Chapter 45: The Power of Courage PART 2

Ganondorf took patient steps toward Link and then broke into a run. Link lunged forward with a thrust to defend against the diagonal swipe the king sent downward. Close now, the demon pressed onward, and as he led the Master Sword away with the end of his powerful swing, he dove into Link.

With a roar as monstrous as the bellows of the Dark Beast, Ganondorf came crashing down upon the Hylian. His growling voice hung in the air as it boomed stronger and deeper than any sound in the world, and it drowned the life from the storming skies and prevailing wind that beat against his face. Link felt the jolt before he even realized what had happened.

The left fist of the demon smacked squarely and so forcefully into Link's shield that it wavered and quaked. Its metal buckled against the power of the monster, and cracks splintered through its surface until the great Hylian shield shattered into a hundred shards of useless metal.

Link howled at the violent strike as it shuddered from the metal into his forearm. Time seemed to slow as the shards rained down as Link fell backward. He landed against several of the broken pieces, and though their sharp edges tore through his tunic, none pierced the chainmail beneath. The blow winded him and he choked and sputtered against both the pain shooting through his arm and the shock of his sudden rough landing.

He had no time to nurse his wounds, though, for the demon was upon him once more as he lie there, seemingly dazed and helpless.

A flash of lightning. That was what the sage-blade had appeared to be as it descended toward his neck. It glinted and yellow embers of its majesty sputtered when Link threw up the Master Sword, locking their blades in another struggle of strength. Link felt the intense weight of Ganondorf as the demon's body cast a heavy shadow over him. The king fueled his sword with his full weight, and Link's arms shrieked from the pain of keeping such a crushing mass at bay.

Link held his breath as he fought the gravity of this beast and the pressing pains of his shattered shield underneath. He could feel the steel of his own blade beginning to cut along the skin of his neck, and Link moved his right hand to hold the blade of the Master Sword as he battled the sage-blade. He pressed against the blunt surface of his sword to combat Ganondorf, but he had to hold it so tightly that his own weapon bit at his fingers.

Sweat poured from Link's forehead as his breaths then came in desperate, quick pants, eyes squinted against the pain of his struggle. He could hear the soft but deep chuckle lighting the demon's eyes ablaze.

The king could feel the insect squirming beneath him, and he knew that he was close to the end. He could not help but smile in celebration, lusting for the hero's last seconds.

Beyond the barrier, hisses and low cackles of glee emanated from the shadow army, Zant's slimy lips stretched with an impossible smile. Opposite them, the Hyrulean people stood with eyes wide and hearts hanging.

Rusl cringed at the sight of Link, a boy he had taken in as a son a full eight years before he had had a child of his own. All the years he had cared for Link, watched him grow and learn, crawled back into his mind. From his first words to his first steps, first scrapes and first fears, Link had been a child he had cherished every day. He remembered the face of a three-year-old boy tugging on his pant leg for fear of the dark, and he could recall the day he had helped the thirteen-year-old begin construction on his tree house.

And every memory was coming to an end right before his eyes.

He gripped his sword tight, but there was nothing he could do … and it was killing him.

As Link struggled beneath Ganondorf, he remembered the question he had once asked an ancient warrior. "…is that my destiny? To die in saving Hyrule?"

The heavy voice jostled free within his memories. "If you allow it to be…."

Link grew strong of that voice, grew deep in the memory that he had a choice. The choice to let shadow crawl into his heart and take its hold, or the choice to cast it back with the fire of the hero within him.

He felt warmth as that thought sent a fresh burst of energy coursing through his bones, building to a burning sensation in his hand. Even through his gauntlet, Link and Ganondorf could see the appearance of a golden mark glowing against the back of his left hand. At first, the king thought it a sign that this pathetic hero was at his last, that the Triforce within him was uncoupling from the dying body of its host. With a sudden wave of nausea, he knew he was wrong. Link was growing strong again, the Triforce bringing him back from the brink just as the might of its power had done for him so long ago.

It was a bad joke. To revive Ganondorf from execution as if confirming his right to rule, just to do the same with this pathetic creature…. Were Link and he destined to continue this battle forever? The essence of the gods keeping them alive, keeping them at odds, ever fighting, ever dying and living?

These were his thoughts when Link had mustered all strength, the light of his hand a symbol of hope in the half-night. A red shimmer sung across the hero's blade then, and in an instant, Ganondorf felt the weightlessness of being airborne when Link gave a final shove against the sage-blade.

