The Legend of Zelda: Evil's Wake (Version 4)

[Zeldaeinstein]

The Legend of Zelda: Evil’s Wake
Prologue: Legends
       In a land forgotten to time, a land built upon all things legendary and mythical, forever peace had found home. Hyrule, the greatest kingdom ever to have existed had suffered toils for hundreds of years, the plague of evil in hearts so vile continually assaulted all that opposed them. A hero would rise to each overhaul or attempt and strike down the enemy with forces supernatural and difficult to comprehend. In one final bout with the King of Evil, Ganondorf of the Gerudo, this Hero, Link, faded away from the hearts of the people by his own accord. Hyrule fell into its longest peace since the days of its conception.
    During the mists of time however, some legends disappeared from the minds of almost all men and from all records.  Before the time of Hylian rule over the realms, there existed a kingdom just as great if not greater, the kingdom of Crandall. A civilization led by a loyal family for centuries gone by, it too had legends, as would any other land, and it too had its wars with the forces of black hearts. In its beginning the land was covered with the blood of the innocent, drawn by a demon filled with great power, Doopliss. Struck down by the Goddesses of Creation, he vowed his return, and so brought Crandall’s history its true justice.
    Doopliss returned after the days of Creation just as he had said. To murder the current king, to employ terror in the citizens that was his goal; using six personal objects to his disposal he was almost successful. The night of the Autumn Festival he invaded the castle, spilling blood of any who stood in his way from the throne room, the demon slaughtered the attendees, the guards, the Queen in hopes of finishing the night with the king’s head dashed against the walls of Crandall Castle.
   The demon did not meet success. Again his thwarting was brought to him by the Goddesses of Creation who descended within the torch lit compound and attacked Doopliss head on. Defeated by the pure power of the Three, his weapons were dispatched to random locations across the realm and in a strange moment of mercy, Doopliss was sealed within the Wilds of the wood, robbed of his body, a walking spirit. In the hectic battling Doopliss cried in fury about his promise to finish the kingdom at the birth of the next heir to go by the name of the king at the time…Gustaf.
   By some divine prank Doopliss was not left defenceless in those magical woods, his dagger had nestled its home there, the very one that would ensure his escape. Centuries went by and those events were crafted into legends, and after many more years they were just about forgotten. But all the while Doopliss was harvesting souls to empower him, harvesting them from those foolish to ignore the myths of the wood he was trapped in, the Demon Woods, bestowed the name by its contents. To even the royal family he was forgotten and at the birth of one Gustaf Crandall Hyrule II, a salvo of lighting met his cries in the infirmary. Doopliss kept his promise in the eighteen years that followed, a small boy filled with hate and powered by a dare had entered his forest, and he was the last ounce of power the demon needed to break his seal.
    All during the while that Gustaf grew he was being manipulated by dark forces; to the extent that he knew not why he felt the things he had been feeling. Doopliss was preparing him and no one could see the signs, not even the heir. Gustaf was a boy of eighteen, supporting two brothers and to his despair; on his father’s deathbed he was denied the throne, his shady workings demoting him. His brother Daphnes was to become the next king. In the days that followed that faithful meeting, Harkinian regained partial health and someone who had disappeared into the Demon Woods three months earlier suddenly turned up in the bordering Barron Village. All he could say before taking his own life was “Soul Taker”. Doopliss escaped.
   Descending upon the soul he had crafted into his bidding, Crandall would know exactly what his revenge and hatred was capable of. What happened afterwards? No one of any land seems to know, this legend was removed from all relics, but in the minds of one the answer thrives, but in reality, there are three. This is a tale that occurs far from the lands of Crandall and in the future that it no longer had effect in, or so it seemed to follow that. The events of Doopliss misted in time would have an affect so great that no one could ever fully grasp what they meant, this tale is built on the legend of Evil’s Wake, built on the legend of black hearts.   
Chapter One: Beginning
     It was the last few days of the spring season, the kiss of warmth the sun drew down to the kingdom of Hyrule was welcomed after the biting winter winds finally died off to the north. In the far land of Calatia a festival had been held to introduce their new monarch to the Line of Kings in all the populated territories. Named quite simply by its season, the festival welcomed and naturally obligated royalty from all afar to attend to the coronation, it was a splendid night of celebration, and Daphnes hadn’t had that much entertainment for years gone by.
    The trip to and returning were always the parts he hated, long nights and foul weather impeded any hopes of resting, he couldn’t wait to make peace with his bed at the castle. Hyrule was somewhere out in the darkness he now found himself in. The king rested within his large royal carriage listening to the hard pounding rain from the outside, the wonderful spring storm had been covering the landscape for days, and he wouldn’t be surprised if they wound up finding a river that hadn’t been there the week before. For years he had used this carriage and the way things were going, especially with the replacement of all of the wheels twice, it seemed that this would be its last trip out in the vistas of the world.
     Thunder cracked far off, the cutting lightning silent through billowing clouds. A serene peace had been brought by this torrential downpour, as funny as it felt and sounded to him, it felt absolutely true. Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule, king of the most powerful country in known existence, imagine what they would say if he ended up having to walk if the carriage broke once more. It was jostling viciously, the horses were certainly putting their distress to the driver, maybe he should have told James to stop and join him, to get out of the rain.
    Daphnes could hear the slick mud against the wheels and the rattling of probably one of his cases on the other side of the coach, how would he ever sleep? The shadows of the night plastered his windows and the flickering lamplight died away as the vehicle began to slow and the rain began to pound hard against the wood. Leaning forward he slid open the small viewer to speak with James, but all he could see was a heavy blackness; one of the side doors was pulled open in a frantic manner.
   “Please accept my full apology, Sire.” James pulled himself into the carriage drenched to the skin in his royal blue robes; they clung to him like heavy weights. “But the horses are exhausted, I’m exhausted. I know you wanted to make it to the kingdom by daylight, but we can’t do it, not in this storm of all blasted things.” It was amusing to see the concern in his face.
   “That is of no concern, James.” Daphnes smiled wryly and scratched his head feverishly. “The wait will only make the outcome all the better. Here, rest in here for the night, out of the rain. There aren’t any stars out to gaze at now.” He winked and watched his vassal look about the carriage; he was going to deny the hospitality, what a shame. The thunder echoed loudly, pressing itself down on the wood, and that was decided. Snuffing out the last flame in the oil lamps, Daphnes slowly lowered himself into the cot, listening to the heavy drops, lulling him almost into sleep.
     A knock on the carriage door woke him immediately, the wind was deafening outside. Who could be out there? Daphnes strained his eyes through the darkness, tightening his body against the wall and his woollen garments, the windows were streaked with moisture. Lightning flashed maliciously outside, illuminating the cart and the window, a hooded, faceless figure was gazing into the carriage, a scabbed hand resting against the glass. The thunder beat a drum and a second bolt of light wiped away the evidence…
    Looking over with wide eyes to see that James was still in his proper place, he met the lump that was the driver, knowing he was asleep. A trick of his sight, that’s all it could have been. The foreboding feeling he had felt back in Calatia, the one that seemed like eyes were boring into him at the feast, it had returned. Daphnes did not sleep the rest of the night.
***
    Thomas sat half asleep within the small guard tower, why was he even here anyway? No one in the right state of mind would even think of coming to the castle at this hour; control the entrances and exits of the royal grounds, yeah, right. Up in the loft above his competent partner William was fast asleep, his heavy breathing echoing down into the main chamber ensuring that he wouldn’t get any sleep this night. The storm was certainly one that hadn’t come in decades; the rain was relentless, smashing with contempt against the stone parapet.
    Leaning against the back of the wall in his chair, the knight entertained himself by throwing daggers at a small flier on the wall. Apparently a new attraction was in the capital city, a new game house of all things, there had to be half a dozen already, and everyone knew they were scams. It reminded him of the time he had made it so far in the treasure chest game, how he hated it when that last chest in the last room turned up to be empty…Normally he wasn’t much of a gambler, but he hadn’t much to lose other than a few meals, he had no family to worry over, this was his only true calling in the run of a day. Thomas looked about the room illuminated by a sickly little fire.
   “This is definitely a lot better than what I could have…isn’t it…Who am I kidding?” The knight knocked the empty candleholders off the small table and struck his last dagger into the worn wood. Out of the corner of his eye he watched, through the single grainy window, a small figure approaching the gatehouse. “How lovely, an idiot to take care of. What a night to be guarding the damn gate.” Pushing himself with considerable effort to actually make a move, Thomas threw a tattered cloak over his shoulders and drew his sword.
   The figure was cloaked in a heavy black travelling robe; a good choice if one felt like having their body crushed under the weight, what an idiot. Rain pelted his exposed face when he threw open the plank door, realizing it hadn’t been locked only afterwards.
   “What do you think you’re doing?” Calling out at the top of his lungs it was left up to luck that the man, or woman, he had to give that credit too, had heard him. The cloaked figure stopped its slow trek and tilted its head up to see him, for some reason a chill ran down his spine.
   “Well now, what do we have here?” It was a man, the droll, deep and wheezing voice gave that away, and he had come to an abrupt halt, had he really thought no one was going to be out here? “I was not aware that your superiors around here would be so foul hearted and cruel, though I am impressed.” He chuckled. Nevertheless, I have brought your king, a gift. Please make haste and open this gate, it is of utmost importance that I deliver this to him, I run on a deadline just like the rest of the foul land.” The man slowly relinquished a tiny flask from within his billowing cloak, holding it delicately in his hidden hands.
       “I can’t let you do that.” Thomas slowly approached the figure and noticed the rain was getting cold; he pulled his own garments tighter around himself. “Firstly I have to see that before it goes anywhere past here and second, it’s the middle of the night, the castle is asleep. You chose a bad day to think about getting in.”
    “Oh.” The man certainly sounded genuinely disappointed. “Ah well, can’t you show me some sympathy my dear fellow, I have travelled quite far in attempts to get here, I need to leave immediately afterwards. You know how it is for a merchant.” Reluctantly the cloaked man passed the small vial into Thomas’s waiting hands, it was a sight to see, definitely a gift for royalty. The flask was made of stained glass and covered in several precious stones.
   “Pretty.” Slowly looking back up to his visitor, he pulled out the diamond stopper and smelled the foulest thing he ever had come across, beating out even the damn sewers. “What is this…some kind of potion?” The hood lowered in compliance. “Tell me, what is your name?”
   “I have no name my dear friend. I am just a mere merchant, I came across this most spectacular bottle and I thought that as a gift to the king, I would be granted something for my troubles. You see, that potion inside is extremely rare at that, it will cure any ailment with just the tiniest sip.” He grabbed Thomas and spun him around to face the castle, sweeping his sleeve across the streams of rain. “Imagine, knight, to give such a gift to a king, imagine the reward! This potion will no doubt remove that limp the poor fellow has, if he gets a cold all he has to do is take a drink and it will bother him no more.” The very touch of the visitor continued to give Thomas a sick feeling in the pit of his gut, it was unnerving the way this man spoke, it couldn’t be true. “Imagine, Thomas, what gift will a man receive for providing a potion that could prolong life for as long as you wish, a cure for death?”
