A Note from the Author: Whether you are following up from Arctic Succession or have just come to join the fun, welcome to the fourth installment in the tale of Link's encounters with five of the six sages from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The series has so far followed a tradition of mixing exciting new plotlines for Ocarina of Time with deep psychological drama, and if you've been following the (so-far) trilogy you'll be glad to know that this story will continue to do so. In case you've missed the previous three sages, you can touch base on Link's romance with Saria in Phantom Destiny, witness Darunia and Link join forces in Dragon's Duet, and experience Princess Ruto's suffering in the dark tragedy that is Arctic Succession. In Rising Puppetmaster, Impa will have her turn to shine.
Do note though that unlike previous stories, this one is best enjoyed after reading the previous one, Arctic Succession, because it does contain spoilers.
Enjoy, and please don't forget to leave a review when you're all said and done.
Zelda stuff (c) Nintendo
Oracle stuff (c) Nintendo, Capcom
Original stuff (c) Me
Part I ~ The Army
I stumbled through Hyrule Field in a daze, so distant from the world that I might have pronounced myself dead, or at least drunk. Nothing looked familiar. Everything was sinister, evil. Was I truly safe? I had no shield, and even with the new Heart Container I felt weak from lack of sleep. Perhaps I should have gone to sleep, but Shiek needed me in Kakariko. I didn't know how urgent it was; I just knew she needed me.
Hyrule Field was surreal and haunting, in a sort of odd way. The clouds from Lake Hylia had extended across Hyrule, and the dark overcast ominously hung above my head like a phantom watching my every move. The field itself was a mixture of greys, as if no color could exist beneath the roof of clouds. I encountered no life; the field was as dead as Zora's Domain. There was a sinister feeling behind all of it; I couldn't place my finger on what it was, but it felt like something had changed in Hyrule. Things were going to be really different very soon.
A lethargic rage was boiling inside me. Ganondorf would pay for what he had done to the Zoras. I would not rest until his blood was smeared across the walls of his god-forsaken castle. Navi and Ruto pleaded me to think clearly; looking back, I wish I had. Perhaps I would have been better prepared. But before I continue, I feel introductions are in order.
My name is Link. I am a Hylian, though for almost all my life I thought I was a Kokiri. The forest was and continues to be my home, the ominous Lost Woods calling to me sometimes even when I am not nearby. Seven years ago, I was brought into what at first seemed an exciting adventure. Such joy I felt, traveling across Eastern Hyrule and collecting the Spiritual Stones for an over-reacting princess. Until the Deku Tree died--the tragedy that began my new life--I had been sheltered like every other Kokiri in the Lost Woods, forbidden to leave its misty shadows. But with the god's dying breath he sent me outside the forest with the Kokiri Emerald, and since then I've seldom revisited it. The princess directed me to the volcanic Death Mountain to acquire the Goron Ruby, and shortly after I collected the princess of Zora's Domain and took the Zora Sapphire as my reward. Little did I know that this was all a ruse, the evil Ganondorf lurking both in front of and behind my every step. As soon as I opened the path to the Triforce, a sacred object that granted any desire, he appeared behind me and snatched it. No more than seconds afterward, the caretaker of the Temple of Light, Rauru, cast me into a seven year coma.
For seven years I slept, all because an ancient man thought I wasn't old or strong enough to wield the Sword of Evil's Bane, the Master Sword, and slay Ganondorf then and there. For those same years, Hyrule went without a single person strong enough to challenge Ganon's might. Ganon became the new king, and the kingdom was cast into turmoil. One by one, five of the six Temples of Power were taken over by Ganon's minions and their corresponding land succumbed to darkness. Now that I've awakened, under guidance of my fairy Navi, the Light Sage Rauru, and the mysterious Shiek, I've been traveling Hyrule all over again purifying the temples and saving our kingdom. It sounds glorious; but to me, it has been a perpetual, re-occurring nightmare.
Mere minutes after my revival, I discovered my best friend and secret crush, Saria, was being held captive in the Forest Temple not far from my own house in the Lost Woods. To save her, I had to match wits with more ghosts than I can count. It paid off in the end, and the new Deku Tree was able to expel the phantoms and monsters from the Lost Woods for good.
My next trial came in Death Mountain after it had the greatest eruption Hyrule had ever experienced. Gorons had been rounded up and were due for sacrifice, but by teaming up with Darunia we slayed the terrible dragon Volvagia in the core of the Fire Temple. The land healed its wounds, and the Gorons were once again able to live safely on their volcanic home.
The third temple brought with it the greatest tragedy I'd ever witnessed or experienced. The effect of my coma was evident; I had woken up three years too late, only to discover all but two Zoras stone dead and all the waterways of Hyrule possessed by a psychopathic water-woman named Lady Morpha. By copying my own identity, a creation of her's that I called "Dark Link" turned Zora's Domain into a glacier, scared off the Zora's guardian deity Jabu-Jabu, and in his absence slaughtered them all. Shiek and I were there to witness his final murder, the assassination of none other than King Zora himself, right before our eyes. We thought all the Zoras to be extinct, until we discovered Princess Ruto was in hiding in Lake Hylia. With Ruto's help, I brought justice to all the dead Zoras by killing Morpha and her illusions once and for all.
But let's not get off on a tangent.
