The Legend of Zelda: TriSpirit, Episode 4: Rise of the Devastati

Chapter 6
Daring Persistense

"O golden goddesses of Hyrule; Din, Nayru, and Farore, I beseech you! Please, in our hour of need, send us your aid! Deliver us from this evil invasion that threatens my people!"

As these words echo from Hyrule Castle, something resonates within the Sacred Realm...

Three holy flames, one colored green, another red, and the other blue, begin to stir. They merge to form a shining sphere of golden light.

"YOUR TIME HAS COME, TRISPIRIT..." speaks a divine voice. "GO NOW; SEEK THOSE FOUND WORTHY OF THIS TASK...AND GUIDE THEM THROUGH THEIR DESTINY..."

In response to these words spoken to it, the sphere of golden light ascends. From the Sacred Realm it departs, making its way into the world of Hyrule.

Stuck atop a chandelier at the highest point in the castle's ceiling with no way down, his bowstring broken after having already used the spare today, there is nothing Link can do but continue to hold on and wait out the battle as he watches the chaos below.

In plain sight beneath him, the Zora princess mauls Princess Zelda after having turned the queen to stone. In great pain, the Hylian princess cries out as her fellow princess sinks her teeth into her shoulder to drink her blood and drain her life-force. Link wishes he could help her somehow but there is nothing he can do from up here.

Tingle looks down below as well, though he seems not as grieved as Link is. "Quite lovely view from here, isn't it?"

Feeling somewhat appalled at the odd man's incomprehension of the grave situations that surround, Link gives him a look. "A 'lovely view'..? We're in the middle of a battle! With bloodshed and panic at every turn! How is that a 'lovely view'..?!"

"That's true. But you need to look at the positive side of things..." Tingle points below to where Ruto leans over Zelda to drain her blood. "We still have a lovely view of the Zora princess's cute booty!"

Link is not amused. Immediately grabbing hold of the little man's hood, he pulls it down over his eyes to thwart his ogling.

The sting in Zelda's shoulder, it grows increasingly painful by the second as Ruto's teeth sink ever deeper into her flesh. Her whole arm has grown too numb to even lift.

However...she strangely has not been turned to stone yet even though everyone else Ruto has bitten had completely petrified within mere seconds...

Why she has yet to petrify, Zelda knows not. But it appears Ruto is just as confused; she seems to be biting harder and growing somewhat restless. She soon grows flustered, focusing so much on trying to turn her prey to stone that she neglects keeping Zelda pinned down. Her grip on the Hylian princess's other arm is absent-mindedly overlooked.

Granting Zelda a faint opportunity to take action.

Though the pain is unbearable, she ignores it and does the one thing she can. Catching Ruto by surprise, she extends her one free arm around her...

And pulls her into a sisterly embrace.

"Ruto... Please..." she pleads desperately, hoping to return her friend to her senses. "Please snap out of it..! I know...this isn't you... The Ruto I know would never do anything like this by her own bidding..!"

Ruto is momentarily taken aback by the sudden embrace. She briefly pauses from sucking Zelda's blood, if only for but a few seconds, seemingly dumbfounded and unsure how to react.

Kazama is just as baffled at Zelda's determination to save her friend. "Wha_? You... You idiot..!" scoffs he. "You mean even after everything you have seen and suffered today... you still have the stupidity to continue to trust..?! Why, you must be even more naive than I thought!"

Ignoring the wizard as she does her scourging pain, Zelda only continues to persist to Ruto; "I saw how devastated you were when you realized that you accidentally caused someone a serious injury back there in the stadium earlier... I know you wouldn't harm an innocent intentionally... I don't know what they did to make you like this...but it's clear to me...that you are under their control... You are not responsible for any of this..!"

Ruto seems to grow tense. She begins biting more frantically, repeatedly tearing away at Zelda's shoulder muscles with her teeth, trying desperately to get the dark power that should be turning her to stone to finally take effect.

But to no avail.

"I'm not...giving up on you...Ruto..." Zelda weakly persists, her tear-soaked cheek pressed against her corrupted friend. "You and I may not share blood...we may not always see things eye-to-eye...but you have still always been family in my mind... And right now...you are the only family I have left... My father and mother have just been taken away from me before my eyes... I cannot bear to lose you too..! So please... Please force whatever is controlling you out of your mind and come back..! If not for me, then at least for your biological kin..! Your family is broken enough as it is... Your father and brother have suffered plenty of losses already... Don't allow any of us to lose yet another loved one..! Think of how heartbroken they will be...when they see you like this... You have to come back to us..!"

Kazama grows increasingly baffled at Zelda's words and actions. "Ah... Hello?! Aren't you forgetting something..? She is the reason your family was just taken from you! I should think you would have learned to HATE her by now...not call her 'family'! And why do you strain yourself in a futile effort to convince her to rejoin your side, anyhow? She is just ONE ally! I don't know anymore if I find your naivety amusing or embarrassing at this point..."

