Majora's Mask
By Ice Sage
"Majora!" the high priest's voice boomed over all the people of the Community. "Majora! Stand before the people you have wronged with your sins."
A teenage girl walked toward the podium. She was a great beauty with long, flowing, golden hair that poured onto her shoulders and down her slender back. Her eyes were the color of ice and carried a look of defiance and dignity as she ascended the stairs, took her place next to the priest and faced the crowd.
"You wear white," hissed the priest in anger and disappointment.
Majora examined her white tunic. She looked up at the sea of black clothing surrounding the podium. Her eyes continued to wander up past the giant clock of the Temple and down the stairs to the Square where she stood. She finally brought her eyes to the priest. She hated him. She hated all of them. Why didn't they understand that they were wrong?
She looked again at the priest. She couldn't hate him. He was the worst out of all of them. But she could not hate him.....even if she wanted to.
"Father, I wear white because I'm no longer part of this Community." said Majora.
"You were named after our supreme goddess, Majora and you are my daughter." said the priest. "I expected you to do great things for us. Then you would take my place when I die."
"And administer the Nightmare to innocent people who are a threat to your power!" shouted Majora. "I can't think of a worse experience!"
"It looks like you will never have to take my job. I will not allow you to plague our society anymore with your rebellious nature. Even if it means sentencing you to the Nightmare myself."
"You wouldn't dare!" gasped Majora in horror. "I'm your daughter! You wouldn't dare!"
But the priest ignored her cries and addressed the crowd.
"Majora has practiced strong magic behind our backs. She has gotten so powerful that it is my duty to pronounce her dangerous. The punishment for this is to leave the Community and become a wanderer in the Valley of Ikana for the rest of her days."
Majora's heart leaped with happiness. She would leave this place forever! Never again would she face the disapproving stares of the people as she walked down the street, the lectures of her father, telling her to stop using her magic outside the Temple. Her desire to use her magic came so strongly that she placed her power into a mask. Well it will be a mask. Now it was just a block of wood. She still had to carve it. But when it was finished, she would be unstoppable. She would just leave and no one would get in her way. But the idea that appealed to her most was that she would never have to look upon the mask of the supreme goddess, Majora. The mask that brings the Nightmare to people should not have been created. It was the strongest source of power in the Community. "Such an object should never exist," thought Majora to herself.
"But the list does not end here." continued her father. "Majora has blatantly refused to worship the very goddess she was named after."
At these words the crowd gasped. That was a capital crime and deserved the worst punishment. Majora went pale. Things did not look good for her.
The priest looked at her. "Majora, do you swear allegiance to the four gods? When the masks of each god is held up you do not say the required responses."
"The gods are evil. I chose not to worship evil," cried out Majora so that all would hear her.
"Not even the supreme goddess?" asked the priest in a stern voice. "You do nothing when her mask is brought out."
"No." said Majora and the crowd gasped again. "No, I hate Majora. She is pure evil and I can never pray to such evil."
"You can tell her that yourself," said the priest. "Majora...I sentence you to the Nightmare to take place at dawn."
The crowd cheered. To them this was definitely a fitting punishment. Majora's father clapped his hands twice and to large men came to lead Majora to her cell while she waited for the Nightmare to come. It was only when she heard the door of her cell lock that she realized what had happened and she broke into tears.
********************
When she calmed herself, she began to wonder how she would pass the time in her cell. Suddenly she remembered. She searched through the folds of her tunic and took out a thin knife. Now she had to get something to carve.
Majora drew in a deep breath and tried to imagine her house. Her father would not be home yet. Her spirit entered through the door, and walked through a hallway. She stopped at the second door to the right and walked in. Inside, there was a bed, a table and several chests. She walked up to one and opened it. Inside the chest were some black tunics and many white ones. Majora pulled out the clothes and reached for the item that was found at the bottom.
When she opened her eyes, Majora was still in her cell. But now she held a block of wood in her hands. She smiled as she saw that it was faintly glowing with her magic. Again she shut her eyes and let her power control her movements. With the knife she began to carve a face in the wood. Wherever her knife touched, a splash of color stained the wood. She couldn't see her work but she knew her magic would create a mask that would symbolize her and no one else. Finally it was finished and she lay down on the floor to get some real sleep before the Nightmare would cause her to never sleep again.
She had witnessed many people receive the Nightmare but had never experienced it herself. Those who were doomed were bound to a stake so that escape was impossible. Then her father would approach the person wearing that awful mask. He would whisper a few words to the person and the eyes of the mask would start to glow. The victim would be silenced for a few minutes then it would start to shout. Soon the shouts turned to screams and then the screams were silenced. From that day on, the victim would never be the same. He would walk and talk and do everyday activities but all personality was gone, the actual person was no more. She cried in her room for a long time every time another soul was lost to the Nightmare the mask created.
Suddenly she woke up. She heard footsteps outside her cell. Majora quickly gathered up her mask and knife and hid them in the folds of her tunic once again. The door clicked and swung open. Her father walked in. Did she see tears in his eyes?
"Come, daughter. It is time."
