Chapter 10
Midna and Link sat outside the medic tent and awaited the Sage's return. Zelda had passed out on the way back to her camp, and was immediately rushed to the tent. The Sage took her into the tent, saying that he would do what he could with the magic he possessed, and asked that Link and Midna wait for him outside.
Now they both sat in silence, each lost in their own thoughts, but both wishing for Zelda's sage return to health.
At long last, the Sage exited the tent. He stood there for a moment, as if in thought. Link and Midna both stood immediately as they saw him.
"How is she?" Midna asked.
The Sage brought up his palms and said "She'll be fine. Fortunately the Triforce of Wisdom was able to ward off most of the full potency of the Dark magic that Ganondorf attacked her with. A few Light spells here and there, and she'll be back to her old self very soon. It will take a few days for her to fully recover however, so it is in my opinion that you two head out for the Twilight Realm as soon as possible and take care of things there. I'll stay here, take care of Zelda, and see to finding a way into the Dark Realm."
"Well, I'm glad to hear she's alright, though I would've liked to talk to her before we left…" Midna said.
"I'm sorry, but that's out of the question, presently." the Sage said, sadly "However, I believe she should be well enough by the time you two return here."
Midna, though slightly disappointed, turned to Link and gave him a half-smile "Well then, Link, how about it; ready to go back to the Twilight Realm…again?"
Link nodded, and handed Midna the Realm Sword. She took it from him and held it for a moment; then she swung it and a portal opened to the Twilight Realm.
"This is so wonderful, Link." Midna said, staring into the portal "Never again will you and I be separated by a Mirror…"
Link nodded and made an approving sound. He took the Realm Sword from Midna, tucked it away and headed into the portal, with Midna following close behind.
After a moment, the portal disappeared, leaving the Sage there alone in front of the tent.
"The Legendary Hero…once known as the Hero of Time…" the Sage mused to himself "Now he has become the Hero of Realms…I ought to be documenting this…"
The Sage shrugged, then re-entered the tent.
Link and Midna once again stepped upon the Twilian ground. The portal disappeared behind them, and when the two turned away from it, they both gasped at what they saw.
Before them stood what was the Palace of Twilight. However, this time the Palace had taken on an entirely new form that neither Link nor Midna recognized from when Midna or Zant had been in power. It looked darker, if that was possible, and more threatening along with just looking overall different than it had.
"Zant…you have ruined my Palace for the last time…" Midna growled. She ran for the door.
Link hurried after her, drawing the Master Sword, which was still infused with the power of the Sols from his last adventure.
When they reached the doors, they each helped the other get them open, and entered. They were both surprised to find that they were not immediately attacked when they entered. In fact, it all seemed rather quiet. Before them was a corridor, and at the end was a fork that split two ways; to the left and to the right.
"What is this, Zant; a maze?" Midna said aloud "I guess we'll play his game for now…then he'll have to play ours, right, Link?"
Link nodded.
Midna smiled at him and walked to the intersection of the fork "So how do you suppose we-"
At that precise moment, something big and dark swooped passed, and Midna was gone. Link, quite worried about her, ran to the intersection and looked left and right, but saw nothing. When he turned back to where he had come from, a massive, horrifying dark creature stood, Midna in its grasp and blocking his only exit.
A strange form of Zant appeared and Link recognized it as the Phantom Zant. It remained hovering over the dark beast.
"Well, well, well. Here you are again, Hero. I must say I'm rather tired of seeing your face here time and time again." Zant said "But, rather than toy with you myself, I have decided to take the liberty of commanding my new 'council' to deal with you, instead."
"What?! You monster!" Midna cried, struggling to free herself from the dark claws that held her tightly.
"Oh, and of course, the dear Princess; I've made special arrangements for you…while the council deals with your precious Hero; I will honor myself with your death personally." Zant said, his helmet head turning toward her "And I promise to make it last…perhaps over the course of this coming week…"
A massive blast connected on Zant and his apparition was no more. Link put away his bow and bomb arrows, still bearing the furious look on his face.
"I see you're not interested in talking…" Zant's voice echoed through the hall "Very well, we'll begin the challenge. There are six council members including the one you see before you, within my labyrinth. Seeing as you wield the Twilit Sword, you will be able to restore them to their true form. In order to make sure it is not done so easily, I have ordered them to attack you without hesitation. Along with this, the floor of the labyrinth will disappear in exactly five minutes, plunging you and any of the council into a pit, where you will meet your decisive end.
"But don't worry, Princess. I am a man of my word. I'll be waiting for you…" Zant finished.
The walls suddenly lit up with spidery blue lights that began a clock starting from five and began counting down, swiftly.
"Link!" Midna yelled. She'd materialized the Twilit Sword which, without any free hands to catch it, fell to the floor with a clatter.
