Chapter 36: Realm of Shadows, Part 2
Link ran.
His boots came down on dirt and grass; the feet within them were aching terribly. His brown bag was snuggly around his shoulder, with the pouch against his right side as he ran. The left shoulder of his tunic had been ripped off, and a festering wound lay underneath, bright red and sensitive to touch. Its sting was open to the cool, night wind. His blonde hair was coming out from underneath his green hat, and his blue eyes were fixated ahead of him. His breath was deep and rhythmic as he sprinted. As he had been for around an hour.
There must have been another hour left until the sun rose, and he imagined the rest of the journey to the west coast usually lasted at least that long. But he had to get there sooner. Tatl was somewhere there, imprisoned within a glass bottle to spend the last remaining hour of her life. He had to get there before it was too late.
It was all too familiar of a situation. With Zelda, he had reached her bedroom door mere hours after she'd died. He had watched as Anju arced high into the air after the explosion at her feet, and had held her hand as she died. He had played the Song of Time moments too late and lost the Tatl he had come here with. Navi had her neck snapped by the dark sorcerer, before Link had time to realize what was happening. Now, he found himself running to save a loved one again.
He wasn't sure if he had ever run harder in his life, for such a long period of time. The exhausting string of events leading up to his moment should have left him incapable of even a jog, but somehow, he found the energy to keep going. Because he had to. Because if he didn't, Tatl would die.
I can't lose her, too. Please. If there really are gods watching over me, then please... help me. Help her. No more death. Please.
The sky was still red and purple, but the stars were beginning to vanish as it brightened with the approach of day. The moon shook all of Termina again, and Link stumbled forward before catching his balance. He couldn't slow down; stopping to take a break might mean the end.
The apocalypse was dangerously close. It would begin when the moon made contact with the ground, and it would end only seconds later. He imagined the world around him in flames, as the grass and trees became torches to bring forth Majora's wrath. With the land in ashes, the mask would be able to leave Termina. Finally free of the realm the ancient tribe had locked it away to, it would destroy Hyrule, before it could be buried under the ocean.
If everything the mask salesman had told him was true, then it appeared Hyrule was doomed no matter what happened – unless the mask could be controlled and its power used for good. Link didn't think that was possible; ever since his second night on top of the clock tower, the mask had been starting to control him.
No. Don't think about anything else. Tatl. That's all that matters right now.
He'd passed through the door surrounding Clock Town and the fountains spewing water a while ago and had since hit sand. He didn't think rolling would be quite as fast as in it; his goron form was heavier and potentially would sink much easier. He hadn't wasted the time to check, either.
Rock walls started on either side of him, with the land on his left and right inclining into a plateau. He was passing through the sand-floored gap in between them when he reached a tall white wall, running from end to end. It was pointed at the top and had a blue wave decorating it. Link grabbed onto the non-pointed end and climbed over it easily, landing on the other side and continuing to run.
Then, he found himself stumbling, unable to keep going. He was going to collapse if he didn't take a break, and so he stopped, leaning against the wall and panting. Link reached into his bag and pulled out what remained of the health potion, barely allowing himself to gulp in air as he swallowed the red liquid. It burned, but he felt energy returning to his body, masking the exhaustion plaguing his every muscle.
These aren't real people, Link. Stop pretending they're something they're not.
No, he thought stubbornly.
Your love is misplaced. A shadow doesn't have a heart.
He remembered the crescent moon, and the diagonal lines: the drawing on the wall. Love. You're wrong, Link thought to himself. She does have a heart. It didn't matter what she was; it didn't matter what Termina was. He and Tatl loved each other. If anything, that was what their adventure together had proven, no matter what the dark sorcerer said.
An earthquake knocked him off the wall, and he got sand in his tunic when he fell. Link quickly scurried back to his feet, hardly catching his breath. The health potion, however, let him push on, and so he did. He put the last bit remaining in his bag. Running... running... running... He might die of exhaustion before he ever reached Tatl. The sand absorbed some of the speed he could have gained otherwise, but this hindrance had to be overcome.
