Chapter 20: Infiganon

"Hey! You're back!"

They hadn't gotten far into the temple before Linkina appeared from one of the corridors, waving cheerfully. Link was surprised how glad he was to see her, given that none of them really knew each other all that well. Then again, after the time they had spent in the previous world, he was overjoyed just to breathe normal air again. All of the others seemed to have relaxed somewhat now that they were back in the Sacred Realm.

"Whoa, just a sec," Linkina froze as she drew nearer. "Is that a Ganondorf? I'm going to assume he's okay since he's with you, but…"

"Yeah, he's with us," Cid nodded. Ganondorf put one hand to his chest and gave a deep bow.

"I apologize for my appearance. My world appears to be the only one in which I am not a villain."

"That's fine." Linkina grinned and stepped closer to glance up at him. "My world seems to be the only one where I'm not a guy, so we have something in common. And frankly at this point I'm not going to refuse any allies. If you're as tough as the Ganondorf I fought you'll probably be helpful."

"Is Ganondorf a girl in your world too?" Hero asked. "Cause if the two of you fought in rain or mud that would be totally ho-"

"What's the current situation?" Vincent asked. Linkina immediately turned to him and didn't look at Hero again for the rest of the conversation.

"Isn't that my line? After the battle you guys vanished for so long, I actually went to see if you had died."

"It's complicated," Cid answered. "But we're back now. I, at least, want to hear a full report on the battle unless there's a situation that needs our attention immediately."

"Sure. After I got back to the temple I found out – oh, hey, you're Vincent's wife, right?" She glanced over at Din. "I'm sorry I didn't get to greet you earlier, but it was in the middle of a battle and all that. I have a one-track mind."

"It isn't a problem," Din answered, smiling slightly. "I understand how things are. But since you've stopped talking, perhaps this is a good time to make a suggestion. We might want to split into different groups at this point. Cid may need to talk strategy, but some of us have other things we need to do. Also, I'm going to need some time to realign myself with this world's elements."

"Head outside and to the west," Linkina suggested. "There's a grove of trees still standing that's pretty quiet. Most of the Links are either somewhere in the temple or in a camp to the southeast, if the rest of you want to talk to them."

"Now seems like a good time for a nap," Hero yawned, promptly wandering away. The others ignored him and glanced at one another.

"It is probably best that I find an isolated area," Ganondorf spoke up. "Most other Links may not take kindly to my presence."

"Cid and I will talk strategy with you," Vincent told Linkina. "What about you, Link?"

Everyone glanced at him. "Um," he eloquently began. "If there's going to be another battle, I probably need to get a sword again, so I was thinking of looking for one."

"I can help you there," a new voice entered the conversation. From another of the side corridors Vio strolled into the room, giving the group a friendly smile. There were greetings exchanged and Din took this time to excuse herself. When individual conversations finally subsided, Cid moved to address Vio.

"So are you talking with us or helping the kid?"

"Ideally I'd like to say 'both,' but sadly my other three forms are scouting right now," Vio sighed. "Linkina can fill you in on the situation well enough, though, so I'll help him. I'm somewhat in charge of that kind of thing anyway." He turned back to Link and gestured toward the open passage outside. "Let's get going."

"So you managed to fight the obsidian guys?" Link asked once they were in the corridor. Vio shrugged.

"Actually, I just held them off a while and then ran away. They never showed up again, so I think it worked pretty well. I'm curious about what happened to you guys too, but apparently that's quite a story and I won't make you repeat it. Things have been calmer around here, though there have still been occasional monster attacks.

"But back on topic: what kind of sword do you need? I guess it should be a fairly short one, given your height. In addition to ones used by monsters during the battle a number of Links have died, so you have a decent variety. There were a few Links about your age here, but not many. Some of the adults have pretty short swords, though, so you might be able to find something."

"Actually, I think it might be better if I didn't use a Link's sword."

Vio glanced over at him with a strange expression, but Link didn't elaborate. They were nearly outside the temple now, moving through the puzzle room. From the large entrance the light was soft and normal. Being outside and actually feeling warm was going to be incredible. Unfortunately, he couldn't get Knil out of his mind.

