Chapter 49: Fires of Vengeance

"Show me a battle and I'll show you a nightmare. Show me a war and I'll show you the face of Hell."

Link looked up. It was Sheila who had spoken. "What's that? An old proverb?"

"Oh, no," Sheila said, "That's actually a quote straight out of the journal left by Darius when he died."

There was that name again.

"As if the rest wasn't enough," Sheila said, "That wizard, that was Ganondorf, right?"

"Yes," Zelda said.

"That was horrifying," Sheila said, "So much life gone in an instant."

Link tapped his fingers on the table before him, thinking. He never showed abilities like that before, he thought, I wonder why he'd hold back?

Their group was seated at a table under an awning of a pub two blocks in from the inner wall of the city. Link looked back to Judge Ralthas, who was quite animatedly discussing things with a group of men, most in armor, some dressed like rich merchants or something. The discussion was out of hearing, and he was getting curious about the subject matter.

"You know," Midna said, "I'm curious as to why he hasn't taken your sword back, Link."

Ralthas had, for some reason, allowed them to keep the weapons they had procured, and Link still had the Master Sword across his back. Ralthas hadn't even brought the matter up.

"It's because he's not an idiot," Zelda said matter-of-factly, "How many people saw Link fighting the dragon from the wall? How many saw the last events from the gate? If he tried to disarm us and place us in shackles, it would cause a riot."

Link turned to Sheila, who was seated across from him. "What was that thing he used on Ganondorf? That made him disappear like that?"

"Oh, that?" Sheila said, "That was a Soul Gem. It's a very rare artifact predating the ancient war, and was even rare back then. There are very few left, as most were destroyed during or shortly after the war. They literally capture the victim's soul within the gem, and hold them prisoner."

"But his body disappeared as well," Zelda said, "What about that?"

"I honestly don't know," Sheila said, "I don't think anyone ever did. Nobody's ever been sure exactly how a person's soul works, or if it's even a material object."

"Kind of surprising to find out that man even has a soul," Link said.

"Can he escape the gem?" Zelda asked.

Sheila thought about that a moment. "I've never heard of anything of the sort happening. It would probably take a wizard mightier than any of the ancients to even have a chance at doing so."

Link glanced back at Ralthas. Looks like they were going to be waiting a while.

He turned back to Sheila. "We've got some time to kill," he said, "So tell me a little about this Darius. I understand he was a hero of this ancient war, and a wizard, but not much else."

"Well, I wasn't expecting to be giving a history lesson today," Sheila said, "Let's see. Darius was the archmage, back when the war began. He was the most powerful wizard alive at the time, and according to his own journal, was a teacher of a great many students for much of his time. He was actually one of the biggest advocates for getting the academy in Tyr built, so they could be trained in a controlled environment, instead of the master-to-apprentice method that had been used since before written history.

"He was quoted as telling new students desiring to become magicians that it had taken more than fifty years of his life to gain the power he possessed, and the will not to use it. And most of the wizards of old were more powerful than any that exist today, what with the outlawing of many of the mightiest magics after the war ended."

"And yet, from the tell of things," Link said, "At least one of our enemies possesses magic rivaling theirs."

"Whitos-Neiki was decimated by a single spell," she said, "While you were unconscious, my father questioned each of us like he did you when you woke up. He allowed me to read the report of what happened at Whitos-Neiki. It had been destroyed, and its people wiped out, by the Harrowing, the forbidden magic of ultimate destruction."

"I remember that one," Midna said, "It was listed in the books of forbidden magics we were looking through back in Hyrule castle."

"It causes beams of light to shoot down from the sky," Sheila said, "The beams are all just light, but are hotter than the core of a volcano, possibly even the surface of the sun. Human flesh is instantly vaporized if caught in the light, and stone becomes molten in a matter of seconds. Nothing can survive it. And it has a wide enough area of effect to wipe out an entire army, or a city of moderate size."

"And these wizards of old, they created magic spells," Link said.

"Yes."

"I'm no magician," Link said, "but wouldn't their time have been better spent making spells that would summon rain during a drought, or cause floodwaters to recede?"

She smiled sadly. "I would agree, but it seems that it is just mortal nature to seek ever more creative ways of destroying ourselves.