The darkness was coming; I didn't know what that meant, nor what the darkness was, but it was coming. The greatest threat to Hyrule had yet to show its face to the country; despite facing Lady Morpha herself, I just knew something wasn't right. She wasn't...real. She was a psychopath at best, a woman comparable to Majora at worst, but all the fights I had fought as of yet all seemed guided, as if there was some force comparable to the gods manipulating all these affairs. What made me look into the pool and see Morpha's nucleus? I had no reason to look into it. So why did I do it? Was it the gods? Or was it something else? How long had this been going on? Was I being guided even now?
The sun was beginning to set when I arrived at the eastern edge of Hyrule Field. Long shadows were cast all around me. It was like I was in some sort of dream world, separate from Hyrule completely. The field just didn't look the same. Trees appeared menacing, the grass crunched too loudly, and the shadows were so dark you could have said they were solid. The howling of the cold, dry wind was like the moaning of restless souls, calling for me to join them in their graves. I walked in a stupor, aware only of these things, unaware of where I was going, what I was doing, why I was even going east. Shiek wasn't this far south. Kakariko was in the north...
Suddenly I snapped back into reality, and before me stood the entrance to the Lost Woods. "Why have I returned here?" I asked Navi, though my question was so quiet I don't think she noticed. I felt almost out of breath, like every word was a struggle to get out. What was happening to me, why did I feel like this? I tried to pull myself together and find out why I was brought to my forest home, but the entire time I had this unbreaking sense of anxiety.
"Quick, hide!" Navi cried. I darted behind a boulder. It was almost black in the orange, ethereal light, but its shadow was even blacker. I felt like I had stepped into a small patch of night.
"What is it!?" I demanded, still struggling to speak.
"Look, Stalfos!" Navi explained. I peeked over the boulder cautiously. Just as Navi had said, a Stalfos passed by almost dangerously close. It was moving in the direction away from the Lost Woods. Searching beyond it, I saw more Stalfos silently stepping out of the shadows and mist of the Lost Woods and marching north. I could have counted at least ten, but there seemed to be a lot more farther up north. The one nearby took no notice of me, none at all; the Stalfos in the Forest Temple had been so alert that this felt really bizarre. Stalchild rose from the ground slightly north of the forest and walked amongst the Stalfos in their march north. Their glowing orange eyes' light was deafened by the sun's rays.
I was at an utter loss for any explanation. "What's going on?" I whispered to Navi. "I thought the Deku Tree Sprout purified the forest."
"Don't forget, Link," Navi offered, "Stalfos are a natural member of the forest. They probably weren't erased like the other ghosts."
I watched Stalfos after Stalfos step out of the mist, until it seemed like there was no end to their numbers. "They weren't doing this before," I pondered. "Why now?" I had to find out. I waited until the next Stalfos passed me by, and then I made a mad dash into the shade of the Lost Woods. Despite being in clear view, none of the skeletons noticed me.
A wave of nostalgia and memories flooded into my head. Haunted paintings, vile ghosts, flying skulls, Saria... It felt so long ago that I had wandered the dark, candle-lit halls of the Forest Temple. The moldy smell of the art museum was a distant memory now. The only thing that remained vivid was Saria. Oh, the joy I had felt when we danced...
The Lost Woods visually was the same as it had always been. Dark, foggy, and ever so mysterious, it was a realm that continued to be virtually untouched by outsiders. Dominated by a dynasty of Deku Trees, and otherwise ruled only by the Deku Monarchy in the far southeast, it was neither part of the kingdom of Hyrule nor the commonwealth of Holodrum. It sat ominously in-between, forbidden to outsiders and imprisoning those living within. Of course, it wasn't devoid of civilization. The western neck of the woods, where the dark Headstone Mountain loomed and where the fog seemed thickest, was owned by the Skull Kids, Hylian children who had become lost in the woods and were painfully transformed into scarecrow-like imps. The east, containing the ancient Tarm Ruins and the gate into Holodrum, was owned by the Deku, wooden, opportunistic creatures who were both trustworthy and untrustworthy at the same time, depending on what was in it for them. Finally, the center was owned by the people with whom I'll forever associate: the Kokiri, children of the Deku Tree. They were forest sprites that donned the form of Hylian and Horon children, and they lived with the Deku Tree in a village called Kokiri Forest, of which the Forest Temple and Hyrule Field were near.
It was like taking a step back in time, to when Hyrule was but a growing nation. A powerful kingdom once dominated the land covered now by the Lost Woods. As I stumbled over fallen logs and slippery rocks damp from the mist, I passed by dark, ghostly pillars once part of a sort of marketplace. The Lost Woods--especially the Tarm Ruins--was dotted with these ancient relics. It is said in Kokiri Lore that the people who built them were worshipers of the moon, the Earth People, whose capitol sat atop Headstone Mountain. Though peaceful, they were eventually wiped out by outside races, namely the Hylians. Their last act before dying was planting a seed to harbor their god, the God of the Earth, which grew into the first Deku Tree and cleansed the dead kingdom by creating the cursed forest.
