Chapter 14: The King of Darkness and the Sage of Light

"So, what are you, then?" Princess Zelda asked as she sat on the ground across the small fire from Bannon.

He poked at the flames with a small stick before tossing it into the flames. They had taken shelter under small overhang of rock, for in the event it rained, and they were far enough north that Bannon felt it safe to risk a small fire as they ate helpings of dried meat from their supplies.

Zelda had been unable to take her eyes off him ever since that sudden transformation. She could still see it clearly, the bright red mane of hair and beard, seeming to flow in nonexistent wind and glow with unnatural light, and the nearly invisible burst of magical power that had turned their attacker into a black mark on the ground.

Now he looked again like when she had first met him, completely bald and clean-shaven, and very much like human man.

"To quite frank, I'm not really sure myself," he said.

Zelda raised one hand to her shoulder, where the place he had bit her was still sore. "You said you needed some of my blood," she said, "Are you a vampire?"

He actually laughed at that, and shook his head. "No. Vampires don't exist, girl," he said, "I don't need to feed on blood to survive. I need it to… I'm not even sure how to describe this."

After a moment of thought, he looked up at her, then shifted, moving around the fire toward her. "Give me your hand," he said.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Just give it to me," he said.

Zelda held out one hand, not sure what to expect. He reached up, holding her by the wrist, then she gasped as he pulled her toward him. He opened the front of his hide tunic with is other hand, then pulled her hand against his chest.

"Feel that?" he asked.

Zelda wasn't sure what he was talking about. "I don't know..." she said, looking where her hand was pressed flat against his skin.

"My heartbeat," he said.

That was when Zelda realized she couldn't. There was nothing, no matter how long her hand was there.

"There's nothing," she said.

"Exactly," Bannon said, releasing her wrist and letting her pull her hand away. "For a time, I thought I was undead. Possibly a Revenant. But the facts don't match up."

"What's a Revenant?" Zelda asked.

"You know what a ghost is?" Bannon said as he tied the strings at the neck of his tunic closed again.

"It's a soul of a dead person, unable to pass to the next life either because emotions they cannot release, or because of feelings of unfinished business in the world of the living," Zelda said.

"Like the exact words of a textbook," Bannon said, "They're far from that simple, but it is an adequate explanation for now. So a Revenant is like a ghost, but their emotion and sense of purpose in the world of the living is so great, it allows them to inhabit their body, possibly even reforming it from scraps, and still move an interact with the world as though they lived."

"I've never heard of such a thing before," Zelda said.

"It's not exactly common knowledge," Bannon said, "I've lived for a very long time, longer than most humans can comprehend, and in that time I've only ever encountered a single Revenant. There was rage and hatred in that monster, so far beyond anything I've ever known. Revenants don't exist in numbers simply because the kind of drive and emotion required are so great, most are simply incapable of them."

"And you thought you were one?"

"Seemed the best explanation at the time," Bannon continued, "After all, I should have been dead. But it's not the case. A Revenant requires no food, no rest, and feels no pain. I, on the other hand, still need sleep. I still eat. And if one cuts me, I bleed.

"What I am certain of is my old power is locked away from me. I used to be a very talented wizard. But I cannot use magic freely anymore. The mana streams of the world, the source of magic and life itself, I can no longer sense them. I can no longer tap into them."

"But what you did after you swallowed my blood was magic, wasn't it?" Zelda asked.

"It was," Bannon said, "The blood of the living, when I ingest it, it causes a reaction. My heart starts to beat again, and I am… reconnected is the best term I think… to the mana streams for a short time. But during that time, my old personality surfaces again as well."

"What, like a subconscious alter-ego?" Zelda asked.

"No, that would imply it's a different personality," Bannon said, "No. That little punk called me Ganondorf, if you remember."

"Yes," Zelda said, "The legend of the King of Darkness."

"The same," Bannon said, "With the resurfacing of my old power, come my old desires as well. There was a time when I loved nothing more than fighting and killing. Any reason to exercise my power, I not only welcomed, but delighted in. Without that power, such desires have faded over time. Every time I tap into it, though, it's like a rush of energy. I have to use it, have to fight again. All the old joy I found there is back in an instant."

