Imperial Fleet Admiral Zelda walked through the deepest recesses of the ship's hold, her heels clanging against the steel mesh catwalk. The prisoner was being held in one of the isolation cells hidden away within the vast engine room. He was scheduled to be tried by a military tribune in the morning. If the court acted according to her will, then the remainder of his life could be measured in hours. Before his breath was cut away by the point of her sword, she wished to speak with him.
Zelda came to a stop before a windowless door. It was indistinguishable from the others lining the corridor, but the room behind it was sealed with the most advanced technology available. Zelda frowned as she keyed in the passcode on the panel mounted into the wall and waited as her fingerprints were scanned and confirmed. The long war was all but over, yet a heavy stone of doubt weighed on her heart.
The door hissed open. As soon as she stepped over the threshold, it slipped closed behind her, locking her in with her enemy. Although he was a giant of a man, he had been bound to a chair much too small for him with electrified manacles. Should he move in any way, he would be shocked with enough voltage to stun a horse. Still he leered at her as she entered.
"How pleasant of you to join me! I've been waiting for you."
If Zelda was shocked by his cavalier tone, she did not let her unease appear on her face. She looked across the small room at the captive warlord. Even though he was seated, his eyes were almost level with hers.
"Ganondorf Dragmire. You have been charged with grave crimes against Hyrule. Your fate will be decided as soon as the sun rises above the clouds. If you wish to make a confession, I will hear it now."
His grin became wider. "I would love to talk with you, but that's not a very welcoming invitation, is it, Princess?"
Zelda scowled. "You will address me as 'Admiral,' cretin."
"If you must use your rank as a shield, then 'Admiral' it will be. Tell me, Admiral, what did you come to ask of me?"
"I ask nothing of you."
"And yet here you are, spending the night of your great victory with a condemned man instead of celebrating with the rest of your fleet. Be honest with me, and I will be honest with you. Admiral."
"So be it." Zelda glared at him, fixing him in her gaze before continuing. "I find it difficult to believe that you were captured so easily. You were brought in by only two dozen of my men, despite having murdered my strongest captain."
Ganondorf's smile disappeared. "Ah, yes. The Hero of Courage. I never intended to slay him. I only fought him with a mere shadow, an aspect of myself. The boy should have defeated it easily. He made the mistake of bringing a gun to a sword fight, the young fool."
"You will not speak of him thus!" Zelda ordered, momentarily losing her composure.
"I am sorry for your loss, believe me."
"Your apology is obscene."
"If my words offend you, then don't waste my time in conversation. Why are you here?"
Zelda hesitated briefly before responding. "Why did you allow yourself to be captured?"
"Because I could not capture you."
"Is that what this is about, then?" Zelda asked, her voice as cold as her expression. "You have raided my islands, and you have defiled my temples, and you have sent the crews of my ships to their deaths below the clouds simply because you wished to kidnap me?" She sneered in disgust. "You do me disrespect to think that I would believe such a tale."
To her surprise, Ganondorf smiled. "I believe you've finally arrived at the question you came to ask, Admiral."
Zelda shook her head. "Fine," she said, her voice flat. "Satisfy my curiosity. Why did you start this war?"
"If I am to answer that question, then we should speak as equals. I hope you will pardon my presumption." Ganon exhaled and closed his eyes. After a moment of stillness, he sprang forward, breaking the thick rings that had been intended to hold him in place. The twisted manacles fell to the floor in a fizz of sparks.
Zelda drew her rapier, crouched, and sprang at him. He caught the blade in his gauntlet, metal ringing against metal, and smoothly wrested it away from her grasp. With his other hand he shoved her away from him.
When she recovered, Zelda looked up to see him offering the blade back to her, hilt first.
"This is a fine sword," he said, his mouth turning up at the edges, "but it cannot hurt me."
He patiently waited for her to reclaim her weapon. Finally she took it from him and sheathed it, her eyes never leaving his.
"You have my attention," she said. "Now speak. You have obviously gone through great trouble for an audience. Tell me why you are here."
"I could tell you, but it would be much easier to show you."
Ganondorf pressed his palms together. When he drew them apart, he was holding an ovoid flute fashioned from translucent blue material.
