Chapter five: Unmasking Death

Link and Darunia charged out of the pass they had ran through the previous day, and found saw the bodies of the slain dead moblins. They didn't stop running, they couldn't. They had to get back to Hyrule as quickly as they could.

But then Link realized something, and he stopped running.

Darunia stopped too, and stared at the heroes face through the darkness.

"Brother, what are you doing? We need to hurry!" he yelled.

"What the hell took me so long to think of it?" said Link, berating himself. He pulled out the Ocarina of Time.

"What?" the goron said, completely lost.

"Let's just warp to the Sacred Forest Meadow and find our way to Zelda and Malon from there!" Link suggested.

"Oh!" Darunia hit himself in the head, "of course! Let's warp!"

Link grabbed Darunia's arm, and played the Minuet of Forest as fast as he could.

The light encircled them, lighting up the dark mountain walls around them lime green. It got brighter and brighter, until it engulfed them completely. It shone there for a few seconds, then the light faded, and the two were gone.

They appeared in front of the Forest Temple, the temple that Link had explored so long ago, and beaten the Phantom Ganon in. He remembered that battle with distaste; that evil being had nearly bested him until he found out how to use his sword to hit back the balls of lightning it threw at him. He stared up at the entrance far above the ground, before turning to Darunia, and saying "let's go."

They ran from the clearing, down the staircase, and jumped up onto the first grass ledge in front of them. These ledges made up the walls of the maze below them, that Link once had to navigate with moblins around every corner. Now, however, with Ganondorf gone, the mazes were empty, and they simply jumped each ledge, and within thirty seconds, they jumped from the last ledge, and landed silently on the other side of the meadow, with the entrance to the Lost Woods in front of them.

Darunia was taking deep breaths, and was bending over, holding his knees. All the jumping had been a lot for him, as he had only rolled around on the ground most of his life.

"You alright?" asked Link, concerned. He put a hand on his brownish-gray back.

"Yeah," the fire sage wheezed, pushing his hand away. "I'm fine. Let's go find them."

They ran through the entranceway to the Lost Woods, their footsteps strangely muffled in the soft ancient grass. When they arrived in the Lost Woods, Link took Darunia by the arm and pulled him into the dense foliage that surrounded the many clearings.

Link didn't know if he could remember exactly how to get through here...it had been a very long time since he had set foot in the actual forest part rather than the little clearings. However, he decided to take his chances and try to make his way all the way around the Kokiri Village and into the much bigger forest that Zelda and Malon were in at that very moment.

For nearly fifteen minutes the pair crashed through the overhanging branches and vines, tripping and falling several times on the way. Halfway through their journey, Link was not careful enough, and a small branch slashed him across the face, giving him a rather nasty opened cut across his cheek. Tendrils of blood dripped down from it, but he did not care very much. The news that he and Darunia had figured out was far too important to pass by; they had to tell Zelda.

And then Link stopped again, berating himself even more this time. Zelda's song! Why hadn't he done it the first thing after they had exited the Fortress? He sighed, stopped running, and again pulled out the Ocarina. Not even bothering to tell Darunia, who was looking even more puzzled now, he played Zelda's Song.

The music buzzed in his ear, and the mind connection was forged again. The magic flew over to Zelda and Malon's clearing, about a mile away from them.

"Zelda?" Link asked tentatively.

Zelda, who was sitting down on a log next to Malon, staring at Ingo's dead body, answered "Link? Oh, hello!"

"Zelda," he said, "we reached the fortress of the moblins...."

And Link told her everything that they had found out in the Dead Fortress. Once finished, he waited for a reply.

"Well," she whispered, a hint of a smile in her voice, which bewildered Link, "you'll be happy to know that we found Ingo, killed him, and have the map with us now."

Link's eyes widened, and he grinned happily. Darunia stared.

"Perhaps that running was too much for you," the goron said, "or am I missing something? Why the hell are you smiling?!"

Link held up a finger for him to wait.