"Anyway, Darius was the only upper-tier wizard who stayed with the kingdoms when the rebellion began. And when it was over, he was frustrated by them dividing themselves again. I suppose the alliance today is somewhat closer to what he envisioned. I don't remember the exact wording in his journal, and it may have been lost in the translation that I read, but his final words written were something along the lines of him being frustrated with the state of humanity, and that he would choose death sooner than remain there."

"It's kind of interesting," Link said, "He was human, right?"

"Yes."

"With what Roxim said about him," Link continued, "It seems like he accomplished an awful lot for a single lifetime."

"It is possible," Sheila said, "to extend one's life beyond natural limits via magic. It's not as glorious as it sounds, though. It basically stretches your life out, and it becomes thin, spread out, and as a result, your body becomes frailer and frailer the longer you do so. You can stay alive almost indefinitely, but after so long, it's going to be as a cripple, not to mention you will become more and more susceptible to disease."

"So, the longer you live, the more likely you are to die," Midna said, "I don't really see the difference."

Ralthas appeared at the end of the table. "Okay, that's done."

"How bad are things?" Sheila asked.

"Only have the initial casualty estimates," Ralthas said, "And it's hard to even get those, considering there are no bodies from the dragon's attacks, but we lost considerably more civilians than soldiers."

"What about the breach in the wall?" Zelda asked.

"It'll take a while, but we're organizing a team to take apart a few buildings in the nearby residential district and fill in the hole with that," Ralthas said.

"It will be a weak point in the defenses," Zelda said.

"Some good news, though," Ralthas said, leaning on his hands on the table, "The wagon with the rest of your things was found, and is en route to the castle."

"Are we still under arrest?" Link asked.

"Oh, yes," Ralthas said, "You'll be allowed to keep your weapons for now, though if you draw them without good reason, they will be taken, even if you have to be cut down in the process."

He stood up, then paused. "Wait," he said, "Where's the Dra'thul?"

They looked around themselves, realizing they hadn't even noticed her leaving.

"Must have snuck off when we weren't looking," Link said.

Ralthas turned and pointed at a soldier nearby. "You! Get a search party together. We've got an escapee!"

"She'll be back," Link said, "Besides, they won't find her."

Ralthas turned back to him. "She might be at home in the forest," he said, "but she can't hide in this city."

Link smiled. "Just watch her."


At that moment, Silviana wasn't trying that hard to hide. In fact, anyone who glanced up at the steeple of the church less than three blocks south of where Link and the others sat, would have seen her climbing the architecture, finding handholds along the windowsills and even between the bricks themselves.

The top of the steeple was a pointed roof with a small ledge about six inches wide circling around, a short distance above the windows through which the great bells could be seen. Silviana pulled herself up onto the ledge and sat down, her back to the roof, and feet hanging out over nothing.

Looking down at the city, the people looked like so many ants moving through the street, and in the distance, past the wall to the north, smoke still rose from the fires.

She felt a snowflake land on her cheek, and looked. It was beginning to fall, and judging by the thick, dark clouds, it might be a storm making a slow start.

It had been snowing on that day, so many years ago. When they had come for the child. Armed men, and the man she had thought she could trust, that she had loved. They were so intent on having the child, they threatened that if she ran, they would burn the forest to the ground.

And he had promised that if she didn't resist, he'd make sure nothing happened. But she could never see him, or the child, again. And he had apologized.

Silviana felt the tears on her face. She was crying again. She knew what was causing these unpleasant memories to come back. The child she had rescued had reminded her what it felt like to hold her son. When he smiled up at her, that was all she needed in the world.

He was still an infant when he had been taken. He'd be grown into a man now, if he still lived. His father, though, her lover, had been human. He was long passed from this life.

She pulled her hood off, letting her hair fall to her shoulders, and leaned back against the steeple roof, looking up to see the tip of the spire some distance up yet. She'd apologize for disappearing later, but for now, she wanted to be alone with her thoughts.


"Dear gods."

Alex had forgotten what was happening around himself. He could see them coming, like a swarm of ants, walking carcasses defying Death himself. Maybe if they all looked alike, like mass-produced weapons, it would have lessened the impact of what he was seeing, but as they drew closer, he could see that no two did. Some were "fresher" than others, with more of their flesh remaining on their bodies, some even the same color they would have been when they were alive, others were half-rotten, huge chunks of their skin missing, revealing the bones beneath their wrinkled, darkened flesh. Some had no hair, while others had small patches, and still others had long, greasy hair that hung across their faces. Some were so far gone, they were little more than walking bones.