I could not see through the dense fog drifting in and out of the ancient trees. It didn't matter much; I was caught up in memories, reminding myself of what it meant to be a Kokiri and awing about how distant Hyrule's troubles felt even just a few yards into the growth. I was not aware of my surroundings until suddenly I ran face-to-face into a large skull. "Ah!" I yelped, jumping back in surprise. Navi jolted off my blue hat, my exclamation knocking her awake. In front of us stood a well-defined skull with glowing red lights where the eyes normally would have been. It wore a the lower half of the turquoise Hylian Tunic around its waist, and a pair of thick boots over its feet, but the rest of its body was exposed bone, a skeleton. The skeleton clutched a sword so crooked that it resembled a lightning bolt as well as a circular shield as pale as the moon. I was standing no more than a foot away from a well-armed Stalfos Warrior. One of the Lost Woods' cruelest curses was a defense mechanism used to keep outsiders out of the forest. Any adult who didn't live in the forest and entered it was ripped of all their skin and organs until all that remained was a skeleton, cursed to roam the forest for eternity as a Stalfos. The curse on the Forest Temple had sent these Stalfos into a dangerous craze, and several Stalfos in the temple were under the influence of Ganondorf. I thought the evil Stalfos were gone--what they were doing walking the world again I did not know.
The Stalfos seemed just as surprised as I was. "Who goes there?" it demanded, its low voice crackling like the rusty hinges on an old door. Its breath smelled of decaying flesh.
"I am Link," I replied cautiously, my words only a whisper.
"Names mean nothing." Its words were hollow, unnatural. "State your allegiance!"
"A-Allegiance?" Was I going to avoid a fight after all? The Stalfos couldn't see me clearly through the fog, it must not have recognized who I was.
"Everything has an allegiance. Do you side with the Great One, or are you a rebel? One or the other!" It pointed its sword at me. "Tell me now!"
I panicked. "I... I'm with the Great Ganondorf, sir!" I cried, saluting the Stalfos before I knew what I was doing. What was wrong with me...?
"How many have you killed?" it demanded.
"Uh... M-Many?" I offered. I was Ganon's "henchman," I must have "killed" thousands.
In seconds, the crooked sword was inches away from my neck. "We have orders not to kill anybody yet!"
I was brutally reminded of the tragedy of the Zoras. "B-But sir," I countered aggressively, "doesn't the death of our enemies get rid of them for good?"
The Stalfos stumbled towards me, and I away from it. Its next words struck a blow to my soul. "Death? What do you know about death?"
"Wh-What?" I backed away. "I know everything about death! I've killed so much, I've seen so much death... I know everything about it!" I could feel my rage boiling. I'd witnessed an entire graveyard of Zoras! What more could it want!?
"You know nothing about death," the Stalfos droned, advancing towards me. Behind it, I could see the chilling image of another Stalfos rising from the ground. It was like some ghost story, only real...
"But I--"
"Nothing about death." The Stalfos drew back its sword. I took little time in pulling out mine.
"Sir, I side with Ganondorf!" I insisted, not at all willing to fight any Stalfos at a time like this. A third one started to rise...
"Nothing about death," the Stalfos repeated as I backed away even faster. It was as if the world were in slow motion. I felt myself bump into something cold, bumpy and rock hard. Turning around, I gasped in horror as I saw another skeleton mere inches away from me. It was another Stalfos, keeping me from getting further away from the first. But that wasn't all; Navi was missing. "Nothing." Alone and defenseless without Navi or my shield, I prepared to make a desperate attempt to swing my sword and get rid of the skeletal menaces, but something stopped me. It was like I couldn't even move my arm when I even considered harming the Stalfos. There was a mental block. My legs started moving beneath me, and before I knew it, I wasn't fighting--I was running out of the dark forest. None of the Stalfos chased me, but as I peeked behind me I could see them rising from the forest, others materializing out of the dense fog in greater numbers than I could have imagined. I broke out of the Lost Woods and into Hyrule Field, but I didn't stop. I dashed past the skeletons already in the field, and suddenly I finally was able to pinpoint where they were going: Kakariko. By Din's Rod, there was an army of Stalfos and Stalchild marching towards Kakariko Valley. I'd just have to make it first.
-
The sky was a thick orange as I scrambled into the shady village of Kakariko, between Death Mountain and Fire Mountain in a gorge known as Kakariko Valley. The village had seen better days, but had been relatively untouched by Ganondorf. He was smart enough to understand that his kingdom could not survive without an economy, and for seven years he had apparently continued trade with the neighboring Kingdom of Labyrinna and Holodrum Commonwealth. Though for the first year or two it was heavily patrolled by Gerudo soldiers, Kakariko Village was in a way still how it used to be seven years ago when I woke up from my coma.
Hyrule Castle Town was a bloodbath during the first year; anybody who couldn't escape the city in time was killed by a horrific zombie ReDead. Those who did escape, however, either left the country or sheltered themselves in Kakariko Village. Because of this, the village's population skyrocketed, and so many new houses were needed that instead they all just roomed together. I had discovered this when I last arrived in Kakariko to fetch the hookshot for the Forest Temple. My very first impression was how many more people there were. From the talk of the people, however, one was unaccounted for: Blind, the Shadow Thief.
The undersides of my knees were aching by the time I finally stopped. Arriving through the entry gate to Kakariko, I found a bench to rest on as quickly as possible. Sitting down brought a rush of soothing relief, like a balloon being gently deflated. Normally I would have used Epona for that sort of distance; why did I run it all? It was suicide! I found myself panting and gasping for air, and there was a painful stitch in my side. "Navi," I hoarsely summoned aloud, lonely without my glowing companion, "where are you?"
