The Legend of Zelda:

The Right of Passage

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: The Desert

It was difficult to fathom that where such an exotic beautiful race resided simultaneously lived a breed of spiteful women.

I would be only fooling myself to claim not to have known the dangers of coming to Gerudo Valley. For, I very well in fact did know the risk I was taking. Westward from Hyrule Field I traveled with Epona, crossing the bridge built over Lake Hylia.

The land was much different from what I remembered—however, I had never been to Gerudo in this existence, but only ventured after the Door of Time had opened. Ganondorf was gone, and his influence on the horizons seemed to disappear as well. There was more sand, much more sand, to the extent where I would hear Epona whimper as she approached it.

As the sun gleamed a gentle, yet threatening red, slowly it tilted to welcome the night, and during the sunset we came to Gerudo Valley, instantly welcomed by two female guards.

No, not guards—but warriors, thieves. Almost identical in appearance, their eyes large and golden, red hair long and voluptuous, tied back into a high ponytail. They revealed the sleekness of their waists, the curves of their thighs hidden beneath violet harem pants. The beauty of their faces were hidden, a veil wrapped around their mouths, spears clutched fiercely in their hands.

Though I had just entered the desert, I saw the desperate bleakness that surrounded it. It felt empty, too empty, and the women were not pleased to see me.

I knew their natural abhorrence for the Hylains, especially the men. I was aware of some type of altercation and struggle, yet when the two thieves cornered me and positioned themselves to attack my horse, I realized how aggressive the Gerudo had become.

"Hylain," one spoke to me solemnly, her voice deep and thick, yet so seductively feminine my ears tingled at her discord.

"What are you doing here?" The other woman tightened her grip on the spear, moving closer to Epona with a threatening hunch to her back, causing the horse to hiss in fear, taking careful steps backwards.

Pulling discreetly at her reins, I attempted to calm Epona. There were only two of them, yet the muscles of their bellies twitched with vehemence, their eyes glowering over me, appearing ready to strike at any moment. Gravely, they awaited my response.

"Answer, Hylian!"

While they pointed their spears—declaring a real intent to strike—I painfully cleared my weak throat. "I have come to see Nabooru."

"Nabooru?" replied the thief, looking at the other with baffled eyes. Both their gazes returned to me, and I grew more apprehended.

"What business do you have meeting our Queen?"

"Has the king sent you? Have you come to kill her?"

I didn't know what was happening, what they meant by their words, and I had no time to make any conclusions in my mind. Before I could even answer, we were attacked, one of the women taking a rope from her waist and grappling Epona, while the other pierced my leg with her spear, forcing me off the horse as she arrested me.

~oOo~

While they led me to their prison, I could only ask myself one helpless question: What happened to Gerudo Valley?

The sky was a mixture of red and blue, the sun continuing to fall as night claimed its hours. And yet, even in this delicate darkness, I saw the desert to contain almost nothing. The fortresses I had seen in the Other Time were now various scraps of woods and remains of what had been—destroyed and demolished. I only saw few women—enough to count on my fingers—peeking from their tents, eying me with hate in their eyes, glowing with a detestable gold.

What had once been a beautiful, ethnic land had become a true desert, yet their prison remained standing still—a tall, old looking fortress. Forcefully, the thief pulled me, despite the limp to my walk. She cared not about her prisoner, separating Epona from me before we entered.

I tried to resist, yet my leg had become too weak, as I continued to feel the blood slither down my thigh. The pain stung like fire, but in my dire attempt to flee, I tried to ignore the hurt. Yet, she kept control of me, yanking me like an animal inside the prison and throwing me into the dark, black chamber.

It was cold, dirty. And I was alone. It was a room of nothingness, only black surrounded me. There were no bars, nothing of comfort. The thief discarded me into this place, taking from me my weapons and other belongings, leaving my hands tied, for me to bleed alone and without defense.

"Here you will stay, Hylian, before we get permission to rid of you, just as your race has done to us."

The dark skinned beauty had taken me by the shoulders before she left me, while I remained in pain on my knees, contracting my front thigh muscle in hopes to control the bleeding. I was limp in her grasp, while I felt her nails delve into my shoulders, ripping past the fabrics of my attire, to break the barrier of my skin.

"You might have tried to bring us to extinction, but you will never succeed. We will protect our queen, for your king should know she had been his ally, before he betrayed her."

