------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's note: Hopefully the next couple of chapters won't take too long, but they've got more to rewrite in than most. Then again I have got a few chapters waiting so hopefully these should continue to be released fairly regularly.
Story so far: -
Tai, a gerudo, summoned the power of her god Nura and used the power to free Ganondorf Dragmire. Ganon captured Nura's power and used it to destroy Hyrule. However, Zelda and Link awake in the alternate dimension of Nurai, the land that Nura created, and also the homeland of the gerudos.
Tai also wakes up in Nurai, but discovers that Ganon who she always supposed to be her king, is actually not that role any more. He has not been for the last 17 years. Instead she decides to join a group of incredibly skilled warriors called the Xi, who may be able to tell her where the real gerudo king is. However, instead she finds that she no longer cares about the Gerudo king and just wants to learn about the Xi ways from her teacher Bren. While completing her second task she finds that for a brief moment that her body seems to control itself without her input.
Zelda is given the new name of Hail as a joke when she is forced to become a pirate. But gradually she finds that she can no longer remember her old life, and her old thoughts and emotions seem invalid. She takes over as the pirate captain and soon her name reverberates around the country as one to be feared. For Hail is the prophesised figure who will appear shortly before the Distile, the end of the world. This new 'Hail' seems to live up to the legacy that had been told of – not even a fleet fifty times bigger than hers can defeated her.
Link is awakened by a priest of the Nuran church who is called Nala. However, while Link is still confined to bed a Kalen (a mysterious group who all the Nuran people seem to hate) breaks in a gives Link a mysterious broach.
Nala reveals that Link's coming is also foretold of in the stories of the Distile. The only chance Link has to stop it is to find the six sages who are somewhere in Nura. Hoping to recruit more help Link and Nala travel to Nurai's capital Asreal where they are due to meet in the Glass Temple. Here Link meets Tai (although he does not know who she is) and the two become uneasy friends.
Nurai's history is revealed to Link in a meeting inside the Glass Temple, however half way through an earthquake (one of the prophesied signs of the Distile) strikes. While trying to evacuate the building a huge D'Ran knife that long ago had been used in sacrifices falls to the floor. To the horror of Nala and Tanya it falls on Link and kills him. Link finds himself in a place beyond death, where those that call themselves gods live. He learns here that his infinite chances have run out, and he has only one left. Here all knowledge is stored and much of it flows into his head. He learns of an old man called Rein who was struck by lightning while being attacked by a wolf, and also of Hail's plans to defend herself against Black.
When Link returns once again into the real world he has lost all his memories, although a witch manages to restore them through Nala at least far back as the two met. He continues to dream of Rein, who became after he was struck by the lightning, a wondering spirit who inhabited people's bodies until they died. He later realises that Rein's spirit is actually now inhabiting Tai. He manages to set it free, but instead it travels into Bren, one of its old companions. It will be impossible to ever split them again.
But there is worse, much worse coming. There is another earthquake and in this one Nurai's worse enemy – the Sadia – is set free. A mysterious metallic people, they can change their shape at will. Within a few seconds they have travelled several miles from what was their mountain prison to Asreal.
Link battles one, but is easily defeated. In the last moment before what would be his death he unconsciously calls on the power of the Triforce and the Sadia are banished back into their mountain prison.
Deciding that the time has come to rescue the sages the church organises two groups to scout out likely areas for where they may be imprisoned. Nala and a small army are lucky, and quickly manage to find and rescue Impa and Rauru. Link, Tai and Bren manage to defeat the temple guardian they are assigned to and rescue Saria and Darunia. Bren gives a potion to Link and Saria which puts them into a strange sleep. Here Link enters Saria's mind and regains his memories. But the temple guardian awakes later, and as a last revenge, he releases the Sadia again.
Hail is met by Ganondorf who tells her of her ultimate destiny – to first clean the Gerudo blood by killing all the man and then to kill Nura herself. She gathers a group of followers and quests around the countryside, killing any men can get hold of. Eventually she also collides with Nala's army. She kidnaps Impa and Rauru and among the others only Nala is able to escape.