"I just have a feeling a normal sword might work better," he finished awkwardly. For a moment Vio seemed about to ask a question, but when he spoke he did not.

"Very well. Does it have to be a normal sword, as in steel and no magic? Or are you just interested in it not being the legendary type of thing Links tend to wield?"

"Yeah. The second one."

"I think I have the right weapon for you, then. Oh, and turn this way."

As he expected, the breeze outside the temple was fresh and the overall temperature was warm. His eyes relaxed for the first time in a week, staring blankly into the blue expanse of the sky. There were a number of Links sitting at various places outside that waved to Vio, but none of them approached. They actually veered away from the group, around the edge of the temple.

Neither of them spoke as they moved past a short row of graves. There was a sword in each, stuck part-way into the top of the mounds of earth. Link swallowed, forcing back the moisture that came to his eyes against his will. Each blade was glittering and looked sharp; part of him wanted to select one of them. But not only would have that been disrespectful, he had a feeling it might not help. Against that grey sword, he might have been better off with a rusted and simple weapon.

"Will this do?" Link nearly leapt backward upon seeing a sword almost in his face. He quickly calmed himself and hoped Vio hadn't noticed. The other man was holding something out to him, an unusual white blade. It almost didn't look like steel, but the edge appeared very sharp, if a bit chipped at places. All of it was white, though the handle looked more like bones and was sculpted in a shape he couldn't quite place but bothered him.

"How'd you get this thing?" he asked, taking it and experimenting with a few slashes. It swung easily enough and was lighter than it looked, despite being larger than his last sword.

"We took it from some kind of Stalfos that attacked a while back," Vio answered. "It was an odd blue color and really didn't want to die. Somehow it actually injured a few guys before Linkina and I showed up. I hadn't thought about it since we put it with the other swords, but if you want a non-hero-like weapon this is your best bet."

"I guess it will do," Link agreed. He didn't think it would work, but he tried to put it back in his sheath. Amazingly, it fit, though it was a bit loose and the hilt stuck out further than it should. It made him slightly uneasy to carry a weapon used by a monster, but by the time they reached the camp he'd completely forgotten about it.

"One Link took out that many?"

"That's what they said." Linkina shrugged. "He came out of the temple and destroyed all of them before turning to dust or something. I don't know either, but I'm glad it happened."

Cid shook his head and sighed. Glancing at Vincent and Linkina for a few seconds, he folded his arms and leaned back against the dais. "I'll chalk that one up to Altair or another random person. But the center of the battle was resolved without too many casualties?"

"Again, as far as I know."

"What about Shiro?" Vincent asked. "He told us that he would take care of that situation but I haven't seen him yet."

"Ah, he's still around, I think. He did go to the thick of things, if I recall, but I haven't heard anything else about what happened there. Most of the Links that were in the biggest part of the battle decided to go back to their worlds, so I don't have very much information on what happened there."

"But there were plenty of corpses, I'm guessing?" Cid gave a low chuckle. "This isn't the time to be asking questions. Right now we're too vulnerable."

"What do you mean?" Linkina cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow.

"We may have a fair amount of power, but our enemies hold all the cards," Vincent explained. "They have Knil and the other strong fighters we mentioned, plus they can apparently move between worlds at will. We still don't know exactly what they're trying to accomplish and can only hope everything we've done has been impeding them."

"Not to mention the army," Cid added. "A few monsters may not be much to fighters like us, but most of these guys probably aren't trained against those kinds of odds. They could probably overwhelm us, especially since our numbers keep dropping, but they seem to be waiting for something."

"When you put it that way the situation does sound pretty bad," Linkina sighed. "But at least we have one thing. Vio found it in the basement of this temple." She slipped a hand from her pouch and held up the dark Shard. "It fits into the top of the impression on the dais, so it could be important, but we have no idea what it might do."

"History suggests we will have to collect objects at some point." Vincent glanced over at Cid. "Can it hurt to experiment?"

"Probably." He removed both Shards from his tunic and placed them on the dais. Vio's piece fit in one corner nicely, but the other two made an odd jagged shape that could fit anywhere. The three of them looked down for a while until Linkina threw up her hands.

"This is pointless. They might go together like a puzzle, but we'd need more of them. Plus they're not the same size, so there could be two pieces left or twenty."

