The Master of Darkness

Dark clouds of fog billowed across the fiery landscape. Lightning flashed through it, and a chill ran through the land. Slowly, it began to fade, and a tall, black man pushed his way out of the fog. A look of frustration was on his thin face, and his red hair was wet with sweat.

Pausing to glance around, he frowned. He hadn't been captured; that was definite. This land of lava could not be The Sacred Realm. Link hadn't even been there to defeat him! Where am I? He demanded angrily at the sky. What is this place?

He'd been so close…with Link's disappearance, taking Hyrule would have been all too easy. His army had begun its march when the stupid fog had made it absolutely impossible to see. Wherever he was now, he couldn't figure it out. As the fog faded away, he glanced around quickly and breathed in to help him think.

Suddenly, the sound of a giant roar caused the man to turn around. A giant beast stood there. It was dark green and about twenty times the man's height. It let loose a blast of fire, but the man merely held up his hand and blocked the fire in mid-air. Then he pushed his hand out, sending a blast of power into the beast that sent it flying backwards. Then he turned and continued onwards. Whatever this place was, it certainly had weird creatures.

The man paused in confusion as the strangest creature he had ever seen came walking over the hill in front of him. Clenching his hand, he powered it up for a blast, but as the metallic creature came closer, he hesitated. He looked closely at it and frowned. It almost looked like a person wearing armor, but he had never seen armor such as this before.

"Who are you?" The man demanded, not in the least bit nervous. If this person…if that is what it was, turned out to be hostile, he wouldn't be alive long enough to do anything dangerous. He would see to it.

"Samus," the helmet said, before hitting a button on the suit, causing the helmet to sink into it. The woman who stood before him was beautiful, with a perfectly smooth face and long blond hair. However, she wasn't any race the man had seen before.

"Where exactly am I?" the man asked seriously.

"Where?" Samus asked, as if surprised by the question. "How could you possibly not know what this place is? Everyone does, and everyone avoids it."

"Where am I?" The man asked in a more threatening voice.

"Calm down," Samus said. "You're on the planet Xebes. The land of the dark monsters…" she said the last part as though trying to make him remember. "What are you doing here, and who are you?"

"I answer to no one," He replied, glancing around. He kept his surprise completely hidden. How in the world had he ended up on another planet? What kind of fog had that been, and what had happened to his army? Most importantly, however, was the question of how to get back… "What are you doing here?" he asked, eyeing her and evaluating. "What is the armor for?"

"I'm a bounty hunter," Samus replied, "and at the moment, I'm looking for the last of the Metroids. My ship said it was here."

"You have a ship that can sail the lava?" the man asked, keeping his voice calm, yet becoming more and more confused. How could a ship tell you anything?

"No," Samus replied, as though it was a stupid question the man had asked just to annoy her. "My spaceship told me."

Spaceship… The word hit the man and took his breath away. A ship that could travel through the stars… The land of the dark monsters… Looking down at his triforce, an evil sneer crossed Ganondorf's face. He had just hit the jackpot.

Mario, Luke, Link and Kirby clambered into one of Star Fox's ships, and Luke Skywalker pressed down on a lever. Instantly, the ship took off into the air. For Luke and Kirby, blasting off into outer space wasn't anything new. For Mario… well… he'd heard of it many times, but he had never experienced it. Link was just about blown away, stumbling about and trying to hold onto something. When he had finally gotten ahold of a seat, he pushed himself down into it and buckled up.

What have I been thrust into? He asked himself with a frown. The fact that every Link before him had been just as thrust didn't make it any easier to accept. The Hero of Time had even been thrown into the future. They never experienced anything this weird, though, Link protested to himself as if to justify his frustration.

"Link!" Mario called from the window, his voice full of excitement. "Come look; it's beautiful!"

Grumbling, Link stood to his feet, and found to his surprise the ground was no longer shaking. Frowning, still in a rather bad mood, he made his way over to the midget. Then his eyes glanced outside, and his breath was taken away. Instantaneously, any anger Link had been feeling dissolved away. Every bit of his being was filled with wonder, absolute wonder. Nothing Link had ever imagined had prepared him for such an awe-inspiring sight. He saw worlds surrounding him…stars…moons. The sight took Link's breath away. "I never thought anything could be so beautiful," he whispered to himself. Then he noticed that neither Luke nor Kirby had come over to the window, and called, "Why aren't you looking at it? It really is very beautiful."

"I've already seen it," Kirby replied. "It's the same every time." Luke, however, didn't respond. He was just sitting, silent, with his eyes closed as though he were thinking very deeply. After giving Luke a strange look, Link turned back to the window.

"I never imagined anything could be so beautiful either," Mario replied. "I've heard about it, but I never dreamed I would be up here seeing it myself."

"I've never even heard of it," Link replied. "Where I come from, we could never even imagine something like this. We still use bows and arrows. Star Fox said those went out of use thousands of years ago…"

Mario stared out the window and then turned to Link, remembering the teenager's statement back on Corneria. "Two months?" Mario asked, his voice filled with apprehension, as though he didn't want his question confirmed. "You've really been away from home for two months?"

"I have," Link replied, lowering his head from the window. Even its beauty wasn't enough to save Link from depression. "I don't know if I can get back, or if Hyrule even exists anymore. If I go home, I know I will not like what I find."

"Are you talking about, Ganondorf, you called him," Mario asked, his hand on his chin, thinking. "Who exactly is he?"

"The master of all evil," Link replied simply. Then he pulled off one of his brown gloves and held his hand out for Mario to examine it. There was a group of three triangles that touched each other at the bottom corners. One of the triangles almost seemed to be glowing. "This is the triforce, a gift from the goddesses who created our world. About a thousand years ago…probably thousands by now… Ganondorf tried to steal it and it broke into three pieces.

"One of those is mine, and gives me extra courage. Another one belongs to Ganondorf, and gives him the power to control anything and everything evil. Ever since he got his hands on it, me and Zelda have barely been able to defeat him. Now that I'm gone…" He trailed off, but the look in his eyes showed what he didn't want to say.

Mario gulped and said, "I think out of all of us, you're world is the one in the most danger. Kirby thinks trouble might come because he is gone, and Luke, well, he seems to trust that everything will turn out alright. I may be gone from my world, but my brother is still there. Your world has to face all of the terrors of evil, without having the power to stop it."

"That is what scares me," Link replied. Hopelessly, he said, "What can I do? What can any of us do?"

"Pl…" Mario began, planning on saying Place your hope in Princess Zelda. However, he never had a chance, because he was interrupted by a strange blaring noise which echoed throughout the entire ship.

"What in the world is that?" Link demanded, glancing around. Then his eyes locked onto the control panel Luke was sitting in front of. The screen was flashing red. "What does that mean?" he asked apprehensively. Something told him it wasn't good.

Luke turned towards Link, and it was easy to see Luke was trying very hard to remain calm. "It means," he replied, "somebody is attacking us."