The Eternal Legend
Chapter Forty-Nine: Seeking Redemption
The crown of Death Mountain bubbled and spewed, churning its fiery rocks into the air, leaving them to fall to the earth far below, igniting the numerous pathways that lead up its rocky slopes. Viscous rivers of molten fire lazily made their way down the sides of the tall mount, slowly burning a path of destruction before them. Dancing in those blazes were demons of heat, firefiends.
They stood at five feet with hunched humanoid forms. Fire was their skin and lava their innards, as they danced upon the rivers of magma with impish cackles. The heat bellowing from the open wound at Death Mountain's top was cascading down its sides in great gusts of smoke and shimmering air. Long before this day anything living on those glowing and desecrated rises was now dead and shriveled.
It was this scene that groups of Gorons made their way upward against the hellish conditions, slowly and carefully avoiding the trails of lava and dancing firefiends. A few groups had already succumb to those dangers, but still the others made their inexorable march to the top.
Among each of the packs of Gorons were two laden down with large bags about their person, the combined weight being enough for the large rockmen to bend under it. The others were careful to keep the heat from them, and even more wary of any stray sparks alighting onto the bulging bags. Every so oft a dull thunder could be heard from a place on the mountain, and the surviving groups would glance in its direction for a moment before resuming their ascent.
As the day wore on fewer and fewer groups could be seen moving. Many of the remaining mourned the ones lost to either the fire or the explosions. At two hours past the sun's apex the groups converged at five points some thousand meters from the mountain's gaping maul, where flew flaming rocks, choking clouds, and dust.
At the five points the ones bearing the packs huddled together while the others formed a ring around them. For long minutes the packs were carefully unloaded and placed onto the ground. The many strings were tied together then laid aside, the explosive experts realizing in this environment they would not need to light the fuses. Among one pack a graying leader suddenly jerked away and cried aloud: "It's done! Down! Down! Down!"
His tension and anxiety finally released after holding it in since dawn. Then, haste would have cost him his life, but now the deed was done; trepidation fueled his blood and carried his rolling bulk away from the summit.
Within fifteen minutes five large groups of terrified rockmen plunged down the slopes ignoring all pains that caught them. The bundles of bombs behind them were far more life threatening than rolling over rivers of lava or sustaining strikes from firefiends. It was when they were a third way down the slopes and spinning madly that the entire mountain and surrounding area shuddered violently.
Link looked to sky and saw the large silhouette of Death Mountain, waiting and watching for the results. The sun shone upon his party as they stood on the field and waited. Behind him was Chan and Eric, their mouths now thankfully closed. They had taken a penchant to arguing over inane details, such as the placement of Eric's baldric. Today Link's stoic attitude had almost cracked under their contrite opinions.
To his left and right were Malon and Veran, both equally silent, mirroring his own demeanor. He understood their minds at the moment. They were fearful and tense, neither having faced a demon before. He wished Chan and Eric shared such restraints; they believed that since they had faced it once and won before, then they could do so again with as much ease. Link fought the urge to shake his head. Bjorn would be much stronger at full strength.
Link's eyes saw five flashes of light before the sound over took him, loud booms echoing across the field of grass. The ground trembling came next and all five figures shifted their weight between their legs to remain standing.
In a moment it was all over and the air felt much hotter. The cap of Death Mountain had changed as well. Gone was the unbroken wall of rock. In its place were jagged edges of gaping holes where smoke poured out. Molten rivers surged from the fissures and cracks now adorning the incline, and those surfaces now appeared black and ominous from the blasts. Death Mountain now truly resembled its name.
Smoke, dust, and debris came crying from the enlarged and sundered hole, releasing the pent-up heat into the air; and with the lessening heat, so went the potency of Bjorn's strength.
Link turned his head to face Eric. There was a wooden flute clasped in his gloved hands. "You have the song memorized?" A pause. "Perfectly?"
Eric sighed in exasperation. "I'll play again if you'd like, brother dear." He smiled before he raised the instrument to his mouth and began to play.
Irritation flashed through Link as he barked out a command. "He's warping! Everyone follow." There were gasps and squawks of surprise before four more melodies filled the air. As Eric's faded a red light flashed and whisked him away. Moments later four more came and spelled the Knights towards the broken mountain's inner sanctum.
