It was looking worse by the minute. Ashei and Shad stood before the entrance to the Arbiter's Grounds. Shad was sweating profusely, his body unable to cope with the heat. Ashei was still dizzy from her wound to the head. They had trekked through the desert for two days, going too far to keep track.
"We need to go up through here to get to the mirror chamber." Ashei started into the decrepit structure. Link had come here and killed the Stallord, keeper of these crypts six months prior. Hopefully any other threats were eliminated then as well. "We shouldn't have any problems."
Shad followed, looking for a way to get out of the heat. When they entered, they could immediately tell a difference. It had to be over 150 degrees outside, but it was well below freezing in the Arbiter's Grounds. There were icicles hanging from the stone thresholds above them. Ice covered the floor and walls.
After walking through the dungeon for a while, Shad felt his body go into shock from the temperature difference. He fell to his knees, not able to call out to Ashei. His body slammed into the frozen ground, alerting Ashei.
"Shad!" Ashei ran to him. As she kneeled over him, she could see her breath, but couldn't see his. "Get up! I can't do all of this alone!"
"I'm… sorry…" Shad closed his eyes.
"Don't you even think about dying here!" Ashei slapped him hard. He didn't respond. "Damn it, Shad! First Rusl, then Auru, now you! I'm the last one alive from the resistance… I have to finish this for all of us…"
Ashei cried a single tear and took his swords, placing them on her belt, as was the custom for death. She now had all four of their swords on her belt being the last one left alive.
Ashei fought through her dizziness and the frigid temperature to the crypt chamber. This was where Link defeated Stallord. His bones were lying in the now frozen sands, splintered by the Master Sword. She found a ramp leading up to the exit where the mirror chamber awaited.
As she set foot on the stone, she felt and heard a rumbling beneath her feet. She looked out to the sands she had just walked through and saw the sands begin to glow red with heat. The bones started to unbury themselves, shattering the ice that imprisoned them. She started running as fast as she could up the ramp.
A large skeletal hand crashed down in front of her, blocking her path. She looked down and saw the skull of Stallord surface from beneath the sand, covered in the aura of a Twili. They got here before she did!
"You are a strong and clever girl!" A deep voice thundered throughout the sandy arena. It came from a Twili far below her, just beside the cracked skull of Stallord. She studied him quickly and recognized him as the Goron elder, Gor Liggs.
"What are you doing here Liggs?" She called down to him. He laughed and stepped onto the skull he had just excavated. It rose from the ground and landed next to her on the ramp.
"I'm here to recruit for princess Midna." Liggs stepped off of the skull to her level. "Would you like to join us in our march to dominance over Hyrule? We could use good leaders."
"You know me. I'm with the resistance." Ashei put her hands on her swords. "I will not join the Twili."
"Shame, shame." Liggs shook his head. "Now that we have Link and Zelda, we don't have anything in our way. You're fighting alone."
"I'm used to it. That just means Dimitri didn't do his job." Ashei looked the room over and wondered if Dimitri was really dead.
"So that's his name." Liggs contemplated. "He was the one with Zelda, correct?"
"I guess." Ashei fazed into combat mode. She looked at Liggs. "Do you intend to stop me?"
"Yes, I do." Liggs looked up at her. The eyes of the floating skull flared to life with dark flame. "As you can see the Twili power I was given allows me to manipulate the dead."
"I don't care. All that matters is that you die." Ashei unsheathed her sword. She drew Rusl's saber in the other hand. She attacked Liggs, but he vanished and was replaced by Stallord's skull. It shot fire from its jaws and singed Ashei's arms.
"Come now. The dead will kill you." Liggs could be heard above her. She continued to pound the skull of the now dead Stallord. Her onslaught was ineffective. She merely chipped the bone of his muzzle.
"I will live on for my comrades!" Ashei assaulted the bones even more. She wore away one side of the skull's lower jaw. It pulled away from her reach and retracted all of its bones, reassembling its broken body. "Goddesses give me strength."
The fiend towered over the chamber, standing on its two feet. It gave a voracious roar. Ashei felt her blood run cold.
"Changed your mind?" Liggs appeared beside her. She looked at him, and then up at Stallord. She looked to the ground.
"Not in the least. Now you'll get to see me get serious." She smiled and blurred into lightning quick motion. She fell to the bottom of the chamber and slashed both legs of Stallord to pieces. The bones wouldn't be of any use in that many pieces of that minute size. Stallord fell groping to its knees, breaking its femurs under its own weight.
"You should use better specimens for your powers." Ashei voiced. She jumped and kicked its spine. Several vertebrae crumbled from the force. Stallord fell with a cry of anguish escaping its ancient jaws. His legs and back had been utterly destroyed. Liggs couldn't repair his minion. "Stallord is so ancient that its own weight is destroying it."
"Touché." Liggs said to himself as he watched Ashei obliterate Stallord. She crushed his shoulders and arms with ease, leaving only his Skull lying on the sands. She used her sword to drive through the skull, directly between the eyes. She twisted her sword, splitting it down the middle.
The skull pieces ground into dust beneath Ashei's feet. She sheathed her swords and breathed deeply, clearing her mind. She looked up for Liggs, who wasn't there anymore. She figured he retreated to find new minions or tell his superior of what happened. She moved toward the ramp but heard coughing behind her.
"Ashei?" She recognized the voice as Shad's. She turned to see him crawling across the sand. "I heard some really loud noises and followed them here."
He was still shivering, but when he touched the warm sands, his body began to compensate. Ashei came to his side. His body temperature was extremely low, still in shock.
"There was this little bastard that walked by me on the way out. He spoke of bringing Amoto here. Is he talking about the Goron elder?" Shad laid his head in the warm sands. Ashei thought he was hallucinating, but it might have been Liggs leaving to go get help. She put her hand on his forehead and then on his wrist. Something was off. She realized it too late.
"I believe you're looking for a pulse." Shad grabbed her arms and threw her on her back onto the sand. He pinned her down. "Sorry, but you will find that I don't have one anymore. Liggs gave me the opportunity to become a Twili general. Now that I am dead, what is there to kill me?"
"Get off me, Shad!" Ashei tried to get through to him. He gripped her arms even harder, cracking the bones in both of her arms. Shad smiled a wicked grin.
"I will let you go if you join me." Shad kept her down.
"No! Get off!" Ashei struggled, but Shad had acquired strength superior to hers. He grabbed his sword from her belt.
"Thanks for holding onto it for me." He stood up, but kept her on the sand by putting his foot in her stomach. She pulled her sword and stabbed it into his leg. He didn't seem to notice. She pulled it free and stabbed again. "It won't work. I seem to have no more nerve endings. I don't feel pain."
"Why, Shad?" Ashei pleaded. Liggs materialized beside them. He was laughing.
"To answer your question, for the power and rewards." Shad looked down at her. "I am immortal now. What out there can I not do?"
"You'll never be human again." Ashei bit him with words. "You son of a bitch. What do you think Auru would do?"
"Join him." Auru came into the chamber. He came up to his son and patted him on the shoulder. "Good work, son."
"Thank you, father." Shad took Auru's sword from Ashei's belt and gave it to his father. Auru sheathed his weapon and looked down at Ashei.
"Why not join us in immortality?" Auru extended his hand. Ashei refused to accept it. "If you do not join us, we must kill you."
"Kill me then." Ashei accepted her fate. She watched as Shad let off of her, and then picked her up off the ground. He turned her to where she faced away from him. Auru shed a tear unconsciously. She was about to say something when she felt Shad's hands on her jaw and neck.
"Good bye." Ashei resigned herself right before Shad twisted her neck, breaking it and ending her life.