"Excuse me? Are you alright?" I nearly jumped when I realized there was a woman sitting on the bench next to me with a parasol. I recognized her as Anju, a woman who owned a Cuckoo Farm in town. She was observing me with concerned eyes, as if I was horribly ill. "I'm sorry," she apologized, seeing my shock, "did I surprise you? I didn't mean to; I really am sorry!"
"A-Anju?" I stammered.
"Do you know me?" Now Anju was the shocked one.
I shook my head. "No, but I've heard of you. You're that Cuckoo farmer."
Now she was mad. "Sir, if you're going to laugh at me, I might as well just leave!"
"No, no!" I begged. "Please don't go! I wasn't going to laugh."
"Alright," she snapped contemptuously, "but just remember, I was the one that asked if you were okay. Don't go tormenting a poor girl with any tricks."
"I won't. Believe me," I sighed, "I don't want anything to do with tricks." I collected myself and stood up. "My name's Link," I told her, dusting myself off. "I'm looking for the Great Impa, do you know where I might find her?"
Anju made a face. "Ugh! You're looking for her? You aren't one of Ganondorf's men are you?"
I shook my head. "Never. Why do you ask?"
Anju stared at me incredulously. "You aren't from around here, are you? I suppose you wouldn't know, then. We've about had it with Impa, don't you know? She's not doing us any good; she's with Ganondorf, you know." Seeing my look of surprise, she stood up and whispered, "You're a strong-looking man. Why don't you help us?"
"Help you do what?" I asked with a nervous chuckle.
"Get rid of her, of course!"
"What!?"
"You know--a revolt or something! We've had it with working for Ganondorf and his dear Impa. See, me and a bunch of others--more than half the village, I'd guess--are planning an assassination!" My eyes widened. "She's hiding something in the graveyard; we all know she is, otherwise why would she keep going there and disappearing? We're going to get rid of her, and take back what should be our's!"
I backed away and shook my head. "It sounds very exciting, but I'd like to have a word with her first. We're...old acquaintances."
Anju made a deep sigh, but submitted. "Fair enough," she shrugged. "Her slimy ol' house is on that hill over there." She pointed with her parasol towards a large, creepy manor at the top of a large hill near us. "I'm warning you, though," she added darkly before leaving me, "side with the Imp and we'll target you too!"
"Oh Navi," I mumbled under my breath once I was alone, glimpsing up at the ominous manor with a shiver. "What am I going to do without you?"
-
If there was a single shadow on Hyrule's surface it would be Kakariko Valley. Death and Kakariko went hand-in-hand for ages; in fact, Kakariko was Shiekhah for "Bloodland." Long ago, it was home to a race of people known as the Shiekhah, or alternatively as the Shadow Folk. A people that prided themselves in their cunning and battle skills, they flourished in the shadows of Kakariko Valley for centuries, even back when the Hylians were just migrating into Hyrule from Labyrinna. When the Kingdom of Hyrule was just a baby nation, the Shiekhah pledged allegiance to them, and for many years afterwards watched over the deceased members of the Royal Family. The Hylian Royal Family, in fact, had their graveyard in Kakariko. The Shadow Temple was a less-glorious move; if the Hylians broke their bond with the Shiekhahs, they would be tortured in the blood bank for eternity. Unfortunately, the immigration of the different races into Hyrule proved to be their downfall. When the Hylian Civil War began, the Shiekhah got the short end of the stick. Though in the end the Hylians, Shiekhah, and Zoras won ownership of Hyrule, all but one Shiekhah had died.
Impa was all that remained. She was the proud mayor of Kakariko Village, now that her duties as Zelda's nanny were all but lost. Ganondorf had only let her live because he knew the village wouldn't co-operate without her. She was a massive creature, towering above even the tallest men. Covered with face-paint and dressed in battle armor, she looked like she was preparing to go to war. Her presence was ominous and intimidating, and her face was so stern and her voice so tense and commanding that you'd think her somebody to fear; but the ghostly white hair, peaceful body language, and distaste of war gave her true nature away. Impa had given up fighting long ago, and she was now a kind, caring, but strong-minded woman, the perfect person to act as Zelda's au pair when she was younger. I met her almost immediately after meeting Zelda, and though we talked only briefly, I knew she was a woman to be trusted. I hadn't had the pleasure of talking with her since my coma, so I was eager to visit her.
Impa's house stood atop the hill overlooking most of the rest of the village. It was the darkest part of the valley, apart from the Graveyard, and always sat in a foreboding shadow no matter what the time of day. It was the most different from the other buildings; though Shiekhah architecture was everywhere, Impa's house was particularly Shiekhah quality, possessing dark, candlelit chambers, grim statues of birds and bats, and gorgeous stained glass walls. It was impossible not to feel at least a bit anxious in Impa's house, which was really more of a manor, the kind that these years you'd normally only find in up-state Lynna City. A vile wind howled outside, rattling the wooden window shades, all of which were closed save for a single large window overlooking the windmill. The window was within the view of a large, silver chair with purple velvet cushions for sitting on. The chair was too large for a Hylian--it was made to fit a Shiekhah, and indeed it was there that I found Impa. She stared out the window from her chair in mild apprehension, troubled.