Bren gives a potion to Link and Saria which puts them into a strange sleep. Here Link enters Saria's mind and manages to regain his memories. But the Sadia attack their camp, and in the ensuing battle Saria is killed. In the aftermath Link and Tai argue, and end up running away from Darunia and Bren. Later that night they accidentally bump into each other and meet up again.
The next morning Raymus, a priest from the Nuran church, finds Darunia and Bren. Meanwhile, Tai tells Link that his mother was a Gerudo, and encourages him to put on the broach given by the mysterious Kalen when he first woke up in Nurai. When he does so he finds that he can see before him a fortress that was previously invisible. The conclusion is obvious – this must be the long hidden Kalen fortress. As they walk towards it they are confronted by a Kalen named Kaze. He shows them the powers that the fortress holds – to shoot powerful light beams out at a Kalen's command. Accidentally Link says for the beams to stop, and they do.
Tai reveals why – Link is the Kalen's king. They all commit to obeying him, and at his first order find Bren and Darunia and bring him to the fortress (along with Raymus). Bren has strange news – Saria's body has been stolen.
Meanwhile Hail has decided that she has done enough on her first objective, and decides to move onto the second of killing Nura. In the end she decides that the most likely way she will get to her is by following the Sadia.
Obligingly the Sadia leave an easy to follow trail, which en route includes destroying the Xi Headquarters, and finally heads towards the Kalen fortress...
Twenty
Almost lazily the sun rose over the horizon to mark the beginning of the new day. For a few precious hours the land of Nurai had been at peace again. Those creatures that had survived had been content, glad to be of life. But nothing lasts forever; not even Nurai itself. That peace would eventually have to be interrupted, and the fighting carried on. And so those animals that could enjoyed their last relaxing moments and hoped that they would come again.
In the north of the country, not too far away from the great city of Asreal lay the labyrinth Nuran forest. Even a Kokiri might have had trouble not getting lost in its endless maze of greenery. A small way into its borders lay the first of several fairly small hills, and on this hill there was located a massive sprawling fortress.
Near the top of the eastern half of this building one of dozens of balconies stuck out, and on this balcony two figures stood; watching the ever higher sun. On the left stood a young warrior, who could not be more than 20. He was of medium height and was wearing a loose fitting red tunic, which went well with his orange-like hair. His skin was still smooth and not filled with scars like many older warriors had, but his eyes betrayed the great experience behind them.
Beside him was a slightly shorter girl of around the same age, her typical red Gerudo hair not yet gleaming in the dull light. Her pretty face contrasted with the clothes she had on, which were cut in a design for combat.
The two were silent for a while, and as the silence grew an expression of worry grew on the girl's face. "Surely you don't believe them?" she asked.
He shook his head slowly, not wanting yet to admit or deny anything. "I don't know," he explained.
"When I was young my mother warned me of the story and told me not to trust anyone who told it," the girl related. "I know we've seen a lot that it looks bad, but..."
"Who would have the power?" he interrupted her. "Who could create something so like a god?"
"That was why I doubted it," she explained. "They say that the Gerudo king managed to capture the Triforce to do his bidding. He... sucked its power somehow, sacrificed a Hylinian princess and managed to give her such power that she was almost god like."
The warrior thought over what he knew of the Triforce, and how hard it was to obtain. "But what did he gain?" he asked. "Did Nura make him immortal too after she was almost a god?"
"He wouldn't have gained a thing," she told him. "According to the story she killed him after she had become a god. He dedicated his life to her... he loved her so much that he spent his life working for her impossible wish."
Kaze suddenly appeared from the window behind them. "Except," he said in his deep voice, "she wasn't a real god. She still has human feelings – look at this petty attempt to make a land better than the rival gods that had spawned her. She made higher mountains, bigger plains, even more legends and even more powerful enemies. But that wasn't her only difference.
"To be a god she would have had to be immortal; and as much as she may appear it, she isn't. Since the day she was created she has known that one day the royal family of Hyrule would take revenge for their fallen princess. She killed their Hail, Princess of Hyrule and they declared that one day another Hail would kill her. She is mortal."
This went too far for the girl, and a look of anger came onto her face.
"Tai..." the warrior tried to calm her.
"It is a stupid story," she said quietly but determinedly. "I have spoken to Nura myself, and she is no mortal."
