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Author's note: A couple of days ago I finally finished the complete draft of this story. (Ending up at roughly 75,050 words and 125 A4 pages if you were wondering). Hopefully it shouldn't take me too long to finish the work of HTMLising them and posting.
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.
Tai reveals that Link is the Kalen's king, and subsequently the Kalen all agree to commit to obeying him, and at his first order find Bren and Darunia and bring them 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. Shortly after she comes near the Kalen Fortress and finds Impa and Rauru mysteriously gone, she also meets Ganondorf. She agrees to use his sceptre with Nurai inside it to send him to Link. In return she is given the sceptre herself, which she can use to send herself wherever she likes, and finally to complete the second of Ganondorf's earlier commands.
Obligingly the Sadia leave an easy to follow trail, which en route includes destroying the Xi Headquarters. The Xi have however already moved out and decided to join their formers enemies the Kalen at their fortress. Thus the Sadia too are soon heading towards the once hidden castle. When the battle is going badly the Sadia try to negotiate with some hostages – four of the sages. Link declines, but manages to rescue the Sages anyway. In their ensuing rage the Sadia manages to overcome the Kalen/Xi defences, and drive them back into the fortress itself.
Twenty-Two
"Link!" Tai's shout just reached his ears in time. "Behind you!"
He ducked, spun around and shot up his sword into the heart of the Sadia that was flying straight at him. Then he was up, and sprinting back down the corridor. A few seconds later and he had caught up with Tai. She had stopped in the hall and was rapidly shooting arrows back at the Sadia still following him.
"Is that all of them?" he asked.
"I think so," she replied.
The two of them ran on again, and were lucky enough not to be met by any more Sadia until they had reached one of the corridor barricades Kaze had set up. They were safe places, havens against the fights and panic in the rest of the castle. They darted quickly behind the overturned tables while a Kalen covered the corridor from where they had run.
"Jaire…" Tai called out to a Xi she recognised. "Where is everyone?"
Jaire was still breathing heavily as she leaned against the tables but she answered as well as she could. "Raymus…. I think he's a few defence posts back with the sages… Last I heard Bren was defending near the front lines…"
"He must be on his way back," Link told her. "They broke through them a few minutes back."
"Shall we wait?" Tai asked.
For a moment Link hesitated as he tried to think of a different way. No, they would have to part.
"You wait," he told her, "I have to get back to the sages."
She nodded, leaned back for a moment, and then started, "Link, I…"
But he was already gone and almost out of sight. Sighing she leant back down and checked how many arrows she had left. Not nearly enough, she decided. She walked over to the Kalen who was still staring anxiously down the corridor.
"You go back," she instructed him. "I'll take over here."
Not wanting to argue with one of Link's friends the Kalen simply nodded, handed over his spare arrows at Tai's further request and started the long run backwards. Tai lay down and prepared for what she hoped would be a long wait.
"Do you think we'll survive?" Jaire's cynical question rang out in the silence. She had never been one to delay getting to the point.
"I don't know," Tai honestly replied, "but we have to try."
Tai could almost feel the other Xi nod behind her. She waited to see if there would be any more questions, but, as there wasn't she focused again on the corridor. How long would Bren be? A sudden thought came into her mind. Maybe he wouldn't come at all - how did she know that he would survive?
It had been so long since Tai had seen someone close to her die that she had started to think that it couldn't happen. And that must have been what Link had thought. Even when things had looked their bleakest and Hyrule had been in ruins – Link had saved everyone. He must have thought that he could do anything, only to have his reality shattered by Saria's death.
Bren had been the first person that she could have honestly called a friend. As Saria had been to Link. She didn't know what she would do if Bren died. Then again, at the moment it looked like they would all die. No, she had to stay confident. Life would go on.
"Tai!"
Jaire's shout brought her out of her thoughts and she stared back at the corridor. Two Sadia had appeared and were morphing into their warrior forms. Tai quickly let out a few arrows, but the Sadia simply dodged them.
They were coming closer, almost half way to the barrier. If she didn't get them soon…
Jaire's arrow shot through the heart of the left warrior and both of the Xi turned to aim at the still living right one. He seemed to be able to jump over every shot they sent on target and he simply ignored the arrows that struck harmlessly into the right of his chest. He reached the barricade and swung his sword down onto Jaire who just managed to roll out of the way.