He looked directly at Zelda, locking eyes with her, and she felt a chill run down her spine at the cold stare.

"Imagine a dam, blocking a river, and a great lake forming behind it, then that dam breaks and all that water comes rushing out in an instant, and that's how I feel when I tap into that power," he said, "I wanted that freak to fight me, I wanted him to get on his feet, to be strong enough to give me a challenge. And the disappointment I felt when he revealed how pathetic he was… I didn't feel pity for him. All I felt was robbed."

He looked down, into the fire, and the crackle of the flames became the only sound around them.

After what she had seen, Zelda had no reason to question what he said. That this old man, living out in the jungle alone, was the legendary King of Darkness, was incredible. If she hadn't seen that power he wielded with her own eyes, she might not have believed it.

"So why are you helping me, if you really are him?" Zelda asked, "The legend says you despise Hyrule and our royal line."

He shook his head. "That legend exaggerates quite a bit," he said, "And there's a lot it just flat doesn't know."

"Like what?"

He looked up from the fire at her again. For some reason, though his eyes only met her, she felt as though he was taking a measure of her somehow.

"No," he said, looking back down at the fire.

"No… what?" she asked.

"No, I'm not talking about that," he said.

Zelda furrowed her brow in frustration. "You intend to tell me that the legend is wrong and then refuse to tell me how?"

"I didn't say it was wrong," Bannon said, "Just that it exaggerates."

"And the things it doesn't know?"

He did not respond, staring silently into the fire. Zelda was about to press him again for an answer when something stopped her. It was a look in his eye as he stared into the flickering flames. He had been so impossible to get a read on ever since she met him, his eyes normally like hard steel, giving away no emotions at all. But she now saw something else there.

It was an intense sadness, and for a second, she thought she even saw the start of a tear forming in the corner of one eye. But then he blinked and looked toward her, and his eyes were back to the rigid steel gaze that seemed to pierce right through.

"All I will say on that matter," he said, "is that there are things I wish I could forget."

His tone was very final. It somehow drained all of Zelda's desire to argue from her. "I see," she said.

He turned back to the fire. "All you need to know is that if you listen to me, I'll make sure you get home alive," he said, "You don't need to understand me.

"And..." he added, glancing back at her, "No offense, but much wiser people than you have tried to do that and failed."

He was right, and she knew that. She had of course read the manuscripts her own mother had written about the Twilight Invasion and the Blighted War. The legendary King of Darkness had spearheaded that invasion, yet during the Blighted War had fought to defend Hyrule, right alongside the queen and Link, the Hero of Twilight himself. And yet during all of it, his real motivations remained completely lost.

During the Invasion, it had been assumed he was after the pieces of the Triforce he did not possess, as he had for thousands of years. Yet at the end of the war, he had sacrificed the Triforce of Power, as her mother and Link gave up their own as well, in order to kill Shaklator the devil god.

"Just tell me one thing, then," Zelda said, and he glanced at her, "Are you a threat to my mother? To Hyrule?"

A small smirk appeared on Bannon's mouth. "If I choose to be," he said, "But right now, the only thing I'm after is one man. Remember the voice that stopped your double from attacking us?"

"Yes?" Zelda said.

"That was the voice of a necromancer that went by the name of Tharkus," Bannon said, "Over two decades ago I killed him. I'm sure his knowledge of undeath is the means by which he has returned to us. But he nearly killed someone I care about a great deal. So I'm going to find him and I'm going to put him back in his grave. And right now he is a far greater danger to your people than I am."

"He's going to attack?" Zelda asked.

"I have no doubt," Bannon said, "But what you must understand is that Tharkus experienced great pain long ago as well. But he did not come out of it stronger like some do. Not like your kingdom's hero Link did, and not like I did. It broke him. He gave up his humanity long ago, and with it all his decency. Even as ruthless as I am, he is worse. There is no difference to him between a soldier on a battlefield and an infant in a crib.

"I have my limits to what I will do. He has none."

"What will he do?" Zelda asked.

"If he follows his normal pattern, he'll raise the dead from their graves to make an army," Bannon said, "But they'll be only a smokescreen for his real plan. But if he actually gets clever..."