"Look around you!" Kaze replied to her. "This god of yours can not even escape from an old king who no longer rules. Were you not there yourself when the Triforce easily managed to stop Nura's greatest foe?"
"That's enough," the warrior said sharply. "We have enough to worry about tonight without petty arguing. Are the defences ready?"
"Yes, my lord," Kaze bowed down in regret for his angry words.
Link stared out at the endless land before him. Yet again it was his responsibility to save a whole world. But now he knew not how to. He had no time travelling tricks, or shape changing masks to help him. But he had an army, an army of men and women ready to die to help him. Now all he needed was to figure out what he had to do with them.
There must be something he could do. There always had been before. Surely he could not lose this time?
*-*
Hail turned over once more in her blankets and kept her eyes firmly shut. She had been trying to get to sleep for so long, but always at the back of her mind was a slight fear that she actually didn't want to. She was afraid that it would happen again, and that with one more time she would be driven insane.
But she had already gone for two nights without sleep and she couldn't last for much longer. Finally, her mind could no longer hold back the tide and her worries were washed over by inevitable tide of slumber.
Slowly, peacefully, she sank into the night...
The horse galloped over the green plains of Hyrule, its feet sending dust up into the air.
Hail, riding the creature, stared around at her at the landmarks in the distance. The castle, the forest and the giant mountain far away in the north-east.
Her horse was at the head of a whole army of horses, who charged up the old dusty path. They came to the top of a slight hill, and galloped down it again. Standing in front of them, ominously silent, was a row of armoured soldiers. At their head a young boy carried a simple flag with a blue background and three yellow triangles on it.
She stopped her horse and let her army carry on. Their red hair shining in the sun, the Gerudo warriors drew their swords, and prepared to curve them down deep into their enemy's heart. A flood of arrows sailed over her head and into the Hylinian army. Down five men fell.
The front row drew their swords and brought them up to meet the horseback riders swords. The long curved Gerudo blades proved to be easily stronger than the Hylinian models with their first blow. More arrows sailed into the Hylinians, and swords crashed. She was invincible.
And then the Gerudos started to fail.
Horses in terrible pain collapsed to the floor, and the death screams of their owners rose above the general babble of warfare. More and more Gerudos charged into the trouble area, and every last one of them died. Her army was halved in minutes. She had no choice, and so she galloped forwards herself.
In front of her she saw another friend die, and for a moment their falling body blocked her vision of her adversary. And then she could see him; the monster standing their with his red-soaked sword, his green tunic covered with more patches of blood. She yelled in anger and pushed her sword through his murderous body. He dropped to the floor, his face staring up at her in agony.
"Link," she whispered once as she at last recognised the man, and saw that he was now dead, "Link!
She was back, back in the welcome world where the air was still cool and the dark still ruled. Breathing in heavily she allowed her to body to relax from the tense form it had taken. One more dream was over, one more time she had survived.
But before long the sleep was coming back and cruelly tempting her again. Fiercely she thought over strategy and recounted strange poems which somehow were left in her brain. Anything to tide off the inevitable.
Still cursing the night the sleep took over again and her eyes clamped themselves firmly shut. Her brain dulled, the spark stopped, and she was trapped once more.
The man had a worried and tired face. For a moment she felt glad that his clothes weren't green, but in the next moment she felt puzzled by why she was bothering over something so trivial. Then the thought was gone completely and she was once more focused on the old man before him. On him and the ropes that were now binding her to a stone wall.
"Why are you doing this?" she said.
"Be quiet," he said dismissively.
"But..." she protested.
"Look," he suddenly shouted, "you're no longer a princess now. I'm not a courtier having to bow every time I just hear the name Hail. Forgot your name. Forget your history - you have no history. You're a nobody now"
But he was wrong; she did have a history. She could remember almost every moment since she was four and was given her first crown. Remembering her previous life and her previous friends was all that had kept her going in the last month. And how could she ever forgot the time she had met him.
She laughed. "You'll never get rid of me. By the Triforce itself I promise you that Hail will follow you and your ridiculous Gerudo idiot until the day you die."
He hit her sharply, and she gasped as her head smacked back against the wall. Then he grabbed it and brought his own right in close.
