Chapter 11: O Great Heroes
It crouched down, ready to pounce onto the stunned people in front of it. Its eyes glowed brighter red than ever.
I don't think that Fryte is going to be defeated by one little Sol, thought Midna in despair. If we defeat it at all.
Link shouted, "Scatter!" Everyone took off in different directions, confusing and frustrating the Fryte. It snarled at them, showing its massive fangs, and shook its head in all directions, trying to track them all. It leapt around, swiping its massive paws at the fleers. Link ducked, narrowly avoiding the beast's dangerously swinging tail.
"Everyone! I know where the weaknesses are! I can sense the Frytes with my ability to sense life!" Kamtor shouted, bringing attention to himself. Everyone stopped dead in their tracks, gaping at him. The Fryte was confused by their sudden halt. "Leave it to me! Leave the Realm! Bring the other Twili with you, too! I'll take it from here! The Mirrored Realms are depending on you!"
Link's eyes widened.
Zelda cried, "Kamtor, what if you…" She trailed off. She screamed and dove away from the Fryte beast's incoming paw. She leapt to her feet, and as she ran, she yelled, "Kamtor, you'll be massacred!"
Kamtor sighed in frustration. "It's my fate! Just leave!" he yelled, throwing Sols at its left eye, apparently one of its weaknesses. He made a sweeping motion with his hand, gesturing for them to leave. The Fryte shrieked and pounced at Kamtor, who was trying to repel the beast with one of the larger Sols, which was working, thankfully.
"Why should we leave you for the Light Realm?" Zant yelled, who was still in Midna's shielded area, protected from the stamping feet of the Fryte beast. His voice was edged with evident pain and strain. "I thought you didn't care for the light dwellers!"
"I watched these Hylians, and…" Kamtor abandoned the sentence as he leapt away from snapping jaws. "They have heart. They took the effort to save each person of our trapped race from the Frytes. They can save us. They can save our worlds! Now go! Leave before all hope is erased! This is the least I can do… This is the least I can do, to save the heroes of the two Mirrored Realms!"
Unexpected emotion erupted from Link's heart.
Everyone in the room hesitated, then ran over to Zant, still sitting on the floor. All but Link, who grasped Kamtor's shoulder, looking him in his bright yellow eyes. Kamtor looked at him anxiously. He said with emotion, "You are an honourable man, Kamtor… Even if we may be of rivalling races, I truly admire your bravery. Your courage will not be wasted. I thank you, on behalf of each of the Realms."
Kamtor touched his brow, inclining his head. "Your words touch me. Please, for the sake of the Goddesses, O Great Hero… save the Realms!"
"I will," Link swore. He wished he could make the words have more power, but he couldn't find any other words.
With a last glance, the two of them separated immediately, each of them missing the Fryte's stomping paw by just an inch. Link ran to the others that waited for him, and the same sensation took Link's body after Zant glowed green once more as Link spent the last few seconds in the Realm guiltily watching Kamtor struggle against the Fryte.
With a loud thump, Link and the three others fell to the feet of Darbus's possessed body. They were in the Goron cavern once again, but there were no Twili-possessed Gorons to be found. Thank the Goddesses, Link thought. Then a dull throbbing alerted him that he had landed on his head. "Ow," Link moaned.
"Sorry," apologized Zant. "I haven't had much practice with this. And I sent the Twili to the Hyrule Fields, where I sent the others. I'm not sure where they are now, though. They could've launched an assault against the Castle already."
Link looked to the others, who were complaining about landing upside too. When they had finished getting Ralis to shut up, Link spoke up, "I feel guilty for leaving Kamtor, such a brave man, in there with that monstrous thing. We should've helped; after all, does leaving him there like that make us look heroic?"
"But we didn't know where its weaknesses were," Zant pointed out. "We couldn't have helped at all. And getting beaten up by that Fryte beast wouldn't look too heroic either, you must admit that."
"If we had scattered to confuse the thing," Link retorted, "Kamtor would've had a better chance." The way Kamtor looked solemnly at Link was still in his mind, the sad parting words he left with Link.
"Zip it, Link," Midna said sternly. "We're not about to skip in there just to be bait for a giant Fryte beast. It's what Kamtor wanted us to do."
Link still felt guilt coursing through his body. I swear, Kamtor, Link thought, I will make your courage worthwhile.
"Now, then, back to business instead of angry what-ifs," Midna said nonchalantly. Link rolled his eyes at her. "We have to know what state Hyrule is in now," she continued, ignoring Link's exasperation. "If we walk into this bog without knowing what how deep it is, we might not be able to get out." She created a mirror of magic and spoke alien words while a blurred image of Hyrule Castle slowly appeared in the mirror.
Each person leaned forward, waiting for the image to clear.
The image was now clear, but Link did not relish the picture.
