Chapter 25: The Chase to Gannon
"Welcome, Link. I am Rauru, one of the ancient Sages. This is the Chamber of Sages, deep inside the Temple of Light... The Temple of Light, situated in the very center of the Sacred Realm." The looked around the Chamber in awe. Large pillars of blue light seemed to flow like a giant fountains. Link was surprised to see that he could stand on them, as he was on one.
When he was done admiring the Chamber, he turned to the speaker. "You may already know this... You are one of the bearers of the Triforce: the Courage of Farore." Link felt himself involuntarily wince at the mention of one of the Goddesses. The bottom left mark on his hand began to glow. "You may also know... Princess Zelda also is a bearer of the Triforce. She holds Nayru's Wisdom. Lastly, the Triforce of Power..." Rauru's voice trailed off.
"Gannon is the Host of Power?" Link asked. Rauru, along with the Sage, turned to him shocked.
"Ganondorf? He's back?" the princess whispered
Link shook his head, "No; he's-he's not Ganondorf."
"How did you figure that he held the Triforce?" the Sage ask Link.
"He told me, and showed me too."
"He... Showed you? The symbol or an example of its Power?" the Sage asked with a measure of worry.
Link shook his head. "No No! He was telling me about the Triforce and he showed me it: a symbol like mine on his left hand... You know... I don't think he is as evil as you keep making him out to be."
The Sage cringed at a thought, "The Mage did say..."
"Hmm?" Rauru asked, turning to the other Sage.
"She said that he could be... Saved."
Rauru shook his head. "That may be so right now, but Ganondorf, the King of Evil, had the Triforce of Power for far too long. His wishes became Power's wishes. Link, Gannon has been alive more than you think, had the Triforce more than you than you think he has. I fear that Din's Power has and will affect him far more than we can comprehend. Overtime, he will change, and not for the better."
"Which is why we have brought you here, Link. We wouldn't have had you come until you were at your seventeenth year, but this is important. We don't know how fast the corruption is going inside Gannon. I fear that he will change soon, and there will need be a way to stop him: the Hero of Time. That is, if we can't get the Triforce from him before his change is complete-but that I doubt."
"Why do you doubt it? It's not like he wants it."
"I don't know about that, Link," the Sage answered. "Power is something very hard to give up."
"Gannon's not evil," Link muttered.
"We haven't been saying that he is evil, just that that is what he will become if we don't find a way to stop it."
"The Triforce will not be taken forcefully," Princess Zelda spoke up, her voice hoarse.
"We wouldn't need too," Link said, turning to the princess.
"We won't," Zelda said again, her voice steady now. A small glow emanated from her right hand in the shape of a triangle. She closed her eyes, "or something horrible will befall Hyrule. This man..." She shook her head, "He doesn't wish to be our enemy."
Rauru nodded sadly, turning from the group, "He never did, but the Triforce changes a man. A long time ago, something horrible happened... The day he acquired Power was a day that reshaped Hyrule. Literally."
"Kakariko Gorge?" the princess asked.
"All of the great canyons of Hyrule were made that day."
"I don't believe that Gannon would do that of his own will," Link said in disbelief. He remembered the chasm that he had found Gannon in. He had made that? Link couldn't fathom it.
"True, true... I do not believe he would have in his own mind, but his actions were blinded-by the Triforce of Power. That is why we must stop him. This man," Rauru put his hand on the Sage's shoulder, "Colin, will teach you to the skills of a Sage in the happenstance that things don't go as smoothly as we wish."
Link frowned, but nodded. Rauru nodded back, his form beginning to fade away. Link shouted quickly, "But what about..." Then was that Link realized that he had been the one fading away, as the group appeared back in the Temple of Time-the Master Sword replica chamber. Link turned to the Sage, his name having been told as Colin, "What happened before we went into the Chamber? When I had a... Something in me?!"
Colin bit his lip, shaking his head. "I don't think you should worry about it. Whoever was in you, I know, didn't mean us any harm-"
"Didn't mean us harm. Did you see the look it gave us?" Princess Zelda exclaimed, her voice shaking. Link flinched; he knew that Zelda wasn't referencing the 'it' to him, but it sure felt like it.
Colin motioned with his hands to have her calm down. He continued, "With the edition of whoever wanting to get out of Link. This isn't very important right now. We need to get to Gannon."
"And you're sure this is the way to Zelda?" Gannon asked the cat again, looking into the tunnel above Telma's bar.
"Did you want to get to the Princess, or not?" Louise sent her gaze his way from the courtyard below, rolling her eyes. "Oh, and watch your step on the ropes. I don't know how Telma'll do with you walking around up there." Gannon nodded to the cat, finally walking into the tunnel.
He found himself in Telma's bar, or rather above it. He maneuvered around the pots, carefully sidling close to the wall. Then, he walked across the ropes. He froze quickly when someone walked into the bar, the Mage. Her hood was down; her face pale.
"Tels, please tell me you didn't let him leave." The girl shrugged.
"He wanted to go, Honey. There's not much I can do against a man with that kind of build," Telma informed the Mage with a slight grin.
The Mage threw her hands up in disbelief. She began to pace the spot in front of the bartendress. "I gave you explicit orders not to let him leave."
Telma rolled her eyes, but grew serious. "Honey, who was he, seriously. He said the creatures were on the move."
The Mage's pale face grew even paler, making her brown hair look black with the contrast. Telma folded her arms; her expression showing that there was no flexing this matter. The Mage struggled to break eye contact, having to look up at the roof to manage it-straight where Gannon hid. He took no notice of secrecy anymore, jumping across the room below him to the exit on the other side.
"The Princess!" the Mage's voice was an excited, yet anxious, whisper. Then louder, as she literally ran up the wall. "He must not reach the Princess!" The Mage charged after the man.
Gannon ran as fast as he could, not underestimating his pursuer. He dropped down into the next room. It was an empty room besides a single tunnel on the floor, covered by a chest. He opened it quickly: a key. Gannon stashed it away as a black item that he could materialize at will-as he had done with all his other items. He quickly tossed the chest away and jumped into the tunnel.
Gannon's feet collided with an incline, causing him to slip. Water pulled him down until he fell into another waterway. The coursing water pulled him down yet another canal. He dropped down another waterfall. No longer being pulled by turbulent water, he dragged himself onto the bricks. He looked up the flight of stairs. A Skulltula watched Gannon's actions with a curiosity. He stood and addressed it:
"One follows me. You are not to kill her, but block her path. Cover this entrance with a web." The Skulltula quivered for a second, unsure if it wanted to listen... But the pull of the Triforce entered into its mind, offering no other option but to do exactly what Gannon had said. It quickly got to work on the web after Gannon walked past. He felt a smirk begin on his face; not the playful smirk of a kid that finished a prank without getting caught, but of a murderer who had killed without getting caught. With that realization, Gannon shook the emotion from his head. He hadn't killed anyone. He had ordered the spider not to kill the Mage.
A drag built as Gannon began to run again. He fought the urge to go back. He would not kill her; he would not kill her; he would not kill her, but he felt the temptation growing. "No," Gannon growled, but it was more of a guttural grunt than anything intelligible. "I'm going to the Princess." Gannon pain began to slow, "I'm going to Zelda." He found that the pull of blood lust had subsided, and he was able to run forwards again. "I'm going to Zelda," he muttered, but he words were lost as he ran.