It was a mockery of everything life was.

Alex was gripping the stone wall in front of himself. What kind of insidious force could have conjured this nightmare? He couldn't help but think that any moment he would wake up.

Closer they came, slow but steady. A rain of arrows fell upon them. Flesh was punctured, brittle bones cracked, skulls split open, but not a one of them stopped, and those that fell began to crawl, to be trod upon by those behind them.

Alex realized something was pulling on his arm. It was Angie. She was saying something, but he couldn't hear her. He realized that he could hear the alarm bells ringing.

"Come on!" Angie said, "They want us off the wall!"

She led him to the ladder, and he descended it in a daze. He saw the men on the wall fire another volley of arrows, which had much the same result as before. Once on the ground, Alex moved to the portcullis and looked out though a gap. From this angle, it looked like a great undulating mound moving toward the city

"I don't get it," he said.

"Get what?" Angie asked.

"Whitos-Neiki was destroyed by a sorceress," he said, "Now we're under attack by the dead? What's the connection?"

Angie shook her head. He was trying to make sense of this?

The creatures had reached the wall. They looked up, raising their arms and clawing at the stone ineffectually. The archers on the wall were firing nearly straight down now, trying futilely to kill what was already dead.

"And what's the point, anyway?" Alex said, stepping back from the portcullis at the monsters started reaching through it to try to get at them, "They won't get in the city like this."

"Use the oil!" came a shout from the wall, "Light your arrows and set the beasts ablaze!"

And yet the monsters kept pressing forward, pushing each other against the wall. Flaming arrows rained into the swarm, punching into the rotting flesh, setting light to the monsters, slowly spreading across their flesh, but they continued forward, unheeding, even setting each other alight as the pressed against one another, trying to climb over each other to get at the wall and the men and women of the city.

Wait, Alex realized they were climbing over each other. They were climbing atop one another, and moving up the wall.

"Dear gods," he said, looking out to see no end of the monsters in sight, "They're just going to pile up until they get over the wall!"

"That's ridiculous!" Angie said, but then the first tipped over the crenulations on the outer edge of the wall, to flop onto the wall at the feet of the soldiers, who quickly drew their weapons and set to chopping the beast to pieces.

As they did so, more and more poured onto the wall. There were shouts, and Alex looked up, then quickly grabbed Angie and forced her back with them as a soldier in full armor fell from the wall, crashing into the street where they had been standing. Two of the creatures had drug him from the wall with themselves, and they shattered into pieces on impact.

Then their hands began crawling across the stone street with just their fingers, toward the two of them.

"Talk about persistent," Alex said, stepping on one and feeling the bones crack beneath his foot.

For the first time, Alex realized that the street was empty of civilians. More men fell from the wall, along with more of the creatures, some of which were in better condition and held together on the impact, and immediately started pushing themselves up from the ground. The first soldier that had fallen was rising. Alex drew his sword and he and Angie backed away. The soldier had landed face down, and as he looked up, they could see his face, flattened and bleeding, the bones cracked and caved in. There was no way he was alive.

"That's not good," Alex said.

And the monsters kept pouring over the wall. Alex could see one soldier, holding his ground rather well, given the circumstances. He cut down one after the other, turning to get them on either side of himself, but his swings grew more desperate with each he struck down. Suddenly, there was an explosion of blood, and his head toppled to the wall, the blood spurting from his neck as his body fell to its knees, then onto its chest.

And the most terrifying creature Alex had ever seen came over the wall where he had been. A thin figure, with wide shoulders and an impossibly thin waist, less than an inch across, great clawed feet, and its arms themselves were sharp, steel blades. And the only feature on its face was a red eye the size of a human fist. A scar ran from the top edge of the eye to the top of its head.

"Alex," Angie said, "I think we should get out of here."

"Yeah, I was thinking about that myself," he said, looking down to see the creatures staggering toward them, like an endless wall of death.

They turned and ran. They were faster than the monsters, at least. Alex glanced back over his shoulder to see them putting a lot of distance between them. A shadow suddenly filled the portcullis, and there was a great crash, the iron gate crashing down on the monsters in the street, and stone from the wall flying through the air, and another monster, this one at least fifteen feet tall, stepped through. Its glowing red eyes and dark brown flesh gave it the image of a monster from a nightmare. It looked like some kind of golem.