I can't give up. I promised her I would never leave her behind.
He was running for perhaps another half hour, only pausing when his body would not go any further. If his inner clock was correct, he only had around thirty minutes before they would all die. There was hardly a break in between the earthquakes now. Link refused to let his mind go back to his ocarina. He couldn't abandon her like the mask salesman wanted him to. But with every step he took, time slipped away, leaving that the only option.
Then he saw the shore.
The ocean appeared monstrous, with waves swirling and spraying hundreds of feet in the air far out across the dark blue depths. It was tumultuous; the body of water threatened to tear apart even the strongest ship that might try to brave its waters. The shore itself had receded quite a bit, as the waves were crashing out onto it to savagely eat away the land. The sky above it was clear and oddly colored. Night was almost gone as the sun rose somewhere in the canyons, but the purple and red colors had not quite vanished, as if the moon was permanently affecting the condition of the sky. It mixed with the orange and blue, remaining foreboding over the sea storm.
He looked left and right, but he didn't see her. The shore went in each direction for quite a while, curving out of sight both north and south. Out at the land's end, the remnants of what might have been a pier were left; whatever building or dock had been at the end was torn away by the raging ocean. The water touched the brightening horizon; the sunrise was less than half an hour away, he knew.
Link had no way of knowing whether Tatl lay to the left or right, and he realized his choice might be the deciding factor as to whether or not he saved her. No matter which way he chose, he would have to keep running in that direction, to make sure she wasn't anywhere along the shore. If he chose the wrong way, he wasn't sure he would have enough time to backtrack to try the other. Despite the severity of the consequences regarding his choice, there wasn't time to stand there and think about it.
Link ran left.
The sand was pulling his boots down as the ocean angrily roared on his right. He passed the roots of a palm tree, though the rest of the plant was missing. Eventually, the shore ran through a circular cave, and he came out the other side to see more sand and more beach.
Should I turn back?
No. He had to keep going. If he stopped and turned around, he would never know what laid further down, and that could be where his fairy was. Link continued his pace, with foam spraying his face as a massive wave crashed near him. The shore curved around to the left, and Link passed tall, black columns standing high out of the water. They appeared to be stepping stones leading to a cave, but they were bombarded by constant blasts of water that made traversing them impossible.
Link kept going.
He followed the curve of the shore for several minutes, and then he saw where it ended.
The sandy path diverged from the shore, which ended at a rocky wall. The path, instead, cut further back inland, going on for a bit before hitting a massive wall. The wall towered high for about two hundred feet, and the top quarter of it was made entirely of wood and tightly wedged boulders. The dam seemed secure, as all water behind it was kept from spilling out into a sandy trench, which lead from the wall's bottom all the way back out to the ocean.
Tatl was sitting in her bottle, in the middle of the trench.
The Skull Kid was floating in the air beside her.
The masked imp stared out at the catastrophic ocean of Great Bay. Its true eyes were hidden behind those of Majora. Link stopped running as soon as he came around the rocky lip blocking the scene from his view. A boulder sloping upward still separated him from being spotted by them, but Link didn't even take a moment to hide behind it.
He ran out to stand before the imp, who floated in between him and his lost friend. The Skull Kid looked over his shoulder to find the boy standing far below. Tatl's eyes soon found him as well, floating up within her bottle ecstatically.
After all this time, there was only a small stretch of sand separating them. And the imp.
The Skull Kid merely stared down at Link with the mask's bright orange orbs. The boy looked back at him with angry blue ones. The ocean swirled menacingly in the distance as the night dwindled into day.
"I'm here for Tatl." Link spoke loudly and threateningly.
The Skull Kid didn't respond.
"I'm not playing games anymore. Let me walk away with her, and we can go our separate ways."
