An Elegy of Emptiness
Prologue: The Beginning Of The End
The holy land of the Goddesses, the island in the sky as the earth dwellers called it. A sacred place, with seas and rivers, mountains and forests, and fields bearing shrubs with the sweet amber berries, shining in a soft golden light. A paradise only available to the Goddesses and their most trusted guardians. Leytia sighed as she looked out of the window, her chin resting on the palms of her hands. Demons and earth dwellers alike sought to enter her realm; the former to destroy it, the latter to conquer it. Leytia shook her head. Her sister would have handled the situation differently, but she was not like her sister. They were twins, but only on the outside, and while her sister had been bursting with strength and bravery, she was the calm and reasoning counterpart. But now it was only her and her guardians, as it had been for centuries. Her sister had renounced her divinity to be reborn among the earth dwellers long ago, for reasons she had never been able to understand. All she knew was that one human was involved, and her sister had vowed to be at his side when he would be reborn, her real personality hidden deep inside the girl's mind. She had never known who she really was until the day she awoke again to seal away the demon king Demise once and for all. Since then, Leytia had never seen Hylia again.
She pushed her chair away from the windowsill and walked over to the other side of the room, placing a hand on the cool metal of the armour that hung on the wall. It was Hylia's and she had worn it in the battle against the Demise's demon hordes after sending her beloved humans to the sky, and she had thrown it away when her hero had died on the battlefield. Leytia wasn't able to understand the feelings her sister had towards that human, and losing the one who was dearest to her had weakened her mind. She had stayed in the heavens, and for someone like her, who controlled time, spending it alone seemed even more unbearable.
Loud steps in the hallway and a knock on the door made her loosen the grip around the armour and lower her head.
"Come in," she said and faced the door.
A tall woman stepped in, hair as black as charcoal and her skin as light as the white sand on the shores. She wore her long hair in a high ponytail but it still reached the small of her back. Her skinny body was protected by Sheikah armour, and the eye symbol tattooed to her cheek.
"Your Highness." She knelt before her feet, one arm resting on her knee, her head bowed down low.
"Skaisa," said Leytia as she put a hand on her head, "rise."
The Sheikah did as she was told and rose before her Goddess, feeling uncomfortable at the difference of size, for she had to look down at the divine beauty if she was standing.
"The demon horde has reached the outer walls of Ikana. They are following Majora to the core of the city. We are awaiting your orders."
Leytia smiled as she glanced back at the armour on the wall. "I have never been like my sister," she said, "I have never loved the humans and their land as she did. My element is time." She looked back at Skaisa. "How could she sacrifice her divinity for one human, Skaisa? Why would she choose to be one of them?"
Skaisa shuffled her feet uneasily. How could she possibly answer a question like that without insulting her Goddess?
"But I do love my sister," continued Leytia, "and she is among them. Somewhere on earth. Somewhere I can't see, nor feel her. Her destiny is out of my hands, but I will do what she would have done. I will wear her armour and save the people she loves so much."
Skaisa's eyes widened. "Your Highness!" she protested.
"Shush! You have been a good servant and guardian, but do not interfere. It is I who makes the decisions."
The Sheikah lowered her head. "Of course, your Highness. Forgive my insolence."
The rays of sun hit the golden plates of Leytia's armour as she stepped out of her residence, dazzling the Sheikah army that had been waiting for their commander's orders. As if struck by lightning, they all dropped to their knees and pressed their foreheads to the ground. The sword felt heavy and extrinsic in Leytia's hands, its weight pulling her arm down, and she hated it. She hated violence, and she especially hated to be involved. She was meant to command time, not an army. Yet, her sister was gone and she realised that she could not just sit and watch this world fall apart. The Great Three, the mightiest Goddesses of all, would not have it.
"Rise," she said, her clear voice echoing like bells in a hallway, "rise and fight. There is no place on earth for a demon like Majora. His evil powers must be banned. Stand beside me this last time, and you shall be free to go wherever you wish."
Smoke rose from the roofs of Ikana, women were screaming and running to escape the horror before their eyes, while their men fought for the liberty of their city. Their efforts were in vain as Majora and his demon horde broke through the outer walls and invaded the great capital of the kings, leaving traces of destruction behind. The men who fell were either crushed or devoured by Majora, or burned in the flames that licked at the destroyed building. The great demon lord would not stop until he had taken all of the city, and fuelled his power with the hatred and fear of the helpless people. One by one, their numbers diminished. Majora squeezed his massive body through the narrow streets, his sharp claws scratching over the cobblestones as he moved. His long silver-white fur cascaded down his head and back, hiding the thick scales that covered almost his entire body. The scaly long tail ended in a shock of hair, and on his back he wore a heavy armour ending in spikes. His low growl vibrated in the early evening air and made glass break in his close surrounding. With one stomp of his foot, he crushed two men who were running out of a building under his weight, and lowered his head to sniff the air. Something was changing, he smelled and felt it in the wind. Curious, he craned his head and slightly tilted it.
