The Triforce of Ruin
Chapter II: In the Center
Queen Zelda's crown was heavy on her brow as she entered the castle throne room. Its weight was in the responsibility and duty it was forged to represent, more than the gold which it had been forged from. Heavier still was what lay before her. Something last done centuries before her birth. Something impossible until Link had acquired the long lost third fragment of the Triforce mere months ago. She would enter the Sacred Realm and restore the Triforce to its natural state.
She looked down at her right hand. She couldn't see the emblematic outline of the Triforce hidden beneath her ivory glove, but she could feel it. The Triforce itself wasn't inside her hand of course, that was only the outward proof that she was its vessel. The Triforce of Power resided within her soul. Soon it would be returned to the Sacred Realm and exist not in her individual soul, but the soul of Hyrule itself.
It had been a shock when the emblem first appeared on her hand. Luckily she had been alone, practicing her swordplay in an isolated part of the castle gardens where no prying eyes had been to witness the phenomena. Ganon may have been slain, but you could never be sure which eyes happened to belong to his loyal servants.
The very next day messenger pigeons had arrived from the northern reaches of her kingdom carrying the fantastical news of Link's accomplishment. He had retrieved the Triforce of Courage and awoken the sleeping Princess Zelda I from her centuries long curse. Soon after Link had returned to Castle City along with the newly titled Awoken Princess, and Zelda was able to get some answers to what the appearance of the Triforce emblem had meant.
According to the incorrigible Hero the Triforce of Courage had momentarily joined its siblings as one, but the three had separated again of their own accord once the wish to release the legendary Princess from her curse had been made. He had become the vessel for the Triforce of Courage, while Zelda I had become the vessel for the Triforce of Wisdom. It wasn't until meeting with her that they were able to confirm their suspicions that she had been chosen as the third vessel herself.
She and her fellow vessels had consulted along with her adviser and handmaid Impa and came to the conclusion that the three Triforce must be returned to their rightful home, the Sacred Realm, before they could be restored permanently as one. Preparations for entering the Sacred Realm had begun immediately, but the methods for entering were so ancient that even with Zelda I's aid they had taken until now to complete. The timing had aligned nearly perfectly with her birthday, the day she finally would be old enough to be crowned queen.
The sudden return of the legendary Zelda I straight out of a golden age fairy book had of course created its own form of chaos. With several high ranking nobles wondering if the crown was rightfully hers. Zelda hadn't been personally insulted in the slightest, though it was discouraging how men could nearly bring a kingdom to civil war by actively trying to avoid one. It was Zelda I's own council that had finally quelled the confusion and debate. Her brother, she had said, was made king centuries ago, thus ensuring his direct decedents were the lawful and rightful heirs. She herself was now technically a member of a branch family and no longer in the direct line. The matter then settled itself easily as everyone involved was able to relax from the unspoken fear that the 'other' Zelda would make a claim. Nobody wanted a broken Crown and broken Kingdom. Most fortunately is that 'nobody' included Princess Zelda I. As it stood she would remain the Awoken Princess and serve as an adviser while being named next in line until the point that Zelda was able to produce a legitimate heir.
What was the most amazing and wondrous was the fast friendship she had already formed with her namesake. Monarchdom was a heavy burden, but at least now it wasn't as lonely. It was also nice to have family again, even family as unconventionally distant as a very great grandaunt. She'd had no actual family since her father had been killed battling Ganon's army.
The Awoken Princess now stood in the throne room's far corner, conferring with Impa and Gaspechi. The elderly man's bushy white eyebrows furrowed with concentration as he went over the ancient rituals magic for the thousandth time, ensuring he'd get it right when the time came. She'd let them to it for now, besides, the one she currently wanted to speak with was lounging on a petitioner's bench trying his best to stay out of site. A futile effort. Link was not in anyway out of mind.
"Care to explain what that was all about?" she asked in the iciest tone she could manage as she walked to stand before the infuriating young man. "Was it absolutely necessary to endanger one of my citizens just to make a grand entrance?"
"I wasn't trying to make any kind of entrance," Link said, actually having the gall to sound affronted. "I was going to meet you at the castle, things just didn't work out how I'd planned."
"What could possibly have made you think that was an acceptable alternative? Was waving your hand at starry eyed children for an hour that dreadful a prospect?" Link could get away with a lot, most of the time indulging his free spirit was fine, even helpful on occasion, but enough was most certainly more than enough.
