The Legend of Zelda: The Demon Within

Chapter 53: Into the Twilight

The open portal spit out Navi, followed by Link then Shadow, as they all crashed onto the cold tile flooring. Link stood up and glanced around the chamber. On the walls around her, she noticed a strange symbol. One which she recognized very, very clearly.

"Yes, you're right, young hero," a playful, familiar voice called out. Navi and Shadow stood up as well, and Kasuto walked out from a hallway into the chamber, right behind the mysterious man.

Link turned and walked towards the mural on the wall. "Where are we?" she asked. "What is this place?"

The man laughed. "Why, isn't it obvious? This place... it is a temple. For whom, you ask? Why, isn't it obvious?"

"Majora..." Link sneered. "But I thought I defeated Majora... and how does Majora exist here? Majora is from Termina! Right...?"

The man twisted his head, but said nothing. Link stepped forward, gripping him by the neck. "Damnit, tell me! You know more than you're letting on. Who the hell do you think you are? What is it that we're up against?"

The man shook himself free. "Mmm... hehe... you have certainly met a terrible fate... But fear not, young hero... You can still prevail. It is your duty, is it not?"

"Stop speaking to me in riddles! I want answers. Weren't you the one who told me that Majora's Mask no longer has any power? If that's the case, then there's nothing to worry about, right? What about this Scepter of Darkness? Isn't it connected to Majora?"

The man laughed. "Why, of course it is! Don't you realize it yet? Majora was a great and powerful demon, but that was not always so. Majora was the leader of a dark tribe whom set out to take Hyrule and the Triforce when it was barely beginning. They knew the secret, because they were in fact its guardians."

Kasuto narrowed her eyes. "No... they were Sheikah!"

"Yes, yes, now you're starting to get it... Majora was a sheikah, and he stole the triforce and wished to become a god. After a bloody war, the first queen of Hyrule and the first seven sages managed to defeat him and seal him inside his own mask, then they banished his followers to a netherworld, the Twilight Realm."

"Unfortunately..." he continued, "some of his followers managed to escape. They fled here with his mask and tried to release him, sealing a portion of his power into his scepter... they built a shrine for him on top of a mountain, and legends of its curse sprang forth. The evil power form the Scepter of Darkness grew up around it, forming the massive Forbidden Woods."

"The scepter gained much power, and gradually became its own ending, feeding off of the souls around it. This land here was greatly feared for the scepter, and the dark tribe that lives within. The demon within the scepter was given the name Mephistopheles, and is in fact a spawn of Majora. Dihryn, the queen of this land, wishes to return Mephistopheles back to his origin: Majora. She believes that she can bring Majora back by combining Mephistopheles' power with the power of Majora that still lingers within Majora's Mask."

"O-kay," Navi remarked. "That's... interesting... but how can she reunite Majora if YOU have Majora's Mask? You do have it, right?"

The man laughed, and instantly his eyes were closed and mask was in his hands. "Here it is, the Mask of Majora, safe and sound right where you left it." he opened his eyes again. "Of course, I should note that this place is where I found it in the first place."

He walked over to the center of the room, looking at the mirror where Link and her companions came from. "Right there," he explained, pointing to the wall up behind the mirror. "That is the resting place of Majora's Mask. Dihryn has been trying for a millenia to resurrect her dead master, but it has all been for naught. She has been unable to awaken the power of Mephistopheles, almost as if he refuses to listen to her. He does not want to go back."

"Ah, Loki, you are right as always," a feminine voice proclaimed, as a blood-red-haired woman walked into the chamber. "Of course, you always got in my way... just like you did 1,000 years ago. Is it because you were still loyal to Hylia? Is that why you stole Majora's Mask in the first place?"

Shadow narrowed his eyes. "Loki...? Then, is he my...?"

Dihryn laughed. "Oh, look, its the pitiful sheikah boy. Little boy has grown up so much, haven't you?"

"Damnit... shut up! Who do you think you are?"

"I knew it... it is you, Lokhe!" Kasuto called out. "You vanished over ten years ago..."

The mask salesman glanced around the room, then turned to Shadow, laughing. "Ah... so this is my namesake. He doesn't fit my style, though, ya know? This kid... he's too gloomy... Heeheehee..."

Suddenly, his expression turned upside down. "Oh... right... Alas, it seems I've been discovered... whatever am I to do? Link, I'm going to need your help on this one!"

Link rolled her eyes, then turned to the red-haired, dark-blue-skinned woman, readying her sword for battle. "So... you must be Queen Dihryn. I'm sorry, but this ends right here."