Alex turned into an alley and pulled Angie in behind him. "We've got to get out of this city," he said.

Shouts could be hard in the distance, and screams rose with them.

"No, we have to help, somehow!" Angie said.

"And be two more people fighting in a line?" Alex asked, "Angie, use sense. The two of us aren't going to make a difference to something like that. And I promise you, this city is lost. The wall is already breached. The only hope to stop that wall of death is to find the source and shut it down. Corpses don't walk around on their own, you know."

"And what would the source be then, smart guy?"

"A wizard, obviously," Alex said, "Necromancer. And he probably isn't anywhere near here."

"You're a coward," Angie said.

Alex turned to look her in the eye. "If staying alive long enough that I might actually be able to do something is cowardice, then yes, I'm a coward. But I'm a live one."

There was a thump from the entrance to the alley. They turned to see the monster with one eye and bladed arms rising from a crouch where it had landed, its massive eye staring directly at them.

"Go back to the gym," Alex said, stepping between it and Angie, "Get whatever you think you'll need. I'll handle our optic friend here."

"I'm not going anywhere!"

"Angie!" he shouted, stopping her short, "Listen to me! For once in your life, do as I say! If we stand and fight, we're both going to die! And I'm not leaving you here!"

"Alex…" she started to say.

"Angie, there is one thing all that training in the gym didn't give you," Alex said, "And that's experience in the real world. This isn't like a training session. These monsters aren't going to fight fair. They'll overwhelm us with sheer numbers. We can't fight them. Not yet. Now go. I'll be right behind you."

"Damn it, Alex," she said, then turned to run down the alley. Alex waited until her footsteps were a distance away.

The one-eyed creature had moved into a half crouch, one bladed arm held above its head, the other just below its face, and was inching slowly toward him.

It's smart, he thought, guarding itself well. Wait, this isn't the same one…

This creature did not have a scar above its eye like the first one he had seen. There was more than one? What kind of monsters were these?

Alex readied himself, with his sword before himself, leaning his weight forward on his toes. The creature moved suddenly, leaping from its crouch, bringing both arms down toward him. He lifted his sword, catching the impact of both blades, and was forced to grip the hilt with both hands to keep it from being knocked from his hands. He shoved back, forcing the creature off him, then dropped to the stone, swinging out one foot and ripping the creature's feet out from under it. It hit the stone on its back with a hard crash.

Alex moved quickly, getting to his feet, and stabbing his blade into its head, straight through the massive eye. No sound issued from the creature, but it fell still.

"That was easy," Alex said, pulling his sword from the eye. He turned to walk down the alley. At the end, he paused and glanced back.

And icy chill shot through him. The creature was rising from the ground, floating upward without pushing itself, directly onto its feet.

"Oh, no," he said, and ran from the alley.

It wasn't far to the gym, but the monsters were moving through the city faster than he had expected. He was forced to strike one down as it reached for him just as he left the alley. Here and there were soldiers trying to stand their ground against the monsters, but they were gradually overwhelmed by the sheer, endless numbers. And then, they themselves would rise and join the ranks of beasts moving through the city.

"There's no way this city's going to last," Alex said to himself.

There was a blur in front of him, and he leaped to the side as the blade whistled through the air, and the one-eyed creature moved quickly after him. Alex rebounded off his landing, tackling the creature and knocking it onto its back. He stepped over it and slammed his foot down onto its face with everything he had. The bone of its skull broke apart, landing in hundreds of chips on the street beneath it, his foot stopping at the back of its skull.

"Heh, let's see you get up from that," he said, and lifted his foot from its head.

The chips of bone were sliding across the stone toward its broken head.

"Oh, come on!" Alex said in exasperation, "What does it take to keep you down?"

He started running. It wasn't much further to the gym. He reached the front door, which was standing open, and ran inside.

"Alex!"

Angie was near the ropes around the ring in the center of the room, with six of the walking cadavers heading for her. Two were on the ground already, their skulls caved in, but were still crawling toward her.

As another came within her reach, Angie spun about and her foot shot up, with a devastating roundhouse kick, her heel struck the side of its head, caving in the old, brittle bones and knocking it over sideways.

