Those who do not know the danger of wielding power will, before long, be ruled by it.

~ Lanayru, Spirit of Light

After time ended, after spirits and life vanished... Three golden goddesses descended upon the chaos that was reality.

Din, the Goddess of Power... Nayru, the Goddess of Wisdom... Farore, the Goddess of Courage...

They and they alone survived the slaughter brought about by one of great evil and pain. He who bore three sacred triangles in his right hand.

The sacred triangles... the Triforce! He had gained them years ago, pried from the hands of those more deserving and less cunning. His humanity was lost to the ages, all that remained was absolute malice. He watched the goddesses appear before him with his right eye, his sclera blood red swallowing a blue iris. What should have been his left eye was nothing but a black hole in his socket. His once-sacred blade was stained red with the blood of innocents, its violet hilt faded to a mottled gray, its jewel blackened, its wings clipped.

"So," he said, pointing his blade at them, "it is down to you, and it is down to me."

Farore replied first. "It didn't have to be this way."

He nodded. "Quite right. Funny how your decisions tend to blow up on you."

"You chose to walk this path," Din snapped, her ruby eyes glowing in the dark. "You and you alone are responsible for your fate."

"By that logic, I'm not responsible for what happened to anyone else. It's fate, after all."

Nayru frowned. "You know that is not true, Zach—"

"MY NAME IS ZATAM!" A bolt of divine energy shot past her ear. "You lost the right to call me that," he snarled, "when you sent me to my death!"

Farore retaliated in kind, unleashing her fury in a hail of sizzling green energy bolts. Zatam sidestepped and struck one of the bolts, sending it hurtling back at Farore. She dodged but at the cost of exposing her flank, an opportunity he could not pass up.

His blade met Din's. Her strong flaming arms met his attack with ease, only to be met by his skull against her nose. He was faster than expected, his blade a whirlwind of vicious steel, but Din was not the Goddess of Power for nothing. Every attack had a response, each landing blow a rebuttal. Once they leapt back to give themselves room to breathe, they both carried wounds that bled red and gold respectively.

"Impressive," Zatam said, wiping blood from his lip. "Most impressive. See how much you can accomplish when you actually get up off your ass?"

"We were bound by the laws of the universe," Nayru replied, "and could not directly intervene in Hyrule."

Zatam snorted. "You literally built Hyrule out of nothing, gave it law, and created life with which to uphold that law. How much more 'direct' can you get?"

"Enough of your rhetoric!" Din charged again, locking blades with the fallen hero. "I will tolerate your insolence no more!" Her wrath grew exponentially when Zatam did the unthinkable and pressed his lips to hers.

When the kiss broke, he tilted his head. "No wonder the Gerudorks worshipped you. I bet you're a queen in the sack." Her knuckles crunched his nose in, but he only laughed. "I thought losing your temper was a bad thing."

"Silence!" Din threw another punch, now desperate to break their blade-lock. She succeeded and leapt back, wiping her mouth of his taste.

That insufferable smirk on Zatam's face set a new fire to Din's heart. He opened his mouth to say something else, but for Farore's volley he remained silent. He deflected some and dodged the rest, his smile never fading.

Nayru remained behind as her sisters battled. She knew there was something else, something that kept her at bay. This man—this monster—had murdered gods and titans, massacred entire galaxies, driven the essence of life itself to extinction. He held more than just the Triforce and yet, Din and Farore kept him on his toes. They inflicted injuries and wounds upon him but his smile never so much as twitched.

His armor had evolved since his first adventure. Gone were the chainmail and leather vests, replaced by advanced technology including a regenerating shield and enhanced offensive capabilities... but his weapon was still the Blade of Evil's Bane, corrupted it may be?

There! It was a fleeting moment but when Din charged at Zatam again, he locked eyes with Nayru. His one good eye burned with hatred and his smile curled tight, and his thumb pressed the black jewel at the hilt of his sword.

Cold steel vanished, replaced by a glowing red blade of pure energy. His sword cleaved through Din's like a hot knife through butter, but he did not stop there. He carried it to its ultimate conclusion and severed Din's arm at the shoulder.

All fighting ceased. Farore and Nayru watched as Din fell to her knees. Din herself stared at her lost limb, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to understand what just happened.

"By the way, I found some new toys," Zatam said, twirling his weapon. Its crackling energy sparked across his armor, casting. "Did you know that the Master Sword can adapt to a new environment if given the right materials?"

Din finally remembered where she was. Her eyes followed the trail from her severed arm to the man who cut it from her. "...why?"

