelda hovered far above him, eyes filled with such bloodlust that Link's heart tugged at his chest. He could not look on her and see Zelda any longer. He had to see the enemy that now infested her body like a virus, or else he would fail. This was Ganondorf, mastermind behind the cruelty and death that had befallen Hyrule, the master puppeteer who had been pulling Zant's strings from the very beginning.
Link twirled his sword in his grip, feeling its momentum again, and drew his shield out before him. If there was a way to save Zelda, he would find it. If not … he would do what he must. The Zelda he had known would have wanted him to stop Ganondorf any way he could.
Suddenly, he had no more time to think over his options. Ganondorf raised his sword as he floated like a wraith in Zelda's body. An electrified orb of golden light formed at the tip of his sword, and he cast it toward Link before he could react. The energy crashed into Link and sent him to his back immediately. His muscles tensed and convulsed at the pain. Luckily, however, the intense pain did not grapple him for long, and within a few seconds he was able to pull himself back up.
Just as he did so, however, Ganondorf was flying toward him like an arrow racing for its target. Sword extended before him, the demon king came within inches of thrusting his blade through Link's heart. Link had rolled out of the way just in time, but the king had redirected himself with such dexterity and swiftness that Link had little time to react.
Without the time to roll or leap out of the way, Link managed to lift his body up from the floor halfway, leaving him enough room to bring his shield up and ram into Ganondorf. The king had been flying toward him with such speed, that when he hit Link's shield the swinging force of the sudden obstruction sent him spiraling sideways into one of the inner columns.
Ganondorf grunted as he slammed into the stone and shook it off quickly, but this had given Link enough time to recover and balance himself. Link constantly shifted his weight from one foot to the other, prepared at all times to fight or dodge accordingly.
A guttural scream exploded from Ganondorf, its feminine quality seeming to add a layer of anxiety in Link. His fingers flexed and he twirled his sword again. Link had noticed this tick in himself long ago, even from his days of training with Rusl. He had come to realize that this motion was his body's way of filling in the lack of movement as his mind worked to observe or wait out an enemy, making them think twice about advancing for the attack.
But attack Ganondorf did … just not in a way Link had expected. He felt the hairs on his neck stand on end, felt the soles of his feet beginning to burn. All around him, a triangular section of the room lit up with the most precarious light. As he rolled out of the reach of the triangle, its rays ascended into the room like a million thirsty pine needles stretching upward to sap Link of his energy.
The king dispelled the energy and floated about to bring himself close to Link once more, hovering above him like an ominous cloud just waiting to rain death upon whatever should lie beneath it. Ganondorf backed him into the southern wall, the wall which bore the barrier keeping Link from his partner. He still could not tell if she was alive or not.
Once Link had been cornered against the wall, Ganondorf powered his blade again. It shimmered with a thick coat of yellow luminescence before this energy was bottled to the point of his sword. Another sparking orb of golden light emerged and hung on its tip. With a mighty swing, Ganondorf sent it sailing.
Link was prepared for the attack this time, but he still was not sure how to drive the light away. On some instinct he barred the path of the orb with the flat side of his saber, and, to his great astonishment, the magic splattered against his blade and hummed through the length of it as it was scattered into a hundred specks of harmless light.
As he looked down the length of his sword in wonderment, Ganondorf growled. Then he heard a faint voice behind him. "Link!"
It was Midna. He turned, relieved, toward her, but before he could speak, she moaned as she told him, "Those orbs…. You have the power now … from my realm…. You can probably use that light to deflect his magic."
Link knew the light she spoke of, the light from the Sols that had imbued in his blade. Light to cast away shadow.
The Hero turned to Ganondorf again, who had been unable to hear the faint whispers of the wounded Midna. The king continued to toy with him, bouncing around in the air, making the young Hylian give chase and keep his guard up at all times. He raised his sword several times to call upon his magicks, turning the stones hot with light a few more times, and when that continued to fail, Ganondorf lunged forward, propelling his new body through the air like a spear.
When the king failed to even scratch Link with this tactic, he sent his third ball of golden light toward the youth. A mistake he would not have the fortune to take back. As the orb sailed toward Link, he lowered his shield, which gave Ganondorf the false impression that his attack would meet its target. Yet, at the last moment, Link sliced through the air. The steel of his legendary blade batted the sphere backward and it smacked directly into Zelda.
The roaring scream that burst forth from Zelda's lungs then was a combination of her strong feminine character and the evil and deep voice that now possessed her. Her body slowly descended, convulsing from the electrifying magic that flowed through her veins. Her once beautiful hair stood on end, and by the time she landed on the ground with a soft thud, the sparking energy that had surrounded and thundered through her has dissipated. She was left as nothing more than an unmoving heap of flesh.
If Link had killed the princess of Hyrule he did not know if he could live with himself.
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REVIEWS FOR THIS CHAPTER:
~whitefang1997 Mar 17, 2012 Oh s--t it's so wierd to imagine this stuff then go play the game which means going back to the silent Link. xD sick job though!
~silverheartlugia2000 Mar 20, 2012 AWSOMENESS!! GO BAZOOKA POWER!! that move on the last darknuts was one of those OMG THAT WAS SO COOL I WISH I COULD DO THAT!! moments
~nasanerd09 Mar 20, 2012 I do like how you did this chapter, although it did feel somewhat rushed. You did a good job conveying emotion, especially in the conversation with Ganondorf, but I feel that in describing less of the battles (not as in you didn't describe as many battles, just the ones you did were less descriptive) you rushed the chapter. You are already very, very good at conveying emotions, thoughts, feelings, and the like, so if you put a little more in the way of thought and non battle description into the chapter, a little less in the number of battles but not in the detail of battles, I think you would achieve the effect you want without making it sound rushed. I'm happy that you included the ghosts, I think the way you described it (the second time Link makes use of their direction) was very nice, and a good way of not resorting to turning him into a wolf great job on that. Also Midna's thoughts as she struggled with Ganondorf's possesion of Zelda was perfect, I would not change a thing! Keep it up, I can't wait for the rest of the battle and the aftermath!
~silverheartlugia2000 Mar 20, 2012 AWSOMENESS!! GO BAZOOKA POWER!! that move on the last darknuts was one of those OMG THAT WAS SO COOL I WISH I COULD DO THAT!! moments
~nasanerd09 Mar 20, 2012 I do like how you did this chapter, although it did feel somewhat rushed. You did a good job conveying emotion, especially in the conversation with Ganondorf, but I feel that in describing less of the battles (not as in you didn't describe as many battles, just the ones you did were less descriptive) you rushed the chapter. You are already very, very good at conveying emotions, thoughts, feelings, and the like, so if you put a little more in the way of thought and non battle description into the chapter, a little less in the number of battles but not in the detail of battles, I think you would achieve the effect you want without making it sound rushed. I'm happy that you included the ghosts, I think the way you described it (the second time Link makes use of their direction) was very nice, and a good way of not resorting to turning him into a wolf great job on that. Also Midna's thoughts as she struggled with Ganondorf's possesion of Zelda was perfect, I would not change a thing! Keep it up, I can't wait for the rest of the battle and the aftermath!