Cia sauntered leisurely through the abandoned halls of Hyrule Castle, which was deserted in the wake of the first of what would be many hard-fought battles. She pondered the skirmish as she stepped over scattered weaponry, occasionally running her hand across a smooth marble pillar in passing or kicking a discarded shield from her path. She was silently struggling with whether or not this battle should be considered a victory. The claiming of the castle would certainly suggest so, but Cia's true aims were much higher, much more intimate, and not yet fulfilled.
Instinctively, she climbed a tucked away staircase that ascended to a private tower at the castle's southeastern corner. Her troops had suffered significant casualties, but Stalchildren and Bokoblins were easy to conjure for one as gifted as she, and she also had a plan in motion that would more than triple her resources in due time. The slain King Dodongo was harder to replace, however. Despite her losses, Cia couldn't stop the smile that came to her lips remembering how deftly the Hero had dispatched her forces, with such bravery and cunning. Her smile dissipated as she reached the door of her destination.
Cia had imagined this moment hundreds of times across over a dozen different eras. Her fantasies usually involved blasting the door off its hinges and striding in with bravado to snuff out the rival of her affections. Instead, the large oak panel adorned with the royal crest creaked open slowly, and she almost shyly peeked into the chamber. It was empty, but a breeze travelling through the open window carried it's now missing inhabitant's scent to Cia. Sweet, pure, and stomach turning to the sorceress. She shouldered the door open enough for her to slip inside before closing herself within.
The room was comfortable and subtly feminine, bedecked in soft shades of white and pale rose. Well-read but well-cared for books could be found on all of the tabletop surfaces throughout the room. Cia went to the wardrobe and peered within, unsurprised to find tastefully chaste attire filling it. She wandered to the the neatly organized vanity and sat on the cushioned bench, but she averted her eyes from the mirror mounted there.
It had been some time since she had faced her reflection, not since her transformation from the Guardian of Time into the Dark Sorceress. Reluctantly, she reached up and pulled the pointed mask from her face and the cowl from her head, hesitating before finally facing her altered image. Her features were basically unchanged, but her previously porcelain skin now looked darkly tanned. She already knew this because of the rest of her body's new coloration, but it was more striking to see her face affected so. She leaned toward the mirror as her fingers pressed into her own cheek, and the cause of her complexion revealed itself, the dark energy under the surface subtly shifting and swirling. Her hand moved to her hair, still silky to the touch but shorter and now blanched white instead of the unique silver it once was. The final difference was her sweeping bangs, now nestling an angry crimson jewel that was more than mere decoration.
Cia was different now, though she was unsure if it would be called a metamorphosis or a deterioration. She could not stop herself from momentarily wishing that the light which was driven from her heart could come back, to restore her appearance if nothing else. Suddenly the image in the mirror changed, and she now faced her previous self, the light that had abandoned her. The light that took on its own form, what she considered was once THEIR united form. However, a moment's more consideration showed that this "Lana" was different from the original, too. She called herself the White Sorceress, had long blue hair and a blue gem in her bangs, and was a complete mockery of Cia and her powers. The darkness beneath Cia's skin started to pulse as anger rose up within her.
The face on the mirror changed again, this time to a young blonde woman adorned with a crown. Cia shoved herself back from the vanity, knocking over the bench and rattling the table's contents. The Princess of Hyrule smiled smugly, taunting Cia with her flawless features and regal poise. Cia clenched her fists and her jaw, the energy within her roiling dangerously. The mirror shifted to a scene on Hyrule Field from the previous battle, showing the Hero meeting the Princess for the first time in this era. He threw himself in the path of danger to protect her, and she smiled her sickening smile.
"No," Cia growled, a dark aura emanating from her body, "not this time. Never again. NO!" As she began to scream her condemnations, the room quaked violently and the mirror cracked in half. She grew closer and closer to a frenzied state, her words dissolved into nonsensical shrieks, and the purple haze of energy pouring from her body filled the tower to bursting. The fractures in the mirror multiplied and each broken segment depicted her Hero in the arms of the vile Princess. With that image playing hundredfold before her eyes and in her head, she could take no more and finally made a conscious push of power from herself, shattering not just the mirror but the entire top of the tower.
The dust settled and the dark energy in the air dissipated, and Cia floated above the ruins with her mask and hat back in place. Any doubts once plaguing her were gone. Light was her enemy, having fled like a craven at the realization that fate was cruel and the cycle must be stopped. She heard the deep voice within her mind assert itself, encouraging her to take what she wanted, to make it her own. Make him her own.
Cia had the power. Now all she needed was the wisdom to plan it and the courage to execute it, and she knew just how to muster them. The Dark Sorceress smiled to herself, unaware that the Demon King within her smiled, too.