By the time Link rose from the ashes of his near-defeat, Ganondorf had landed several meters away. The king hung stooped, regaining himself onto a knee and steadying himself with his empty fist. Link held his right arm gingerly, his forearm still screaming from the blow to his shield and his fingers trickling with the scent of fresh blood. The wave of energy flowing through him, however, the chanting life of the Master Sword, it numbed all pain, all hopelessness.

Gripping the Master Sword in both hands, he bent a knee and drew the full power of the legendary blade into him, beckoned the might of his soul, a soul strong with the presence of heroes past. The power seemed to tremor through the fields beneath him, and he could feel the energy of Hyrule herself lend him her soul. When the energy peaked in a scarlet whistle at the tip of his blade, Link leapt.

He soared through the air and thrust the Master Sword into a downward strike, the crimson energy already beginning to flood from the steel of its humming blade.

The yellow eyes of the devil looked up. A golden light as fierce as the one coursing through Link's fist emerged from Ganondorf's, and the king roared as he cut through the crimson tide with one swish of his blade. The resounding clank of steel grated through the air then, as the king knocked Link's attack away.

The powerful force of their combined energies staggered them both, Ganondorf collapsing onto his fist again after Link bounced sideways onto the ground. Link, small and limber, recovered first, and he came at Ganondorf once more, relentless. With the king stooped over, Link could at last reach him with a straight swing at his neck.

Ganondorf's head snapped up in an instant, and Link realized his ruse all too late.

The king had played on his desperation to take the advance. Ganondorf swatted the Master Sword aside with a quick flick of his saber and slammed his knuckles into Link's face.

Link flew back once more, barely keeping his balance in the mud sucking at his boots, and before he could center his weight, Ganondorf launched toward him, plunging his sword in and batting away the hero's feeble attempt to block its path. The Master Sword escaped Link's grasp, taken captive by the puddles forming at his toes. The sage-blade missed him, to Link's surprise, puncturing only air inches from his neck. Yet, this was all part of Ganondorf's motive.

In the next moment, Link could not breathe. He felt the jaws of death snaking around his throat, constricting and crushing against him. When he grabbed for his neck, he found the giant fingers of Ganondorf instead. Link's lips, bloodied from the previous blow, opened and closed, trying in vain to suck in air. He could feel the discs in his neck convulsing against the hand in the attempt to widen his airway, as he sputtered and bit on air he could not capture.

Link's legs kicked and beat at the arm holding him aloft without result. His fingers pulled and clawed at the tanned skin of the demon's fist frantically. His fingernails etched lines of blood from the king, digging and scraping like a frightened wolf. His eyes widened at the realization of his situation, the truth that death truly was upon him in a matter of seconds, and every muscle in his body thrashed and flailed in his will to escape, his will to live.

As he kicked and clawed all Link could see were the glowing, thirsty eyes of the devil before him, the last image he would see in a darkening world.

Princess Zelda and the Hylian people had fallen into silence. The princess felt the light of her power, the splendor of the Triforce, tugging at her heart as its sisters warred. Zelda could barely breathe from the sensation burning throughout her bones, realizing that her fright came more from the pulsating cries within her as she watched the hero battle. Seeing Link's pain, seeing Ganondorf's power peak only seconds after Link's had saved him … she knew in her great wisdom that the Triforce would not truly be either's saving grace. They were two titans fighting for everything their hearts desired, each with the full belief that their cause was just and right. No amount of power had birthed those beliefs.

Link felt the blood boiling and swirling through his head when he lowered a hand to his belt. He fumbled for the hilt of his dagger as his other continued to gnaw at Ganondorf's flesh, trying its best to lift at least one finger from his neck.

As soon as he could grip his dagger, he cast his arm up to jab its small blade into Ganondorf's arm. A single nerve twitched and jolted the muscles in his hand, giving Link only momentary relief to suck in a rough, garbled breath before the wind was again closed to him … and more tightly.

Link watched in horror as the king patiently sheathed the sage-blade into the ground to wrap a fist around the dagger protruding near his elbow. Without any sign of pain, Ganondorf excised it and grinned. The lethal sparkle in Ganondorf's eye frightened Link, and he furiously kicked as he sputtered, trying to knock the dagger from his enemy's hand.

Ganondorf plunged the dagger into Link's flailing left leg, and Link felt the warm bite of its steel flood his thigh. A scream convulsed through his throat that emerged with the sound of a gurgled cough. The pain shot through his nerves, but he was thankful of the pain; with it came the evidence that he was still very much alive.