"He's the one who made that body double of me," Zelda said, "She said she's to take my place! If she can fool my mother, she'd have access to the castle, and then if my mother died..."

"That double would be crowned the new queen," Bannon said.

The princess hadn't thought it through until now. That's why the double was going to kill her, and took her clothing. So that she could be the one rescued and returned to the capital. The double had said she'd spent years studying her mannerisms, to pretend to be her.

"Oh, gods..." Zelda whispered, "I have to get back as soon as possible. We can't let that happen."

"Well, that sounds like a decision," Bannon said, "First one you've made on your own since I met you."

"Mock me if you want, but my mother's life and the entire kingdom are..."

Zelda stopped short at the sound of a snapping twig. She turned her head, listening, and there were more footsteps.

"About time," Bannon said, looking up.

Zelda's breath caught in her throat as figures emerged from the surroundings, around trees and through bushes. They were almost invisible in the darkness of the evening, and even where the fire illuminated them, she could barely see more than their eyes. Their skin was so dark, their eyes stood out like unholy white lights in silhouettes.

They were more Narak hunters. The white stone of the speartips pointed toward Zelda and Bannon glinted in the firelight, clearly sharpened to a razor's edge. There were at least half a dozen of them, though Zelda couldn't tell if they were men or women in the darkness.

"What do we do?" Zelda asked as Bannon rose slowly to his feet.

Bannon reached into a pocket of his jacket and held something up. It appeared to Zelda's eyes to be nothing more than a loop with intertwined string inside in what might have been a pattern. But the approaching hunters slowed and stopped, clearly recognizing it.

"Do any of you speak my language?" Bannon asked.

The hunters backed up a step, glancing at one another, but none responded.

"If not, doesn't matter," Bannon said, "You recognize it. This talisman was given to me by Chief Hoots. I want to talk to him."

"You know them?" Zelda asked.

"They're Maraz tribe," Bannon said, "We're in their territory now. I built to fire to get their attention because this is easier than searching for a nomadic camp in the jungle."

One of the hunters relaxed his stance and said something to the others. They backed up a few steps. The one that had spoken stepped closer to Bannon and Zelda, but leaned his spear back against his shoulder as he walked into the light.

"Understand a little," he said slowly and pointed at the small item in Bannon's fingers, "Chief talisman."

"That's right," Bannon said, "I want to speak to him."

The hunter nodded. "Kill fire," he said, "Then you follow."

"Alright," Bannon said, and glanced at Zelda, "A chief's the closest thing to royalty there is in these parts. Let's not keep him waiting."

Far to the west of Hyrule, across the ocean, lay the decrepit wasteland of the continent of Mystara. It had been the origin point of what was now known as the Blighted War. The necromancer, Tharkus, had unleashed a terrible curse upon the land itself decades before the war began, and it had taken as long to come to fruition for him.

And evil magic that seeped into the earth, poisoning all it touched. Plants wilted and would not regrow, and water became toxic to drink. Animal life died out, and all five human nations of Mystara became barren, empty ruins, to never thrive again.

Or so it seemed at first.

There were those who survived the poison of the Blight curse. Their bodies corrupted and their minds broken, they lost all sense of their former selves, becoming violent monsters, intent on spreading the curse further and slaying those that did not die or fall to the corruption themselves. A great army of these creatures had crossed the arctic lands to the north, walking the only landway to Hyrule from Mystara, where the forces of Hyrule had made their final stand against not just these monsters, but the fallen hero turned devil, Jazeira Shaklator.

When Shaklator fell by the blade of queen, Zelda herself, what courage the Blighted men had vanished, and they fled once more across the arctic, all the way back to Mystara, and there they remained.

While the Blight ceased to spread, it was believed that Mystara was forever lost. That was until Sheila Anthress, the new Sage of Light, decided to pay a visit to her former homeland to gauge whether the Blighted men would be a danger again, and was shocked by the discovery she made.

In the forests in western Mystara, there was a small grove where a Great Fairy made her home. The fairy was able to prevent the Blight's curse from taking this grove, and in the years since, was slowly pushing the Blight back. Life was returning to the forest, inch by precious inch.