"Well, you'd know that if you didn't wait until, you know, the end of all things." He cackled, throwing his head back at his own sick joke. "I mean, seriously! You choose to hide in your precious little Sacred Realm while the rest of reality crumbles around you, and you seriously thought you would be enough to stop me? Me? You have no idea who I am!"

At that, Din managed a hateful smirk of her own. "Neither do you."

"... Touché." Zatam brought down his blade and split her skull.

"DIN!" Nayru and Farore cried. They stared with abject horror as Din's body fell to the floor, her power and indomitable spirit already draining from their senses. Farore sank to her knees, covering her eyes so she would not have to look at her sister's corpse.

Nayru vanished in a burst of starlight. She reappeared before Din's murderer and slapped him hard enough to scratch her nails against his skin.

"Ow." He rubbed the spot with a cheeky grin. "Careful, you're getting Din on your shoes."

"I believed you to be a hero," Nayru spat as she slapped him again. "I saw the goodness, the strength in your heart! I saw your potential—"

He raised his blade but Nayru had already teleported away. "Oh, potential, is it? How am I not living up to your precious standards?"

He let his guard down too long. Several bolts struck his side, earning a vicious glare in Farore's direction. "You're a murderer, and you need to be stopped."

"Hey, you're the ones who offered me the job," he said as he disappeared in a burst of red lightning. "You wanted an end to the cycle. Seems pretty damn ended now, doesn't it?"

Farore closed her eyes, wishing that it did not come to this. "You had such courage, you were willing to do anything to save the ones you cared about. Where did it go?"

"I buried it," Zatam snarled as he slashed down, missing Farore by less than a hair. "I buried it where all dreams go to die. No one cared about me, or what I had to go through. They only cared that I wasn't a squeaky-clean goody two-shoes."

"Midna thought differently."

"I guess I did break her heart," Zatam said, clutching his fist tight. "Literally."

Even now, Nayru found herself withdrawing from the battle. She was afraid, yes, but she also knew that he was not a fool. Nothing he did was without purpose. Every step he took, every word uttered, every move made, had a design. He clearly intended to kill Farore and herself, but then what?

It then occurred to her that the same question could be asked of her. If he was defeated, what then? Trillions of universes were extinguished, and while the Triforce had the power to restore them, Nayru was unable to use it herself.

"I won't give up on you," she said as she blasted him with pure magic. It slowed him down enough to let Farore escape, but she was not the Goddess of Courage for nothing. Farore renewed her attack, driving him back further and further. When his foot reached the edge of the abyss, Farore kept going. With a mighty blast that blew the top of his head clean off, she sent him off the edge and into the vast empty nothingness of space.

"And may you rot there for eternity!" Farore bellowed, her throat hoarse. She wiped her brow and turned to Nayru, a weary smile on her face. "It's over, Nayru. It's—"

The blade piercing through her heart silenced her. She stared slack-jawed at the angry red energy, her eyes wide but fading. A hand reached around and squeezed her throat, his breath tickling the hairs on the back of her neck.

"Never wound," Zatam said as his head regenerated, "what you can't kill."

Farore found Nayru and feebly reached for her. She tried to speak but nothing came out but a faint gasp.

"You know the funny thing about fate?" Zatam said with a smug hiss. "You only ever seem to believe in it when it's going your way. If things go south, clearly fate took a sharp left turn and you need to course correct fate itself. How arrogant of you." He deactivated his weapon and turned Farore around. His hand was surprisingly gentle as he brushed her cheek. Not that she would notice, she had already passed. He kissed her dead lips and tossed her body into the void, and now he focused on Nayru herself. "You would be wise to surrender."

Nayru gave it some serious thought. Surrender meant being alone with the End of All Things for all eternity. Alone, but alive. "... Probably."

To surrender is to live, to be free. There were no worlds left for her to spectate over, no heroes to choose, no obligations to meet. For the first time in her entire existence, Nayru was truly free. But she was not the Goddess of Wisdom for nothing...

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Zach

Midna

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The End of All Things

Twilight Princess

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Mid-April, 2013

It was a rainy Saturday evening, and there I was, on my computer like a good 19-year-old schmuck with no future. Typing away at some stupid writing assignment for college, I of course drifted off to think about other things.

Where was I going?

What was I doing?

Why haven't I done anything?

So many questions my parents and I asked myself, but I had no answers. All I could think about was video games, the damn video games that I grew to love more than family or friends. It wasn't my fault they were good games!

The Legend of Zelda, God of War, Dead Space, and Halo, all of them drew me in with their stories and characters, the music and action, even the sadness and loss. I admired Link's courage, Kratos' strength, Isaac Clarke's ingenuity, and Master Chief's luck. They were the mentors who taught me to fight, to love, to stand.