Zelda started. "That's – "
"The Ocarina of Time. Hold still for a moment, if you would."
She thought to ask him where he had uncovered such a relic, an object that by all rights should not exist. He brought the ocarina to his lips and played a lilting melody. The notes of the song touched something inside her, and she motioned for him to cease playing, but then the world tilted and dissolved around her.
Zelda cried out and was immediately hit by a blast of icy air. The world was bitterly cold and deathly white, and for a moment she feared that she had died. Her vision was limited by the snow swirling around her, but she could see a great structure rising in the distance. It was impossible to ascertain how far away it was. Suddenly she felt a hand on the small of her back pushing her forward.
"Run for the temple! Quickly, or we will both be lost!" Ganondorf yelled against the wind.
Her boots were already buried in slurry, and it was difficult to move her feet. Her heels seemed to be stuck in the ice, and she struggled to dislodge them.
Sensing her difficulty, Ganondorf grabbed her hand and tugged her forward, breaking her out of her paralysis. He ran with impossibly long strides, dragging her behind him. Even as her nose and ears grew numb, she somehow managed to keep up with him, not trusting him to turn back for her if she should stumble.
After what seemed like an eternity in the blinding snowstorm, they arrived at the doors of what was clearly some kind of temple. Ganondorf kicked one of them open unceremoniously. He flung her inside, and she slid on the icy floor, almost losing her balance. Ganondorf shoved the massive door closed as she righted herself. The hinges clicked into place, and the howl of the blizzard was silenced as suddenly as if the needle had been lifted from a phonograph.
The inside of the building was coated with crystallized frost. Although small windows were set into the upper bays between enormous pillars, the only light came from the eldritch glow seeping from two open braziers set on either side of a towering monolith. Zelda was struck by the strangeness of the place. It occurred to her that she was now alone and at the mercy of a monstrous man. She prepared herself to fight, but, seized with a sudden bout of violent shivering, she found that she could not grasp the hilt of her sword.
Ganondorf unfastened his fur cape from the shoulders of his cuirass and draped it over her shoulders. She hardly felt it.
"Princess, make haste. We must activate the gate."
Zelda opened her mouth to correct him, but the edges of her vision were blurry and gray, and she could not form the words with her tongue. She feared she would pass out, but then she was lifted, and she could not protest.
Ganondorf carried her to the gigantic tablet in the middle of the open space. It was pitted with the scars of age, but she could see that its surface was covered in runes, letters of a language that was almost familiar. When Ganondorf touched the stone, the engravings filled with golden light, and the rock face twisted inward into a spiral that seemed almost like the interlocking gears of a massive clock. Zelda thought it must be an optical illusion, but then Ganondorf stepped into it, drawing her into the portal with him. As the cogs clicked and spun around her, she was overcome with nausea, and she screwed her eyes shut.
After an endless moment, Zelda felt a warm breeze on her face. She opened her eyes to find herself in a temple that had been significantly transformed. A wave of confusion swept over her, followed shortly by a burst of anger.
"Put me down," she growled, her voice hoarse.
"Of course," Ganondorf said from above her, and promptly did so, setting her at the edge of an artificial stream cut into the floor.
"I'm going to remove your boots and place your feet into the water," he said, kneeling beside her.
"You would not dare!"
"Cooperate with me or you'll lose the use of them." He swiftly unclasped and removed his gauntlets, and soon his fingers were on the buckles of her boots. She noted with distaste that his nails were black. His hands were like insects on her skin, but she was too frozen to feel anything. When her bare feet slipped under the surface of the stream, her mind was flooded with an overwhelming sense of relief. She plunged her hands into the water and splashed it over her face. Beside her, Ganondorf did the same.
When she finally regained sensation, she stood and surveyed her surroundings. The walls of the temple loomed over her as they had before, but there was no ice to be seen. The vast room was no longer closed but appeared to be open on the opposite end. Bright moonlight shone through the clerestory windows. There was no wind, only the soft chirping of frogs and crickets.