I stood before her nervously. Her glare was so intimidating, it felt like my entire soul was being observed. She was truly one of the Shadow Folk. "H-Hello, Impa," I greeted, my voice shaking. "It's been a while." My last glimpse of Impa had been seven years ago when Ganondorf invaded Hyrule Castle Town. She had been riding away on a horse with Princess Zelda.
Impa smiled ever so slightly, but did not move. "What a surprise it is, to see the man clad in forest green standing before my dark throne," she brooded, her voice cold and stern. The way she talked, I almost felt like I was being accused of something; but from what I had seen of her before, this was ordinary for her to speak that way. "Welcome, Link, to my humble abode. What can I do for you?"
"I'm checking on how things are going," I replied, though I knew it was an obvious lie.
"You've come to seek out the Sage of Shadow, I assume?" she beamed, amused by my reaction. "Yes, I know your mission. I am also aware of who I am. But that wasn't hard to deduce; I am, after all, the only Shiekhah left." Her smile vanished, and she added darkly, "There is no other." It was all too easy to remember where Impa stood. She had witnessed her people dying; not even Ruto had witnessed her entire race's destruction. And the Shiekhah hadn't died of evil monsters; they had died of Gerudo and Gorons. "Let's cut to the chase, Hero of Time," Impa continued, not at will to lower her guard for any substantial time. "Your mission is to purify the Temples of Power; or, to be specific, the Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow, and Spirit Temples. You've done all but the last two; and seeing as the Spirit Temple lies far away, you've come here first. Is this satisfactory?"
I nodded. "Wow, I'm impressed," I remarked. How did Impa know so much?
"You won't be for long. I hate to destroy all that you have journeyed here for, but I've been the Shadow Sage for seven years, and I've done my job. Ganondorf has yet to lay a finger on the Shadow Temple."
I gasped. "But I was told--"
"You were told wrong," Impa interrupted, chillingly but understandably calm. "I've lowered myself to the lowest moral level, letting Ganondorf take control of my village instead of fighting back like a real Shiekhah. But I'd protect that temple with my life; it is the last great mark left by my people, and I'd rather die than see it destroyed." Impa lowered her voice and bent towards me. "I'm sorry you've gone through the trouble to come here," she whispered, "but Shiek just got a little over-excited. The Shadow Temple is perfectly alright."
"You know Shiek!?"
Her voice became even quieter. "Of course I do. Who do you think taught him the ways of the Shiekhah?" My jaw dropped. "My job is to protect my people, even when it means allowing Ganondorf to rule over us in order to avoid a bloodbath like the one in Hyrule Castle Town. Shiek is liberating Hyrule in my place. That is how I know your mission, and that as a Sage I must keep my guard up in case Ganondorf finds out."
"And how long do you intend to allow Ganondorf to be in charge?" A new voice entered the manor, and we both turned to see Shiek walking through the door. He sounded impatient and deeply irritated, as if he had been asking that question for years. "How long do you intend to serve him instead of fight him!?"
Though I was surprised by the apparent defiance Shiek was portraying, Impa appeared to have gone through this debate before. She kept calm and collected, and eyed Shiek like he was a naive little boy who over-generalized the world. "Your presence is acknowledged, Shiek, but your argument is not," the Shiekhah said, not even bothering to reconcile.
"How can you just sit here and be Ganondorf's little pet!? You used to be Princess Zelda's protector! She trusted you to help put an end to this madness!"
"I trust you've been doing well, Link," Impa sighed, ignoring her student, "though I understand there have been some challenges to your might. I must thank you for putting an end to Death Mountain's eruption; we were beginning to fear Kakariko's time had already come to an end." She stood up and stepped towards me. Even though I was reasonably tall, I had to strain my neck up to see her face. I felt like a small mouse. Impa looked down at me with an urgent face. I could smell the flowers of Kakariko in her armor, and it gave me a nauseous headache, foreshadowing things to come. "Unfortunately, your trials were merely that: trials. I am afraid that your job will only get harder from here on out."
"Wh-What do you mean?" I inquired, getting a bad feeling in my stomach. I'd been through a lot; it was difficult to imagine anything worse.
Impa's face was as grim as a dark raincloud; some inner turmoil seemed to be playing about in her head, and I dreaded her words before she spoke them. The room seemed just a bit darker; I hoped it was just the setting sun. When the Shiekhah answered, it was in a whisper. "Ganondorf's goal isn't Hyrule," she warned, "it's the world. He's had us for seven long years, and now he wishes to expand his dark kingdom. Shiek informs me that Ganon is preparing an army to invade Holodrum."
I found it a struggle to breathe. "What!?" I gasped. An army... I had never fought an entire army before. Not to mention that the situation in its entirety had gotten very dire very fast. "He's preparing an army!?"
Impa nodded solemnly. "I haven't seen it yet, but considering how skillfully Ganondorf has corrupted this land--"
"We could have stopped it!" Shiek yelled suddenly, eyes once again directed fiercely at his teacher. "Maybe not seven years ago, but what about three years ago!? Sure, Link is the only one who can slay Ganondorf; but that didn't mean I had to go into hiding! It didn't mean you had to be weak and just give Kakariko to him! This is your home, Impa, not your trading commodity! Your entire people died here so that the Gerudo wouldn't take it, and now you've let Ganondorf, their king, take it like stealing meat from a vegetarian!" Shiek pounded the wall with a fist angrily and bowed his head. "We could have re-united the people of Hyrule, we could have formed a resistance, we could have won! I never should have trusted you, it's all your fault! Now Ganon's got an army, and there's nothing we can do about it!" If I didn't know better, I could have sworn Shiek was crying under those bandages. "I trusted you, Impa..."
