Ok my friends! Last Chapter before the climax begins! Yay! This time around however, we're focusing in on Veress, which made this chapter quite... interesting to write (you'll see what I mean!) Now I hate to say it, but this one is actually quite a bit shorter than the past few... Mostly because I couldn't think of a good way to make it any longer, but we'll leave that for all of the climax chapters! :D Anyway, thanks to Kai2, DakotaBlacky, and DancinOnHeaven'sDoorstep for following! Now onto the reviews!
Nikrael-Yeah, Veress is a lot more complex than maybe most Zelda villains even... In fact, she is almost definitely the most complex villain I've ever written (and writing her is a ton of fun!) Part of you can't help but feel bad for her, despite all of the horrible things she has done and this chapter will help to emphasise that even more! :)
YueMelHamachi-Haha, yeah Link sorta came out of nowhere to help Sheik, but it was certainly a good thing he did! And yes... the real action is about to begin very very soon indeed... (cue evil author laughter!)
Vivi-ntvg-Haha, yeah Sheik is such a boss. As I writing the last chapter and all of her epic scenes I was like "Sheik is so COOL! Why can't I be her!?" Haha XD
Jarvis -There was a reason why Veress was sorta off her game in the last chapter, as this chapter will well explain I hope! And yeah, the Eyes of Truth are a pretty awesome and unique ability to have (of course, they're based on the identically-named item from Ocarina of Time, which serves the same exact purpose as well!) :D
TheJediAvenger-Their friendship is really adorable, is it not? And YES! We need some hardcore junk in Zelda Wii u! (but u already know how I feel about that lol). And once again, ur review is HILARIOUS! XD had me rotfling
Nintendoman01-I know right? Veress was just so scared that Link would take her down that she put that curse on him so he wouldn't be able to! I agree that she might be even crueler and conniving than Veran, though my reediting of Wisdom and Courage might change that...
LooneyCat55-Thanks! The last chapter was certainly relationship centered (as well as action based), so I'm glad that came through!
RandomButLoved-I agree, Veress is something of a B**** for what she's done to Link and I can assure you that she will get what's coming to her (though maybe not in the way you're expecting, but I'll say no more for the sake of spoilers!) And I'm getting really excited for the climax too! Its gonna be a blast to write! :D
Well, I guess that's all for now! Let's get started!
Chapter 31: The Fused Shadow
"Its my own design,
Its my own remorse.
Help me to decide,
Help me make the most of freedom and of pleasure.
Nothing ever lasts forever!
Everybody wants to rule the world."
-Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Lorde
The war had been going strong for three days. To say that both sides had suffered significant losses would be an understatement; quite a few of both the Sheikahs and Skyloftians had been slain and even more had been injured. The Interlopers had only experienced a few casualties, but in the three days of consistent fighting, a vast majority of them had been apprehended and carried off to the desert, where their exile to the world created by Terminus and the dragons was to begin. Overall, there was only a little less than fifty left of the legion of around two hundred rebels that had originally formed the Dark Interlopers, including their leader.
Veress sat upon her throne within the meeting hall of the Interloper stronghold, a fitting seat for someone who had recently proclaimed herself the new ruler of the surface, watching with a piercing gaze as the remainder of her followers streamed in. Her mind was still swimming with fury as she thought back to her encounter with the hero and the Sheikah leader the previous night, and how they had managed to somehow best her, despite her many advantages over both of them. She had been so close to victory in that skirmish, so close to getting rid of two of her biggest oppositions in this struggle, but it had been stolen out of her hands at the last moment, though by what means, she still could not figure out. The Interloper leader took a subtle glance over to the Fused Shadow, still floating atop its pedestal so it could supply power to all of the rebels, and she came to the conclusion that the cause for her failure had come from her own restraint. She had been holding back from using the true power that the dark relic was capable of giving her, as she had wanted to save as much of it as she could for her final conquest for the Triforce. But now that the war was quickly drawing to a close and she was starting to run out of options, Veress saw that such restraint was no longer wise. If she wanted to be the ultimate winner of this long-running game now, it was clear that the key to her victory would be the Fused Shadow, the greatest source of dark power that the surface had ever known.