    “If it’s true, then you won’t mind if I try to ‘cure’ this headache of mine, would you?” He knew he said it a tad too sarcastic, testy, but that’s what he had to do, it was probably poisonous… “You can disagree if you want, but by royal decree I am forced to try it no matter your answer.” Sure this was probably suicide, but his duty was his duty, his duty was his life. His life was nothing when he really thought about it. Thomas waited a few seconds to be denied, and when the fellow didn’t speak, he raised the bottle into the rain and swallowed in anticipation for the potion. “I had so better get a raise for this…” Without any more seconds of hesitation, he downed part of the concoction; it slithered down his throat rather than flow… His headache suddenly disappeared.
    “Interesting, I guess when you come in the middle of a storm, in the middle of the night, dressed like that.” The knight smiled and placed the stopper back into the neck of the bottle, his head began to pound once more… “Almost anyone would guess that…” White streaks blurred his vision without warning, blinding him almost yet everything in the background was black as midnight. A high-pitched buzzing filled his ears. “You bastard, you were…” The muscles in his legs cramped painfully, Thomas let go of the bottle and heard it smash against the cobblestones, the man finally decided to speak.
    “Apparently intelligence is a virtue that Hyrule still hasn’t learned to muster up in its people… You ignorant fool, that’s all I can spare to call you.”
   Thomas collapsed to his knees and clasped his beating head, the pain was overwhelming him, he felt like he was on fire, like he was covered in biting flames, he cried out for help but his voice was nothing but a mess of guttural noises. What was happening to him, he was losing all grips on his conscious, something was pressing him into the darkness he knew to be death.
   “It pains me to have done this to you, but you persisted…you were here, Thomas.” The voice was cutting into him like a knife, he was angry, the bastard was actually angry at him for breaking his poison flask. An instinct was befalling him; Thomas no longer felt in control, he gazed up with no focus to see pale gnarled fingers filling his sight. Darkness grabbed him and that was all he seemed to know.
***
      Calvin was outback in the storage room when the cheers of the people began to erupt out in the streets, he placed the barrel of bombs back down and made way to get out and welcome him back. The shopkeeper moved delicately around his Bazaar cramped quarters, his girth didn’t make it any easier for him. The rain had finally let up from the night before and a blazing sun had done a perfect job of draining the land in such a short time, sweat was beading on his bald head, his beard heavy with it already.
    Moving out into the warm sunlight, Calvin watched the royal red and blue carriage spin its way into the central square, Daphnes had been gone for over two weeks, and they would celebrate tonight for his return. There was James out front striking the two work horses with the typical blue leather reins that everyone desired to have in their possession, the tailor had really outdone himself with those, such impressive work. Normally Daphnes would have him stop, and he’d walk about shaking hands with the people and walk to the castle instead…the carriage sped by without a hint of slowing down, at least until the castle road entrance from town.
   “Close the gates by the King’s request.” James was heard calling out to the half conscious Benjamin of the town guard. The coach sped back up, leaving dust in its wake; the iron wrought entrance was immediately shut behind them. Perhaps Daphnes was sick, but it wasn’t necessarily too suspicious, it wasn’t the very first time that he had ever ignored the people… Calvin scratched his brow and sighed, looking at the clock just inside his dusty, run-down store; he immediately gathered himself and locked the door behind him.
     Daphnes looked all about, the previous night still spooked him, the sleepiness tugged at his eyelids, but he wasn’t sure if he could even keep a slumber going. He thought of the people for a moment, would this look as strange as he felt it would be? Of course not, it wasn’t the first time he had ever ‘snubbed’ his town. They wound around the few turns of the trail, the way it was being conveyed made it feel like there was a useless urgency, and James hadn’t seen what he had the night before…
   “What’s the matter, James?” The king felt the carriage come to a slow stop as they finished the last turn to the gatehouse. Pulling open the viewer to see yet another empty driver’s seat, the door didn’t open immediately this time. “What imbeciles.” Daphnes rolled his eyes when he saw the still closed castle gates leading up to the far away white bricked escarpment. “If I’ve told them once, I’ve told them a thousand times!” He slid himself over to the left door to get out, it was so damn annoying to come and be forced to wait, and he was enthralled to sleep somewhere protected, to see his daughter after these long weeks. The back of his neck tingled.
   “Sorry for the delay, my Liege.” Opening the door to aid the ailing king from stepping down from the vehicle, James looked tattered and worn, the smile on his face contrasting his shabby condition. “Sir William had a long night; he’s going to open the gate in a few moments. There he is now.” Up over the tower the silhouette of the night traced itself to the rotating chains to lift the huge defence unit up, he certainly seemed groggy. Out of the corner of his eye Daphnes could have sworn he had seen another shadow flicker across the rising sun, he really needed to rest it seemed. “Dear Gods!” The king immediately snapped his attention back to the viewer and cried out in surprise.
    A second silhouette came leaping through the brambles of the trees, straight for the knight pulling up the gate, he didn’t see it! The chain locked in a screeching position and the way through was open.
  “William, look out!” The driver shuffled forward and drew his blade only to watch as the foe grabbed the other knight, lifted him into the air and sent him tumbling over the side of the gate with malicious force. It looked down at the carriage and dove down toward it. James came bounding up the edge and upon the top of the coach, catching the creature in the chest, it reeled back in pain. The horses were spooked and started to gallop in fright away from the monstrous thing. Surprised by the tug, the driver stumbled and was knocked dozens of feet behind by the force of the attacker upon the carriage. A guttural laugh filled the air; Daphnes recoiled in fear back against the second slide-away door as a hideous sight filled the other open one.
    A man no taller than he hung limply against the blurred background of the cliff edges, his eyes completely white and flashing to red with every blink. The skin that he wore was a grey-yellow colour, like that of rotten flesh, he was dressed in mail at closer observations and Daphnes suddenly recognized the mutilated face.
   “Thomas, what has happened to you?!” The king barked fearfully as the creature clomped his way across the lush carpet, a foul smelling yellow liquid dripping off of his hands, off of his entire body. It stuck in clumps against the bottom of the carriage and burned holes throughout the floor, showing the speeding path beneath.
    “The king…he is here, do you see him?” Thomas whispered these words in behind his small moaning; his robes were being stretched by his body… “Yes, look at him cower. Will we take him?” The carriage skidded and smashed against the right cliff edge, buckling the wall in against Daphnes’ back. “It is our purpose, is it not?” Lifting his grey arm, a small slit opened up inside, exposing a steady stream of the strange liquid that continually singed the wooden carriage. “The Infection, it is yours Nohansen. Share in it; you will desire it now better than later.” Within his hand the opening twisted and opened further, there was no where to go to get away from him, Daphnes was out of options. “Infectious!” A small eye shaped orb filled the gap in his palm just as the royal vehicle slammed again into the narrow sides of the path, Thomas lost his balance and the foul liquid splattered against the area around the king.
    Daphnes ripped a bronze candleholder from the wall and jammed it into the knight’s chest, green-violet blood issued forth across the carpet. The attacker stumbled back against the door. His girth must have been substantial for the side splintered forcefully outward, sending him down against the dirt. A flailing hand reached up from the gold rails on the outside and clawed into the thick wooden bottom, long dirty nails. Thomas attempted to heave himself back up.
   “He fights back, how wonderful that is.” The knight ripped his way back into the carriage, the trees and the rock a mere dashing shade behind him, the warm spring air blasted across the inside of the cab and ruffled the king’s robes. “A spirit that is strong and defiant, He spoke true of how the king would act.” Thomas was about to regain his footing when the black leather of a travelling case bashed across his face, sending him wheeling into one of the cots, the horses were speeding up. “You are not helping the situation at hand!” Trying to keep his balance on already weak legs it appeared like the enemy was going to leap at him, he wouldn’t need to.
    For the third time against the trail edge the coach made little of the distance behind Daphnes, the weakened door buckled for a split second and fell away in timbers, into the flowing dust. Catching the golden support bar the king thought about trying to slow the horses down, he could never climb over to the driver’s seat, no matter how dangerous a situation he was facing.
    “Stop being such a fool.” Again he spoke in that horrid voice, did he enjoy hearing himself talk so much? “You will only make this that much more complicated and more entertaining to tell.” He lunged again, apparently the intelligence factor wasn’t one amplified in this case. Daphnes rolled over into the cots and kicked the knight in the back, watching in hopes to see him falter in his footing; he never. Thomas laughed and belted Daphnes in the stomach with his foot, knocking the wind out of him and making his eyes water, blurring his focus. Without a chance for redemption, the king watched that same hideous hand open up across from his face. “We are the Infection, you are the king. You are to be with us, which is all we know and all we will attempt. Welcome.”
       The knight stopped and titled his head upwards, sniffing the air and looked about with those blind eyes. Growling maliciously, Thomas turned to the rising sun, showing his back once more to the flailing Daphnes on the floor below, watching in disgust as the bronze holder was being forced out by a self-healing factor. Only to receive another shock as a flint arrow head burst through the thick skin from the other side. Crying out in pain the creature stumbled backwards, tripping over the fallen trunk and cursing in inaudible words. Snapping his eyes to Daphnes, he yanked the shaft from his chest and messed up his face in anger.
    “You will come after.” Thomas rocketed up through the thick ceiling of the rattling carriage sending several chunks of wood flying in every direction, the mid-day sun shone through in small streams. They danced with the moving carriage, the horses bellowed in more fright, perhaps they’d drop dead before…
   “No…” Daphnes struggled back to his feet and looked up in earnest to see the castle fast approaching, the gate half up in preparation for his arrival. They would never get it down in time, even if they did… But that was not the only thing that interested him, another shadow was flitting up the right side of the cliffs, taking away their distance of the carriage at unprecedented speed. Blotting the sun in darkness, the character was heavy laden; landing hard against the top of the coach, the sound of metal scrapping a scabbard filled the noisy air. A new knight had just accepted the mission.
     “You are a brave one.” Thomas glared into his new foe’s blue eyes, watching the wavering blade in his hand. Another idiotic fool to deal with, yet, he seemed different, a disposition he could not recognize. “Show your true courage.” He removed his own blade from his side; it had jostled there useless until now.
   “Gladly.” The man leapt forward with his swing, taken off guard by the strength behind the defence. Pulling back he too noticed the frailty of time remaining, gritting his teeth he kicked in the infected man’s stomach and smashed his shield against the back of his head. “That was fun, don’t you think?” Thomas looked frantically upward to the sight of shining steel, it cut through his vision, he watched his own blood pulse out of him, a gruff hand grabbed his mail shirt. Heaving him back across the carriage, the man threw him out and over the side of the trail; the air was filled with the poison and his blood. Roaring water claimed him and he saw no more of the king.
      “Grab my hand!” A gauntleted arm stretched down to the king, he tried to see who was his saviour but made out only the shadow of his face. Without further thought he grabbed the waiting hand and was drawn up and out to the top of the carriage. “Hold onto my arm, Sire.” The man garbed in green squeezed tightly on a small pale magenta crystal, a thin membrane surrounded the two of them. As the coach reached the drawbridge the reins snapped and the horses ran off into the twisting waters of Zora’s River, they weren’t quite as lucky.
     They bounded off from the top of the wooden vehicle and landed with Daphnes by the stream edge, watched the cab hit the rise and tilt off to the right. The castle doors had just been opened to a wide-eyed man who immediately closed them after running off into the corridors. In a splitting crash the carriage was ripped apart against the ramparts of the castle, spokes and timbers flew off across the landscape, drowning in the rushing water. Daphnes stood up gasping in pain from his back but all he had was a grand smile stretching his face; his eyes were twinkling in delight.