Impa was silent for a moment, obviously hurt by Shiek's verbal attack. Impa tried to be strong; but I saw then that she had an inner soft spot when it came to her people. She was, as I kept realizing, virtually just like Princess Ruto. She had no family to speak of; she had found a new family in the Hylian Monarchy, and with Ganondorf in charge she had lost them too. Now even Shiek was turning on her, not to mention her own villagers. Ruto had sympathy; Impa had nobody. She was, quite frankly, all alone in the universe. It would be hard for anybody to survive as long as she had with a condition like that. As I gazed up at Impa, I could see her muscular body, usually stiff as a statue, trembling.
I didn't know what to say; all I knew was that I had to say something. The bond between Shiek and Impa, whatever it was, was ready to collapse, and it didn't look like either of them were willing to come to its rescue. I searched desperately for words, but nothing came to my tongue. I was at as much of a loss as they were. But gradually, something did come to mind; unfortunately, it wasn't anything good. "Impa," I requested warily, unsure what sort of reaction I'd get in her current state, "I know where his army is."
Now Shiek was the one who was surprised. Quite frankly, I didn't even realize the validity of my statement until his reaction. Was I really on the right track? "What!? Where!?" he demanded. "Where's the army, Link? You must tell us!"
I glanced worriedly at Shiek for a moment, but quickly turned my attention back to Impa. My lips were trembling. I was scared. I'd been through so much already, horrific and chilling, and yet this was the first time since I stepped into the Deku Tree had I was truly and honestly scared. Scared of what I unknowingly witnessed, and fearful of what it may mean. In a way, I didn't even want to answer Shiek. "Impa," I explained nervously, "as I was coming to Kakariko I saw...Stalfos." Shiek's eyes grew wide. Impa's didn't nearly grow as much, but I could see how she was a bit worried about what was to come herself. Unfortunately for her, she had no idea as to why I was truly frightened. "Hundreds and hundreds of Stalfos," I continued, tension building in my body with every word. "I saw them marching out of the Lost Woods, my home."
"Marching? Where to?"
I could hardly look at either of them. "They were marching...to Kakariko."
"To Kakariko?" Impa demanded. "It... No, he wouldn't!"
"Did you really think he'd just let these people live?" Shiek cried, her frustration evident. "He wiped out as many people in Hyrule Castle Town as he could! He's not just going to let you all sit here, untouched by his evil. He means to kill you!"
"No, there must be some other reason!" Impa was in great disbelief, but there was a sudden coldness in her voice that could only mean she was preparing herself to be a brave leader for her people. "We agreed that nobody in this village would die, he swore upon it!"
"This is Ganondorf!" Shiek retaliated. "He swore allegiance to the King of Hyrule, and now he was the first to die!"
"But it's been seven years," I suggested. "Why would he wait so long to attack?"
Impa looked at me ominously. She was unnervingly calm as she spoke. "...the Shadow Temple." It was as if everything had pieced together in her mind. "For seven years, this has been the one temple his evil finger hasn't touched. Now you have been stripping him of his other dominions. He only has the Spirit Temple left, and with you ever-present he needs something a little closer to home. If he takes the Shadow Temple he will have an unstoppable army of undead warriors. I would think it a very high priority for him at the moment."
"Link, how far away was the army?" Shiek inquired urgently.
"...they'll be here by tomorrow at sundown," I answered darkly. I could see his face turn pale.
There was suddenly a loud shattering sound. We all turned around in time to witness a stained glass window ripping apart, revealing a blood-red sky contrasting with a near-black shadow cast over Kakariko Village. I could hear furious chatter down below, masking a faint (but quickly growing louder) chant that sounded an awful lot like "Death to Ganondorf!" Impa and Shiek seemed to think at once that Kakariko was stepping up at once to stand their ground against the enemy, but as I looked down at the large brick lying on the floor among the shards of glass I felt the people of Kakariko were here for a different reason.
All three of us carefully crossed the pile of glass and stuck our heads out the window. Impa's manor was at a height that forced us to look almost directly down to see the crowd of people down below us, and it didn't look pretty. It looked like every resident of Kakariko Village but the Windmill owner and the gravekeeper was present. Many of them carried either a pitchfork or a flaming torch, and every single one of them was characterized by an angry face directed immediately toward Impa. As soon as Impa arrived at the window there was an upshot in cursing and slandering. "What is this? What's going on?" Impa demanded angrily.
"The villagers have planned a coo, Impa," I quickly replied. "They're revolting."
"But why!?" she roared. Impa now truly sounded as she looked--powerful, commanding, and not one to mess with. "People of Kakariko!" she addressed the mob, her voice booming over the shouts. "For what reason have you joined the ranks of sheep and come so blindly to harp your queen?" I could see where Shiek got his riddle-talk from. Impa was a natural poet.
"Traitor!" Anju cried.
"You've cursed our village long enough!" an old man bellowed.
"Down with Impa, and all others who side with the wicked Ganondorf!" the boss of the village carpenters screamed.
