Disclaimer: LoZ and all related characters belong to people hella cooler than me, and just about every other character here belongs to other hella cool people…who aren't me.
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From the darkness came a cry,

A bitter laugh, a brutal lie;

From the darkness the sorceress came,

A fearsome witch of forgotten name.

From the darkness they did defend,

A world to save before the end;

From the darkness the heroes fell,

A mighty blast from mighty hell.

From the darkness they rose once more,

A heavenly call to settle the score;

To the darkness the witch returned,

Quietly waiting the tables to be turned.
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Once upon a time, a great sorceress had risen from ancient slumber. Lands fell to her, one after the other. Nothing, it seemed, could escape her great black gaze, and her rule was absolute. The sun fled from her bloody hands, and the risen moon was sickly in her grasp. The great races of the world fell before her shadow minions; to fight against the dark sorceress was madness.
But a circle of brave mages rose quietly, forging seven swords to bring the sorceress to her fall. As quickly as the circle was forged it was broken; but from the broken circle came seven heroes. The sorceress was forced back into darkness, and though the heroes had won, the sorceress waited patiently in darkness for her time to regain the world.
Generations passed and the sorceress was forgotten. The war waged from the broken circle was remembered as a war for independence that had its legacy in a continuing struggle. Only those who came from the dark themselves recalled the sorceress.
The companions didn't know this as they followed Ymota U into the deepening gloom. Ymota U led them on silently, only occasionally stopping to warn a companion away from the walls.
"You won't want to touch them," she said. "The shadows are becoming realer here."

"Will it affect you, if you touch it?" André asked.

Ymota U didn't turn back to look at him as she answered. "It won't affect me," she said shortly. "I'm dead. It would probably affect Zyuiu." She pushed forward, moving ever farther ahead of the group. They followed unquestioningly, knowing that Ymota U possessed knowledge of the darkness that they couldn't even fathom.

And if she was leading them astray…

It didn't bear the thinking of.

The silence, with the light, grew increasingly strained as they descended through long forgotten passages, damp with the wet of years. Link held his torch warily, remembering that Ymota U had said the torches would not help them as they got closer to the…what? The Ksam-Rorrim? They had all figured out that it was merely Mirror-Mask spelt backwards. What did it mean? Link watched his torch with half his mind, while the other half raced to understand. What Ymota U leading them on to nothing? What could mask a mirror? Or…but why was it backward? What did it mean?

When everything had calmed down, and the sun came out, a very long time later, the companions would swear that Ymota U knew as the torches all suddenly guttered and died. No one could swear to a smirk or a nod, but she'd known they were about to go out. She'd known.

"Oi!" Rowrun cried, stumbling suddenly in the darkness. The party halted, suddenly unsure of the path.

"This is not good," Lindsay said, instinctively finding Rowrun and helping back up. "How are we supposed to know how close we are to the shadow?"

"What, you mean you can't feel it?" Ymota U questioned from ahead.

"No," André spat. "Can you?"

"It's everywhere," she whispered.

"Zelda, or Rhia, can't either of you create light?" Link asked.

Both their answers were terse, nervous. "My hand burns every time I try," Rhia told them. "Like the light is staying bottled up inside."

"It's probably afraid," Zelda added dryly. "I try, but nothing happens."

"We shouldn't go on," Link said. "I don't want to lose anyone."

They could hear Ymota U make a smug noise. "That's no attitude for a proper hero to take," she chided. "You know something is wrong in the world when I'm the one playing hero. Just close your eyes, little children, and feel the darkness."

"What?" Lindsay demanded.

"Close your eyes," Ymota U repeated. "And don't think about failure. Your body will avoid the shadow naturally if you just don't think about what will happen should you touch it. Close your eyes…breathe in deeply…don't think. Just go. Slowly."

Not one of them trusted her, but Zelda could see the wisdom in her words. The others could hear the soft scraping of Zelda's feet against the stone as she moved slowly forward. Her breathing was even and her body relaxed as she brushed her way through the darkness. Not wanting to break her serenity, her safety, the others slowly accepted Ymota U's words and moved forward as well, eyes closed.

