Chapter 8: Head Kraken

"Hey, guys." Link greeted the Kakariko Villagers as he walked into the tavern where they had decided to set up their headquarters. "Any luck since last night?"

"Well, yes and no." Aginah sighed. "We've learned a great deal about this strange crystal casing… but it doesn't look like we're any closer to getting her out." The other two elders murmured in agreement.

"Damn… well, at least she's out of Ganon's control." Link sat down on a stool. "And at least Hyrule is, too… for now, anyways…"

Link had been pleasantly surprised to discover the changes made to Hyrule upon his emerging. Those Hylians who had supported Agahnim had been completely cowed by the march on the castle by their neighbors, and said neighbors' alliance with the Bronze Hand thieves and the three terrifying elders had cemented it. With Agahnim gone, Sahasrala, Aginah and Morris steered the direction of Hyrule from their command center in the bar, the largest building in town. It wouldn't last, not forever, but for the time being it kept things stable.

"Sara tells us that one of the girls couldn't stay at Ganon's Tower for long, mm…" Morris told Link. "Apparently, this servant of his, Mothula, claimed something interesting… the energy of the crystals, the magic powering them, and the energy of a force field surrounding the Tower… they conflict. If a crystal remains inside the field for too long… destruction and death, mm."

"So Ganon doesn't want them to die… good news for us." Link smiled.

"That's not all, young man." Morris continued. "Think about it. When they conflict, in the end the crystal loses, being weaker than the field… but if it was the other way around, mm…"

"Whoa whoa whoa." Link held up his hands. "Hold it right there. I'm NOT interested in storming Ganon's Tower. I'm just rescuing the girls… do that, close the gateway and let the Forger rot for another couple thousand years."

"Allow me to finish, mm." Morris chided. "Ahem… as I was attempting to say, do that, and the force field will break instead… however, if we are estimating the strength correctly based on the numbers overheard from Mothula, this would require everything from the crystals… they would be used up, spent, worthless. They would break, but without harming their inhabitants."

"We will continue to attempt to free the girls by our own means, of course." Sahasrala assured Link and his daughter. "But if we fail, then there is a last-ditch resort."

"Good to know, I suppose." Link admitted. "All right, then. We know the Tower of Ganon is corresponding to the location of the Tower of Hera. That leaves the location of the Desert Palace. I should check that out soon. Where's the closest portal to there?"

"Well, our ancestors sealed one away in the desert… but their directions as to its location are vague, and we have been unable to locate it." Aginah sounded irritated at this fact. "However, there is another one relatively close… in the marshes to the south of your home." He paused. "You made a trip back there yesterday, correct? Was everything…"

"It was fine." Link smiled. "The Knights didn't touch a thing… and I was able to drop off my uncle's sword. I kept his sheath for the Master Sword, though… not sure if it's a coincidence or what, but they fit perfectly. The shield's scrapped, though… even Harry says it's beyond repair. Oh well… I'll live."

"Good. Look in those marshes for a small stone ruin… the portal should be directly north of that. Another thing..." Sahasrala glanced out a window. "We had other allies when we attacked the castle, aside from the villagers and the thieves… the King of the Zoras managed to organize his people and join in to avenge Quincy's death."

"Yeah, they were friends, weren't they?" Link remembered.

"Very close." The old man agreed. "And as such, there may be some things the King Zora may be able to tell you that even we do not know. I know that most of the Zoras are only hostile animals now, but their King still retains his mind… you should go to meet him sometime. He lives up in the northwest, at Zora's Waterfall."

"Heh… I always wondered about that place." Another voice cackled. It was one of the villagers; Burt, a man as old as the three Sage descendants, though he contained no mystical bloodline. He and his closest friend, an equally old man named George, spent all their days at the bar now; they hadn't seemed to notice the changes that had come over it, and hadn't bothered anybody, so nobody objected to their remaining in there. "Heard a rumor about that place when I was young, that going up there would turn men into fish… I always wanted to see that, so I went up there. But all I saw aside from lots of Zoras was this beautiful woman… she had wings on her back, like a fairy, but she wasn't tiny like most of them…"

"Huh?" The three sage descendants all stared at him. Morris recovered first. "That… that sounds like one of the Great Fairies!"

"Great Fairies?" Link blinked. "I know about ordinary fairies… you can see them out in the wilderness if you look hard enough… but Great Fairies?"

"The rulers of their kind, mm." Morris explained. "Four fairies of tremendous powers, rivaling even the Sages… but the bulk of their powers were bound to their people and to the wilderness, and so they were unable to confront Ganon directly. However, they did aid your ancestor in his struggles, each bestowing a gift upon them as he met them. If one of them is near Zora's Waterfall, perhaps she will help you as well, Link."