The Interloper leader said nothing as the last of her followers entered the meeting hall and bowed down before her in reverence. For what seemed like ages, she simply sat upon her throne and stared down at them, her dark red eyes scanning the measly group in rage over the fact that their once vast numbers had been decimated so easily. Unable to contain her anger towards those who sided with the goddess any longer, Veress rose and slowly walked to the front of the raised platform she was on, keeping her gaze locked on her remnant followers as she began to speak.
"We have been cheated!" she began with a shout of burning ire for the injustices done to her uprising. "The goddess has contracted her all of her little followers out to capture us and cage us like we're nothing but wild animals! Higher powers have granted them the power to strike us down and banish us to the netherworld, a place from which we may never return! Rather than simply chose to be cordial to us and kill us in a way that we would die with honor, they chose to shame us by sending us into an eternal exile! They think we are weak, that they have defeated us and that we will be wiped off the face of the earth forever because of their 'noble' efforts. But little do they know that by banishing our brethren, they have stoked the flames of vengeance and fury into a blazing inferno that will burn for ages! I will make them pay for what they have done to us! For how they have disgraced us and disregarded us! I will have the power of the Triforce, no matter what it costs!"
Veress's booming voice echoed throughout the large room as she finished her speech, her breathing heavy as she tried to calm herself from her passionate rage. Her fists clenched tightly at her sides, she turned and promptly sat upon her throne once more, her thoughts consumed in how she couldn't wait to watch the blood of the goddess and her hero be spilled by her own hands.
The group of Interlopers slowly raised their heads as a silence settled upon the room, glancing at each other nervously as they looked upon their leader with worry. Never before had they seen her so irate, but they knew that they had to risk asking her nonetheless.
"Um… Mistress Veress?" one of the rebels asked hesitantly, hoping that her leader wouldn't respond too harshly.
"What?" she spat bitterly, glaring down at the group before her with lingering anger.
"Well… We… we were just…" the rebel started to stammer, before she was quickly interrupted by Veress.
"Spit it out already!" she shouted impatiently.
"With all due respect, we are in need of more power, mistress," the Interloper said as boldly as she could, inkling her head in respect to her leader. "To combat the light of the guardian dragons and the goddess herself, we require more strength than we already have, much more in fact."
"So?" Veress asked with little concern. "What do you want me to do about it?"
"Well, we were hoping that you could use the Fused Shadow to outpour more-"
Veress's eyes grew wide upon mention of the dark relic and she quickly stood and stepped in front of it, blocking it from her followers' view. "Now I understand… I know what you want…" she hissed darkly, glaring at all of them with disgust. "You want my Fused Shadow! All of you! I've known from the beginning that you all just want my power for yourselves! Why else would you join me in the first place? You simply want to steal what is rightfully mine! What I created on my own!"
"No, mistress!" another rebel exclaimed defensively. "We joined you because we thought you were right! About the goddess, about the hero, about everything! We do not wish to steal the Fused Shadow from you! We simply need to borrow some of its great power to-"
"To take me down and claim the Triforce for yourselves!" the Interloper leader screamed in rage, refusing to relinquish her last vital key to victory to anyone, not even her loyal followers. "You've been conspiring against me in secret, waiting for a moment of weakness so that you can take me down and obtain what I've worked so hard for! But I'm onto all of you! You will never defeat me! You all are weak! Pathetic! That's why most of you were captured by the goddess's followers in the first place! Because you will never know the strength that I do! I don't need any of you and I never have!"
"Mistress, please listen! We-"
"Get out!"
"W-what?" the Interlopers all stared at their crazed leader in complete surprise upon hearing this sudden command
"I said get out!" Veress screeched demandingly, drawing her twin golden knives as she looked upon her former followers with nothing less than hatred. "All of you! Get out of my sight! I don't need any of you to defeat the goddess and her hero! I can and will finish this on my own!"