The journey through the stone passages was arduous as each of the companions slid slowly through the narrow break of light against the shadow. And, as Ymota U had said, they began to feel the darkness. It didn't touch them, but the presence of it was enough to creep into their souls and make them shiver.

It was Rhia who cried out first when light suddenly flooded the passage again. The light was sickly and silver, coming from very far away. But it still illuminated the narrow passage, which was made all the narrower for the shadow pressing in all around.

"What's wrong?" Zelda asked, eyes flying open instantly.

Rhia was in no mood to explain her panic to her friends. Absently, she wondered how she hadn't seen this coming. This…this hallway, this passage, this light. She knew exactly what made the light pour into the hallway.

"Er," Rhia said after a moment. "We're close to the mirror."

"Good girl," Ymota U said brightly. "Yes, it's just down there. Come now, you're not all scared, are you?" She gave Rhia a sideways glance and a smirk. Rhia snorted and ignored her.

"What exactly are we going to do once we find this mirror?" Rowrun whispered as they continued down the passage. "We don't exactly have a plan."

"He's right," André said unhappily.

"I think this one will be touch and go," Link said. "This isn't like anything we know."

None of them, save Ymota U, were able to keep themselves composed as the narrow hall opened into a wide, circular room. The silvery-blue light was stronger here, coming from the mirror standing in the middle of the chamber. It looked almost lonely, but for the singular, monstrous shadow lurking above it.

Ymota U had stood back as the companions filtered in, and watched with a small smirk as they examined the mirror from a distance. The mirror itself was plain, nothing more than a bare frame and smooth reflection. It gave off some terrible, bone-chilling aura, as if the mirror had once seen horrible things enacted before it. Some malice stronger than the shadow lingered in its glow, something ancient and evil and not wholly of this world. "I don't like this at all," Rhia said quietly. She was trying so hard to expel the visions from her head, but all she could see was the bloody chicken feather.

"Nothing's happening, I notice," Rowrun said, his wary glance turning skeptical for a moment.

"Well, what did you expect would happen?" Ymota U asked as she stepped forward. The group stepped back involuntarily as she touched the mirror's frame with a finger. "That the shadow would burst forth from the mirror and consume you all, leaving your worthless bodies in a heap as it slithered back to whence it came?"

"Yes," Rowrun said without a moment of hesitation.

Ymota U blinked, then turned to the mirror. She was resting one hand on the mirror's frame and studying it intently. "Ymota U, are you sure you don't know anything else about the mirror?" Link said finally.

"Heroes," Ymota U said by way of reply. "How much faith do you place in the goddesses?"

"What?" Zelda asked. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Do you have faith every night that the sun will rise again in the morning? Do you have faith every night in the darkness that the goddesses will not rend the world apart, stone by stone?"

"Of course," Lindsay snapped. "The goddesses created us, gave us life. They wouldn't destroy the world."

Ymota U spun around to face them, a small, tight smile on Zyuiu's lips. "You sound so sure…what was your name? L…Lindsay. How can you be so sure?"

"Ah—I—" Lindsay stopped, flustered.

"Your faith is strong," Ymota U said in a voice void of irony. "Perhaps it shouldn't be." And again Ymota U turned to the mirror, her stolen eyes unreadable.

Zelda's mind was a chaotic whirl of emotions, but she stepped towards Ymota U anyway. "I've had enough," she stated. "Ymota U, either tell us what is going on, or stop toying with us with your cryptic messages."

Ymota U half-turned towards Zelda, eyebrows arched in amusement. "Toying with you? I'm asking you a simple question. Tell me, Zelda, is your faith in the goddesses strong?"

Zelda stared stonily at Ymota U for a moment before responding. "It is," she said. "The goddesses have protected me throughout everything. They always have and they always will."