Such a dreary existence I had, it had no excitement, no adventure. I wanted so badly to vanish into my games and live out the rest of my life in them, to see the grand green landscapes of Hyrule, to climb the heights of Mount Olympus, to explore the depths of the Sprawl on Titan Station, to sail the stars and discover the seven Halo Installations.

I blinked and then hissed at the sting in my left eye. I headed to the bathroom, removed my fake eye, and rinsed it of some dried blood and mucus. As I went about cleaning the inside of the socket, I kept thinking about my future or lack thereof.

Yes, I had such dreams of grandeur. I had no future here on Earth, in this time, in this place. No, my destiny lay elsewhere, in the codes and programming of video games. Well, that was what I wanted to believe.

I left the bathroom and found the basement lights were out. I heard footsteps above my head and assumed it was my parents or brother coming down to the basement to use the TV. Thankfully my computer was still on. I clicked the 'Save' button for the document and heard a very distinct voice echo above me. It was female, yet not familiar. Another voice echoed down, and I understood it to be female as well but older and with the authority of a regent or monarch. Just as I was about to dismiss the voices as my thoughts only, a third voice met my ears. Female again, with a hint of knowledge beyond her presumed years. I could hear their voices faintly, but I could not discern the words.

Great, a trio of women is robbing me, I thought to myself. With a shrug, I rose from my computer desk at the bottom of the stairs and made my way up, only to stop when I heard a clear sentence from the intelligent-sounding voice.

"He thinks we're robbers. He won't trust us."

That sentence made my mind go blank. She had just vocalized what I was thinking! I shook my head and convinced myself that I just said that thought aloud. With a new spur of energy, I emerged from the stairs and walked into the kitchen, noticing but ignoring the three women seated in the living room across the way.

As I opened the fridge, I heard a faint scoff from the living room, but ignored it as I pulled out the grape jelly. I closed the door and stepped over to the pantry when I heard the authoritative voice. Though she tried to whisper, it was difficult with such a commanding tone.

"He assumes too much. How do you know he'll be willing to do it, Farore?"

That caught my attention. I slowly put the peanut butter back as the chipper voice replied, "I trust him, Din. There's more to him than you or even he knows."

I couldn't help but smile a little. I've never met those women and yet they were gossiping about me like schoolgirls. One was even vouching for me! I replaced the jelly and stepped outside the kitchen to find a young girl standing right there, which caused me to jump in surprise.

She giggled at my reaction and stretched out her childish hand in greeting.

"Hi! I'm Farore!" she chirped. She seemed no older than ten, maybe twelve years old at the most, with mildly tanned skin and freckles atop her nose. Her hair was a lively shade of green, tied up in a trio of buns atop her head. Her eyes were a similar color and were wide with curiosity as she smiled at me. If I didn't know better, I would have thought she was doing a Kokiri cosplay.

I adjusted my glasses and shook her hand, but she had other plans as she dragged me past the dining room and into the living room. I marveled at the girl's strength until I saw the other two women seated on the red velvet love seat.

One had ruby-red hair tied in a ponytail. Her eyes matched the shade of her hair as she glared at me. Following on Farore's outfit, this woman dressed like a Gerudo clad in red and black.

The other woman had lush blue hair that draped over her shoulders. Compared to the other two, she was dressed the most normal; a little fancy but not very conspicuous. Her attire was practical, through and through.

I sat down on the couch opposite them, Farore sitting beside me. I leaned back so all three were visible, but I didn't know which one to watch. Farore seemed happy to be there, Din looked angry as hell, and Nayru was very neutral.

After a seeming eternity, Din cleared her throat and spoke up, her voice even more regal up close. "You seem calm for someone whose home has been intruded upon."

It was not a question as much as a demand. I flinched at the sound in her voice and said, "I figure if you were gonna hurt me, you would have by now."

"With great effort," Din said. "Do you know who we are?"

I nodded. "The Golden Goddesses of Hyrule; Din, Nayru, and Farore."

Farore nodded and said, "Yep, that's me." She shook my hand vigorously, nearly knocking me off the couch. Once she finally let go, I looked at Din and Nayru.

Din crossed her arms while Nayru offered her own hand. I shook it gently and was surprised at the warmth of her skin and strength of her grip.

Seeing as I was supposedly in the presence of the Three Golden Goddesses, I decided to be the smooth charmer I never was and kissed the back of Nayru's hand. I was again surprised by how warm and smooth her skin was as Farore giggled at my show of suave.