    “You have no idea how much I’m glad to see you, Link.”
***
        “Are you certain?” He looked keenly over at his comrade. The man smiled and rubbed his chin, sighing and gazing at the sunrise. “I mean, what you speak of, it can’t be real can it?” Jon still watched his Father for a reply, hoping to hear that gruff voice finish his story. “A Black Sun, that can’t be true. Why haven’t I heard of this before?”
     “It is a part of a legend you see, my dear boy.” Rauru blinked tears from his eyes, why had telling him hurt him so much? “You hear them all the time in the world you live today. Would you believe there was a time where no legends existed, where they were made by the people of the day? Those days died off quickly, people were renowned for actions, the world never used to be this peaceful, not at all.”
    “The peace thrives now doesn’t it?” The teenage boy brought his legs up to his chest, feeling the warmth of the sun washing over him, it was beautiful. “Was there really a time where things weren’t like this, I can’t even imagine war.”
   “War is what made this kingdom, Jon. War is really the only thing to settle in peace of all souls, even if they cover the land in bloodshed and hatred, it is the combination of which that brings us happiness. I personally believe that a land is no land without its soil at one time covered in fire and the liquid of life drained into it. Hyrule was never as peaceful as it is now.” Stretching he turned back to the church, its windows glittering in spring dew. “This land is built on legends; it had none to rely on in the days of Imprisonment, or even the days before that, the time from Creation to Creation. There are no stories left of that place, all the plaques in all the kingdoms have been dashed with rage, but there was something before Hyrule.”
       “You know, Father, I hope Hyrule stays this way forever. No more wars, no more fighting, wouldn’t that be the greatest thing of all?” Neither said anything afterwards for a long moment, all they did was stare at the rays spreading like fire in the sky, perhaps it was better this way. “I think it would be…” Jon smirked his awkward smirk, those blue eyes of his twinkled like sapphires, it always looked like he was curious, and Rauru loved it.
    “If I told you it would, would you believe me?” The priest pushed himself up and off the grassy plain, the hills rolled down for miles, ending off by the tiny village capital. Small wisps of smoke billowed lazily from the rooftops, everything but nature was silent today. He looked down to wide eyes, to fascinate him was his only entertainment these days, age was drawing through him and out of him. How long would he have to live, it seemed like maybe the next minute and all his pain would dissipate.
       “Of course I would, Father.” Sitting there and drawing back to the quiet village and the grand castle overlooking it with empty windows. “‘In a Realm Beyond Sight, Where the Sky shines Gold not blue, the Triforce’s Might makes Mortal Wishes come true.’”
   “Evil’s Wake.” Rauru closed his eyes as a small breeze glistened across the fields. “There is more than the promise of a wish in those four archaic lines. People never see it, but of course they don’t, for it means nothing even to me. Why that original tablet does that to certain words, capitalizes only specific ones, what is it trying to say, no one really knows. Some people say it is talking about Evil’s Wake, the letters, they coincide with other legends, older legends that not even I have heard of. The legend of a Black Sun is one of them, all I know is that it replies to the Golden of such that rose after Creation, an omen of apocalypse.”
   “Some also like to say that that is not the entire poem, that when used together they will grant passage into the Land without Legends.” Swiftly he climbed the worn steps, better he stopped talking soon; he had to keep things from the boy. “I think you should return home before your parents wake up, Jon. We can talk more about these original legends.”
      “If I ever found the Golden Land and touched the Triforce, I would wish for peace to remain here in Hyrule.” The boy wasn’t getting the message, but his statement got through to him, it was lovely to hear. Slowly the priest approached him to wish him well with his goal, the smile on Rauru’s face started to fade, all energy was leaving his body, and he collapsed. All he heard was the cries of his visitor for him to get up. He realized he was yelling gnarled hands were clawing through a cold darkness, tearing at him, chanting inaudible phrases, ritualistic, satanic words that stung his very flesh.
   The Sage awoke with a start within the chamber. Faint lights floated among him as tiny dots, some dashing with those of his sleep, his memories. Jon’s taunt face faded from the rim of consciousness, he forget him again, all those days, all those years, the poor child killed in the fighting that had sprouted just a decade after that morning. The chamber was empty, like it had been for years, he felt strangely cold. He hadn’t had this dream in so long, it was fresh, why did it happen?
  “’In a realm beyond sight, where the sky shines gold not blue, the Triforce’s might makes mortal wishes come true. But throughout fighting and quarrels, there is but one name that is victim to fate, he who brings evil, he who begins the descent of Black Suns. In Darkness he reigns and peace shall cease. Evil’s Wake will be his calling.’” Rauru gazed out of the frameless windows of the temple. It was true, why were legends so damned accurate in this age?
   “You know, Father, I hope Hyrule stays this way forever. No more wars, no more fighting, wouldn’t that be the greatest thing of all?” Jon’s words hung with him still, even if his face had all but disappeared from memory. Back in those days he wished he would have told him the answer, that the answer was no, no it wouldn’t stay that way forever.

[Zeldaeinstein]

Chapter 2: Valence   
    Trudging through the rain, Benjamin was assigned the duty of tracking down the assassin from the week prior. It had been since that very day that they had been called upon for surveillance all along the river edges of Zora’s river, it was exhausting work. He, being the ranking officer in the group he had been placed in, hadn’t much time to rest and the likelihood of doing so was far from coming. Spring rains plagued them all through the journey in the wild overgrown lands that passed the Castle and the borders of Hyrule. With him was his younger brother who had also taken the Guild as his life, Colton, he was shorter and a bit shady, but one of the most reliable of them all.
    Upon hearing about what had happened, he almost hadn’t believed it. No names were released but they were told to look for a ‘ragged man’ likely dressed in knight’s clothing, how simple a job. Running about the wilds of the north was nothing anyone would ever want, but it was demanded by the king and that was where they found themselves, short of supplies and short of men. Apparently this foe was devious; they would test that theory if they ever found him.
    “The rainfall has cut a slide through the mud, Benjamin.” One of the shorter of the brigade hobbled up through the branches, his blue cloak draping down through the slick forest floor. “We can’t cross the river with the way it is now, too much forsaken rain over the last few weeks.”
   “Are you afraid to get a little dirty?” The knight smiled under his hood and received one in return, they would merely wade through the disgusting water, they hadn’t an axe to try and devise a bridge, and this was their only option.  Calling out to those milling among the cedars, the guard captain led the way through the small cut out gorge, almost falling into the swirling sea of mud all the while, the others reluctantly followed. When he extricated himself from the gash, Ben almost felt like saying that he probably was afraid of getting his best armour packed with mud, but it would wash off eventually.
      Tracing back for a moment to smell the air heavy-laden with the scent of pine, he attended to his crew, pulling them out of the mess. Their cries of their conditions were undermined by the rushing of the river off to side. Benjamin covered his face as the rain came spitting down harder against his face, perhaps he’d drown from breathing the air, what a wonderful thought. Acquiring better footing off to the far end of the coast line, he stopped for a moment. The knight fixed his belt that had been snagging against his side, wiping off the mud from his small dagger; it fell through its clip against the fallen leaves.
   “So now where are going?” Colton had trudged up against the steep hill partly out of breath, holding his side where he had fallen across a hidden root in the ground.
  “We’re going to separate, one group will stick around the river edge and move down through, while one will press through the woods, when the shadows of Labrynna fill the horizon, we’ll stop.” The knight replaced his weapon and unlatched his crossbow from his back, pulling back a fresh arrow and nodding to those to come with him against the river. “When you see Ambi’s Palace it is decreed you halt and turn back, come back for us or call with the horn, if he has crossed the borders to the other kingdom, it shall be their problem.” Everyone stood around letting the drops bead against their woollen cloaks, a variety of weapons were shared among them. The wind picked up and keened among the bodies waiting to be dismissed, the captain mulled over how to put out his exact commands. Pine wafted up his nostrils, clearing his mind as he came to an abrupt epiphany.
   Pivoting around he looked about with frantic eyes, he saw nothing. Over beyond his men he saw nothing but the woods continue forward for miles, he wasn’t imagining it, something was watching them. Keeping a steady finger around the trigger he made the silent signal to come along with him with wary focus, the land suddenly become quiet to his ears. A flash in the woods, he fired into the dusk and ran into the woods, a mistake on his part. Dashing down through the branches was a humanoid figure; it belted Sir Samuel of Kakariko in the stomach; without any moment of hesitation or longing to see the damage, the creature leapt away into the rain, the knights chasing it down.
      “Chase him! Run, get the nets ready!” Benjamin ducked under the drooping branches and kept losing his footing across the fallen leaves. Adrenaline pumped through him as he watched the shadow flit and leap from the trees in a craze, coming to a sliding halt he lifted his crossbow, his comrades running past him. The optical aid came upon the man’s back, three pulls of the trigger, all missing. “Damn it!” Pushing forward and easily catching his helpers, that thing was faster than he would have imagined. “Fill the air with weapons fire.” But not everyone needed to do anything, none of them had to.
  Crashing through the trees without relent, the source of the sour smell of the trees, was an uprooted pine trunk. Leaping to the sides or crouching in attempts to not get hit, not everyone was lucky to go unscathed. The tree sliced across three of the guards, sending them crashing into the wet soil and one became pinned beneath the trunk.
   “One of you, help him, the rest come with me!” The knight barely caught sight of the shadow again, he couldn’t let it get away, not to disgrace the king of seeing and dispatching his wannabe assassin. In those moments before, were those red eyes he had seen, boring into him with an unknown hatred, why hadn’t they been told what they were really looking for? Not far off into the distance Benjamin could see the end of the territory of Hyrule, a faint shadow among the trees marked Ambi’s royal gardens; he wouldn’t stop if it had to go within the other kingdom, not now. Reloading his bow, the five men among him travelled alarming in unison, this might work.
     Lining the creature within his scope, right as it went sailing in the air one last time, Sir Benjamin fired. Watching the silhouette of blood escape all along the trees, hearing the roar of pain and the crash through the branches, he was successful. Lightning illuminated the sky as they came upon the moaning man lying down in the mud; the net was secured around him, a dented iron arrow shaft stuck profusely out of his back. The sunlight was failing and Colton lifted an Eternal Lamp lit by the flames of Din’s Fire many years previous, it kept true to its name, a forever burning flame in normal conditions. Its warm light cast down through the pelting rain and shined down upon the sickening rotten skin, the bubbling blood, the knight stumbled back in fright. Thomas began to thrash in his thin prison.
   “Murderers!” The monster screamed, fumbling around and clawing out of the net, eyes red as blood darting from one face to the other. “Don’t do this to me, what are you doing to me? Stop it!” All the knights could do was look down at the face of an old comrade, badly mutated but still Thomas looked up at them. “Free me! Release the shackles or I will make you, stop this madness! He will not approve of this; no He shall not, never!” Gripping the net with his fingers, he was squeezing tightly enough to break his skin in small pieces, the plasma of his blood rushing down and out into the rain, blinking, Thomas smiled. “When He hears of this, He will be so pleased, yet so angry. Do you really want to invoke that wrath; the wrath of the Infection is mine, now it will be yours.”
