A link to the Twilight

Part 7

The wind was carrying no sound today. No birds were flying around, not even a crow. The only thing audible was the dehumanized voice of Link. "You're cheering for someone that is dead!" he responded to Zelda's battle cry. He saw her running over to him while the others were being busy with what they could see. Zelda drew her sword at Link and he did the same. The princess knew, as they circled, that Link was way better than her at swordplay. Their weapons clashed for a couple minutes and sparks were flying where their swords merged, making the others wonder how Zelda could fight something invisible. For some of these makeshift warriors, that question was fatal. The enemy took advantage of it and killed many of those amateur fighters. Only Rusl and the group didn't get distracted by this humorous scene. Shad was better than he claimed as a warrior, dispatching numerous foot-troops. Perhaps it was desperation or devotion to his homeland that was driving him. It was inspiring his blade as he traced bloody masterpieces across the bodies of his foes.

The Gorons were doing a good job. They were gathering together, forming a line of rolling rocks. The charge proved effective as it took from underneath the legs from the bullbos. Until the Bulblin kings decided to have a lovely game of polo, using their maces and their mounts and striking the Gorons at their other enemies. Link was quite impressed by this tactic and so, he could disappear from Zelda's sight without worrying about the enemy. He didn't want to face her. By fear or simply no interest? Link wasn't quite sure and didn't want to give it some thoughts. So he quickly weakened her and warped somewhere else on the battlefield. He wanted to stay focus on the progress of his army. He wanted to make sure that his monsters-warriors were holding the advantage. When he was feeling that the Bokoblins and the walking Bulblins were dangerously reduced in number, he'd call more. He was even reviving them sometimes! But each time Link used the power of the lantern, the more fatigued he felt. He didn't know why because that was one thing the book of the library didn't mention: The price for using the lantern. It was indeed a powerful and almost unstoppable weapon but it needed energy to power up. And where was the lantern getting it? The unfortunate soul who had the courage or stupidity to take it. As a result, Link had his soul drained as he used the power of the wicked lantern.

Zelda noticed that Link was trying to avoid her. She had to think of a strategy because she couldn't run after him until everybody was dead! She stopped and regained some breath. She also remembered what she told her army about making evident the whereabouts of Link. But how to do it without revealing his identity? And how to make him hold the sphere long enough for her to say the spell? Link could easily get rid of it and continue to spread the terror on the land. The princess would have to hold it firmly in his hands. She was driven back to reality by a plant that tried to attack her. It was a Baba Serpent. Those evil plants! Always going after you and biting you until you had no hearts left. The princess slashed the plant until life was extinguish from it. She walked away from the battlefield to think. She had to act fast or the proud land of Hyrule would fall into emptiness. "That's it!" she suddenly realized.

--

The twilight realm was becoming more and more destroyed. Just a few little islands left around the palace. Well, that was as far as they knew. Midna was still in Foralin's arms, fearing their incoming death. The other twili were also assembled in small groups, holding each other. All of a sudden, the walls began to crumble and the roof shattered into a million pieces of stone and flew into the void. All they could hear was the screams of the children and the parents panicking as they were trying to calm their kids.

So much had been demolished of the palace that Midna could see all of what was left of her once peaceful realm. She stared in horror as she saw nothing but despair all around the fraction of the place she once called home.

--

Link walked through his troops, inspecting the battlefield. The tide of battle seemed to be ever shifting in his favour and it filled him with maniacal delight. Link surveyed his surroundings until he spotted the princess, a little away, from the battle, a vacant look on her face. "What is she up to now?" he wondered. He kept one eye on her as began to advance across the battlefield, slashing randomly at anything that took his fancy. It almost seemed to an observer that the commander was doing this wanton destruction for the benefit of the Goddesses. As the Hero was randomly killing everything in his way, he realized where his path was leading…
His heart stopped beating as he saw Rusl and the rest of the group fighting the fiends efficiently. For a second, Link feared that his old mentor would see him. But his worries soon vanished as he remembered that he was invisible to them. Still, his heart wasn't completely corrupted yet and he felt sadness growing within him. He walked towards Rusl and watched him execute the monsters. He found him quite effective. A little too effective. Link regarded the scene with concern on his invisible face. "I gotta erase this dangerous threat!" he thought. The green clad warrior concentrated and the lantern glowed dangerously. Link was casting a big spell. He was summoning a Darknut. The hardest enemy he had ever faced without counting the temple's unique enemy. Rusl saw the new enemy being cast in front of him. For the first time, maybe, Rusl really feared for his life. He made a few steps backward. The Darknut prepared his attack with shield raised. Link left the two warriors to their businesses. He also didn't want to see the fight. See who would win. He looked back at where Zelda stood a moment ago. No one. "Ah! Where is she now? Maybe I was wrong on the one called dangerous threat!" he complained. Link warped at many places on the battlefield to find the princess. "She might be warping too," he thought.

And he was right, Zelda was warping at the same time as him. She was always watching him from a little far away. When the hero finally stopped moving, she ran as fast as possible towards him with sphere in hands. She was so concentrated on the Hero that she didn't notice the Bulblin king dashing towards her with his heavy mass held up. The hit was brutal but not fatal. Zelda fell down on the field, knocked out and unconscious. The sphere went flying into the air to end up breaking among the grass. The monster smiled derisively but soon changed his expression as he saw a golden light emanating from the broken globe. Zelda had activated the small spell just before passing out. The sphere started glowing so bright that everybody, even Link, had to close their eyes. The surroundings drastically changed for the Twilight realm. Everybody had stopped the fights to contemplate the new environment. Rusl was the first one to recognize the place. He quickly calmed the troubled souls who were scared as hell from the fact that they were floating in the twilight sky. Rusl noticed that the Darknut had stopped fighting. He took advantage of it and ran away from it. Once back safely with the group, Rusl searched Zelda among both armies. But his eyes came across the Hero's before the princess's. His expression shifted for the worse as he wondered why his friend was there. "Why is he on the enemy's side?" he thought, getting scared as he pieced together the puzzle. There was no doubt, his dear young friend was the commander of the army! Link's eyes also crossed Rusl's. He withheld a gasp and wondered why he was staring at him. Wasn't he invisible to them? One thing that Link didn't know was that when the sphere unleashed its light, he became partially visible, revealing his identity. He started panicking and searched a place to hide. But there was none. The only island left was the Palace of Twilight which had been severed in the middle, horizontally. Link forgot about Rusl as he saw his love in the arms of another man.