"More and more reason to check this place out." Link stood up. "I'll have to do that after I've checked out the Desert Palace. Speaking of which, I'd better get going on that… I'll see you all later."

"Try to get into contact with those fellows you met over there… the Rag." Sahasrala advised. "If they've been fighting Ganon and his minions for any length of time, there might be plenty they could tell you… not the least of which, where the other girls might be."

"Yeah, I know… problem is, I don't know where to find them. I'll probably run into them sooner or later, though." Link waved as he walked out the door. "See yas." Heading east and then south, he soon found what Sahasrala had told him about; a squat stone staircase leading downwards into some underground area, roofed by an ugly gargoyle. "Right… head north of here…" On the other side of a small pond, he found a suspicious pile of rocks, similar to the one that had hid the portal on Death Mountain near Spectacle Rock. As he expected, the portal was underneath. The Dark World's version of the swamp was murkier and messier, brown and unhealthy-looking. Looking around, Link saw brown creatures resembling acorns hopping around. A creature like a mushroom with wings got too close to one, and the brown hopper opened up its body revealing a froglike pink tongue that pulled in the mushroom. Link winced. "Something tells me I'd better avoid those things…" He looked around further and frowned. In the sky about a mile away, a floating eyeball was watching him. "Better take care of that, too…" Drawing his bow, he fired an arrow that struck the eyeball head-on. Amazingly, it did not die, but turned and fled. "Great. Well, at least it's off my back." Shaking his head, he headed west.

"All right, the passageway should be here…" Link recalled after a short time. He frowned. "But… it's not." Ahead of him was a solid cliff face, extending all the way to the south and the north as far as he could see. "…Damn. Blocked off somehow? Well, however it was done, I'm not getting through there… just great." He sighed. "There goes my only lead until I can find the Rag again." Kicking a rock, he turned around and headed back into the marsh. After walking for a short time, he came across the stone edifice Sahasrala had directed him to again. "Hm… this is here too?" He paused, then shrugged. "What the hell… I've got nothing better to do." He walked down the staircase, looked around, then blinked. "Well. This is unexpected." It was almost like being in the Hylian sewer system again; he was standing above a large chasm in the ground that looked like it was meant to hold running water. A ladder led down into it, and then another one up the other side; however, the second ladder only stretched halfway down the wall, two high for Link to jump up to. "Strange… could this be… another dungeon?" Link slapped his forehead. "GAH! I forgot to have Sara draw the locations of the other girls on my map!" Climbing down into the empty waterway, he saw that one end of it was blocked off by a steel grate, and the other held only a blank wall with a snakelike gargoyle on the wall. "That gargoyle's mouth looks like it's made to open up… but no way to do so." Link sighed. "Nothing I can do here either. Might as well head back… talk to Sara about the map, and the old guys about this place." Emerging back into the marsh, he gazed into the Magic Mirror and vanished. There were a few moments of silence, and then Neosquid spoke.

"Not bad. Not bad at all. He was looking for Vitreous, but he found Arrghus… fair enough, in my book." He and Handy were crawling in the thick marsh grass.

"Can't get in there any better than we could, though." Handy noted. "Wonder when he'll be back. Think we should start preparing for that?"

"Definitely." Neosquid nodded. "Somewhere else, though… after he hit Vitreous' eye like that, either about ten more or Blind himself will be here in about five minutes. Maybe both. Let's vamoose, and we can figure out what we're going to do about this later."

"The Swamp Dungeon?" Sahasrala raised an eyebrow. "I didn't really think it was that important. It showed up in the records of our ancestors about… four hundred years ago, I suppose. There's no mention of it being built… apparently, it just appeared there." He frowned. "There were notes about that being somewhat suspicious, but there's not really much in there."

"So you'd think… but let's go over this a bit more." Link leaned back. "We know that things in the Dark World reflect the shape and form of the Light World. The Tower of Ganon, the Palace of Darkness, that huge Pyramid… and not just the major structures, the landscape was nearly identical… although, of course, twisted."

"Yes, that's what it's like now… although from the REALLY old records we have, it seems that before Ganondorf took it, it was just the opposite… the Sacred Realm was like Hyrule, but instead it was a place of beauty, mm." Morris sighed. "Such a waste."

"Yeah, so what I'm wondering…" Link continued. "What happens if they build a huge dungeon in the Dark World? Something really big, even if it's mostly underground? Would Hyrule change to reflect that, even in small form?"

