The happiness over Luke's freedom didn't last long. Before Zelda and Luke could talk much about what had been going on, Malice began slaughtering the Sage of Light. The worst part was, without Luke's consciousness inside of him, Malice was completely merciless. No matter how much Luke begged for him to stop the carnage, he'd continue his bloody work and laugh.
It was not a nice "homecoming" for the timid Luke. His knees shook and his eyes watered sadly at the sight of all the blood. He suddenly fell to his knees and cried out loud morosely, then covered his eyes so he wouldn't have to watch Malice finish dining on Rauru's corpse. His tears slipped through his fingers and dripped into the red water. Link and Zelda were crying as well. Rowen was beyond tears. She wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't come. She turned her back to the blank nothingness beyond the platform they were standing on.
"Are you satisfied now?!" Rowen yelled with a shaky voice. "I s'pose you'll wanna eat us too!"
Malice swallowed the last bit of flesh he had in his mouth. When he turned to face the mourning friends, Zelda felt the urge to regurgitate everything she had ever eaten in her life. Rowen, who was both disturbed and curious, looked at the god, turned completely pale, and did what Zelda was trying not to do; she knelt down over the edge of the platform and lost her breakfast. Link swallowed hard, trying his hardest not to show his disgust. Luke still had his eyes covered.
None of them were able to describe the gore that covered the wicked deity, and none of them wanted to.
Malice still showed absolutely no signs of ever devouring the Sage. His body remained unchanged.
"He…killed…him…" Link managed to say.
"Impa!" Zelda howled. "Impa!"
"Don't worry, Zelda, I'm right here," the Sheikah said kindly, holding the Princess of Hyrule tightly.
Navi, who had been wandering around below the Chamber of Sages, heard the ruckus above and went instinctively to investigate. Then, wishing that she hadn't, sped into Link's hat and stayed there. Link felt her little body shiver against the back of his head.
The water in the Chamber rose up like a giant pillar and engulfed Malice, washing away all of the blood and gore that covered him. Then, after few passing moments, it sunk back down again, permanently dyed blood red. "You have no need to cry out on behalf of him. He is no longer capable to perceive sound."
Rowen stood, turned around to face Malice, and wiped her mouth on the shoulder of her tunic. "Ya didn't have ta go and do that! They didn't do nothin' to ya! Ya know what ya are? You're a big bully!"
Malice laughed, and the remaining four felt like their spines had been torn out and replace with ice. "He did not serve an additional purpose within my revitalization, hence that makes him just an extra source of sustenance. If you entail retribution, I encourage you to endeavor it. Nevertheless, heed my words: you four are the subsequent to expire. First, however, I am fervent to convene this Ganondorf that Link had so benevolently informed Luke of."
"That's not entirely possible," Link said with a forced smile. "You see, he's still sealed away in the Evil Realm. There's no way that you'll be able to get to him."
"You take too lightly the power that I manipulate. Using the supremacy of the elements, the seal can be dispatched and I shall be one step closer to the Red Eclipse and my true potential! Then all will witness the darkness that shall reach from Hyrule and leisurely taint all who possess an unadulterated psyche."
Rowen blinked and raised her eyebrows. "I didn't quite catch that, can ya please repeat it?"
"He's saying that he'll break the Sage's seal, obtain the last three pieces of the Black Triforce, be restored to his full power, and spread his evil all around the world!" Zelda translated.
"Oh. Ya know, I've really had it with this guy. I think it's time that he took a looong trip to the middle of nowhere. I don't want him killin' or taintin' anyone else in front o' my eyes," Rowen said. "I don't care if he kills me; at least I'll know that I went down fightin'!"
"I agree!" Nabooru said, drawing her two curved Gerudo blades.
"Rowen, you can't," Luke said softly. He lowered his hands from his face and looked at his reflection in the blood-red water. "You won't last two seconds. He knows."
"He knows what?" Link asked.
"When Rowen healed you, he—I—felt the strong fire of Rhapsody's spirit in the tears. He'll take the Triforce of Life, and, using his dark powers to reverse the healing and revival magic it holds, he'll kill everyone in the world in the blink of an eye," Luke explained sadly.
"Hold it," said Link, "Rowen is the goddess Rhapsody that holds the Triforce of Life?"
"Yeah, that's me. I didn't know about it 'till the old dude in yellow told me about it. I was gonna tell ya later, but—never mind. All that matters now is thinkin' of a way to keep M-somethin' from stealin' the Triforce of…Power? Yeah, that's it. Stealin' the Triforce of Power from the guy that's stuck in the place that we can't see 'cause of the seal. Okay, that didn't make any sense, but y'all get the point, right?" Rowen said quickly. Link and Zelda nodded in agreement; Luke shook his head.