"People of Kakariko," Impa responded, giving a brief, furious glance at Shiek's "I told you so" face, "I have never once and shall never in the future sided with Ganon! You are all greatly mistaken, and now is not the time to quarrel!"
"We've had enough of your tricks!" There was a wave of agreement in the crowd. "It's time to bring an end to this Shiekhah-Gerudo sovereignty! Kakariko is for the HYLIANS!" I'd never heard so many cheers in my life.
Impa was as shocked as I was. "Fellow townspeople, I have never sworn allegiance to the Gerudo! Have you forgotten already that it was I who opened Kakariko to the Hylians? Why is it now that my people should be seen as unfit for this valley? What have we done to deserve this!?"
The mob was so blind that they didn't pay any attention to her. They had even changed their chant. Instead of "Death to Ganondorf," they were now shouting "Down with the Shiekhah!"
Impa snuck a peek at the crimson sky. "Please," she offered, "if we are to argue about this, let it be in peace and at another time! This isn't the time for a rebellion!"
"Don't listen to her! She's just trying to trick us!"
"People of Kakariko, we must evacuate to the mountains!" Impa commanded, doing her best not to lose her cool. I, on the other hand, was sweating waterfalls. "There is an army of evil skeletons marching towards our valley as we speak! If we don't do something, all of Kakariko will be ground to dust tomorrow by nightfall!"
Some of the members of the mob grew quiet, probably concerned about the army. But others just got angrier. "We've had enough of your excuses!" the carpenter boss insisted. "You want to play games, Impa? Well how about this game?" He and some other villagers turned around and began to run out of the crowd and in the direction of a large hill in the back of the village: Shady Hill, where the giant windmill stood.
Impa herself now seemed a bit pale. "Oh no, you fools," she whispered sharply. "What are you doing?" She then turned away from the mob and looked at Shiek and I. "Gentlemen," she hastily ordered, "we must go to Shady Hill immediately. I fear something terrible may happen. These people's minds are their own any longer; there is great evil at work here." She motioned towards a door. "This is a passage that will take us directly to the windmill. Hurry; we haven't much time." With lightning speed, Impa pulled the door open and bolted down a flight of stairs.
I started to follow, but Shiek stopped me. "Link," he said quietly, trying to be brief, "I fear that Impa's right. In the case that the events that shall now transpire are in the favor of evil, our mission shall be hopeless unless you do as I command." He reached behind Impa's chair and pulled out an old sheet of paper. There were musical notes written on it, separated into three songs by faded handwriting. "Play these songs, in this order, on your ocarina if things go wrong. I haven't the slightest clue what you shall have to do to fix this mess, but six years ago I was told in a dream that you were to be taught these. The first, the Prelude of Light, will teleport you back to the Temple of Time. There, you must replace the Master Sword in the Pedestal of Time, as fast as you can. There won't be a moment to lose. Once you've done that... I don't know what will happen, but my dream told me that you will then have to play this song, the Song of Storms, inside the Kakariko Windmill for its owner. The way to reverse evil's fortune will then be made clear, and the Truth will be revealed at last. What that means, I do not know, but you will have to re-take the Master Sword and play one last song: this one, the Nocturne of Shadow, the anthem of the Shiekhah. I do not know where it will take you, but you must play it." I took the paper from him, but honestly I had a difficult time remembering everything that he said. There wasn't time to ask for the directions to be repeated, however, because by the time I looked up from the paper Shiek too had darted down the stairs. I had no choice but to follow.
-
We came out of the passage and onto a ledge overlooking Shady Hill. If I had passed by casually I wouldn't have noticed, but on Impa's direction I found a column of conveniently-placed rocks rising up the ledge like footholds. We all scrambled down and onto the soft dirt and grass in front of the windmill. No sooner had we arrived than did the carpenter and his men. Between us was a structure so dark in the dying light that it seemed to shine darkness onto everything around it. I felt a sharp chill just looking at it. It was a large, ordinary well, the centerpiece of Kakariko Village, and therefore worthy of the name Kakariko Well. Normally I wouldn't have paid it a second of notice, but I found myself intrigued by the well to an almost-tantalizing degree. Perhaps, when this commotion was all over, I'd pay a visit to the well. It was so alluring... Almost to the point that it was scary.
Impa's towering presence loomed in front of Shiek and I, while the carpenter, evidently the head of the revolution, stood in front of the other villagers. "Citizens," Impa ordered loudly, in a tone so stern and demanding that she sounded like a nervous parent lecturing their reckless child before they hurt themselves, "I will repeat myself one more time. Stop this madness now, before it is too late! We must evacuate!"
"Don't bother yourself, old hag!" the carpenter snapped. "We aren't listening to you anymore!"
"I'm telling you, sir, don't do this! Stop, before I'm forced to stop you myself!"
Another villager expressed concern to the carpenter boss, but he just laughed. "Don't worry, Nigel," he jeered, "she won't bite. Look at her, she's terrified! And you know why? Because we know her weakness."
"What's he talking about?" I whispered aside to Shiek. "What weakness?"
Shiek's reply was very grave. "The well. Her parents are buried there. She wouldn't dare fight near it and dishonor her family. It's a Shiekhah taboo."
"Oh no..."
"Surrender this village, Impa, and never come back! Those are our terms, and we're sticking with it!" the carpenter boss stated.
"Please, be reasonable, before it's too late!" pleaded Impa. Shiek was right; Impa wasn't going to fight this time.