He saw the sneer written across the demon's face and knew that the king thought it the end of him. He could see the blind claim to victory in his eyes, had seen it from the beginning. But Link would not yield his life, or the lives of Hyrule.

He truly fought to his very last breath.

Wrapping his fingers over the dagger, he removed it, turned its blade about, and drove it into Ganondorf's wrist…. Deep.

At last, the fingers fell from Link, and the hero collapsed to the ground. He coughed and gasped and sputtered as air once again coursed through his bruised throat. He grasped at his neck, surprised that it pained him to breathe again, the current rubbing against his throat. The numbness that had crept into his lips sent cold tingles through his cheeks, and he could finally feel the tears that had streaked his face.

Link did not linger like this for long, however, for he watched as Ganondorf pulled the dagger from his wrist and toss it aside. The king did not remove his stare from Link as he slowly grasped the hilt of the sage-blade.

The Master Sword glimmered nearby in the rain, but as soon as Link started for it, he felt a tug on his shoulder, raising him only partially from the ground. Before Link's eyes could focus on the image of the sage-blade before him, he felt its sting as Ganondorf smacked its hilt across his face.

The blow sent Link reeling back to the ground, blood flying from his mouth and nose. He choked on its metallic taste only for a moment before he again saw the shinning surface of his weapon. Left hand holding the bleeding wound on his leg, Link tried to banish all thought of his wounds as he resumed crawling for the Master Sword, the blade that would end all suffering.

The moment his right hand landed on its hilt, Ganondorf stomped down.

Lightning pierced the sky and Link's deafening scream became its thundering response. Every bone in his hand crackled and bent with the weight of the king's boot. Tears cascaded down Link's soiled cheeks as the fingers of his opposite hand flexed and grabbed at the boot weakly in answer to the pain. He tried to grab up the Master Sword then, but it was trapped along with his hand.

The scream that had echoed across the field reached the small camp where Telma watched over the horde of wounded Hylians. She looked to Shad, who had remained at her side to help defend the weak, for even with the armies at a standstill, Telma had not trusted the respite. She looked to the young scholar then, terror grasping at the features of her strong, round face. Together, they took up arms and raced across the plain, leaving the remaining soldiers to protect those fallen.

Telma and Shad jostled through the crowds, but when they reached the head of the throng at Auru's side and saw Link struggling on the ground, the hum of the looking glass stole their breath away. Shad froze and dropped his sword. Telma looked to Auru. Her eyes searched for hope, but he had none to return in the dull shine of his. He turned his gaze upon the nearby Rusl. Auru could see that every fiber that held his soul together was slowly tearing away, a part of himself dying each time Link screamed or moaned in pain beneath the tyrant.

Worse yet were the eyes of Princess Zelda. The girl Auru had known had long since diminished. She was a woman grown now, a queen in waiting. She had conquered so much since the time of their farewells; she had seen the death of her father and been given the responsibility of every life in Hyrule. She had borne the weight proudly and honorably. She had done everything right; she had set aside pride, surrendering to a usurper, to keep her people from harm. She had been wise, working in secret, hanging her hopes on a hero until the day she was again free from evil's grasp.

No teacher could have ever been more proud of a student than Auru of his princess. She had done everything for the prosperity of her people, and she wept in the fear that all her suffering had been for naught … undone by this single moment.

Zelda could not help thinking that Midna had been right all along. As she stood by, helpless, looking on as Link struggled, she could only wonder what could have happened had she not surrendered, had she not given in to the will of Zant so easily. Would it have changed anything?

What had she done? Link bore the mark of the goddesses. He was the chosen hero, but she could not help feeling responsible.

Cracks against her hope began to form, and she found herself doing the only thing she could.

Hand against her heart … she prayed.

The King of Evil reveled in the feeling of Link's tiny hand beneath him and the hero's squirming body trying in vain to pry his foot away. He could feel this boy's agony radiate up through him, and it filled him with pleasure. The sense of bliss he felt whenever he saw pain in the eyes of those beneath him never waned. Each encounter left him feeling stronger. It was intoxicating.

The descendant…. The one who had put the gears of his defeat into motion all those years ago….

At last. Justice.

"You have his eyes," bellowed the demon, remembering, and Link stopped for a moment, staring up into eyes poisoned with memory. "Those … blue eyes…." Ganondorf's hand tightened around his sword. It was as if that boy of ten were the one lying beneath him now, stricken with defiance. "Those willful eyes." The memory conjured with it an intense anger, one he had held strong in his black heart ever since the day the armies of the old king of Hyrule had subdued him. His jaw clenched and his eyes hardened under his wild hair. His scowl turned to one of pure hatred, and when he spoke, it was as if he addressed that small boy long since gone from the world. The words came slowly, each syllable filled to the brim with passionate wrath. "Did you truly think a small boy greater than a king?"

