CH2: The Story of the Flames
—B-L-U-E—
The four heroes marched back into the castle as one, ready to speak with the Princess. Suddenly, however, a man appeared in front of them in a flurry of strange brown and gold diamonds (the shape, not the gemstone). His skin was gray like he spends all his time inside. He had large white bangs covering most of his face so that only his right eye was showing, as evil as it was. His ear had a small blue and sharp jewel hanging from it. He wore a blood-red traveling cloak that covered most of his body, which bore a tight white outfit, with a hole in the abdomen like a belly-shirt.
"Are you children looking for Princess Zelda?" He said evilly. Blue was brave, but even this guy gave him the creeps.
"What if we are?" Vio challenged, drawing his sword. "Are you going to stop us?"
The man chuckled. "I just might. You see, I cannot allow you to speak with the goddess Hylia—"
"I though we were still talking about Zelda!" Blue shouted in confusion. "Stay on topic!"
The man smiled. "Has she not told you? ALL of the Princesses of Hyrule have been named Zelda. And the first Zelda was a reincarnation of the goddess Hylia. Your Zelda is the goddess herself. As I was saying, you cannot see her. She is now mine to control."
Blue drew his sword too. "What do you mean, she's in your control?" He asked savagely. The man laughed again.
"I mean, she's no longer yours. Zelda is simply the battery to my master plan. Her life force will power the resurrection of my master, Lord Demise, Ruler and Creator of all evil. Not even your petty Ganondorf will be able to survive."
"What the fuck are you!?" Red said, earning a strange look from Blue.
The man looked ashamed of himself. "I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Ghirahim." He sank into a small bow. "But you may call me Lord Ghirahim, Your Magesty, or Oh-my-god-don't-kill-me-mr.-handsome-Ghirahim."
Vio retched. "I think we'll stick with just plain ol' Ghirahim, hm?" He said, with a ghost of a smirk. "Now step out of the way! Or we'll be forced to kill you!"
"Hmmm, interesting theory, you trying to kill me. But I am a demon lord! I am still a demon, and you all know that demon eventually come back to life. Now, walk away, little children and don't bother fight-WHAT THE HELL IS ON YOUR LEFT HANDS?!"
Blue looked down and saw that the back of his left hand was glowing gold, revealing the four Links' Triforce of Courage. Ghirahim hissed and backed away. Suddenly, Blue noticed the handles of the four Goddess Swords were glowing cyan.
"Master Links, if I may speak," she said, "allow me to give you some information for future reference."
"Please." Green replied immediately.
"If any of you ever need information about an enemy, person, or object, I will be willing to tell you if you target. Currently, I have information on Ghirahim that I have known for several eons. He is the Demon Lord, and has some gentleman-like tendencies. However, he is savage, cruel, and always hungry for blood. He is a skilled wielder of magic and is also my darker counterpart for the Dark Lord Demise's evil form of the Master Sword. He is also skilled with a sword. As strong as he may seem, however, he suffers from several fatal flaws: hubris; he thinks too highly of himself. If you outsmart him, you can defeat him easily."
"Well, I guess too much has been said about me, then," Ghirahim said with distaste, "So I shall be going. Hope you all have a…hard time. I will make sure of it." With a snap of his fingers, he disappeared into another flurry of diamonds.
"Do you really think that he kidnapped Zelda?" Red asked. "Because of it did, I am going to hurt him!" Blue looked at Red is amusement. He never heard Red, the most innocent and child-like one of the Four Sword Heroes, utter a threat that sounded genuine, other than the time he threatened to eat Vio's dinner and leave him with nothing but burned toast (the look on Vio's face when he had to eat it while he watched the others eat fried cucco was priceless).
"Calm down Red." Blue said, trying to hide his amusement. "Did you have a spike in testosterone tonight, or what?"
Red looked at Blue with annoyance and anger, which really startled the blue hero. "Zelda's been KIDNAPPED, Blue!" Red shouted. "We have to save her, and you want me to calm down!? She's in trouble, and you want me to relax!?"
"Blue's right, Red." Green said, putting a hand on Red's shoulder. "If you can't calm down, how're you going to help save Zelda, or fight?"
"I fight angry all the time." Blue mumbled to himself.
"Not well, I might add." Vio said with a smirk. That earned a scowl from Blue.
"Fine." Red huffed. "Let's just go and see this Ganondorf person, okay?" He didn't wait for anyone else to answer by walking ahead with his sword in hand, ready for a fight. Blue now let out a laugh. For the whole day, Red had been showing signs of maturity, but this was just strange. Red had been showing acts of wanting to hurt someone, and wants to be more involved with the fighting. Red was usually a peacekeeper, so seeing this drastic change in behaviour was just strange.
As four, the heroes stealthily moved towards the prison cells. The whole castle, as Blue saw, was full of monsters of all different types: Stalfos and Lizalfos guarded almost every important room, Chu Chus moved slowly through the corridors, Moblins and Bokoblins paced the entrance to the castle itself, and even some weird monster from the Twilight Realm got into the mix. The castle was in utter chaos! Blue wanted to destroy each and every one of them so bad.