"Tomorrow morning you will die for her and through you she will become greater than your mind could ever comprehend." He drew back, and this time it was he who laughed. It was a horrible sound, the joy almost drained out and replaced by a seemingly fundamental instability. He pointed over to a glowing corner in the dark room. "Your wonderful Triforce is over there thanks to you. Be my guest and swear on it. I'll be interested to see how much good it does you."
How could she have ever liked him? Then again how could he ever like that wretched girl Nura? If he couldn't see it, she could. She was using him as much as he had used her. She did worry slightly - what terrible plans had the two of them drawn up?
At a call from another room the man left her, and she was once more on her own in the dark room with the frightening cold. She shut her eyes and tried to stop the shivering. She would die honourably if it was the last thing she did.
Nura was at the root of this and she would get her revenge. Someday, somehow. Slowly repeating it over again to herself she let the dark seep in and take over. She would get revenge, she would.
Five hours later she was killed.
*-*
"The Xi!"
Raymus quickly ran over to where the Kalen guard had called from. He clambered up a ladder and onto the guarded wall where many people were already quickly accumulating. Was it true? Had the Xi really come here?
He grabbed one of the Kalen's vision enhancing devices and stared through it at the horizon. Sure enough, around one hundred unmistakably Xi warriors were coming. No one could mistake the undoubtedly arrogant way in which they always did. They carried little; only five pack horses were treading behind them, and none of the Xi themselves were carrying more than two weapons and standard rations. If this was their force in exile, it was not one to inspire fear at first glance. He could feel the contempt in the Kalen beside him.
"Aren't we going to let them in?" he asked to a nearby guard.
The Kalen had been remarkably tolerant with him seeing as he was so symbolic of the organisation they had always hated. But somehow they had forgot that he was part of the church after Link had commanded them to, and now saw him only as an ally. Whether they would do the same with the Xi was another question. The Xi was well known for the way they still sneered at even the memory of the 'dead' Kalen.
The soldier just pointed across to the main courtyard, where Link was standing with Tai and Kaze, who had now seemed to become a sort of unofficial second-in-command. Link was talking quickly to Kaze, who did not seem too happy. Finally he relented, and shouted out, "Prepare for going visible!"
Many of the Kalen looked worried at that. It had been a long time since they had turned off the castle's invisibility spells and they couldn't help feeling vulnerable without them.
"They've come," Bren muttered as he moved up to behind Raymus. Earlier in the week that they had spent here he had secretly contacted the Xi, without too much hope that they would respond and actually come. In fact the only reason they had probably arrived was that they had nowhere else left to go.
For a second the castle seemed to blur and glow slightly as it finally revealed itself, but then it was back to normal, or at least what was normal for the people inside. Even from this distance, exclamations of surprise could be seen from the Xi. The Kalen looked around nervously.
"Lower the gate!" was Kaze's next order.
Slowly the huge chains began to unwind and the gate began to make its way down. A welcoming party of Kalen led by Link made their way over to it. Bren and Raymus quickly made their way down and over to join them.
"This should be interesting," commented Rein.
For five minutes the Xi obstinately refused to speed up, taking their time as they made their way through the forest to the fortress. Eventually a group of three Xi Masters and two Xi warriors made their way through the gate.
"Darius!" shouted out Bren to his old friend. "You came. There is so many of you, how?"
Darius, the old Master of the Xi, ignored him for a moment; he was staring around the castle as if making up his mind up whether or not he could attack and manage to conquer it. Either he simply realised that he couldn't or for another reason he eventually stopped, and turned to face Link who was at the centre of a group of defensive Kalen.
"Apprentice Tanya!" he ordered. "Why are you not kneeling in respect?"
Blushing crimson she slowly started to bend down.
Kaze stopped her with his own shout, "How dare you! You shall not order friends of the King around in that way."
Kaze quickly glanced over at Link, slightly afraid that he would not approve. Kaze had never quite been able to predict his new master's wishes. However Link was silent, and his face displayed no emotion. The Xi were taken back by Kaze's remark though. Darius stared at Link hard for a moment, before asking, "Tell me Hyruler. How did you fool these poor people into thinking that you were some mythical King."
He realised that he had gone too far when not only Kaze, but most of the other Kalen, drew their swords angrily and glared at him. At a word they would have gladly killed the old man.