Dihryn sneered, shaking her head. "Don't think so," she remarked, then fired a blast of dark magic at Link, knocking her down onto her bottom.

"Ugh... wha..?"

Dihryn turned back to eye the mask. "Come on... come back to me, my love... you promised we would rule this world for eternity... don't forsake me again..."

"No!" Kasuto yelled, running at her from behind. The Scepter of Darkness suddenly slipped from Kasuto's belt and roots tore up through the ground, wrapping themselves tightly around the blond-haired sheikah, while Dihryn didn't even flinch.

"Witch... you're the one who destroyed everything... you and your damn demon! Dihryn, I'm going to destroy you, then I'm going to destroy Mephistopheles as well!" Shadow quickly jumped in front of her, the last stand between the dark queen and the happy mask salesman. He put all his might into a blast of dark energy, blasting her with all the energy he had in him.

Navi gasped, shaking her head as she watched Dihryn march straight through. Shadow, on the other hand, could not even see. The girl immediately through her own magic attacks at the queen, and the ice chunks smashed down into her. Dihryn once again didn't even flinch, and she promptly smacked Shadow away, then grabbed the mask salesman by the neck.

"Loki... trickster... your meddling ends here. Don't you think I've been watching you? Majora did not trust you, either. That's why, when all of us were given immortality and control over the dark magicks, I was given the ability to sense your every presence. I didn't believe him, but then, sure enough, when his mask went missing shortly after we came here, I knew it was you. You've been wandering the world ever since, trying to keep it out of my reach, but now I finally have it. Hehehe... hahahaha!"

Loki forged a smile. "Um... heheh... so... Dihryn... you wouldn't kill your own baby brother, would you?"

Dihryn narrowed her eyes. "That's exactly why I couldn't believe that you of all people would betray us! Damn you to oblivion, I say. You were working for the goddesses all along. You've been doing so this past millenia. Well, I've had enough of it. You're coming with me."

Still holding Loki around the neck, she turned back and picked up the Scepter of Darkness. Navi backed away up against the wall, and Dihryn snapped her fingers. Instantly a series of guards, with the same skin color as her, all appeared around them. "Take these wretches to the dungeons. I'm going on ahead. You know where to find me."

After Dihryn vanished, Kasuto's restriction immediately faded away, but she was quickly grabbed by one of the soldiers and knocked out cold. Link, Navi, and Shadow all suffered the same fate as they were whisked away in the blink of an eye.

XXXXX

Link sighed, shaking her head miserably as she sat on the stone bench. Shadow paced around the small cell, unsure of what to do. He tried another blast of magic at the door, only to get the same, predictable result. Nothing. Then he returned to his pacing.

"Lokhe..." Kasuto began from the other room. "What happened to you?"

"Damnit, will you just shut up already? Its in the past. That's all that matters."

"Yet I thought you were from the future..." Navi remarked slyly.

"Rajyhna, too, did seem like she was from this time. Something isn't adding up," Link noted. "Of course, I'm still wondering why they shoved me in here with you."

Shadow sneered. "Does it matter why? What matters is how we get out."

Kasuto knelt on her bench and leaned on the bars separating her from Shadow and Link. "Listen, Lokhe, won't you at least talk to us? I was only ten when you disappeared, but I still want to know what happened to you. You were with us, then all of a sudden you were gone. I remember one time I caught you trying to sneak out... you made me promise not to tell anyone. I caught you doing so several times. Then, one day, you didn't come back... I couldn't say anything, either, because..."

Lokhe sighed, leaning up against the door to his cell. He placed a hand on his forehead. "You're right... I remember it very well... My father died years ago, and my mother had only just passed away. I was all alone. I had you, but then you were spending all your time with your baby sister. Before my mother got sick, we had visited Masa, and I met this girl there... then my mother got sick. She died not long after. With no where else to turn, I escaped to meet up with the only person I could truly call my friend... but..."

"But what?" Link asked, staring up at him.

"Forget it." Lokhe retorted. "Forget I said anything."

"Lokhe, please!" Kasuto called out.

Lokhe sneered. "Yeah, you really cared about me so damn much! You didn't even know who I was!"

Kasuto lowered her head. "B-but, I... I recognized your name! In the Undersea Cavern... I heard the name, but I just didn't put two and two together... I didn't realize..."

"You didn't realize because you didn't care. No one ever gave a damn about me. Except for her... and... Rajyhna..." he collapsed to knees. "I treated her like trash... but she didn't seem to care. I guess... she was just trying to find someone to care about her, too..."