While Tai was hastily pulling out her swords the Sadia somersaulted over the wooden tables in its way. As Jaire bought her sword arcing up the Sadia used the moment he had to twist his body enough to let him kick out his left leg and bounce Tai back into the wall. Then he side stepped, grabbed Jaire's wrist and pulled her sharply down before sticking his sword through her back.
"Tai… Good luck," were her final words.
Tai managed to stand up, and tried to use the mind techniques Bren had taught her to forget the pain and concentrate. Somehow they didn't seem to work very well in real life, or maybe it was just her. Bren had always said that she didn't take things seriously enough.
"I could break your blade in half with my bare hands," the Sadia told her.
"You don't want swords? I can do that. I'll leave mine alone if you forget yours," she replied, lowing her sword momentarily.
"A pleasure," smiled the Sadia as his sword morphed back into his wrist.
Tai threw hers down, knowing that this was probably the most stupid thing she had done, and her aching back confirmed it for her.
The Sadia charged straight at her, to which she waited until the last moment. Then she fell straight to the floor on her front, and used her hands to sweep her legs around, hoping to knock the Sadia down. Hitting the Sadia's legs may have been like swinging your feet into a stone wall, but it worked. For a moment the Sadia was falling…
Again using her hands she tried to flip her feet over her head and down onto the Sadia's back. The Sadia fell even more sharply onto the ground as she collided with it, and suddenly she had it pinned. Picking up her sword again, but using the handle on it so she at least stayed a little true to the idea behind the fight, she tried to stab the Sadia in its back.
"No honour," she heard the creature mutter, and then to her amazement she saw the back of the Sadia she was facing morph into its front, its smiling but now angry face staring up at her. As she had been aiming for its heart from the back of its body the handle fell uselessly into the wrong side of its torso. The Sadia thrust its hand up, and grabbed her by the throat.
"And now you will die," he whispered to her. Desperately she kicked him as hard as she could, anywhere she could – but it was useless. Her throat was being squeezed tighter and tighter, and now she could not breathe. It was ending, ending before she had had time to tell so many people so many things…
"I am sorry," the new harsh voice did not surprise her as much as the body that had been holding her had just dissolved. She saw a long metallic rod that had obviously killed the Sadia in its place, and following it back she saw that it was morphed out of the owner of the voice.
Another Sadia.
"Why?" she asked, although she still found it slightly hard to talk.
"He broke our law and was dishonourable," the Sadia explained. Even now its voice sounded no less hostile to her. "No Sadia should use the changing abilities against a human. If you wish, to make up I will let you go. Let you leave the fortress and live."
She considered for a moment. Was this Sadia really offering her the life she had so nearly lost? But…
"No," she answered reluctantly, "where would I go?"
Reluctantly she picked up her sword and faced the Sadia again, this time defiant.
"I respect you for this," the Sadia told her, nodding slowly, "and I am glad you will be able to at least die honourably."
"We will see," Tai said slowly, not wishing what she knew would have to come to start. But finally she started to run at the Sadia. It was not a particularly defiant run, more a resigned one. At each connection between her foot and the floor her body winced. In reply the Sadia smoothly brought his weapon up to block.
"Not today," came Rein's confident voice, and a moment later an arrow was flying through and out of the heart of the dissolving Sadia.
"Bren," she said, trying not to let the relief show in her voice. She ran towards her teacher, and the two Kalen standing near him that had just appeared.
Bren, seeing the blood stains all over her body, and in particular a nasty scar on her forehead quickly took hold of her and helped her to sit down.
"Its alright," he said, knowing it wasn't. Then, he looked at the two Kalen and said, "Take up defence positions. She's going to need some rest before we try to move back."
"We're not going to defend here," Tai said weakly, trying not to faint as her eyes travelled over to Jaire's dead body.
Bren shook his head, "We have to move back. There will be too many of them coming this way soon. We have to join up with the others."
He stopped, knowing that she couldn't hear him any more.
"Alright," he told the others, "we'll move back again. I'll carry her."
