The Sacred Realm, Link

"You ready?"

Link nods, standing beside his mentor in silence. The events of yesterday was still fresh in his head. While he did his best not to bear any tears, it was hard to witness the death of Rusl Koroks in person. He "killed" the Moblin in fury, though he knew what the result of the encounter. However, one thing about yesterday bothered Link. Shade said that, compared to that Link would encounter now and in the future, Rusl's death is "'the easiest for me.'"

"I can see something is bothering you."

"What did you mean by yesterday being 'the easiest?' My father was your best friend."

"Ah." Shade places his hands in his pockets, eyes to his feet. "I meant that it was the easiest for me to revisit. I lost many friends in my years, so seeing Rusl fall was...somewhat of a status quo. My life is dangerous, and people around me will die no matter how hard I try to save them. I learned it as a twelve year old kid, and I am still learning it now. Today's memory, and the two for tomorrow, won't mean anything to you, but I see everything you see."

Link drops his head, feeling guilty about his attitude towards Shade. He forgets that the former hero has had his life full of troubles in the past. "Sorry. It's just...well you know."

"All too well. At least you had a parent see you grow up. I didn't have that luxury."

"Really?"

"You never questioned Impa as to how she met a young boy her age alone in Hyrule? My mother died when I was very young, and my father was a knight of Calatia, so that's where I learned the sword. My stumbling into Hyrule was actually because his company was attacked, and we got separated. I thought he was killed, so my mission against Ganon was slightly a personal one. It wasn't until years later, about two years after Hyrule fell, that I returned to Calatia and reunited with him. He was a lord at the time, had a huge home in the plains of Calatia, a few miles away from the capital. It is still there, I believe, if that lizard didn't destroy more than the capital."

"Is he still alive?" Shade, at that moment, turned his back on Link. The current hero stayed in place as his predecessor walked away, his answer vocally silent but just as loud in the silent realm. Sighing, Link closed his eyes in preparation for the trial. "I'm ready. Where am I going?"

"To the real reason I wanted to leave Hyrule and Calatia behind. You are going to Ordon Manor, the home of the Ordon family...my family."

"What?" Before Link could get a response, Shade and the cloudy realm was gone, replaced by a field of green, a sky of orange, yellow, and blue, and a horde of monsters in front of a huge house. Link was on a hill overlooking the scene, out of sight from the monsters but close enough to see and hear exactly what was going on.

From the crowd stepped a familiar figure, one Link hadn't seen since he separated his head from his body back on Death Mountain. The white horse in red armor walked alongside two other monstrosities, a armored blue knight with a sword and shield and a large gold-armored brute with a ball and chain on his shoulder. Link had no recollection of meeting the others, but Horsehead is a being he'll never forget.

"Ordon! Come out! We know you are in there!" Horsehead took out his mace, slinging it in his hand. "We just want to ask a few questions."

An upper-level window opens, and out pops an elderly man, his head bald and wrinkle. He dresses in a armored tunic, an unfamiliar golden emblem embroidered on his chest. He looks down upon the horde in front of his house without fear, as one would expect from the father of the Hero of Hyrule. "Monstrous fiends! You dare step up to my household? Do you not know who I am?"

"Of course we do, Sir Orca! You should know us. Helmethead, Gooma, and I, we're old friends of your son, Link."

"Then I have no idea why you are here. He isn't. Haven't seen him in thirty years." Thirty? That would mean… This was recent. If this was supposedly one of Shade's memories (and if it is, where is he?) that means this was before Ordon Village was attacked.

Link was unsurprised that Shade's last name was Ordon-he knew the former hero started up the village and it makes sense to name it after himself-but his mind thought of Zelda. She was raised by Impa and Rusl in Ordon, but if her father's family was around, did Impa have knowledge of the Ordon family? There's a possibility that Impa did not, else she would have gotten Zelda out of Hyrule instead of going to the southern region. She didn't know, after all, that Shade was alive.

Back to the events before Link, Horsehead gestured to some Bokoblins behind him. They bring forth a woman in a blue dress to him, and Horsehead presents her to Sir Ordon. "Then I guess your word about this woman being his wife is against the nearby townspeople? And this boy is not his son?" As Horsehead said that, the Bokoblins brought a crying child no older than five or six years to his mother. The woman grabbed her son, holding him tightly as she tried herself to keep a brave face. The elder Ordon was a mix of confusion, fear, and bravery. Link, for no real reason, was angry and ready to jump in and save the kid and woman while what he knew he was really really feeling was shock. Shade has his own family in Calatia. No wonder the attack on the country angered him back two months ago!