Still, nothing.
Link drew his bow, notching an arrow and aiming it at the Skull Kid. He remained floating high above the sand, separating him from his fairy. There was no time to waste. Minutes. There were only minutes left.
"Please. No one has to die." The ocean continued splashing about madly, despite the clear skies above it. The earth shook. "If you don't move, I'm going to shoot you." Thirty seconds later, the ground was still shaking and Link still had his bow notched. "I'm not going to tell you again." The ground stopped shaking. Please. Just let this work.
Link released the string.
The Skull Kid gracefully spun out of the way, rising his arm to create a ball of purple fire in his place. The arrow flew through it instead, coming out of the other side flaming and violet. Link's eyes widened when he saw where it was headed: the dam. His own arrow stuck through a wooden portion right in the center of it, but it was the Skull Kid's fire that began to spread across. His eyes then went down to the trench, which Tatl was directly in the middle of.
"No!" He ran for his fairy, no longer paying attention to the imp. Tatl stared at him with wide eyes as he ran for her, unable to do anything but watch.
The ground exploded at his feet before he'd hardly taken two steps. As he arced into the air, he remembered Anju doing the same, except sand surrounded him instead of stone. Link landed feet from the sloped boulder he'd come out from behind, covered in sand with red in his vision. Blood dotted the ground, and his stomach was racked with pain. Everything was blurred as he lifted his head to see his bow just in front of him. The string had snapped. Red mangled flesh appeared where skin on his lower torso had been, with a hole in the green cloth.
Link was unable to stumble to his feet as he saw the Skull Kid flying towards him. The pain was too intense, and so he pulled out the health potion and drank the last of it. He got to his feet, as the wound's debilitating effects were kept at bay.
The Skull Kid was already in front of him, and so Link threw the empty bottle at the imp and pulled out his shield. The Skull Kid tossed the bottle aside with the back of his hand, bringing it back down with dark fire. It cut through the air to strike the piece of metal Link was using to defend himself, with fire rippling off the surface and curling into the air like snakes. He had hardly gotten to his feet, but managed to step backwards before the force of the attack could push him over. Heat filled the air, and the boy found it hard to breathe. He had no stamina left... he was wounded... the air around him was baking...
As soon as the fire stopped, Link lashed out from behind his shield with the Gilded sword. His stomach screamed out in protest, but the potion was helping him overcome the pain.
The imp dodged the sword, slamming his fist into the ground to send sand in all directions. Some got in Link's face, but he was only able to blink for a moment, as a ring of fire appeared around the imp and expanded. The boy brought his shield up while still struggling to overcome the bits of sand. The circular line of fire hit him to knock him over again.
Now behind the sloped boulder, Link quickly got to his feet, as the Skull Kid flew from the cloud of sand he'd created. The pain. Though the health potion was keeping him going, the physical exertion wasn't helping.
The Skull Kid sent another ball of fire at him, but Link was now too far away to use his sword. The boy eyed the slope and rolled out of the way of the dark magic in its direction, while sliding his sword away. He pulled the goron mask out as he ran towards the boulder. The Skull Kid flew to be at its other end, sending another sphere of fire his way.
But Link had suddenly become a goron. The imp's eyes widened when the boy was suddenly curled into himself, spinning towards the sloped boulder and gliding across its surface. The Skull Kid was barely able to overcome his shock to avoid Link's hard rock body rolling into the air after him. Link, upon missing, slammed his body into the ground to perform a goron pound, sending upward a much larger sand cloud than the Skull Kid had.
The sand was sent straight into the air in a jet stream, hitting the imp and crashing him into the ground. The Skull Kid wiped the sand from his mask when a golden sword broke through the cloud of dirt. He sidestepped it; the blade swiped an inch from the surface of Majora.
Link, once again human, did not relent. He swung his sword time and time again, with the Skull Kid sidestepping each one but slowly losing his footing.