Rusl decided to think about his so-called friend later and continued to search for Zelda to get some explanations. It was a soldier from the princess's army who finally made a sign. A group had been formed around her. Rusl ran to the princess and discovered her unfortunate situation.

"How long has she been unconscious?" he asked to captain of the army.

"We don't know. We just discovered her and she was like this," answered the captain.

"Princess? Wake up princess!" said Rusl, shaking her gently.

Zelda opened her eyes slowly. The pain from her injuries surfaced as she came to her senses. She had a terrible migraine, her back was bleeding and all her body was sore. She screamed in pain as she put her hand on her head.

"Easy, princess. You obviously have been hit hard. The wounds don't look too severe but I'm not a doctor," explained her army's captain.

"It'll be alright Guillaume. Thank you for rescuing me," she said.

The captain blushed and wiped the sweat off of his forehead. His wet ebony hair made evident the difficulty of the battle and perhaps anxiety from Zelda's state. He helped the princess to get up and kept both hands on her shoulder in case her balance decided to abandon her. Rusl had some questions that needed answers quickly but he also knew not to push the princess since she appeared to be still fragile. But apparently, Zelda didn't give much thought about it and started walking at a decent speed, searching for Link. Rusl followed her steps.

"You are searching for him, aren't you?" he asked.

"Who?" said Zelda, innocently.

"You know who. I saw him princess, I saw Link when the sphere expelled its light," revealed Rusl.

Zelda stopped. Apparently, she had missed something while she was unconscious. Something that should have never happened. If it wasn't for that king monster, the sphere wouldn't have broken and Link would still be unknown to all but her. "Yes, I'm searching Link. Yes he is the commander of the army. Yes he did all this evil. And if you want more information, the land is covered in twilight again, which is why no one but me can see him. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a wounded hero to heal," she explained. Rusl stayed behind and watched Zelda float towards Link. "Again?" he wondered.

Zelda approached Link nervously. He seemed to be calm but what could she expect from this man now? The princess remained cautious as she put her hand on Link's shoulder.

"Link?" spoke Zelda.

"She loves someone else…" he whispered.

Zelda looked at where the hero was looking. She saw the same reality that made Link even more broken. The princess couldn't help but feel sorry for the Hero. For one moment, Link seemed to be back to his original, sweet and kind, personality. The Hero floated closer to Midna. He wanted to admire her beautiful teary face. "She looks really scared…" thought Link. He retained a gasp when Midna looked up at him.

"Why did you abandon me Link?" she said.

"I didn't abandon you Midna!" he spontaneously answered, getting even closer to her.

"I'm sure your hero didn't, Midna. We don't know what is happening. Maybe it was something out of his capability," said Foralin.

"I know… I'd like to still believe he'll save us but… it's kind of too late now. Nobody cares to save the descendants of banished people. I thank you for being my friend Foralin. Your support helped me find peace," she said.

"I'm glad I could help you. I thank you too for letting me be myself," said Foralin.

Midna turned her head back to the sky. She didn't know it but she was looking at the Hero. "Goodbye Link, I'll always love you," she whispered.

Link had tears in his eyes. Even Zelda had been touched by the moment. The Hero turned his head to the princess and noticed that the spell was ending as the fights began again.

Link felt pulled out of the Twilight realm. He tried to grip something but there wasn't anything. In a last try, he stretched his arm towards Midna, desperately wishing she'd grab it. But he was invisible to this place and so, her image slowly disappeared to be replaced by Hyrule field. The hero fell on his knees. He was back to invisibility state as the spell ended. His look was horrified.

"Am I causing this, Zelda? Am I destroying the Twilight realm?" he asked more to himself than her.

"I'm afraid so, Link. But it's not too late to stop it! The lantern didn't drain all your soul yet. You have to be purified!" she explained quickly.

Link didn't really listen to what the princess just said. He was still thinking of the terrorized look Midna had. Being responsible for her death would have probably driven him completely insane. And his insanity would have destroyed both worlds entirely.

A familiar sound made him snap out of his reverie. "Epona?" he said, looking for her.
The horse was galloping towards Rusl who was trying to fight the Darknut that had started fighting again. Link had forgotten all about this one. He watched her for a moment to see what she was up to. "No…" feared Link. He got on his feet and ran as fast as he could to prevent his horse from doing a foolish thing. Zelda followed him, making a magical bow appear followed by a light arrow.

The horse reached Rusl who was having a hard time surviving. She pushed him aside and rose on her two back legs to attack the Darknut. But this was vain. The warrior was way too armoured to be pushed back. The Darknut raised his mace and brutally hit Epona. "Noooooo!" screamed Link. The Hero took out his sword from its sheath and attacked his creation. He performed the back slice many times to destroy his opponent's armour. Then he performed it many times again to end its life. As soon as the Darknut fell, Link released a gasp of pain as he felt something penetrates his back. The Hero joined the defeated Darknut on the ground, unconscious.