The water of the stream seemed to spring from a point underneath a bridge leading to the very door through which they had entered. From below the bridge the water flowed to either side of the interior of the temple and around the bases of the supporting pillars, which were replaced by the trunks of enormous trees as the twin streams joined a larger body of water. Mist gathered over its surface, which was broken by stone lanterns interspersed between the trees. The lanterns were lit with a pale fire whose bluish tinge could hardly be natural. Patches of bright green moss covered the floor tiles at her feet, but the humid air smelled clean and fresh. Did the temple truly open onto a marsh, Zelda wondered, or was this some manner of illusion?
Ganondorf stood beside her, and she became aware that she was still wearing his cape. Struck with loathing, she slung it from her shoulders and tossed it at him. He caught it, used it to dry his face, and then folded it roughly before turning his back to her to place it on the platform supporting the central tablet.
"You will tell me where we are," Zelda said.
"We are on the surface of a continent that was abandoned long ago," he responded.
"That is impossible. The surface underneath the clouds is inhabitable."
"It is harsh, as you saw, but there are those who inhabit it."
His statement made no sense, so Zelda chose to ignore it. "What has happened to the snowstorm?" she continued.
"It still rages, but we are hundreds of years in the past, and it cannot touch us here. There are no clouds to contain it, and even the stars are visible."
"I'm afraid I don't understand your analogy."
"I am speaking literally."
"I don't understand."
"Is it so difficult to believe that we once lived under the clouds?"
Zelda thought she heard a tinge of sadness in his voice, but she had little sympathy for him and no patience at all for whatever game he was attempting to play. Regardless, she needed to keep him talking until she could orient herself.
"I'm not sure what to believe," she said, her voice neutral. "Help me to understand."
"Very well. Please follow me." Ganondorf strode across the floor and onto the bridge, pushing against the doors on the other side. They were several times taller than he was, but they opened smoothly. Zelda braced herself for another onslaught of frigid air, but the tableau framed by the doorway was as green as her castle garden after a summer rain shower. The light of the moon cast a ghostly glow onto what seemed to be a large clearing surrounded by trees.
"You can't expect me to follow you without shoes," Zelda said to Ganondorf's back.
"You will not need them," he responded. "There is nothing here that will harm you."
Zelda nudged her boots with her toes. They were utterly ruined. She would have to trust him.
When she crossed the bridge and walked through the doorway, Zelda saw that the open area was not a forest grove but an immense crater. The rough edges of the earth formed a path scalloping into its rim.
"Walk with me to the bottom," he said.
"What will we find there?" she asked, not moving.
"Something that will prove useful to you."
"Useful for what purpose?"
"What sleeps below is a powerful weapon. Its purpose depends on the will of whomever commands it."
Ganondorf began walking along the path spiraling downward, motioning for Zelda to accompany him. She briefly considered refusing, but she was loath to risk a confrontation before her opponent had given her more information.
"You may be wondering why I have brought you here."
"An apt deduction, given the circumstances."
"I believe I had promised to tell you why it was necessary that I challenge the authority of your empire through armed conflict. Had I told you in the bowels of your flying ship, I suspect you might not have believed me. I needed to offer you proof."
"Proof of what, exactly?"
"Magic."
Zelda barked laughter. "Magic indeed! I had long suspected you were insane."
"How can you deny that magic exists after you have been transported across vast distances and backwards in time?"
"There is no magic, only technologies that we do not yet fully understand."
"How do you rationalize your surroundings?"
"This could all be an illusion."
"Does it feel like an illusion?"
"So you used a transportation device. That does not qualify as magic."
"Do you think that anyone is capable of using the Ocarina of Time as if it were nothing more than a lever to be thrown?"
"The Ocarina of Time is a legend from a distant age. What you possess is a tool fashioned to resemble an illustration from a picture book. I would be interested to know how it works."
"As would I. It is a mystery to me. When certain songs are played, it seems to respond to the user's will."
"Even an uncivilized boor such as yourself should understand that the very concept is preposterous."
"A truly scientific mind would consider the theory, proof of which has already been demonstrated. There are precious few viable alternatives to my hypothesis. Why do you attempt to deny the possibility so vehemently? Who taught you to fear magic?"