Ymota U gave Zelda a sympathetic smile. "Then this will be hardest for you, Princess." Ymota U leaned forward and pushed Zelda away violently. "Shadow, awaken! Let your mistress know the sigils are in place and the Circle has been reforged!"

Link and Andre had scrambled to grab Zelda as she fell, and now Zelda was already moving towards Ymota U again, Rhia right behind. "Ymota U, I don't know what you're trying to do—" Zelda growled, flame dancing around her hands.

Stolen lips grinned and a stolen voice gave way to laughter. "Princess, princess, you do! You did from the beginning and you just didn't want to believe it." Ymota U was watching Zelda's steps intently, and as Zelda took what turned out to be her final step towards the stolen body, Ymota U closed her eyes and waved one hand.

Long ago, sigils and runes had been carved into the floor around the mirror, allowing the weak boundaries of reality to give way. Forming a wide circle around both Ymota U and the circle, the sigils flared brilliantly as Zelda made to step through them. Zelda and Rhia were thrown backwards as the sigils burned. The weak silver light of the mirror danced viciously in the fiery light of the runes, causing wicked, elongated shadows to come forth. The mass of shadow that had waited above the mirror was now diving in through the mirror's surface, which warped and rippled as the shadow passed through.

The six companions stood at the edge of the ring of sigils, watching, horrified. Before their eyes, the reflection of Zyuiu's battered body in the mirror was twisting as becoming…something else. A different person was reflected in the mirror, neither Zyuiu nor Ymota U. This new person was tall and slender, with a face of sharp lines and elfin eyes.

She was evil; the companions knew this more assuredly than anything they had before.

The chamber was like some scene from a forgotten hell: sigils burning brightly, shadows long and consuming, cruel laughter hanging unheard in the air. The mirror glowed a bastard mixture of its own silver light and the hot light of the runes, and the eyes of the woman in the mirror shone with the bastard light.

"Run," Link gasped hoarsely. "Run!"

Things were happening quickly. As the companions tried to get to the door, Zyuiu fell to the floor with a cry as Ymota U, nothing but a shadow, left her sister to block the door. Red eyes and a strange, nebulous mouth smiled at the companions. "You're not going anywhere," she said.

Zelda and Rhia both at Ymota U with magic, but the grinning thing didn't waver. Sword of Power and Master Sword sliced through the witch, but once again, Ymota U was unaffected.

"You're wasting your time," a voice hissed from behind them. "She is immaterial."

No one was willing to turn around to face the speaker. Ymota U was still smiling at them. "I'll take this opportunity to introduce you," she hissed. "Heroes, meet the sorceress Eisroa. Sorceress, witness the Circle reforged!"

"Oh, oh, oh," Rhia whispered.

The smile that had been on Ymota U's face until now widened into a full grin. "This is why I like having you around, archseer!" she cried happily. "I don't have to explain anything with you around."

Rhia was backing away from Ymota U until she realized she was nearing the ring of sigils on the floor. She let out a yelp and settled on backing to a neutral wall, her breathing ragged as her mind raced.

"What?" Lindsay finally managed to whisper, in between frantic glances at Ymota U and the prone form of Zyuiu.

"Oh, oh, oh," Rhia repeated. Ymota U and the sorceress in the mirror exchanged a glance, and each smiled knowingly. "Oh, no."

"Come on, archseer," Ymota U said, laughter bubbling in her voice. "Tell them what you know. Spoil the surprise."

Rhia opened her mouth to speak, only to pause and glare at Ymota U. "She's the one, isn't she? The one who masked the world in darkness to mirror her heart…Yes, it's her, isn't it, Ymota U?" Link started violently at Rhia's words. Those words again! Mask and mirror, mirror and mask…

"She's a mage, isn't she?" the sorceress from the mirror asked Ymota U. It was appalling to the companions that a normal conversation seemed to be existing outside of their horror and dread.

"Some sort of archmage, or archseer," Ymota U affirmed. "Sort of powerful, but has this dreadful affinity for fowl."

"Don't they all," sighed the sorceress. "Go on, then, mage. Tell them who I am."