Majora followed the priest back to the Temple Square. This time a stake was propped up in the center. She turned to look at her father. He was crying. Not knowing what to do, she looked into his eyes and hugged him. Her father returned the gesture. Their embrace lasted only a few seconds when he priests hand fell upon the spot where the mask was hidden. He rapped his hand against it and felt the hard wood of the mask. Majora pulled away. "He knows" she thought frantically to herself. But her father let out a small chuckle, smiled at his daughter, and walked into the Temple.
Two men came to tie Majora to the stake. They bound her hands behind the pole and tied her feet together so that she was forced into a sitting position. Then her father came out of the Temple and the crowd formed a circle around the two. He was wearing the cursed mask. It was purple with glowing orange eyes. Strange, colored spikes came out of the purple. It was ironic that this evil mask was made in the shape of a heart. One could almost see the magic inside of it.
The priest walked up to his daughter and leaned over to whisper the words to begin the Nightmare.
"Good luck my child. Use that mask of yours. You can beat this evil and save us all."
Majora looked at her father in confusion and got caught in the glowing stare of the mask. Suddenly she lurched forward out of her body and she felt herself flying to some unknown destination. She thought she heard the words "I'm sorry" come from behind her. But it could have been her imagination.
Suddenly, her flight stopped. She found herself in a strange room. It was filled with many strange colors, mostly purple. Several spots of color were on the walls, five of them to be exact. She saw the masks of the four minor gods at the center of each stain. But what about the one at the far end? She could make out an object on the other side, but she could not see make out its definite shape The colors of the object and the flowing colors of the wall blended perfectly.
A strange feeling washed over her. It felt hard and soft, cold and warm at the same time. Majora looked down at her hands. They were there and yet they blurred before her eyes. "Like a dream!" she realized. "This is the Nightmare!"
She ran to the object on the far side. She did not get very far when the eyes of the mask opened and burned brightly. It flew off the wall all by itself and began to circle Majora. Strange tentacles trailed from behind the mask. One of them lashed out at her face. She cried out and heard an echo as she heard her body at the Square shout too.
Use your mask! Save us all!
Her father's words rang through her head. The evil mask prepared herself for another blow.
Her? Am I actually fighting the goddess Majora?
She pulled out her mask. In the light she saw that she had created it in the shape of a human face. Her knife left blue and white coloring in the hair. On it's face were red marks. Her name! She had written her name on it. It was written in the language of magic but it was her name just the same. THIS was Majora's mask, not that thing that tortured her dreams for many years.
Without hesitation Majora put her mask on. Immediately she was thrown into a wave of pain that brought her down to her knees. She screamed and again heard the echo. This time the cry of a man joined the echo. Her father? She pulled herself back up and gazed at the mask with new eyes.
She felt taller....stronger. She felt herself drawing power from the four gods and bending it to do her will. She felt the fighting prowess of Odolwa in her muscles, the swiftness of Goht in her legs and arms, the cunning of Gyorg in her brain, and the raw power of Twin-Mold flow through her veins. Majora drew out her carving knife. What? It weighed as light as her knife but this was a huge sword! Twin, silver blades formed a helix that fused to a crystal handle.
Majora caught a glimpse of her reflection in the sword and gasped at her new appearance. The most surprising feature was her eyes. Her eyes were two blazing orbs of light. Her tunic was now the color of the sky and her long hair was no longer golden but gleaming white with blue streaks running down. On her face was her name, hidden within the red marks around her eyes. She was pure magic.
Her magic.
There can only be one mask of Majora......and it won't be the goddess. The evil mask hesitated for a moment then charged full force at the new being before her. Majora held her ground, sword in hand. She will not lose. Now matter what kind of tricks the mask pulled on her. If the evil grew stronger, she would still fight. She would fight the mask over and over if she had to. She will not lose.....
********************
"Majora, wake up! You've won!"
With a groan, Majora spicked herself up. She was back in the Temple Square, no longer tied to the stake. Her mask was at her feet. She stooped down to take it and noticed the other mask on the floor. The mask of the goddess lay at her father's feet. She took both masks and gazed at the priest.
"I......I...It's gone. It's over"
Her father swept up Majora in his arms. "Oh when I heard you scream I feared the worst."
The crowd began to grow angry. Their priest saved a condemned criminal. They closed in on the two saved ones and their masks.
"Father, we must go."
"Yes, daughter. You lead the way."
She looked at her father in surprise. He was permitting her to use her power?
Majora summoned a cloud to appear around the crowd. With everyone blinded. She and her father left the town and entered the field of Termina. They walked around the town they saw entrances to other areas outside the walls of their hometown. Termina was so big and beautiful. Majora wished she could protect it like one of the guardian giants. As they stood watching the sun set behind Great Bay Coast her father asked her a question.
"Well, Majora, now that you are free what are you going to do?"
Majora thought long and hard. "I will become a wanderer. I will explore this world until the day I die. Then my spirit will protect this place in my mask if the goddess should ever return."
"I shall come with you. I'll protect the mask of the goddess from everyone who may use it. I'll dwell in Termina and...maybe other places as well. I always liked masks. Maybe I'll collect them."
"Maybe...maybe someday, our people will learn to see the light as you have. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for showing me."
Majora smiled at him. That was the best answer he could have given her.
"Father?"
"Yes, child?"
"I love you, Father."
"And I you, child." he said as he returned the smile.
According to legend, he has never stopped smiling since.