Zelda's heart skipped a beat, but she forced herself to maintain an appearance of composure. When she was a girl, there had been times she had fancied that she commanded magic powers. She had even tricked herself into believing it was true, but she had been severely reprimanded for her assertions by no less than the Emperor himself.
"Why would the laws of Hyrule condemn and punish the exercise of magic if such a thing did not exist? What is the purpose of its labyrinthine temples, and why are their interiors forbidden to your citizens?"
Zelda said nothing, keeping her eyes on the path in front of her.
"The land of Hyrule once overflowed with magic; magic was the birthright of all its tribes. To the best of my knowledge, the source of this power was something called the Triforce, which was believed to have been left behind by the Goddesses at the point from which they departed this world for the heavens."
Zelda cleared her throat. "The Triforce is a metaphor for benevolent governance. If one is able to achieve its three virtues, then that person is qualified to ascend the throne as a divinely sanctioned ruler. We still structure our military bureaucracy around its three aspects. Only a superstitious and uneducated peon would take such a myth at face value."
Ganondorf chuckled sourly. "You are correct to assume that I have not been educated within Hyrule. This lack of 'education' is precisely what allowed me to question the origins of the myth. The Triforce occupies a central position on the Imperial crest, along with the wings of the all-conquering eagle, forming a symbol of divine hegemony."
"And yet, he continued, "if the Triforce were indeed merely a standard of your empire, why would the symbol be recognized and respected throughout your colonies? By all accounts, those unfortunate peoples were not familiar with the strictures of imperial rule before you descended upon them, but they certainly knew of the Triforce, even having their own words for it before you blunted their tongues on your language."
"The Empire of Hyrule brings enlightenment to the far corners of the sky," Zelda countered, her eyes blazing. "You fancy yourself a revolutionary and an avatar of justice, but your self-serving fantasy fails to encompass the possibility that we have already considered the implications of our actions. On the larger scales of history, the balance tips in the favor of a more easily sustainable peace. Your inflammatory rhetoric is hollow and misguided."
"And disturbingly pervasive within your supposedly peaceable territories, is it not? Nevertheless, let us consider for the moment that the Triforce is real. Let us assume that it is not an abstraction but a tangible manifestation of divine energies potent enough to make or remake a world. My sources disagree on how the Triforce can be coaxed into a concrete form, but let us suppose that it can be possessed. If it is real, and if it can be held by a mortal creature, what manner of situation do you suppose would arise?"
Zelda waited for him to answer what was clearly a rhetorical question, but he did not continue. She sighed. Talking to this man was like talking to a child. She almost pitied him.
"If the Triforce were real," she said, "it would be held by the person worthy of it. That person, possessed of the qualities of power, wisdom, and courage, would then rule over the land as an absolute monarch."
"And for that right, would people not fight to possess it?"
"Assuming it were already secure in the hands of the person it had chosen, such a fight would be futile. Anyone who attempted to usurp the favor of the Goddesses would be doomed to wage a meaningless war."
"And yet one of my ancestors dared to challenge the will of these Goddesses."
A cold smile crossed Zelda's lips. "Your ancestors," she said, letting the words linger in the air.
"By all means, tell me about your ancestors, Ganondorf Dragmire. No one knows what island spawned you and your fellow savages. You fight with smoke and mirrors, with small arms and smaller aircraft, and yet you have taken on the name of the demon lord from a fairy tale. I imagine it would be befitting of your narcissism to have invented a grand story of your origins. It would amuse me to hear it."
"If it pleases my lady," Ganondorf said, a harsh edge to his words.
He did not begin speaking immediately but continued to walk at the same leisurely pace. They had progressed almost to the floor of the crater, yet the sounds of the surrounding forest still reached Zelda's ears. She could hear the hooting trills of owls and the whines of far-off cicadas. The moss under her feet was as soft as velvet, and the warm air was perfumed with a rich loamy scent.
Perhaps the land below the clouds is not so unpleasant, Zelda mused. She still could not make sense of the ice storm or the fact that she was not securely on the flagship of her fleet, but she had faith that everything would become clear in time. The world was not full of mystery and magic, after all, and legends were simply stories not supported by historical evidence.
Ganondorf walked beside her, strangely quiet for a man of his size. When he spoke, Zelda was taken by surprise.