Sheila could hardly believe it when she saw it, that beautiful green grove of trees and pool of pure water. She had fallen to her knees in tears at the sight. Simply seeing the green color amidst all the black dead earth and trees was like a beacon of light in the blackest night.

So many innocent lives had been lost in that horrible war, and she had believed for so long that this piece of the world itself was lost forever. It would never make up for what had happened, but she found some small piece knowing that eventually life would return to these lands. At the rate it was moving, it would take thousands of years, if not tens of thousands. Sheila would not live to see it, even with the extended life granted to a Sage, so that small piece of hope would have to suffice.

But now she had another purpose for returning to Mystara. She traveled not to that precious grove, but much further to the south, to the ruins of the once mighty city of Darimar. It had been the largest city in Mystara, and the final stronghold against the necromancer's forces during the war. It had seemed that they would hold and be able to push back, until the Necromancer revealed his final trick. He had raised an entire fortress himself into the sky, flying it directly over the city, and when his forces fell and the battle seemed lost, he had ended the magic holding it aloft, dropping the entire fortress directly onto the city.

What wasn't crushed under the falling fortress had collapsed in the resulting earthquake from the impact. The massive city was reduced to ruin in a matter of minutes, and a population of over a million had been reduced to only a few hundred survivors.

Before that moment, Sheila had several discussions with Ganondorf, the legendary King of Darkness that had gone into even the philosophical nature of good and evil. One thing he had always made her doubt was whether she actually understood what true evil was. After that moment, she no longer doubted. Tharkus was true evil, a demon wearing human skin. No other creature could so callously end so much life in an instant and still believe himself the righteous.

It was then that she did understand that true evil did not dress in spiked black armor, and it did not laugh maniacally while announcing its plans as the villains in legends and stories did. True evil believed itself to be righteous, justified in its actions no matter how many suffered and died for its ends, but most importantly, also lacked the self-reflection to even question its own actions.

A true villain was ultimately convinced they were the hero of their own story, and so thoroughly that they never reflected on or regretted the carnage left in their path.

It was also when she was convinced she could trust Ganondorf. In spite of the hard front he kept up, doing his best to betray no emotion, she could see the rage in his eyes as he looked at the ruin. Further conversations with him only deepened that trust, and eventually led to that night they'd spent together in Hyrule, which would lead to the birth of their son, Damien.

But the reason she came to this ruin now was the unusual being that awaited her. Her own natural instincts as one of the last living elves in the world had been enhanced by the powers of the Sage, and Sheila could now sense the souls of other living beings from great distances, and if she focused, she could find unusual ones even from across the world itself. Most humans bore a white soul in her mind's eye, though when she first met Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf, they still possessed the pieces of the Triforce, coloring theirs gold.

But the one in this city was different, almost black, but ringed with a green outline. The only other being she had met with a soul that color had been the Twili named Midna. But Midna had returned to her people a long time ago. So this soul belonged to the only Twili that still remained in this world.

Sheila had appeared near the center of the ruin, stepping from a white light as she emerged from the ley lines of mana that ran all through the world, and allowed the Sages to travel so quickly and easily anywhere they desired.

She took a moment to simply look at the ruin. The city had been massive, as far as the eye could see, and she had grown up here. It still pained her to see piles of rubble where buildings had once stood, and jagged, broken stones where the streets had been. But it was all gone, and nothing she could do would bring it back.

But she was not in her thoughts long. The one she had come here to see could also sense her presence. As the Sage of Light, her very being stung his body like when one looked directly into the sun. But unlike the others of his kind, who would be burnt to a cinder by her very presence, he was strong enough to endure her presense.

Black smoke rose from the ground near her, silent and thick, rolling across the stones like liquid, before coalescing into a central point and rising upward, like a shadow that had stepped away from the wall where it was cast. It rose higher and higher as Sheila turned toward it. Black in color and partially translucent in the sunlight, she could see the shapes of rubble on the other side of it.

The dark shape rose to nearly eight feet in height, and grew wider, a large mass of its body, nearly shapeless, and then the shadow parted in two places, and two blue-skinned hands slid out of the darkness like out of sleeves. There were no visible arms, the hands seemingly able to move to anywhere on its body at will, but naturally fell to its sides like a normal being.