The heat was blazing hot but dropping as an ocean of lava spilled through the massive gouges caused by the bombs. Where once towering walls of rock lit by red fires were, now instead were crumpling remnants and a small amount of sunlight filtering through the smoke.
Five bodies appeared in this scene, weapons drawn and a voice calling aloud. "If we fail against this demon I promise to kill you!" Link roared, as his eyes burned from the gases fuming from the magma.
A laugh was how he was responded, following by a hacking cough. "Funny, by then I'd imagine I'd already be dead!"
Silence fell when they realized that there would be no demon to greet them. Link looked about, adjusting his eyesight the best he could to the smoke. Chan called a suggestion. "To the temple, Darunia may know where he's at?"
Four pairs of feet followed Chan as he led them through the heat and towards the entrance to the Fire Temple. They descended with Link dropping last. Into the main forum did they appear, but before entering Link whispered a warning. "Tilkat overwhelmed Ruto and the same may have befallen the Fire Sage. We may be marching to face Bjorn." They tensed and moved forward into the room, the distant fiery torches casting dancing shadows into the corners of the atrium. They flickered and Link led, feeling an unease settle into his gut as he was confronted by Darunia's back.
His massive frame was standing in the room's center, his feet poised before the tip of the stairs. His hammer hung easily from his metal belt. His giant rocky arms were relaxed at his sides.
Link took a step forward, Master Sword readied. He suspected something was amiss, he now only needed proof. "Darunia?" He called.
A release of air and Darunia's shoulders sank. The tall rockman slowly turned to reveal two obsidian eyes glimmering from the light of the room. "You've come—" Were the only words he could speak before Link sprang forward and landed atop the Goron's shoulders, the point of his sword already coming down into the Sage of Fire's face.
Link heard movement and voices of shock behind him but the only thing in his mind was ending this being at all costs, before it could do more damage; spread more harm. He saw his point being driven downward, his coiled muscles slowly releasing as he put their strength into his attack. He hoped it would be enough power to pierce the rocky exterior.
It was enough, but Darunia flinched and shifted his bulk, throwing off Link's aim. Instead, the point slid into a large shoulder, creating a horrible sound that echoed in the high-ceilinged room. Reacting quickly he moved his feet but another shift almost threw him. He barely kept atop the rocky figure that was now cursing his name aloud.
Link pulled his sword free and realigned it, only to feel a hand grab his neck. He moved and avoided the grasp. He kicked off the giant's back and rolled away as he felt a hammer strike where he had landed. The room trembled with the blow and Link came up with his sword drawn, his body poised on the balls of his feet.
Darunia quickly picked the hammer up and hefted it between his hands. "I don't—"
Link was at him again, his blade's edge running along Darunia's thick arm, sparks flying from the contact. Darunia shouldered Link with his bulk, but the warrior rolled with it and fell to his back. As Link was on the ground Darunia tried to bring his feet down atop the agile Hero.
Link easily squirmed out of the way, as he felt the ground shake with each pounding. It was after the third try that he heard Darunia's words. "—fight." Stomp. "You." Stomp. "Kill." Stomp. "Them." Stomp.
Link deftly shifted his waist to avoid the last attempt to render him senseless, and used that movement's momentum to thrust his sword upward into the rockman's belly. He withdrew with some difficulty.
He was on his feet in a second, and he rolled backwards.
Darunia's roar rocked the room and he swung wildly trying to connect anywhere on Link's body. Link danced away and spun, nearly having his left shoulder shattered. It was then he saw the fate of his comrades and Darunia's words now made sense.
Somehow, the floor had almost swallowed them, as if the rock had turned liquid and had solidified after they had begun to sink in. Each was swallowed to the chest, and from their expressions they were in pain.
Link cast a look to the Goron and waited, tense, seeing the damage his attacks had made. Red liquid was bleeding from the stab wounds, the heat of it adding steam to the air. Darunia's breathing filled the air like a blacksmith's bellows. His once cold black eyes now a shimmering red. "I'll kill them." He snarled and in effect Link heard Eric cry out. Only a grunt escaped the others' lips.
Link stood. "I'll still end you, regardless."
"Wait!" For a moment those eyes flashed.