    Thomas’s palms cringed and the net broke away, he snapped through his prison and laughed into the sky, collapsing against one of the knights, tearing into their breastplate. Reaching up he splattered a foul smelling liquid among the plants and trees, catching Sir Robert in the face, having him fall cringing in pain. Benjamin unloaded three arrows into the heart of the creature, but it still ravaged the fallen knight, pumping him full of the yellow poison. Kicking with his travelling boots, Thomas was sent reeling against the tree trunks, focussing back up at his new foe.
    “Let it spread among the people like a flu, will it spread like flu?” The man was talking to himself as he approached him, barely registering the other arrows impacting his chest, everyone moved away from him at a fast speed. “Truly it will. Two are to expand upon even more, let us make it more.” Rustling armour blotted out the rest of his sentence, they were too focussed on making a larger distance from the man. “Agreed.” Thomas bounded through the grasses, crashing into Benjamin who had just nearly raised his arms in defence. The thud of flesh on armour resonated through him, the tearing hands scraped across the metals sending sparks and shavings in every direction. Grabbing Thomas by the arm and twisting it back, the knight slammed his foot against his back, breaking the man’s arm instantly. It did not stay broken.
    Whiplashing upward, Thomas shattered the defence and sent the Infection splattering across the breastplate where it sizzled and was washed by the rain. Benjamin ripped his dagger from his belt and had the others gang up towards the monster, keeping their arms up in case he tried to bash their skulls in with those grand hits.
    “Now.” Benjamin finished the gap against the enemy; planting his dagger into the gut and ripping it clean through, watching the green filter out across the ground. The others knocked the creature down, struggling to keep him pinned, it was impossible. Thomas burst up through, sending them in all different directions, crying out in anger or victory, one couldn’t tell. 
   “He will hear of this, you bastards! You will wish to have repented this time here, oh how much you shall! The Infection has done its dues.” The knight knocked his way through especially hard, Benjamin had his face skidded against a tree, and the warmth of his blood trickling down his cheek, all he could do was watch the shadow of the enemy disappear. Failure. All he could do was have them pick up the fallen and take them back to the infirmary, what could he tell Daphnes about what had happened?
***
     Link awoke to the elaborate ceiling he had gotten used to everyday since his arrival. Dressed in royal satins and beneath thin silk sheets, he hadn’t slept so well in such grand conditions since the last time he graced Hyrule with his presence, at least, that’s how everyone called it when he came. A knock on the doors hidden behind large blue curtains instigated a small voice talking about the beginnings of breakfast, they were staying undercover for some reason, he and the king. Daphnes brought the spiced meats and the flagons of light summer wine to accompany them. He looked tired.
   “I’m not hungry, are you?” The king feebly offered the plate; Link passed on the food but drank his cup dry. “One of the crews returned last night while you slept. Benjamin was acting too solemn about his failure, I didn’t really care, and they found Thomas in the Wilds… Three burned, two with broken bones and one disembowelled, dead on sight.” Spinning a small device that seemed to have no purpose, Daphnes glanced among the collections his ancestors had bothered putting together to be hidden. “We know now that Thomas has gained some kind of power from his mutation, we can call that useful.”
   “So we’re here for a while still aren’t we?” Stretching and yawning, Link removed himself with half a moment’s thought to stroll the arts and the crafts that had been salvaged by royal family’s gone by.  Convolutedly made mirrors seemed to be a fascination of some of the past kings; it was indeed amusing to think about, seeing the hall covered by them.
  “We’re only here for today. Zelda has been informed of the attack on me, she is under guard, but more importantly…Impa has made sure she was to be removed from the throne room for the day, here and now.” Daphnes sighed, his eyes losing attention, losing himself in his thoughts, but it was only to get his message across in the best way possible. “I fear something is going on.”
   “Other than a possibly possessed knight going on a rampage trying to poison you?” Link smiled but only received a dull hard look; Daphnes had changed in the few years he had been out in the world, what could make him so bitter so quickly?
   “There have been small threats, rumours that have spread through the people, I of course have heard inklings of which with guard gossip. I fear that we’ve grown weak, that we need to establish ourselves with a defence quickly, I had plans to do so after the mandatory coronation celebration in our sister kingdom. But I can’t do that now, something has struck us. Our enemy did not know I had left.” Coughing into small simple cloth, the monarch approached the edge of the curtains. “I am glad many times over for your rescue of me, and I’m glad that you are here now. I need your extended help now.” Parting them and unlocking the vault door, the fresh air of the throne room wafted in, bringing scents of the courtyard filled with flowers.
   “Are you sure you want to be leaving?” Over on his bed the Master Sword glinted, the blood of that creature had imprinted itself nicely on his blade; hours of cleaning barely removed the tiniest bit. He touched the cold steel delicately, the way Daphnes spoke, and maybe it would have to be put back into use… “I mean, about that carriage dream, I don’t think that was a dream either.” Looking up with sullen eyes from a lack of sleep still latching onto him from the days before, Link slowly watched the latch return to its place. “All times before that I’ve ever had foreboding moments, I could never be sure if I dreamt them or not, but they happened soon enough. What do you think could be going on?”
    Daphnes looked back down to his hand on the latch, thinking deeply if maybe just one more day would grant them something useful. But his thoughts recalled to past times, about how just a mere minute could end all hope. Swinging the door back open, the king ignored the shady look from his saviour and entered into what should have been a clamour of knights. The throne room was empty.
   “So what’ve you got planned, a little journey, a little espionage?” Link tagged along behind him as they approached the gilded chair. “Going for a walk through sewers are we, how fun.” He had no idea why he was in such a playful mood, maybe to cheer up the old coot, he wasn’t that sure. No matter what, it was nice to at least try to get the king to give a jest, maybe he’d grown cold in the peace, a heart of a warrior always dies away in that kind of thing.
   “We are ensuring the safety of an artefact that I didn’t even trust within the royal vault.” The king twisted his head back to the large mahogany doors at the far end of the room, the Great Doors leading into where the most powerful man in the realm would sit. “It is the royal vault that only I know about.  So I hid the artefact in the least likely of places, in the most likely of places.” Touching lightly on the gold of his chair, sweeping cautiously he uttered a tiny syllable before speaking again. “Will you still bear loyalties and bear secrets?”
   Looking up at his portrait in the back that had replaced an old hearth, a longing sense befell his eyes, wandering with his mind. Upon the canvas was a serious looking but handsome-featured Daphnes, his youthful eyes filled with a blazing pride. All that filled his eyes now was a milky outlook on the world. Link watched, half-surprised, he was used to the unexpected, the portrait slowly faded into nothing, leaving a void of darkness behind it. Cold breezes whipped silently from the black stones that lined a narrow hall.
    “Due to the rumours I took an initiative to seal all entrances into this area we’ll be entering.” Distracted by something in the courtyard that he knew to be his daughter, he ushered Link into the passageway without a word. Paper materialized back behind them, shrouding the men in a near-darkness. “No matter the peace of years gone by, the fall of Ganon could not have been the last whispers of evil in the hearts of man. It makes me think back to when I was a boy, the priest; he was a man devout to studying legends, my favourite, Evil’s Wake.”
   Pressing against the stones all that Link had on his mind was figuring out the location that they were going to, what they were doing. But in the back of it all he was almost certain he was listening, maybe without the importance he should have been giving.
   “If all things serve to my knowledge not even the Great Deku Tree spoke to you of it when you were a child… I digress, this way.” Daphnes rounded to the right where the trail broke off in two different directions, the air was heavy with moisture and a dankness that welled deep inside their lungs. Grabbing an Eternal Torch from the walls a staircase deeper into the catacombs, the light fell everywhere against brick and moss, this had definitely been there for quite the while. “A Heart of black and iron will descend to invoke those with the fragments within their own. A man filled of pure hatred, a heart like pitch, will awaken all that hides beneath false veils, even his own.” Stepping down another set of stairs, a thin outline of light drifted lazily illuminating floating dust and spreading through cracks at the end of the passage. “This way.” Link stared back at what appeared to be a doorway, but was dragged back into another corridor fitted with darkness.
    “To see the plague in men, blank eyes see all and know all.” Stopping at the end of the passage they had apparently found themselves an end, found their destination. “To awaken that darkness is to bring pure destruction, malice will descend all life and He so powerful will encompass the known worlds. This is it, the Temple of Time. The previous catacombs are not instated in any document or any method besides within the royal minds gone by, it’s essentially an escape route, but I have used it in a different means.” The king placed his taunt fingers on the cold wall, tracing them across in a certain pattern over the old bricks, how they became withered was a question he always desired to know the answer to. Dissolving in two different directions, the wall fell to reveal a small plank door covered as well on the other side through a small slit window, but that too fell away. Light filtered lazily inside.
    “Will you fall to blank eyes Hero?” Daphnes did not seem to want an answer as he pushed the door slowly open with due delicacy. The rhetorical question did not catch the echo inside the chamber, over at their opposite was the familiar Door of Time, sealed back to protect an empty chamber. “No, it isn’t too precautious.” He seemed to be reading his mind, but the king knew very well the types of questions Link would give him; maybe he had spent a few nights formulating them all in his head, just to keep things rolling at a good pace. “There, in the center.” Link snapped his attention back to Daphnes who was looking straight at him for the first time, back to their objective. “That is our…”
    The filtering light down through the two windows dimmed, for a brief moment it appeared as if the sky were filled with ancient runes. It flashed into view a second time and remained there, suddenly flickering off and on. The sky was a faded blue behind it, the sky was cracking. It stayed strangely still before the rune dome shattered across its backdrop just as the stained-glass dome high above the temple had. Stretching his robes over his head, Daphnes ducked as the glass pelted the two of them, but he kept his wary eye on a figure that dropped heavily down onto the central platform.
    “The old man certainly knows his defences.” The crouched man was on one knee, head down and staring at the grey stone. “First time in a long time I feel so damn spent. This had all better be worth that.” As the thin dust settled and the light finally repaired its old lustre, Link could see the man was covered by a thick green cloak, no weapons.
   “What in the name of Gods are you doing here?!” Daphnes barked loudly, his voice deep and startling to both Link and the intruder who immediately looked up with a face devoid of blood. It couldn’t be who it was, the ends of thought were not meeting in the king’s mind, and this couldn’t be real. Link drew the Master Sword; his face as well was pale in shock, his mouth a hard line.
    “Well don’t you remember, Daphnes? The Dark Wizard. I am the calling card.” Agahnim smiled.
***
     How long had it been since all he could see was darkness, had he been blinded? No, that couldn’t be right; he didn’t feel anything alongside with hearing anything. This time both felt like forever and that perhaps he was still in the middle of blinking his eyes. For the last few days there was this swallowing nothingness in his eyes, in his mind, whenever he noticed it he could hear people murmuring somewhere outside. Sir James awoke to a sway of auburn hair and seemingly nothing else. Everything was horribly blurred and his entire body felt lifeless. Suddenly coming to what had occurred, the thought of being crippled raced through his mind for a moment but as he lifted his hand up to rub his eyes a wave of relief came over him.
  “It’s about time. We thought you’d never wake up at the rate you were unconscious.” A sweet voice carried through the brightly lit room, from his arc of vision the driver could see a large array of cots filled with injured knights. Of course he would be in the infirmary, after that thing attacked him, where else in the damned place would he be? Looking up into the hazel eyes of the princess, James felt a bit embarrassed by his condition, but it couldn’t be helped. “Are you better?” Zelda smiled down at him, her earrings dangling down through her hair, she had a flowery and infatuating smell, like always without fail.