Her fierce clutch on me remained, and wantingly I glared at my sword and shield she carried on her back, wishing I could untie myself and take them from her. My breath had grown heavy, her nails continue to rip through my skin.

"I don't understand what you are talking about."

Growling at me comment, she at last let go of me, and the pain from the sudden withdrawal of her nails was much more intense. I landed on my bum with a grunt, my eyes shut compactly, the tinge of the cool air burning the wounds.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about! We detest you Hylians! And if enough of our women remained, we would destroy you! All of you!"

Slowly, I lifted my eye lids, and there I saw the Gerudo standing before me, her body trembling, her finger pointed at me with dreadful accusation. My chest expanded and contracted dramatically as I stared at her, breathing through my mouth, confusion mixed with fear filling my stomach.

"The Hylians...have…?"

I couldn't finish my thought, my words interrupted by constant breaths. But I saw her shoulders relax at that moment, her arm carefully lowering.

With a snap of her neck, she began to leave me, taking my belongings with her. Her hips swayed while she moved, her steps echoing eerily. And as she neared the exit, I saw her halt, her head peering up gently.

"I had chosen to stay with Nabooru…But what if I did join the fight with Ganondorf?"

Shaking her head at herself, she left me.

I believe this to be the moment when I saw the situation I had gotten myself into. Hyrule had attacked Gerudo Valley, and something had happened before Ganondorf's arrest that I wasn't aware of. But, I had lived in Hyrule for the last thirteen years, surely I would have heard of such a thing.

I did not know how long I was in that dungeon, plagued by the growling of my stomach, the thirst in my throat, the pulsing of my wounds. I remembered falling asleep, being captured by delusions. There I saw a war take place—a quick one—where a rogue charged with an army of women towards a castle, yet unreadily were met by an opposing, larger army of men.

I saw a disappearance of the women. All except one. And she appeared differently to me, in a room crafted by the light, a tear staining her dark cheek.

The darkness and the light were reappearing elements, and as what happened between the Gerudo and Hyrule was casted beneath the creations of the dark, this one woman was clearly the work of the light, and I knew exactly who she was.

~oOo~

"Hylian."

Merely by her words, my eyes opened, finding myself instantly gazing at the Gerudo thief who had imprisoned me. I was sure it was her, by the distinct, pitiful tone in her voice, as well as the way she had obscurely addressed me.

Yet, her current demeanor suggested she was newly intrigued by me, while a single red brow lifted, her palms circling her waist, fingers seeming dance in their intricate movement.

Using the remaining strength of my legs, I forced myself back on my knees. I had been sleeping uncomfortably on my side, for the amount of time unknown to me, but I realized it couldn't have been too long for I could see her fingernails still dirtied by my skin and blood.

As I went to move the hair out of my eyes, it took me a moment to realize that she had undone the ropes on my wrists, and with blinking eyes did I gaze at her, marveled. Crawling backward, I picked up my arms, turning them to gaze at my wrists, gauntlet clad but with no more bondage.

"What is going on?" my hoarse voice wondered, though it was not a direct question to the Gerudo. Curiously, my head peered up at her, our eyes instantaneously locking, trapped in her fierce glare. I saw an odd glow in her pupil, partially saw my reflection in them, noticed my bewildered state, nostrils flaring in wonderment.

Smugly, she paced herself closer to me, and carefully her body slicked down to kneel, her face dangerously near mine; she was so close I could see through her sheer veil, observing the gentle curve of her lips, the definition of her jaw line.

I noticed her eyes scan me, traveling down my form, a bit of arrogance to her. "We used to mingle with men such as you," she huffed, and through her covering I saw the smallest of a smile. "More than a decade has passed since we've done so. But we do not welcome Hylians anymore. Not that we have ever approved of their culture. But they are a dead race to us, for they have killed our own."

Cringing, I listened intently to her crafted words, yet all the muscles of my body stiffened when she reached her hand out to me, her fingertips caressing my cheek. It felt like a knife trickling over my skin, taunting me with intentions of pain to come.

I prepared myself for something to happen, while also wondering why she had untied me. I could have fought back—could have taken her right there—but, I began to feel a sympathy for her, a strange one that stunned me from touching her.

"Stand up, Hylian."

I, however, did not automatically head to her command, and she looked down at me angrily when she stood and saw that I did not follow her.

