Kakariko village was a town of secrets and a past the Hylians neglected to mention. Prior to the village's construction, the hidden valley served as the base of the operations for the Sheikah tribe. It was a tribe that were outcasts in Hyrule, much like the Gerudo, however they were willing to serve the Hylian royal family due to some ancient pact that promised their loyalty. They were a tribe recognised by their pale hair, oddly coloured eyes like blood or fire, and their extended lifespans, far greater than any other race in Hyrule. More terrifyingly was their knowledge of forbidden shadow magic, making them ideal warriors for stealth and subterfuge. However they were also dangerous, capable of crafting relics of immense power, casting illusions and corrupting the mind, body and soul into foul entities. They claimed to use this metamorphosis as a form of punishment for traitors, then banished the resulting abominations to a labyrinth of lies hidden in Hyrule. The stories as to how their tribe faded to obscurity was forgotten, the Sheikah eventually died out to a few survivors and Kakariko was built over the remains of their land.

The shadowy labyrinths of maddening illusions and monstrosities had been unearthed by Bellum's destruction of Kakariko village. From the deep, screeching crevices in the earth there was no telling how far the maze spiralled beneath the land. Toxic ectoplasm oozed from the crevices like freshly cut wounds, making them impassable by foot. The cursed and undying monsters crafted by the Sheikah crawled from captivity to meander into Hyrule, further adding the dangers that plagued the land. As Iris soared overhead on her broom, avoiding the acrid stenches wafting from the rotting earth bellow, she wondered why the ectoplasm was tinged red beneath the moonlight. It had a habit of being green or blue unless it was contaminated by something. She surmised to herself "Someone's down there, powering this thing."

She circled back to the only remains of Kakariko that had survived the uprising. The Graveyard that stood behind the village was oddly the only thing unscathed by the labyrinth's unearthing. Onox and Ganondorf remained on guard as they protected the camp. No fires were light to avoid being spotted. While they could hold off a few monsters, the possibility of being overwhelmed was far too great by being so close to the labyrinth. The best they could do was avoid being targeted and hold down the entrance until the others at Zora's Domain re-joined them.

Ganondorf kept a vigilant eye on their surroundings "Be careful, that thing might still be out there."

"You mean that ghost that never left the valley?" Onox kept sharpening the blade of his axe with a whetstone "Bongo Bongo? Or something like that?"

"That miserable wretch was a Sheikah that was so powerful, he could break illusions and see right through them. So of course he would be sealed away by his own tribe."

"Shame, well, hopefully we can give him a swift death… if there's anything of the original person still in that monster." Onox tilted his head as he mused aloud "Why is it staying around the valley anyway? Every other monster seems to be leaving."

Ganondorf raised a hand, commanding silence from Onox and Iris as she landed back at the camp. In the distance he could see that shadowy ectoplasmic vapour heading towards them. The texture shimmered beneath the moonlight like thousands of scarabs skittering over one another. The eerie song of a rhythmic hum echoed in the night, the earth shook as hand prints shattered its surface. The entity was fast approaching, its shadowy powers made it difficult to target.

"We can take it." Ganondorf announced, he ordered the others "Iris, you need to conjure icicles to pierce its hands, not freeze it over like last time. Onox, while it's distracted you slash its body open to reveal its eye. I'll finish it off."

The swirling darkness danced around them as the mutilated remains of a human body contorted with a nightmarish scream. The disembodied torso hovered in the air, the flesh had turned dark as the skin clung to the remaining ribs and spine. It arched upwards like it was hanging from its feet. Despite a lack of arms, its gnarled hands floated freely before the bloodied stumps. There was a bulging growth where its neck once stood, covered by flaps of skin to obscure the demonic eye that stared out from within its body. The giant monstrosity was the result of the Sheikah tribe's punishment for their kin, although its name had been lost with time, it was known by its musical inclination. With a hum its body turned invisible, only allowing its hands to be seen.