"The surface of this world is as you saw it, white and frozen. It is not easy to survive here, but there are those who have known nothing else. Your people live in innocence in the sky, but others have remained on the ground, either by choice or by habit. The land is limitless, and even we have summers, brief though they may be. Many tribes have spread below the clouds, although not all have thrived."
"My own people have fared better than others, burrowing deep into the ground. Others are dying out slowly, day by day and year by year. When I was younger, I wondered why their bodies were formed as they were. Those that require sunlight, and those that require meltwater, how could they have ever come to exist under dark clouds of omnipresent snow? I began to think that perhaps these lands were not always as they are now, and so I began to read the books my foremothers brought with them when they first ventured underground."
"I read that the world was once green, as green as the forest that surrounds us. This is our past. A past my people shared with yours before the Hylians rose to the sky."
"I know it is blasphemy to speak of such things. You wish to say that you have always lived above the clouds, but I wonder. I have read that my own tribe once lived in a desert where the sun burned over plains of sand dotted with pools of clear water. Can you imagine?"
Ganondorf paused for a moment before continuing.
"I questioned these stories. Against the wishes of my sisters, I set out into the snow, trying to uncover traces of what had come before us. I was not disappointed."
Zelda interrupted him. "Did you find your magic?"
"Indeed I did."
"My men call you a sorcerer, saying that you can wake the wind," Zelda scoffed. "I always considered such tales to be feeble excuses for failed campaigns. Surely you do not believe them yourself?"
"It would be wise not to mention such things in jest. You will come to understand, in time."
"What do you mean?"
"Step lively."
They had arrived at the bottom of the crevasse, a gently curved basin marked only by a stone dais rising from the ground. As Zelda drew closer, she could see that a sword had been placed into a low pedestal. Its hilt rose to her waist.
She turned to Ganondorf. "This is the great weapon you promised me?"
"I assure you, it is quite powerful."
"If it's so powerful, why was it abandoned here?"
"I believe it was used to seal something trapped within the earth."
"To seal what, exactly? The notion is preposterous."
"Then draw the sword. If it breaks in your hands, you will have proven me wrong."
"Why don't you draw it yourself?"
"I cannot."
Zelda waited for him to continue, but he said nothing. With nothing else to do, she wrapped her hands around the sword's hilt and tugged upwards. Nothing happened.
"As I thought," Ganondorf said. "Let's try an experiment, shall we? The legends say that three pendants act as keys to unlock the sword from its resting place. Would you consent to be the bearer of these pendants?"
"No such pendants exist. Even if they did, how would you go about finding them?"
"With great effort. They were hidden within the temples on your islands." Ganondorf reached into a pouch sewn onto his belt and removed three shining stones attached to leather cords.
"You are a thief, then."
"The pendants belong to no one except the hero with the ability to claim them."
"You are no hero."
"I am not, nor was the young man I had marked for the role. But you might be. Do you accept these pendants?"
"You're offering them to me?"
"Yes."
"What do you want in return?"
"In return you will attempt to draw the sword."
"What will happen if I am successful?"
"I cannot say. It is up to you."
Zelda's patience was growing thin, and she heaved an exasperated sigh. The situation was surreal, and her only hope of emerging safely on the other side of the night seemed to lie in following the path laid out for her.
"Fine. I accept."
Ganondorf stepped towards her. He kept his distance as he slipped the pendants around her neck.
"This is the Pendant of Power. May you find the power to see your quest through to its completion, difficult though it may be."
"The is the Pendant of Wisdom. May you summon the wisdom to fully understand the challenges that lie before you."
"This is the Pendant of Courage. May you be possessed of the courage to question everything you encounter with eyes unclouded by fear."
Ganondorf stepped away, and Zelda was overcome with a feeling of infinite potential. She gasped. The sword seemed to be calling to her, and she was visited by the certainty that it would be the most natural thing in the world to place her hands on its hilt. She did not remove the blade from its stone; it jumped into her hands as if it had been waiting for her.
Amazed, Zelda held the sword in front of her. It was as light as a feather. She thrust it over her head. Her ears rang as light spilled out of the blade, staining the world white. Energy flowed down from the hilt into her body, and she was suddenly aware that magic existed. She herself was full of it.
