East Hyrule
"Good job, Ravio. You managed to get the ghost monster away from Link, but in doing so, you got your dumb self lost! Oh shiii-" Ravio covered his mouth as the shadow of the fused ghosts cascaded over him. He knew not how long nor how far he last saw Link, but his plan did work. Worked a little too well, if you ask Ravio. He forced himself to find a spot to hide in, until the restless apparitions decided he wasn't worth their time on earth.
Those unfortunate series of events led the Lorulean to another town in ruin (and more dead people) in the center of a plain in the middle of East Hyrule. Within it, he was able to escape from the ghoul and find a place to hide, which happened to be one of the few intact buildings.
The looming darkness passed, allowing Ravio to come from his cover. Just to be sure, he looked out a window, seeing the large ghost floating to the north. Breathing in relief, Ravio turned and trailed down the corridor of his building.
From what he could tell, it was a place of important, most likely a palace. Being within a city, however, this wasn't a palace the old hero would've conquered, but a palace a ruler would reside in. However, it wasn't as grand as Lorule Castle, nor was he close to the throne of Hyrule, so it had to belong to a smaller kingdom or was given to a person of stature. Whoever was in charge, they must have done something to have the Imperials raze the city to a crisp, and kill so many. It was a brutal massacre.
Stepping into another hallway, Ravio spotted several paintings either hanging securely to the wall, hanging for dear life, or slumped against the floor. Most of them were either covered in ash or burned, but a few managed to survive the ordeal in one way or another. Some pictured history, some a landscape, either a desert or the plains surrounding the town. Others had people, with men and women sitting on a throne or an entire family huddled together. They were all the same, dark red to bright orange haired, yellow eyes as dull as fool's gold or as blinding as the sun, skin dark as night to light as dust. That wasn't what identified the people in the paintings for Ravio. Under each painting was a plaque, some more readable than others, but they all contained letters that spelled one word.
"Dragmire… Why is that name so familiar? Oh, that is why." Ravio came upon the final painting in the hallway, where a family of six posed. In the middle, a large male sat in a chair with his arms folded, while the woman sitting beside him touched one hand to his shoulder, the other holding a medallion of sorts. In front of them are two little girls, the one beside the king with ice blue hair, the other in front of the queen with fiery orange hair. They had the biggest smiles on their faces, innocent to all of the world's troubles. This was in stark contrast to the young man and woman standing behind the king and queen. They stood together like a couple, with both touching the outer shoulder of the person they would one day replace. The girl was adorned in a red and gold dress, while the male wore quite familiar dark clothing.
That was Ganondorf indeed, and if he had to guess, the older girl was his queen, Aveil. The little girls were his sister, Koume and Kotake. The names of his parents (something the Gerudo prince never really spoke of) were inscribed on the plaque. Malladus and Nabooru. Before Ravio could looked away from the picture, he glanced at the queen once more. Her eyes were what drew him, as they were so different from Ganondorf's, and the rest of the family as well. They had yellow eyes, yet hers were emerald green. That medallion was also familiar to him as well. The legends of Lorule spoke of seven men, women, and creatures that help the Hero defeat the evil that plagued Hyrule and Lorule. They were the Seven Sages, and the medallion there bore the symbol of Spirit.
Ravio turned away, coming to another painting across from the last. This one was different, as it didn't contain a family. Ganondorf was part of it, with a girl that was definitely not Aveil. In many ways, she was the former girl's foil. She resembled Ganondorf's mother, with the green eyes. No intimacy was shared between the pair, just them standing side by side, shoulder to shoulder. Reading the plaque, Ravio found out the other girl's identity: Ganondorf Dragmire, Prince of the the Daemon Gerudo of Nabooru, and Makeela Riju, Princess of the Sage Gerudo of Mido.
"Daemon Gerudo? Sage Gerudo? What could possibly be the difference?" Bloodline made the most probable conclusion, as Ganondorf was of the lineage of the man of the same name (hence "Daemon"), and so were the other yellow-eyed members of his family. But the two green-eyed Gerudo, those who were deemed "Sage," could they be of a similar conclusion? If the royal family here was of the blood of Ganon, maybe the royal blood of the green-eyed were of the Sage of Spirit? Not the most far-fetched idea Ravio had.