"I can smell you," he growled in a menacing voice, "come out!"
"You are right, little demon," spoke the Goddess of Time, and stepped forward with her army to free the people of the earth from the beast's grasp.
Majora snorted. "Your Highness, what an honour."
Leytia closed her eyes and smiled. The Sheikah warriors were already cleansing the city from the lower demons, and it was only her against the demon lord.
"Do not mock me," she said, "I still have more power than you. I admit, I have been watching your evil deeds for far too long, and now I have come to put an end to all the violation, pain and death caused by you. Hereby I sentence you to life-long isolation!"
Majora growled angrily and threw himself at her, but Leytia was the Goddess of Time, and as such she was able to manipulate its flow. Before Majora could reach her, time stopped and he hung frozen in the air, his flashing red and orange eyes wide-open. As a punishment for the evil deeds, and because Leytia had never killed a living being in her whole life, she created the realm of oblivion in which she banned Majora and all of his followers that hadn't died at the hands of the Sheikah. A realm in which time stood still, in which there was neither water nor food, and where the sound of chirping birds would never be heard. A realm of desertion, hopelessness and eventually death. Majora's cries still rang in her ears as she closed the gate to that realm.
After she had cleansed Ikana from the demons, she sent the people who had been living in the capital, including the royal family, away to build a new city, afraid that sooner or later, they would find the entrance to the realm and unconsciously free Majora. Under the watchful eyes of the Sheikah and the Goddess herself, the people of Ikana built a new city west from the old capital in the following years, and soon they had regained their prosperity and recognition.
When Leytia's deeds on earth were done, she returned to the heavens, leaving behind everything she ever had. She had promised freedom to the Sheikah who had been around her all those long years, and most of them had thankfully accepted the opportunity to finally break away from the prison that had been bestowed on them since their birth; all but one. Skaisa had sworn allegiance and loyalty to the Goddess, and seeing the lonely look in Leytia's eyes whenever she thought of her sister filled the Sheikah woman with remorse. Remorse to leave her to her destiny, to rot in the heavens for eternity.
But even after many long years of peace and prosperity, Leytia could still not rest. Once again, she descended to earth and travelled to the far east, to a land long forgotten, yet not quite uninhabited. It was a small tribe that lived in those lands, a tribe of ancient sorcerers that had been previously banished from the mainland. She bade them to return to the lands of Termina, to build a temple in the deserted canyon and guard it with their lives, for Majora was not allowed to escape at any price. In return, she offered them a kingdom and her protection.
And after many years, life returned to the lands of Ikana, and the ancient tribe built a temple to guard the entrance to the realm of oblivion, and they sealed it with their magic.
However, people had always been greedy, and soon enough, small groups of rebels evolved within the tribe. People who disobeyed the orders of the Goddess, and sought to embrace Majora's power, and use it for their own goals. The seal to the entrance of the secret realm eventually weakened, and they invaded the realm, hoping to kill Majora or win his favour. None of them returned, for Majora devoured all of them, and with every human he imbibed, his weakened power returned.
Furious, Leytia was put before a hard decision, but she could not yet cast them out, for she had sworn them protection and the right to live in Ikana. Instead, she sent out a young sorcerer to put an end to Majora's life and to seal his power in an artefact. The artefact, she told him to bury deep beneath the temple, and to never speak of it again, let alone use it.
Flat was the land that awaited the young sorcerer as he stepped through the portal; dry and dusty, and barely any oxygen to breathe. Solely a few lonely rock formations stood out from the ground, and two broken pillars, which looked as though they had been run over by Majora in an attempt to break free from his prison.
The young man tightened the cape around his body, hiding the armour he was wearing underneath. Gathering courage in his heart, he stepped forward and into the light.
Majora lifted his tired head as he smelled human flesh, and bared his sharp fangs in a grin. His nostrils filtered the dead air for something living, and he thought people had come for his power again. He shook his head and his silky fur moved from one side to the other. Then he began to move, and soon encountered a man in his early twenties wearing the cloak of a traveller, and a feather in his flaxen hair.
