Chapter 3: Wicked Love
It was a very over-cast night in Herlassia. The sun didn't shine at all, and somewhat dark clouds covered the entire sky like a blanket. A chilling wind wafted through the almost silent land, and brought the notion to every beast, monster and human that a terrible rain was coming. The clouds were now slowly turning into a gray color, that of ash. The wind blew harder, and created a spine-tingling hollow. The leaves were picked up by the gusts, and carried off over the land. The air grew colder, and numerous birds from ravens to killdeer briskly soared into any tree they could find. The many monsters and creatures that made Herlassia their home were now finding shelter, as even they knew what was to come. A crackle of thunder boomed in the distance, and it echoed throughout the land. It was like that of a bomb flower, only quieter from it being in the distance, and kind of terrifying. Another blast of thunder blasted in the distance, this one louder though. The wind hollowed now like a wolf at late night, and these two things coalesced was enough to give even some grown men goose bumps. All the warriors and civilians in Herlassia were now hurrying to move into their stone forts or towers, those warriors and civilians ranging from Moblins to Hylian warriors who instead lived in Herlassia, to serve their mighty Princess and King.....
Princess Sephia stood by one of the clearer stain glass windows in her throne room at the top of the highest tower within her castle. She was the princess of Herlassia, ruling it alongside her father. The great stone palace where she lived in had a bit of an obsidian tone to its color, and oddly resembled Hyrule Castle in a way. It was very large, and had three other smaller towers about one huge one. It was exceedingly high, and in a rounder form so that the stairs spiraled up. At the top it was pointed, and a little wider so that the throne room was huge.
Sephia was at about the age of thirty or so, and was quite beautiful. She had long dark violet hair, and it that actually reached past her shoulder blades down to almost the end of her back. She had beautiful indigo eyes, and smooth purple eye shadow around them on her eyebrows and eyelashes. On her stomach was a steel breast plate, only covering up her breasts perfectly and a little more above and below them. The other thing she wore on her upper body, was a rather distinctive and unique piece of clothing. It was a very light lavender colored shirt, but it only reached down to the middle of her back, so the area of her belly button and around was shown completely. The sleeves only went down to about her elbows, and then was opened up in front to reveal her chest, but of course the steel breast plate still covered up her breasts. Finally, the thing was also a long cerulean cape that only hovered about a couple inches above the ground. She then wore a sarong the same color as the shirt part of her upper clothing, and it reached down to her ankles, and stopped. It was a little clear though, so you could see her legs, but not clear enough to see them very well. At the top of it, it was tight to so it could never fall, but after that it was somewhat loose and kind of baggy. She wore two very nice ebony bracelets around her wrists, and implanted in them were wonderful garnets. She had two pearl post earrings in each ear, and then a very nice loose golden bracelet about her neck that hung down to almost her breasts. In her hand was held her wonderful staff, which was as black as the night sky for the rod. At the top there was a beautiful diamond-like crystal, with an aquamarine stone inside. It had been sharpened a bit at the tip, so it could use used to slash and slice open any enemies.
But Sephia was not that much of a fighter, she never battled at all, although she was a great sorceress. Underneath that beauty and somewhat fierce and dark aura, incredible energy dwelled within.
As she stood watching the rain, she smiled. She enjoyed seeing it pour upon the land of Herlassia, and not to see the shining sun. It pleased her to watch the lightning split through the sky, and to hear the numerous booms of thunder. The black as smoke clouds made the scenery even better, and she couldn't have asked for better day. She was going to visit Ganondorf in the after world soon, and was joyous at the fact was she going to see her love once again.
Sephia believe it or not, had fallen in love with the King of Evil, Ganondorf. One day after the seven years passed by Link freeing the Master Sword, Ganondorf had left his fortress to Herlassia for new recruits. He had heard that the castle she lived in was willing to provide some monsters, and didn't intend for him to pay them anything. The second he saw her, and the second she saw him...they both fell in love. Ganondorf had originally planned to go back to his castle once he got the soldiers, but instead he stayed with Sephia, and on that night they shared their first kiss. He left the next day, but came back every once in a while to see her. Though once he began his campaign to get revenge on Mirren with his sister Emralda, he no longer saw Sephia that much, though he had promised her once he finished the plan with Emralda, he would come back to her and rule over Herlassia with her...