The girl, this "Makeela Riju," she must be found. Any connection Ganondorf might have had as a younger man might be enough to bring him back to the light, or enough to make a move to put him down.
A trip to Mido Town would be on Ravio's agenda.
Great Palace
"Link, you are fighting, monsters dying, the king's crying. But, the paths are clunky, something smells funky, but hey, you're the dumb monkey. We're in the Great Palace-"
"Spryte, shut up."
"-to fight the malice-"
"Please shut up."
"-Link we cannot fail-"
"Spryte I swear to Farore…"
"-or we'll be in hell! Ah!" Spryte dodged Link's attempts to bottle her again, fluttering ahead on the bridge over a pool of lava. Link rolled his eyes, putting the bottle away, continuing to walk across the bridge to the other side. Spryte laughed as Link caught up and passes her. "Cheer up, Link. This mopey attitude is hotter than the palace."
Link said nothing as the pair continued into a bare chamber. They had only recently entered the dungeon, following Spryte's dowsing signal to get through. It was deeper in the dungeon, which meant they would be heading downwards. The heat will definitely pick up soon.
He had no time to waste.
Great Sea
Bagu stared out into the dark horizon's edge, the feeling from hours earlier never settling down. Something was wrong about this entire campaign. The kids he sent on ahead had easily slipped into North and East Hyrule, and the two fleets had had smooth sailing with no signs of danger from the Imperials. So while most of the crew on Linebeck slept or lazily did their duties, the leader of the Resistance fixed his eyes on searching for the missing danger. If they all were moving into a trap, he would want to see it occur.
"You were never the worrisome one, Bagu." The warrior faced the younger man in the green tunic, walking up the steps to the upper deck.
"You, Link, have become a little complacent with age."
The old Hero laughed as he stood beside Bagu. "Have I so?"
"Yeah. I am looking at the guy who would, at any opportunity, all very inappropriate, try to get Zelda to kiss him. You also was so ready to get rid of Prince Fascade of Calatia that you tried anything to incriminate him."
"That I did. May that royal pain rest in peace...along with the others back home. And was I really that bad with Zelda?"
Bagu looked at his friend, a grin on his face. "You kissed a Gibdo in disguise which turned you into a frog. You kissed a fake Zelda. You faked a Moblin invasion. I swear if Agahnim hadn't kept you two busy, you would have died of depression, because I don't know how Her Majesty kept you around."
Link smiled. "Good looks, charming, and made her life interesting. And c'mon, you all helped with that plot."
"That was because we took pity on you. Impaz and Auru gave Error, Rusl, and I a stern lecture afterwards. Thank Din King Harkinian was a jovial man. But your biggest offence was that damn phrase of yours. What was it again? 'Well, excuuuuuuuuse me, Princess?'"
Link turned away, chuckling. "I can't say it as I used to. But it sounds better with me than with you."
"Surely it does…" Bagu sighed as he looked back to the sea, folding his arms. "Those were not as good of days as we make them. Ganon twice, then Agahnim, but those five years of peace, those were great days. Better than now."
"Yeah. But we have a responsibility. To make the rest of our lives, and the entirety of my child and her friends, even better than it was before."
Midoro Palace
Zelda and Midna came down to what they believed was the lowest level of Midoro Palace. Turns out there are a few monsters within the building, starved and vicious, but nothing Zelda couldn't fight off. But the floor here was clear of life, but the pair was taking no chances. If Midna's hunch was right, something awaited them here.
After jumping off a ledge and crossing a bridge over a pool of lava, Zelda and Midna entered a long hallway, barely decorated but at the sides of the path were many displays, each with a mask of their own inside. The miniature museum drew the most interest from the exiled Princess more than the imp girl, the former dashing from the path before them to analyze the masks.
"These masks, they look just like the races of Hyrule and the world. Here, this is a Zora Mask. Right there behind you, Midna, is a mask of the extinct Goron race. Oh, look, I think this is a Deku Scrub. Haven't seen one in years."