"But… we-"
"If you don't get out of my fortress right now, I will destroy you all personally!" the Interloper leader shouted at the top of her lungs, brandishing her duel swords. "Now, go! And don't let me ever see any your worthless faces again!"
Sighing in resignation, the former Interlopers slowly began to pan out of the room, giving pitied glances to their former leader, knowing that clearly, she had been driven to the brink of madness by her own lust for power. There had been a time that they had all respected her for her bold leadership, a time when they had all viewed her as both terrifying and inspiring at the same time. However, since then, she had strayed from the glorious goals and ambitions that she once held so dearly when she had formed the group of rebels. As they had risen to power upon the surface and came to be feared by all, she had grown conceited and greedy, desiring a power that should have been shared equally among them all as her own. She had made it obvious now that she did value any of them as her allies, and so, they all left the fortress entirely, without saying another single word to her, knowing that she had turned into someone who was no longer worth following.
Still seething with rage over the supposed betrayal of her now-banished followers, Veress turned her gaze towards her precious Fused Shadow once more, slowing making her way towards it. "They wanted you for themselves," she said to the stone relic, her voice low and feral. "They wanted to steal my own power and use it against me. Those fools… None of them were to be trusted. It's clear to me now that I can only trust myself… And you of course…" Knowing that she had the daunting might of the dark relic all for herself, Veress decided that there was no longer any need to reserve any of its power anymore. Slowly, the last remaining Interloper reached her hand out towards the Fused Shadow and actually touched it for the first time, gently stroking her fingertips along its cold stone surface as she felt the sheer power flow from it into her. The dark relic pulsated as it granted the rebel its evil energy, and Veress let out a soft laugh of wicked excitement as she let it course through her veins, filling her with newfound strength and magic. Lighting a dark flame above her hand, she let it fly towards the other half of the room and watched with unhinged elation as it exploded, causing the wall to collapse and set fire. At her command, the resulting flame spread itself along the edge of the room, lighting it up in a dim, eerie violet glow.
"Such power…" Veress whispered in wild delight, knowing that her magic had increased tenfold from simply touching the Fused Shadow. Craving more of its immense power, the Interloper leader placed both of her hands upon it and let its incredible destructive strength pour into her unfettered. Every part of her body felt like it was ignited with a fire of power and magic, unlike any she had ever known before. Throwing her head back, Veress let out a wild laugh as she finally claimed the fullest extent of the power that was available to her, power that was only rivaled by that of her next prize, the Triforce.
As the Interloper leader reveled in her new strength, she happened to cast a brief glance at the long mirror hanging on the wall far to her left. She kept her gaze on it however when she noticed her reflection, standing out against the violet flames that illuminated the room and cast deep shadows upon everything in it. Slowly, Veress approached the mirror, her grin deepening with each step she took as she saw the influence that the unrestrained power of the Fused Shadow had on her appearance. Her once-tanned skin had taken on an unnatural light blue pigment, marked with strange, dimly-glowing dark blue designs that spread to the rest of her body. Her visible eye no longer contained a pupil, but was rather a bright, piercing red iris surrounded by yellow rather than white. The Interloper leader let out another triumphant laugh, taking twisted delight in her new appearance. Now, she certainly could no longer be classified as a mere Sheikah. She had become something so much more, something much stronger and more superior. And she loved it. Her mere presence now seemed to give off an air of sheer power and might, enough to make anyone tremble in fear at the very sight of her. She had finally gotten everything that she had ever dreamed of: power, strength, respect, fear. There was only one thing she lacked, but she knew that obtaining it would be her very next move.