...But he never did, and one night he appeared to her as a ghost and told her how he had been defeated at the hands of Mirren three times. She was enraged at the fact that a young boy had trapped her love in another dimension, and took him away from her. She felt wrath flood her heart and felt like sending nearly all the guards to burn Hyrule Castle to the ground while Mirren was inside. The princess of Herlassia wanted to have him gutted on the tip of her staff, and then blown away by an energy blast until his body was disintegrated and turned to ashes.
Sephia was ready to go and kill Mirren herself, but instead Ganondorf came to her again and told her to wait, he had a different plan instead. He said he'd be able to escape eventually from the dimension he was trapped in. By collecting energy slowly from spirits in another dimension the afterlife really he would one day have enough power to escape. The problem was tough, that it would take years to complete this task, and when he would escape, Sephia would be dead. But the princess of Herlassia had a loop-hole to get around this, and one that is almost unbelievable to the human mind. Hidden away in a secret place of the castle, was a magical, ancient stone. This stone had the power to literally set a land in suspended animation, and leave it completely the same as around it the world aged. If used, it would freeze Herlassia in time the way it was in the time of the first Link, Zelda and Mirren, though Sephia would have all control over it and stop its power when wanted. She used it, and for decades kept its power running as Hyrule and the other lands aged, while Herlassia stayed the exact same, the people and beats not aging either. She kept this up for decades, until one day Ganondorf told her she could stop it due to that he was near to gaining his full energy needed. She did so, and when Herlassia unfroze, it was just as it was decades ago, and everyone in it thought it was the same day that Sephia used the stone...
As she stood, she could hear footsteps behind her. They came slowly, and soon stopped. There was a loud "clank" then, and she knew who it was.
"Hello daddy....." she said. It really was her father, the true King of Herlassia. He was stood at a light five-foot eight, just below Sephia who was five-nine, although her shoes added an extra three inches to her height, so really with them she was six foot, exact, taller than him. He was a rather old man, with many winkles and signs of his elder age on his face. He had white as snow hair that reached to his shoulders from the back and sides, and then a white mustache also. His eyes were an olive green color, and full of old age and wisdom, though most of the time they were unable to be seen due to his squinting and numerous winkles. He was wearing a dark orange robe with many crimson designs on it, ranging from odd looking suns to mystical runes or symbols. He carried with him a blue staff, that at the top curved backwards, and the curved up and forward like a loop. He seemed very serious at the moment.
"You're very nicely dressed my daughter, you look beautiful. You're going to see him aren't you?" he asked referring to Ganondorf. Sephia didn't turn around, and she didn't smile either. In fact she actually narrowed her eyes and she lowered her head a bit.
"Yes I am daddy, and I don't care what you say. I love him, and he loves me. I'm going to visit him in the afterlife, whether you like it or not...." She answered with a bit of anger in her tone of voice. Her father didn't look the least bit happy.
"Sephia, my daughter, when will you realize it.....?" he asked, "that man is pure evil, his heart is nothing but darkness. He doesn't love you, he is only using you...." Sephia now spun around and glared at her father.
"Use me for what!?" she snapped. The King of Herlassia narrowed his eyes.
"This entire castle, our North Quadrant of Herlassia, and then all of it" he answered, "Ganondorf will do anything to rule all, and beginning by ruling Herlassia is perfect for that devil. Then with this entire land in his grasp, it will be easy as ever for him to conquer other lands, like the one he wishes to rule the most........Hyrule....." Sephia fumed.
"I don't care what you think daddy!! I love him and I know he loves me!!" she shouted, "now I'm going to see him whether you like it or not!! I'll be back in an hour or two, goodbye!!" The crystal at the top of Sephia's staff then began to glow, and within a second, she was gone. She had transported herself to the afterlife. The King sighed, and bowed his head as he closed his eyes. He despised that Sephia had fallen in love with Ganondorf, and likewise with the King of Evil. He constantly lectured Sephia whenever she'd go to see him or talk about him that Ganondorf really didn't love her, and was using her for a fool. He always told her how her love was imprudent, and Ganondorf would end up betraying her. But no matter how many times he told her that he didn't love her, Sephia never listened and kept her love for Ganondorf.