Alex ran for her, slicing into the first one as he reached it, his sharp blade tearing through its rotten flesh with ease, slicing it from shoulder to hip, and it fell to the ground in two pieces. Alex stepped to the next one, using his momentum, and sliced through its abdomen, cutting its spine and dropping it to the ground in two near halves. Angie stepped to the one nearest to her, lifting one foot high and striking straight down with a heel kick, knocking it face first into the floor.

Alex swung his low kick into the shins of the next one, but instead of just breaking bones, the kick ripped its leg off at the knee, sending it to the floor, and he stepped closer, stomping down on the back of its skull, breaking its face on the hard wood floor, and splintering the wood at the same time. One grabbed his free arm. Alex spun to the left, ripping himself from its grasp, and swung his blade high, cutting off its head with a single stroke. He continued the spin and lifted his left leg in a mighty spin kick to its side that send its body rolling across the floor.

Angie reached down and picked up the bag she had packed in a hurry.

"Come on!" Alex said, "We have to go. Now."

Angie's eyes went wide. A blade appeared from her stomach, and her feet lifted off the floor. She tried to speak, but all she could manage was a choked wheeze.

"No!" Alex shouted, and ran for her.

It was the one-eyed creature, the one with the scar above its eye. It swung its arm to the side, sending Angie flying from the blade to roll across the floor into the wall. Alex lifted his blade and aimed a high swing to take the thing's head off.

It lifted its left arm, catching his blade, and used its right to stab toward his gut. Alex stepped sideways, the blade nicking his shirt but missing his flesh. His slid his sword upward, sparks flying as it scraped along the creatures bladed arm. The instant it slid past the end of its arm and was free in the air, he swung downward, directly into the creature's shoulder, smashing through the bone, its arm falling to the floor. It lifted its other arm to strike, but Alex was too fast for it, cutting its arm off at the elbow.

He lifted his sword high, gripping it with both hands. The creature's pupil grew wide, nearly filling its entire eye.

Alex brought his blade down, directly into the top of the creature's skull, slicing through the skull and cutting through the eye, down into its shoulder, then pulling free next to the spine. The creature fell to the floor.

Alex turned and ran to Angie. She had pulled herself up and was sitting against the wall. The front of her shirt was soaked with blood.

"Oh, gods," was all he could said, as he knelt down next to her, and lifted her shirt to see the wound. When the sticky shirt came up, he could see the slit from which the blood was steadily pouring, and the entry wound on her back would be much the same.

"I'm bleeding out, Alex," she said.

"No oh no," he said, "Let me bandage it off, see if we can find a healing magician…"

"You won't find one in time," she said, "Looks like I won't be going after all."

"No no no!" Alex was practically shouting, "You can't die here! I won't… I… If I hadn't told you to run ahead… I'm so sorry…"

"Alex," she said, tears welling up in her eyes, a sad smile on her face, "It's okay. There was nothing you could have done. It's just my time."

"No," Alex said weakly, "This can't be it. Fate can't be this cruel."

"I'm afraid it is," she said, then suddenly clenched her teeth and shut her eyes, "Oh, damn, that hurts. I… I can feel something moving…"

She reached up to the front of her shirt and pulled something out of the top. "Alex… Here…" she said, holding it out to him.

Alex took it, and the tie holding it around her neck snapped with a tug from her. It was a small pendant, detailed in the work, depicting a coat of arms, but instead of swords or spears, it was a pair of crossed arms, the hands in fists, in front of a dragon. It was the Ragefaust family crest, and it had been his father's for as long as he could remember.

"You're the only one of us left now," Angie said, "You're going to go find that hero of yours, and do us proud, right?"

Alex clenched his fist around the pendant. "Yes," he whispered.

"It's not all bad," Angie said, "I'll get to see Mom and Dad again."

"I swear," Alex said, "I'll find the one responsible for this, and I'll make him pay."

"Alex," she said, "Please, don't forget who you are in the process."

She took a deep breath, and pushed herself up into a higher seated position. "You know," she said, her voice growing weaker, "I think I feel a little better now…"

Her head rolled to the side and then forward, hanging down with her chin on her chest. With a shuddering breath, Alex reached up and closed her eyes.

He looked down at the pendant in his hand. He took the strand of leather it was on and tied it around his neck, then tucked the pendant down his shirt. He picked up his sword and stood up, turning to leave.

The one eyed creature was on its feet, in one piece, watching him. Now its scar descended the length of its face, above and below its eye.