With that, Ganondorf launched his blade downward without warning….

And Link howled a furious and desperate roar, kicking at the blade as it descended.

His boot impacted the blade so forcefully that it flew to the side and imbedded in the ground beside him. Surprised by the might of the boy, Ganondorf reeled to the side and staggered there a moment.

Link breathed easier when the weight of the demon lifted, but the damage had been done. Every finger and every bone in his hand had been crushed and twisted. Seeing the breaks caused a new surge of pain that he was barely able to control as he lifted his hand and huddled it close to his stomach. Turning with the aid of his elbow instead, he grabbed onto the Master Sword with his proper hand and pushed himself up. He twirled the blade, testing the weight of it again.

Ganondorf sneered and waved him on. His hollow laugh taunted Link.

But Link did not take the bait.

No longer could Link defend against his strongest attack. If Ganondorf charged and managed to lock blades again, Link knew that without the aid of his right hand, he would not have the strength to resist. He realized now that he had never quite had the advantage in this battle, but now his odds were greatly diminished … and would continue to do so if he did not defeat the king soon.

Agility would be Link's only ally, as it often was with the foes he had faced in the past. He had to take care to mind his surroundings and listen to his instincts as he studied Ganondorf. The king was patient in his movements, and Link mirrored this. He would wait for the demon to attack and find a break in his offense.

After several moments ticked by, Ganondorf and Link circling each other … watching, waiting … the king grew restless. The boy thought to outwit him, he surmised. He had studied. He had learned.

Ganondorf hummed a growl. He would make the boy suffer for his insolence, for thinking himself better than a king.

A burst of speed carried the demon across the battlefield, and Link knew by the way his feet fell that the king would thrust. The Hylian dodged to the right as the king's attack fell. Ganondorf swung wide and Link ducked and slashed at his toes. The king responded with a quick sidestep and downward slash, only to be diverted by the Master Sword.

With that parry Link launched into a set of attacks, but the king never seemed to tire. Wherever his blade soared, the sage-blade was there to block his assault. Every thrust, each wide arc, and a barrage of slices both horizontal and vertical … all parried with little effort and with Link only managing to catch the cape of the king so that by the time Ganondorf swung for his head, the fabric had been reduced to ribbons fluttering in the wind and hanging on the mist.

As Link ducked to escape Ganondorf's last attack, the glowing white scar stretching the length of the king's breast drew his attention. The Master Sword seemed to hum in response to Link's thoughts, hungering for the strike that would render its service complete.

Link thrust for the king's wounded heart, but Ganondorf was in motion. The blade missed its mark and sunk deep into the demon's arm. The stab throbbed and sent waves of jolting pain through his body. The feeling brought on more rage than misery, however, and Link could see the torches of his hatred burn afresh. The Hylian retrieved his blade just as the king swung at his head, skipping back a few steps to give him some room to breathe and study the king's next move.

The rains came harder when the demon snarled. He had delighted in the boy's struggle in the beginning, but now his only pleasure would be to see the light of this hero suffocated.

And he knew exactly how to bait Link.

Ganondorf gripped the sage-blade in a firm two-handed hold, exaggerating the motion slightly so that the hero would take his cue.

Link had been dreading the appearance of this stance, but he held fast to his ground some meters away. Link knew how to break free of this attack before it would be unleashed.

And then the demon charged the hero.

In the last seconds, Ganondorf reared his blade high and swung down swiftly, met by Link's dodging leap to the side, where he prepared an attack. However, this was just the response Ganondorf had expected, and before Link could realize his deception, the king shifted his bearings and sent his fist flying into the boy's chest.

Wind broke free of Link's lungs as he sailed and landed in the mud some distance away. A resounding crack had sounded when knuckles had met his chest, and the dazed Link could not comprehend. His mind when numb and his fingers relaxed over the hilt of his blade. His eyes felt heavy, but even as he fought the sudden bleariness … his sapphire eyes closed.

The hero had fallen for the final time.

Princess Zelda gasped when Link had collapsed. Her hand still clutched her chest in prayer, but tears soaked her cheeks anew in seeing Link once more beaten to the ground.

Rusl's heart fluttered, and he, too, felt faint. His jaw dropped in a silent cry. He could not believe that through all Link's hardships, through all his victories, that it would all end like this. He wanted to call out to Link, to will him to rise again, but each time he tried to form the words, his tongue turned to sand and he could not speak.