   “I’m as good as I think I could ever be. Where is his Highness, he must be well, correct?” Zelda nodded and looked up and away from him at all the other knights. “That…Thomas didn’t…”
  “No he never, not here at least, they were attacked out in the wilds.” Straining to see where she had gone, he failed and returned to his same stationary position. “Benjamin practically saved their lives, he smelled the pine in the rain, if he never perhaps none of them would be here. Now it’s just time for us to be the ones attempting to save them from eternal sleep.” Zelda paused to let it sing in, her heels clacking against stone as she walked among them. “But this isn’t what bothers me most…” Her voice dropped to a whisper.
   “What, what’s the matter, princess?” James could hear a strain quiver from her throat, but she kept her disposition as clear as a bell.
        “Father has been secluded since he returned from Calatia." She reappeared over him, apparently having opened the windows as the bitter scent of lilacs drifted with half justice around the air. "I haven't even gotten to welcome him back; he just nodded to me as he crossed the halls to the throne room all those mornings ago." Caressing her hair, she turned back to the exit out into the Great Hall. "All the curtains have been drawn, I'm not allowed in... I was wondering if..." She bent over and looked at him. The princess would never go so low to seduction would she? James almost laughed at the thought, he was too much of a lowly knight to not give the information, and she could be trusted.
          "I'll tell you whatever you want." He shifted himself and tried to look around for wandering ears, there were none, there wouldn't be any. "Being his driver and all, Daphnes gets lonely on the roads. I've been traveling him around for almost a decade, he trusts me, he tells me stories and tells me things just so he won't die from boredom." Casually he smiled at the thought, it made him feel a bit better about his shabby job, the thing she learned. Reminiscing about them was enough to keep him content in any weather, in any state of health; he could almost guess that in his life, that was all he lived for, to know. "There have been rumours. Some say that just old fools are spreading them around, some say they're true, others false, just like any rumour would be like. But Daphnes thinks them to be the previous, that these words are law, the truth of things to come."
     "It's made him incredibly nervous during our trip, which was when he heard of it, just nearing the Calatian border. He seriously desired to turn back but it was too late, our escorts were there, we had to go to the coronation." James shifted uncomfortably on his cot, if only he could just sit up, the other men were snoring softly almost to the point as if they were speaking. "While we were there he wanted me by his side, armed, to see him so anxious wasn't exactly a nice feeling. People are saying that resistance is growing among the people, that evil is starting to etch itself against the land from the north."
      "And all that excitement with Thomas, has he taken that as a definitive answer to what he feels?" Zelda could feel the warm sun on her back as it slowly rose over the courtyard battlements. "What else would he feel, no one would be as stupid to not see it...It couldn't be a coincidence."
     "That's not the most important part, maybe there is something with Thomas, the 'Infection'...but there is something more to it. There is a fear of huge change in the winds, in the words of loose tongues. Can you imagine how the king of Hyrule of all places would feel, that after so long, after so many years of peace that something is coming to ruin it again?"
        James knew he shouldn't have kept going. "There is word that legend, myths that they are starting to come true after all the years they were lies. The king knows something is wrong, the 'murder' of Thomas just only set that in stone for him I would guess." Without pain, surprisingly, he sat up and saw that Zelda's face was growing paled and lined in worry. "Something is after the Power of Gold, someone is looking for its keys, and someone is trying to poison the king. Can't you see what's going on?"
          "I can see what is going on just as clear as anything." The princess looked back at him again, he wasn't telling her everything. "So he's acting like this because he's afraid is it? From what I remember my father would never hide, he has too much pride to ever be a coward."
       "The king is not hiding, he's waiting." The knight watched one of his comrades twitch and turn over gritting their teeth in pain. Zelda stood farther off from him, why was she even brooding, especially over something like this? "Daphnes has predicted much trouble for the people of the town and all he is doing is waiting for it to try and come. If Thomas wasn't a red flag, then I don't know what would count as one."
     "You speak of Thomas as if he were a good thing." A gruff woman's voice cut the air in a sharp tone from across the room. "The last time I checked anything or anyone trying to murder anyone, especially the king, was a bad thing. Don't you agree?" Impa, Zelda's caretaker, was at the infirmary entrance, leaning against the stone with a half mocking, half concerned smile on her face. "I thought I told you to stay out of the main halls until the morrow?" Zelda's face was drawn and taunt, one last look between the two of them knew it was settled.
        "Alright, I was just checking up on James and the others, their condition is of great priority to me." The princess stiffly walked away back to her aid, she was already old enough to go around without her, but her father still wanted her to have a close eye kept on her.
       "You know, the king has been talking about replacing that old portrait of his." James stretched and sighed, lying back down and smiling in his blue robes. "He says it only shows a wisdom-less past and thinks something a bit...older would do the throne of Hyrule justice for its past." All the knight could hope was that the princess still bore a so called wisdom to catch the hint, he was exhausted and any little tiff of secrecy was to be of no worry to him.
         Being alone now was an alright feeling. The driver smiled to himself, the lazy warmth and fresh air was pushing him to sleep again even after having such a forced one. His body was still aching from his trauma those days earlier, the faint perfume of the princess had long gone and closing his eyes, he watched a knight opposite him rise from his cot silently.
***
   “You shouldn’t have been in there talking to the knights.” Impa was walking at a far brisker pace than Zelda, it was annoying to keep up with her, but she knew that the caretaker had to remove her from the halls quickly. “You knew better than that, they need their rest, your royal father wants them in perfect health. He doesn’t need his blood ruining that ideal for him, princess.” Rounding out from the cramped hallways leading to and from the throne room and its adjacent rooms, the twosome entered the Hall of Portraits, their path tracked by empty canvas eyes of kings passed by. They were heading toward the southern tower where the sleeping chambers, the Knights Guild’s sleeping quarters and the kitchens with their dining rooms. Zelda’s caretaker stopped off by a mahogany door just opposite to the Guild that stayed in the southern tower of the castle. “I want this to sink in for the last time, Zelda. If I catch you again outside of these select halls I will have to alert your lord father, and he will not be impressed, I assure you. You and I both know his temper; don’t stir a fire you have absolutely no reason to. Do you understand?”
   “Yes, quite.” She was led into her room as if she were a prisoner instead of royalty, but it never mattered, the curtsies and the whole idea of keeping a certain profile always bothered her. After the door was closed Zelda could have sworn she heard it lock, but it didn’t matter anymore. Off at the far edge of her room was the lone window she gazed out of to watch the sunset and to watch the courtyard far below. Maybe a view of the town would have been better, to see the sun rise instead of set, but to see the day end in marvellous colours was far more beautiful than when it began. To know the day and its events and then see a palette of soft, yet blazing colours, it erased every hindrance.
   The heavy footfalls of the Sheikah disappeared back into the emptiness of the castle halls and the princess sighed, bearing a mocking smile as she slowly lifted her window up. Again the cold breeze and the scent of flowers wafted about lazily inside. Her oak cabinets sighed out the heat and the rich fabrics rustled among her in the sounds of the outside world.
   “Don’t worry, Impa, you won’t catch me.” Zelda lifted herself up to the ledge with all the dignity of a fat swindler, but it didn’t cross her mind in the slightest. Her dress crumpled awkwardly and rustled out behind her, would they ever learn that all the time she crawled out of this window, all those years gone by? Having gone so long she didn’t think they would ever know and likely the next generation of Hyrules would use it to their adventuring likeness. She smiled at that as she dropped silently into the grasses of the sprawling courtyard. 
   Over on her left the throne room’s thick curtains had been drawn tight, as had just about all the other windows that bordered across the front edge. Each of the seven windows were blocked out, at the far end of the enclosed area was the open one of the infirmary where she had been just a few minutes earlier. Zelda gazed at the long line of curtains on her right, a few feet above the ground, shadowed by the sun against the abandoned North Tower that rose above them all. Keeping a wary eye on the western edge, the princess walked to the farthest point of the line of glass, tucked against the stone drowned in shadow at any part of the day, was a small worn alcove, a door at its end.
   Daphnes had no idea the secrets that she knew about all over the castle, secret passages and rooms that he had kept secret for plenty of times. The courtyard had more than one entrance in the entire castle, surely the arched way was the most commanding and known about, it was the only one those outside the castle had ever heard of. However this door led in behind one set of curtains that did not have a window out in the gardens, and off to it’s opposite was another passage leading into the west wing of the castle, the Hall of Portraits, behind the Founder’s Canvas. It was hardly practical but if they ever found themselves ‘trapped’ in the throne room or here in the courtyard, they could easily escape via one of the unknown exits. In times of true peril they could leave through the old Sanctuary connection tucked underneath the king’s throne.
  Quietly she opened the door into the dusty and steep stairway. Crumbled and covered with pebbles, it was one of the oldest areas of the castle that hadn’t been reset, and for good reason. The princess gently closed the plank door behind her and could smell the must in the air in heavy amounts. Sometime it would need repairs made to it, the walls were lined with cracks and faint glimmers of light flickered in from above, if it weren’t fixed soon it may have collapsed with age. Pressing against the curtains at the far end, she peered inside to see the throne room mottled in blackness with faint torches lining the way down the sides. It was empty as far as she could tell.
   The princess parted the cloth and covered the ground to the barely illuminated gilded throne. Who would have guessed it could get that dark inside? Staring without purpose into the darkness were the eyes of her father’s portrait, the gold frame glittered slightly in the flickering torchlight. Zelda smiled at it, she always enjoyed looking at the handsome disposition he once wore, and if only he did now maybe the whole of the castle wouldn’t feel so bitter. The princess touched the side of the painting, was there something behind it, that’s all she could make out from recalling James’s statement. But as she tried to tug it away from the wall, it wouldn’t budge at all. Frowning she turned back and gazed at the long stretch of darkness, the Great Doors mere shadows touching her vision.
    “What could he be talking about?” Zelda fixed her dress and made one last attempt to pull the canvas from the wall, but it still would not move from place. To be sure that caused a curious thought or two that it indeed held some kind of secret to be magically bolted to the wall. Tracing her fingers across the small designs on the gold frame, she felt at a loss of what to do, she had to know all the details that were going on, and her father was the only one who could give her any hint of an answer.
   “The royal daughter doesn’t know how to open the Town Catacombs?” A cutting voice drew her attention up and away from the frame, her last thought noticing that a small fragment was missing inside the gold. Zelda gazed into the blackness, the farthest two torches were snuffed out immediately, the figure she sworn to have seen was swallowed by the darkness. “Keeping secrets is never fun is it, child? I know that I always hated it when my comrades, the ones I should have been able to trust, kept things from me.” There was no sound of footsteps, the glittering flames slowly faded following up to the head of the throne room where Zelda stood more curious than frightened. “I’m guessing that your father…guessing that he isn’t here, hm?” Again the torches disappeared, leaving the room steadily darker than seconds before.
   “Who are you?” Zelda backed up against the old portrait with due caution, as the figure was lightly seen at the edge of the darkness that the last two lamps kept at bay. Shuffling within the shade, a small glint crossed her vision, a weapon more than anything, she guessed.
