Chapter Twenty Seven
The Fall of Kings…

The Stal-King raised his arm and three golden triangles appeared on the back of his hand. Looking like a terrible wizard, King Stalfosokor looked to the ceiling, which had become obscured by stormy clouds. "EЯRÆŘÖDZŮ!" The magical word, backed by the horrifying power of the Triforce, changed the clouds to a deep red color. A second later, torrents of lightning blasted everyone in the vicinity.

"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Pain screamed through their bodies, tearing at their flesh. Behind the agony, the Triforce did its evil work. Link began to feel extremely afraid as the Triforce of Courage hungrily sapped up what little courage was left in him. His thoughts were torn away by the ravenous Triforce of Wisdom. Devious Triforce of Power weakened his strength even further than the lightning was willing to go. Suddenly, the pain stopped. Gasping for breath, he weakly looked around from the floor at the others. They were all trembling on the floor, unable to rise. The Stal-King was the only one unaffected, laughing at his diminished foes. In his glee of triumph, he didn't see Zelda weakly wrap her fingers around the faceted edges of the Absorption Crystal.

"And now…" Stalfosokor gloated. "You will all die…" He raised his arm at the ceiling again and uttered an even more terrible word. Except this time, the effect was odd… Instead of fueling the clouds above with deadly energy, the power seemed to arc away from the clouds. Realizing his mistake, the stalfos spun around to face Zelda, who was pointing the glowing crystal at him with a triumphant smirk. "NOOOOO!"

The King tried to break the tether of power but the Crystal continued to draw its power from him. With a scream of rage, the Stal-King charged at Zelda, slamming her into the wall. The crystal flew out of her fingers, clattering across the floor, still drawing power. With a cry, the stalfos dove for the crystal, to have it kicked away by a wincing Link. The evil king promptly retaliated by sweeping Link's feet out from under him, causing him to crash painfully to the floor. Ignoring the whimpering hero, Stalfosokor reached for the crystal, when it was picked up by stern looking Harkanian.

The Kings glared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. The Triforce was nearly completely absorbed when the Stal-King lunged for the crystal. An energy bolt from the Hylian King sent the weakened stalfos staggering back. As the last of the Triforce was sucked away from him, the wizard staggered again as if he was experiencing some horrible pain. Everyone in the room watched as his skin began to slacken, turning gray and translucent. His swept ears withered as well as his straight nose. The long grey hair turned deathly white and fell out. With a cry of pain, Salfosokor collapsed as his skin decayed away, leaving his all too familiar skeleton.

"DADDY! WATCH OUT!" Zelda cried out in horror. While the others were watching the death of the Stal-King, the crystal had been cracking from the power it contained. By the time Harkanian looked at the Crystal, it was too late. With the force of a powder keg, the crystal shattered, sending shards in every direction. Most everyone was behind some sort of shelter, the sages were behind the throne and Zelda was shielded by the pedestal. Link barely managed raise his shield in time, though some shards impacted painfully into his leg. Unfortunately for the King of Hyrule, he caught the brunt of the blast, sending him crashing against the wall, impaled by hundreds of shards. The Triforce pieces broke apart with a brilliant flash as they returned to their destined owners. Not noticing or caring, Zelda ran to her father as Link limped to where he lay. By the time he reached the dying king, Zelda's face was streaming with tears.

"Link…" Harkanian spoke weakly.

"Yes sire?" Link replied, choking back his own tears.

"Take care of my daughter… I had hoped…" He gave a shuddering gasp. "Link… Zelda… There is… something… Open… locket…" Link had no clue what the dying monarch was talking about. Zelda on the other hand gave a small gasp. She fumbled around her neck, pulling a gold chain off. She had worn this necklace for as long as Link could remember, oddly, the stalfos hadn't taken it from her. She tried to open the locket on the chain but her fingers were trembling from grief. His hand a little more steady, Link took the locket and pried it open.

To his shock, a small white fairy about the size of a thumbnail flew out of the locket and began swirling around them. Hope filled Link and Zelda as the fairy flew in circles about them, rejuvenating their energy. The fairy landed on the king's face and kissed his nose lightly. A smile appeared on the king's face and he closed his eyes as he departed the world. At the same moment, a blue fairy of the same size flew out of the king's sapphire brooch. The two fairies seemed to dance in the air, eventually meeting together for a kiss. The moment their tiny lips touched, they faded out of existence.

Link and Zelda stared at each other, dumbstruck. As one, they looked down at the King, his face looking so calm and content. The sages and soldiers had witnessed the death of the king, though Link and Zelda only noticed them when Impa suddenly spoke up, her voice sad.

"King Harkanian was a good king and always served his kingdom first. And yet he was also a loving father, always looking out for his daughter's happiness." Zelda's tears flowed faster at this and Link took her into a comforting embrace. "He always thought of you as a son, Link. He knighted you so you could marry his daughter, whom he knew you loved, when the time came." Link was soon crying as much as Zelda. The Sage of Shadow fell silent and bowed her head in mourning. All around them sniffles and solemn prayers filled the silence. Even Ganondorf was mourning the king he had fought against for so long.

"How touching…" A grating voice croaked from behind them. All of their heads swung around to face the Stal-King who was shakily bringing himself to his feet. "About time that old fool died." Zelda let out a cry of grief and rage as she tried to attack the skeleton, only to be restrained by Link and Impa.

"Let me go! Let me rip his filthy skull off!" Zelda screamed, trembling with rage. She soon broke down into uncontrollable sobs in Link's arms.

"Yes… Restrain that little witch…" The Stal-King snarled, clearing enjoying torturing the grieving Hylians. "Her father obviously didn't do a very good job in giving her manners." Something inside Link snapped and he turned to attack the skeleton…but Saria got there first.

The kokiri girl leapt at the skeleton king, and climbed inside his ribcage. The king cried out in alarm and tried to grab the girl between his ribs. She drew a golden dagger and with a cruel smile of satisfaction, she stabbed the blade upward into the skeleton's skull.

"Aaarrrrrgggghhhhh!" Saria twisted the dagger, sending the skeleton into convulsions.

"This is for my friends!" She hissed at him as she twisted the dagger again. "This is for Hyrule!" She twisted again. "And this is for me!" She pulled the dagger out of his skull and severed his neck. The skull fell to the stone floor and shattered, destroying his life force. The rest of his skeleton vaporized, dropping Saria to the ground.

The Stal-King was finally destroyed.

CRASH!

The roof of the tower suddenly exploded, exposing the blue sky and blinding sunlight. Rising over the edge of the tower came the mighty Black Dragon of the Stal-King. However, sitting on its back was a skeleton, charred as black as the dragon. Seeing the survivors, Stalakor threw back his skull and let out a maniacal cackle…