"Stop this!" Link commanded. He was slowly starting to get used to his new role. "Kalen, put back your swords. Darius, if you wish to join us it would not hurt to pay some respect. I am willing to share command with you, but only if you are civil."
There was a pause while the old man considered. Finally he consented, "As you wish. Does this place have room for my Xi?"
Link looked at Kaze, who nodded, and said, "As long as two warriors share each room we should be fine."
The initial confrontation over, the Xi gradually made their way over to the door into the actual fortress where several Kalen waited to show them to where they could leave their things. For a while everyone remained silent while the enormity of what had just happened sunk in. Then slowly their discipline reverted back and they went back to their jobs.
Darius (who had not yet gone inside) walked over to Bren. "What has happened over the last month?" he asked.
"I thought my reports had made that clear," Bren replied.
"So it is truly hopeless for this world?" asked Darius.
"Not quite," Bren admitted, "the Kalen experts believe if we can locate a Hylinian named Ganondorf Dragmire and trap him in some magical realm that the Distile can still be stopped."
"How do we trap him? And where is he?"
"We don't know where he is. We are trying to locate him now. As for trapping him, that's the whole problem; we're missing six of the seven sages that are needed to completely trap him. We know that at least one of them is dead."
"Seven of them is essential?"
"We thought so, but the sage we have with us thinks that it's at least worth a try at capturing him with less than seven sages."
Darius nodded and started moved on again; at the moment things were definitely looking pretty bleak. And he had a feeling things would get worse. He knew them too well to think that the Sadia would stop until they had completely destroyed them.
"By the way," said Bren, "where did all the extra Xis come from?"
Darius smiled. "They were deserters who suddenly designed to join back in again. Their employees had either fired them because there wasn't any work left or were dead."
Bren was disgusted. "You let those mercenaries back in?"
"A lot of them only left because they were disappointed that we weren't actually doing anything," explained Darius. "Now many of them feel passionately that they want to help somehow and they thought this was the best way."
The Xi had always had a big problem with people leaving it for the lure of the huge amounts people such as the pirates had paid them. Bren had never realised that it was quite this big a problem.
Still thinking hard he made his way over to the fortress wall where Tai was standing. She too was obviously in deep thought, and didn't even notice him as he made his way over to her. Finally she was broken out of her trance and she turned to look at him.
"For a moment I thought they were actually going to fight," she commented.
"Yeah," Bren agreed, "it did get a bit tense."
"A pity," commented Rein, breaking out from his usual silence, "it would have been fun to see who would have won."
Tai glared at him, realised that she was glaring at Bren and suddenly stopped, and then when she saw the resultant smirk that Rein put on Bren's features started glaring again.
"What is wrong with you?" she asked the spirit.
"Life," he said dryly, "trust me, when you've experienced as much of it as I have you'll find out how completely pointless it all is."
"Ignore him," Bren told her. "I've been with him a long time and I know he really cares about some things. He's just covering up some long hidden secret."
"You'll find out," Rein said bitterly.
"He's right about some things though," said Tai. "My whole life I've spent worshipping Her and now..."
"The Kalen getting to you? Ignore them," advised Bren.
"No... But they're right, right about so many things. I know Her, Nura, better than any of you and they're right, it's hard to detect but... She's got emotions, human emotions. And I've seen what the Triforce can do here. That isn't even half of the Hyrule's Gods power, yet she can't stop it. Lets face it, they're right, they're always been right."
"Are you sure?"
Tai paused, knowing that she was about to betray everything she believed in. "Yes."
Bren just nodded, and then walked slowly away.
He was replaced by Link. He saw her saddened face from a way away and came over to see if there was anything he could do. This time she noticed the person coming over, and turned to face him with a smile when she saw that it was Link. She felt comfortable with him now at least. He waited to see if there was anything she wanted to say.
"You did well," she at last complemented.
"At what?" he asked.
"At the whole being a King leadership thing," she told.
"Did I?" He was genuinely surprised at her comment. "I felt like a huge fake."
"You managed to sort out that mess," she said, gesturing over to where the Xi and Kalen had confronted each other.
"Thanks," he said, and then they both fell silent.
They both watched the horizon, knowing that any danger would come from there. Luckily for them, they didn't know quite how close they were to it.