"It… could be possible, yes." Aginah admitted. "The question is… how deep does this 'mirror effect' go? You said that the Palace of Darkness was sealed off, Link… Sahasrala, you were near the Eastern Palace up until Agahnim ran off. Did you notice anything like that?"

"No-well, maybe…" Sahasrala mused. "I didn't actually go out and look, but there was a strange loud noise a day or two after Link went in there… which could very well been have been a huge stone slab falling into place."

"All right, let's operate on that theory… that major changes in one palace are reflected in another." Link continued. "When I looked in the swamp dungeon over here, there was a switch I found… it opened up the waterway. Good thing there was a bridge in this world, since I swim like an anchor. So, if the changes are reflected, then I could open that up and get into the swamp palace… if I could swim." The three old men looked at each other.

"If you could swim, eh… well, it seems you'll be visiting King Zora even sooner than we thought." Aginah replied after a moment. "He'll be able to help you with that… his line has kept the secret of making the magical Flippers. Using them, any Hylian in the world could swim."

"All right then, course decided." Link stood up. "We know there's a girl in there now, thanks to Sara." He looked at the table on which his map was spread out. "One in there… one in the desert's counterpart, the Misery Mire… one in the Skull Woods… cute name, there… one in the Village of Outcasts… and one in the Ice Palace on Lake Hylia. All five places the home turf of one of the Eyes of Ganon… in this case, the one called Arrghus. I'd better stop by Syrup's and get some potion refills."

"Probably for the best." Sahasrala agreed. "Just head along the riverbank from her place, to the northeast corner of Hyrule."
The walk to Syrup's was long but peaceful; without the Knights, Hyrule had once again become idyllic. For the moment, at least. Thinking back on the monstrosities he had seen, Link shuddered, imagining the likes of Blind and Mothula loosed on his homeland. "No… that's not going to happen."

"Eh?" A voice replied, sounding half-asleep. "Whuzzat? Whozere?" Link blinked, looking around. He was standing on a bridge crossing the Hylian River, near Lake Hylia. On a hunch, he walked away and looked underneath it. Somebody was down there, sitting next to the remains of a campfire and a rough lean-to. Somebody familiar.

"Simon! Hey, Simon!" Link dropped down onto the tiny ledge that the man was on. "Been ages, man!"

"Huh? Link? That you?" The young man rubbed his eyes. "Well, heck! It is! Never figured I'd meet you out here!"

"Same thing… how long has it been?" Link shook his head. "You just took off one day… we all figured it was the same thing that happened to Mike and Burt, and you wanted to go wander and see Hyrule. Looks like we were right."

"Yup… one day the urge just took me, so I got up and left. Figured the old men'd know." Simon shook his head. "And then one day all this slag with the Knights started happening, and a few months later, I hear you're in a heap of trouble… though that seems to be dying down now."

"Don't count on it." Link shook his head. "Just the calm before the storm… I'm trying to put a stop to it, but if I screw up… well, the trouble with the Knights is going to be nothing compared to what'll show up at Hyrule Castle soon." He paused. "You wouldn't happen to have found a few secret ways out of Hyrule in your travels? Ways that can't be blocked just by setting up border guards?"

"One or two." Simon nodded. "I get your meaning… if I see the sky catch fire, I'll get everybody out of dodge."

"Thanks." Link clapped him on the shoulder. "All of the old gang are still there… well, except for Larry."

"Larry?" Simon frowned. "What happened to him?"

"He disappeared only a little after you did." Link sighed. "I'll be frank… I was kind of hoping he had gone after you, but it doesn't look like that's the case. Any chance you've seen him around Hyrule?"

"No… you're the first person from Kakariko I've seen in years." Simon shook his head. "I'll keep an eye out for him, though… and on the Castle in case all hell breaks loose." He paused. "Is it really that bad, Link?"

"…Yeah. It is." Link looked away. "My uncle's dead, and that's just the beginning of it… you're more right when you know when you say all Hell might break loose." Simon's eyes shifted to the Master Sword, and he nodded.

"Right. I'll get back to Kakariko… wandering is nice, but this takes precedence. Who's in charge there? Old man Sahasrala?"

"Him and two other old guys… they're running things from the bar." Link explained.

"Right." Simon turned and reached into his lean-to. "And here, take this with you… if you're going to take whatever's coming for Hyrule head-on, you'll probably need this." He tossed a glass bottle to Link, who caught it easily. It was filled with a transparent liquid.

"Water?" Link sniffed it, and his eyes narrowed. "Hey… alcohol. Simon…"

"Distilled it myself." Simon grinned. "Go on, take it. Never know when it'll come in handy!" Link rolled his eyes and pocketed the bottle.

"All right. Good to see you again… now I'm off to talk with a Zora. See you later."