"Zelda, this is wonderful! All we need to do now is find the Sapphires before the shadow does, and we can find a way to beat him from there. Although, I think the shadow needed the map to find them. From what I saw with Malachai that night, the shadow didn't know where to find them."

"But, why did Ingo flee to the forest when he knew the shadow was by Hylia City?"

"That I don't know," the elf admitted, looking around. "But, whatever. Meet us on the edge of the forest. Can you find your way out by yourselves?"

"Yeah, we have a path to follow. But the edge of the forest stretches far...how will we know where you two are?"

"We will be close to the entrance to Kokiri Village," was his answer.

"Alright, I'll see you in about....oh, maybe a half hour."

"Okay. Oh, and Zelda?"

"Yes?"

"Be careful....I have a feeling we haven't seen the last move from this shadow."

"I will. See you in a bit."

The contact severed abruptly, and Link gleefully told Darunia the good news. Once finished, Darunia grinned as Link had.

"Let's go to the edge of the woods and meet them, then!" he said, and they ran off to exit the dense forest paths.

For around ten minutes they trekked through the trees, both not talking. Darunia was happy, and Link was too...to an extent. Even though they had a piece of crucial information about the mysterious sapphires, he couldn't shake off the feeling of dread that was inside him. This conflict had only started three days ago, and it seemed impossible that this was all they needed to end it. That shadow was too powerful, and he knew that it would want them all dead.

They emerged from the forest covered in moss. Link and Darunia wiped themselves clean, and then looked around at which side of the woods they were on. Luckily, the entrance to Kokiri Village was in view, not far away from them. They sat down together, and waited for Zelda and Malon to arrive.

As they waited, Link's mind drifted back to Zelda. He hadn't seen her for days, only heard her voice. He couldn't wait to hug her again. Again, he began to think of her light blue eyes, her unmarked face, her soft skin...he could never think about her without remembering how beautiful she was. He could see her golden hair blowing around in the wind. Only about a week before, he had given her a ride around Hyrule Field on Epona. She seemed to have so much fun when they were together, but he doubted that she saw him in the same way he saw her. He almost said her name aloud for some reason, but stopped himself, remembering that Darunia was still there. He looked around at Darunia, and saw that he was lying on his back, looking up at the stars, lost in thought.

Link turned his head out to the endless field of Hyrule, admiring how huge it was. He could not see any boundaries from here, except for the woods they were by. As he stared out, something caught his eye on the horizon.

It was so faint, that he almost missed it, but it was there. He stared at it for a second. It was dark, a little darker than the sky, and it was moving. It seemed to be getting larger, but it hadn't taken on a distinct shape yet. He squinted, trying to make it out. Still too fuzzy to see.

He squinted so hard that the edges of his eyes crinkled. The shape got bigger, and he suddenly realized with a jolt, what he was seeing.

It was the outline of a tall, dark man, running full tilt right toward them. Whether this person had seen them yet or not, he did not know.

Almost casually, he drew out his sword. Darunia glanced sideways at him and breathed "what are you doing?"

Link indicated with his sword toward the shadow moving steadily toward them. Darunia looked at it for a second, then leapt up.

"Who is it?" he exclaimed loudly. Link was about to say "I don't know," but then, again, for the third time that night, comprehension dawned. His eyes grew wide with fear. This was not a good thing to see from one of the bravest beings in Hyrule.

It was the shadow.

And it had definitely seen them.

Link leapt up also, taking his shield out. Getting into his fighters stance, he did not take his eyes away from the approaching being.

The shadow drew out two long swords that were half as big as Link was, lengthwise. It drew closer, and Link started to get extremely nervous. That unbelievable wave of power swept over him again, radiating from that shadow. He opened his mouth, now knowing whether they should run or he should fight. His eyes grew huge, his mouth hung open. Darunia did not know if he should even attempt to try and destroy the shadow if the Hero of Time wasn't sure.

The shadow was fifty yards away, and running as fast as it could right at them, swinging his identically jet black swords with him. Silent hair flew from it's head. Had it been a real man, he would have had very long hair, probably down past his shoulders.