Link ran to the sword, but the massive dark creature stepped on it and roared in Link's face. Not shocked or worried, Link pulled out his bow without skipping a beat and shot a bomb arrow in the beast's face. The creature reeled and took its foot off the sword. Link grabbed the sword and leapt at the beast, plunging the Twilit Sword into the thing's chest. He leapt back and the creature slowly dissolved into one of the council members Link remembered from the first time he'd met them.
The ancient Twilian stood up "Thank you both. I must say I-"
"No time, Helryius! We have to save the others!" Midna said, getting up after having fallen to the floor from the dark creature's great fists "Let's go, Link!"
Link handed Midna the sword, and they took their typical hand-in-hand fighting position and broke into high-speed and began to search for the other five Twilian Council members. They didn't find any more until the clock hit four and a half minutes left, when they encountered an even more mangled-looking creature charged them dangerously.
Link stopped and stood in front of the beast unflinchingly, even when the beast stopped in front of him and lifted a massive fist above him. It was about to throw the fist down when it stopped and began dissolving. When it finished, there lay Perius, and behind him stood Midna, who waved to Link to follow her.
Again, the two set out, turning left and right, right and left, to find the other Twilians. The clock read three minutes, forty-seven seconds left, before they encountered two of the changed council who charged the pair from opposite sides. Link and Midna jumped in time for the two dark beings to slam into each other and fall to the floor, leaving them open to Midna's restoration and returning them to their true forms; Dirkus and Teidon.
"Only two more…I hope we make it…" Midna said, sadly. She couldn't bear to think what would happen if they didn't find them all in time…
Even worse, the next two weren't anywhere near as easy to find as the other four had been. Midna and Link took all the way up to two minutes left before finding another council beast. This one was locked in a cage; out of reach of Midna's Twilit Sword. Link, however, spied a padlock on the cage, and launched a bomb arrow at it, blasting the cage door open. Midna followed up by throwing the sword into the dust cloud.
When the dust settled, Naydin sat in the cage, coughing.
"Just one more…" Midna said, turning to launch into high-speed.
"Wait!" Naydin said, standing up and pointing in the opposite direction "The middle of the labyrinth is that way! That's where they're holding the last council member!"
Midna and Link blasted off in that direction. The clock was down to one minute when Link and Midna came to the final dark creature.
"Sylvii…the youngest member…don't let your guard down now, Link." Midna said.
The two were just about to break into high-speed again when the floor around the creature crumbled. The clock still showed thirty seconds left.
"It's happening already! Link; shoot the Twilit Sword at it!" Midna yelled, handing Link the sword.
Link took the sword, notched it in his bow awkwardly, and fired directly at Sylvii. It landed in the beast with a thunk that echoed around the entire chamber. The clocks along the walls stopped at seven seconds left, and then, the walls themselves began to descend into the floor. The room had morphed so that there was just a large empty room that they all stood in. On the back wall was a balcony, and on that balcony, was Zant.
"Well, well…I never thought for a minute that you'd all survive that." Zant said, as the wall just under the balcony began to disappear, releasing an even more massive, dark creature "Oh, by the way…you missed one…any guesses? Anyone?"
The creature roared ferociously and slammed the ground with his fists.
"No one? Come, on he gave you a hint…" Zant asked "Disappointing…I'm rather sad that you wouldn't recognize the captain of your own army…"
"Riktor…" Midna said, quietly "What's happened to you?"
Link growled, and leapt for Zant. However, Riktor's bestial form grabbed Link out of the air, and slammed him into the ground, knocking him unconscious.
"Ah, ah, ah…finish what you have on your plate, and then you can have more…" Zant chuckled, then looked over the balcony "Oh, he's already unconscious…never mind."
"Zant!" Midna yelled loudly "There's someone you're forgetting about!"
Midna reached into her robe, and took out the Fused Shadow parts, which attached themselves to her head soon after. She slowly began to change into a gigantic spider-like creature.
"Excellent…" Perius said, standing with the other council members a ways away from the battle.
"What do you mean 'excellent'?! She's letting the power of shadow consume her! Now she'll just end up killing Riktor!" Helryius said, incredulously.
"No, the Twilit Spear she wields bears the same properties as the Twilit Sword. Riktor will be returned to his true form, and Zant won't stand a chance to her power then!" Perius explained.
"Not so fast, Princess…you'd be surprised at what kinds of new powers I possess…" Zant said, leaping from his spot on the balcony and into Riktor's odd, dark form.
Riktor slowly changed as well until he wasn't even Riktor at all, but rather, he became Zant. But it wasn't just Zant; it was an incredibly large Zant.
"Now then…" he said, the helmet collapsing into his suit mechanically as he drew two swords "Let's do this correctly…"
Midna and Zant connected over-sized-sword to Twilit Spear, again and again with a resounding sound each time.