Then another slit appeared near the top of the mass, opening to the sides, and a similarly colored face appeared from the dark mass. It was almost human in shape, but not just the blue skin, it also had strangely colored eyes, yellow with red irises around the pupils, which instantly fixed on Sheila.

And then the shadow being smiled, and let out a low chuckle that she could best describe as like grinding large blocks of granite together.

"I didn't expect you to come looking for me so soon," the dark figure said.

Sheila sighed. "I wish this could be a more pleasant call, but I need your help with something," she said.

"And here I'd thought you'd finally fallen for me after twenty years," the figure said.

Sheila did manage a smile. "Even if that were my intention, I'm afraid the experience would be quite unpleasant for the both of us," she said, "and that's if one or both of us didn't die in the process."

"True enough. I suppose our elements are not meant to mix. So what did bring you to me?"

This figure was named Cain, and he was no ordinary Twili. During the Blighted War, it was discovered that the Fused Shadow, the ancient mask that held the power of the Twili, was actually the petrified corpse of this very being, killed more than eight thousand years earlier by the wizard hero Darius. But at the same time, this was not the same Cain.

Twenty years ago, Cain had reawakened as a Revenant, his sheer will and rage even regenerating his body, and then he did the inexplicable, traveling through time itself to seek his revenge. Sheila and Ganondorf, working together, had actually predicted that outcome, and with the other Sages' help, managed to send Link and his allies back in time to stop him from altering history.

But altered history was where this second Cain had come from. He came from a history in which he was not killed by Darius, and the Twili had successfully conquered Hyrule. Seemingly immortal, he did not age, and his very different life had given him a very different perspective than the undead Cain of the original history. Upon learning that history had been altered, he had in fact traveled through time himself and helped Link and the others stop his other self.

Logically speaking, this Cain should have vanished, having not even existed, when history was restored. And yet he remained. Sheila's best guess was that his exposure to the time altering magic the Sages had used to protect Link and the others from the changes of time had also affected Cain, and perhaps he somehow absorbed some of it into his body, allowing him to now exist in a reality that wasn't his own.

"I need to ask for a favor," Sheila said.

"Oh, are Link and Kilishandra too busy for you?" Cain asked.

"They are indisposed at present," Sheila said, "So I need you to find someone for me."

"Someone you can't find?" Cain asked, "That soul tracking trick of yours not cutting it?"

"Not exactly," Sheila said, "The person in question is invisible to me because he is technically not alive. His name is Zero, and you'll know him because he looks like Link, except with gray hair and his left eye is bright red and nearly twice the size of his right."

"He'd stand out in a crowd, then," Cain said with a chuckle.

"Well, I wish could give you more, but the last time he was seen was around twenty-five years ago," Sheila said, "There have been rumors of a lone bounty-hunter swordsman roaming about somewhere east of Hyrule, and some mention that gigantic red eye. Tends to be dismissed as just rumors, but he does have a reputation for being quite brutal to his bounties."

"Do I have a time limit on this?" Cain asked.

"I'm afraid I simply don't know," Sheila said, "So we can assume the sooner you find him, the better. And he will likely put up a fight, so be warned, he will be much stronger than a normal human, and as far as we know, will have limitless stamina."

Cain just smiled. "Raw strength doesn't concern me much," he said.

It was true enough, Sheila thought. Cain's shadowed body was unnatural, even for a Twili. It was not for show, either, as other than the small parts of his flesh, those being his hands and face, physical strikes, whether fist, blade, or arrow, would pass harmlessly through the shadow. Magic was another story, and it could strike him as easily as any other mortal. In addition, there was one known weapon capable of harming him, that being a sword enchanted with pure light, which was capable of cutting through the shadow, and was the blade that struck down the villainous Cain of this timeline. That sword was presently in Link's possession, and had been for the past twenty-five years.

"In the end, it's not actually Zero I'm after, but the sword he'll have," Sheila said, "You'll know it because its blade is black, with a blue pommel gem. If you can get it from him, then I don't actually need him."

Cain nodded. "One more question," he said, "You told me before that Sages are forbidden from interfering in the wars of men, so this must be bigger than that. What's happening?"