No one breathed as they watched on, praying by some miracle that their hero would rise, but … Link lay motionless under the rain and shadows.

From some distant place, a voice seeped into the fallen boy of Ordon.

"…Your time has come, young warrior, to attest the name of Hero…." The voice rattled and echoed into Link's Hylian ears, and words he had vowed to live by vibrated into the core of his being.

"If you falter, will you remember to pick yourself back up?"

Link sputtered to life at those words, holding his chest with his wounded right hand. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to move, and he realized that the blow to his chest had likely fractured a rib.

Ganondorf approached him, and Link tried to rise, gripping tightly to the Master Sword once more. In the instant Link had managed to lift his back, Ganondorf kicked his chin and sent him reeling onto his side. He cringed at the stabbing pain that coursed through his chest. Lying on his left shoulder, he did not have a good angle to defend himself against Ganondorf, and he feared the fatal strike surely to come any moment now.

He clutched tight to his chest and his sword when the King of Evil spoke. "Look around you, boy," he gloated. "Hyrule has lost all hope in its hero."

Involuntarily, Link looked out to the many faces surrounding him beyond the barrier. Rusl was there, at the head of the group, eyes wide in terror. Auru, Telma, and Shad. They all stood by with eyes lit in sorrow. Even Ashei, cold-hearted Ashei, who had gathered with the knights next to the general, remained silent, tears hidden in the rain. The general clenched his jaw tight, trying hard to be the soldier, to be the strong leader everyone needed him to be. And then there was Princess Zelda. Beautiful and wise Zelda, clinging to her beating heart, tears drenching her face. Everyone Link had come to care for, frozen in fear, forced to watch as he had fallen time and again at the might of Ganondorf. What the king had said was true. Link could see that hope had abandoned them, and the shame he felt in that moment outweighed any pain.

"Today, you die," said Ganondorf, his words colored with the song of triumph.

Is this the end? thought Link.

That was when he saw it.

"Midna…" he gasped.

There, beside him, were the scattered pieces of Midna's helm, the last bits that remained of his companion. His heart clenched in his chest, and it was harder to breathe. How strange it was that they would be together again like this, lying broken at the end of the world. He wanted to reach out and touch those shards, but his only free hand was as shattered as her memory.

No, not her memory. Link could remember every day with her, from beginning … to end. The way she had sneered at him then, the way the sparkle in her red eye had brought anger to his heart. And then the moment everything had changed. The days her sneer had turned into a smile and her eye had glistened with care. She had always been there. She had been the one to catch him when he fell, to remind him of his oath, remind him of the countless lives depending on him … on them.

Midna had always said they had to save the light realm, and she had died believing in that. She had died believing in Link. She had died trying to do some good, to be as selfless as he had been.

She had died so Link could live.

Link's eyes burned from tears dripping down the sides of his face, and he turned away from the broken Fused Shadow to lie on his back. He looked up, numb to every pain except the one he felt at the memory of losing Midna. He felt the rain beat against him and welcomed the feeling.

The kingdom of Hyrule wept for its fallen hero … wept with him.

He could feel the ground quaking, could feel the booming weight of Ganondorf as the king took slow steps toward him, but Link was numb to the coming of his doom. As he looked up into the darkness clouding the dawn, he could only see Midna, and it was as if she had always been there, hovering above him. He thought he saw her then, flying down to meet his gaze, to heal his hurts, smiling her toothy grin, to take his hand and lift him to his feet. He closed his eyes and could almost feel her small fingers against his cheek. "What is the one vow you swore to keep?" she was asking. Link went to cup his hand over hers and wept anew when he found she was not there.

He opened his eyes and saw Ganondorf's frame towering above him. But Link looked beyond him, into the storm, into the shadows, remembering the warmth of the Twilight Realm.

"…For both our realms," he vowed softly.

It was then that all the terror he had once felt at facing death-at facing Ganondorf-fell away, and he found his true courage, the kind of strength that lived in legends.

"I will save Hyrule even if it means my life." Link remembered saying those words to a very small child and the hope it had bestowed.

This King of Evil owned the goddesses' ultimate power, perhaps, but Link had been blessed with a very special gift. The power of courage flowed through his veins, and he had endowed that same strength and will to live, the everlasting and unbreakable hope for the dawn of a new day, in every soul of Hyrule.

As fear collapsed, the Hero rose.