"Epona-," he started to say.
Zelda cut him off. "Is a fine animal and in no way 'out to get you'."
"If you keep making me ride her," Link said, "Death Rattle's job will be done for them!"
"Really, because I don't recall her throwing you and trampling you to death during the parade, and by Nayru's Wisdom that horse is more than smart enough to know you deserved it." Zelda forced her voice to stay icy, but goddess she wanted to shout!
"I already had one major ordeal to contend with," Link insisted. "Putting me on that monster's back and parading me, literally parading me, around town was just cruelty atop hardship!"
"The speech," Zelda said flatly. "I'm glad you brought that up. I told you to prepare an actual speech. What exactly did you think that meant?"
"I did prepare!" Link somehow managed to look sincerely aghast. "It took me weeks!"
"It was two sentences long."
"That was your own advice. Keep it simple. Nice and clean. 'I'm honored to defend and protect this great land of Hyrule. I will be glad to serve its new queen'. Is both simple and clean!" Link placed his hat down beside him on the bench and ran his fingers through his hair. "Besides that was the most terrifying thing I've ever done. Another word longer and I may have died even after surviving Epona."
"Terrifying?" Zelda shouldn't have been surprised that Link could still leave her utterly dumbfound, but somehow she was. "You have fought dragons! On nothing but the word of an old woman you hunted down the Prince of Darkness himself and killed him! You could have even let one of my aides write the speech for you. Surely even you could have recited from a script?"
"And have the goodly people of Hyrule think their Hero dishonest? The words had to be my own."
"You are the Hero of Courage, not the Hero of Honesty-to-a-Fault, and frankly you're not worthy of either title. God and goddess!"
In the pregnant silence that followed, she realized that against her best efforts she had indeed started shouting. Behind her Zelda I politely cleared her throat. It took a moment for the Queen to regain control, but even as she turned to face the others she knew her face remained at least partially flushed. "The preparations are complete?"
Impa stood beside Zelda I and Gaspechi with an irritating twinkle of amusement in her clouded eyes. "They are Your Majesty. Any time you are ready we may begin."
Zelda nodded. "Let us do it then. This may be the most important moment in any of our lives. Link?"
"Ready Princess." Link put his hat back on and stood. "Err, Queen...Your Majesty."
Zelda sighed, regrettably aloud, and noted with annoyance that this only caused Impa's twinkling eyes to shine brighter. "You've never addressed me with a title before, why start calling me by anything but my name now."
"Now there's two of you." Link said. "It can get a little confusing."
Zelda I actually giggled. "You could just use those nicknames you came up for us."
The Queen turned her gaze back to Link who grimaced and looked away. "Nicknames?"
Impa's eyes may as well have been shooting fireworks. "Sleepy. And Grumpy."
The Awoken Princess broke into a full laugh, and the Hero of Courage loudly groaned as he pointedly avoided eye contact with the stone faced Queen of Hyrule. Gaspechi cleared his throat. Evidently not at all comfortable to be in the midst of Hyrule's three most important individuals as they acted like...regular people if you were being generous, obnoxious children if you weren't. Queen Zelda was feeling a lot of different things, but she was pretty sure that generous was not one of them.
Impa smiled at what should have been an irritating scene with grandmotherly fondness. "Cherish moments like this children. But for now we aught begin our work."
She was right. At least about beginning their work. Without further ado, lest Link fall into a steaming pit of flippancy in response to just about anything she might say, Queen Zelda lead the small group up to and behind her father's - no it was her's now – throne and placed her hands upon the wall allowing the magic of her royal bloodline to flow into the stone in the way Princess Zelda I had shown her. With a disconcerting grinding noise a large ten by ten square of stone rose up and out of their path revealing the hidden passage that had been forgotten long before the time of the Queen's birth.
The five entered and started up the winding spiral stairway in relative silence. Even Link appeared truly solemn under the magnitude of what lay ahead. The first time they'd entered she and Link had been surprised to find the walls lined with readily burning torches, kept alive indefinitely by the ancient magic of Hyrule's late rulers.
The single large circular room at the stairwell's apex was at first a dimly lit anticlimax. It wasn't until the tall ornamental double doors at the room's entrance were closed that three massive braziers placed in a triangular formation at the room's outer edges would ignite. What they revealed was breathtaking.
