Chapter 12 - Endings
Link was standing in the middle of a cool green forest. Sunlight played and danced among the breaks in the leaves and fell dappled onto the brown, mossy forest floor. Light laughter swam around him, dancing this way and that.
"My dear, sweet, brave boy, Link," a familiar maternal voice said warmly.
"Mother?" He asked into the air, and then added, "Farore?"
The leaves from the trees flew off and spun in a whirlwind before him forming the shape and image of a woman he knew well.
"My dear boy, I'm so proud of you." The woman said, her glowing eyes radiating that pride towards him.
"Is it over, mother? Is he gone?" Link asked, timidly.
"The cycle is broken. Demise is no more. You, Zelda, and all of Hyrule are finally free. The Triforce of Power has been been restored and has returned complete to the Temple of Time." The woman said brightly.
"Free." Link said, trying to comprehend the implications of the word. "What will I do now, mother?"
"Anything you want to, my sweet son. Anything you want to." She said.
"Even if all I want to do is herd goats?" Link asked.
"Then you will be the best goat herd in all of Hyrule, and I wouldn't be any less proud of you than I am now." The woman said.
"What about the Hero?" Link asked.
"It is time for the Hero to finally be allowed to rest." She said, somewhat sadly. "He has served us, all of us, and we, even the gods, owe him greatly."
"Mother," Link began to ask, "who took Zelda from Hyrule when all this started and sent her to Earth?"
"I did." Farore responded. "Din, Nayru, and I decided it was time we ended this cycle once and for all. Hylia and the Hero defended Hyrule for millennia while we did little to help. We thought it was for the best during those years."
"What changed?" Link asked.
"Hyrule couldn't grow while the cycle continued. And we foresaw that if we allowed it to continue any longer, then our brother would eventually gain the upper hand, as he very nearly did this time. If that happened, everything we tried to build would have been lost forever. We couldn't allow that to happen." Farore told him.
Link nodded, understanding. "Will I see you again?" He asked.
"I will always be watching over you, my little Link. You have my word." With that, she vanished.
Look stood there in silence.
"I think he's coming around." A voice said. It was a familiar friendly voice.
Link opened his eyes to see Shepherd staring down at him. He was lying on a bed in a large room. His tunic and chain mail had been pulled off of him and what wounds he had were bandaged neatly.
"What happened? Where am I?" Link asked.
"You're in Minas Tirith, in the hospital quarters, or what they call the 'houses of healing'." Shepherd said. "We've been having a Hylian field medic tend your wounds. How're you feeling?"
"Strong enough. What happened to Demise?" Link asked.
"We thought you could tell us. From a distance all we could see was what looked like a small nuke going off. When we got to you, you were lying on the ground unconscious. There was no sign of anything else but a big smoking crater," he then held up something in his hand and gave it to Link, "and this."
Link turned the object over in his hand. It was the sapphire hilt of the Master Sword. The blade had been completely obliterated. Link pressed the hilt to his chest and said quietly, "Oh, Fi."
"Master Link," a disembodied voice said weakly.
"Fi?" Link asked.
"I regret to inform you that I am no longer able to perform my primary function, master Link," Fi said.
"That's okay, Fi. You can rest now. We both can." Link said.
"So, Demise is dead, right?" Shepherd asked.
"Yeah, I think so." Link said.
"Affirmative, master Link. Demise's energy was weakened by the skyward strike you delivered. The skyward strike was influenced by the foreign sangraal jewel. His energy signature was completely canceled out upon full internal contact with my blade. I detected no trace of his energy signature after the explosion. I calculate a ninety-nine point nine nine percent chance that he is completely terminated." Fi gave her report of the events.
"It's over then." Shepherd said.
"It's over." Link agreed.
Fi went silent as Link gripped the hilt tightly to his chest. "Good bye, old friend. Rest well." He said. He then asked, "Now what happens?"
"Now, we rest and recover." Shepherd said, "Sir Williams brought the third cavalry division through the linking book. From what he told me, Impa left for Hyrule castle right after she sent us through the book and told Zelda what was happening. She immediately sent out Williams and his men to help us. They landed in Lorien wondering where to go next when, according to him, they met a weird woman with green hair who cast a spell that immediately sent them within riding distance of the Pelennor fields where we happened to be. Convenient, huh?"
"Farore's Wind." Link said.
"What was that?" Shepherd asked.
"'Farore's Wind', that's the name of the spell. It's a special blessing bestowed by the goddess." Link said.
"Well, anyway, they mowed through the orcs on the field and broke their lines, then, when the explosion happened the orcs all started to make a run for it. We picked them off pretty easy after that. Minas Tirith was practically empty except for a few guards and a few thousand people in chains. We found the king chained up in the throne room. Our men started treating the injured as soon as they could. It'll take a while, but the city will stabilize. We've had trouble communicating with the locals, but they seem to understand that we're here to help. The king's been pretty traumatized by the whole thing, but he seems like a strong man, so I think he'll pull through." Shepherd explained. "Sir Williams has already sent messengers back through the linking book to inform Hyrule Castle of what's happened and they've responded by sending supplies and men to help Gondor get back on its feet. The Third's to remain here for the time being until Gondor is stabilized and we're certain the threat is over. She wants to establish formal relations between Hyrule and Middle-Earth, so we'll see how it works out."
Link did some quick math in his head. "How long have I been unconscious?" He asked.
"About two weeks." Shepherd responded. "It was touch and go there for a while. You were pretty badly burnt and beat up after the explosion. We still can't figure out how you survived. We were lucky our field medics had good Hylian medicines with them. I think that was the only thing that pulled you through this."