"Yeah, some of these are monstrous, some of them look oddly specific to be a certain person, some are just weird, and some are of animals-"
"AWWW!" Midna turned around, seeing Zelda open on of the cases. Out she took a yellow fox-like mask. She raised it to Midna so she could see. "Midna, look, it is a Keaton. It is soo cute. Another for the collection." She stuffed the mask down her magic pouch, then moved on to the next one. Midna immediately noticed many of the cases were empty now. Well...the masks could belong in a much better place. Midna let Zelda dawdle behind, floating along the carpeted path before coming to the end of the line of masks. There, Midna had the oddest feeling of darkness between them. To her left was a colorful heart-shaped mask, with huge yellow-orange eyes staring back at Midna. She could feel the malevolent forces this mask presented, as if it wanted her to destroy the world in a few days with a celestial object. She turned her attention to the other mask. This one was black in color, with various markings carved into its surface. Similar to the previous mask, it had a singular eerie eye. But something about this mask made Midna more compelled to have it rather than the other. True, she could sense that this mask (as with the previous mask and others in the room) had some power, this one no better than the heart-shaped one, but it resonated with the imp in a way Midna couldn't explain.
"Take it."
There was that voice. The disembodied calling of her brother. Midna turned to find Zelda, seeing the girl play with one of the more monstrous masks before facing her own again. "Why?"
"It is a relic of a rebel sect of the Sheikah clan, like the one beside it. Once, they wrecked havoc on the land that even the Hero and Princess couldn't pose a threat. Only the gods themselves could put down these interlopers, forcing them to walk the line between light and darkness forever. We are the descendants of those people, Midna. We are the Twili, the people of twilight. The feeling you get at that appointed hour, between day and night-that our blood boiling for vengeance."
Midna now had the mask in her hands, unsure on what to do with it. If what her dead brother said was true, she was in the possession of a dangerous power. But if it was powerful enough to make a Link and Zelda stoppable... No. She was thinking like Ganondorf. But...could he be right? The Resistance was seeking the Triforce, which could be powerful enough to level the playing field with the evil empire. Ganondorf had his ancestor within him. Is it wrong for her to take such power for herself?
If it was, there would be a lot of hypocrites. Midna looked once more at Zelda, who was coming her way. "This place is weird. Tortured dead prisoners, a mini mask museum… What sick person could have created such a domain?"
My own blood. The sickest of them all. Midna floated ahead of Zelda, wishing that she could somehow pocket the mask. "Uhh…. Hopefully we won't have to find out." She turned back to her hands, stopping in shock. Her hands were empty in the few seconds she hadn't paid attention to them. Freaking out, she looked on the floor around her, mentally demanding that it returned. As she whipped her head, she smacked it against something hard. She looked at it, seeing the mask hover beside her, glowing with a dark aura that wasn't there before. Confused, she imagined it gone again, and it shrunk into a small dark ball and zipped to her side. Smiling to herself, she turned to Zelda, now to her right but with her back facing the imp. The princess had her eyes on a banner hanging from the wall, with the symbol that they had seen multiple times sown into it.
"This symbol… Though it is much more stylish, it definitely resembles the Sheikah eye-drop. I wonder if the owner was formerly Sheikah. That would explain these masks, and the darkness resonating with them, especially that heart-shaped one. And the torture… I read stories about an ancient Sheikah temple that housed Hyrule's dark past." Zelda turned away from the banner, beginning to walk to the doorway at the end of the hall." But none of the stories of my father say anything like that about Midoro Palace, which means that these changes are after he defeated Helmethead here. The new owner did kept the previous' beloved helm back there."
"So...whoever is responsible is probably best left dead, or definitely sound be killed?"
Zelda nodded. "For the safety of Hyrule, yes, death is necessary. Madmen aren't fit for thrones...and neither are people like me… Midna, may I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"Do you… Do you think I am fit to make the Triforce mine? I know we've only know each other for a few days, but I want your honest opinion."
Midna shrugged, "You're not Imperial. You aren't...Ganondorf. You are of royal blood. I say you are fit in my book." Midna smiled, folding her arms. "And between you and me… Don't do what Hilda did. If you're going to do something drastic to the world, encase it in perpetual twilight. Such a serene beauty there is."
Zelda smiled, then placed her hand on the door. "This is the last room. Let's enter." She pushed open the door for Midna to enter first, then entered back first to shut the door. Facing the room, her first sight was Midna paused in place, then she looked down the red carpet leading up a small flight of steps to the room's main attraction; a throne seated right under the largest version of the symbol of Midoro.
Seated on that throne, smiling wickedly, eyes ablaze with amusement, was him. "It is about time we meet, Princess Zelda and Midna Twilight."