"I would give up my own life just to open up her eyes....." he whispered.
Within the afterlife, there was a huge black castle. It was bigger than Hyrule Castle, and it's towers stretched all the way higher than the clouds in the sky. There was a large lake of lava beneath it, as it sat upon a large island inside that huge pool of magma. This was Ganondorf's castle, a palace that he created for him to reside him while he was in the afterlife. While most of the castle was complete, there were still a few things needed to be worked on before it would be considered "complete". One of them, was a job needed to be done below the castle...
Deep beneath the fortress, there was a large river of lava that flowed freely from the one side of the lake to the other. It was actually in a huge tunnel of rock underneath the castle, and the lower areas and basements actually reached this far. There were many rooms and floors right across from the tunnel below the castle, and Ganondorf found that it'd be best if there'd be a way for the living things in the castle to just go through the tunnel to the other side of the under-regions of the castle, instead of traveling up to the main floor and having to travel down the other passages. And Ganondorf was making sure that would be done.
Numerous monsters and beasts from Moblins to Iron Knuckles to regular deceased Hylian Warriors were at the moment working to dam up the flow, and covered it up so you could walk on the stone easily and cross safely. The workforce had been slaving over the job for a little while now, and it never got easier. The river of magma was huge, and incredibly wide. Another problem was the process of covering it up. To do this, the workers used great thick tiles of black stone used to make the castle, and lay them upon the lava covering up that part. But these tiles were large, very large. Each was about four meters by four meters, and weighed hundreds, maybe thousands. They were very awkward too, and many beasts were needed to pull, carry, and push them. It was an incredibly hard job, and a dangerous one at that. Quite a few workers had been swallowed by the lava already, and their bodies disintegrated. And since they were already dead, they totally vanished, they no longer even had a soul, so they no longer had a life anywhere, as if they were no where.
Ganondorf watched from a balcony of stone over the workers as they slowly worked to cover up more of the river. The King of Evil was in his normal battle armor, although this time a suit of crimson and black. His long blood red cape touched the ground slightly, and swayed a little from the very slight wind drift in the tunnel. The same went for his fiery red hair, although that only touched his shoulders a bit. He stared at the army of beasts as they dragged along the huge tiles of stone, and placed them one by one perfectly next to each other over the lava flow. They were doing it at a rather good pace today, although they all seemed exhausted. The heat down there was nearly unbearable, and a few workers had already suffered greatly from heat stroke. It was literally like working in an oven, and the harsh amount of time they spent down there doing one of the toughest jobs imaginable didn't help at all.
At that moment just then, Ganondorf noticed something out of the corner of his orangish-red eye. A few human workers had suddenly collapsed while pulling one of the stone tiles, and a couple lay panting terribly while the others tried to pull, but came to no avail and fell. Anger lit up in Ganondorf's eyes, and he flew down directly next to them.
"You weaklings!! You good for nothing pieces of garbage!!" he roared, "this job should've been done on the first three days we started it! You're all worthless!! Do I have to do all of this myself!!??" At that moment then, Ganondorf grunted a little, and lifted the stone tile with both hands above his head. He screamed in fury, and everyone was shocked at his strength. He flew over at the lava, and threw the tile perfectly in place. A little magma shot up from the fray, and Ganondorf ignored it as if it was regular water. He landed, and spun around. "This is how this should be getting done!! Now begin working faster or..." The King of Evil was about to say more, but at that second one of his messengers ran into the tunnel, and bowed.
"My Lord, Lady Sephia has arrived at the castle, she wishes to see you" he stated. Instantly Ganondorf felt his rage slowly fade away, and he smiled diabolically.
"Thank you for the announcement..." He replied, and flew back up onto the balcony. He then slowly walked off into the passage as he thought about seeing his love once again.