At first it was the braziers themselves that impressed, or rather it was their flames. Ten foot pillars of bright golden fire. A color more akin to the sun than anything earthbound. After the golden fire's initial awe wore off and their eyes adjusted to the increased luminescence the room's true marvel was revealed. Massive murals depicting scenes straight out of legend. Some well remembered, many long forgotten. A grand tree surrounded by fairies. The legendary zora and goron, populating ancient kingdoms built both in lake and volcano. Ganon.
The Prince of Darkness was portrayed unmistakably, any child would have guessed who the trident wielding beast was supposed to be, but Zelda and Link could personally attest to the disturbing accuracy of the painted images. If the history portrayed on these walls was to be believed the beast later called Ganon had indeed started out a rarely born man of the gerudo. There were many myths telling of his monstrous origin, but that particular story had brought significant hardship on the desert swept gerudo of today. The single male gerudo, born only every century or so, had once been such a respected rarity that they were invariably made to serve as king, but rumors had spoken for many years that they now killed any male child born in fear of returning the great enemy back to the world. Many rumors also spoke of a great civil war that had torn the tribes apart around the time of Zelda's birth. She had always thought these things tragic and never believed that particular myth more than a nasty rumor itself. What did it mean if it was actually true?
But the villain wasn't portrayed in a vacuum. There were heroes. A group that could only have been the near mythical seven sages. Were a zora and goron truly among their ranks? Zelda's ancestors were painted across legend in plurality. The Princess Zeldas who had faced the darkness and for the sake of Hyrule fought back. The dress Zelda now wore on the day of her coronation had been designed after the one modeled by her many legendary ancestors. Then there was the sword in the stone. The Master Sword and Blade of Evil's Bane. A weapon lost to the ages that had once been wielded again and again during Hyrule's darkest hours. Wielded by the Legendary Hero of each era. The predecessors of today's Link, their own Hero of Prophesy and Courage.
What had been the most shocking revelation to Zelda, and even Link himself, was the simple detail of each former hero's garb. What Link himself had thought random, chosen, and unique was in truth something more. Something destined. Each of the Heroes past wore nearly identical green clothing as the present one, down to that ridiculous hat. That had ended any debate over giving him a proper uniform, and as much as that had initially disappointed her, it was more than worth it to see the overly free spirited man wrestle with deep thoughts and an existential crisis.
Her thoughts were not anything as frivolous right then. Any outside frustration was made momentarily unimportant as she gazed upon such wonders with only awe. Awe that was tempered with slight melancholy. All these legends, all this history she had never known. Hyrule's grand and storied past. "We've lost so much," she said, speaking her thoughts out loud without realizing it.
"We'll find it," Link replied at her side.
For the briefest instant Zelda thought she might lose herself enough to actually slap the man for being flip in such a moment, but as soon as she saw his face it was apparent that despite his unconventional wording Link was being perfectly serious and sincere. He met her eyes and gave a slight nod. On days like this one had been it was easy to forget that Link could be serious, but on the occasions that he was it became easy to remember all the young man, the Hero, had accomplished. All he had done not only for Hyrule, but for herself.
Zelda returned his solemn nod, honestly grateful to have him as an ally and friend.
"Is everyone ready to begin?" the Queen asked. The group needed no words to answer. They were ready. She was ready as well. Now sealed safely inside the gateway chamber Zelda was on the precipice of finally securing a future for Hyrule. Death Rattle had missed their last and greatest opportunity to sow the seeds of chaos that they intended.
In the center of the room's white marble floor lay the image of the complete threefold golden Triforce, the same as it did on the hands of the actual Triforce's vessels. The Queen removed her gloves, it wasn't necessary, but she wanted to see her own marking. Its top triangle pulsating slightly stronger than the other two, as a sign that the Triforce of Power resided within her. Link hadn't been hiding his, at least not after joining the parade, because it was widely known that the Hero of Prophesy had been marked by the Triforce before starting his great adventure to save the cursed Princess. That Princess removed her gloves as well.
It was time. The Queen stepped forward and took her spot in the top triangle in the Triforce. The other two vessels followed to there respective places. Facing the center Link stood to Zelda's left, her namesake Zelda I stood to her right. The three extended their Triforce marked hands until they met in the center. The markings which always shone with a faint golden light now pulsed brightly enough that it was hard to look at them directly.