The Kalen nodded, and soon the four of them were on their way back to the others, as fast as they could go. Thirty seconds later and the Sadia came to the abandoned barricade. They paused for a moment to check the human body lying there, and the several Sadian hearts still lying where they had fallen from their owners, and then they were moving on again.
*-*
"Are they ready?"
Kaze looked over sharply at Link's question to Rauru.
Rauru sighed, and then shook his head slowly. "We are not strong enough yet," he admitted. "Especially as we do not know where Ganondorf is now in this land or was in Hyrule. If we just knew one of those, we could at least try…"
"He was in the Spirit Temple."
Tai's distinctive voice cut through the silence in the newly appointed medical chamber, which had now become a general headquarters as one by one the defence posts fell. The room was packed full of people milling around, and twice as many laid out on the floor. There was a nasty sight of blood of everyone, and every few minutes another new corpse would subtly be taken outside. Into this chaos Tai was hobbling, and besides her came Bren and his Kalen.
"You are sure?" Rauru asked.
Tai nodded. "Yes. I…"
"She's sure," Link interrupted, staring across at Tai and shaking his head slowly. Now was not the time for confessions.
"Better still," came a familiar and confident voice, "I'm right over here."
Sure enough, standing as calmly as if he was an honoured guest, Ganondorf Dragmire was standing in the middle of the chamber in between the sick and injured. His hands, in their terrible pale green skin, still glowed; as if they were reflecting the terrible power that had just been run through them. Indeed, there were still a few glowing sparks on the floor from where he had so suddenly materialised.
"You're human," Link whispered in shock, as several Kalen ran to surround the new intruder who had appeared from nowhere.
"Not always," Ganondorf admitted. "It takes control to keep this form. Sometimes, I do not have the willpower to do so. But… I am distracting you. I have come here in peace, believe it or not. Return me to my prison; I will not fight back."
It hurt to say that. It stung to be here at all. But, after all, he could not escape destiny. If Hail really was to bring this land down he really had no desire to go with it. If he guessed correctly he thought he could see what the Sages and the boy wanted to do. By trapping him again, they would cut off his power from the main world, and thus his spells would fail. His command to destroy Hyrule would be reversed – and in the same way the ancient magic that had spared Link, Zelda and the Sages and brought them here would also work backwards. What they meant to do with the rest of the rabble here was beyond him.
Link nodded at Rauru, and the oldest Sage returned to the corner where the other four sages stood.
"Now!" he told them.
The five formed their circle, and slowly began muttering the old Hylinian magic. Then they raised their hands and balls of pure energy flew out from them. Rauru's yellow sphere of shining power was the first, and Darunia's strong red magic was not far behind. But even as all five of their magic's combined Link thought there was something wrong.
"The master sword…" Rauru muttered. "We need it…"
"That would be this," Darius said, pulling the sword from inside his robes and throwing it to Link. Tai hung her head slightly at guilt that she had given it to the Xi. There was, after all, another secret that she hadn't told Link.
"Why did you not give it back before?" asked Kaze angrily.
"Quiet," said Link, he himself not speaking loudly as he held up the powerful sword. The power floating in the air above the Sages' heads immediately flew into it, and the blade began to glow a deep red colour.
Link ran forward, hoping the power would not run out before he could return Ganondorf. As he did, sparks began to fall off the sword and fly out, most of them harmlessly hitting the floor. One or two of them struck Ganondorf, who winced in pain. But Link was right next to him now, and he lifted the sword above his head, ready to finally finish this.
"Be careful!" called Bren.
For another few sparks had hit Ganondorf, and something very strange had started to happen to him. It looked a bit like a Kalen going invisible for Ganon's shape had began to blur. But instead of swirling into nothing he was instead seemingly changing into something completely different. Link waited, not able to see where to strike. Finally, Ganondorf's image became sharp again, and Link bought the sword down in a rush…
Another spark flew out, and Ganondorf's shape suddenly blurred so quickly that Link hardly had time to stop then sword. And then, the image sharpened again. And this time it didn't matter if the sparks had hit it, as the creature didn't seem to mind.
Ganon, in his enormous monstrous form, had returned.