Horsehead was smiling, as if he found a gold rupee in a chest. He knew, without Sir Orca answering, that the woman and the child were Shade's. "Heh heh heh. I see someone has been caught in a lie. Now you are wondering how such news got to us. Let's just say word travels in the wind, and be lucky the king hasn't heard yet. The whole country could be ransacked, not that it won't happen eventually. Pretty soon, to be exact… But if you give up your son, maybe I could convince the higher powers to be to let Calatia go about its business."
"Let them go first," Orca pleads. Horsehead deliberates it silently, then turns to his powerful henchmen.

"You want to ensure their safety, that I cannot hurt them?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. That I do agree."

What happens next send a chill down Link's spine, freezing his bones and muscles as he watches Horsehead nod to Helmethead and Gooma. Next were the ear-splitting scream and roar as Gooma's spiked flail whips across the child's face. The screams were immediately silenced by Helmethead as a fireball from his helm incinerates the woman, killing her almost immediately. Blue lasers from distant hills are seen streaking just south of Link's position, striking at the village the manor oversees. The monsters themselves rush towards the beams, their cries sounding like the thunder that warns of the incoming storm. Orca, in his shock and anger, charges out the front door of the manor towards the horse man. Horsehead swings his mace, letting the ball whip out and strike Orca's shield with enough force to delay the old man. Recalling the ball, Horsehead turns to his henchmen again. "Finish up here. If the Hero arrives, kill him." The powerful general of the Imperials vanishes soon afterward, his two lackeys turning their attention to the rising Orca Ordon.

They were also met by Link.

"Hero!" The masked warrior called Helmethead yelled. Link looks between the both of them, noticing that by their necks, half of a charm was split between them. He'll have to defeat them both, and if this was anything like the last memory, they could see and hurt him too.

"Link." Link turns to Orca, now standing behind Link, took his sword back in hand. "Marin and Rinku-"
Link spoke, or from what he would realize in a minute, Shade spoke. "Are alive, Father. Seriously hurt, but living. I can heal them, but we must deal with them first." Link reaches for his sword on his back, wielding the White Sword instead of the Master Sword, which Link knew Shade possesses at the time, and his Magic Shield. Orca had a sword and a exact replica of the Hylian Shield, possibly the same one Link himself bears.

Link, as Shade, faces Helmethead and Gooma, pointing the blade in his right hand to the former. "I'll take him. Take Gooma. He's easy for your young age."

"Cracking jokes in this situation, son?"

"Helps with the severity of it." The Calatian knight and the Hero(es) of Hyrule charge towards their targets. While most of Link's movements seemed to be based off what Shade did in the actual moment, much like the Ordon memory, combat was definitely dependent on Link.

He learned that quickly as Helmethead almost severed the Ordonian's head. Link raised his shield just in time to block hit, but he realized too late it was just a diversionary tactic. Helmethead's helm begins to glow, giving Link just a second of reactionary time before fire shoots out.

Had Link not made a move, he would be...spiritually fried. He wasn't sure if he could actually be physically hurt since this was just his conscious, yet he didn't want to find out either. Looking up from the seared grass to the imposing monster, Link knew that if he wants to hit Helmethead, he'll have to get rid of the helmet.

He cursed himself, however, for not noticing that Helmethead was staggered after the blast, just as the Imperial recovers. The helm lights up again and fires several smaller, successive blasts at Link, forcing the hero to fall back. However, as the Hero began to curve back around, the timing of each shot increased, much to Link's likening. Sensing an advantage, he arcs back to Helmethead, holding the Magic Shield in front to repel the fireballs until he gets close to Helmethead. The knight swings his blade again once Link is close, but the Hero ducks and rolls around, pushing himself for the back slice.

He knocks off the helm successfully, and once he lands back on his feet, he looks to a helmetless Helmethead. He's stunned and there's no head where one should be, much to Link's distaste, but as he kicks the fallen helm, Helmethead roars back to life. The helm Link kicked flies up to the air and hovers above the knight it used to belong to. In its place, another helm rises from the breastplate.