Sephia waited inside the great hall. She simply stood smiling as she dwelled within Ganondorf's citadel, and glanced around at the room. It was very large, just like her castle's great hall and just like Hyrule Castle's great hall. Although this one was decorated much differently. On the high points of the walls, stone gargoyles and demons were embedded in them, and many portraits of the King of Evil, the King of Thieves, Ganondorf himself hung. They ranged from simple ordinary portraits, to paintings of him battling Link and conquering areas of all sorts. There were orangish-yellow stain glass windows all about the room, just as their were in his old castle when he fought Link, although these one had numerous pictures of demons, shadows, ghost knights, devils, and all other kinds of evil symbolic signs. Sephia loved how it looked, although there was no place better than her own citadel, which she would someday rule completely when her father passed on.
Just then, Ganondorf stepped in through the two huge wooden doors from which seemed to be made from the mightiest oak trees in the afterlife, and painted a dark brown color. He smiled, and threw his arms out to her gracefully and romantically.
"My love..." He said. Sephia instantly turned around, and smiled as she walked over to him.
"Ganondorf..." They came to each other, and clasped each others hands. Sephia reached up and kissed Ganondorf on the cheek, and grinned. "So good to see you once again..." She stated. Ganondorf smiled sinisterly.
"Same here Sephia, I've missed you" he responded, "you look gorgeous today." The young woman smiled back at him.
"Thank you my love, I knew this would be a more important meeting of us, and I figured I'd look me best" she spoke, "now, what is it that you've so badly been wanting to tell me of? What is your plan this time Ganondorf?" The King of Evil grinned devilishly, and let go of his grasp round Sephia's hands. He took a step back, and prepared to tell her his preparations.
"Okay, listen carefully, this is incredibly imperative" he began. Sephia nodded, and Ganondorf continued. "Alright, first off, I have spoken to a very special man, Dranon, the leader of the Ordonra Elite. He has agreed to ally with us for a time, to get revenge on Link, Zelda, and Mirren, which he greatly wants. He's right now on the Hyrule Sea, and will be here at Hyrule soon, he plans to come to your castle in Herlassia. I want you to work out all the details and agreements of this, but before you do that I have to tell you the rest. My plan is for you attain extra magical energy and bring me back to life faster, to revive me completely." Sephia looked a bit surprised. Ganondorf looked serious though. "Will you be able to do that?" Sephia thought for a few moments, and placed her hand on her chin as she pondered about the question. Soon she looked back at him, and smiled.
"Yes, I will be able to do that Ganondorf" she answered, "although it will most definitely take about two weeks to gather that power." Ganondorf nodded.
"That's fine" he replied, "now just one more thing. When you speak with Dranon, tell him that, and then tell him that when we are ready to whenever begin our attack, he may go with the Ordonra Elite to Hyrule Castle and do whatever he pleases as his revenge on whoever. Understand? I will tell you more of this another time. Now go back to your castle in Herlassia and prepare for Dranon's arrival, alright?" Sephia nodded, and smiled.
"Yes my love. But before I go...there is one thing I wish to do..." she said as she grinned. Ganondorf grinned back.
"Me too..." Ganondorf then lifted her a little to his face, and they closed their eyes as they leaned their faces forward at each other. They closed their eyes, and pressed their lip together. They found themselves, in a great kiss, and Sephia wrapped her arms about his shoulders ever as she held her staff. Ganondorf ran his hands up and down her waist, and they continued their fiery kiss.
Soon they stopped, and pulled their faces away as they opened their eyes. They both smiled, and Sephia stepped away. He held her staff with both hands, and looked into the King of Evil's eyes.
"Goodbye..." She whispered. The crystal at the top of her staff then glowed, and in a flash of light she was gone.
Sephia appeared back at her castle. She was in her throne room again, just as she was before she left. It was still raining hard outside, and there was tons of thunder and lightning. She smiled and felt good to be back home, and the weather in the night also pleased her. She grinned as she thought of that kiss she shared with Ganondorf before she left the afterlife, and turned around towards the stairs that lead to the balcony on the far edge of the throne room. The stairway was covered in a crimson carpet, and it went all the way up to balcony, and still covered that. She began to walk over to the door beneath it on the left, but suddenly a voice stopped her.
"Hello daughter..." It said. Sephia instantly stopped advancing over to the stairs, and her face went blank. No smile, no anger, no wickedness, no emotion at all.
"Hi daddy" she replied. Her father stood bending over a little as he held his blue staff firmly with his right hand. He had that look of seriousness again.