Still smirking at herself in the mirror, Veress traced a finger down the glowing lines on her cheek, finding a certain bizarre beauty in them. It was then that she realized that her imposing appearance was only lessened by the half of her face that was concealed by her thick bang of bright red hair. Slowly drawing one of her knives, the Interloper leader softly chuckled to herself once more, running her free hand through her hair for a moment before lifting it into the air. "Let the beauty of darkness be unveiled!" she proclaimed fiercely as she swiped her knife across her bang, unevenly cutting it with ease. As her hair fell to the ground at her feet, Veress looked to her reflection once more, expecting to see more of the same, but she was instead shocked at what she discovered.
In the midst of the jagged, unruly ends of her hair, her other eye was completely dark red and empty, with no pupil or iris whatsoever. It glowed strangely in the light of the flames surrounding her, completely contracting the alluring coloration of her other eye. The skin of her face that had been hidden under her hair, instead of being of the same light blue color as the other half was, was completely drowned in shadow, showing no color but a pitch black as dark as midnight. Instead of finding beauty in this once-covered half, Veress stared at herself in horror and rage, knowing that such a monstrous, hideous transformation was not what she had wanted at all.
"The darkness of your own soul has claimed you, Veress," a familiar voice suddenly said to the Interloper leader as her eyes widened in fury. "And you have willingly allowed it to."
Veress scoffed bitterly as she glared at the figure who had appeared behind her reflection in the mirror, painful memories of the past filling her mind. "What are you doing here, Impa?" she asked sharply, not at all surprised to see the former matriarch of the Sheikah tribe, despite the fact that she had been dead for several months.
"You are lost, Veress," the elderly woman said, concern for the girl she had raised since infancy showing on her aged face. "And you need guidance."
"I need guidance?" Veress asked in disbelief. "How dare you come here and tell me that! I have never known my place more than I do now! I know what you and everyone else thought of me. You all thought I was worthless, that I would never amount to anything. Well, just look at me now! Here I am, about to claim the ultimate power of the Triforce, and there's nobody who will be able to stop my endless might!"
"You underestimate the strength and determination of her grace and her chosen hero," Impa said with a frown. "You spread destruction and darkness by instilling fear into the hearts of men. But the two of them possess a force filled with the light that can banish darkness. They have hope. And through it they shall find victory, for hope is stronger than fear."
"Please," the rebel leader scoffed harshly. "Hope is for fools who do not possess true strength. What good has mercy and kindness done for any of them?! Nothing, that's what! They've struggled and suffered for so long and so hard and for what? To protect this pathetic land? How futile! No matter how hard they try to save it, they will fail! I will not rest until I see them die in the unquenchable fires that I will set to this land when I become the eternal ruler of it!"
"Oh… my child…" the elderly Sheikah sighed morosely, showing pity for the crazed Interloper leader. "It pains me to see that you have let your own hatred consume you like this… I do not wish to see you meet your inevitable fate if your dark power gets out of hand."
"Oh, really?" Veress sneered caustically. "I bet you would be the first one who would want to see me go down just for the sake of keeping your precious little surface safe from me, right?."
"Veress, you must know that I never looked down upon you as some of the others did," Impa said with kindness and compassion for her young ward. "I had anticipated that this was the path that you were going to take, but there was nothing I could do to derail you from it. I am sorry that I didn't try harder to make you see the light, my child. But know that I truly did care about you and I wanted to see you prosper."
Veress closed her eyes tightly for a moment as she tried to fight back tears, clenching her fists at her sides. "Oh yeah?" she asked bitingly. "Then why did you always favor Sheik over me? You're lying! You never cared about me! That's why you told her to oppose me in becoming the leader of our tribe! You wanted to see me fail and you always have!"
"No," Impa said firmly, though there was a look of sadness on her face. "I wanted what was best for our tribe. But… this is not what I wanted for you, Veress. Look at how far you have fallen! You have great power, yes, but look and see what it has cost you! Your companions, your sanity, even your very humanity! Are losing those things really worth the dark might you have obtained?"
The Interloper leader took in a deep breath as she looked at her marred reflection once more, barely recognizing the person she saw. Her burning gaze quickly turned towards the elderly Sheikah once again however, the one who had taken her in when no one else would and who had supported her all her life, but now she was filled with nothing but hatred for her. "Go away!" she screamed in absolute fury, desperately wanting to be rid the vision haunting her. "Leave me alone!"