Link suddenly had a surge of bravery, and he snarled, swinging his sword. If he was to die to this thing, he would die fighting, not running. He ran toward it too. Darunia hesitated, then dashed after him.

It only took about ten seconds for Link to reach the shadow, and when he did, the power coming from it almost made him stumble. It was incredible! He swung his sword at the things head, and it blocked the blow easily, stabbing in return with his other sword at Link's stomach. He threw up his shield, and caught the stab barely in time. He tried to bash the shadow with his shield, but it simply dodged it, and swung both swords at the same time at his head. Link ducked, and the two swords whistled right above his hat, cutting a strand of loose hair off. Darunia reached the fighting pair, but as soon as he swung a fist, the shadow swung in turn, moving his sword around at impossible speed. He smashed Darunia in the face with the sword handle, and the goron went flying ten feet into the air, landing back down with a solid thump, unconscious.

Link's rage boiled up again, and his eyes turned green as they had done that morning. His triforce sent out golden light, but the shadow did not get blinded, nor did Link. They began to fight even harder and faster, but even with the triforce power flowing through him, Link was no match for the shadow. Every time he struck sword on sword, his arms trembled, and he got weaker. They had only been battling for five minutes, when the shadow easily uppercut Link in the chin with a huge black fist. Link stumbled backwards, stunned. The shadow hurried forward, and kicked the elf to his knees.

Link, still dazed, looked up and found himself staring along the length of one of the shadows blades. It was right at his eyes.

"Somehow familiar?" the shadow said, it's deep voice reverberating around in the darkness. "We've been here before, you and I...although last time, it wasn't really me, it was more.....a part of me......"

"What are you talking about?" whispered Link hoarsely, completely lost. He knew this shadow? How?

"Still don't recognize me?" the shadow turned it's blank head to the side, apparently looking around. "Well, I guess it is hard to believe, me stuck like this, in a completely blank body, with no possible way to get out until I find a map and three objects...can't get much more pathetic than that."

The shadow spoke with intense distaste and disgust, as though he was sick of himself. The shadow spat on the ground beside him, and looked back at Link.

"Come on," it whispered, "you can do it. Think, you can recognize me. Look past the black flesh, through these blank features and see me again."

Link struggled, trying to think as hard as he could. He stared up at the black figure, trying to see anything other than black......

And it hit him. Again, for the fourth time that night. The identity of his enemy hit him hard, and he gasped loudly.

"You......you're....."

"That's right, Hero of Time, you did not defeat me. There is nowhere you can go to hide from me anymore. Nowhere to hide. And as soon as I find my prizes, you, and the rest of your pathetic world will crumble to oblivion, just as the other nearly did."

"It's not possible!" Link whispered.

"Oh, it's possible....because I am here, and there is nothing you can do to stop me."

Link stared at the shadow, and then, finally, muttered a single word. The word meant nothing, and everything at the same time. He said it so faint that only he could hear it.

".....Majora...."

The shadow drew back the sword...

"Goodbye, Hero of Time."

"LIIIIINK!"

The shadow turned around, and so did Link. They both saw Zelda and Malon running as fast as they could toward them from the woods. They were only probably fifteen feet away when they saw it.

"Link! Oh finally you....OH!"

They both stopped, and looked up fearfully at the shadow.

For a moment, everyone was still, just staring, and then...

"THE MAP!" it shrieked, and it dove on top of Zelda, wrestling her to the ground. Zelda screamed and tried to throw it off, but it clung onto her.

"NO!" Link leapt for the shadow, but suddenly, he felt an invisible barrier appear around them, and he could not get through it. Neither could Malon.

"ZELDAAAAA!!" Link bellowed, pounding on the force with his sword.

The shadow drew out the map, and studied it intently.

