Chapter 13

Ghirahim placed the crystal in the palm of the scout.

"Make sure that no one sees you entering the town. Go straight to the well and drop this in. Then run like hell. Don't go back for anything if you value your life."

The man looked back at him, his eyes quivering with fear. "Yes, Lord Ghirahim," he said before he darted off toward Kakariko in the distance. Soon, the scout was just a speck on the great fields of the Spirit Realm.

Ghirahim turned back towards the camp and headed into his tent, where the mask lay. He placed his hand on it and kneeled before it.

"It is done, master."

The mask made no reply, but Ghirahim knew that Majora was pleased with him. Soon, the hero and his goddess would be a small problem in the whole scheme of things and then the Golden Rule of his master would come. No longer would he have to fear being hunted or killed for the ransom on his head. He would become the hunter and kill those who had once hunted him.

Stepping out of the tent, Ghirahim looked to the sky. The moon was being reborn, only a sliver of it could be seen.

"The birth of a new age," he whispered to himself. "And the end of an old one…"

Link woke to the sounds of men and women screaming. Opening his eyes, he saw Farore rising from her bed and looking at him.

"What's going on?" he asked, quickly pulling his tunic over his head.

"I think a part of the village has caught on fire," she replied. "I can smell the smoke from here." She tossed him his sword and shield, which he caught with both hands. "Let's check it out, hero."

When they got to the main square, the scene was a mess. Flames were shooting out of the well and all the people where running around screaming their heads off. Link turned to Farore. "Can you put the fire out with your wind magic?"

"Idiot! Air feeds a fire, and even my magic couldn't put it out. It's not a normal fire, I think it's dark magic!"

The flames did look different from the fires Link had seen in his past. They seemed to switch from red to black to green and many other colors.

Suddenly, a dark figure rose from the well and was engulfed in the flames. It jumped out, and slowly took the form of a young man in a black tunic. A sword and shield lay across his back. His face was dark and covered in soot, and his eyes were piercing red. His hair was the color of fresh snow, but the look that he gave could kill someone in an instant.

"Well, there is my target," the shadow said, slowly pulling the sword from its scabbard and slipping his shield into place. He back flipped back towards the well and pushed off it, seeming to fly for a period of time. He brought the sword forward and pointed it right at Link's face.

Link ripped his shield off his back and skidded back a few feet from the impact. He pulled his sword off his back and swung forwards in a helpless attempt to cut his adversary. He charged his blade and released a quick spin attack, but the shadow merely did a quick jump and landed behind him. Farore came at the foe with twin daggers, blocking his blade with one and using her wind power to shoot the other one out of her hand. The shadow laughed as it passed right through him and brought his sword down hard enough to snap her dagger in half. With a quick punch to the head, Farore was down and he turned his attention to Link.

"Who are you?" Link cried as their blades met in mid-air. Landing, he did another spin attack, but this time the shadow blocked it. With a flick of his wrist, Link's sword fell from his hand and clattered across the stone cobbles. Link brought his shield up in a flash to stop the next incoming attack and dodged towards his sword, which he picked up from it resting place.

"Why, you of course!" the shadow laughed as he parried Link's attack again and did a quick thrust. Link didn't raise his shield fast enough and the strike penetrated his defense. The sword left a gash in his right arm and immediately blood began to pour from the wound. He felt himself go light headed, but struggled to keep on his feet for the next attack.

"Come on! You can do better than this!" the shadow cried as he brutally kept on the assault. "If this is what the real Hero of Time was like then I can't believe that some idiot would lose to him! You are definitely not the same Hero I fought before!"

A blast of wind hit the shadow off his feet and sent him crashing through one of the small houses that decorated the square. Farore had come to and was pissed off.

"Dark Link!" she yelled as she summoned a spear and shield from the wind itself. The spear was decorated with images of heroes past fighting huge monsters. With a quick spin, she threw the spear into the rubble where the shadow had fallen. A sickening splat came from the stones and a groan was heard. Farore turned to Link. "I had a feeling he would be too tough for you. Even the real Hero of Time had a challenge with Dark Link."

"With me?" a voice said. Farore looked up and let out a scream. The spear had not killed Dark Link, but rather it had just gone straight through his head! It still hung there in place of his right eye.

"No way!" Farore said and he took a step towards her. He still had his sword, and was raising it to finish her. Link jumped in front of him and raised his shield.

"If you touch her," he warned, "You won't live to see tomorrow's sun."

Dark Link laughed. "What makes you think I like the sun?" he said as he pulled the spear out. The flesh around the wound healed and soon it looked as if it had never been scratched. "Now," he said, "You move if youwant to see tomorrow's sun!"

Link swung his sword under the shadow's shield and felt the blade slice through his torso. As his body separated in two, the shadow gave a sharp laugh. Black tentacles rose from his stump and connected to his hips, making him whole once again.

"I told you, I cannot die!" he yelled and brought his sword down. But on the down swing it vanished from his hand. "What the-" he said and then saw Farore.

She was holding a glass crystal in her hand, shining like a flashlight in a dark room. "Nooooooooo!" Dark Link yelled as he vanished, his body dissolving into small black particles. The crystal in Farore's hand now had a small black sphere inside of it.

"Well, that took care of him!" she said triumphantly, as she tossed the crystal side to side. "What should we do with it?"

Link sheathed his sword and held his hand out. "Give it to me." Farore handed it over and watched as the hero smashed the crystal into the ground. "I never want to see him again."

Farore nodded and headed over to the injured townspeople, who had watched the whole battle in awe. "Has he…..returned?" an old woman asked the goddess as her wound was tended to. "The hero has returned?"

Farore smiled and went over to the next, an injured child.

"In a way," she said. "In some ways he has…."

No one noticed the crystal reform and roll down a sewer drain.

A/N Beta read by Mooncinder