Chapter Twenty-One: Another Departure

Link slowly walked away from the pits of despair. He was full of mixed feelings, he defeated Ormek and returned the Triforce of Knowledge to its rightful place and therefore he had reason to be relieved, but somehow his victory seemed incomplete. The way his adventure ended seemed wrong. He thought about it and realized it was Ormek's death that disturbed him. Early in his adventure, Link thought of Ormek as an evil lunatic, but the more he learned about the general's past the more he respected him. He was a man of honor, a great warrior and a brilliant military tactician, but his hatred for the Cyntirians was his downfall.

Link could not help but wonder if Ormek was really responsible for all of his actions. Back at Cantarus it seemed to Link that Ormek was not entirely in control of himself as if though the Triforce of Knowledge was controlling him rather than the other way around. Still, Ormek was by no means innocent. He did steal the Triforce piece with the intent to destroy Cyntir and Link sensed that part of Ormek always wanted to destroy the Cyntirians.

No, Link thought, Ormek knew what he was getting into when he stole the Triforce of Knowledge. He was completely responsible for what happened to Cyntir and Tyfiria, yet Link could not help but feel as though he lost a friend once the pits engulfed Ormek. It was a strange notion, after all Link and Ormek were enemies to the end, but Link found something in Ormek that reminded him of him self.

Ormek had a past that was nearly as disturbing as Link's. According to Syrus, Ormek was the only Tyfirian to survive being recaptured by Cyntir during the first war. The general experienced horrors during his captivity that others could not even imagine, similar to the way no one could comprehend watching the end of the world time after time as Link did in Termina. It was a rare occurrence to find someone who was the only person in the world who could understand a certain kind of torment. Perhaps the reason Link felt remorse for Ormek was he equated himself with the general.

He wanted Ormek to be able to put his past behind him and accept help back at the pits. If Ormek managed to do away with his thirst for revenge there was hope for Link, that he may someday be able to put his own past behind him and find peace. However, in the end Ormek could not destroy his hatred for the Cyntirians and instead it destroyed him and so Link could still not see any hope from himself.

After hours of wandering around the base of the mountain, Link ran into Syrus.

"How did it go? Did you defeat Ormek?" Syrus asked anxiously. Link nodded slowly. "Since he's not with you, I take it he escaped." Syrus said.

"No," Link replied somberly, "After I extracted the Triforce of Knowledge his spirit was crushed. He was trapped on a rock surrounded by gibdo blood. I tried to help him, but he refused. He allowed himself to be consumed."

"It's just as well," Syrus said sadly, "The Tyfirian people and the Cyntirians would have demanded his blood had he survived. At least this way he got to die with honor." Link nodded and started to leave, but Syrus stopped him.

"Don't leave Link. King Talrid will want to thank you," Syrus said.

"For what?" Link asked, "Ormek released the prisoners on his own."

"I guess that's true," Syrus said, "But I'm sure he'd like to thank you anyway."

Link shook his head slowly, "I have completed my mission, and it is time I returned to my unit of mercenaries."

"At least allow me to return you your horse," Syrus said. Link agreed to wait while Syrus got his horse. Once he returned, Link immediately mounted his steed, said goodbye to Syrus, and rode off. He took his time returning to Cantarus. He was no longer racing against the clock like he had been for the past few months, like he had in Hyrule and Termina.

Link did not want to go back to Cantarus and rejoin the Calrigans. The war had opened his eyes. The Calrigans did not really care who they fought for as long as they got paid. They claimed they only fought for causes they believed in, but when Erigad refused to go after the Tyfirians, Link realized it was just a lie the mercenaries used to put their employers at ease. Link would have simply rode off into distance and never returned, but he had to go back to the mercenary base to retrieve Epona. Besides, Link felt obligated to say good bye to Chiron. With Calrith dead, Chiron was the only friend the hero had left, Link would leave him behind anyway, but not before a proper goodbye.

When Link arrived at Cantarus he found the Calrigans still outside the city walls. He made his way to General Erigad's tent and inquired of the whereabouts of Chiron.

"All of your little friends left," Erigad informed Link. "The farmer went home and the sailor and the gerudo took one of the Tyfirian ships and left."

"You gave them one of the ships?" Link asked.

"Yeah," Erigad confirmed, "The Cyntirians were so grateful that we scared off the Tyfirians, they broke into the royal treasury and paid us for our help. As per our agreement, I gave the sailor a ship." Erigad then pointed to a good-sized pile of gold, jewels, and rupees and said, "Speaking of which, this is your finder's fee for guiding us here."

Link pocketed five hundred rupees and told Erigad to give the rest to the Cyntirian people. Link turned to leave, but stopped to tell Erigad something.

"By the way," he said, "all of the Cyntirians the Tyfirians captured during the war are going to be returned to Cyntir. Be sure to tell the people that." Link then left and set out for Chiron's ranch.

Just as Link promised all of the Cyntirians returned to their ruined homes within a few weeks. King Talrid met with the late King Latimar's son, the new king of Cyntir and they formed a treaty in which the Tyfirians promised to help rebuild the cities Ormek destroyed and return every single Cyntirian taken captive. In exchange, the Tyfirians kept the zora peninsula and maintained partial control over South Port Town. It was a fair treaty, but Ormek had already done his damage.