"A Zora? Those things can talk?" Simon shook his head. "Well, whatever… see you, man." Walking north, Link soon came to the witch's hut fairly soon.

"Hey, Syrup." Link greeted the old witch.

"Young mister Link… good to see you again." Syrup grinned. "Maple's inside… she will help you as usual."

"Cool." Link started to walk in, then paused. "Oh, actually… you know the area around here. I just go up the coastline to find Zora's Waterfall, right?"

"Heh heh… close." Syrup cackled. "But there are actually two waterfalls there… side-by-side. The one on the right is what you want… the one on the left is the Waterfall of Wishing, where the Great Fairy lives." Link smiled.

"Awesome… I'll have to see her too. Thanks." He stepped inside the hut.

"Aah, Link. Come to sample our wares again?" Maple greeted him. Link nodded.

"Yeah. I'll take one of the red… and better give me one of the green, just in case." He thought about the Ice Rod in his pack. "No telling when I'll need it."

"So you've found some magic, I take it…" Maple guessed, filling the two bottles he handed her. "That will be a hundred and eighty rupees."

"I've found an artifact or two." Link admitted, handing over the gems. "Might find some more soon… who knows. See you around." Waving goodbye to Syrup as well, he continued along the coastline. Before long, he saw the river water stir, and a familiar mug to anybody who traveled near the water in Hyrule popped out. Rumors said that the Zoras had once been creatures of beauty, but if that was the case, it was long, long ago; the fishmen of today were ugly, red-finned and fat-lipped creatures with scales of an unhealthy green tint. Grinning unpleasantly at Link, the Zora spat a fireball and then dived back under. Sighing, Link dodged it easily. The Zoras fired upon all travelers equally without distinction; there was no personal malice behind it, just general hostility and stupidity. Shaking his head, Link avoided several more fireballs until he arrived at his destination; the river's mouth. A pair of massive waterfalls pouring down the face of a titanic cliff. "Wonder if this is part of Death Mountain?" Behind the first, if Link squinted, a small passageway could be seen. The one on the right, however, was clearly visible; it was not a cave that hid behind Zora's Waterfall, but an entire enclosed domain, as open to the sun as the rest of Hyrule. Link looked from one to the other.

"Better see the King first…" He decided at last. "He's who I really came here for, after all." As one would expect, Zora's Domain was a world of water; aside from small areas of heavily forested land, everything was gently running streams. Fortunately for Link, there seemed to be a pathway of shallow water provided for guests without gills that he could walk along with sinking higher than his knees. "I wonder if they'll stop bugging me now that I'm here to see the King, or just get even more hostile now that I'm on their home turf…" In front of him, he saw a Zora jump onto the shallow trail and advance, grinning angrily. "Guess that answers that." His hand strayed to the Master Sword, then dropped. "No… that'd be dumb. No better way to piss the King off than to kill his buddies here. MAN, I wish my boomerang hadn't broken… what else do I have that's non-lethal?" He searched his bag quickly as the Zora approached. "Ice Rod and this Magic Powder from Hazel… that's it. Let's hope this works…" He fired the Ice Rod, and the Zora's expression changed to surprise as the magic hit it square in the chest, then expanded outward to cover every inch of its body.

"Sorry, buddy. It'll wear off eventually if you stay in the sun long enough." Link paused. "I hope so, anyways." Shrugging, he went on. Unfortunately, that was not the only Zora to cross his path; many more attempted to bar his way, and Link was forced to freeze them all as he continued on his way. Eventually, even that failed, as he once again felt a strange tiredness even though his body was fine. "Out of magic again… I'll have to try this powder." The next Zora to cross his path received a dash of the glowing dust in the face. It sneezed a fireball, then groaned as it turned inward, arms and legs vanishing, head and torso combining… and hitting the ground was not a Zora, but a small brown sluglike creature with strings of purple hair and large, extremely confused eyes. Link winced. "Yeesh… poor guy. Hope that's reversible." Walking past the evolutionary train wreck, he made a left turn and stared up at another waterfall. As he looked at it, he saw a stirring in the water. A rumbling began, and a six-foot whirlpool appeared… and from it, a Zora's head larger than Link's entire body emerged, with the biggest grin of all adorning it.

"WA HA HA!" The Zora King boomed. "So you're the little man my children have told me about! You've got some guts, Hylian, coming onto our turf and then doing such things to my kind!" Link quickly bowed.

"Forgive me, King… I needed to talk with you, and they were intent on attacking me. I tried my hardest to use methods that wouldn't be permanent."