Finally they reached the prison cells without drawing too much attention to themselves (thanks to Red, who seemed to blend in with the heavy shadows they were moving in). Blue was a pretty good lock-picker, so he was about to unlock the door when Vio grabbed the door handle. He tried turning it and the handle fell off. Blue hissed.
"Whoops…" Vio whispered. "Sorry."
"Sorry doesn't cut it!" Blue snapped. "Now what!?"
"Stop fighting!" Green hissed. "I have an idea. Fi, what do you think we should do about this door?"
The spirit of the sword spoke in all their minds. "The door's handle has fallen off, so there isn't any clear way to enter the room. However, there is a 95% chance that if you find a marking on the wall and raise the Goddess Sword skyward, a Goddess Wall will appear. Use the sword to draw a symbol of a lock, and the door will open."
"That's so cool." Blue said. He slowly pulled out the Goddess Sword of his own and raised it skyward. A light travelled down the blade and the blade shone a calming colour of white. On the wall to Blue's left, a purple eagle appeared and glowed. He knew instantly that it was the Goddess Wall. He quickly drew a lock (Vio scolded him for his lack of artistic talent) and there was a soft click on the door next to him. He looked at the door and it was slightly ajar.
"Wow!" Blue gawked quietly. "Thanks Fi! That was really smart of you."
"I was created with full knowledge of magic and other topics, Master Blue." Fi said. "I was literally born to serve." And with that, the four heroes entered the jail. Directly in front of them, a man in tattered clothes was huddled in the shadows of his prison. Blue knew for a fact that this was Ganondorf. However, there was someone guarding the cell that made Vio gasped.
The person looked just like Link, except his eyes were red instead of blue, his hair was purple instead of blond, his tunic was black instead of green, and the Four Sword on his back had a black blade instead of the normal metal. The boy was Shadow Link. "Shadow Link!" Vio said, almost looking relieved. The boy looked up and smiled.
"Well if it isn't the Four Sword Heroes." Shadow Link said. "I assume you guys are here to revive the Master Sword? And you need Ganondorf to do that?"
"Yes." Red said simply and flatly. Blue knew that Red wasn't fond of Shadow Link at all because, in Red's time of need, he disguised himself as Vio and tricked them into almost being killed by a temple boss. Since then, Red had always disliked Shadow Link.
Shadow Link's smile faded. "I'm…sorry. But I can't allow that." He said sadly. "Ghirahim had brought me back to life so I can make sure you don't get Ganondorf."
"What?!" Blue shouted, drawing the Goddess Sword again. "I thought you were on our side! You helped us kill Vaati!"
Shadow Link grimaced. "I'm truly sorry." Before he could draw his sword, however, Red moved to the nearest shadow and disappeared. Shadow Link continued to look at the shadow until his face paled. He quickly looked back and nearly screamed in fright. There was a random electric blue tear drop hovering in mid-air, glowing like a candle. It started moving forward and it revealed a young boy. The tear drop was actually something like a tattoo underneath his visible red eye. The rest of his face was covered by his blond hair and his gauze cowl. He wore an overlarge cloak that hid his hands. He wore white pants and boots like Red's. The boy that Blue was staring at was a Sheikah.
"W-who are you!?" Shadow Link stammered.
"My name is none of your concern, shadow." The boy said in a voice similar to Red's. "Release Ganondorf and leave Ghirahim's command. He is unjust and lives to see the world in ruins. Just go now."
"I can't!" Shadow Link wailed. "If I leave him, he'll kill me, and I want to live under the sun for once!"
A knife blade protruded from under the left sleeve of the cloak. It glistened brightly and the blade bore the symbol of the Sheikah. "Release him NOW!"
Shadow Link looked like he wanted to cry. "…fine…but please understand that if he hadn't revived me, I wouldn't have done this." Shadow Link grabbed the key from mid air (Blue thought it was more summoning, though) and inserted it into the key slot.
"Ganondorf, you're free to leave." Shadow Link said grudgingly. "Assist the heroes on their quest. There, are you—" He added, turning to looked at the Sheikah but instead was looking at Red. Red was dressed in the same attire as the Sheikah, except the tear drop vanished, he lost the red eyes, and his hair was back to normal.
Shadow Link was confused. "Wait, you're the Sheikah that I just saw?!" He demanded. Red smirked and nodded.
"I didn't just dress up as one," He said, moving back into the shadow, "I AM one." He appeared from where he had left to turn into the Sheikah. He had just changed back into his normal tunic.
Blue smiled widely. "So our little brother is a Sheikah, eh?" Blue said, walking over the Red and rubbing the top of his head with his knuckles. "That is so awesome! He's bound to get chicks now!" Red rolled his eyes.
"I'm not using my skills to pick-up girls, Blue." He said, crossing his arms.