Iris made the first move, she mounted her broom and soared around Bongo Bongo to garner its attention. She cast a small spell of powdered snow to fall upon its body to reveal an icy silhouette. Displeased at being interrupted, it began to swat at her like she was an annoying insect. Iris carefully manoeuvred the ghost to follow her closer to the camp site. She then conjured icicles in the air, as sharp as any arrow, then launched them as a barrage towards Bongo Bongo's hands. One hand reeled up with a cry of agony, the other followed as it teetered uneasily in the air. By doing so, its neck stump was in line with the blade of Onox's axe.

Onox stepped swiftly, putting all his weight into this strike to cleanly slice the mass of flesh between Bongo Bongo's shoulders. The flaps of limp skin went flying through the air. Instinctively, Bongo Bongo had retreated its eye back into its body to avoid the blade. Distracted by the attack, it was too late when it felt Ganondorf land on its spine. He had been waiting for an opportune moment atop a set of smouldering ruins. Refusing to let Bongo Bongo retreat yet again, Ganondorf scaled its body, positioning himself on the monster's shoulders. He crouched down and reached inside oozing cavity to roughly clench his hand around the viscous eye. He ripped it out of Bongo Bongo's body in one swift pull. The ghost screamed its last as it deteriorated into shadowy ooze that dissolved into the air.

When Ganondorf landed, he curiously found one piece of the monster had not vanished. In his hand was the large lens of Bongo Bongo's eye. One side was red, the other was blue, when Ganondorf put the lens over his own eyes he saw the valley in a different light. There were no monsters leaving the labyrinth. Pulling it away revealed the procession of hellish nightmares meandering into Hyrule Field. "An illusion?" Ganondorf then pocketed the lens, feeling it would come in handy soon.

By then the others had joined them at their little campsite. Ganondorf caught sight of Sable's dragon form flying overhead. While Link and Nabooru explained to Iris and Onox what had happened. Sable offered him a brief explanation "Sage is dead, Jabu Jabu is dead, Ruto stayed behind to give the Zoras their last rites. She summoned Tatl and Tael to send for more soldiers. She will not be joining us here."

"Good work," Ganondorf stepped past her, he then gestured for the others to follow him down the ancient stairwell to the runic door of the Shadow Temple.


Link remembered this place well, the house of the dead where the Sheikah kept their ancient secrets. The podium in the centre of the chamber was blank, the embellishments had been whittled down with time. Circles of torches adorned the runic circles marked upon the chamber floor. He watched as Iris jumped to the centre podium and with a wild flourish of her hands ignited every torch in the chamber. The eerie door opposite them creaked open. The rancid stench of rotting flesh and tainted blood assaulted them. Nevertheless, they all pressed onwards into the foreboding darkness.

As Link had traversed these halls before, he subconsciously took the lead to direct them through the labyrinth of evil. Caverns and chambers were littered with nightmarish implements of torture; the likes of which had never been imagined beyond the Sheikah clan. Motifs of ravens and gargoyles watched as they rhythmically swang rusted guillotine blades across their paths. Rivers of souls coursed deep below them as a foul green sludge. The lowest reaches were defined as an ancient harbour, the sail-less ship was still docked and unchanged.

For a moment they regrouped, ensuring everyone had followed safely. Onox placed Iris on the ground, he had been carrying the vertically challenged Deku throughout most of the dangers.

Ganondorf was quick to say to Link "How did you know where to go? Are you Sheikah?"

Link shook his head and sternly offered "I've been here before." Before falling silent again.

Sable rocked on her heels "Is it my imagination or was our journey down here a little too easy?"

Nabooru nodded to her "I know what you mean, no monsters, no ghosts, nothing."

"The monsters on the surface are an illusion." Ganondorf procured the strange lens "I ripped this out of Bongo Bongo, it seems to see through Sheikah illusions and when I used it above ground I saw that all the monsters weren't really there."

Onox was flummoxed "So Bongo Bongo was the only real monster?"

"I knew something was weird here, it never added up how the monsters in the valley were sighted leaving it but never seen in any other part of Hyrule." Iris wandered over to Ganondorf to get a better look at the lens.