"We can't risk that," Luke said.
"What? Why not? If we don't, he'll kill us all!" Link objected fiercely.
"Because none of you have the power to defeat him."
Rowen put her hands on her hips stubbornly and cast Luke a stern glance, which he didn't catch. "Oh, and I s'pose you do?"
"I didn't want to have to resort to violence, but if it's the only way…I hate meaningless slaughter and bloodshed…But I won't let him win," Luke murmured so softly that his voice was almost inaudible. "Since Malice and I are still connected by soul, we share the powers of Darkness. So that means that our strength is equal. I can't kill him, but I can delay him long enough for you get Ganondorf out of here after he breaks the seal."
"Whoa whoa whoa. Lemme get this straight. We're gonna let him break the Sage's seal and release Ganondorf? D'you know what that'll do? We'd be lettin' all of the other evil thingummies go! No way! It's out o' the question, dude."
"I can make it so only Ganondorf will be released, not the other creatures trapped inside," Zelda input almost hesitantly. "Although I must admit that I'm not eager to meet with Ganondorf again after what he did to Hyrule. If it were up to me, I'd just let Malice take care of him for us, but…"
"We can't do that!" Link exclaimed angrily. "Do you know how long it took me to seal some of those creatures, including Ganondorf? Some of those battles almost killed me!"
"Is there any other choice?" Luke said softly; Zelda could catch the regret in his gentle voice, and the pain. She wished that he didn't have to go through all of this, but fate was cruel, and couldn't be changed, no matter how much one begged the goddesses. "I hate him…he's killed so many people just to see them bleed and cry out in agony. You haven't seen what I have. It's heart wrenching. Sometimes knowing that he was reborn from inside of me makes me wish you had never found me, Mother. I know…it's horrible to say such things, but…now it's time to make up for my mistakes. I'm going to show him that I'm not just the weak host he used to regain his power. I'll do it to protect Hyrule, my friends, and you…Mother."
"Luke," Zelda replied, "how many people has Malice killed?"
Luke's turquoise eyes looked sadly into Zelda's kind blue ones. "Innumerable."
"Wh-what? But how the heck…?" Rowen said.
"Did you feel the tingling sensation that lingered for a day?"
"Yeah, it tickled."
"He slowed down the flow of time and traveled around the world, just to shed the blood of innocents. A day didn't pass at all; a half-year has."
"WHAT?" Link, Zelda, Rowen, and the remaining Sages exclaimed.
"A half-year? We must have missed out on a lot…" Link said thoughtfully.
"I sent out a cry for help, but it must have been ignored—"
"Was it a dream?" Rowen quickly said. "'Cause I had a really weird dream one night with you in it! Ya were talkin' 'bout masks and protectin' the ones who held pieces of the Black Triforce an' the Sages, and masks, and the destruction of some places, and—wait, that was all."
"Rowen, why didn't you tell us about that earlier?" Ruto said, almost coldly.
"Forgot," Rowen said plainly.
"I've failed," Luke sighed. "It's too late now. He's more than halfway restored to power. Our only hope is to keep the remaining pieces of the Black Triforce away from him, and that won't be easy. And I don't think that we'll be able to stop the Red Eclipse from coming…two days from now."
"We only have two days? It should be easy enough to play keep-away with him for forty-eight hours," Link said.
"You forget the power he holds. He could take them now, if he wanted to, but he seems to be preoccupied with breaking the Sage's seal. Remember now, when the seal breaks, take Ganondorf as far away from here as you can. I'll keep him busy long enough for you to find somewhere to hide," said Luke.
Above the Chamber of Sages, it sounded as if someone had shattered a large glass window. A white light that shone brilliantly flashed many times before breaking apart into the six colors that used to represent the six Sages. The seal was broken, and they had Malice to thank for it. They all watched as the thin beams of multicolored light returned to Malice, and the King of Evil, Ganondorf, came out of the void with his arms crossed and an evil look on his face.
"Well well well…we meet again," Ganondorf said to Link and Zelda. And, upon spotting Rowen and Luke, he continued: "I see that you've made some friends."
Link glared at him with a loath scowl. "I see you haven't."
Ganondorf chuckled. "Now is the perfect time for my revenge on you two and those abominable Sages. Where is the oldest one?"
To the Evil King's surprise, Link cast his eyes down to the red water sadly. "He…isn't with us…anymore."