    “Can you do me a favour? I would ever so be in your debt, sweet lass, princess of Hyrule.” The man’s heavy voice was cut by soft wheezing as he spoke; fresh air tickled her cheek from behind the passage curtains. “When your father bothers showing up, King Daphnes, can you give him something for me, on regards from me?” A sleeve entered the light, was he scared to enter it somehow? Slowly a pale blue and scabbed hand peered out of the black sleeve, in its tight grip a small bottle glistened like gold. “I have tried ever so hard to get it here. I have travelled abroad…to give this to your lord father, his Majesty…” He spoke these last words with almost hatred to his voice, like saying such a thing caused him great anguish. “Come now, don’t fret. If I told you exactly where your father was now, would you please do this for me?”
   “If you know where he is then why even bother coming…”
“Because I don’t feel like trying to get into a guarded place with which I am, by any decree, not allowed to go. Foolish girl, I can’t just tread land wherever I please across this foul kingdom…” The man interrupted her, his tone full of spite and anger. It cooled quickly however as he continued on. “So what say you, I know you to be an intelligent one, crawling out of the south tower window I presume is how you got here?” It was discerning, how he seemed to know so much, it felt like he was mocking her almost, challenging her to show courage enough to take the bottle. “Please think about it, princess, the Temple of Time grows ever so old, why not go there as quickly as possible?”
   Zelda bit her lip in thought. What harm could this fellow do anyway? He was just a mere merchant, he bore no power, but why did everything feel so cold, feel so empty in the room now? This was her chance to find her father and ask him whatever she wished; all she had to do was to accept the gift. No harm in that. The princess reached out in earnest to grab the beautiful flask at the edge of the darkness, there was no harm, none at all.
***
   “You dare tread on holy land, you bastard?!” Daphnes spat furiously at the sight of the mocking wizard, all he did was smile lazily back. “You chose the most ignorant of days to try such a pitiful thing, get out of here, now, or so help the Gods that I won’t have to scatter your carcass across this stones.”
   “My, my, you speak so harshly, Daphnes. I didn’t know you to be such a brash little fellow.” Agahnim did a onceover and smiled wider, trying to show a lost cunning. “Nor as portly as you are now.” He laughed at his joke, his voice echoing among the building, all by its lonesome.
   “Laugh all you would like.” Casting an almost worried gaze between the two men with him in the temple, Daphnes kept his voice booming and deep. “You will find nothing here.”
  “Have you known me to do anything without previous knowledge, Sire?” The Dark Wizard cocked his head, his green cloak gracing against the aged floor. “I outwitted your ancestor, Harkinian the IV, does that not count for anything? I certainly call that a ‘personal win’ of my own, it also works as a grand story to tell. All I can do is laugh; laugh at your taking me as a fool.” He sighed, rubbing his cheek playfully, his breath hazardously escaping his lungs. “If nothing was here, then why in the blasted hell would you want to protect this place so much? Answer me that, no wait, you don’t need to.”
   Agahnim’s eyes flashed beneath his hood, his right hand clenched tightly. “Such power to protect nothing.” He chuckled, maybe if he were allowed he would have burst with glee at the thought. “I have lived much and many times, Daphnes, but this is the first time I’ve ever been treated as a complete idiot. Kudos to you and your overwhelming audacity and arrogance, many a times it has provided much escape for me, to guffaw at your actions. I must really thank you for that.” The Dark Wizard stood up among the glass, some tiny shards still floated downward in the rays of sunlight.
   “Don’t do anything stupid, Agahnim.” Link stepped forward, his boots crackling against the glass shards, the thick blade of the Master Sword rested idly in his hands. “It is in everyone’s best interest that I don’t have to use this.” Light snickers broke the silence; the Dark Wizard was having his share of good humour this day.
   “How cute, the Hero fights for his kingdom, his kingdom he left. You aren’t fighting for anyone right now Link. I have done nothing wrong, can’t you see that?” Agahnim’s eyes glittered, his fists both pulsing shut. “I am in the process of maybe doing something that falls in the terms of ‘wrong-doing’, you have no quarrel if I have done nothing wrong, now have you?” He waited for a response a grand total of half a second before answering for him, his favourite game to play with his enemies it seemed. “Of course not! Heh, yes that is so true, let me do something in order for you to actually have a reason to try and fight me. Can I have such an honour?” Turning back, it was Daphnes that spoke once more, his voice shaking in anger and disbelief.
   “Do not touch anything, Wizard. By Gods wrath you will be punished if you move.” Daphnes was shivering, his eyes wide and looking about the brightly lit area. He was straining in fear about what else, who else, could be hiding around the area, why would they not show themselves? The Dark Wizard frowned and rolled his eyes, lifting his right hand up, his fingers glowing with a white magic. Link pushed off from the sandstone and pulled his arm back, ready to hack into flesh for the second time in four days. Without warning the enemy spun back on his heels, leaping up and over the arc of the blade and landing loudly behind him. Searing heat burned across the Hero’s back, he was propelled by a heavy force across the temple, smashing hard into the blue stone of the Door.
   Agahnim fired another spell to the center of the room; it twisted and knotted across a small stone pedestal, grabbing each section with fierce strength. Wrenching his arm back and breaking the ties with his magic, the Dark Wizard watched the Master Sword pedestal shine with white veins and shatter across the chamber in hundreds of shards.
   “Now I have done something vile, have at me all you please.” Reaching down into a small opening in the main platform where the Sacred Blade once called home, the Dark Wizard relinquished a crystalline object from within. His eyes met those tired ones of Daphnes; a playful gaze reverberated from him that was not returned. “Have at me all you please, Daphnes, all you please if you can catch me.” Twiddling the crystal object in his hand, the king could see an iridescent green orb flicker within, Farore’s Wind lay in the hands of Agahnim. The Dark Wizard barked a laugh as it shone in his hands from activation, but his joy lasted barely a minute. Cold steel from a shield dashed against the back of Agahnim’s skull, crying out in pain he stumbled forward, red blood splattering across the stone and Farore’s Wind clattering across the floor.
       “Stand up and I will kill you where you lay now.” The stinging kiss of steel at the back of his neck sent a chill down Agahnim’s spine. Dust lingered among the rays of the sun, the dampness of blood against his cloak was making him extremely uncomfortable and nauseous even. Spreading his arms out in surrender, Agahnim gritted his teeth precariously, the Master Sword’s chilling blade kept too close against his flesh. “Leave, Agahnim, it is in everyone’s best interest, mainly for your own.”
   “I can’t very well do that with death pressed against me, now can I?” Link couldn’t believe the arrogance in the tone, even in such close quarters he still tried to set alit the fire of vengeance in his foes. The Dark Wizard slowly was permitted to stand, he watched warily as the king lifted the Transportation Magic up from the glass-ridden floor. “You work well and diligent, even after so long, I can commend you both that.” Shoving him hard forward, Link kept the Sacred Blade pinned up behind him, much good it would do him. Agahnim flung himself forward, rolling ahead and onto his knees blasting the Hero in the chest with blunt magic.
    Daphnes scattered pebbles as he turned back to the catacombs, but a tight grip pinched his arm, lifting him from the ground and sending him crashing across the littered stones. Agahnim ripped Farore’s Wind from his grasp and smiled down at him, his back was killing him and full of tingling shards of glass. A silhouette covered the blazing light from the broken sky-window and tackled down against the wizard, yelling out in surprise, Link was back up with the Master Sword against Agahnim’s throat.
   “Twice. How impressive, twice you’ve gotten me done, Link. Who would ever have guessed you would still remain with skill so many years afterward?” The Dark Wizard lifted his left hand and grabbed the steel of the blade, pulling down into the stone by his head. Heaving his legs into Link’s gut, the wizard parted the Hero and his weapon, flicking blood from his palm and seething from the deep cuts. “Learn, Link, learn and apply, that’s all we’ve done, all we’ve gone for. That is exactly why things are not going to go well for your land soon enough.”
   “You did that to Thomas didn’t you?” Daphnes gasped in pain at trying to sit up, but he fought his way to one knee, tears beading in his eyes. “I should have guessed, I should have known, but this proves it, this proves all the rumours.”
  “It’s true, Nohansen. To see such bland and obvious tricks, that has always been your strong suit. It’s the complicated things that always grab you, the complicated things you make them to be.” A strong and rasping tone grabbed all but Agahnim’s attention, who’s smile only grew all the wider. “Hyrule’s shortcomings only arrive when those leading it and those who are supposed to protect it, it’s been a Hero’s job to clean up what he should never have to.” Another fear had come true, perhaps more than that of a team searching for Farore’s Wind, the towering silhouette of a Gerudo man leaned against the shadows of a wall. “But take for instance what it has meant; fear struck in hearts of black, hearts that aren’t designed to feel fear. Now all you people do is take us for fools.” Link didn’t need to see him leave the protection of the shade to know who exactly had joined the group; the voice did all to identify him.
   “Ganondorf, King of Thieves, and King of the Gerudo, all I can muster to say is, what a surprise to see you here.” Link dropped his shield and picked up the glowing Farore’s Wind, the crystal was cold to the touch, sending shivers down his spine. “I never would have guessed you were behind all of this, whatever the hell is going on here.”
   “What can I say?” A tall, muscular man clad in light armour walked out toward the central platform, a wicked smile cutting dark coloured face. Red hair graced his skull and fell in short length to either side, a blood red and ragged cape dragged itself sheepishly behind him with every step. Ganondorf looked all the same except with a higher sense of exhaustion to his face and his voice. “We learned, after Gods know how long, we finally have a weapon unlike any other fighting by our side. The Infection will spread to your people, just as it did through Thomas. All the while you get to deal with the pesky vermin; we pick and choose what we please.” The Prince of Darkness lifted his arm, a blunt force into Link’s gut sent him sprawling backwards, gasping for breath, and the Transportation Magic met thick, meaty fingers.
     “So my answer is yes, we ‘did Thomas in’ just those nights ago. But oh no, we are not stopping just there.” Ganondorf yanked his comrade back to his feet, watching him stumble for balance and hold his head laced with pain. A slim, golden-hilted blade appeared in his empty hand, striking it in the stone; he played his fingers across the rim of the round edge. “I will watch and cause death all among your people, Daphnes. I will watch and I will laugh. With our numbers and our strength we will watch the kingdom crumble in a matter of days.” Scrapping the sword loudly across stone, a clean and jagged mark was cut through the brick; Ganondorf clasped it tightly and chuckled quietly. “Should I even bother with an agreement on our sides? All the times before hand, I give you a choice and you take the obvious one, the noble one. In attempts that I don’t retch all over this forsaken place, you can take the noble cause right away if you please.”
   “Farore’s Wind is ours, be it that you have already lost, I can guess, is completely true.” The Dark Wizard almost sounded like an echo of what Ganondorf had wanted to say, how in blazes could the imbecile be so irritating? “Try and win it, that’s what we know you want. It doesn’t take countless failure to predict something as easy as an unwise decision.”
   Before anyone could have predicted a move, Link was already closing the area between them with fierce speed and determination. Agahnim whirled his magic at him only to watch it be knocked off and against a wall in the distance. Ganondorf tossed the crystal to his partner and dashed to the left, pulling his two blades from thin air, crashing them down hard on the singular of the Hero. Coming up behind him, the Dark Wizard was to attempt to work on his unfair advantage, but Daphnes would have no part in that. Bursting from the shadows, the king wrapped his arms around the enemy and pulled him away, pressing two good collisions to the Wizard’s head. Using arthritis worn hands, he reclaimed the cold crystal, dashing it across Agahnim’s face for the fun of it.