"Please, Ruto..." Zelda only continues to plead, though her consciousness is slowly beginning to slip from her due to the rapid loss of blood. "Remember who...you are... Please... Come back...to us..."

"Bah! I tire of this sappy, sentimental nonsense..!" Kazama scoffs in disgust. "Would you just turn this imbecile of a princess to stone and get it over with already..?!"

"I'm trying, I'm TRYING!" Ruto retaliates in frustration. "But she just...won't...petrify..!" She slams Zelda hard against the ground, forcing her out of the embrace. "You stupid human! Why won't you just shut up and turn to stone already?! And you're creeping me out with your stupid 'sisterly love' thing! What kind of Hylian and Zora regard each other as 'sisters' anyhow?! That's just...stupid..! And how are you even still alive?! I've already drained more blood and life-force from you than anyone else! If this is how it's going to be...then I'll just kill you the messy way..!"

"Oh, don't bother..." Kazama says to Ruto with little concern. "Since she has managed to stubbornly live through this much, then perhaps such persistence should be rewarded... Yes, I believe I will permit her to live just a little bit longer so that she can see her kingdom's destruction to the very end! Now then, off with you! You have already collected her blood; your work here is done. The next course of action calling for your attention should be ready to commence in but a moment. So get to it! I will deal with this foolish princess myself."

Ruto is slightly annoyed by the order, but complies nonetheless. "Yes, Master..." she says with a reluctant hiss.

She releases Zelda at last...but not without slashing her in the face in frustration before departing.

*Slash!*

Weakened horribly from the loss of blood, Zelda lies numbly and helplessly on the floor. She pushed it too far. No longer can she move. She can only watch as Ruto waves a hand over the ground before her, causing a portal resembling a ring of fire around a black hole to appear. She dreads to imagine what malignant deed her friend has been assigned to carry out next.

"(I'm so sorry, Ruto...)" she says mentally as the Zora disappears into the dark portal. "(I couldn't do anything to save you from that wizard's control. I failed you...)" She weakly glances around at the rest of the surrounding chaos. "(Just as I failed everyone else as the symbol of hope that I was supposed to represent for my kingdom...)"

Kazama seizes her with his telekinesis. "I don't know how you managed to live through all that, but since you are still alive and aware, I suppose it is only fair that the princess and birthday girl should be granted a front row seat to witness the final moments of her kingdom. And since we have already collected the sample of your blood that we needed, the real fun is just about to begin! So sit back and enjoy the show, Princess... It is all your own doing, after all!"

Levitated off the ground, Zelda is held afloat above the battle to helplessly watch in torment the turmoil that Kazama and his followers wreak upon her home and her people. Her wounds from Ruto still fresh and painful, she grows increasingly nauseous by the second from having lost so much blood.

Below her, the Arch Wizzrobes no longer concern themselves with using their elemental powers to block out interference. They now use their combined powers to unleash a full onslaught. Soldiers are rapidly struck down left and right in great abundance with a storm of elemental magic-attacks.

Zelda cannot bear to watch the unspeakable horrors unfolding before her. Pain, panic, and bloodshed surround her everywhere she turns. The only place to which she can avert her gaze is upwards to the two green-garbed men seated on the chandelier above her...

Wait_ WHAT..?

Her nauseous eyes look again in confusion to Link and Tingle, who indeed sit upon the chandelier looking back down at her. Now how in the world did they get up there?

"Oh, look!" Tingle excitedly exclaims to Link. "There's Princess Zelda! She's looking right at us!" He waves enthusiastically and calls out to her; "Hello, Princess! Tingle didn't know you could fly!"

Zelda knows not if what she is seeing is real or some odd hallucination caused by her blood loss. Nonetheless, she (awkwardly) waves back to be polite, though quickly winces in pain from her bleeding wounds.

"Do you see that?" Tingle says to Link with a nudge. "The princess is looking this way! She is totally checking Tingle out right now! Oh, what a chick-magnet I am!"

Link shakes his head at the odd little man's bizarre assumptions. Talk about delusional...

Does this guy seriously not even see or comprehend the extreme torment and suffering she is going through right now?!

"Oh, and happy birthday!" Tingle continues to call out to the princess. "You are 18 today, yes? A legal adult now? So you know... Tingle just so happens to be single and looking!" he finishes with a wink.

Nope. He does not comprehend it at all...

Link can only look away, feeling embarrassed on a number of levels. His gaze turned to the panicked crowds below, he soon jolts in alarm as he catches sight of one particular individual falling behind as she flees hopelessly for her life from a rampaging Darknut in pursuit;

His grandmother.

Thanks for reading! Here we have the first mentioning of the eponymous TriSpirit. It's only for a brief moment, but it will play a central part in the story soon enough.