Cid shifted his hand over the dais, palming one of the Shards. "It can't hurt to collect them, especially since the guys trying to kill us seem to want them too, but do not put them together until we know exactly what they do. For the moment, let's split them up by each taking one. We should also talk to the other Links that we can trust. Logically some of them should have found Shards; we can't be the only ones doing anything."

The others nodded and took a piece as well. Linkina had an uneasy expression, however, and when she spoke it was relatively slowly. "I'm not so sure. There are definitely differences. All the Links I've talked to have been strong and fast, of course, but they're not all the same. To be honest, I don't think I could take either of you in a fight."

"I know what you mean," Vincent agreed, nodding thoughtfully. "There are definitely varying degrees of… Linkness, for lack of a better word. If I were you I wouldn't worry; strength isn't everything."

"Thanks, I guess." The corners of Linkina's mouth twitched. "I think we've probably seen all the Links, as there haven't been any new guys for a while. But let me tell you, some weird ones have come out of the woodwork."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, there's this one guy… I don't know, something is seriously wrong with him. When he first got here he kept jabbing his sword at people when he wanted to talk to them, which very nearly got him killed. If you see someone that looks pretty weird, stay away.

"Then we had this other guy who talks about cannibalistic pink balls and something called a 'plumber' that is apparently trying to kill him. He seems like a nice guy, but his world has made him a few pieces short of the Triforce, if you know what I mean. It sounds like a hellish place, nothing but fighting."

"Lovely," Cid growled. "I guess we should meet this fine group of individuals?"

"Yes, that might-" Linkina cut off abruptly as Vio skidded into the room, eyes wide and gasping for breath. Din floated after him, eyes narrow and glowing brightly.

"We have a problem," he told them grimly. "One of my forms just died, almost instantly. Don't ask how; I don't know either. One second everything was fine, then something hit the ground so hard it threw me into the air. I hadn't even landed when something hit me from behind and killed me immediately."

"Better and better." Cid drew his sword and began walking for the hallway outside. "I guess we should just be prepared for everything?"

"I'll tell you if I can find out more." Vio collapsed next to the dais and continued catching his breath. "Go on ahead; I'm going to leave this shell and try to regenerate all four outside ahead of you. I've got a bad feeling we're going to need whatever we can get."

Walking among circles of green-clad warriors was a strange experience. As Link moved through the camp a few people looked at him, but no more than brief glances. A wry smile appeared briefly on his lips. He looked like the rest of them, now. What would his friends think back home, seeing him in something like this? Of course, he could probably beat all of them in a fight, given the current shape he was in.

So far he hadn't found a place he wanted to sit. He was hoping to find someone he knew, but for the most part the groups looked surprisingly hostile. For a moment he thought he saw Shiro, but the man seemed to vanish into thin air. Well, he hadn't known him that well anyway.

Finally at the end of camp he saw two men sitting alone, slightly apart from the others. It was probably as good of a place to sit as any. One of the Links was sitting motionlessly, hugging his legs and staring at the ground. The other seemed completely unbothered by this and was talking animatedly. Almost freakishly animatedly, actually.

"I won!" he was saying as Link approached. The other gave him the slightest glance and shivered.

"Just one battle," he mumbled, looking away. "There will be another one. They just keep coming back, over and over…"

"Oh boy! I can't wait to bomb some Dodongos!"

Neither of them said anything to Link, who stood between them, somewhat dumbfounded. The depressed-looking guy seemed normal for a Link, other than some slightly neurotic tendencies. But his companion was odd; something about his face was disturbing. After a moment Link raised his hand a bit and gave a nervous greeting.

Immediately the first Link sprang to his feet, hand on his sword. For a moment he looked as though he was really going to attack, but then he slowed and sat back down heavily.

"You look much like someone from my world," he explained, voice strained and so soft it almost couldn't be heard. "Someone I have fought many times. But you're not. This place is strange. I wonder why so many different worlds have been thrown together, why mine is so different."

"I just wonder what Ganon's up to!"

An enormous amount of force hit the area, almost knocking Link from his feet. For a split second he realized that an attack was coming toward him, but he would never have been able to move in time. Fortunately, the depressed Link moved with unreal speed, knocking both of them to the side as silver flashed just over their heads.

