Twilight

By Jordan Bilak

Part 1: Dusk

Chapter 1: Daughter of Darkness

A young woman in her late twenties paced the earthy floor anxiously. The room she was in was unbearably hot and beads of sweat could be seen on her olive colored skin. Her bright red hair gave connotation to the fact that she was the only pure blooded Gerudian left alive in the fair land of Hyrule. She paused for a moment, her face contorting from one of worry to one of grim-set-determination. She walked slowly over to the window and pulled away the gaudy, red curtains to see the outside world. Her thoughts drifted to the duty she was about to fulfill. "This will be the last time I see daylight." The grim thought entered her head and would not leave as quickly as it usually did. Her resolve seemed to fail as she sank onto a large floor cushion. A single tear came to her eye as she started to talk out loud to herself.

"Don't worry, Endora, everything will be fine." she tried to say with a grin. "I'm not worried about myself though, it's Midnight—my baby girl—who I'm scared about." Endora sobbed quietly. She drew her knees up to her chest and enfolded her arms around them, trying not to completely lose her composure. A small tap on the wooden door made her look up with a start.

"Y-yes?" she stuttered, drying her eyes.

A small girl poked her head in the door. Her cherubic face, although still looking innocent, had the flare of an evil Gerudian. Her long red hair was not pulled back, but fell in waves across her face.

"Mom?" the girl asked timidly.

"Yes, Midnight?"

"I have a question that I need to ask you."

"Well then, come in."

The young girl ran in quickly, shut the door softly, and ran to Endora. She threw her arms around the woman lovingly, and the girls face buried itself into the space between Endora's head and shoulders.

"I love you." She said in a muffled voice.

Endora felt small cool tears running down her back from the daughter who hung onto her. Endora ran a delicate hand through her daughter's hair.

"Sssshhh Midnight, it'll be ok. What's wrong?"

Midnight extracted herself from her mother to look into her face with big eyes. "I…I know that you have been appointed for a reason, and that you are the only one who can do this job. But…What's going to happen to me? What are they going to do to me? How am I going to live without you?" she sobbed.

"Aw, baby, don't worry. I have it all arranged." Endora lied quickly, she had no idea what was happening; the people conducting the entire situation had refused to tell her.

"Y-you do?"

"Of course I do, now you should run along and play before the ceremony starts."

Midnight nodded, hugged her mother one last time, and then left quickly.

Endora sighed as she looked down at the floor. How could she lie to her baby girl? She had made so many mistakes in her life, how could she explain to Midnight that this was a way to redeem herself and her family. She was the only pure blood Gerudian thief left, and it was her duty to take care of the last remaining inkling of the bloodline.

"But is this really the best way to protect her?" she asked herself.

"Of course it is!" a whispered voice said.

She jumped up, startled. And the whisper laughed. A man was leaning against the open doorpost. He was tall by any standard, but very skinny, and his skin was very pale, giving him a sickly appearance. His eyes seemed to emanate bright red, letting anyone who crossed his path know that he was not a sickly weakling.

"You startled me." Endora recovered lamely.

The man sniggered, crossed his arms, and walked towards her. His black clothing touching her bare skin as he brought his mouth as close to her ear as would allow, "And, are you having doubts?" the faint voice asked.

Endora took a few steps back, her body starting to close up for fright, "N-no. I know what I must do, I have no doubt that it will work."

The man allowed a small smile to flit around his lips. "Well then, the ceremony is about to begin, you should get ready."

And with that, he turned around and left hastily. Endora shuddered as soon as she knew he was gone from hearing range. She closed the door giddily and looked around. "That Nyx, he always manages to unnerve me…"

The shabby, run-down building that seemed to be sitting in the middle of nowhere was not your average ruin. Most travelers who passed by it just ignored, ruins were plentiful in Hyrule. Underneath the guise of a broken ruin a deadly secret grew in power. Hyrule had been at peace for at least two generations since the great and deadly imprisoning war. The dominant race of that land, the Hylians, had finally formed a great resistance against the opposing and usually suppressed race of the Gerudian Thieves. The Gerudians were not like most races, they were cursed to have only one male born every one-hundred years. The Gerudians say that it is a great mystery surrounding the slightly disturbing and confusing curse, but no Hylian has ever known it and lived. Most of the Gerudians had been either killed during the war or slaughtered after the Hylians regained control. The leader of the Gerudians at that time was an ambitious Gerudian male named Ganondorf, who had risen up a rebellious army of both the undead and his fellow thieves. Unfortunately for the Hylians, Ganondorf still had followers. They were called "The Dark Interlopers" and were obsessed with finding a way to bring Ganondorf from his spiritual prison and back into the world of flesh and blood. Most people ignored the eccentric group of wizards, remaining Gerudians, and noblemen who had a beef with the leading authority at any given time. This group was usually a headless rabble, but ever since a young and up-coming wizard named Nyx had become self appointed leader, they had been very organized and usually hostile towards any trespassers. Nyx's rise to power was led on the assumption that he was the only wizard who knew how to bring back Ganondorf.

Many people, all loyal to the Gerudian King, were now filtering into the ruins where a solitary altar stood. The altar was made of oddly carved stone and seemed to resemble a large scorpion. Its large legs were so delicately carved that you could see the supposedly minute hairs on them. Its tail arched gracefully over half of the body and a crescent moon with one star, the Gerudian Symbol, was gouged deep into the scorpions back. The crowd grew silent as Nyx came up and stood behind the altar, his bony fingers pressing into the stone to stabilize himself, he had not expected this many people to come to the ceremony. He realized that this would be to his advantage if the spell he had learned worked. He stared down at the archaic symbol carved into the altar. He placed a long fingernail inside the beginning of the line; he uttered a few words in his whisper of a voice. A red beam of light shot from his finger and lit up the entire carving. The eyes of the altar started to glow, and it looked very lifelike. The giant claws twitched menacingly as several bystanders backed away. The entire crowd fell silent and watched, anticipating the return of their leader. Nyx smiled and turned around to face a small room that had a wooden door in it. He nodded to a small, red-haired girl who was leaning against the door and she quickly pocked her head in the door. She then left the door open and walked to the edge of the horde. Nyx's smile stayed upon his face as his left hand flourished to signal the door.

