In Keeping Secrets of Torn Hyrule
Begins with an alternate ending to OoT. Link dies by the monstrous claw of Ganon, and nearly all fall with him. However, a few hold out and recover his body, and witness his rebirth as a warlord known as The Crowing.
Most of the chapters will be songfics set to different tunes by Coheed and Cambria. I highly recommend listening to them before, after, or while you read. Or all three. The only trouble with this song's lyrics is that there are specific references to characters in the story told by the song, so I'm changing them a little. The actual song quote is in parentheses.
Text like this is the story.
Text like this is the song. (This shows the real quote when it's changed for the story.)
Chapter 1: The Crowing
Just a little further! Link thought desperately as the incredible monster turned its tail toward him. His arm muscles were nearly giving out under the weight of his shield, and the Master Sword hung almost limp in his left hand. Link had been drained by battle upon battle upon battle, until this final escape, and his fight was beginning to leave him.
I fed the clues of a lost day killed
in motion
But I thought of it so like, there's
no other way it could've been done
The fleshy side of Ganon's tail drew close enough, and Link nimbly threw himself to the side, jabbing out with his blade. He left a long incision in the tail, and Ganon roared, turning to face him again.
Will they size my fit for a puzzle?
I wish not to play a part in it
A heart stained in hate; a feeling
of fear will play circles
A burst of warm blood gushed out of Link's side as Ganon's claw left a long incision. He staggered to his side, trying to keep the wound from bleeding too badly with his hand and struggling to stay upright. His vision was somewhat blurred, and amongst all the red he thought for a second that he could see a shock of fiery hair, belonging to a farm girl whom he had loved.
But you… you were my favorite
But you, you know, you were my
favorite
Link's hand was soaked in blood from his own insides. He was beginning to feel lightheaded. It almost seemed easier to die; there were so many more people who could kill the beast. He was finished, an empty vessel…
And yet he had the strangest premonition that someday, somehow, he would finish the job, even if it were from beyond the grave.
I severed my ties to shroud my body
under the streets of this city
And wait for the day when I am
summoned to walk across the face
Well, slowly but clearer now, in
visions that play and plague memories…
I loved them all as son should to
mother and father
But you… you were my favorite
But you, you know, you were my
favorite
Link's body felt too heavy for his legs to support. He slowly sank down, lying on his side with his eyes unfocused.
Would I walk through the door,
shedding the light of all life?
With
the rise and reform, would I come as before?
Pray you're not the only one
Pray you're not the only…
Vague thoughts drifted on the currents of Link's mind. Where had it gone wrong? This wasn't how it should have ended. This wasn't how it was foretold.
If given mistakes, would I take them
back?
If erasing them could, if erasing them would…
But perhaps this was right. Link wished now to die, for he knew with the certainty of a man whose vision is unhindered by desire to live, that this was the right choice.
But would they be the words that I
would say?
Your face, and a door between
He felt a sudden pang of regret as again he remembered Zelda, his protector and friend, and Malon, the farm girl that he had fallen deeply in love with over the months (or years, to others) of his journey. He had been so bound to them, it was as if he existed in three parts; one for his love for Malon, one for his gratitude and friendship to Zelda, and only one for himself.
I've parted three ways
For
you, the Malon that I love. (For you, the Newo that I love.)
Link felt, looking back, that he knew now more than ever that there had been no hope for him in the state he had been in. How could a single boy in his late teens, with a girl the same age, hope to destroy the king of all evil? What a coward he had truthfully been, hiding behind the power of the Sages in hopes that they would destroy the king for him.
Did you ever really know before my
face shamed to break?
Did
you ever really know before my mind scared to think?
Did you ever really know before my
name son to these?
Did you, did you, did you come clean
in the end from the start?
Link saw Zelda, standing hopelessly beyond the walls of flame, watching and crying as the Hero died before her eyes. All hope was lost to her, and she had failed in what she was sworn to do.
Dear Princess Zelda, the Sages wish
you to watch over me. (Dear Ambellina, the Prise wishes you to watch
over me.)
Dear Princess Zelda, the Sages wish all to watch
over me. (Dear Ambellina, the Prise wishes all to watch over me.)
Link would die; he knew that for sure. But his time was unfinished. There was something in the future ahead for him. And as he saw the maniacal grin of triumph on the face of the piglike beast Ganon, he knew that retribution would fly on the wings of fate for him.
I fought the decisions that call and
lost
My
mark has the relevant piece in this,
I will come reformed!
Such a wave of hatred swept over Link that for a moment, he nearly felt able to get back on his feet and stab the monster. But although the spirit was willing, the flesh was weak, and his broken body could not move. Link swore that from beyond death if necessary, he would annihilate the King of Thieves, and take vengeance for all he had done to the land. Ganon would die.
In short, for the murders of those I
court,
I
bless the hour that holds your fall:
I will kill you all!
Link's soul was finally and utterly torn from his body as Ganon crushed it with a massive foot. He faded from life as the seven Sages looked on in despair from their vantage point beyond time and space.
But Link had set his own future. Ganon would die. He would die brutally, horribly, however he must.
I will call you
Out
from shelter
Burn
your wings and
Burn the core
End of Chapter 1
There we go. Pretty freakin' sweet eh?