"Aahh..." it said, but suddenly, Link drove the sword through the barrier, and it broke. Blue sparking transparent diamonds flew everywhere, and disappeared into the air. He rushed toward them. The shadow dropped the map, apparently it was unneeded. He leapt from Zelda, and ran from them, shouting back to them before he faded into the darkness, "THEY ARE MINE NOW, HERO OF TIME!! THE CLOCK IS TICKING!!"

And the shadow disappeared into the night, leaving all three of them in stunned silence.

Link stared after the shadow for a second, then sank to his knees, utterly spent.

"Link!" yelled Zelda, and she ran to him, still holding the map. She reached him, and pulled him upright, holding him to her.

"Zelda," he gasped, trying to speak, but he was so dazed and confused that it was hard to realize that the action was over for a second. He hugged her tightly back. The two sat there hugging for a few seconds, then they broke apart, and Malon walked over.

"What happened, Link?" she asked, confused.

Link bent over, breathing hard, then looked back up and saw both of them watching him closely. He was silent for a second more, then told them how the shadow and him had dueled.

"I've never experienced that much power. It's not possible, it's insane!" he exclaimed, opening up his flask and taking a grateful swig of water.

"Who is he?" hissed Zelda, staring off at where the shadow had disappeared.

Link stared at her, thinking hard. It was hard for his brain to process who and what the shadow was. Now that he knew, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

"He is Majora," whispered Link, just loudly enough for them both to hear him, "the mask forger from long ago. He has returned somehow in shadow form, found his way to my homeland, and found a way to regenerate to his full strength."

Zelda and Malon were wide-eyed.

"Majora?" gasped Malon. "Isn't he the–"

"I have never met him before," muttered Link, interrupting her, "but I have met his soul. It was imprinted into Majora's Mask, and that alone nearly tore apart an entire land."

Zelda walked slowly over to Link, and breathed "it's actually him? His entire form?"

He looked up at her, and nodded. "If he fully regenerates, everything, and I mean i everything /I will be destroyed."

All three were silent.

"How is it possible?" questioned Malon, "how can he destroy everything?"

Link took a moment to answer, but when he did, the words came slowly and gently.

"He is evil. He is the most evil being ever to exist. He is the very symbol of evil. His power extends beyond this world, and others. Ganondorf could have been batted aside like a fly up against this monster. He is evil itself, and he will not stop until everything is gone. His very mask tainted a child and almost destroyed an entire land. Imagine what he could accomplish if he were at his full power."

The group sank into a terrified silence. Malon held her knees, trying to imagine every single thing created being torn to pieces, but the theory was too big to grasp. Zelda sat next to Link, shaking. Majora was on the hunt for the sapphires, and if he found them, that was it. They failed.

It seemed amazing that only days ago, all three of them had been sleeping happily in their beds, without a single worry in the world. Now, only a few days later, they were filthy, their clothes were ripped, they were far out in the open and they were talking about the possibility of total annihilation of everything Din, Nayru and Farore had created. Going back home was out of the question. Now that they knew the truth, they were the last hope elf-kind and everyone else had.

"We need to get moving," Link whispered, "Majora is after the sapphires, and we must beat him to the first one."

He got up, and Malon and Zelda followed suit reluctantly. Link suddenly remembered that Darunia had been knocked out, and ran over to his crumpled form. He shook the unconscious goron, and heard him groan.

Link stood up and nudged him with his foot. Darunia rolled over, squinting up and Link. His vision was blurred.

"B-b-brother?" he stuttered, his voice trembling, "wh-what happened?"

"It's okay, Darunia," Link said, reaching down and hoisting him up with difficulty, "he's gone."

He supported Darunia over to Zelda and Malon, and the three explained what they had discovered to him. When he was told who the shadow was, Darunia yelled "hey! Thats–"

Link held up a hand to silence him. "We know, we know. Just let us finish."

By the time they had finished talking, Darunia was fully awake and pacing.

"Everything....destroyed....." he couldn't even think of it. "It won't happen. I WON'T LET IT!"

"Let's go," Malon said, "we need to go find the first sapphire. And I believe..."

Malon flipped out the map and studied it...