"May the way of the Hero lead to the Triforce," Ganondorf said behind her.
Zelda spun around. Ganondorf held up his hands as if to ward her away.
"I can defeat you with this sword," she said. It wasn't a question.
"You can, but not yet."
"What do you mean, 'not yet'?" She raised the blade.
"The Master Sword has been resting here for countless years, waiting for a hero to claim it. It is still weak – as are you, Hero. If you truly wish to defeat me, you will need to restore the sword to its full strength with the blessings of the Goddesses. There are temples here on land, just as there are temples in the sky. You must visit each of them in turn, drawing from their magic."
"How do you know so much about all of this? You are truly a sorcerer, then?"
"I am. You are to become one as well, but not here, and not now."
Before Zelda could react, Ganondorf once again withdrew the cerulean ocarina and used it to transport them back to the temple above the crater. Without saying anything further, he entered, and she followed him. As she walked forward, she was not surprised to feel a sheath tapping against her thigh. She put away her blade, which still seemed to weigh nothing at all.
Ganondorf was waiting for her inside. He wore his cape and gauntlets, and he held a small bundle in his arms. "If you are to undertake this quest, there are three things you will need," he told her as she crossed the bridge into the temple.
"First," he said, sliding a pair of boots across the floor, "you must protect your feet. With these you can run as swiftly as the wind."
"Second," he said, tossing her a pair of gloves, "you must protect your hands. These will confer the strength of a colossus."
"Third," he said, stepping forward to present her with a hooded cloak, "you must protect your face and ears. When you wear this you will be able to jump as lightly as a bird."
Zelda put on the boots and gloves, which were soft and warm. She took the cloak and fastened it around her shoulders.
"If you travel over the land and delve into the temples," he continued, "the people you meet and the stories you hear may change your mind about a great many things. At the end of your journey, you may be strong enough to defeat me. It is my hope that you will join me instead."
Ganondorf's eyes shone. "Help me find the Triforce, Zelda. Help me lift the clouds and melt this ice."
Zelda smiled fiercely. "Even if the Triforce does exist, I can't simply go gallivanting off on a wild goose chase. You are forgetting that I have responsibilities, one of the most pressing of which is to bring you to justice. I have no wish to partner with you, and I have better things to do than to run your errands."
"I understand your hesitation, but I'm afraid I'm not giving you a choice."
In a quick succession of fluid movements, he stepped forward, seized Zelda by her waist, and threw her toward the tablet, which opened to swallow her.
The air on the other side of the gate was so cold it burned. When she was back on solid ground, Zelda raised her hood and drew her new sword. An instant later, Ganondorf burst from the stone monolith. She brought the blade down on top of him, but he blocked her blow with his armored gauntlet, knocking the hilt from her grasp.
"You will need to move quicker than that, Princess." A smile flickered across his lips.
"I have responsibilities of my own, and our time together grows short. Your path is your own, but I will advise you that you will best be served by heading south." He gestured to the door behind her.
"If you are wise, you will find an ally, someone to wield the shining arrows that will illuminate the path of your sword. There are many here on the surface who resent you, but there are those who will aid you. The sword is a weapon, but it is also a potent symbol. It is not necessary for you to fight if peace is indeed your goal."
"And while I am on this 'quest,' what will you do?"
"Someone needs to maintain order in the sky."
"You are leaving me under the clouds, then."
"I am leaving you to your destiny."
"You are leaving me to die."
"I do not think you will die so easily."
They glared at each other.
"Why are you helping me?" she finally asked.
"We need not be enemies," he answered. His eyes were almost kind, and he seemed as if he were about to saying something else, but then he swirled his cape and was gone in the blink of an eye.
Zelda hugged her cloak around her and walked to the door he had indicated earlier. Weak light now fell through the upper windows. She walked back across the frozen bridge, fitted her hands into a groove on one of the great stone doors, and pulled. Her gloves tightened around her wrists, and strength surged through her. The door creaked open.
The snowstorm had spent itself, and the world was quiet. A fresh canvas of perfect white stretched endlessly in front of her.
Zelda took her first step forward into the dawn.