The Triforce itself desired the return to the Sacred Realm, so getting there would not be difficult. No, the way back was what they had been preparing for over the last few months. Their fate was now held in the hands of the two who had accompanied her and her fellow vessels. Zelda was not worried. They were the two people she trusted most in Hyrule. Impa had long been her handmaid and teacher. Gaspechi had been there to offer the gods' blessing the day her parents had wed and later when she had been born. She knew of no man who had served the kingdom more faithfully or any besides her own parents and Impa that honestly loved her as more than a Princess, but as a person. Zelda could not possibly worry if it was these two who held her fate.
The two elders took their positions on either side of the golden emblem and began their long practiced chant. Ancient magic crackled through the air. The braziers' golden flame shifted in color. Crimson pure and strong as Din's Power. Cerulean clear and deep as Nayru's Wisdom. Emerald bright and wild as Farore's Courage.
Back to gold as glorious as the powers that had forged their world.
All was black.
Or maybe it was white. Zelda couldn't tell the difference anymore.
She could feel the ancient spell hook into her soul. Tethering her to the physical realm of Hyrule, land of her birth, home to her destiny as great or small as it may be. She was now free to enter the Sacred Realm and knew that she would return. She released the Triforce of Power. The act was effortless. Natural. The unnatural thing she realized had been the act of containing it. At the same instant the Triforce of Wisdom and that of Courage were too released. The three entered the Sacred Realm.
The enclosed room containing the great mural had vanished. Now they stood atop a great stone pillar, perhaps a tower, without ceiling or walls. The Sacred Realm stretched out before them, vaster than Hyrule and infused with golden magnificence. It was hard to believe that this place of absolute beauty had once been corrupted by Ganon's darkness. How hard the decision to use such holiness as a base prison must have been! How trying were those dark days to inspire such desperation?
The defeat of one Legendary Hero had brought the darkness. The victory of another Legendary Hero had restored the light.
Now she stood in that pure realm along with the Legendary Hero who had fought to preserve that restored light. Her namesake, the Awoken Princess Zelda I had once stood here centuries ago, alongside her father when he had chosen to do the unthinkable. Had she felt such awe then? Her expression said that she felt it now, despite the fact that to her she had been in this very place not that very long ago. For several eternal minutes they stood in silent profound awe.
The three unconnected pieces of the Triforce floated freely before them, dancing in slow circles around one another. Home at last.
The Awoken Princess placed her hand on the Queen's shoulder. "All that is left is for us to make our wish, Your Majesty."
Zelda smiled and nodded. "Yes." Facing the Triforce she held her hands out to her sides, Zelda I took her right hand and Link took her left. Joined the three declared their wish as one.
"Rid the land of Hyrule of those who follow Ganon. Protect all those who dwell within from their malice and evil."
Moving along with the intentions in their words and hearts the three Triforce accelerated around one another humming with power and light. Then they too joined as one. Snapping together with a crisp suddenness, their natural state finally restored.
Zelda could not pull her gaze from the spectacle. The magic flowing forth vastly superseded anything she'd ever felt. It was glorious and beautiful. It was magnificent and humbling. It was dumbfounding. Terrifying. Disempowering.
It was wrong.
The very space around them shuddered under the terrible weight of power. Simultaneously Zelda felt herself being drawn into and repulsed away from the Triforce, the epicenter of all. The Sacred Realm howled in furious silence, its golden radiance burning to black.
"What the hell is this?" She heard Link screaming over the silence. "Zelda?"
"I don't know!" she yelled back, the two drawing their swords in unison against the threat, but just what was the threat? The Triforce itself? How did you fight the very powers of creation? She made an attempt to advance toward the epicenter, but the Triforce kept her from gaining any ground no matter how her feet moved. To her right she realized that it was preventing Zelda I from making an instinctual retreat in the same way. The young woman's eyes were held wide in an absolute terror. She understood the panic in those eyes. It was embedded within her soul too, threatening to overwhelm the little self control she still possessed.
She spun to her left coming face to face with Link who had also turned to face her. "What do we do?" both shouted.