"So I heard!" The King agreed. "That's why I decided to try talking too; I figured that might be the case. Don't worry, they'll all defrost soon enough. Even that last one will be right as rain after I take him to the Waterfall of Wishing, though I'll bet HE'll never attack a Hylian for the rest of his life." He raised an eyebrow. "What did you DO to him?"

"Aha… a little magic powder from a witch named Syrup who lives nearby." Link explained.

"Oh, her." King Zora blew a little water. "Yes, my children don't go near her… they learn fast when the lesson is 'Don't get yourself turned into a toad.' So, little man… you needed to see me?"

"Yeah." Link decided to go for broke. "I understand one of your ancestors… was a good friend of one of mine. My name's Link… and I need the help of the Zora King once more."

"Link?" King Zora raised another scaly eyebrow. "As in… well, now. This IS an interesting turn of events… would you be the one responsible for getting rid of the Wizard Agahnim?"

"Indeed I was." Link replied grimly. "I know a friend of yours was killed by him… one called Quincy. There's nothing I can do about that… but Quincy's daughter is still alive. She's in the Dark World… and I plan to rescue her, and the other girls taken by Agahnim." King Zora stared at him, then laughed again.

"WA HA HA! Ballsy, kid! With that kind of attitude, you might just do it, too!" He smiled, a little subdued. "I think I like you, little man… you were right, by the way. My ancestor and yours were great friends… and I don't just mean the King of the time period. Quincy was descended from the Sage of Water… and so am I."

"Her name was… Ruto, wasn't it?" Link wondered.

"You've got it!" King Zora nodded. "And the thing is… she and the Hero of Time were once engaged to be married." Link choked.

"WHAT!"

"WA HA HA!" King Zora chortled. "Don't have a heart attack, little man… nothing came of it. At least… nothing we know about." His grin grew wider. "That's the one matter that nobody… not history, not the sage descendants, not me… knows. Who the Hero of Time ended up with. The Sages of Time, Forest, Water and Spirit were all recorded as being interested in him… and there was even supposedly a farm girl who wasn't part of the major struggle."

"…I see my ancestor was quite the ladies' man." Link observed dryly. "Wonder how he found the time to save Hyrule." And it just figures I don't have any memories of THAT at all accessible, he thought to himself. Remember what you need to know, my ass.

"Seems that way." King Zora chuckled. "So, then… tell me. How exactly can I help you?"

"I've heard you have something called the Flippers that can help even a sinker like me swim." Link explained. "One of the girls in the Dark World is in a dungeon of water."

"So you need the Flippers to get in and rescue her." King Zora nodded. "Fair enough. I'll even give them to you on credit." Link blinked.

"Credit?"

"Of course!" The Zora King seemed to be reaching around for something under the water. "You don't think these things go for free, do you? They're incredibly difficult to make. The price has been set for hundreds of years… five hundred rupees." One of Link's eyes twitched a little. "But like I said, I like you, little man… and I do wish for Quincy's daughter's freedom. So you can have the flippers now, and pay me back once you're done with all your adventuring." A hand emerged from the water and casually tossed something at Link.

"I appreciate it, your majesty." Link caught the Flippers and examined them. They were kind of like shoes, obviously meant to be worn on the feet, but they were long, flat and finned. "Thank you… oh. I'd like to see the Great Fairy too… will she just be in the Waterfall of Wishing?"

"No, you have to know how to get her to pay attention… I'll come with you and introduce you." The Zora King decided. "I need to change Bob here back, after all." He raised his other hand, gently holding the Zora Link had transformed. It stared at him with eyes like a cornered rabbit.

"Aheh… all right." Link chuckled, turning around and walking. "At least your people won't attack me any more if you're here too, right?"

"Correct." King Zora sighed, a bit sadly. "We weren't always like this, you know… in the time of your ancestor, the Zoras were a species of intelligence, beauty and grace."

"So I've heard." Link paused. "I don't mean to sound rude, but… what happened? I mean…"

"No, I know… I, of all people, must face up to the truth about my kind." King Zora admitted. "You have noticed that the other species, aside from the Hylians, no longer live within Hyrule. This is because they departed… a mass exodus, hundreds of years ago. The Kokiri, the Gorons, the Sheikah, the Gerudo and the Zoras… they all set off to find groups of their kind living on other lands. We had heard of them… Termina, Holodrum, Labrynna… and so they went, most of the species leaving only their Sages and a few others behind. These few married Hylians, and their children did as well, and over time their lines became completely Hylian with no physical traces remaining of their non-Hylian ancestry." He sighed again. "But the Zoras were proud… within their ranks was a movement of some who would not leave Hyrule. They believed this land to be their permanent home, their only home, and they refused to depart, or to join the Hylian population. The leader of this movement was the brother of the current sage descendant… and in refusing the will of Hyrule, he cut himself off from that line, and doomed his followers."