"It already is too late!" the carpenter growled. "Burn it!" he ordered to the mob.
"NO, YOU IDIOTS, DON'T BURN IT!" Impa screamed. Even Shiek was taken aback. That didn't sound like the scream somebody made when their family's grave was destroyed. It sounded far more serious. Before Impa could get around the well to stop them, the carpenter boss and his men hurled their flaming torches at the Kakariko Well. The wooden arch over it was immediately lit aflame, as was the grass around it. Bizarrely, the water too burst into flames. The inferno illuminated all of Shady Hill, yet the well itself remained blacker than ever. I felt more drawn to it than ever. I heard Shiek called something to me, but I couldn't make out what it was.
"Fools, do you realize what you've done!?" Impa shook the carpenter boss over and over again. "You've done exactly what it wanted, you idiots, you blithering idiots, you've freed it!"
The boss was quite shaken. That wasn't something he expected to hear. "Wh-What do you mean, 'it?'" We all suddenly heard the screams and cries of people down by the entrance to the village. Everybody on Shady Hill turned to look at the valley entrance; lining the crimson horizon were the dark figures of Stalfos. They were still far away, a day away from the village at their speed, but with such high numbers they looked like a swarm of ants in the distance. "Wh-What are those!?" the boss demanded. "You mean there really was an army!?"
Impa was hardly interested in the Stalfos. I'd never seen her so frantic. She flung the boss to the ground and turned to the burning well, her eyes focused intently on it as if all life depended on it. "I'll deal with you later," she growled. "I must stop it from coming!" She grabbed a nearby bucket of water to pour on the well. With great haste she ran towards the well with the bucket, and was about to throw water onto the flames, when I stepped in front of her. "Link, what are you doing!?" she demanded incredulously.
"I'm sorry, Impa," I said quietly, struggling to ask myself why I was doing this. It just felt...right. "I can't let you stop it." I tried to keep telling myself Impa was my friend, but I warily held my Master Sword out in front of her, tip of the blade pointed at her heart. Maybe it was the goddesses telling me something, and I was just unconsciously reacting to it. Whatever the case, I somehow just would not let her pass.
Impa froze, shaking her head in despair. "No..." she uttered softly, so quietly that I almost didn't hear her. "Not you too..."
There was a sudden rumbling behind me. I spun around as Impa cried, "It's here!" The whole Shady Hill shook as dirt and plants were flung into the air, together with everything else smaller than a table. Buildings all around me began to burst into flames until the entire hill was on fire. The windmill rattled. Windows shattered. Kakariko Village had been flung into chaos. The epicenter of the madness came from the well right in front of me. "Link, Shiek, get away from the well!"
Both of us dashed away from the well as a column of purple fire erupted from its water and created a great hole in the hill. Impa stared up at the sky in sheer horror and started running towards the graveyard. I tried to see what she was looking at, but could see nothing. Shiek tugged at my arm. "Link, hurry! Do as I told you, before it's too late!" I nodded and whipped out my ocarina and the paper I was given. Reading the notes by the light of the fire, I madly played the Prelude of Light. The last thing I saw before being carried away in yellow light was Shiek being hit on the back of his head by something I couldn't see and falling to the ground.
-
Never before had I felt such urgency. The calm silence of the Temple of Time did little more than mock me. How could things be so calm when Kakariko was falling to pieces nearby? Something interrupted the teleportation of the song, and I fell a foot onto the floor instead of landing gracefully on it.
"Link?" a familiar voice chirped.
"Navi!?" I gasped. Sure enough, my beloved fairy companion fluttered above me once again. "What happened to you?"
"Don't you remember?" Navi sounded surprised that I didn't know. "We got lost in the forest. I kept calling you, and you never answered. You haven't been yourself lately, Link."
I bowed my head. "I know, I'm sorry."
"Don't worry, I forgive you."
"But how'd you get here?"
"I eventually made my way to the new Deku Tree. He said I'd be able to find you here. It's a long way; I've only just arrived!"
I nodded, but there wasn't a moment to lose. "Navi, follow me. Something terrible has happened in Kakariko Village, and if we don't act now the Hylians and Shiekhah will suffer the same fate as the Zoras!"
"What!?"
I ran down the golden-and-white grand hall of the temple and through a small tunnel called the Door of Time. On the other side was a large, spacious, circular room with an altar in the center. Atop the altar was a small stone with a hole for the Master Sword: The Pedestal of Time. "Navi, I don't know what's going to happen," I quickly explained, "but I'm going to have to return the Master Sword." Without another second I thrust the Master Sword into the stone. The moment the sword reached the bottom, a wave of fatigue came over me. I stumbled a little dizzily, and felt the cold, hard marble floor as I collapsed. Everything faded away into darkness and sleep overcame me.
A Note from the Author: This chapter was actually quite frustrating to write, especially the part in the forest; that, coupled with the fact that I've been working on and off this story over the past week or so, may mean that there might be some weak spots here and there. If you write a review (which, for the record, would be highly, highly, highly appreciated and would be read thoroughly), please be sure to include what you thought were the best points and what bits you thought you could do without. The beginning may be revised in the future with those points in mind.
On the other hand, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and stay tuned for the next one! Reviews are always a very nice gift that I appreciate, read, and respond to, so don't be shy!