Sheila sighed. "There's a cult in Hyrule and the Empire," she said, "As far as I can see, they are worshiping an ancient named Demise. I'm not certain the Sages need to intervene with the cult themselves yet, but the evidence says they intend to free this demon from the prison it has lay in for the past four thousand years. That sword holds an important piece of the demon, which it requires to restore its true form. If it is released, but can't retrieve that sword, then we hypothesize that one of two things will happen. The first is that it will try to merge back with its old mortal incarnation."

"Mortal incarnation?" Cain asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"Demise was once slain by ancient heroes, so long ago our own history remembers next to nothing of it," Sheila said, "But he laid a curse upon his death that he would forever reincarnate and haunt the heroes' descendants. In fact, you knew that mortal incarnation. His name was Ganondorf."

"But Ganondorf is dead," Cain said, "He sacrificed himself to kill… well, that other me."

"In a manner of speaking," Sheila said, "The fact is, he still exists. I'm not sure I'd call his current state 'alive,' but he's far from dead."

"You knew about this?" Cain said, "For how long?"

"He contacted me not long after you and the others returned from the past," Sheila said, "But because he did not travel forward through time with you, he returned the long way. With those eight thousand years, on top of the four he'd lived before, he's even older than you now."

Cain chuckled as he looked away, up into the sky. "That's wild," he said, "Talk about a die-hard son of a bitch..."

"But the point is, four thousand years ago, the young him, that is, so before you even met him, actually split apart into two beings," Sheila said, "Just as you exist because the demonic presence of the Fused Shadowed merged completely with the ancient Twili king, the two becoming one, Ganondorf did the opposite. Demise reincarnated as Ganondorf, but following his defeat by the Hero of Time, something changed in him, and his human soul rejected the darkness of the demon, and with a bit of help from the Sages of that time, pulled them apart.

"Ganondorf effectively became completely human, or as close as he could be while still possessing eternal youth and other blessings of the Triforce of Power, while Demise became… something else. It's hard to describe. Whatever piece of Demise is in that sword, it must be something vital and important, because the Demise that is currently imprisoned in the Sacred Realm does not resemble any demon I've knowledge of. It's more like a force than a being. There's no intelligence, no planning, and not even animalistic behavior. It's a mass of raw instinct. It seeks only to feed, to devour anything it can reach.

"Which is the second possibility of its release, should it be so released," she went on, "It may simply spread across the land, consuming everyone and everything in its path until there's nothing left of this world."

Cain sighed. "By the nights themselves," he whispered, "I thought it was just me, but this world really is Armageddon-prone, isn't it?"

"Just a few generations of peace would be appreciated," Sheila agreed, "For now, I need to get that sword so I can confirm my suspicion of it. If I'm right, it may be the key to preventing Demise from becoming unstoppable."

"And if you're wrong?" Cain asked.

"Then we do everything it takes to make sure Demise stays in its prison," Sheila said.

"What about Ganondorf?" Cain asked, "If he's alive, will he help us?"

"I'm certain he will," Sheila said, "In spite of his origins, the Ganondorf we know is a very different man than Demise intended his mortal shell to be. It's a cliché, but Demise never planned on Ganondorf knowing love. And love can change any man, and so it has this one. Both love as a man feels for a woman, but also love as a father feels for his child."

A little over twenty years ago…

An event that had sparked talk across Hyrule, when the queen herself left the capital to attend a wedding in the middle-of-nowhere hamlet called Ordon. But it had been a wedding that if most of them knew the details of, they'd likely have never believed it. The wedding where Link, the Hero of Twilight, who had been the central figure of pushing back the invasion, married Kilishandra, the adopted daughter of Ganondorf, the King of Darkness himself.

Though all the residents of Ordon attended, in addition to a number of friends from Kakariko, the capital, and even a few from Zora's Domain and Death Mountain. But when all eyes were on the soon to be married couple stating their vows, there were two guests that all those present were unaware of.

The first stood in the trees at the forest's edge, across the stream from the gathered crowd. He stayed in the shadows, with a dark cloak and hood pulled up over his head, silent watching the event unfold. A small smile crept onto his face as Link and Kilishandra kissed and a cheer rose from those gathered.