On the ground, Link tried to pull his mind together. Where the strange Link had sat there was now only a smear of blood. Past them… the attack had gone past them. Numbly he turned to look and saw something spinning through the air. It was some kind of lengthy weapon, whirling at a swift rate, but it was of incredible size. Easily thicker than any tree trunk Link had seen. As he watched it, the weapon arced through the air and was suddenly caught by an enormous claw.

That was when he saw it, towering well above the nearby trees. He knew instinctively that it was Ganon. Not only was the body tall, it was massive, a walking mountain wielding a pair of unreal blades. He would have liked to believe the bulk was fat, but the way it shifted as the body moved he couldn't bring himself to think it for even a moment. Legs like stone pillars made the earth shake as the monstrosity began to move forward.

Though the eyes seemed small for the body, they glowed white so intensely they seemed to fill his vision. The face didn't resemble a human or animal, a demonic visage with straight horns spiking back from either side of the head. Everyone stood transfixed, not believing what they saw as the monster lumbered toward them.

Slowly the enormous blade shifted horizontally while all the Links were transfixed in horror. In his mind Link could see it sweeping through them in a terrible swath of blood and death. Yet the spirit of evil emanating from this abomination was crushing him from every side, preventing him from moving a muscles or uttering a word…

"Melee!" Abruptly the Link standing next to him screamed and charged at the behemoth. Instantly the arm moved, sending the sword into the ground and making it quake. Unperturbed, the attacker rolled to the side just as the blow almost struck him. Being knocked into the air by the force, he uncurled and slashed several times with his sword. The lines of blood were barely visible on the deep blue-green skin.

Twitching in pain, the arm brushed against the warrior still in the air. He was hurled backward, crashing across the ground into the rest. That group, however, had begun to spread out, forming a large circle around the monster. Their eyes had hardened and they had moved from a position of shock to a battle stance.

"It begins," a ghastly voice rumbled. It was enormous, far louder than seemed possible, yet the tone did not match the beast from which the voice came. The words were eerily calm, as if someone was speaking softly with his voice magnified a thousand times. "I know many of you from many worlds. Not all are here, but it is irrelevant. I am Infiganon. Perhaps this battle was fated from before time."

Abruptly one of the giant blades plunged into the ground, sending a shockwave over the entire battlefield and scattering leaves from the trees. In almost the same motion the other weapon slashed, sending an arc of destruction ripping through the ground and scorching the air. Link could only gasp in shock; if it had been directed at his position he would be dead. Somehow the Links on that side had anticipated and moved away, and even now the others were attacking from behind.

There was nothing he could do. The warriors that shared his name rushed Infiganon as one, evading the crushing blows and striking back from a dozen places. Within seconds the field was a wasteland of rock stained by blood so dark it appeared black. Setting foot in it would be death.

No. He had to do something. If he stood here and let the battle go past, somehow he knew that he would never be able to fight again, never be able to stand up against the monsters they would face, much less Knil. Drawing his sword with one hand, he pulled the boomerang from his belt with another. Getting close would be suicide, but there had to be an opening in which he could attack.

Amid the attacking Links, Infiganon continued to battle, disturbingly methodical. None of the blows made contact with the small figures assaulting him from the sides, but neither did their strikes reach much higher than his chest. Any efforts to attack together were instantly ended by shockwaves.

From the side, Link saw it several seconds before it happened. One of the others vaulted into the air, blade glowing with brilliant energy as he sailed toward Infiganon's back. The beast turned, a sharp elbow slamming into the green figure. It smashed into the ground, bouncing into the air. Before it could fall again an enormous blade stabbed from above, nearly splitting the warrior in half. For a moment the entire battlefield took a breath and hesitated.

Infiganon lifted the blade into the air to continue the fight, ignoring the red stain dripping from the black steel. As he did so his voice thundered over the battlefield. "That's one."

- - - - -

This isn't one of my favorite chapters, but in reviewing it before reposting I was pleasantly surprised. We have some comic moments and the appearance of the worst of all possible Links, then back to action and grim reality. This battle has been building since near the beginning of the story.