Link's eyes were blue and angry, yelling each time he swiped his sword. He was physically exhausted. His blood had been spilt. He was masking a grievous injury's effects with a potion. The dam separating Tatl from being bombarded by gallons of water was burning. The moon was less than fifteen minutes away from crushing Termina. Link swung his sword mercilessly, striking to kill.
The Skull Kid went to fly out of the cloud, but Link swung at his head next, taking a step closer each time the imp went back. He wasn't giving his masked enemy a moment to recuperate, to cast a spell.
The imp barely dodged the swing that went over his head, but Link exposed himself the moment he swung his bade that high.
The Skull Kid's eyes narrowed from behind Majora's Mask, finally regaining the instant he'd been waiting for. Enough is enough, the imp thought.
He shot out his hand before Link had time to bring his sword down. The Skull Kid's hand wrapped around Link's wrist, twisting it back. The boy screamed in pain, already swore from being twisted by the mask salesman. The Gilded sword fell from his hand, into the sand and by his side. Link tried to bring over his right fist into the Skull Kid's face, but the imp caught it with his other hand. The imp twisted Link's left arm around his back, shoving him forward as the boy screamed out in pain.
They were face to face, with Majora's orange orbs staring into his shining blue eyes.
"You have something that's mine." The Skull Kid then placed his hand on Link's chest, directly over the scar. Suddenly, the boy felt unbelievable pain there. The soreness of the wound was now returning, as if the bruise was once again revitalized and fresh. Something seemed to be stirring within the scar, at the touch of the imp's hand.
Link's eyes turned bright purple, and suddenly, he was looking at himself through the Skull Kid. The imp kept his hand in place, but the boy appeared incapable of doing anything. Then, the masked sorcerer slowly drew his hand away from his chest, bringing something with it. The green tunic in that area melted away, revealing what appeared to be a thick, purple substance. It was extracted from within the scar, pulled out back towards the imp.
The pain. The pain was worse than the pain in his wound and tired legs, arms, and feet combined.
The pure concentration of dark magic removed from Link began to wrap itself around the Skull Kid's fingers, returning to its master. The boy's eyes were still purple, and he was still seeing himself from the imp. But he still felt his own pain, and wished he could turn away from watching his own agony. He watched as the blonde in his hair turned white, with the loss of color spreading from his roots out to his tips. His tunic was beginning to lose color too, turning gray.
Then, something went wrong.
The dark magic had only begun to snake down the Skull Kid's hand before the imp screamed out in pain. And that pain Link felt, too, in addition to his own. The magic was burning the Skull Kid's hand unexpectedly, and his arm trembled terribly. Then, Link felt three consciousnesses. His own, the imp's, and the mask's.
Whatever had happened had awakened its state of mind, too, and at that moment, the world was chaos. The mask was shocked, surprised, angry, and hurt. Somehow, the magic in Link's scar had been tampered with. The boy had done something to it, and it could not be returned to its master.
This magic is no longer my own.
The Skull Kid released Link, letting go of his chest.
Link returned to his own head, stumbling backward onto the sand. The color in his hair and tunic returned, and his eyes were blue again. The imp fell backward just across from him, panting and near fainting. The purple substance extracted from Link's chest fell to the sand in between them.
Link began getting to his feet first, breathing in and out heavily. His mind was still swimming as his thoughts came back to him, looking up to the Skull Kid still lying there, with the dark magic that had burnt him in between. Now is my chance.
Link walked to his sword lying just beside the exposed dark magic. He would pick it up and slay the imp before he could stand.
The ground shook. Link heard running water.
No.
He spun around. The wood had been burnt away, and the rocks hadn't been able to hold back the water forever. Small streams had poked out from in between, but, at that moment, an explosion of water sent wood and rocks raining down. The wave of water was massive, crashing down into the trench and flowing forcefully towards the fairy in her bottle. She stared at it with wide, frightened eyes, but could do nothing to move.