"And Bellum is just using these illusions to keep people out of this valley?" Onox suggested tentatively, looking over to Sable for some clue.

"Perhaps," Sable queried "But what could be powering an illusion of this magnitude?"

Link piped up "Wait, did a woman named Impa ever join the rebellion?" They all gave a negative reply to which he explained "Impa is Zelda's personal bodyguard… and a Sheikah."

Nabooru tilted her head "Seriously? That fighter is a Sheikah? I thought she just looked weird."

"Yeah… it is possible to use a person to invoke the power of an entire tribe or race," Sable elaborated, overwhelmed with a sense of giddiness that came from solving a puzzle "The Gomess legend of Majora recants how powerful spells can be achieved by using someone as a vessel for that power. It works because the caster is tapping into the bloodline of the individual."

"So by imprisoning Impa, Bellum has access to the powers of the Sheikah race?"

"Yeah, it's a disgusting and inhumane practice."

Onox shrugged as Link looked to him for further explanation "This isn't my particular field," He then marched over to the edge of the dock "Are going to we hitch a ride on this thing or what?"

Link followed, stepping onto the deck and walking over the Triforce crest. It was placed where the mast should have been. "Yeah, I don't know where it will lead us though. But when we get to the end the boat will sink."

Ganondorf marched around the deck, his brow furrowed at the sight of the shoddy craftsmanship "How do we start it?"

Link retrieved the Ocarina of Time from his satchel. Ignoring the perplexed faces of Ganondorf and Nabooru, he proceeded to play 'Zelda's Lullaby' to send the ship to sleep on an ocean of dreams. As the song echoed its last note, bells chimed in the air as the ship came to life. The raven faced boat rocked and swayed down the river of souls as a faint memory of sailing in its days of glory.


The mist was as thick as night while the boat continued to sail blindly through the abyss. The only light emanated from the river of souls beneath them. The familiar stone trappings and arches of the Shadow Temple had been replaced by dark, jagged rocks. The silence was deafening, yet no one dared to speak, lest they invoke the wrath of an invisible predator. The river finally widened to a final chamber in its route down below the surface of Hyrule. A maelstrom of spirits disappeared into a spiral of nothingness with an island at the vortex's centre. In the centre of the island was a large gemstone wrapped in chains that disappeared into the maelstrom below. Circling the island in a patrol was a hulking monster pulsing with exoskeleton plates to resemble armour. Black sludge embedded with golden eyes showed Bellum's influence.

Link however recognised the massive shape of the monster look similar to a Goron and the mane of wiry hair only reinforced his assumption "That's Darunia!"

Nabooru went to his side to get a better look "The missing Goron elder!? What's he guarding?"

The ship violently rocked as it surged closer to the island, threatening to disappear into the vortex. In a desperate move, Link leapt from the ship with all his might to fall safely on to solid ground. Ganondorf landed beside him with Nabooru over his shoulder, he was ignoring her protests as she kicked him like a pouting child. Link was surprised as a curled up dodongo bounced onto the ground and uncurled, swirling with shadows to revert back to Onox. Iris had already mounted her broom to avoid falling to her death as the ship sank, Sable was beside her in her dragon form.

Their safety was short lived as their arrival on the island had drawn the attention of those who dwelled in the cavern. Darunia turned, wildly snarling with primal rage as he charged towards them. Ganondorf countered by lunging forward, drawing his swords to swiftly slash the Darunia's arms that forced the lumbering Goron to crash under his weight. As Darunia was momentarily incapacitated, Iris launched another barrage of icicles and frost magic downwards to coat him in ice and further hinder him. They had to incapacitate him, not kill him, if they still wanted the Gorons to remain loyal to the rebellion. While he was hindered, Ganondorf quickly examined the sludgy darkness, trying to pinpoint the main eye that created this festering parasite.