It was the desperation in that word that halted Link's hand. He then realized the demon possessing Darunia had wanted something, and was holding his companion's lives as a bargaining chip. "What do you want?" He asked, his nerves screaming for him to release the tension humming in his every muscle.
"To talk." Darunia took a shuddering breath and the intensity of his eyes cooled. "Just to talk."
A long moment of silence stretched between them as his eyes again became the cold black of obsidian.
Link still did not relax, nor lower his guard. "What have we to talk about?"
"The Legend." He said cryptically. "This farce that has become my reality."
Trust. That was the word Link had rolling about in his mind. Should he trust this demon, this monster that had killed thousands if not millions over the years? "I don't trust you, or this." He said plainly, his body leaning in ready to spring.
"I'll kill them, I promise!"
"They're ready to die." Link said, his mind already planning where to strike to slow the demon's awesome swings.
Darunia looked angry now, the black eyes warming. He waved his hand and four grunts were heard. "How about now?"
Link refused to tear his eyes from the demon. "Are you freed?" He called.
"Yes!" Came Eric's heated response. Link heard the noises of movement and already knew the man was rushing forward to attack the demon. In that moment Link took a leap of faith and reacted. He spun around and hurled himself into his double, Master Sword spinning to knock Eric's blades from his hands. A moment later the blonde haired reckless man was on the ground nursing a leg injury where Link had plunged his weapon; his twin blades clattering as they landed.
He got in Eric's face, his blue eyes spearing Eric's own. "I lead, you follow. Or I kill you." He whispered harshly. "I've learned to not trust my face."
He walked away and saw Chan come to his friend's side. Link walked forward and noted Darunia had not moved at all. Link stood there, slowly and deliberately sheathing his weapon. The giant of a Goron relaxed and belted his own. The wounds he bore upon his self now only seeped out a little of the hot liquid blood.
Link spoke first. "Now we may talk." The hero knew neither Malon or Veran would attempt an attack.
"I am Bjorn, the first Chosen of the Goddesses to watch over and guide their creation." He waited now for Link's introduction.
"I am Link, Hero of the Knight of Hyrule." He spoke plainly.
Darunia turned around and took a tired seat on the stairway. "I believe you are wondering why I occupy your fellow's body? In this shape it is far easier to remain calm, something that has not been possible for a very long time. There has not been a Sage of Fire since me."
Link's memories recalled to him Chan's story regarding the Heart of the Mount. "He holds your heart, so you hold sway over him?"
Darunia looked away a moment, a stony fist coming to his chest. "Yes. I feel…" He trailed away as whatever thought drove that sentence disappeared.
Awkward and surreal is what Link would call this situation. His reason for being here was to send this creature back into a dreamless slumber. Instead of fighting him, they were discussing the demon's feelings. "You feel different?" He offered.
Darunia nodded. "Yes, almost like I used to, back before Agahnim's empty promises!" In the span of five words and two seconds the black eyes had become a hot white, blazing a heat to diminish fires. The cavern shook and the heat ascended as the giant stood and swung his fist into the floor, sending cracks spidering outward along it.
His breath was again like a bellows as he heaved his anger outward in each huff. In time the room chilled back to an uncomfortably hot.
Link sheathed his blade and heard his fellows following suit. Darunia straightened himself and locked onto Link with dull red eyes. "That shade came to me in the night and spoke of a death he knew I yearned for. And fool I was to listen to him. It was in that decision to help that she…" His eyes chilled. "I have never been the same since." A pause.
"Always I have awakened remembering all I had done, and I could not bear that knowledge. Could not and fell away to my anger, letting it grip me and control me, because then I could cast aside my guilt and my pain. I now stand before you, holding on by a thread because of the strength of my heart and the one for whom it beats."
Link again was struck by the surreality of the moment. From all intents, Bjorn had just confessed to him, and seemed almost to be wanting either pity or forgiveness. "I cannot forgive for all the lives you took, or the damage you wrought."
To his knees the demon fell, hands clenched, his eyes growing redder. "I know!" He shouted. "But I don't want this anymore! I don't want to kill! I don't want to be angry!" He shouted as a rage seemed on the verge of seizing him.