"Bring her." he commanded.

The door opened all the way and two small wizards escorted Endora to the foot of the altar, she was looking straight into the lifelike eyes. She walked around to the front and sat down upon the altar, facing the horde. Before her, a sea of anticipating faces waited eagerly for that which would ultimately be her death.

"Do you know why you were chosen?" Nyx interrupted her reverie.

"Yes." Endora answered timidly.

"Speak up so that the horde can hear you." he hissed.

"Yes, I know why I have been chosen." she stated loudly and clearly.

He smiled, "Very good." He grabbed her arm and forced it to the altar, she did not resist. Her head was placed at the base of the tail, so that her midriff, conveniently bare, was in direct line with the deadly tail.

"This woman has been chosen to bring back our King for several reasons." Nyx continued for the benefit of the horde that had not immediately guessed. "Endora is a true-bred Gerudian, and her family and ancestry has been loyal to Ganondorf. She shall be serving us all by doing this immense sacrifice." he said this as he drew his hand across her stomach and placed his palm firmly in direct line of the end of the tail.

He closed his eyes; it all depended on the incantation now. He started to whisper something. It was very quiet, and the audience leaned forward and strained to hear, hardly daring to breath. Nyx's voice grew louder until it was almost a shout. The red lines started to criss-cross the scorpion's body, the red lines strained to reach the tail. Nyx drew his hand away at the very last moment; the tail descended and pierced her. Endora tried to cry out, but now sound came, only blood.

Midnight turned her face from it. Hot tears blurring her vision, she could not cry, not in front of this hardened and bloodthirsty group. Her mother was giving up her life, and she knew it hadn't been willingly. "Mom…" she whispered as she heard the gruesome sounds of her mother's last, juicy breath. Endora's breathing stopped, her pace died and her eyes were frozen open in a complete look of terror. All was quiet for three minutes. A small rustling of impatience came rippling through the crowd, but Nyx silenced them with a wave of his hand, and a gesture towards the horrible sacrifice. He grabbed four large items. The first seemed to resemble half of a female face, it had two horns though, and it was round like a crown. The rest were carved stone, the same as the female face, he placed them together like it was a jigsaw puzzle. Nyx placed the completed and very strange object on the sacrifice and backed away.

"Behold the power of the fused shadows!" he screamed at the crowd.

Red light started to emanate from Endora's wound, and it spread to her eyes and her mouth. It pulsed and throbbed spectacularly. A dark cloud seemed to seep out of the wound, and several more clouds seeped out of the eyes and mouth. The cloud took the form of a man, but not a distinguishable form, just a silhouette of one. It hovered over the prone figure, until everyone could see a distinct change in the victim. Her face seemed to be rapidly decaying. Nyx realized that it was only Ganondorf, drawing all the life he could out of the sacrifice before it was wasted. The figure left the soon decomposed carcass of the sacrifice and started to materialize before the altar. His back was turned to the horde and he faced Nyx. Nyx stared into the eyes of his master for the first time; he was stunned to see that Ganondorf had only aged what seemed ten years when he should have been nothing but a skeleton himself. Ganondorf held his crimson cape and swirled it expertly as he turned around to face his servants. They all bowed deeply, some even fell to the ground in shock, gratitude, or even fear. Only one girl stayed upright and didn't flinch when Ganondorf's power hungry eyes settled upon the girl, Midnight.

Midnight wasn't aware of her surroundings; she didn't see anything except the rotted and decayed corpse of her mother. Tears stained her cheeks as she stared straight past Ganondorf and at Endora. Ganondorf studied the small girl who seemed to be unafraid and turned to Nyx, who was silently celebrating his success.

"Who is that girl?" he asked, pointed at Midnight.

Nyx looked over to see the girl, grief stricken, standing upright. He ran over to her and it her hard across the face. "Bow you pathetic child, do you not know who you face?" he hissed at her as she fell to the ground.

Midnight clutched her face where he had struck her, but she kept her eyes on her mother. "Endora…" She whispered unbelievingly.

Nyx turned around quickly to face his master. "No one, Sir, she is only a small child."

"And why exactly do you let children come to such events as these?" he asked, slightly bemused.

Nyx stuttered. "Well, she was the daughter of the sacrifice. She is the last true-bred Gerudian, and she is one of the few Gerudians who actually still follow you." he explained hastily.

"And why have you not killed her?"

Nyx stayed silent, he didn't ever think to kill the young girl. "She is not very important, and she may be of use when she grows older." he mumbled.

Ganondorf walked up to the tearful girl and looked condescendingly down on her. "Are you the last of the family Colyta?" he demanded.

The girl only nodded, Ganondorf—being a massive eight feet tall—towered over her so that she felt like only a small pathetic bug pleading for its life.

"Your family has made great sacrifices for me." he reached down, grabbed her by the wrists, and yanked her up. "I promised your family that they would get a great reward, and you shall get it."

"Sir, she is only a child!" Nyx screamed, he was expecting the reward.

"But her family has done great things, and her reward will work towards my advantage." he answered in a measured tone.

"W-what is the… reward?" Midnight asked.

"How would you like to rule a kingdom, Daughter of Darkness?"