"Stand up."

I furrowed my brows at her, a scowl to my features, extending my palm on the cold ground to carefully lift my body up to a stand. I wobbled in this position, my thigh burning to remind me of the wound she left me, my fingers grazing over it lightly to feel that it had begun to scab.

As I bite my bottom lip, the thief took my hand, and for that moment we could have appeared as lovers.

"Our Queen has requested to see you. Unharmed."

The more they referred to Nabooru as their queen, and spoke of the disappearance of their race, the more I wondered what exactly happened to Gerudo Valley. This was not the outcome of the land in the Other Time. I had heard nothing of this wasteland, had imagined the outcome to remain just as it was when I ventured there.

But this was not the Gerudo Valley of the Other Time. No; here, it had changed. And it did for the worst. I did not know exactly was savagery had occurred, but now that Nabooru summoned me, I would soon find out.

She held my hand the entire time she led me out of the prison, leading me as a mother would do her child. It was an uncanny experience; I pondered what the sudden loss of hostility meant—if, somehow, Nabooru knew who I was, that she wanted me unharmed, or if she too was enraged, and wanted to complete the deed to kill me herself. I noticed the sun had peaked, creating a new morning in the valley, the darkness passing.

I asked no questions as the thief brought me to another fortress, this one appearing old and partly destroyed, the stones of the building crumbling even as we stepped inside. It was smaller than the prison, and surely not anywhere a queen would be expected to reside. But the thief made no remarks, providing no explanations. I traveled with her in silence, yet in awe, of how a place I believed to still be prosperous had been destroyed.

The hallways she led me through were gently lit with candles on the walls, providing a red tint to the atmosphere. I heard no noise but the fire rumbling, as well as the echo of our footsteps. She was always one step ahead of me, forcing me to see the sway of her long hair, the exaggerated movement of her hips. Even in hatred, it existed naturally in her breed to seduce me. And if I had forgotten of the marks she tore at my body, I might very well have been.

We traveled past several corners, up flights of stairs—we moved slowly, for she exaggerated every movement—trying to build a fierce anxiousness in me, in which she succeeded. Steadily, I followed her, to where we had approached an entrance with sheets of ripped, sheer chiffon cloth, covering the opening as would a door. There, she halted quickly, ending our travel.

She had let go of my hand rather aggressively, and there I took a step back from her, my newly freed palm reaching to the back of my neck, tilting my head in discomfort as I rubbed my skin. For a long moment, the Gerudo stood before the entrance, glaring with no movement, as if forgetting I, a prisoner, was behind her.

Suddenly, then, and hastily, her body turned dramatically, back arched and curved with an erotic beauty as her eyes glowered over me. I straightened my posture at her gesture, a chill crawling up my spine when I realized her implication.

Upon my physical response, the Gerudo turned back to the entrance, and there she stepped through the sheets, where I followed her, feeling the fabric trace my form, smoothing over my skin and allowing me a sense of pleasure for a short moment.

"Nabooru. I have brought you the Hylian."

My capturer then took a step to her left to reveal me to her queen. And our eyes locked immediately.

She was just as I remembered her to be—appeared as the same Nabooru, the sage I had met in the Other Time. With skin the color of sand, a face so exotically crafted.

From the style of her hair, to the glitter in her eyes, everything that had made her distinct from the other Gerudo women—Even how she held herself set her apart as queen, though she wore no royal garments. In her presence alone, I could see the authority in her, in a land drenched in destruction.

Her eyes shifted, with no movement of her body, to her thief. "Leave us."

Steadily, she bowed before exiting. And there she left me with the Queen of the Gerudo.

Nabooru observed me with inquisitive eyes, her dark, slick lips pressed in a straight line. I saw no emotion present in her face, no slouch or stiffness to her posture. She only stood without expression, neutrally gazing at me in the silence of this dismal, colorless room.

I could feel the pain of my wounds begin to sting again, a sharpness to my thigh, and lighter aches at my shoulders. Persistent to finally confront Nabooru and learn the true intent of the goddesses, I remained still, refusing to give into the weakness I experienced.

But, before I could speak, her voice rumbled through the room.

"Are you the Hero of Time?" she questioned, a hand resting on her hip, while the other lingered near her face, fingers stroking her chin with tender gracefulness.

Eyes widening, I gawked at her.