   Link swung back the two blades with quick succession, ducking and leaping over any arc he could not defend against. His opponent was still as strong as ever, but the years had worn his skills down, he had been working far too long on anything other than his swordsmanship. No matter how he saw it, the Hero still did not see an advantage on his part, he still had the magic. Moving back with every blow, the Gerudo gnashed his teeth in anger, quickly rolling away before being stuck up against a wall, that would mean his sure loss if he let that happen.
   “Skill is only part of fighting, Link. Cunning and wit really attest for an outcome in the right.” The Gerudo King blocked another heavy swing, at this rate no hits would make contact and both would falter from weariness. Pulling down and through his open legs, Link hopped back up and slammed his feet into Ganondorf’s back; the girth allowed him to only stumble forward and drop his weapons. The Hero took his chance and cut through the leather armour in two consecutive strikes, filled with excitement at the cries of pain from the infliction. Quickly recovering, the Prince of Darkness took initiative to return the favour, hacking with fierce strength against the blade of the Master Sword, the heavy set eyes bore down into Link`s as well.
    “All you are filled of is sickly wit, Ganondorf. It’s why the outcome is in my favour.” Link knocked away the left sword and crashed his shield across the enemy’s skull. Pressing up and off of the remaining blade, he descended from within the sunlight and slammed his feet into the wide chest of the Gerudo. Falling back, the Hero focussed his attention on his only other enemy in the room, content on catching Daphnes.
  “You are really starting to piss me off!” Agahnim barked, a large gash running down his face where a brick had been hurled at top speed at his head. Why wouldn’t the king fight back, did he only have defensive skill in his magic? Running up behind him, the Wizard had sense his presence and fired a salvo of lightning as he pivoted, it seared through the air, tracing through the wall at the end. Link rolled forward and swept Agahnim’s feet from him, cutting upward with his blade, only catching cloth.
   “Let’s go, use the crystal!” The Hero belted Agahnim in the stomach, smiling as he swore at him; he was used to it to be sure. Daphnes fumbled with the crystal, squeezing it tightly and raising it up high, only to watch a hint of silver knock it from his grasp. The King of Thieves burst up and out of the shadows beneath them, beating them in different directions. Landing lightly in his open palm he smiled, attaching it to his belt and placing attention at Link, rising and wiping a small line of blood away from his lip.
    “This is highly entertaining. But I have a deadline to follow, and my plan was not to spend useless time here fighting an enemy I give no care about.” His left hand opened, in its center a small dime-sized bloom of violet twisted angrily, in its center a small black slit spun about, grabbing a comfortable spot at Link’s sight. “He sees you, and He will witness you die.” The Gerudo’s hand burst into a glowing glove of violet flames, he laughed happily, unleashing a steady stream of deathly magic toward the man garbed in green. Link grabbed his tattered shield and held it feebly, the magic pounded into the steel with a strength he had never imagined. Fighting with all he could muster, he shoved the Sacred Blade between the two, watching the spell drive back to its owner. Ganondorf was hit point-blank in the ribs, roaring in distress as he smashed hard into the Door of Time several feet behind him.
    The Hero dropped his shield and sword, running at breakneck speed toward the stunned foe, pulling back his gauntleted arm; he crashed his closed fist repeatedly into his gut. With every strike the stone cracked and moaned, raining dust and pebbles down that sent the Gerudo into a coughing fit while trying to fight back. He couldn’t. Engaged and mutated strength granted to his arms by the Golden Gauntlets was keeping he foe away, his swords already clattered against stone, Ganondorf was not getting away. Link pulled his fist back once more and put all his might into it, the large body of the King of Thieves broke through the stone door and tumbled out and over the Spiritual Stone Pedestal in the main chamber of the Temple.
   Blue stone and chunks of rock rained down and across the white-washed floor, the dust spreading out in a heavy blanket, clogging the openings wherever they could.
   “You insane whelp!” Ganondorf slammed his fist on the ground in defiance, standing up with much difficulty. “You’ll pay for that ever so dearly!” No previous warning came at the release of another spell, hitting squarely at a defenceless Link. He felt the heat on his chest and watched the interior of the Temple tumble around him before landing hard on the Master Sword platform. “Get away from that, Daphnes, get away from it now!” Link sat up, his head pounding with dizziness, he watched the King place his mouth near the Transportation Crystal, and then watched it too, fade away into the sunlight. Bellowing in anger, the Gerudo King darted inside, grabbing Daphnes by the scruff of his neck, lifting him up into the halo of the Sun.
   “Where did you send it, Nohansen? Tell me where you sent it!” The king remained quiet, but wore a gleeful grin, as if he had just succeeded completely.
  “Where in all the lands would I send it, Ganondorf…? Where in all the kingdoms of the Goddesses’ Realm would I send such an important thing?” Daphnes looked deep into the burning eyes of his fellow king, and spoke a quavering tone, trying to contain his anger was all it seemed. “What if I had sent it to the deepest recesses of an abyss? What if I sent it to drown in an endless ocean, burn in the hottest volcano? What could you do, spin me a tale of just what you would do exactly to find it. I will not let it fall into your hands, you will never find it!”
   “You’re wrong. We will find it, just like we will find everything else you are trying to hide in this kingdom of yours!” Agahnim’s bitter voice was something new to the scene, he had lost all joy from the fighting, fighting he had barely been a part of. “Be it to your advantage the Infection claims all of you before we act with full gusto, spread our own darkness.” His eyes twinkled, and his mouth went from curdled to half open. “We will begin with Farore’s Wind, and we will move and conquer those who oppose.”
   “We know you understand what we are doing, Nohansen.” Ganondorf smiled wryly but suddenly that look was wiped from his face. Craning his neck to Agahnim he narrowed his eyes at him in curiosity. “Begin with it, now?”
   “It’s behind the portrait.” The Dark Wizard looked from the three of them to the gaping darkness of the Town Catacomb entrance, all eyes moved off from their main focus to join that same gaze. Daphnes was released abruptly, landing hard on his side and clawing at the floor to stand back up. “My command works first, Sire, don’t ever forget how magical items in your possession work, or you might end up at a loss of more than the trinket itself.”
   Daphnes groaned in pain and failure, he couldn’t get himself back standing, his entire body was covered in spasms and exhaustion. All he could do was feel at a loss and cry out in desperation. “Run, Link, run to the Throne!” One last section of consciousness had him witness the Hero raise to his feet and be pursued by the Dark Wizard, his attention ended as he slipped into a forced sleep, the slices of Ganondorf’s back acting as red scars in the darkness of his eyelids.

[Zeldaeinstein]

Chapter 3: Invasion
      The halls were extremely cramped, he hadn’t noticed when he had first travelled them, but now, running hell-bent, they seemed to crush upon you at all sides. Off in the distance, echoing, were the far too happy cries of his opposition, he couldn’t let them get much farther, it would jeopardize all they had just worked for. Link had the upper hand, he may not have paid attention on the way to the Temple, but he had the way memorized to his advantage.
   “Dead end!” Agahnim’s raspy voice echoed off from somewhere ahead, neither of them sounded the least bit concerned about their task. What could make them so confident while being chased by the very man that had brought defeat to them countless times in even more desperate and one sided situations? Link kept thinking about the small opening in Ganondorf’s hand, it looked at him, it had to, that’s all it seemed to be able to do, see, see everything and anything. Trying to concentrate, he slid past a crumbling corner to see the same worn light blinking at him from a cracked exit way. He considered taking that route, but he couldn’t risk it leading him nowhere, taking him out of this fight.
    Link snapped back down the opposite hall, watching the torches flicker by and flicker out ahead, they were trying to impede his progress, and it wouldn’t work. Again the cry of failure in choosing the right passage bounced off and about the insides of the catacombs, a lump was forming in Link’s throat. Why was he treating this as a life or death scenario? It had to be the importance the king was keeping with the situation; it empowered him by all means. Striking his fist against the brick as he turned to what he knew to be a dead end, the lamplight flickered across the chiselled face of Ganondorf.
   The Hero reached out and tackled the king; his keeping to the shadows caught the enemy by surprise, the three in the tunnels collapsed into a heap. A hand clasped his throat and crashed him into the stone, the King of Thieves returned to his feet and snarled at him, nor was he going to risk getting off track in finding the crystal. He tried to leave, but Link dug into his arm, twisting it down and away from his neck. An attempt to deal more damage was halted by those same meaty fists connecting with his torso, the weak walls cracked and shattered behind them, both lunging into another corridor on the other side.
   “You’re going to die here, Link. I will bury you with these stones just after I crack your head against their black selves!” Ganondorf swung wildly at him, breaking through the powdery walls with his fists with only his partial force. Dust and stone tumbled in every direction, and it was like the Town Catacombs were huge, as with each wall broken through there was another, darker, passageway. Link ducked again and again, rising up, the iron of his shield flashed upward, waking across the jutting jaw of his foe. His balance lost, the Hero took another bout of advantage, sweeping out his opposition’s legs, and running up behind the injured Agahnim who hadn’t bothered to stay behind.
   Reaching out with a stiff arm, he grabbed the blood speckled cloak in a bundle. Link pulled back, yanking the Dark Wizard from his feet, landing hard against the stone floor, swearing loudly. Wild-eyed, he could see a faint light shining out from the left corridor at the cross-section ahead. Picking up speed he was pelted with stone fragments as the large figure of Ganondorf broke out from the right side of the wall, making contact and sending the Hero crashing through the left wall.
   “Bastard.” He cussed, pulling himself up, he was inside a separate and large room, a single torch lit the back wall; it was the wall of the Artefact Chamber. They were right on top of Farore’s Wind. Switching directions, Link ran down through the chamber, his arms pumping up and down with limb numbing jerks, pulling his body to the right he rammed his shoulder into the crumbling wall. A burst of pebbles sprayed out ahead of him, raining down loudly, his shoulder screamed in pain, but it didn’t matter, there just a mere few dozen feet away was the goal. Farore’s Wind lay on its side, the green orb beating slowly like that of a creature’s heart.
     Ganondorf came from behind him at the intersection of the halls and roared in malice, bounding down behind the speeding Link far ahead. His two swords melded as one at his command, and melted into the stone on his right. How sad it was going to be, the end of this fight. The Hero heard a faint buzzing to his side of the hall, the brick faded slightly to his sight and a great blade was speeding in the hall right side to him, and he could feel it. Ganondorf’s Great Blade, shattered through the stone, spinning like a rotor, buzzing over his head as he ducked, striking the other wall forcefully, Link lunged for Farore’s Wind and met with failure. A large hand burst from beneath it as a shadow, the slit of a violet eye dropped its focus to the crystal, claiming it as its own.
   “Failure!” The guttural laugh of Ganondorf quivered down and around the tight confines of the catacombs. Link turned on his back, shoving himself to his feet and drew the Master Sword with no remorse for clattering it dangerously across the ragged walls, sparks littered his boots. In the Gerudo’s hand was the crystal, he had learned new magic over the years, and it was irritatingly useful. “Say thanks to the Sentinel Gaze, Hero. I certainly have!” The Great Blade swung back into his hand by the mere flick of his wrist, he was prepared and ready to go, yet all he did was stand there and smile. It burnt him up inside, the fact his enemy was just solid and trying to absorb the brief moment of victory. He would not have it, not on his life.