Majora looked him over, curiosity flashing in his eyes as he saw no weapon, no shield.
"A human," he snorted, "what a rare sight."
The man bowed politely. "Is this your land?"
Majora snorted again, amused by his question. "Indeed it is. Who are you, little human, and what do you want from me?"
The human sat down, stretched his limbs and held back a yawn. "My name is Eythiorr. I want nothing from you. All I ask for is to take a rest."
Majora eyed him cautiously. "Do not deem me stupid or naïve, human! I know why you came for. You seek my power, or my allegiance. What do you want?"
Eythiorr shook his head. "Neither. I came because I was told that a frightening, mean-eating beast lived here. Yet I see nothing but a deserted land and a lonely creature."
Majora stomped his foot. "How dare you call me a lonely creature! I am a fierce demon lord, and I could devour you as I have devoured your kind before."
"And still you haven't laid a claw on me yet," answered the man, "and if you are a lord, where is your fellowship? Your servants, your warriors?
"Quiet, human!" barked Majora, his fangs glistening in the unnatural light that covered the realm.
"Tell me, demon lord," said Eythiorr, "how many years have you been living in this place? How many days have you seen this eerie sun rise and go down again, and how many breaths have you taken of this rotten air? It must have intoxicated your body and mind."
Majora became still and eyed him warily. He did not know what this stranger was intending to do to him, and it confused him that he failed to read his mind. So he stood, watched, and listened.
"Condemned to live your life in this place is a harsh punishment," continued Eythiorr, "how many years are yet to come? A hundred? A thousand? Forever?"
"Shut your mouth!" barked the demon, "I will outlive all! I will outlive time and space, and yet never vanish!"
Eythiorr smiled. "Is that what you want? To rot here for eternity in loneliness?
"What do you know about it, human?"
"Nothing," he admitted, "but I can see that your glorious times are over, and I can see the pain in your eyes when you talk."
Majora's face froze as he thought about whether he should kill this human right now, or hear what he had to offer. The truth was, he was tired of staying in this place that was neither dead, nor alive. He wanted to rest, to put an end to it all, for he knew that he would probably never get out his prison.
"So you came to make me an offer?" he asked after a short while, tilting his head to the side.
"I am offering you peace and rest if it is what you wish, and I do not ask anything in return."
"Nothing in return?" Majora lifted one eyebrow.
Eythiorr got back to his feet and straightened his body, spreading out his arms. "All I give you is the opportunity to make a choice for yourself. I will give you rhythm; the melody to either life or death. It is up to you to choose."
Majora felt confused and angry at the same time, however he was far too interested in what the human had to offer to simply devour him. He stood and waited, and watched how the young man opened the bundle that he was carrying, and removed the wrappings, revealing a drum.
"Dance," he whispered, and then his hands began to play on the drum, a rhythmic sound that slowly evolved into a hypnotic drumming. Majora's feet began to dance as if they did not belong to his body, and he was unable to stop them. His whole body moved to the rhythm, his eyes closed. He soon had entered a state of deep trance, and he continued dancing for three days and nights. At the beginning of the forth day, his body eventually collapsed as his breathing ceased, and he lay on the ground with all four limbs spread, moving no more. At the same moment, Eythiorr's hands stopped playing, and he sunk forward to the ground, exhausted. His hands grabbed the water canteen he had carried, and he brought it to his dry lips, drinking until his thirst was satisfied. When he had recovered a little, he approached the demon's corpse, touching the silky silver fur. He removed the heavy armour from Majora's back and used his dagger to sever a part of it from the rest. Then he sat back down on the ground, and started to carve. Finally, at the end of the day, he held the artefact in his hands and sighed out of relief. His mission was accomplished, the demon's power forever sealed in a mask. With a smile, he left the deserted realm for once and all.
A/N: This is a sequel to the story Wheels of Fortune that I have published on this site before, and of course it would be favourable to have read the other story before starting this one, but it can be read as a story on its own as well. Well, as you can read in the description, this story will take place in Termina and loosely follows the events in Majora's Mask, but only loosely, because retelling a game is not that exciting after all. :)
The prologue goes back in time, long before the events in OOT but after SS. Leytia is the name I gave to the Goddess of Time mentioned in Majora's Mask and I made her the sister of Hylia. The name is derived from the Icelandic word "leyti" which means time (or part). The last part follows the events depicted at the end of the Majora's Mask manga.
The next chapter will pick up where Wheels of Fortune ended. Well, I hope you will enjoy this story. Stay tuned! :)