Hyrule Castle and the town were standing, yes. But the town no longer had Hylians hurrying through the thoroughfares, or any people sitting idly by the glorious water fountain that stood in the town square. There were no shopkeepers in the stands that decorated the streets that led to the southern entrance of the town, or any cats or dogs that ran freely through the roads. No children ran through the streets, shrieking with laughter, and not even Telma's Bar existed any longer.
There was no sign of Hylian life at all. No trace.
Instead, Zoras were swimming in the fountain of the town square, which had been greatly enlarged. Gorons had taken over the stands, selling potions, arrows, and hot spring water. The houses had been taken down, as the Gorons needed room. But worst of all, the Hyrule Castle Gardens were infested with Zoras and Gorons. Midna did not have to avert the image to show the interior of Hyrule Castle to know that Queen Serena of the Zoras and a replacement leader for the possessed Gorons were in there.
"How have they managed to seize Hyrule Castle and the town so quickly?" Zelda whispered, sinking to her knees in misery. Link bent down quickly. Zelda did not take notice of him, but said, "I knew that we had precious little time for Hyrule, but I had no clue that our absence would end in this… Our absence wasn't even that long… and there are so many of them… How can we hope to win?"
"The blame is not entirely ours, Princess," Ralis soothed her, kneeling down to her. "This would have happened even if we had not left. Without our current forces, we wouldn't have had a chance. And truthfully, our absence was quite long. Well, in my eyes."
"We could've stopped them," Zelda choked out. "We could've at least put up a fight…"
"Zelda, snap out of it!" Midna exclaimed. "Now is not the time to mope around! Now is the time to figure out what to do."
"The Twili are waiting for you in the Hyrule Fields, Twilight Princess," said a voice behind them. "Meeting with them is what to do."
As the five of them whirled around, the deceased twilight monarchs (in the flesh of the Goron elders) appeared in front of them, entering through the ceiling of the cavern. "Ever since the Split Soul" – they looked at Zant – "set them down in the field, they have been waiting for you to rejoin them, Great Heroes," said the Monarchs. Link and Ralis huffed, turning away and waiting for the Monarchs to finish their conversation with the three that knew the Twili language.
"Heroes?" Midna demanded. "We aren't heroes. Well, maybe Link is. Only Link was told in the legends of our race."
The Monarchs smiled, laughing to each other with a private joke. "Kamtor hasn't told you?" asked one of them, cocking his head to the side.
"What?" asked everyone in confusion. The five of them squinted at the Monarchs, trying to get an answer about why they would be smiling like that. "What does Kamtor have to do with this?" asked Zelda.
"Kamtor is the high priest of the Twilight Realm, O Princess of the Light. The high priest receives dreams from us, the deceased. And it is from those dreams that our legends are derived from. You five are in the most recent legend," one of them pointed a finger at them.
"How come I never knew that Kamtor was the high priest? I would know who high priest was, and it definitely wasn't him," Midna argued.
"Just because you tell someone to be high priest doesn't necessarily mean that they truly receive the dreams of legends. You can tell them, but the dead aren't swayed by that."
"Then, what does it say?" Zant asked, still sceptical.
The monarchs' eyes attained a faraway look as they recited thus:
"Five heroes there be in the Mirrored Lands,
Two of them have the symbols etched on their hands."
Zelda glanced at Link, whose face was blank as he didn't understand the language, and looked at the back of their hands. There was the symbol of peace and balance: the Triforce. The Triforce seemed to glow as the monarchs recited the next lines:
"One holds the key to the element of the sea,
The two others, in the shadows they be."
Ralis looked confused, while Midna and Zant averted their gaze. "Shadows," muttered the distraught Twilight Princess.
"Once the peace of the Lands is broken,
The heroes must join and the ancient magic must be woken.
Therein peace will rule,
And no longer will the world be cruel."
The monarchs' eyes seemed to gleam with different colours as they settled back into clarity, and they seemed to be seeing the world around them again.
"What does the legend mean by 'magic'?" Zelda wanted to know.
The monarchs' shoulders rose and fell. "Most legends of the deceased only make sense after the event has occurred," said one of them. "That rule is not likely to be broken, in this case or another."
"How do you know that the legends mean us?" Midna blurted. "For all we know, they could mean Ganondorf, for the hand symbols. And for the element of the sea, any Zora would be capable. And most broad of all, the 'others in the shadows' could mean anyone! It wouldn't even have to be a Twili! It could be one of the few Sheikah that exist today, or…"
"We know," said one, raising his finger, "because Fate, the cruel mistress, has gathered you here today. The peace has been broken, and it is not likely that another group that falls exactly under the legend's condition. You are the Great Heroes; no one is likelier to be dominant over the Dark Lord.
"And now, all of Hyrule depends on you to restore the balance. Go to the fields, Divine Ones. The deceased will watch over you…" they said as they faded from sight.
I know that this is one of my worse chapters, but only because it was so hard to describe and write. Make me inspired again with a review!