"...that Majora went for the sapphire in the forest." she indicated the forest they had just exited. Zelda couldn't help but groan. They had to go back into there? She hated those woods.

"We have one advantage," noted Link, addressing all of them, "Majora imprinted the map into his mind. He only knows the relative location of the sapphires, not the exact location. We do know the exact location, so we have a slight advantage. If we're lucky, we may be able to beat him to the first sapphire. You with me?"

Link stuck his hand out. Oddly, he had not meant to put out that hand with the triforce on the back. But he did. He stood there with his hand outstretched for a few seconds, then Zelda put her hand on his. Darunia slapped his huge paw on, and Malon followed him.

"Let's get moving then....group." Link laughed slightly. They smiled weakly, then ran toward the forest, now fully into the race for the sapphires.

Several hours later, the four of them were trekking through the forest, moving branches out of their way. Link studied the map intently, making sure that they kept onto the path right to the spot circled. The spot was very very deep into the forest, further than the portal to Termina was. It was deeper than any elf had ever traveled in.

"How long do you think it will be before we reach the sapphire?" asked Zelda, slashing a branch out of her face with her sword.

"At the pace we're going, around four hours. We ought to move a bit faster. Majora is probably far ahead of us, even if he doesn't know exactly where to find it."

They wearily agreed, and began walking faster, getting dirtier, but for a good cause.

For hours, they walked, not talking much, and getting very bored. Malon wanted to continue training with her dagger, but she knew that it was more important to get to their destination first, so she kept to herself, satisfying her taste by chopping away overhanging branches. Darunia rolled slowly, so he would keep pace with them. He didn't like walking very much, and seeing as how they were going to be walking for a while, he rolled instead. He said nothing, but his thoughts were of battles, and the action he missed. Two days ago, he and Link had met a pack of moblins, and he had greatly enjoyed battle after being bored for so long in Hyrule. Even if this hunt was much more serious than just battles, he was anxious to be back in the fray. Link's mind was no longer focused on Zelda or anything else except the path, and Majora. He frequently checked the map, making absolutely sure they were going perfectly toward the sapphire, and when he saw the affirmative, his mind wandered over to Majora. How the hell had he been revived? The one time Link had seen him, he had only been a mask, but now, he was nearly back to his body. It would be total disaster if that were to happen. He couldn't let it. Zelda, though she was trying to be as serious as possible, kept glancing over at Link. No matter now many times she tried to put him out of her mind, she always was thinking about him. She wanted to lean over and hug him again, but she knew that if she did, it would only slow them down. The more she thought of what they were up against, the more she wanted to just be held by Link. But she had to keep focused on the more serious matter. Still....her mind wouldn't rest from Link until she knew for sure if he didn't feel the same way.

Finally, after hours of walking in silence with only their innermost thoughts to keep them moving, Link shouted "we're almost there! It's just up ahead!"

They all tensed up, drawing out their weapons, Darunia included. He hadn't used his weapons yet, but if now was the time, he was going to be ready.

Up ahead, they saw a break in the trees, and got prepared for anything. Many ideas raced through their brains. What would they find? Would the sapphire be just sitting there on the ground? Would it be floating? Would it be protected by someone?

They had no more time to think, for they reached the break in the trees, and passed through it.

What they saw made their breath catch in their throats.

Towering above them, possibly higher than the clouds itself, was a green temple, with many spires and towers reaching out toward the heavens. It was humongous, around 90 feet across. They were ant sized compared to it!

Down in the center eye level with them, was the entrance, two small wooden doors.

In front of them, stood a man. He had purple hair, was a little taller than Link, and looked to be a little younger. He had a long elegant sword hung across his back, and his eyes were gray. He wore a gray suit, buttoned all the way up to his chin. His black belt held three throwing knives. He stared at them. They were only 20 feet away.

And then he spoke.

"Hello, Hero of Time. Also, greetings to you princess, Malon, and Darunia."

They were silent, staring at him, puzzled.

"I am Saja, guardian of the sapphires, and I have been waiting for you to arrive."