The second unnoticed guest appeared from behind him, careful to make her appearance far enough that the light of the magic did not disturb the gathering.

"I thought you'd find me if I waited here long enough," the first said, turning to look at her.

Sheila walked toward him, moving up beside him where she could see the crowd as well. Music was heard from across the village, as they cleared the seats away to open a dance area in the center of the village. Though she was about three months pregnant now, it was clearly not slowing Kilishandra down as she and Link shared the first dance.

"I've never seen her smile so much," Sheila said, watching as the pair moved together, the others gathered clapping and tapping their feet in time with the music.

With a sigh, the first figure pulled back his hood, revealing that he was indeed Ganondorf, but as Sheila had never seen him, seemingly clean-shaven both in his face and the top of his head, completely bald.

"It is a life she never believed she could have," he whispered, "When I found her as a child, her home had been burned and everyone she knew killed. Her mother had hidden her, but she was forced to listen to her mother's screams as a sadist tortured her to death. The fact she'd survived was itself unlikely, but then that she'd cross paths with me…

"I lost my own home in a similar way. Everyone I'd known, except for one, was dead, and I'd been cut across the back by my attacker's blade and left to die in the desert sands. I was found by a pair of witches who nursed me back to health and taught me the black arts. Then I took my revenge, and from there began my quest to acquire the Triforce, all those millennia ago.

"But then when I looked at her, saw the fear in her eyes, I also saw myself. Perhaps for the first time saw what I'd become, and thus what she could be."

Ganondorf turned his head, looking down at Sheila where she stood beside him.

"I promised myself and her that I would not let that happen," he said.

"She's what changed you," Sheila said.

"That she is," Ganondorf said, "Even so, as she grew older, her natural talents began to manifest. Her ability with magic is far beyond what most are capable of. She's a true one in a billion phenom. If she didn't learn to control it, she'd be a danger to everyone around her, including herself.

"She hates magic, and always has. It makes people afraid of her. Everyone except me and… well, two others. The first was a one-eyed man from her homeland. He was warrior, but also a reckless adrenaline addict. They grew close, but it was only a matter of time before his adventures got him killed.

"The other is Link."

"Does it upset you, with your history?" Sheila asked.

"No," Ganondorf said, "I see it for what it is, and the way they look at each other. It's not starry-eyed infatuation like teenagers, nor is it the blind passion of stories and legend. It's trust. Each of them trusts the other to such a degree that many likely don't understand it. Link knows that as powerful as her magic may be, she would never turn it on him or those he cares about. And that's just the beginning of it. And in her case, she trusts him to stand by her. His prowess as a warrior has only continued to grow since last I fought him, and one day he may even be as dangerous as she is in his own way, but she also knows she has nothing to fear from him.

"That's what real love is, isn't it?" he asked, turning to look down at Sheila again, "Trusting someone with your person, your heart, and even your secrets that you'd give to no one else. Infatuation fades, passion burns out, but trust never dies unless it is killed by a party involved."

"I suppose that's a way to look at it," Sheila said, "So you mean she never thought she'd find someone she could trust like that?"

"More like she never thought she'd find someone who would trust her," Ganondorf said.

He fell silent, watching as musicians began the next song, and more members of the crowd began to find their own dance partners. Then Rusl approached Link and Kilishandra, and with a smile, Link stepped aside to allow Rusl to dance with her.

"Rusl is the one who walked Kilishandra down the aisle as well," Sheila said, looking at Ganondorf, "Tradition says that should be her father. And now this dance is supposed to be with her father."

Ganondorf just grunted in response.

"I'm sure she'd love to know you're alive," Sheila said.

"She's better off without me now," Ganondorf said, "They all are."

"Sounds to me like you're the one who can't trust anyone," Sheila said.

"I did once," Ganondorf said, "I told you about her a long time ago, if you remember."

That did spark a memory for Sheila. "Nabooru," she said, "That was her name. The only one to actually share your bed while you slept, if I recall correctly."

"That's right," Ganondorf said.