"I will," Impa said earnestly, but not before one final entreaty. "But first, Veress, I ask you to reconsider your actions. For your own sake more than anyone else's. It is never too late for you to realize your wrongdoings and atone for them."
"Wrongdoings?!" Veress shouted in rage, turning back to the elderly Sheikah's image once more. "I have done nothing wrong! I have made the goddess and her foolish hero pay for their injustices towards our people! I have found a purpose! This is my destiny! This was why I was born! There is nothing I regret and I will never turn back! I will enshroud this land in eternal shadows and the Triforce will be mine!" The Interloper leader let out a wild, insane laugh as Impa merely sighed and shook her head with grief.
"And so you have chosen your own path, my child…" she said sadly as her image began to vanish from the mirror. "Although it will yield nothing for you, you have chosen the path of destruction…"
As Impa disappeared, Veress simply grinned at her own reflection twistedly, her unmatching eyes demented and crazed. "You old fool," she said to the former Sheikah matriarch, despite the fact that she was now gone. "My path is one of victory! I will rise above the goddess and the hero, as well as anyone else who may try to oppose me! My dark power is absolute! Nothing can vanquish it!"
"No," a new voice said as another image appeared in the mirror behind Veress. "You're wrong. There is always light to banish darkness."
"Sheik…" Veress growled in absolute hatred upon seeing the Sheikah leader standing behind her, remembering their last encounter and how very close she had gotten to taking the life of her former best friend.
Sheik's expression was solemn, yet calm as she spoke to the Interloper leader evenly. "Veress… Look at yourself… Look at what you've let your dark power turn you into. Look at how you've lost your control over it… Over yourself."
"Be quiet!" the Interloper leader hissed briskly. "I am in control! The Fused Shadow is mine to command! It is completely at my subjugation as this land will be soon! You're just jealous of me, Sheik! You always have been! Ever since we were young, you've always wanted to be as skilled and smart as I am, but you can never even come close!"
"No…" the Sheikah leader said softly, still showing sadness on her expression for her fallen friend. "I'm not jealous of you, Veress. Not anymore…" A small, reminiscent smile came across her face as she continued. "Do you remember when we were little and how you would always tell me of how you dreamed of being the leader of our tribe? I used to think that you would do such a great job of it, that you would lead our people into glory and honor they had never seen before… I thought you were strong, capable, determined, and noble… But… I quickly found that I had never been more wrong on the day that you broke away from our tribe and betrayed us. When you betrayed me…"
"You're a blind fool, Sheik!" Veress seethed, still burning with rage. "I was not the one who betrayed our people! It was the goddess! She betrayed us from the very beginning! She resigned our race to a worthless existence of watching over her and this land, thinking that we would never aspire for anything greater! Well, she was wrong. For I have found a goal greater than most mere mortals could ever dream of! And while you lust after the goddess's chosen hero in secret, I will rise above to conquer the power of the Triforce and bend its immense strength to my will!"
The Interloper leader let out another wild, wicked laugh as Sheik cast a pitied gaze down. "You've let your greed and lust for might dominate you, Veress…" she said, still as calm as before. "You believe that by using power and fear, you can dominate others, even your own former followers…"
Upon being reminded of the betrayal of her own brethren, Veress clenched her fists so tightly that they were shaking. "Well what else is there?!" she asked, becoming more unhinged by the second. "Fear is the only way to submit others to your control! There isn't a mortal alive who does not fear my great power! The goddess fears me, as well as her courageous little hero! Even you fear me, Sheik…"
Sheik was silent for a moment as Veress glared darkly at her before slowly shaking her head. "No, Veress…" she said morosely, sympathy for the Interloper leader showing in her scarlet eyes. "I don't fear you. You were my best friend… We did everything together. We were so close… And though I know it's far too late for anything to change, I wish that we still were…"
Not wanting to hear any more of the Sheikah leader's kind words, the Interloper leader let out a loud scream of mangled frustration as she placed her hands on her head. She began to feel the immense power granted to her by the Fused Shadow begin to grow out of control due to her deteriorating mental state, as the flames around her burned darker and hotter along with her increasing fury. "Be quiet!" she shouted with intensity to the reflection of her former best friend. "Leave me alone!"