There was still bad blood between Tyfiria and Cyntir. Rumors already existed that Cyntir was rallying its allies for another war against their northern neighbors. South Port Town soon became a violent place as both Cyntirians and Tyfirians made it clear they did not want to share the city with each other. In Tyfiria a small faction of soldiers defected swearing to finish the destruction of Cyntir that Ormek started. They continued to pillage Cyntirian villages and terrorize the Cyntirian people. Yet, in time, peace slowly returned to both nations, though tensions remained high.

Link, however, was not around to see things go back to normal. After he left Cantarus, he headed straight to Chiron's ranch, but when he arrived at his destination he froze. Part of him wanted to just leave. Link thought about how he betrayed Chiron by forcing him to remain in Cyntir. He also thought about how Chiron would react to his return. He would ask Link if he wiped the floor with Ormek and various other questions the Hyrulian was not ready to be asked. After a few minutes of contemplation, Link decided to pass the ranch and continue on his way off the continent of Bylar. After all, he had left closer friends than Chiron without saying a word.

Though at the time, Link thought of Chiron as a friend, the farmer would eventually just become another person in Link's past the warrior would wish he could forget. Even so, Chiron could never possibly understand what the hero of Hyrule, Termina, and now Cyntir went through. At that time Link felt more alone in the world than he had since he left Termina. He had once again saved the world from utter destruction and again, no one else knew it.

On his way to South Port Town, Link thought a lot about Chiron and other people he had once known. He wondered what was going on in Hyrule and Termina. He had not seen either of those places in ten years and while Link did not know how to get back to Termina, he always knew where Hyrule was.

Link stayed at a small inn in South Port Town that night. At that time, the seaport was full of Tyfirians eagerly sending out commercial sea liners to begin trade with other nations. At least one good thing came out of the war; Tyfiria was now able to support itself without having to steal from Cyntir or other nations.

Once Link got to his room he made an inventory of all his equipment to see if he should buy anything before he left Cyntir. He laid all of his items on the floor and surveyed them. His bow needed restringing and his quiver and bomb bag were running low on munitions, but everything else was intact. Link was about to put everything back when he noticed a blue ocarina among his possessions. He looked at the instrument thoroughly for what seemed like the first time in years.

The hero slowly brought the Ocarina to his lips and played the song of healing he learned in Termina. The song was supposed to heal the soul. Link had often used the song to heal the souls of others, but not matter how many times he played it the song never healed his. Link soon changed the tune to that of the song of time, the song that allowed him to travel through time in earlier days. Link hoped that somehow, the song could return him to his days in the Kokiri Forest, before the weight of the world was placed on his shoulders, but his notes only echoed emptily in his room.

Link then put away the Ocarina of Time and went straight to bed. His songs brought back painful old memories, which mixed with his new painful memories of Cyntir, Tyfiria, and Ormek. As usual, Link's sleep was full of nightmares that night. He awoke the next morning exhausted. He gathered up all of his things, checked out of his room, and then headed to the docks. He wandered on the wharf until he came across a ship that was about ready to leave. Link decided to hop on the ship and go wherever it was headed.

When Link asked one of the crew where the ship was going, the sailor replied ecstatically, "This here ship is headed for Calrico, sir." Link nodded his head slowly. Calrico was the nation in which the base of the Calrigan was located. Link knew he would have to go back sometime and retrieve Epona and since he was already on a ship headed that way, he decided to get his resignation over with.

"I am tired of working for men who care only about money," Link said to himself. "The only thing that I ever got for working for the mercenaries was more misery. Perhaps it is time I retired from the mercenary business." Link paid the captain for passage on to his ship and soon the boat set sail.

Link did not spend much time in Calrico, he simply went to the base, retrieved Epona, and then informed the head mercenary that he could no longer fight for meaningless causes. Once Link left the base he picked a random direction and rode off. He meandered through the land for days until he came across a road sign which pointed northward. Written in bold letters the sign read:

HYRULE

Link had not been to Hyrule in so long that he had nearly forgotten that Calrico and Hyrule were on the same continent. The hero seriously contemplated returning to his childhood home for the first time in ten years.

"I am tired of wandering aimlessly," Link said to himself after staring at the sign for nearly an hour. "All my journeys have only brought me more misery. Perhaps it is time I finally returned to Hyrule." Link gently kicked Epona's side and the horse galloped off. Link was on his way back to the only place he had ever called home.

The End

Author's Note: Well that's it for this story. I hope all five of the people who actually read this, enjoyed reading it as much as enjoyed writing it. I wish more people would read and review. Oh well. Hey, if anybody actually does read this far, go ahead and review, even if it's just to tell me you read the whole thing. I want to know how many people actually read it. Also, let me know what you thought of my first fanfic if you like.

Well, my minimal amount of reviews hasn't discouraged me from writing. In fact, I've already got a sequel to the Lost Legend of the Triforce in on Ha, that's right, you didn't want it, but you're gettin' it anyway. So if you enjoyed this story, look around this site for The Seige of Ulron-Chi, It should be somewhere in the Zelda section. Also, from this point on, every time, I update my new story, I will update this one as well. Mostly, all I've done is fix some grammatical errors. Anyway, go and check out the exciting sequel, you won't regret it.