Chapter 10: Black Shadows
Link breathed a huge sigh of relief as he saw Hyrule Castle Town materialize on the horizon. Ever since Ganondorf's return, monster activity skyrocketed. Bokoblins, Deku Babas, Moblins, and even a few Darknuts appeared all over the road. What was worse, Link could only fight them with magic. While it was effective, it drained Link's stamina like nothing else. Given that it took four days for them to reach where they were at, Link figured that they had lost a day's worth of travel to the monsters.
"We're almost there," Link told his partners.
"Finally!" Amai exclaimed, glad to be done walking.
"What are you so profoundly excited over?" Fi asked. "Link has stated his intention to find an alternative home for you as soon as we reach the castle town."
Amai's face went immediately downcast. "Party pooper," she mumbled.
"Fi!" Link said sternly. "We really need to work on your sensitivity!"
"I apologize if I said anything inappropriate."
Link sighed in exasperation. On top of the monster fighting, he had also had to deal with his partners. Fi was downright annoying. She never knew when to keep her mouth shut, and she often said the worst things at the worst times. She literally had no brain-mouth filter.
Amai did nothing to help the situation. She was young and very sensitive. Her feelings hurt so easily that Link felt as if he were walking on eggshells around her. She was downcast a lot from Fi's poorly thought out comments. For someone who was supposed to be smart, Fi sure lacked common sense.
"Don't worry Amai," Link said, attempting to placate the still-down girl. "There are far more important things that I need to take care of before I can see about getting you a home."
Amai perked up a little at that. Link was glad that he had said the right thing…for once. Being around women was a pain, as he couldn't understand anything that went on in their heads. To make matters worse, neither of them were "normal" women.
The castle town continued to approach. Link and his crew passed through the gates un-harassed, despite the sunset hour. The town looked so normal. Despite being sheltered back at the forge, Link had been to the Castle Town enough times that he knew what it looked like normally.
Link envied the people that he noticed as he walked. They were blissfully unaware of the darkness that was fast approaching. He wished he could have that sense of bliss. He also wished that he could have a normal routine as they did. However, accepting the Master Sword and Triforce of Courage had forever changed his life, and he could never be normal again.
The gates to the castle courtyard were closed, unlike during the festival, and manned. Link approached one of the guards, intending to attempt to gain entrance to the castle.
"Who goes there?" came the predictable question.
"I am Link, wielder of the Master Sword and Triforce of Courage," Link told them, hoping that that would be enough.
Upon seeing the blue hilt over Link's right shoulder, and the Triforce tattoo that Link displayed, the guards opened the door without a second's hesitation. Link passed through, expecting that Fi and Amai would follow, but they were stopped by the guards.
Before there could be an argument, Link said, "They're with me."
The guards gave him a suspicious look, but let Amai and Fi pass through without any more trouble. Link strode through the spacious courtyard, heading towards the Royal Hall.
Link passed through the massive, red double-doors and moved down the red carpet towards the throne. The throne itself was empty. King Hilan was probably at a meeting, which didn't bode well for Link. King Hilan needed to know what happened as soon as possible.
There was, however, an attendant watching the throne. He was a thin man with a dignified posture, short, black hair, and a thin goatee. He wore a ridiculous frilly outfit with a large cap that had a white feather sticking out of it.
"May I help you, sir?" he asked as formally as possible.
"I need to speak to King Hilan," Link responded. "It's extremely urgent."
"Our King is currently in a meeting with the nobles. He cannot be disturbed for any reason. If you will be patient, he will be out in a few hours."
Link was getting frustrated now. "I can't wait a few hours! He needs to know what I have to say now! The safety of the entire kingdom is in jeopardy!"
"We cannot break protocol for any reason. It would go over badly with the nobles, who command much power within the government."
"You don't understand!" Link was yelling now. "If I don't warn the King of what has transpired, the nobles will cease to be of importance!"
The attendant refused to budge. Rather than respond to Link's uncivilized yelling, the man had gone silent.
"Darn it!" Link yelled, angry and frustrated all at once. "I'll find him myself!"
The attendant, realizing that there was nothing to deter this youth, finally acquiesced. "Fine then, I will tell the king that you are present and have urgent news. What he does is up to him." With that, the attendant walked away, dignified as ever.
If there were a chair, one he could sit in without being executed, nearby, Link would have sunken into it with a deep sigh. He wished that he had some experience in politics. However, his father had neglected that area. Though he had only had a taste, Link found that he definitely did not want to deal with politics in any way, shape, or form.
"Protocol is a real pain isn't it?" A voice called from one the passage to the right of the throne. Link snapped his attention to that passage and saw Zelda coming from it.
She was wearing a simple dress. The only thing that betrayed her as royalty was the purple color of the dress. Everything else was the picture of simplicity and commonness.
"Yes, it is," Link stated casually.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up," Amai stated. "You know the princess?" Her voice was full of amazement.
"Um…yes," Link responded.
"Why didn't you tell me? I've always wanted to meet the princess!"
"And who might you be?" Zelda asked kindly.
"I'm Amai, Link's friend."
"It's nice to meet you Amai." Zelda looked at Fi. "And who are you?"
"I am called Fi," the woman answered simply. "I am the former spirit of the Master Sword. I am pleased to make your acquaintance."
Now it was Zelda's turn to look impressed. She looked as if she were about to ask what that meant when King Hilan walked into the throne room from the passage to the left of the throne. He was wearing a royal red coat, and a tall golden crown.
"I am here," the king stated. "What has happened?"
Link, rather than responding with words, removed the Master Sword from his back. He somberly untied the hilt and removed it, showing the clean break. Before more words could be said, Link gently removed the shards and placed them on the ground.
The king and Zelda bore an identical look of shock and horror. Like Link, they never thought that the Master Sword was capable of shattering.
"These are truly dark times," the king muttered. "How has this happened?"
"Ghirahim laid a trap and I blindly walked into it," Link answered simply.
"Explain," the king ordered, though not unkindly.
"It was Ghirahim's plan. He wanted you to send someone after him with the Master Sword. He needed to break it and extract the spirit of an ancient evil, which he called Demise. He used that spirit, the Triforce of Power, and a strange spell to revive the king of evil."
"Ganondorf has returned then?" the king asked simply.
Link nodded yes.
"Then the situation is far more complicated than I realized." There was a brief pause. "Tell me, did Ghirahim summon alternate versions of Ganondorf and extract their power?"
Link looked at the old king in shock. "How did you know that?"
"Because new people have appeared all over the kingdom. No one knows how they got here, and the accounts of where they came from are equally confusing. My meeting with the nobles was talking on how to resolve this issue. Now I understand."
"What did Ghirahim do?" Everyone was staring at the king with interest. The only one who had any guess as to what he would say next was Zelda, as she put the pieces together fairly quickly.
"Ghirahim connected our realm to that of at least two others, bringing the people of those realms to our own. Based on what you have told me, I am guessing that he did this to get the bodies of Ganondorfs that existed within those alternate realms."
There was a collective gasp as everyone realized the gravity of what was going on. Their world had been fundamentally changed forever. And, besides that, there was now an evil loose that was stronger than any prior to it.
"My king!" A voice yelled as the door to the throne room was thrown open. "You have to come see this!"
"What has happened?" the king asked the soldier who had barged in.
"We are being invaded!"
A/N: Yeah, I know that this is a cliffhanger, but I am not sorry for it. The chapter needed to end here, as the next one is set to have an entirely different tone and a lot more action. I hope you all enjoyed it. As usual, please leave a review to let me know what you think.