"You could have left me in the hands of Sir Williams and taken your own men home to Earth." Link observed.
"We're not done here yet, and I don't leave any of my people behind." Shepherd responded. "Get some rest," he said, and then left Link to his thoughts.
It was another week before Link was well enough to travel again. In that time much had been accomplished, and the Hylian ambassador had been able to establish an embassy with Minas Tirith. The orcs had been hunted down and driven back into Mordor. King Eldarion was immensely grateful for everything the Hylians had done for them and offered every cooperation that he could.
Finally, more than a month after they had first set foot in Middle Earth, the seven companions linked back to the Temple of Time in Hyrule, where Impa awaited them.
"I see you accomplished your mission and survived." Impa said.
"Yeah. Now, if it's all the same to you, we'd like to go home." Shepherd said.
"Of course, but do you really want to return to the Earth of the present? When you've been gone for six years?" Impa asked.
"What do you mean?" McKay asked. "What other choice do we have since you stranded us here?"
"I told you before, twice, Doctor McKay. Travel through time is easy for this place." Impa remarked. With a wave of her hand, the gateway emerged from it's place in the floor and began to rotate.
"Wait! The stargate was ruined when we left, how did you...?" McKay began to ask.
"Learn to play the game by its own rules, Doctor McKay." Impa told him.
"Here," she handed a piece of paper to Shepherd, "give this to me on the other side. I'll know what to do from there."
"Okay..." Shepherd said. "That's just a little weird."
"Forget about it," said McKay, "let's just get home."
"So, I guess this is good-bye?" Shepherd turned to Link and held out his hand, which Link took. "You going to be okay?"
"Yeah, I think I am." Link said with a smile. "It was good to know you, Colonel Shepherd."
"And you, Link." Shepherd said. "If you ever need us, you know where to find us." He waved good-bye as the six men from Earth stepped into the watery image and disappeared.
They emerged out the other side immediately and thought something had gone wrong because it looked like they hadn't gone anywhere.
"Well?" Impa asked them.
"Uh, didn't we just...?" Shepherd asked, then he remembered the letter and handed it to her.
She opened it and read it carefully, then closed it again as her eyes went wide. "Extraordinary." She exclaimed. "I had hoped it would work, but I was never certain. Hylia's plans are often very risky. Please, follow me."
She led them up the stairs and into the library. She moved quickly to the bookshelf with the linking books and pulled a small volume from the shelf. She opened the book to the back panel. "Here we are. You and your men have my gratitude and the gratitude of all of Hyrule. It is a pity that we may not be seeing each other again for a long time. You must not attempt to return here for at least six years, otherwise everything that has been accomplished may be undone." Impa said.
Shepherd nodded, getting a headache from the implications of what she said.
McKay then spoke up with a sudden realization, "are you saying that Zelda planned this whole thing, to trap us here and use us? That ten year old kid, well she's ten right now, did this?"
Impa smiled impishly. "You can't play the game if you don't know the rules, doctor, now can you?"
"That's enough Rodney. Let's just go home." Shepherd said, stopping McKay in mid-sentence. They all clasped hands with each other as Shepherd touched the panel and whizzed back to the underground caverns of D'ni.
"Colonel Shepherd, please report to my office." Woolsey's voice rang out over Atlantis' intercom. It had been a week since the six men had returned. According to Daniel, whom they met in the ancient library upon their return, it had only been a day since they had left with Link. He was as surprised as anyone when they appeared in medieval armor carrying swords and shields instead of their standard issue weapons. Their debriefing back at Atlantis had been the stuff of legends.
Shepherd entered Woolsey's office, "yes?" he asked. His voice still carried something of a Hylian accent after so many years speaking their language. Someone remarked that it sounded like a strange mixture of Japanese and British English accents. Shepherd was working hard to get rid of it.
"Come in Colonel, have a seat." Woolsey said in as friendly a manner as he could. "Are you readjusting well?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm getting back into it okay. Truth is, I didn't do much different there than I do here." He said.
"That's good to hear. I hear doctor McKay has begun writing down some of the research into Hylian science and magic he studied while he was there. It should prove interesting." Woolsey said.
"That's great. Why'd you call me in here?" Shepherd asked.
"It seems that, in the last week or so, Nintendo, the makers of the Legend of Zelda series, which I'm certain you are intimately familiar with by now..." Woolsey began.
"Yeah, intimately." Shepherd assented.
"It seems that they have released a new Zelda game. Dr. Lee first brought it to my attention a few days ago, and then the Pentagon became involved." Woolsey explained. "They wanted to know if we had a leak in our mission reports. I had to assure them in no uncertain terms that it was impossible. The details of your mission to Hyrule are known only to a very few people."
"What's in the game?" Shepherd asked, not really wanting to know the answer.
"Well, for starters, there are six new playable characters from a distant world who become stranded in Hyrule for six years and then have to take Link and battle the Demon King in a final battle in Middle Earth. Sound familiar?" Woolsey asked.
"You don't think I would've leaked classified information on a mission, do you?" Shepherd asked, taking offense.
"No, of course not. I know you better than that. Fortunately, a few phone calls were made to the company and they discovered that the game has been under development for the last six years. The air force has stepped in and discreetly asked the company to at least change a few of the names of the characters. They cited certain copyright violations. Nintendo has agreed to the changes and all seems well." Woolsey said. "I thought you might want to check it out."
Shepherd's head was spinning. "What's it called?"
Woolsey responded, "'The Legend of Zelda: Pathways of the Ancestors'."