When he didn't say more, Sheila looked up at him. His face was an emotionless mask, and she couldn't see anything that would betray his thoughts. Better to change the subject, she decided.

"How did you get back to this time?" she asked, "You must have found another way, since you didn't come with the others."

"I waited," Ganondorf said.

"You… waited?" Sheila said, "You mean, for eight thousand years..."

"I stayed out of sight so I wouldn't accidentally alter history," Ganondorf said, "I was extremely careful, and this is the first time I've come out in the open since I killed Cain."

"Speaking of which, how did you survive?" Sheila asked, "Kilishandra told me what happened, and that you used the Senan Serat. Even you shouldn't have been able to survive that spell."

"I thought I wouldn't," Ganondorf said, then paused for a moment, then added, "You want details, why don't you ask those gods you Sages apparently have the ear of. They'd probably be able to give you a clearer answer."

"So you don't know, then," Sheila said.

"Look, I could have stayed in hiding," Ganondorf said, turning to face her finally, "Other than to attend my only child's wedding, the reason I came out here and let you find me was to let you know that I'm still around. Though at this point, I'm not sure yet what I intend to do with it."

"What do you mean?" Sheila asked.

"Watching history unfold has shown me the truth behind some things I already believed, and a few things that I didn't know," Ganondorf said, "For starters, Hyrule is stronger now than it ever has been before. It has a good queen, but it's also because of the unity between the different species of its population. That unity was very fragile when I first came to Hyrule, and it's now as solid as it is for one reason only, and that was a common enemy.

"Namely, me."

"Are you telling me you're going back to your old ways?" Sheila asked.

"No, not yet at least," Ganondorf said, "I've had a very long time to think about things, and one thing I have settled on is that yes, I am a different man than I was so long ago when I first touched the Triforce. I want to see what this world can become a thousand, five thousand, ten thousand years from now. I want to see what can be built.

"And if the best thing for that is villain who can help unite the disparate peoples together, well, I'm more than capable of filling that role."

"Not many would openly declare their villainy as a means to improve the world," Sheila said.

"The ones you need to watch out for are the ones who commit villainy while convinced of their own righteousness," Ganondorf said, "Men like Tharkus. They are true evil."

"On that we agree," Sheila said.

"But I don't think the world needs me again just yet," Ganondorf said, turning back to the wedding, where the dancing was finally breaking up as food was brought out for the party. "I think it's time for me to go, before someone notices me."

"There is one other thing," Sheila said as he turned to walk away.

"What now?" Ganondorf asked.

"You said this was the wedding of your only child," Sheila said, "That's not exactly true."

Ganondorf stopped, turning back to face her.

"You have a son," Sheila said with a soft smile, "He's going to be five this year."

"Then the child you mentioned before we departed to deal with Cain..." Ganondorf said.

"That's right," Sheila said, "He's my son too. His name's Damien, and he lives in the castle with the royal family."

Ganondorf let out a single chuckle. "That's quite a rise in status considering my first welcome there."

"I think you should meet him," Sheila said.

Ganondorf shook his head. "Not yet," he said, "He's better off without me, too. But when he's of age, I'll meet him. And then I'll explain what is expected of male Gerudo. It seems I may not be the last king after all."

"If I need you, how will I find you?" Sheila asked as Ganondorf turned to walk away again.

"You won't," he said, "I'll find you."

"Though if you remember," she added as he walked away, "You said I'd regret that night we spent together."

Ganondorf paused, turning partially back to look at her.

She walked up behind him and did something that would have terrified most anyone else she knew, as she reached up and took hold of Ganondorf's collar, pulling down. He grunted, but leaned down and she put a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Still don't," she whispered, "You take care of yourself. Okay?"

Ganondorf grunted as he pulled away from her. "You should worry more about yourself," he said and started walking.

Sheila let him go this time, sighing as she turned back to the party. She needed to make an appearance as well, and decided Ganondorf was right. It wasn't time for the rest of the world to know he was still around.

Maybe she could hope it was over for them. The world could have just a few short generations of peace. Maybe…

Meanwhile as Ganondorf walked away, his thoughts were on this son he just learned he had.

"The King of Darkness and the Sage of Light," he muttered to himself, "I wonder what kind of man you'll become..."