Nabooru already seized the opportunity by going to the large crystal with Onox. Looking within its surface, she recognised the woman trapped within, she had seen her in the past when the Gerudos attempted to raid Castle Town. Impa remained frozen within the gem, her body was covered with a dark web of pulsing shadows that dripped red. Nabooru looked to Onox for advice and he could only shrug back in reply. Out of frustration, Nabooru struck the gem with her sword. To their shock it screamed like an ethereal beast. The chamber shook wildly as something massive stirred from beneath the river of souls.

Ganondorf let out a cheer to himself as he found the parasite's origins. The bloodshot eye stared back from the deep crevice it cut into the Goron's back to nestle between Darunia's shoulder blades; usually impossible to see on a Goron. The sludgy web screeched and stretched out of shape around Darunia as Ganondorf cleanly sliced around the eye then pierced through it while it panicked in mid-air.

Link was more preoccupied with the monster slowly circled around the maelstrom. Iris landed on the island, nervous at what it meant, with Sable in tow. Immediately, she shifted back into her Terminan form and said "It's big, like a snake or centipede. It's coiling around this entire chamber before it emerges. But I got an idea and it includes that big crystal."

The others moved in close to hear her plan. As Sable predicted, the corrupt Sage of Shadow finally revealed its abominable new shape. A centipede of bones and feathery, sticky gills slowly began to emerge from the waters, its massive body engulfed the surface of the maelstrom. No discernible eyes or even a face appeared. The entire creature was a tangled mess of writhing legs and snapping mouths lined with mandibles. Even its body randomly sprouted and grew at different angles like the branches of a tree. Green ectoplasmic mist wafted from gaps between its exoskeleton.

Link armed the Helix Blade, feeling the powers of a deity flow through him as he unleashed a beam of light into the crystal. The faceted stone did its trick as that single beam deviated into many and assaulted the Sage's body from all directions. While stunned by the initial attack, Onox and Ganondorf had leapt and landed on the Sage. They ran along the body of the abomination, cleanly cleaving the branches of its body away. Lifeless extremities sank into the river, leaving raw, gaping wounds of rotting flesh that exuded red blood. As anticipated, the mystery of the location of the monster's head was revealed. The Sage lifted its weary head and looked to its attackers which gave them pause.

Framed by exoskeleton and mutated by Bellum's plagues, the cursed Sage had a face that resembled a gibbering nightmarish horror with the skin of a Hylian face crudely pulled over it and pinned in place. Among its countless golden eyes were still a pair of Hylian eyes, staring out, crying, begging them to end its miserable existence. It did not resist, even as its body madly writhed and attempted to pull its head back underwater. It stared back at them, using all its might to give them a clean shot.

Link fulfilled its wish. He dashed across the segments of body adrift in the vortex. Calmly leaping upwards and arcing his sword back to slash the Sage's head vertically. The Sage in turn let out a final howl, dissipating into ashes to engulf Link as he fell into the river of souls. The vortex spiralled out of control, engulfing the entire chamber and everyone within it.


For the first time in ages, Impa felt like she was thinking lucidly. She finally opened her eyes within her crystal prison. The shards of gemstone fell away from her as the illusions of the Temple of Shadow vanished from reality.

Impa found herself standing on the podium in the entry chamber that housed the door to the temple. Her body was covered with dripping wounds, although they were not life threatening and she'd survived far worse in the past. She looked around the chamber to see that others were with her. She recognised Darunia, Nabooru and Ganondorf. There were also a Deku, a jester woman and a man in heavy armour. Finally she saw Link although he was different now, wielding a blade the likes she had never seen before. His hair had turned white with a silver sheen while his skin was paler and sickly. His green tunic had lightened to a pale blue with faded green edges. A cuirass with faulds of dark metals wrapped around his torso and gauntlets protected his arms.

Link weakly opened his eye, attempting to stand without saying a coherent word. He collapsed again but was caught by Impa. She paused as she realised he was at least a head taller than her now. She laid him on the ground again, and looked to the others, seeing a few supply packs among them. Impa began to tend to her own wounds and then to the others around her.