Kasuto closed her eyes, sighing. "I cared about you... I still care..."

"You never cared about me. That's why you didn't warn anyone when she... she..."

"You made me promise to keep your secret!" the blonde snapped back. "I did everything I could to help you! You turned me down at every turn! I wanted to say something, but I never did because of you! Everyone kept asking me if I knew anything about what happened when you disappeared. Everyone was out searching for you, and all I could do is bite my tongue and wait for everything to calm down. I felt like in my silence I had destroyed you. I wanted to die. Relm was the only one who was able to help me to survive all those years, and I learned to deal with it."

She paused briefly, then finished. "Maybe... maybe I just thought that you were gone. You weren't coming back, and there was nothing I could do to change it, so I flushed it out of my mind. I didn't want to linger in the pain any longer."

Kasuto finished her statement, then laid down and curled up into a ball, her messy long hair strewn about all over the place. Lokhe brushed his own hair back, then turned to face Kasuto. He closed his eyes. "I... I'm sorry..." he muttered under his breath. "I guess... I've been so damn selfish..."

He turned away again, shaking his head.

A loud banging woke him suddenly. He jumped up to his feet and saw the door to the other cell open. Kasuto, Navi, and Link were already up as well. "What in the world?" Link asked.

Lokhe turned to look outside. "Rajyhna...?" he asked.

No answer.

Kasuto stepped out of the room and found the keys nearby. She quickly unlocked Link and Lokhe's cell, then the four of them ran up the stairs out of the dungeon, into a small entry room. All of their weapons and equipment were lying on the table, and the guard was dead. The four of them quickly armed themselves, Link noticing that she still had the Moon Pearl, Rod of Seasons, and Harp of Ages. Of course, the Scepter of Darkness was gone.

Lokhe raised a hand up, charging a small ball of energy. "Yes... it seems that my powers are back to full strength."

Kasuto eyed her katana, then quickly sheathed it. "Everything is here... but who opened the door?"

A shadow dashed out of the room. Link immediately took off first, then the rest raced after her. The mysterious figure ran up lines of stares, and once again they found all the guards dead along the way. The path took them through the castle, and up a long set of winding stairs into a tower, where the lone figure at last stopped in front of a large door.

A loud buzzing noise echoed from inside the room. Dihryn could be clearly heard inside. First, however, the mysterious cloaked figure stood in front of them, facing away. Whoever it was, Link immediately knew that he... or she... was taller than herself.

Link unsheathed her sword. "Who are you?" she asked.

"You know who I am," the clearly masculine voice proclaimed. "But that is not important right now. What's important, is what's in here." He pointed to the door.

"Give me your—"

Link was unable to finish, as the figure dashed down the hall and smacked Link upside the head with his pole. "Shh! You'll alert her to our presence!" he whispered.

Link turned back to the person, staring into the boy's eyes. She jumped back in surprise. "Mido!" she called out, but still as quiet as she could. "But, how, why..."

"I came here to save Saria, not you," Mido explained. "That freak in there..." he pointed to the room behind him, "this Loki... he says he knows you. He's met you several times in the past. He explained to me everything about himself, about you, about the Scepter of Darkness, and about Ganondorf. He may be freaky, but he still knows what he's talking about."

"Link, as much as I hate to admit it, I need you. Not this you, but the real you, that boy I remember hating so much as a child. The one who loved Saria so much, not as a sister, but something so much more than that... you cannot do this, you cannot defeat him, unless you can fight his power. You have to remember who you really are."

Link narrowed her eyes. "Mido... what are you talking about? Have you gone insane?"

Mido lowered his head. "Do I sound crazy? Yes, I do. I'm also older now. I've grown up, just like you, and just like Saria. Do I regret it? No. I don't care if Saria hates me the rest of my life. I'm going to live my life to the fullest. But you, all of you... and even me, too... we've all been brainwashed by this demon. Its affected you and Navi the worst. The only reason I know is because Loki snapped me out of it, but clearly he wasn't able to break you free of the curse just yet. You and Navi, you've been changed far more than you realize, because he's manipulated your mind as well. And I know I'm not the first person to tell you this."

Kasuto turned back to Link. "What... what did he do to you?"

Link shook her head. "I don't know... I know something is wrong. Its been on the tip of my tongue this whole time... but I just can't remember... damnit! I'm going to kill that demon if its the last thing I do!"

Lokhe nodded. "Yes... but first..." he motioned toward the door.

Link took in a break of air. "Sorry... you're right. Let's take care of this first." She stepped forward, opened the door, and entered into the darkness...