"So…now that Zant has taken control of Riktor's body…" Teidon mused "How is Midna going to return Riktor back to normal?"
"Well…if what I hope to be true is in fact correct, then perhaps the Twilit Spear will purge Zant from his body as he returns to normal…" Perius explained.
"And if that's not the case?" Dirkus asked.
"Then may the Goddesses be with Riktor…" Perius concluded, solemnly bowing his head.
Midna and Zant continued fighting, with increasing intensity.
"Come now, Princess…" Zant said "Without your brother or your Hero, you are useless."
Midna could not verbally respond in her present form, but the Twilit Spider did retaliate by hefting the Spear over its head, ready to strike. She brought it down with great force where Zant stood…or rather, where he had been standing.
Zant reappeared behind Midna, and pinned her against the wall.
"I must say, Princess…the thought of simply killing you right away is tempting…" Zant said "Rather than do it slowly…because in that case, I'd never have to worry about another incompetent Twilian taking control of this Realm…at least there would be a true leader; one who would make an actual difference in this Realm…"
While Zant went on and on about his ascension to power, Midna worked one of her spider-like tentacles to the Twilit Spear, and worked it out of the ground.
"So, as you can see, my dear; I will-" Zant was very nearly finished with his monologue, before Midna stabbed him in the back with the Spear.
Zant cried out loudly and, after a minute, an explosion of darkness blasted in Midna's face. The kickback was so powerful, Midna was knocked back into the wall, causing the Fused Shadows to break apart into their four parts and return Midna to her normal form. She fell, unconscious, and the Fused Shadow parts fell around her.
Zant, however, fell next to the newly restored Riktor, who also lay unconscious on the floor. Zant's face, seeing Riktor, grew furious.
"Why can't you just accept the fact that I should be the new ruler here?! It is my destiny to control all things in this Realm! You! You!" he roared, in a confused fury, returning his swords to his hands "I am going to MURDER the both of you! Starting with YOU, foolish, incompetent Princess!"
Zant rushed to where Midna lay and raised one sword over her limp body. A tremendous clang shook the room, and there stood Niyyte, in a sword-lock with Zant.
"It's you…" Zant said "Mordrid has been looking for you…"
"I'm sure." Niyyte answered, brusquely.
"He's offering a tremendous award for you…dead or alive…" Zant said "I'm no bounty hunter, but seeing as though you're in my way and that I'm probably going to end up killing you anyway, I suppose getting a little something on the side couldn't hurt…"
"Shut up." Niyyte said, drawing a small knife from his belt with a free hand, and thrusting it into Zant's chest, before jumping back away from him.
Zant merely stood there for a few seconds. In a final psychotic act, he jumped around the room a few times before finally falling over and collapsing on the floor, where he dissolved into a dark cloud, as Ganondorf had in the Light Realm.
A few feet away, Link stirred on the floor, and slowly climbed up onto his knees.
"Link! Are you alright?" Niyyte called, running over to the green-clad Light dweller.
Link looked up at Niyyte and nodded, failing to disguise a surprised look at Niyyte's presence. Link looked around the room, as if looking for something.
"Looking for Zant?" Niyyte asked "Don't bother, I finished him. Midna did all she could; she's over there, unconscious."
Niyyte pointed to the other side of the large room where Midna lay, and turned again to face Link.
"But, listen, you need to get rid of the Mirror…now! We don't want Zant to be able to get back here again, because he'll only get stronger. The Mirror should be up on the balcony; you know what to do." Niyyte said, pointing up to the balcony.
Link looked up at the balcony and nodded. He stood all the way up, broke into high-speed, and leapt for it. He found the Mirror standing there a little ways toward the back of the balcony.
'Never again will you and I be separated by a Mirror…' Midna's voice echoed through Link's head.
Link certainly hoped not. He withdrew the Realm Sword and thrust the sword into the Mirror. Once again, the Mirror flashed, crackled with energy, and exploded into a mass of shards, and was gone.
When Link came down from the balcony, he found Niyyte helping Midna, now conscious, back up on her feet.
"Hey, Link…is everything okay?" she asked, sheepishly.
Link nodded, but retained his concerned look.
"She'll be alright, Link. She's part of the Twilight Royalty, and they've been using the Fused Shadows for hundreds of years." Niyyte said, smiling proudly at Midna.
Midna laughed and said "Niyyte you talk about the Twilight Royalty as though you're not a part of it!"
Niyyte's smile faded almost instantly and he lowered his head "That's actually one reason I came back, Midna. I wanted to tell you something I've learned…something about me…that I didn't know before…"
"What are you talking about?" Midna asked.
"I'm not really your brother, Midna." Niyyte said, looking up with an intense look on his face "I am a descendent of the Dark Realm!"