Part 38: Shadows Shall Consume…
Link is apprehensive as they near Shadow's cave. The first time he ran in without thinking, this time they were going in and hopefully going to stop the darkness within Shadow. Link desperately hoped this would be the case, the last thing he wants to do is to have to go back and tell Saria that he failed.
They had discussed the plan on the ride back to the cave, Link would do his best to try and get Zak to listen to him, and if that did not work, Zelda would use her stealth skills she learned as Sheik and lie in wait for the opportune moment to use her light powers on Zak. Zelda thought that because the light arrow worked on Link's wounds that the shadow within Zak could be driven out by her light magic. Zelda was confident that the shadow being could be eradicated from Zak, while Link was uncertain. He had seen the corruption that had happened in the year he and his brother had spent with the Kokiri, if the shadow kept on corrupting Zak at that rate, he probably is far too gone to be brought back; the light magic would more likely kill the shadow and Zak along with it.
Link was nervous, even if the shadow was gone, what would Zak be like? Could he forgive his brother for what he had done under the influence of the shadow? What would happen to his brother after getting rid of the shadow that had been with him for so many years? Would he truly be free from the shadow? Or would the shadow have sunk its teeth into his soul by now, slowly making Zak himself evil even without the shadow's presence.
"Sweetheart, are you ok?" Zelda asks quietly, noticing Epona tense up in response to Link's emotions. Link had also unknowingly tightened his grip on Zelda's stomach as well, also cluing Zelda that something was wrong. As she looked back, she saw his forced smile.
"Yea, I am fine."
"Link…" she said as she gave him a stern, but worried look. "Tell me what is wrong."
Link paused for a moment then said.
"I just am not sure if this is a good idea… What if Zak is…"
"What if Zak is what?" Zelda asked. "He is good inside. I have seen it. He will be ok as long as we get rid of the shadow."
Zelda gently rubbed his leg to try and comfort him.
Link smiled at little, glad that Zelda was here and brought her cheerfulness to a dreary situation. Link wrapped his arms tightly around her.
"I am glad you are here." He whispered softly as he gives her a kiss on her neck.
"I love you."
Zelda smiled brightly as she kissed Link on the forehead.
"Are you ready to go in?" she asked.
"As ready as I will ever be."
Zelda gracefully hopped off Epona, and gives Link a quick kiss.
"Do not worry; I am quite good at stealth. He will not see me until I want to be seen. You just have to do is try and reason with the Zak within him and try to reconcile with him. If that does not work, then you have me backing you up." Zelda says as she pulls her hair back and brings the hair into a long beautiful braid.
Link looks at her, admiring her grace and her tenacity. She was always willing to help and to fight to make sure others are free.
Zelda notices Link staring and asks, "Why are you staring at me?"
Link smiles widely as he shakes his head, she does not realize how beautiful inside and out she is to him.
"You are so beautiful!" He says as he pulls her close.
"Please be careful in there." He whispered. "I do not want to lose you."
"Of course." She said as she slyly smiled and vanished.
Link shakes his head… he will never understand how she can disappear into thin air. He pats Epona, giving her a command to wait until he or Zelda gives the signal. Link then pulls his sword from its sheath and puts it back again just to make sure it was ready if he needed it. Slowly he entered Zak's cave…
This time he looked more closely at all of his surroundings. Noting little small things and cataloging them in case there was need of them. He silently cursed himself for rushing in without thinking last time. He should know better. There could have been traps or anything waiting for him, but he charged in the cave without a second thought. He consoled himself with the fact that at least this time he was doing things better, thinking before acting.
He walked into the main area and was surprised by what he saw. Zak was not sitting normally or sleeping, he was chained to the same place Zelda was not too long ago. He looked battered and bruised, with a bandage over his left arm and his right arm clearly dislocated. Zak almost looked lifeless where he was, very pale and blank look in his eyes. Link also saw something else flash past, a wisp of smoke? He looked closer and realized that it was not smoke… but a shadowy figure. This shadowy figure loomed over Zak and seemed to be doing something to his back.
"Zak?" Link asked hesitantly.
Zak's head slowly lifted as you could barely see the green in his eyes. The part of the eye that was normally white was completely black.
"Link…" Zak said slowly with a hoarse voice, as if speaking was almost too taxing for him.
"I knew you would come… I know Zelda wants to save me… but please… kill me… before he takes my soul for himself…" Zak pleads.
"Take your soul? Zak… can you not fight it? Please? I told Saria I would try and bring you back…" Link asks, saddened to see Zak in this state.
All of this caused by Ganon… by the stupid Triforce of Courage… He looks at the symbol still on his left hand and clenches his fists.
"This stupid Triforce… if I had not had it… Ganon would not have come after us… and you would not be possessed by shadows…" He says with disgust seething from his body.
"Do not say that…" Zak said. "Do not give the shadow reason to turn his eye toward you…"
The green in Zak's eyes is getting smaller… and smaller…
"I fought and lost… my brother… I am now suffering the consequences of losing…" Zak says right before a screams shudders from his throat.
Link watches in horror as he sees the shadow's shape grow more distinct.
The shadow chuckles, a gruesome harsh voice came from the shadow.
"So this is the big Hero… unable to save his own brother… pity… he held you in such high regard."
His eyes are cloudy white like Zelda described, but then Link sees a glimpse of Zak's green eyes in the deepest realms of the cloudy eyes.
"He will soon cease to exist… are you going to just stand by? Why not call upon your Goddess to help you? Or is she as useless as I think she is? She just leaves you to do all the hard work. Say… if you do not want your Triforce piece, you could always give it to me… if you did, I would save your brother and he would be free to live out his life. All you have to do is denounce the Goddess who favors you… that is all…"
Link looks at the symbol once again. He in his hatred of the Goddess who put him in this situation considers doing as the shadow says. After all… what can the shadow do with just a third of the full Triforce?
"No Link… He is a God of Darkness… if you give him your Triforce piece he will be able to…" Zak starts choking.
The shadow has his hands wrapped around Zak's neck, silencing him.
"Choose Hero… your Triforce piece? Or your brother? You can only keep one." The shadow demands.
Link's expression hardens. He is going to try and kill this shadow… He pulls out his sword and takes a slash at the shadow… the shadow dissipates. The seemingly solid figure was like mist, the sword cutting through it, but the blade doing nothing but slicing through air. Luckily, Link's action made the shadow remove his hands from Zak's throat.
Zak gasps for breath.
"He will be able to kill the Goddess Farore if you give him your Triforce." Zak quickly says while he can speak.
The shadow reforms again in front of Link and sends a charged shadow shockwave at him. Link tumbles into darkness…
Zelda had been quietly watching the events with horror. This shadow was much stronger than before. He seemed to be leeching the very life from Zak. When Link cursed the Goddess Farore, Zelda was stunned… he had never heard Link utter anything of the sort about the gift he had been granted.
She had never considered Link thought of the Triforce as a burden… though maybe it was because of memories he newly acquired of his childhood. She had no idea what all happened in those new memories from the past. She was distracted in thought until she saw Link pull out his sword and tried to slash the shadow. The shadow dematerialized and reappeared after the slice was finished. Before Zelda could do anything, a shadow ball grew in his hands as he flung it at Link, knocking him back. She expected to see him get up right away, but to her dismay, he continued to lie on the ground. Zelda worried if Link would be ok, but she needed to do her job. Since the shadow was distracted, she decided to try and hit Zak with light energy and see if that will get rid of the shadow and save Zak. Light flashes out of her hands as it hits Zak in the chest.
Zak screams.