"Perfect! No wonder I was released! This is absolutely perfect!" Ganondorf threw back his head and laughed maniacally, like he used to when he was aiming to take over Hyrule and obtain the three pieces of the Triforce. But, of course, that was before Luke was found and Malice was revived.
"That's not why you were set free!" Link yelled. "You were set free because of—him."
"Then where may I find this "him"? I would like to thank him. Now I can resume my dream of taking over the world!"
"Dude, I don't think that's gonna happen any time soon. 'Cause he didn't let ya go so you could try and take over the world again. He wants the thingamajig ya got," Rowen said, pointing a finger at the Evil King. "And besides, he won't let ya take over the world 'cause he wants ta…wants ta…"
"Cast everything into the shadows," Luke finished for her.
"Yeah, what he said. Cast everythin' into the shadows."
"Fools. While I hold the Triforce of Power, I'm invincible!"
Rowen erupted with laughter and almost toppled over into the bloody water. Her sides began to ache because she was laughing so hard and she had forgotten to breathe. After taking a few quick and deep breaths, her laughter subsided, and she spoke. "Then how come ya were in there if you're so invincible?"
"Errgh, that's none of your business!" Ganondorf growled menacingly. "Now get out of my way!"
"Uhm, we kinda can't do that, sorry!" Rowen said.
"And why not?"
"Because he doesn't want us to."
"Enough of your silly games! Who is "he"?"
"Turn around and you'll see," Zelda said with vague pleasure. She secretly liked the idea of Malice defeating and humiliating Ganondorf, although she knew it was for the worst. "Well? He's waiting for you."
"Mother, what are you saying? Are you willing to endanger the world just to get Ganondorf killed?" Luke urgently whispered to Zelda.
"Normally, I'd say no. But you didn't have to go through everything that Link and I did to save Hyrule from this maniac. I'll never forgive him, just like I'll never forgive Malice for everything he's done and will do."
"We have to get Ganondorf out of here now, before Malice obtains the Triforce of Power!" Luke exclaimed. "If we allow Ganondorf to take on my darkness, the Triforce of Power will be lost!"
Rowen covered Luke's mouth with a hand and laughed sheepishly. "Oh, just ignore him, Mister Evil Dude. He rambles on sometimes, ya know. Ya know how it is: ramble, ramble, ramble."
Ganondorf cocked an eyebrow. "Malice? Who in the name of Din is Malice?"
"To clarify, I am Malice," answered the deity from behind.
The King of Evil turned around, only to be met by a man that was larger than he was. "So, you must be the one they're talking about. You don't look as tough as they say," said Ganondorf, peering up into Malice's cold blood-colored eyes.
"I might pronounce the alike for you."
"Oh really?" Ganondorf said angrily, holding up his left hand and peeling off his gauntlet to reveal the golden Triforce of Power. "Say that again!"
"Not a good idea, Ganondorf!" Link quickly responded.
Ganondorf, with his hand still raised, looked at the Hero of Time. "Shut up, kid, this doesn't involve—aargh!" He looked back at his hand; his dark eyes widened in shock. Malice had seized it with the corresponding hand viciously and had begun to draw the Triforce of Power out of Ganondorf's body.
"Shit!" Rowen yelled, drawing her scimitar. She took one look at it, sighed, and sheathed it once again. She had forgotten that it was broken.
Link drew the sword of evil's bane and rushed at Malice, only to be hurled backward by an unseen force and tossed over the edge of the Chamber of Sages. Luke, with the reflexes of a feline, grabbed Link's hand and held him there, but had not the power to lift him back up to the surface. Link desperately looked up at him; their hands were beginning to part. Luke then saw another hand appear beside his own: his mother's. She nodded at him, and together, they pulled the Hero back up to the platform.
Unfortunately, they were too late to prevent the loss of the Triforce of Power. The three of them knew it was back in the hands of its rightful owner because Ganondorf was kneeling on the middle symbol, sweat trickling down his forehead. Malice threw back his head and embraced the power of the Triforce, growling gently yet intimidatingly. When he lowered his head to look at the pathetic figure kneeling before him, he laughed and seized the man by the hair and pulled him up until their eyes met.
"You truly alleged that you had the potency to fend me off? There is no power greater than mine own." And with that, Malice removed Ganondorf's head from his shoulders, then tossed the severed head over the edge of the platform. The headless body collapsed to the floor, blood spilling into the already bloody water.
"Serves him right," Zelda forced herself to say. Inside, however, she felt horrible for the late King of Evil. Everyone did.
Luke could only stare at his feet and fear for the fate of everyone and everything he loved.