"Good to see you back. You weren't gone for very long, I expected you to be out longer..." He stated. Sephia's eyes hardened, and she glanced at the King of Herlassia out of the corner of her right eye.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she questioned sharply. Her father had a bit of sternness in his eyes right now.
"Well, considering how your love and his so called love for you is I figured you'd be together a while..." he answered. Sephia fumed inside. She spun around, and glared at her father.
"How dare you say that about us daddy!" she screamed, "we're in love, but we haven't done anything like you might think we have! And it's not so called love of Ganondorf, it's real love for me! Why can't you understand that!? And why are you so paranoid!? We did nothing together whatsoever, just a visit!!" With that Sephia spun around as her cerulean cape flew with her. She began walking over to the stairs once again, and the King said something.
"Then why is your lipstick smeared?" he asked. Sephia froze. She instantly stopped advancing to the balcony, and her eyes widened. Her mouth dropped a little, and she couldn't believe what she just heard her father say. The King stood with that fatherly-anger in his eyes, and simply stared at his awestruck daughter. Soon Sephia's eyes lit up with rage. She gritted her teeth slightly. She spun her head and sneered at him.
"Enough daddy! Stop prying into this and acting like Ganondorf will end up killing me!!" she roared, and then stomped away. The King watched as his daughter made her way over to the balcony stairs, and sighed as he walked back to the main doors of the throne room, which was actually not as short a walk as you might expect. Sephia fumed as she came between the two chairs on the balcony. Just then yet another voice stopped her.
"You mustn't worry about your father Princess, he's got that paranoid and vexed attitude in him, just as all father's are about their daughter's falling in love with a man they don't believe is good enough for her..." the voice spoke, and it sounded like that of a younger, sophisticated, gentleman-like man. Sephia stopped, and looked to the balcony stairway. There stood a man with his back leaning on the railing, his arms crossed and his head bowed with his eyes closed- as if he just appeared there now. He slowly lifted up his head, and opened his deep blue eyes. He turned around slowly, and looked down at Princess Sephia.
This was Vaarshola, Sephia's most trusted, and greatest of all loyal warriors. He stood at a height of six foot-three, and seemed at about the age of thirty or so, pretty much Sephia's age. He had long white hair that reached past his shoulder blades, and it had a bit of a sky blue tone to it. He had a very handsome look to him, and on his forehead and was a crimson star, though he could disguise it with his normal flesh anytime he pleased, as he did now. He wore a long white robe, with a crimson sash on both shoulders. In front was a long crimson piece, that looked like an obelisk pointing upside down. Then finally all over his robe were blue designs that looked like all sorts of mystical symbols. Vaarshola may have looked like quite the gentleman, but within his heart he was a wicked devil. He was a mystical killer, and he got that title from the hundreds of people he had slaughtered and caused death to in the years. He grinned. "Never worry, eventually your father will get over it, or he'll just pass on and you'll never have to deal with his ordeal of you and Ganondorf again" Sephia stood motionless and silent for a few moments, but soon looked up at him and smiled.
"Thank you Vaarshola, you've always been the one who can make me feel better with a simple sway of words...not even my father can do that" she replied. He smirked.
"Anything to serve my princess" he said back. She smiled once again.
"Forgive me, but I must get to sleep now. Tomorrow Dranon and the rest of the Ordonra Elite will be coming here to the castle" she stated, "and I wish to be in perfect condition for this summit, as it is very vital for Ganondorf's plan he's discussed with me. Goodnight Vaarshola..." With that the Princess of Herlassia merely pounded the butt of her staff once on the floor, and slowly the wall split to reveal a large, double door- this was the entrance to her quarters. She went through the doors, closed the, and locked them. The sound of the gears echoed throughout the large and now silent throne room, and Vaarshola still smirked. He turned to the balcony, and slowly walked up the stairs. He soon came to the top, and walked over to the two golden chairs entrenched with numerous precious gems. He stood in-between them, and faced the large two doors that were the entrance to the throne room. He leaned his back against the wall that now covered the doors to Sephia's quarters, and smiled wickedly. There was a flash of lightning, and then a loud crackle of thunder. He made no sounds, no other emotions, and had not a single thought in his mind, he only smiled wickedly.