Then Link did feel pity for the demon, because he realized that could have been him had he not wished to shoulder this responsibility. It could have been him lamenting and whining about how unfair the Legend could be. After all, his own final fate in the end would be to sacrifice himself; where was the fairness in that? He squared his shoulders and strode forward, the Master Sword coming free, its song of release echoing in the quiet room.
He stopped just shy of the giant. "I am the Hero and at the end I must give up my future to see Ganon's Triforce freed from him." He looked to the sword, and Bjorn's darkening eyes followed, fear entering where anger had dwelt. "I had a choice and I chose to wield this, not for myself but for everyone else." The fire's light played across the perfect blade.
Bjorn stared at it in trepidation, the sword that had brought the darkness to him time and time again. "I made that same choice after the Goddesses' Kiss. I shouldered their duty until I became obsolete." He whispered, unable to remove his eyes from the blade, now seeming to glow in the fire's light. "Until I no longer wanted it." The last came as a painful rasp, guilt brimmed within the tone.
Link nodded seeing how the demon had fallen, how his duty had soured him and made him bitter. "You wish to die, but can't? That is why you chose this path, why you became what you are?"
The demon nodded.
"Then serve someone besides yourself and release my fellow." Link declared with strong conviction.
Bjorn began to shake, the Goron's body quivering. "It won't change anything. The anger will come back! I don't want the anger!" He pleaded, eyes dancing across the Master Sword's edge.
"Then let go of it." Link spoke gravely.
"I can't!" His eyes flashed to a bright red and the room felt like an oven.
The Master Sword's point came to Goron's breast. "If I plunge this into you I will kill Darunia and kill your heart. Your people will die as a consequence and you will sleep again, only to arise later just as angry. Are you truly that selfish? That you would risk all that? As well knowing you'll never get another chance at redemption?" There was a sense of finality to his words that left little doubt it was an action he was willing to execute.
Bjorn's obsidian eyes stared at the tip of the blade before him, his mind weighted by options he had not wrestled with for ages. He slowly brought out a hand and gripped the blade, pushing it away from him. He carefully stood and breathed a sigh, a resolute expression becoming etched across his rocky features.
He closed his eyes and Darunia's form fell forward onto the ground with a muffled thud. Link moved away with quick reflexes and looked around for Bjorn's appearance. He was not disappointed. The demon seemed to pick himself up from Darunia's fallen form, transparent at first but quickly becoming solid. He stood twice as tall as Link, clothed only in loose fitting pants and metal boots. His face and features were of a Hylian, save his head was barren of hair.
With red eyes did he give the Hero an indebted look, his skin not the blazing red of lava, but the cool black of enriched dirt. He seemed almost forlorn and lost, his mind experiencing emotions he had forgotten he could express.
Link stepped forward, his blade readied. Bjorn's held a hand up to forestall him. "One last thing, Hero."
Link nodded and waited.
"The night Agahnim came to me we drank like old friends, recalling memories and sharing loves. He confided in me his own, and the pain it brought him at her mention tore his face. Later, when pressed, he denied such a love existed, or even that we discussed the topic. If ever that twisted shade had a weakness, it lies in her name. Azalea."
Link weighed the words and their significance.
Bjorn nodded, more to himself, and spoke. "Allow me one last thing Hero, please. Allow me the chance to fall upon your blade. Let me remember the actions I took and hope when next my eyes awaken it will be without the burning gaze of rage behind them."
Link in response held his blade stiff, aiming for Bjorn's chest. The demon took a calming breath and slowly stepped into the blade, whose surface shimmered with reds, oranges, and yellows. The point easily pierced his rock skin, and he grunted in discomfort. With a face skewed in pain he took one small step and then another, bringing the blade into and through his heart. With a last gasp the blade was protruding from his back.
A final look of shock crossed his features as a word came with his last breath. "Gaia…?"
With that the body crumpled, fell apart, and the fires that coursed through it burst along the lines of muscles. Within moments there only lay a pile of rubble and a pool of red steaming blood that burned and crackled as the earth absorbed it. And even that was gone an instant later, a pile of debris the only indicator of Bjorn's passing.
The night was black and the tones around the campfire subdued, considering not far off the citizens of the Goron nations were celebrating with abandon, along side their friends of Kakariko Village. Distant rumbles could be heard as relaxed bomb experts set-off explosions for everyone's amusement. The surviving Gorons who had walked to the summit laden down with the very same explosives were being heralded as heroes in their own right. Link had admitted to everyone had they not succeeded the heat in the crater may have been too much to bear for he and his party.