In the breadth of an eye-blink, Ganondorf thrust his blade at Link just as he leapt to his feet and thrust for the demon's heart.

The moment hung as their audience gasped then watched with bated breath.

Link's brows had furrowed as he looked up into the eyes of the demon, a face only inches from his. Link panted through his nostrils before his bloodied lips parted to catch his heaving breath. His chest was killing him, his body past the threshold of bearable pain. But he stood firm against his pain … the eyes of the king looking down on him. Slowly, the creases in Ganondorf's brow faded as his eyes widened with confusion. His triumphant smirk sunk, and a question took its place, unspoken but lingering on the king's lips, one that would ask the hero … How?

Ganondorf's shock soon turned to rage as he felt the humming twinge of the Master Sword coursing through his body. He staggered back and Link's hands fell from the hilt of the blade piercing his heart.

In the same moment, Link felt a tide of nausea as a slicing pain ebbed from his side. He cupped his broken hand over the searing ache in his left side and saw the blood dripping from the sage-blade before he noticed the crimson trickling through the gaps of his fingers. He realized what it meant, but he turned his attention back to Ganondorf nonetheless, doing his best to hide the gravity of his wound from his audience.

Ganondorf stumbled, dropping the sage-blade onto the tainted field. With his right hand he grabbed for the Master Sword, its blade pushed so far into him that guard had met fabric. His fingers flexed around its hilt, and he found himself unable to touch it, unable to pull it. The feeling left him weak as he gasped and fell to his knees.

He caught himself with a fist, trying to steady his weight, trying to rise as he was meant to. A king did not kneel, and yet he stooped there, unable to remove his pain.

He screamed, prolonged…. And in that bellow, a thousand memories flooded back within an instant.

He remembered what it had felt like … the cold, hard sting of metal lighting his bones on fire. A long time ago … the sages had been the ones to face him at the edge of a sword.

But they had not been able to kill him, not he, the Wielder of ultimate Power. Not he. His power had pulsed anew within him when their sacred blade had pierced his heart. He had always looked to that day as one that had renewed him somehow, for the power within him was a godly thing, and it had run the river of his being and rekindled him in his darkest hour.

Not this time.

Before, when the sages had pierced his heart, he had been rejuvenated with a vigor that uplifted his darkened soul. He had cheated death. The gods had allowed it. But now….

Grunting, Ganondorf pushed himself up slowly, inch-by-inch, and glared down to find the eyes of Link … the eyes of that boy…. In Link's eyes he saw the understanding of what he felt. He knew what it was without having ever felt it before-though approaching its distinct line closely during his lifetime. He had never truly crossed that line until now.

He was dying….

The white scar upon his chest pulsed with a replenished glow, the hole in his darkness that marked his existence and what he had spent his lifetimes trying to achieve.

With his power he should have been able to excise this pathetic blade, this dagger of a sword, but he did not have the energy to pull it forth from his body. Was this what death did upon its approach? Did it truly drain one's energy before pulling the soul into its final plummet into forever darkness? Or was it some other kind of magic?

Staggering, he used his last rasping breaths of life to glower at his executioner. "Do not think it ends here…" he growled, gasping.

Was it that he wanted to press into Link a false but lasting fear of his return … a return that would never come? Or was it true that he may find a way to resurrect himself in the Netherworld as he had done within the Twilight?

His eyes drooped as he nearly tripped, but he gritted his teeth against the blood that seeped through them and down his chin. He peeled his eyes open once again, struggling on his words. "The history of light and shadow will be written in blood!" he proclaimed to Link and all who bore witness.

He fell forward slightly as he spoke but kept himself upright, panting for his breaths to sustain him just a little longer. But his right hand tingled, and when he looked down … his worst fear….

The Power of the Triforce faded from him, and his eyes felt heavier than the world.

Suddenly, he could hear a faint humming that soon rose into distinct voices, and so it was that he could hear the pure song of his gods.

His hands fell to his sides. His chest heaved. His breaths crackled. As they sang to him, he wanted to fight the feelings that came over him, but it was some kind of … peace … that began to consume him as their lullaby soothed him in his final moments. The corners of his mouth fell, and his face grew blank, ears alight with the gentle harmonies of his gods. He watched as the dark clouds in the dawning sky faded and the thunder receded.

It was always darkest before the dawn; that was a law of nature.

And then-

His head jerked back when the pain of his wound pervaded his numbness, its whiteness fading into a black nothingness. His eyes grew white as a perfect cloud. His breath escaped forever, and his head fell forward gently, chin resting against his armor.