"You…" Alex growled, gripping his sword tighter.

He hadn't noticed before, but one of the cadavers had staggered in the door while he was with Angie, lit ablaze, and collapsed a short ways in, and the flames were now rapidly spreading across the floor and up a one of the walls. It wouldn't be long before smoke filled the building, the supports burned through, and the roof gave way.

One of the ones he had cut apart's torso had crawled over to him and was grabbing at his ankle. He gave it a kick to the face and it lay still.


"What? What is this?"

Tharkus gazed into his crystal ball. His attention had been focused on the golem of flesh and is destructive course across the city, but now he noticed a strange reaction in one of the others. An image appeared in the crystal ball. A young man standing over a woman, her shirt stained with blood, and tears in her eyes. Tharkus watched the scene progress, until the young man turned and saw the creature, and the rage on his face.

Now Tharkus knew what had caught his attention. It was puzzled. It didn't understand what it was seeing. The false soul this golem possessed that allowed it to think for itself was having a greater effect than he had thought, and it was trying to understand what it was seeing.

"Human emotion," he told it, "It is a weakness that causes them to make mistakes. A person driven by emotion is foolhardy and ignores danger to their own person. They can't think straight and merely react. The only useful emotion is hatred, because it allows one to focus entirely on their goal, the target of such hatred. Show him how foolish he is. Kill him."


The creature leaped upward, flying nearly to the roof. Alex followed it with his eyes; it raised its arms high as it came down toward him. At the last moment, Alex stepped to the side, its bladed arms cutting into the wooden floor. Before it could pull them free, Alex lashed out with a low kick, striking it directly in the face and causing it to flip over onto its back.

"Get up!" Alex shouted at it.

It sprang to its feet, swinging its right arm wide toward his side. Alex moved his sword into a position to block, and as the blades collided, he saw it raise its left arm to strike at his head. He stepped back quickly, the blade whistling past his face, and several small strands of his hair floating down in front of him.

He spun to the left, moving back and turning the spin into a swing, which struck directly into the bone of its neck, its head flying to the side and rolling across the floor. Its arms fell to its sides. Alex struck downward, into its left shoulder, cleaving off its arm, then into its right for the same result, then struck low, breaking its spine, and kicked forward into its chest, sending its torso flying away and sliding across the floor. Its lower bode fell back from the impact and lay still.

Alex growled through his teeth. He looked up to see the fire was spreading. With a loud crack, small pieces of the ceiling came falling down around the support beam that cracked, but the beam held. Alex picked up the pack Angie had made ready and started for the door.

When he reached it, he turned back to look at the creature. Its body parts were crawling toward the legs and fitting themselves together. Alex set the pack on the ground just outside the door, and moved back into the gym.

It rose to its feet in the same eerie manner the other had.

Alex lifted his sword in his ready stance. "One of us isn't leaving here," he said.

As if on cue, one of the supports cracked and fell in, part of the roof on Alex's right falling to the floor in a burning heap.

Alex ran for the creature. He lifted his sword high for a heavy strike. The creature brought its arm up to guard, but Alex dropped to one knee and extended his other leg, sliding his foot into its feet. The creature fell forward, directly toward him. Alex lifted his sword, pointing it up, impaling the creature directly through its face. He stood up and pushed it off the blade. It flopped onto the ground on its back.

It lay still. Alex waited for several moments, ignoring the spreading fire, waiting for it to get back up, but at last did not rise. With a sigh, he sheathed his sword.

Suddenly, it was up. It lunged for him, swinging both arms wide toward him. "Shit!" Alex shouted and reached up with both hands and grabbed it by the elbows, holding the blades away from himself. He ground his teeth, and was force back as it pushed toward him.

"Damn, it's strong," he said through his teeth as he was forced back another step.

He looked over his shoulder. It was trying to force him back into the flames behind him. He was force back another step as it pushed forward. Alex growled through his teeth, and wrenched his arms back, dragging it into him, slamming his forehead into its face.

The creature stepped back, the pupil in its eye wide in surprise. Alex jerked it toward him again, headbutting it in the face a second time. Its eye was caved in and blinded. Alex gave it a third vicious headbutt, and its legs gave way, falling to the floor, dragging Alex down on top of it. He lifted his head and slammed it down yet again.