"I thought I was supposed to help you." A new voice said. "So why don't we get this over with." The heroes looked around and saw that the man in the cell was talking. He had black skin with a yellow ting to it. By the looks of his ripped, torn and tattered clothes, he had been here a long time, but they did reveal that they looked similar to armour and regal robes.
"Are you Ganondorf?" Green asked. The man nodded. Ganondorf walked over to the corner of the room, which had a large white sword leaning against the wall. He attached the sword to his hip and walked back towards the heroes. Blue thought he was somewhat intimidating because of how he towered over them. Also, he seemed to hold an air of hatred towards the heroes, like they had done something that affected him personally.
"What help do you need?" Ganondorf asked. At that moment, Fi shot out of the Goddess Sword that Green had.
"Ghirahim has been brought back to life somehow, and is trying to revive his old master, Demise, who is also your creator." Fi said. "It is my understanding that Ghirahim had tore down your fortress that you had in the Gerudo Dessert, stopping your entire movement against Hyrule. It is also my understanding that you wish to seek revenge on my counterpart."
Ganondorf looked both shocked and skeptical. Blue thought he understood this by the fact that he sometimes gets that look too. "You know," Ganondorf said after a few moments, "there is such a thing as knowing too much. So you want me to help you do what I wanted to do anyways?"
"Please, sir," Red said suddenly, "it would be an enormous help."
Ganondorf thought for a few minutes, and then grinned. "Well, it would be a chance to be free." He said to himself. "Plus I want my vengeance. Alright, you have a deal! What're your names, anyway?"
"Technically, our names are all Link." Green said proudly, but the pride was easily diminished by the glowering look the man in front of him gave him. "But we can't ALL be Link, so I go by Green. This is Red, Blue and Vio. And you obviously know Shadow Link."
Ganondorf continued to glare at all of them in turn. Vio smirked at him and saluted mockingly. Red smiled genuinely, not even noticing the look of hatred in the Gerudo's eyes. Blue glared back with full force and anger. He definitely didn't trust this man, who was also the King of Evil. He would have to keep his guard up constantly. Green looked slightly fearful.
"So, where to now?" Ganondorf said after a few minutes. "Do we go straight to Ghirahim, or to the Pedestal of Time where Demise is sealed?"
"The Master Sword has somehow been cursed to become its primitive form," Fi said, "and has become the Goddess Sword. We need to return it to the Blade of Evil's Bane to defeat both Ghirahim and Demise. Because one of your greatest weaknesses is the Master Sword, I assumed you knew how to make it evolve. I know not of the flames of Farore, Nayru, and Din are located."
"I do not know where the Flames of Farore and Nayru are, but I do know where Din's Flame is located. For Nayru's Flame, speak with Zelda. And Farore's Flame…well, I assumed that Link would know, but obviously not."
"Well, this is problematic." Vio said grudgingly. "Ghirahim had taken Zelda. We can't get to her at all!" Ganondorf scowled.
"I think I know, but you make not like it…" Shadow Link said suddenly. Everyone looked at him. "Um…a long time ago, there was another hero named Link*. He started his journey in the Kokiri forest, where his caretaker The Great Deku Tree told him to go into him to break a curse that eventually killed him because Link didn't act fast enough. Link did in fact break the curse, but the Deku Tree still died, but not without giving Link the Spiritual Stone of the Forest, also known as the Kokiri Emerald. Link brought it to the Zelda at the time and she told him to get the Spiritual Stone of Fire and Water, also known as the Goron Ruby and the Zora Sapphire. These were the keys to the Sacred Realm. This is only a theory, but I think maybe these stones are like the Flames. If we collect all of them, maybe we can break them and release the Flames inside it."
"I once searched for these stones." Ganondorf said. "But their protectors never gave them to me. So I cursed the Deku Tree, blocked Dodongo's Cave so the Gorons have nothing to eat, and infected the Zora Guardian Lord Jabu Jabu with a parasite. Link eventually undid everything I had done."
"If I may speak, Masters," Fi said, "but it is my understanding that the Flames of Farore, Nayru and Din are captured inside the Spiritual Stones that Shadow Link had mentioned. There is a 98% chance that he is speaking the truth and that we must search for these stones immediately."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Blue said excitedly. "Let's go!" The others all nodded and Ganondorf smirked.
"You all might want to close your eyes for this." He warned and snapped his fingers. Everything around Blue was suddenly enveloped by a weird purple light and a painful pressure hit Blue like a brick. Blue was knocked out cold.
*a lot of this story will have references to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The Link mention in this line is the boy Link, when he was 11/12 and before he pulled out the Master Sword. The Stones being the containers for the Flames of Farore, Nayru, and Din are made up, though.
Alright, this chapter is finally over. It'll be a while for me to post the next chapter, so please bear with me…again. Who knew little Red was a Sheikah? Oh and if you didn't figure this out already, this story contains a lot of spoilers for other games like Ocarina of Time and Skyward Sword. I might even add some Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Track references in it.
I love all of your who wanted to see the next chapter, because without you, I wouldn't continue...well, actually I would, but the thought is still there, right? Right?! Sigh...thank you again.