"Shit." Both helms glow and empty their fiery ammunition towards Link. He jumps away from the direct attack from Helmethead and blocks the smaller one from the flying helmet. Helmethead stays in place, firing blast after blast while the more mobile helmet chases after Link. Link knew he couldn't make the same attack again, but he could set up a similar one. The only danger is that back slice is a reactionary counterattack; to perform the helm splitter, he'll have to face Helmethead straight up. He'll need to get up in the air too.

It was not his craziest idea, and he didn't like it one bit.

He turns back towards Helmethead, same strategy as before. Shield up to defend, running as fast as he could. Helmethead might have learned from the first time Link did this, as he immediately squared up and didn't position himself to swing his sword. Link did not expect that at all. Helmethead instead charges up his attack, just as the very first one was, but with both helms. He fires at Link as the Hero pauses and raises his shield up, the dual blasts creating a screen of dirt and smoke around Link.

Helmethead relaxes after a few seconds, despite his visibility still obscure. He believes there is no way Link survives those blasts. "YAH!" Blinded by the dirt and smoke, Helmethead did not see Link perform the helm splitter, costing him his second helmet. The monster grunts and stumbles while the second helm clatters to the ground in front of Link. While Helmethead recovers, Link turns to the battle of Gooma and Orca in time to see the masked beast strike down Shade's father.

"Orca!" The distance between Link and Gooma too great, the hero instead took boomerang in hand and tossed it towards Gooma. It strikes his protected head, not enough to do anything other than grabbing Gooma's attention, and succeed it did. Gooma forgot all about ending the downed Orca's life, hissing furiously as it turns to Link catching his ranged weapon.

Link realizes the situation he just place himself in. Gooma is charging towards now, and in his mind to save Orca, he had forgotten about Helmethead. That was until he turns to run away from Gooma, only to be met with the flashing helmets and exposed white head of Helmethead. All three "heads" fires their payload on Link, who holds up his shield as a last resort. It protects him from the blasts, but not from the force.

"Gah!" His body airborne, Link felt himself break through several layers of brick and wood before landing and rolling on the ground. His trip ends with a thud against a wall. Despite not physically fighting, the pain was very, very real. He "felt" himself coughing blood, maybe a broken rib or two, some very irritated muscles and nerves, water sloshing in his ears, a concerned woman calling his name, though the voice was drowned out by some barrier, as if Link was trapped in a thick. That feeling disperses quickly, yet he can still feel his injuries. Wherever his true body was, it was definitely receiving whatever he experiences.

As Link tries to stand in his current surrounds, his vision begins to refocus, allowing him to see the browns of wood, the reds of brick, the various colors within a household of a lord, and an orange and grey spreading across it all. His nose was unsuccessful to repel the smell, causing Link to gag at the scent of smoke. He reaches out for the White Sword, the Magic Shield still strapped to his right arm, and stares down the path of destruction Link indirectly caused. The Hero of Hyrule/Hero of the Resistance was a few rooms from the front door, in some type of common room or whatever the nobility would call it. In the hole of the front wall, just a few inches from the front door, Gooma stands in search of his prey, aided by the two Helmethead helms, but the smoke was heavy and opaque. Since Link was still kneeling, his vision was barely obstructed by the smoke.

A plan begins forming in Link's head, and if he thought his last was crazy, this one was insane. But with no Spryte or Zelda to tell him otherwise, all he had was his radical mind. The mind of a hero.

Step one was charging up the White Sword's own Sword Beam. That was a success, despite his state of not being in "full health." The second step was taking out a bomb, which in any other situation would be okay, but given he was in a house already on fire, it just adds to the insanity of his plan. The third was running directly towards Gooma and the helmets. The fourth step is taking off his shield, holding it instead in his hand. The fifth is throwing the already ignited bomb a few feet away, getting close to it, then make an acrobatic leap with his shield underneath his feet.

Step six was a stroke of luck, with the bomb exploding just at the right spot under the shield to keep it balanced. Link rode the Magic Shield through the air, glad that the house was spacious enough to allow such a maneuver or he might have crashed into the rafters previously. It didn't matter to him. He was flying!