When pressed on the events Link only said the demon had been sealed and would be no further trouble to the Hylian or Goron races. Link as well informed the aging Goron Horus that their Sage of Fire was resting and recouping from the ordeal. Darunia had looked exhausted in the end, saying he had fought against the demon every second he had been possessed. Little good it had done the rockman.
By Link's side was Malon, her small frame hunched far from the fire, wishing instead to feel the cool breezes of the night. Veran was already drunk on bad beer, though his spirits were far from high.
To the side and separate were Chan and a recovering Eric, both with soured expressions. Link recalled his threat to Chan as the campsite had been struck. He had pulled him aside and whispered none too gently into his ear. "Remember where your loyalties lie. And remind him he is to follow. I will not hesitate again in ending him. More than his pride is at stake in these times."
Chan's response had been equally fierce. "I know who holds my loyalty Link. I know I owe to you my sanity!"
Link stared into his eyes and saw Chan come to a decision. He nodded grateful the Sheikah had made the right one. Link's own mind was dwelling on the events that had transpired earlier that day, events that had gone where none could have expected. To himself Link admitted that Bjorn, at the end, had seemed noble. It was that scene he knew that weighed on he and his fellows' minds.
He had thus far faced off against three horrible demons with skewed perceptions. Collectively they had ravaged whole parts of the Kingdom, managing to sew much destruction in the span of a few weeks. Oni had slaughtered an entire army and brought ruin to a castle of immense strength and proportions. Majora had razed whole stretches of the Lost Woods in his throes of madness. Tilkat had tried to deform every plant and animal surrounding Lake Hylia and had warped thousands of residents in both the plains and villas.
Bjorn had just as much of an impact by forcing the entire Goron nation from their home and almost leveling the sprawling town of Kakariko Village. They had also been displaced by his actions. Hundreds of rockmen had died in those tunnels fighting the lava flows and firefiends, allowing their brethren time to flee. Dozens more had perished ascending those slopes laden with tons of bombs.
That very act spoke volumes of how much courage resided within the Goron nation. To slowly trudge upward trying to avoid any spark knowing the next second could be your last, hearing the explosions of your friends dying and still plodding onward; fighting panic and fear every second for more than half the day. Not a single Hylian had volunteered to help accompany the rockmen. That brave act spoke much about the Goron race.
And in the end their sacrifice had not been necessary because Bjorn had, in desperation, wanted a final ending. He had not gotten it, but maybe his decision had somehow affected the Legend. In some way maybe future generations would not have to bear his rage any longer.
It was in those thoughts that Link knew the conflict in his mind lay; knowing as well the same question were plaguing his companions. Could he maybe be wishing to forgive, despite his words earlier, the demon of all the horror he had committed, all because he wanted to no longer be evil? Were a beings' intentions enough to wipe away another's blood from their hands? He glanced into the fire quieting his mind, then looked to the starry heavens above, searching hopelessly for a sign from his Goddesses.
A/N: Well, another gap in this story for those that are still hanging on despite my grievous errors in updating. And to make things worse, I have even worse news to give you. I am taking a hiatus. Now, what does this mean? It means no updates for some time, but there will be a definite return. I know some of you will think they have heard this before and that the story will die. I can't do anything but say this to you. I have spent a year writing and putting my heart into this. I will not let it die.
I plan to be away for one month and one month only. For three weeks of this I plan to write and work on other projects, none of which I will be posting. And then I shall return to my fiction, plot, and to the final stretch of the story. The reasoning behind this is simply. Somewhere in the past few months writing this has slowly shifted from something I want to do, into something I am forced to do. Taking all of the joy out of it for me.
I kept finding my mind going to other plots and other stories circulating in my mind, instead to this one. I shall then detox my mind of it and then start again fresh. Will it work? Yeppers, because it worked earlier in the year. Save at that point I was about seven chapters ahead in the story, giving me a break without break in updates. I have no such convenience this time around.
So, in closing, please believe I will return and hopefully the story will no longer suffer from my lack of heart I put into my works. Faretheewell until I have come again. Thank-you.
--byl, out.