Rhia was staring at the mirror now, unable to tear her eyes away, but her words were directed to her companions. "Once, long before he had ever dreamed of life or evil, there was…a sorceress. She conquered the world, and the world became dark." The sorceress in the mirror chuckled. "But…seven mages were gathered in secret to find a way to defeat the sorceress. Instead of creating a single, powerful, and easily detectable weapon they each created one." Rhia paused as stories she had learned growing up flooded back to her. "But after the weapons—swords—were completed, the Circle of mages was broken and the founders scattered…they were killed. But…in the next generation…"

Rhia paused once more and looked fearfully at her friends, her mind slowly beginning to understand what Ymota U had known from the very start. "Seven heroes found the swords and were led to each other," she whispered. "Seven heroes defeated the sorceress and sealed her spirit away in a mirror, where her soul could not move or escape." Rhia swallowed. "The swords disappeared into obscurity, but…"

"Our swords," Lindsay whispered, glancing swiftly at the sorceress. "The Sword of Healing and the Sword of Power."

Rhia let out something close to a strangled sob. "And the Master Sword, if I'm right," she said quietly. "It was one of the holiest of all the swords, it's no wonder the goddesses chose it to seal the Sacred Realm."

"Oh, damn," Zelda said. "We're—we can't be—"

"But you are," the sorceress said. "You seven all are the ones who sealed me here! It was aeons ago for you, but I have lived those aeons."

"Oh dear," Rowrun whimpered.

"And you will be mine," the sorceress hissed. Tendrils of the shadow snaked out from the mirror and threaded menacingly through the air towards the heroes.

Surprisingly, it was Ymota U who saved them. She halted the shadows with a hiss and turned to the sorceress. "What about my body?" she demanded.

"I have it waiting here," the sorceress said.

"Will it stand in this plane? It must stand in this plane for the deal to go through!" Ymota U warned.

"It will stand in your plane," the sorceress said. "I am Eisroa, or have you forgotten? I have no need of your plane—you will spread my name for me as I take on other planes. But I need them delivered before I give you the body."

"Hunh," Ymota U snorted. "Fine. Just remember the deal. My sister is not to suffer."

"She'll go first," the sorceress assured Ymota U. "She will not see the others die."

Ymota U nodded, glancing at Zyuiu. "Good. Then take them. I have no need for them anymore."

Not one of the companions stood still as the shadows snaked around them. They fought and struggled, but the shadows held tight around them. The glow from the mirror intensified, and with a resounding crack, the companions disappeared.

The sigils slowly faded and cooled as Ymota U stood waiting before the mirror. After some long moments, the sorceress reappeared in Ymota U's reflection. "You've done well to come back to me, Ymota U, and find the Broken Circle. To reforge the Circle without their ever finding out—you've done well." Ymota U beamed. "This is yours—as is the world. I am not strong enough to come out of the mirror yet, but you'll know when the Sacred Realm is mine." Ymota U nodded, and the sorceress disappeared.

The sigils flared brightly again for a moment, and as they faded once more, Ymota U examined her new flesh-and-blood body. It was to the inch every bit of what her old body had been, and it felt good.

"Goodbye, heroes," she said to the mirror, grinning. The grin faded for a moment. "Goodbye, sister." Then, flipping her long hair over her shoulder, she left the mirror behind.

A world was about to fall.

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a/n: Shite.

So…I'm currently developing all of this into a not-a-fanfiction, because I'm liking it muchly. The story would actually start with this Broken Circle, which I'm having waaaay too much fun with.

Here are some neat things I'm toying with:

The goddesses—A husband God and a wife Goddess. Cute, huh?

Link—The high-priest-in-training of the God and Goddess

Zelda—Still a princess, but not the heir to the throne; likely to become the head of a prestigious Magical…thing

And that's sort of all I have, other than the Broken Circle and whatnot. I definitely did myself a favor, having seven mystical swords all the way back then in that chapter, seven or eight I think, of If Darkness. Who knew, huh?

Hugs and muffins!