"TATL!"
Link sprinted. All pain was forgotten as he returned his sword to his scabbard and threw his bag from his shoulder, blind and in full panic as he ran for Tatl. The water was rushing towards her, but he wasn't sure he was running fast enough. It was torrential, almost as aggressive as the ocean. It swished and foamed madly to refill the dry seabed to reconnect with the ocean, with the heavy waterfall now in place of the dam.
The Skull Kid, who was finally returning to his senses, watched Link challenging the speed of the water to run for Tatl. His eyes then went to the thick, purple liquid. It was his magic. It should have come back to him. It should not have burnt him. The boy had used it to shoot lightning at him, so he had needed to take it back. But for some reason, he couldn't.
The imp ripped off part of his right sleeve, flying up to the dark magic and wrapping it around the substance, so his fingers wouldn't touch it. The Skull Kid then flew away, carrying it off with him.
There was a continuous earthquake as Link ran, but he kept his footing. His eyes looked away from the bottle to the monstrous stream of water. There were over a dozen boulders in it, all forcefully being swept down the trench to fall upon everything in its path.
Link jumped into the trench of dirt and sand and ran for the bottle only steps away from him. He felt the foam of the approaching river on his face. Tatl's eyes were shining with fear as she looked up at Link.
But it was too late.
Link was swept off his feet as soon as the water hit him and his fairy. He spun around madly, foam and water everywhere. He couldn't see the bottle, but saw a massive rock narrowly miss him. He bounced down into the riverbed as the water tossed him, landing forcefully on his right shoulder. An explosion of fresh pain followed. He continued to be tossed around like a rag doll, helpless to challenge the will of the river that had been released.
The spinning stopped when the trench ended. He was pushed back into the raging ocean, with his spinning slowing as the force of the stream ceased. He quickly tried to straighten himself. His right shoulder hurt now as he steadied himself in the water to look back at the riverbed he'd been shot out of.
The boulders had collected right at the mouth of the trench, with all of it underwater. There were at least twenty of them, going from the bed of the ocean all the way up to the mouth the water had rushed out on. It turned out the ocean floor was several feet below that of the shore, allowing the rocks to collect and pile on one another the entire vertical length. A trail of blood went from the boulders out to Link, and it went down to the injury on his stomach, ending there.
He quickly swam to the surface, though each stride of his right arm was more painful than the last. He gulped in air as soon as the sky was in view.
The ground was still shaking. This earthquake wasn't ending.
He looked at the clock tower, barely visible from above the rock walls of Great Bay. The moon appeared to be on top of it, and the tower was tilted terribly in one direction, beginning to fall over. A ball of fire had appeared around the giant rock in its entirety.
Link's mind was blind in panic as he looked around himself at the roaring waves of the ocean. Back on the shore, the once empty trench was now a river. The waterfall where the dam had been was now falling lightly.
"TATL!" Link screamed. It was hard to hear even himself from over the sound of the ocean, earthquake, and approaching moon. His shoulder and stomach hurt terribly as he treaded water. "TATL!"
Then, his mind went to the piles of rocks that had collected underwater against the shore's wall.
No...
He took a massive gulp of air, diving under the water and swimming towards the boulders. He began searching them hectically, trying to find the bottle, her body, a piece of glass... anything to confirm whether or not she'd survived. But there was no trace.
The collection of boulders ran several feet up until it hit the surface of the water, and Link swam up and down them trying to find a sign of her. There were gaps in the boulders here and there, and he tried tugging on a few, but then he began to run out of air.
Link swam to the surface and took in another breath. A wave splashed him in the face and caused him to spit out water. The salt stung his wounds. The world was still shaking madly; he didn't want to think about how much time was left. The ball of fire surrounding the moon soon obscured the rock with a face from view.
Link dove back under the water, searching the boulders up and down.
And then he saw a bright, white light.