I released her hand and leaned back in my seat, then mulled things over. It all seemed so surreal, to have two beautiful women and a young girl in my living room, even if they were out of their minds with the Zelda themed dress up party. I was good at being rational despite most circumstances, so I came up with three explanations: This was all a dream and I was asleep at my computer desk, these women broke in to rob me and distract me with the getup while they did so, or these women were the Golden Goddesses of the Triforce.

"If you can hear my thoughts, say applesauce," I said in my mind. If they could read my mind, maybe the third explanation wouldn't be so—

"Applesauce," all three said.

My eyebrow shot up as I surveyed the three. Farore giggled and moved down to sit on the floor between Din and Nayru, both of whom had knowing smiles on their faces, though one was more condescending than the other.

One more test, I thought, and moved my hands behind my back with three fingers raised.

With a mischievous smirk, I asked, "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Din scoffed and pointed an accusing finger at me as she said, "We will not waste our time with these games."

"Hey, if you can't do it, no sweat—"

"Three. Two. Nine. Seven. Five. One. Four."

Not only did all three speak at the exact same time with the exact same pace, they were right every single time. I was never one to give up, so I tried one more time with a dramatic shake of my hands.

"How many now?" I asked with eight fingers raised, but I quickly drew in the fingers on my left hand.

Nayru was the only one to speak as she said, "Eight."

Victorious in my deception, I raised my right hand in triumph to show off the five I was holding. They may be psychic, but they couldn't just grow new fingers on people!

That was when I noticed I had three extra fingers wedged between the knuckles of my natural four. With a shrill whimper, I shook my hand to discard the appendages.

"This is one hell of a dream," I said as I removed my glasses and wiped the lens on my shirt.

Din cleared her throat and said, "This is no dream. I assure you that we are as real as the clothes you wear. Every story you have ever seen, heard, or even thought of exists in their own reality."

I turned back to Din and shrugged slightly as I slapped myself in the face. I waited several seconds for the sting to wear off, and when it did, I was still on the couch facing the Golden Goddesses themselves.

"Not a dream, got it." Once I returned my glasses to my face, I couldn't deny evidence like that no matter how crazy the whole thing was. Now that I accepted the fact that I was in the presence of the Golden Goddesses, I just had one thing to say: "Why are you here?"

The Three lowered their heads and frowned. Even Farore lost her cheeriness. Was that not the right question? I mean, what else could I say? 'Hi, welcome to my house uninvited, want some pizza?'

Nayru locked eyes with me and said, "We need your help."

"My help?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Far be it from me to question you but shouldn't you be looking for someone else? Someone more... not me?"

"You are the only choice," said Din, her glare softening but her voice still imposing.

Farore pouted and scooted closer to me. She sat up and held my hand in hers. Her skin was just as warm as Nayru's but much smaller because of her childlike stature.

"The universes are all in great danger," Nayru said, though it was more like a whisper. "There is a great evil that is coming for all of us. It desires not conquest or power, only absolute destruction and annihilation. This evil will erase all of existence if it is not stopped."

A question nagged in the back of my mind, so I asked, "Again, why me? Why of all the people in all the universes do you turn to me, some rundown schmuck with no future? I'm nobody; I'm in college but I still live with my parents. I'm not exactly athletic or socially-inclined either. How do I qualify?"

There was a brief pause as the Three glanced at one another. Farore bit her lip, Nayru fidgeted with her hands, and Din furrowed her brow. After a weary sigh, Nayru answered, "You are the great evil."

I blinked at her. "That's probably the best reason to, y'know, not go with me."

"Zach," said Nayru. She moved off the sofa and knelt before me. Her hands reached up and held mine, though it was hard not to notice how much her hands were shaking. "The saying goes that you are your own worst enemy. I believe that you can be a hero, that you can rise up and destroy this darkness once and for all. I am certain of it."

"You really have that much faith in me? How did this guy get so scary in the first place?"

"He failed," she said. "He failed to do the right thing and it consumed him."

"And I'm going to do better because...? Look, I'm sorry but this seems poorly thought out."

Farore sat beside me and squeezed my other hand. With a trembling lip, she asked me, "Will you help us?"

After a semi-weary sigh, I rose from the couch and moved so that all three Goddesses were in my field of vision. They wanted me to be the hero and face down... me? To take up arms and march to basically certain death?

Pushing my glasses further up my nose, I shrugged. "Sure, sounds like fun."

Author's Note: Hello and welcome to the revised version of The End of All Things: Twilight Princess. I have 41 chapters ready to upload, I will be uploading them once a day until the story is all caught up. Then it will be back to whenever I get the next chapter written. So expect another chapter tomorrow!