In his position, Link could see Helmethead was right behind Gooma, the monster spotting the flying man. Link was beginning his descent, nearly coming over Gooma. His current trajectory will land him either between both monsters or on Helmethead, but he had a quick change of heart. Before Helmethead could fire at him again, Link kicks off the shield, dropping in front of Gooma, and fires the Sword Beam straight through Gooma chest before the latter could react. In the same shot, he eviscerates Helmethead's true head.

Link watches their bodies dessicate, and out of their ashes, the two red-orange stones hover to Link to become one. He takes it in hand, and the world around him begins to swirl. But before he leaves the memory of Shade, he finally sees the former hero, tending to his family's dire needs. So many questions to be asked, so many answers to overwhelm his mind.

But one mystery was indeed solved: Horsehead knew Shade was alive, yet never told the rest of the Imperials. They didn't find out until Clock Town. Horsehead himself thought Shade was killed here, assumingly with the rest of his family. But...if Shade knew this, why did he stop Link from killing Horsehead at Clock Town?

"Mercy." Link had returned to the normal scenery of the Sacred Realm, joined by the approaching footsteps of Shade. Link turns to the former hero, sheathing his blade.

"Mercy?"

"You want to know why I asked you to spare Horsehead, despite seeing the scene that took place? It is called mercy."

"But he attacked your family and many others. He did the same to me. How could you then ask me to spare him?"

"We are heroes, Link. Most of our enemies, we kill without a second thought. I am not saying we wouldn't have killed Horsehead, you did so the very next day. If you killed him in Clock Town, you would have done it in vengeance, in anger, in blindness. You defeated him on Death Mountain to save Zelda, someone you love and cherish. If you killed him at Clock Town, it would have been only to serve your desires while killing a somewhat defenseless man. On Death Mountain, you killed him for a different purpose that was not self-serving."

Link bows his head, not understanding anything. The sole reason he joined the fight was revenge for Ordon. The sole reason the Resistance was created was to avenge Zelda's mother. "...Is vengeance wrong? If so, what have we been fighting for?"

"No, vengeance is not wrong. But to exact it the wrong way definitely is. To kill is not wrong unless it is done the wrong reason. We call that execution, murder, but not vengeance..What you did on Death Mountain, that was vengeance. By saving a life, you in turn avenged the fallen. Mercy is the highest form of vengeance, because you save your own soul from damnation." Shade turns his head away from Link, gazing to the cloudy distance. "Even Vaati knows this."

Link scoffs. "Vaati knows mercy? Prove that."

"So I shall."


Link was now in a new location, but it was not the grey of the Sacred Realm. No, the ground felt familiar, almost holy…

Like the Temple of Time.

Looking around, there was no indication that this was Rauru Town, but the destruction around the area made Link feel that this was it. He must had fallen unconscious before...Vah Medoh destroyed the town.

"Why did you not run with your daughter, Link?" In the midst of the charred ground, Link could see Shade kneeling in front of a similarly positioned Vaati. Link had no recollection of the elder hero fighting the king, but that would explain just how he died.

"Because...I didn't stay to fight just for her. I… I have another reason."

"Family?"

"Yes. Family." Shade's movements were shaky, but he manages to arc his head up to look at his enemy. "I have a wife and a son back in Calatia."

"Hmm." Vaati stands up, looking at the destruction his weapon caused. "You actually lived a life without Zelda, both of them. Why return then?"

"Horsehead attacked my home, nearly killed my Marin and Rinku, but succeeded with my father. I had them sent away under royal protection. I hope they were away from the capital. I had no clue about my daughter until I returned to Hyrule."

"Why tell me this? You hope I will spare them?

Shade lowers his head. "You have won. You beat me. That's what you wanted all those years ago, to do what Ganon couldn't. You took over Hyrule, you defeated its protectors, and now you have two pieces of the Triforce. My daughter and her friends still fight against you, but your original goal is finally complete. Queen Zelda is gone. I am gone. You have won."

Vaati kneels again, and for the first time, Link sees a different side to the Wind Mage. It wasn't an evil thirsty for power, for dominion, for blood, but a man with...honor? "Fine. On her blood, on both of their bloods, I will not harm a hair on your family should they still live."

"...Thank you."

"But before you go, there is one last thing I must share with you..."

Link is sent back to the Sacred Realm before Vaati made his revelation.