"A curse?" Link wondered.

"Nothing so exotic…" King Zora sighed. "You see, this was a small movement… most of the Zoras followed the will of their leader, and left. All that remained were a few, who believed themselves destined to, alone, return the Zora species to its former numbers in Hyrule. Instead… they inbred themselves into what you see today. I am the only one left of my kind capable of conscious thought… my Zoras are all no more gifted than the beasts of the wild, and the buried memories of what they once were causes a great anger in each of them, so that they strike out at the Hylians who still possess their intelligence. And once I am gone…" He shook his head. "Ah well, nothing I can do about that. Here we are…" Link and the King walked out from behind Zora's Waterfall and over to the next one. "Right… time to say hello." Opening his maw wide, the Zora King began singing, a strange, eerie melody. It was a high-pitched screech, and yet there was a definite tune there… something that stirred a memory in Link. The tune… of the royal family? When the tune was done, King Zora waited… and after a moment, something emerged from the waterfall.

"King Zora, my friend… only you could mangle the song like that." The Great Fairy smiled gently as she floated out. Link forced himself not to stare; she was at least twelve feet tall, wearing a long green dress that reached below her feet. A pair of golden wings, like a butterfly's, held her in the air, and her long brown hair had a crown of flowers in it. Burt had been right, she was beautiful, but it was a strange, alien kind of beauty; something in her eyes reminded Link that she was not even remotely human. "Hm… and who is your friend?"

"My name's Link, ma'am." Link bowed again.

"Link… it's good to see you again." She smiled at his surprised expression. "You think I wouldn't recognize you? It must have been so long for you…but for me, the passage of a few hundred years is as nothing. I still remember the last time I helped you, deep inside Death Mountain. I am the Great Fairy of Wisdom, Link… and I think that you need my help again."

"Any that you can give." Link slowly nodded.

"Let me see here…" She thought about it. "Hm… I know. I see that you have damaged some of your equipment."

"Well, yes." Link nodded. "My shield and my boomerang… both belonged to my Uncle Albert."

"That explains it… I felt something in them that suggested that their loss meant more to you than normal items would." The Fairy explained. "Well, then… I shall repair them for you." She extended a hand, and Link's shield and boomerang floated towards it, settling in her palm. "Repair, and more…" The broken places began glowing with white light, and then the rest of them did as well. When the light faded, the shield's size was twice as large as it had been before, and both it and the boomerang were a deep red. "They have been filled with my magic now, and will serve you better than before." They floated back down to Link, who claimed them.

"Thank you." He smiled.

"It was the least I could do to aid the one who would save all of Hyrule." The Great Fairy assured him. "You should seek out my remaining colleague… the Great Fairy of Power." Link blinked.

"Remaining…? I remember… four of you?" King Zora attempted to shush him, but the Great Fairy waved him down.

"It was a fair question… indeed, there were once four of us, Link. But the Great Fairy of Courage was close to ground zero when Ganondorf was banished to the Sacred Realm… the foolish girl apparently thought that the Sacred Realm would need one of our kind, and tagged along. She is lost there, and we have not heard from her since. As for the Great Fairy of Magic… she was far older than the rest of us. Some time ago… a change came over her. Her age caused something to go wrong in her mind… I believe this happens often in elderly mortals, but never to us… until then. She is… lost to us." She sighed. "And so only me and the Great Fairy of Power remain." Link slowly nodded.

"So I see… I'm sorry."

"It is not your fault… and you have other things to think of." She smiled again. "Go, hero… save Hyrule once more. If the Evil King returns, my people shall suffer as well… as we did for your ancestor, the fairies of Hyrule will aid you. Any of them you meet will heal your wounds. Good luck, Link." Link nodded, bowed again and began to walk away, listening to the Great Fairy and the Zora King converse. "So then, what can I do for YOU today, hm?"

"Well, Bob here needs some help with a little practical joke that kid who just left pulled…"

In the darkness and gloom far below the Dark World… something stirred. Arrghus slowly drifted over to a wall with a crystal panel set in it. The crystal began glowing with an unearthly light, and then displaying something… somewhere… else. Another underground dungeon, even darker but not quite as damp. After a moment, a manlike creature with the head of a horse peered onscreen.

"Lady Arrghus… the boss still hasn't returned from the master's Tower."

"I see…" Arrghus sighed. "Very well." The crystal went dim again, then sprung to life once more, showing Blind, back to the panel and working on something. Hearing a noise, he turned his head around fully backwards to look, then followed suit with his body.

"Oh, hey Arrghus. What's up?"