Link's mind jumped with excitement, and he swam back to see what it was.
The boulders had formed a small opening, too small for Link to fit through. Looking through it, however, the large, dark rocks had made a little cave, and within it sat Tatl. She was in her bottle, the bottom of which was wedged tightly between two rocks. She slammed her body into the glass, trying to break it... but she appeared unable to.
She was trapped, in this newly formed underwater cave. The glass of her bottle was still intact and keeping the water out. Link remained floating there for a moment, before he tried to squeeze himself through. But he couldn't fit.
No. No. No.
Tatl then noticed him. There were merely feet separating them, and they could see one another. But the boulders, bottle, and water stopped them from being reunited. Link tugged and pulled at the boulders making the entrance to the tiny cave, to try and widen it, but the rocks were heavy, tightly wedged, and his shoulder hurt too much.
A cloud of red drifted in front of his face, too, as blood flowed up from his stomach. He ran out of breath, and didn't even stop to catch his strength as he swam up to the surface. He took in another gulp of air, not even looking at the massive ball of fire that was less than five minutes from making contact with the ground. It was now halfway down the length of where the clock tower had once stood.
Link was once again at the mouth of the cave, pulling at the rocks with all his might. He put every ounce of remaining strength into his hands, but it wasn't enough. His shoulder felt as if it were filled with hundreds of needles, all piercing deep within the muscle and bone. Please... please...
In his madness to save the fairy, though, he hadn't noticed something.
Tatl was flying around madly in the bottle, but he realized for the first time that she wasn't trying to get out. She was trying to get his attention. The water and distance separating them prevented her voice form reaching him, but eventually, Link realized what she was doing.
He stopped, slowly letting go of the boulders and floating just in front of the small cave, looking inside at his fairy.
Tatl calmed once she saw that she had his attention, breathing in and out heavily. The two looked at one another from across the small distance, merely taking in the other. Link floated in place, as she levitated within her bottle. The angry ocean's crashes were audible, and the ball of fire that surrounded the moon was muffled. The world still shook.
Link, staring at Tatl, realized why she had gotten his attention. She's trying to say good-bye. But they weren't able to hear one another. Was this long look into one another's eyes all they had left?
But that wasn't the case, for he saw Tatl doing something else. She took her finger and slowly dragged it along the surface inside of her bottle. It had fogged there, and Link realized she was drawing something. Her finger curved to bring down one diagonal line, and then another one next to it. She then brought it around to bring a crescent moon through them, to complete the symbol.
Love.
She turned away from it, to look back at Link.
They stared at one another, and the boy didn't want to go. He didn't want to leave; he wanted to stay there forever, to never tear his eyes away from hers. Because he knew as soon as he did, he would never be able to look at them again. Then they would be dead, and his last friend would be gone.
The crescent moon and the two lines: love. He felt his eyes watering as he hovered in place under the ocean.
I love you, too.
Turning away from her was the hardest thing he had ever done in his life. His eyes found the waterline, and he swam towards it. His head broke the surface of the water, but he hardly made a noise as he gulped in air. Link solemnly swam back to the shore; he barely felt the tears as he approached the sand.
The earthquake hadn't ended as he pulled himself onto the shore, collapsing just next to the newly formed river. The sand clung in clumps to his body and tunic as he climbed to pull his feet out of the water.
He cried silently, with tears spilling over his cheeks as he pulled himself into a sitting position. Link wrapped his hands around his knees, staring out at the water as Termina shook violently. The sky was aflame.
"Tatl," Link said strangely, eying the spot underwater where she remained alone. His voice felt empty as his head rang; his hands trembled as he held his knees. The pain in his stomach was momentarily forgotten.
"I wish I could save you," Link said to himself. It was a whimper, but no one was there to hear him. "I wish I could save you, Tatl, but I can't."