Link slammed the palm of his free right hand to his face with a laugh just short of hysterical. Zelda growled in frustration and looked back to the golden terror. Black lines, like cracks on a frozen lake, had begun spreading out from the Triforce's center covering its golden surface. What had once been an empty space centered where the three pieces of the Triforce met had filled in with solid blackness, but whereas cracks the shade of midnight spread from the dark centerpiece throughout the Triforce proper, brilliant golden lines had began spreading from outside into the inner black triangle.
Whatever this abomination that was transpiring in front of them was, it was happening fast. Too fast. Then a motion caught Zelda's attention to the side Link stood. The Hero of Courage had hefted his sword as though it was javelin, his attention focused to such a fine point that his face looked as though it had never touched emotion. Zelda had seen this before. In the years following his victory over Ganon, Link had honed his considerable talent for magic, but even before he'd entered the land of Hyrule he had one impressive trick already up his sleeve. He could throw his sword with perfect accuracy and startling speed, only to have the weapon reappear in his hands an instant after striking its mark. In his quest to restore the Triforce of Wisdom which she herself had shattered and hid, he'd found an ancient sword infused with magic. Since then he'd become more reliant on that sword's magical projectiles than his old trick.
Whether his sword's magic was currently failing Link or if he'd simply reacted on old reflex Zelda couldn't say. Whether his sword could even reach its target she didn't know. Link likely didn't know himself, but he threw it anyway.
The sword cut through the turbulent space between them and the Triforce with unnatural speed. The forces keeping them in check did not seem to effect the ancient weapon. The sword's blade struck the Triforce in its blackened centerpiece, and everything stopped. The turbulence, the silence, the cracks of black or gold, time itself. Stopped. Frozen. Then with a flash all was noise.
Reality itself quaked.
The Triforce burst into three spinning tumbling pieces once again. Zelda gasped in sudden pain as the Triforce's mark seared itself back onto her hand. The first time it had appeared there had been no physical sensation. This time it absolutely screamed. Worse was what she felt in her soul. Before, she had been aware of the enormity of the magic entering her, but the magnitude was somehow neutral, void of agenda. This time couldn't have been more different.
The Triforce of Power fled into her soul.
Zelda could not flee, she along with her fellow vessels, could only scream.
Then it was over.
The Sacred Realm had returned to its former serenity. Save for clouds that now rumbled in the distance. That was chilling enough, but what truly scared her was the thing floating where the Triforce had been. The blackness that had manifested within the Triforce remained.
A fourth Triforce. Upside down and black.
Then Zelda I spoke. The young woman had fallen to her knees, her curly red hair in absolute disarray as she stared at the black Triforce with horror and something else, something worse. What was it? Realization? She spoke only four words. "In the center, darkness."
Mythology Notes: Link's Sword and Sorcery
Link having the ability to launch magical projectiles from his sword is now a franchise mainstay. While it hasn't been around for every game it has been in some of the most recent (Link Between Worlds and Skyward Sword) and was also present from the very beginning. Most people, myself included, probably viewed the sword shaped projectiles as some kind of 8-bit magical beam. This is in fact the direction the series went for canon once better graphical technology allowed for greater detail, but early on some people did talk about it in terms of Link throwing his sword. Originally I was going to ignore this early assumption altogether, but then I came across an early concept art for the first The Legend of Zelda actually showing Link throw his sword. So I thought, what if originally Link was just tossing his sword around Mjolnier style, but after acquiring the Magic Sword it was a magical projectile and not a physically tossed blade.
I feel this works specifically for this incarnation of Link, because in Zelda II as Link levels up he learns and grows stronger with magic. While other Links may be limited to using magically infused tools the Link from the NES actually had magic of his own. And not in some vague non-specific way, but in the literal "You're a wizard, Harry!" kind of way. Seeing as how this innate ability to use magic is a large part of this specific Link's uniqueness I thought it made sense to incorporate the throwing sword idea.
About that sword. The concept of the Master Sword first came around in the Super NES game A Link to the Past. In the original game the best sword is simply called the Magic Sword. A lot of people consider it to be the Master Sword itself via retcon. This makes sense and is perfectly valid reasoning, but it's not the way I'm interpreting it for the purposes of my story. The Magic Sword Link has right now is just that, a magical sword he found during his quest. It is not the Master Sword itself. Don't worry, I've got plans to relate the two.
Until next time, happy reading!