"Thought I'd call and see how you were doing." Arrghus shrugged. "What's up?"

"Eh… not too much." Blind glanced behind him. "Big G's sleeping right now… you heard about what happened to him?"

"I heard." Arrghus winced. "Vitreous told me. Beaten up by some punk kid, then bouncing all the way down the Pyramid… ouch."

"Aah, he'll be fine once he gets back to his old self again." Blind winked. "The kid only beat him 'cause he was borrowing that shmuck's body… once he's got all his old mojo going for him, we'll be peeling that punk off the ground with a spatula." He paused. "Or maybe not. I've always wanted to try that whole paving-your-streets-with-the-bones-of-your-enemies bit."

"It's probably overrated." Arrghus guessed dryly. "Although it would fit the décor of this place."

"Exactly what I was thinking!" Blind cackled. "I should start a magazine or something. Blind's Decorative Tips Using 300 Common Body Parts! It'd sell like the bug-cakes on main street!"

"Only because you'd set anybody who didn't buy one on fire." Arrghus snickered.

"The best way to do business!" Blind proclaimed. "Anyways, money-making schemes aside…" His voice dropped a little. "You okay, Arrghus? We all kinda worry about you sometimes." Arrghus blinked.

"You… do?"

"You get depressed, you know?" Blind turned his head on one side; despite his maniac grin, he sounded subdued now. "Especially now that Kholdstare's gone off by himself again."

"I do worry about what our master will do when he regains his full powers." Arrghus admitted. "He let Kholdstare live the last time he tried this… and Kholdstare just did it again as soon as the master couldn't stop him any more. But when he can…"

"I don't think Big G will kill your brother, Arrghus… he needs you and Vitreous too much to risk alienating you like that." Blind predicted. "Me and Mothula wouldn't exactly be pleased either. And Kholdstare can still be of use to him too, once he's… well, tamed is the only way I can think to put it. Sorry."

"It applies, I suppose…" Arrghus admitted. "Brother was always too stubborn to know what was good for him… even before… well…" Her single eye grew distant. "You've only been here for ten years, Blind, so you probably don't feel the same yet, but… to the three of us, our time before the Dark World seems like different lives altogether. Different people. Probably even moreso to Mothula."

"No, I know how you feel…" Blind agreed. "Me and the boys… we all do. This place changes people… and not just physically. I'm not the same Blind I was in Hyrule… and you're not the same… whatever you called yourself there. Don't try to tell me Kholdstare, Vitreous and Arrghus are given names… they're not, any more than Mothula was."

"No…" Arrghus admitted. "But new lives seemed to call for new names… you didn't change yours, though."

"Well, otherwise I wouldn't fit in with the whole 'Eyes of Ganon' theme." Blind argued. "I mean, Mothula's got the marks on her wings, and you three are obvious, no offense… but all I've got to tie in with the group's theme is my name."

"It's just fine." Arrghus chuckled a bit. "So… speaking of Mothula. Is she still there too?"

"No, Big G sent her back to the Skull Forest to continue working on her big project." Blind explained. "She says it's going great… maybe one, two more attempts and she'll have it working."

"Good." Arrghus snorted. "We were running out of souls to use."

"Ah, we'll be fine." Blind waved a huge hand casually. "You worry too much."

"It's my nature." Arrghus admitted. "I always was the one who had to, you know… neither of my brothers are what you'd call careful."

"Don't think too much about the past, Arrghus." Blind warned her. "It's over now. It's done. We've been here far too long… changed too much. Like you said, who you are now is not who you were. That person died when you fell through that portal and came out the other side in a form strong enough to attract Big G's interest."

"I know, but…" Arrghus looked away. "Do you ever wonder, Blind… what your life would have been like if you hadn't come here? If you had stayed in Hyrule?"

"My life?" Blind shook his head. "It sucked, Arrghus… everybody in Hyrule hated us, and for good reason. I'd have given myself about six more months before those old guys I didn't know about at the time finally got fed up, revealed themselves and either ran us out of Hyrule or blew us to smithereens. Instead, I got a new body, and a new life… granted, with drawbacks, but I can live with them." He glanced sidelong at her. "Yours wasn't so bad, though, was it?"

"No." Arrghus agreed. "Not at all. But like you said, what's done is done. Concentrate on the present… that kid."

"Yeah." Blind nodded. "Be careful, Arrghus… remember, Vitreous said he was snooping around your place earlier." Simultaneously, from behind the two of them, a door slammed open, and they both turned around to regard identical floating eyeballs. "Hey, Vitreous! What-"

"No time for chatter!" Vitreous yelled, sounding strangely fearful. "We've got to get down to the Ice Palace, NOW!"