Link looked out at the ocean as the last of his tears fell. He sniffled once, twice, but he was staring blankly ahead of him. Link slowly and stiffly got to his feet. He felt half-dead as he walked over to his bag and put it gently over his shoulders.
The boy went to stand at the shore. His cheeks were tear-stained and his eyes were red as he pulled his ocarina from inside of the protective pocket on his belt. Link turned it over in his hand, staring at it forebodingly. The black mark was still burnt into it.
Had the mask salesman won? When he played the song, would he be a shadow, a servant to someone he had slain underneath the tower? His hand shook as he held the ocarina, but he knew what he had to do.
If he waited any longer, the shaking of the ground would knock him off his feet. A rock wall near him crumbled, falling down into the sand, already torn from the rest of the wall by the moon's force.
I'm sorry.
Link trembled as he put the ocarina to his lips, closing his eyes. One more tear rolled out from behind his eyelids as he did. All he had to do was breathe life into it, and run his fingers across the holes. Then he could live, and find a way to stop Majora.
No.
Link opened his eyes, looking into the sky now as dark as if it were the middle of the night.
No.
He put his ocarina back into his pocket. His face was a confusing mixture of anger, grief, sadness, and determination.
I won't.
He remembered how he had been lying near death on top of the clock tower, just after the Skull Kid had struck him with lightning. Tatl had come to be beside him, and Link had told her to fly away, above the moon so she could save herself. No, Link; I can't do that... when are you going to get it through your head that I'm not leaving you?
I won't leave you either, Link thought.
The boy ran towards the shore, jumping back into the water as the moon continued its plunge. It had torn Clock Town's city walls down into the plaza long ago, and was now only feet away from hitting the very center.
Link swam towards the boulders quickly, with his bag floating behind him as he propelled forward through the water. The boy approached the small cave, finding Tatl lying sadly at the bottom of her bottle. The symbol was already fading. She looked up when she saw him out of the corner of her eye; he was tugging furiously at the boulders again.
Her wings sprung out erectly, flying into the bottle madly to try and get his attention. Link did not heed her, ignoring her as he pulled as hard as he could. He hardly felt the pain in his shoulder anymore, and ignored the small amounts of blood that floated past him as it came from his stomach. Tatl slammed into the walls of her bottle furiously, trying to get his attention to tell him to leave, to tell him that it was too late, to tell him to save himself.
Link wouldn't listen.
He stubbornly tried to ignore his lungs as he ran out of air, but the rocks were no closer to being dislodged, hardly stirring at the ferocious earthquake. Eventually, the urge was too great, and Link swam back to the surface. Tatl calmed when she saw he'd left.
When Link took in a breath, he could taste the fire. The world was hot, and there was only blinding light where the moon and Clock Town had been. He frantically took another breath and dove back into the water. The world was shaking so crazily that his head ached and his stomach churned.
Link returned to the small cave, to once again tug at the boulders separating him from Tatl. It was futile; they would not budge.
"LINK! GO! LINK!" But he couldn't hear her, and she cried now when she realized it was no use. Her face slid down against the surface of the bottle when she knew all was lost.
Link gave one final tug, and then he heard the most deafening boom he had ever heard in his life. It was resonate, finite, and powerful. It sickeningly echoed all across the land, one last sound before the world turned to fire. It was the clock striking zero, the last grain of sand filtering through to the other side of the hourglass. It meant that time was up.
Link's mind was blank with panic as he slowly let go over the boulder, staring at Tatl in the silence that followed. It only lasted an instant. The next second, there was a louder noise, and the shaking was wilder than before. The water did nothing to muffle it; it sounded like a terrifying machine was bellowing right towards him, roaring deafeningly and with unbelievable force. There was a flash of light and heat, an explosion whose magnitude had never been known before.
The boulders leapt forward at Link, and suddenly he was pushed backward. He was spinning, and his vision was chaos. He felt the water around him boiling, surrounded by blinding light as he flew through the air.
Then he knew no more.