The Dark Castle

Admittedly, Destiny was afraid as she made her way to the castle. But fear for her parents' sakes and fury at what Ganondorf had done spurred her on. She knew that she had to find and take back the Master Sword or else she'd stand no chance of defeating Ganondorf, but she could worry about that later, if later even occurred! She shook her head to get such thoughts as these out of it and slashed at another Re-Dead as it tried to paralyze and bite her and suck out her life energy. She scowled at the fallen body and kept going on towards the castle. When she got there, she gave a choked gasp of shock at what had been done. It looked exactly as her father had described it from when he went there to save her mother and battle Ganondorf! The black castle, the impassable lava pit, the broken stones, everything was as her father said. Destiny now realized her new problem. She did not have the Medallions that her father had had from the Sages to make the bridge to cross the chasm.

"Swell," she muttered. "I'm not even in the castle yet and I need help. Sheik!" she called. "Sheik, where are you? I need you! Oh, he's probably back in the Temple guarding the vortex." She turned to go back but she heard a whoosh and a soft thump behind her and she spun around, drawing her sword.

"Your father did much the same when he met your mother when she was disguised as me," Sheik said quietly, with a smile. Destiny relaxed and sheathed her sword, but couldn't return the smile.

"How am I supposed to get in the castle? I don't have the Medallions!" she said,

"But you do," said Sheik.

"Please don't tell me that the Medallions are in my blood too," said Destiny.

"No, your shield," replied Sheik easily.

"Oh!" said Destiny in surprise. She looked at the underside of her shield and sure enough, the Medallions were embedded in the wood. She looked at them in surprise, then looked back at Sheik, who smiled pleasantly at her.

"Your father figured that, even if someone did manage to find and steal his possessions, no one would bother with a simple wooden Deku shield, they're hardly worth stealing really," Sheik said. Destiny was only half listening. She walked to the edge of the great pit, slipped her shield off her arm, and held it out with the Medallions facing the castle. A strange rain of softly glowing spherical colored lights began to fall around her. A flash of light, and the beautiful rainbow bridge stretched out before her. She turned to Sheik to ask if he would wish her luck, but he was gone. Her shoulders slumped for a moment, then she composed herself and went boldly across the bridge to the evil castle.

Once inside the castle, however, she was faced with the challenge of bringing down the barrier around the keep. She looked up to see the multicolored laser lights pumping energy into the barrier, but to her surprise there were none to be seen. Apparently there was a new challenge for her to face, one that her father had not undergone. She looked around for any sort of hint, but saw nothing that would help her. Toan flew out from under her cap and looked around.

"I'd say we've got a bit of a problem here," he said.

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Destiny replied flatly, "now how 'bout popping out something helpful, huh?" Toan looked around, then flew up to the barrier. "Toan, wait, I'm sorry, don't go too near it!" Destiny cried. Toan just looked back at her and glowed a warmer, brighter shade of blue. He was smiling at her. He turned back to the barrier and examined it closely. Then, he tapped it. Instantly he was flung backwards. Destiny caught him before he could slam into a wall. "Toan! Toan, are you ok?" she asked.

"Fine," he wheezed, "I'll be fine. Ahem, I did discover something though."

"What's that?" asked Destiny.

"The barrier seems to be made up of pure dark energy," Toan said. "Powerful, granted, but easily destroyed by one thing."

"What's that?" Destiny repeated.

"Have you noticed that there are no windows in here?" asked Toan evasively. "There's no natural light anywhere inside or outside the castle." Destiny looked confused for a moment, then smiled slowly as she realized what Toan was saying. He flitted up out of her hands and hovered next to her head, leaving her hands free to take out the ocarina and play the Prelude of Light. Glowing balls of golden light showered down, swirled around her, and launched themselves at the barrier. Wherever they struck they burnt a hole, like acid through paper. Destiny watched in fascination as the barrier was dissolved in this fashion. When it had completely melted away, she hurried up the exposed stairway with Toan flying close to her.

"Let's see," said Destiny quietly. "There should be several levels we have to go up and there should be a new monster on each that I have to defeat."

"We," Toan corrected her. Destiny looked at him and he smiled again. "We're a team. We fight together, no matter what." Destiny smiled gratefully at him.

"All right then," she said, and the dynamic duo continued up the winding stairs. They reached the first room, but there was nothing there. "That's strange," said Destiny softly. "There should have been something here trying to kill us. But…nothing. Very strange."

"Strange indeed, but don't dwell on it," Toan said. "It could just mean that whatever's ahead is that much stronger." Destiny nodded and they continued. But they went up staircase after staircase, through chamber after chamber, and nothing rushed out and challenged them. Destiny grew more and more uneasy, remembering her nightmare from the previous night, how easy it was for her to get up to Ganon's Keep and what she found upon doing so. But she tried to swallow her fears and continued up and up. Finally they reached the last stairway that lay between them and Ganondorf. Once they were through the door looking up those endless stairs, Destiny hesitated.

"Are you all right?" asked Toan. She nodded. "No you're not. You're afraid, but it's all right. You have the strength and means to defeat Ganondorf. You will triumph, for you know you must. Besides," he added with a grin, "your father was scared when he looked up this staircase so many years ago." Destiny looked at Toan and smiled at him. Then, her smile melting into a firm look of utmost determination, she started to run up the stairs, not failing to hear the eerie organ music being played and getting louder and louder as she ran on. She ran and ran, until she at last reached the door at the top.

"The dream's come true," she said to herself. "The nightmare's alive." With a staid smile, she opened the door to her nightmare.