"If you come back again…" he said, lifting up and slamming down for a fifth impact, "…I'll kill you again…" and gave it a sixth, "…no matter how many times it takes!" he shouted, rising as high as he could and slamming downward again, the bone around its eye shattering and caving in.

Alex stood up. His forehead was bleeding and running into his eyes. He wiped his eyes on his hand and looked down at the creature. The pieces of the skull were already rebuilding themselves.

With a roar of rage and frustration, he grabbed it by its shoulders and hurled it into the flames.

The black, cloth-like part of its body lit up like paper, the flames shooting even higher. The creature leaped to its feet, a high-pitched shriek issuing from it, and it took two steps toward Alex before falling flat on its face and laying still.

"So that's how you work," Alex said.

The support beam overhead cracked loudly. Alex decided this was a good place not to be and ran for the door, snatching up the pack on the way out. The beam gave way, and the rest of the supports gave way as well, the second floor and roof of the gym caving in, burying what was left of the creature in burning rubble.

Alex turned to the street. It was completely empty. Alex looked up the street toward the gate. It had been smashed down, but there was nothing in sight near it. All the sounds of fighting were coming from deeper in the city.

Alex ran to the gate and looked outside the wall. There was nothing in sight. The entire horde had gotten into the city and was ignoring everything behind them.

He looked back a moment, up the street to the gym. "Angie," he whispered, "I'm sorry."

He stepped over the rubble, through the gate, and started down the road.


Khall looked up from his notes. There was no one in the room with him, but he was sure he heard a voice. He glanced at the Twilight Mirror, where it leaned against the wall. It was missing a large section still, but that would hopefully soon be rectified.

"Khall…" the voice whispered again.

It was a small room with no place for anyone to hide. Just his bed, a bookcase, and his large desk, and the Twilight Mirror. The flame on the candle in front of him flickered and bent as a chill air wafted across the room.

"Khall…"

He realized he couldn't locate the voice because he was hearing it within his own head. "Get out of my head," he growled.

The cold air wasn't doing much good for his health, and he coughed several times. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and covered his mouth until the coughing ended. When he looked down at it, he saw the blood he had coughed up.

"You should probably see a doctor about that."

The candle went out. There was a green light in the room, coming from the Twilight Mirror. Khall stood up and moved to the mirror, looking into it. It looked like a green cloud, swirling within the mirror.

Two orbs appeared in the cloud, opening like eyes. "Kind of ironic, in a way. A wizard of ice whose sickness worsens in the cold."

"What do you want now?" Khall demanded of the shapeless form in the mirror.

"It's not too late, you know," the voice said, "I could cure your disease. Even make you immortal. If you want."

"So I can live forever knowing about the lies I've told and the sins I've committed?" Khall said, "I'd rather die."

He wasn't about to accept charity from this particular entity. Not even Minerva had been able to cure his disease, and if there was something that even she couldn't do with her magic, the price would likely be far too high to be worth the trade anyway.

"Knowing that your end will be greeted with a place in Hell for what you've done?"

"Heaven or Hell is for my god to decide, not you," Khall said.

"Quoting your old enemies now? So be it. I want you leave the ninja, and their leader, Mur'neth, alone for now."

"They have betrayed us," Khall said, "I've taken precautions…"

"They will not side with Ganon. There are prior connections that prevent them from doing so. Mur'neth has kept it well hidden from you, and even her."

"Her…?" Khall said, then put it together, "Kilishandra. I know they are close friends…"

"He loves her. He will not join Ganon, solely because it would mean fighting her."

"I see."

"In fact, it is very likely that they will soon come to conflict with Ganon. I want you to order Kilishandra not to attack Darimar until after that. I want to see how Link performs against them."

"Why are you so interested in him?"

"That is none of your concern."

"And what about Zero?" Khall asked, "He escaped recently. We can't find him anywhere."

"I've been keeping an eye on him. He's perfectly fine where he is for now. I'll tell you if he becomes a problem."

"Fine. Anything else you want."

"That will be all for now. Don't give up, Khall. You're so close to victory, you should practically taste it by now."

The eyes in the mirror closed and the green light faded and disappeared.

A fit of coughing took him, and he fell to his knees, holding the handkerchief to his mouth.

When it finally subsided, he whispered to himself. "Not yet. I can't die yet. We're nearly there. I have to live long enough to tell her that I'm sorry I lied to her."