Sheik let out a sigh of sadness and remorse as she gave Veress one last sorrowful gaze. "Veress… Please… If you don't stop this madness, you will be taken down one way or another, either by us, or by your own uncontrollable might. Remember what Impa once said: those who do not know the dangers of wielding power will, before long, be ruled by it."
Unable to take any more of Sheik's gentle admonishing, Veress glared daggers at her image in the mirror as she drew one of her knives, and in a wild, uncalculated movement, she tossed the blade towards the mirror with such a great force that it shattered the reflective glass into hundreds of pieces, getting rid of the hallucinations of both the Sheikah leader and the former matriarch once and for all. Breathing heavily, the Interloper leader found herself alone once more as the flames she had conjured all suddenly burned out, leaving her in the lonely darkness of the large room. Her grip on reality was quickly slipping away from her in the midst of her unquenchable burning rage and hatred. But even in the midst of all of this, she could feel something us that drove her even madder and it was the smallest traces of regret and remorse. Somehow, there was still a small part of her that hated all she had done, all of the pain and destruction she had caused. However, Veress was quick to push such inclinations of shame and mercy away, for she knew it was far too late for that now. She had spiraled too deep into both evil and insanity for her to change her ways now. And even if she was not lost in the frenzy of her own mind, she would not want to. Her goal of obtaining the Triforce was closer than ever now that she had the true power of the Fused Shadows and she was going to get it no matter what. But even so, she could not stop herself from collapsing to her knees before the shattered mirror as her tears of guilt and rage finally began to pour forth. Impa and Sheik had been right when they told her that she had lost much. All her life she had been losing. But even now that she was finally winning, she still felt empty and worthless, just as she had her entire life. And never had she felt more empty and worthless than she did sitting on the floor of that empty room, weeping to herself as she finally lost the only thing she had left aside from her dark power, the very thing that was stealing it in the first place: her sanity.
Well... yeesh... D: Veress went kinda... crazy? Didn't she? Well, for those of you who are all like "Wait, what just happened?" Allow me to explain that I needed to make Veress basically... um... lose her mind... for reasons you'll in the upcoming chapters. Also, because of stuff like power corrupts, with great power comes great insanity, stuff like that! :) Also, I should give credit where credit is due and say that this entire chapter was largely inspired by two sources: the first is Zant from Twilight Princess, who (spoiler!) also loses his sanity (though I think he goes even more nuts than Veress) and of course, my main inspiration for Veress's character in the first place: Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender! I really hope some of you caught the HUGE references I made to Azula's villainous mental breakdown in this chapter, because that was what really inspired it from the beginning! :D Now onto other matters (yeah I suppose I'm dragging this out). Since we are at the start of the climax, I find that its only fair that I give you a glimpse of the future and share with you the titles of the remaining chapters, then leave you to speculate on your own! And so I implore you to enjoy! :D
Chapter 32: Dawn of the Final Day
Chapter 33: Corrupted Hero
Chapter 34: Mortal Goddess
Chapter 35: The Flow of Time
Chapter 36: Finishing the Fight (very tentative title)
Chapter 37: Curse of the Interlopers
Chapter 38: Song of Time
Chapter 39: A New Era
Epilogue: Blood and Spirit
Afterword
Its really sad to think that is all that's left of this story... I mean, Blood and Spirit has been my baby for almost a year now and now its almost over... But, the good news is that once its done, I get to start anew in Light and Shadow, as well as fixing up Wisdom and Courage! Yay! Alright, so that's it for now! As always, don't forget to REVIEW! Until next time!