    Link leapt forward, dropping abruptly and slamming his fist with all the power he could muster into the floor beneath. Gods help him that this would be true. As the bricks cracked, nothing happened and it felt like he had just had his heart ripped from him.
  “Such blind faith in luck, Link, I hope you learn that it will get you nowhere!” Heavy boots flung out and cracked across his chest, the Hero tumbled back from the impact point. “You can go to the ends of the world and wish for all the luck you want, it will not come, and it is the entire Gods’ Design. If I am to win this, I am to win this because they say so. Think about that for once, Hero, show faith in them by letting things happen. All I can do is make you grasp what that could mean. All I can do is follow their plans.” Lifting his heavy blade, and sticking it just at his throat, the man cocked his head and growled his death threat. “And if it be not their design I strike you down here, then so be it.”
   The King of Thieves rested his arm back, the floor crackled under his feet, and as he took his step to power his swing, luck suddenly descended. Disintegrating in a blast of powder, the floor stumbled into empty blackness, claiming the Dark Wizard and the Prince of Darkness. Link caught the coiling crystal and pulled it in tight with his body, rolling back over himself and standing stark still. The coughs and sputters from the floor below rolled upward, Ganondorf’s sword lay stuck in the rock at an awkward angle, they wouldn’t stay fazed for much longer. Pulling his gear together, Link made way to the back of the canvas, latching his shield to his back and keeping the Master Sword out and prepared.
    “Take it, princess, take it and you will know, do not be shy.” A faint murmuring voice was trailing in the moist air; Link could only make a few words out. Someone was on the other side of the portrait at the end of the hall. Straining to hear, he dropped to just a walk, not wanting to frighten them off, no one was supposed to be in the throne room. “Please stop just standing there, it’s making me nervous, I am none too pleasant when that happens.”
     “Stop. Know your place, boy.” Another voice was rising in the wells of the darkness, but it seemed to echo within his mind. Distressed, Link backed away from the stained and wet canvas posterior, his ankle was compromised by a hand that shouldn’t have been there. Crying out in surprise he shook it way, seeing it melt into the stone and reappear on the other side, the eye twirled about, magnifying its slit of a lens on his open hand. “That is mine. Give it to me!” The translucent hand rose from the ground and lashed out at him; Link was stuck between the gap and the strange ‘device’. To make things worse, Ganondorf was slowly pulling himself out, his face covered in scratches and his hair matted with mortar. Link gazed over his shoulder and back at the Sentinel, kicking off he dodged it and as it turned to face him, impaled it in its stalk. Nothing happened.
   A murderous look that surpassed the earlier ones had struck home on Ganondorf’s face; the Gerudo was finished with games. Launching his sword at full speed, it cut across the air, catching Link’s cap as it continued on, and sliced through the canvas, finding its home fresh into the back of the King’s throne. The Hero sped into the dark room, not noticing the two people in the room until he had leapt over the gilded seat, and almost knocked the princess to the ground. Rolling into the darkness, he was overcome by pitch-blackness, but behind him the lights acted upon it, unable to break past a certain point. Ganondorf burst from the gaping hole in the portrait, ripping his blade up and through the formed model, Agahnim was right behind him, gasping for air.
   Link fumbled in the darkness, when the Sentinel Gaze erupted from within it. It tried to latch onto him, but as he moved about, it too was practically blind in the area, hopping over it, he fell into something with form, falling immediately after. The air was sharp and cold, stinging to his face, to his breath, he had to move away, but a force was pulling him in, looking up he saw the outline of a cloaked figure, bent over, reaching for him. Sickening thoughts raced through his mind without control, gruesome scenes and torturous images, he bellowed in fear, trying to move away but he could not, his body would not move, the figure drew down to him. The Sentinel Gaze grabbed his tunic and pulled him away, rising high after he had sprawled out, deathly dizzy, the darkness was fading.
    Terrifyingly, the violet fingers of the hand sharpened to that of knives, glinting like the blades they now were in the lamplight. Clawing down in a hammer motion, it struck the rug, ripping it to shreds, pulling up, red threads spread through the fingers. A mere clattering motion and it was free again, but at that time, it was too late for it to do anything else. The eye whirled upward and drew in on itself as it barely witnessed the Master Sword strike the palm, impaling it out and through. A high pitched ring echoed as the hand burst into violet smoke, the cloaked figure dropped the glass container it held, clasping his face. The lamps suddenly lit to life and Link watched as Ganondorf’s hand suddenly burst with blood and the Gerudo shriek in surprise and agony, his palm empty of the eye. The cloaked man was gone, his gift shattered across the stone, burnt clean through into the stone, smouldering up in small wisps of yellow smoke.
   With Sentinel Gaze gone, Link regained his disposition and ran to the injured man, completely forgetting a non-harboured Agahnim was just beyond his wake. A blurring orb of light scarred his vision and burnt into his tunic, the Dark Wizard was on top of him at the bottom of the stairs, bleating bloody murder as he cracked his fists against his face. Link kicked up and out from under him, and noticed yet another hideous eye staring blankly from Agahnim’s fist. What was going on here?!
   The Gerudo King ignored the pale princess and leapt down from the main landing, tearing a set of curtains down with him. Bright white light filled the throne room, blinding the three momentarily, and by no surprise, Link lastly.
   “Use the damned thing, Link, use it to leave, you know you want to!” Ganondorf was barking madly, he was trying to call any sort of bluff he could, he knew Link would not risk taking himself to the area that the King had tried to send Farore’s Wind. In all the kingdoms, the Hero knew Daphnes would send it somewhere so far from the reach of man that there would be no hope in ever claiming it again. And the fact was that if he followed it, how was a man to leave a place he never should reach…? “Show what courage you really possess and use it, keep your faith in the decisions of this realm’s leader.”
   “I can’t do that.” The decision had to be made; he had to send it by itself, to keep it away from the madmen. Link squeezed the crystal tightly and felt the chill of its green light envelop itself, off it would go, and off would the threat go. In the back of his mind, amid the buzzing of adrenaline and the rushing of his heart, he heard the curdled anger escape Ganondorf. The material in his hand became immaterial and the weight of the crystal disappeared within itself.
  Link gazed upward, he knew the blood had left his cheeks; he couldn’t help but smile at the frozen expression of horror on his enemy’s face. For what seemed to be forever, the three of them just stood there, the Hero’s hand and empty. “But I just did that” The searing tone he used instigated a response, a tumult of magic bashed into him, but being ready, the Master Sword pointed downward jerked his fall to a stop. The gloved fist pounded across his shield, and pulling upward, the Sacred Blade cut into Ganondorf’s already injured arm, spattering red blood across the carpet.
   “By Design or not, if I must defy it now to kill you, than so be it.” Ganondorf put full strength in swinging his own sword, the crash it made was deafening and the sparks flitted like flies in all directions. Gleaming in the sunlight, the blades connected again, shaking down his arm and biting it tight in pain, Link wouldn’t let go at every collision no matter how much in the back of his mind he wanted to. The King of Thieves’ hand still ran with red, down his sleeve and across his sword, the wound did not seem to heal, and with every arc it let go of his skin.
   Agahnim rounded off from behind his fiendish comrade and ripped a spell up and through the floor of the throne room. Mortar and razor-sharp fragments spun about, just barely knocking Link from his feet and crashing through one of the windows. More light grappled its home in the room. The thick black blade punctured by the side of his head, snapping about in earnest to reach flesh. The Hero flung his shield upward, taking the Gerudo in the side of the head only to be flanked by Agahnim off to his right. A lightning spell tore the air and bounced lazily off of the Master Sword, burning into the ceiling above, the chandeliers waned left and right.
   Link ran straight for the enemy, taking him by surprise by his directness, landing the flat of his blade into outstretched hands. Agahnim gritted his teeth and tried to swing Link up and off of his weapon but to no avail. His hands began to glow in the lust to attack, but the Hero would not have that happen. Tearing away, he felt the gust of a spell, the heat for only a brief second, before rising up and knocking Agahnim from his feet, just as he had hoped, the pride in the man was enough to bring him back into the fray. Using his protected hands as shields and weapons, he glided them across the Sacred Blade easily, trying to make contact, all he had to do was bide time and sear that blue-eyed face from Link’s skull. The Hero dipped under a wide swing and consecutively another, darting on his ankles to Agahnim’s right side, and watched the wizard command the release of his stored magic.
   “Thank you.” Link smiled and braced his feet for the strike. Trailing the Sacred Blade through the air, he parted it and the spell from its course, into the chest of Agahnim who sprawled up and off of the platform, crashing hard through the curtains and the wall behind. Taking the small victory without a thought, it brought his apparent defeat; Ganondorf was on him, dragging him from the carpet and throwing him to the other side of the room, through another window and out into the courtyard.
   Birds and petals departed all around him, the huge shadow of Ganondorf burst from the walls in a splash of white brick. The flowers crumpled beneath his feet as he trudged along the mess of stained glass and the flattened grasses. Water trickled from the fountains nearby as he approached Link, half conscious from the blow to the back of his head. Leaning down and pinning his hand around the scruff of his neck, Ganondorf seethed into his face.
   “You had to have seen it, the place it went, if you hadn’t, nor would you have disappeared. You commanded it on its lonesome to leave, you concentrated on one image of where Daphnes sent it, tell me and I will make your death…less painful.” Link’s vision was fading slowly, the ragged eyes of his foe burned into his, trying to shake him away from a forced sleep. “Tell me, Hero, tell me where…” Even with the drowning of noise all about him, Link heard the crash, a cry of horror, or was it of bloodlust. Trying to keep himself with reality, he realized he had been released back to the cool earth, and that Ganondorf was nowhere to be seen.
   “Dear Gods…” There was that deep voice of his off to his right, or was it his left? He had no idea what was what anymore, the sheer attention to not nod off was all encompassing. Link urged his body to move, and when he did, he too found only those same two words. Twitching grotesquely was a humanoid figure lying in the grass, great shards of glass sticking from its body. Someone had thrown themselves through the infirmary window, but they did not remain stationary for long. Clumping the dirt into their palms, the man slowly stood, gasping for breath.
   “Help…me.” The voice of James barely made it to a target, the desperation and weakness stung the ears that heard it. Shadows gathered out behind him within the ragged frame of the hospital wing. Repeating himself again, the driver was drowned out as a knight finished the rest of the glass left in the window, landing heavily on top of the frail man. The knight pounded down into James’ flesh and drew his head up to Link and Ganondorf, standing at the far edge. He blinked and snarled, kicking off, yellow liquid dripping off and killing the flowers of the garden as he ran across the vista. The warmth of the sun was lulling him away but the sudden guffaw of Ganondorf finally brought Link out of his partial dream.
   “And so War officially has begun. Much luck, Hero, I mean that with all my heart.” Agahnim was imported beside him before the two of them looked half-frighteningly, half-excitedly at the Infected man approaching them, and before the two of them disappeared in a mottle of purples and black. They had failed at getting Farore’s Wind, but they still left with a taste of victory. As horrid as it was, the situation he now found himself in as more of the Infection leapt from the infirmary, perhaps the worst part of it all was that he hadn’t seen where the Transportation Magic had gone, he could have, but he never. Link was extremely tired, his adrenaline all but working, how could he fight the lot of them, how would he defend against them. To search for answers were useless, because he had no time to think before they were upon him.
***