"What for?" Blind blinked.

"It's that IDIOT Handy!" Vitreous explained. "He's down there, and he's chucking bombs down the palace!" Blind and Arrghus both went pale.

"Is he TRYING to commit suicide!" Blind screamed. "Shit! No, you stay there, Arrghus; you've got to be there if the punk comes barging in! Me and Vitreous'll deal with this!"

"Just hurry!" Arrghus urged them. "Kholdstare could go off at any minute!" Blind and Vitreous both nodded, and the grinning demon rushed off along with both eyes, leaving Arrghus alone in the dark once more.

"All right, the water's flowing again." Link grunted, emerging from the Swamp Dungeon in the Light World. "Now to see if my theory paid off." Crossing over to the Dark World through the portal in the north, he returned to the Swamp Palace and entered. The chasm was filled with flowing water. "Yes… I was right." He jumped in. "Flow's a bit strong, but I can handle it… these Flippers are great."

"Hey, kid, thanks a lot for that." A voice behind him grumbled. "I tell you, when I woke up this morning I said to myself, 'Boy, I hope I get plastered against a metal grate by rushing water. That would really make my day.' And I'm really grateful to you for that." Turning around, Link saw a white squid swimming effortlessly behind him, holding its dark glasses on with one tentacle.

"Hey… you're that guy… Neosquid." Link remembered, clambering up on the other side of the waterway. "What're you doing here?"

"Checking this place out… it's Arrghus' home turf. Look out, water spirit." Diving past Link, Neosquid jumped on an enemy that had been flying towards him; a blob of water surrounded by rotating bubbles, flying around a foot above the shallow pool of water in the floor. Something glinted in a tentacle, and the water blob splattered into nothingness. "Come on, let's go down to the next floor before it comes back. I hate those things."

"They regenerate?" Link inquired.

"Yeah… as long as there's water around they'll just animate it again." Neosquid grumbled.

"Hold on… I might have an idea. Let me try this…" Link watched as an identical shape formed out of the water and started moving. As soon as it was fully formed, he nailed it with the Ice Rod. "There. Now, let's see if another one comes out…" It didn't. "Thought so. It's stuck in there."

"Now THAT'S a handy trick." Neosquid admitted. "What's the catch?"

"I can only do it a certain number of times." Link explained. "So I should save it for when we need it."

"Fair enough." The squid nodded. "So, what're you here for? As if I really have to ask."

"Rescuing the girl, and most likely killing this Arrghus." Link shrugged. "All in a day's work."

"Heh… so you say. But I think I'll tag along, just in case." Neosquid looked around the damp room. "At least you won't have to worry about any of the other Eyes ambushing you down here… my partner's distracting them."

"Handy?" Link remembered.

"Yup. We saw you nosing around here and figured you'd be coming back for a more serious hit soon." He pointed a tentacle at a small box on the floor with openings in the four cardinal directions. "Watch out for those… security devices set to fire if they detect anybody swinging a blade in the room."

"Blades only?" Link looked around as several Biri floated towards him. "Fair enough." He pulled out his bow and arrows and shot them all down. Neosquid nodded.

"Smooth."

"I was considering using my boomerang, but then I realized what would happen if any of them weren't KO'd completely and turned on the juice after they fell in the water." Link indicated the ankle-deep liquid that covered this room as well. "Is this stuff everywhere here?"

"Well, this IS the Swamp Palace." Neosquid reminded him. "Arrghus likes water. I never did before I got trapped here… when I saw what I got turned into, I was NOT happy. At least I got off better than poor Handy."

"Why a squid, if you hate water?" Link raised an eyebrow.

"If you must know, I was a thief." Neosquid admitted. "I was nicknamed Eight-Hands."

"Funny." Link shook his head. "I've heard of the Bronze Hands, and the Black Eyes… but never heard anything about you."

"Yeah, well…" Neosquid shrugged. "It was… a while ago. Hm… another empty channel." They looked down into it. "At least there's a ladder on the other side low enough for us to climb up… and yet, another one that we can't."

"So logically, that one we can reach will get us access to a switch to fill the channel… so we can get to that other one, which will take us closer to the core of this place." Link climbed down and then up on the other side, followed by Neosquid. "And since it's this obvious, said switch will be heavily guarded."

"Of course." Neosquid shrugged. "The Eyes didn't get their jobs for Ganon by making it easy. Oh, great, Metal Moles." A line of the creatures was between them and a large lever. "I hope Kiki wasn't exaggerating when she reported that you had a way past them… otherwise, we're stuck."

"No, I've got it." Link pulled the Magic Hammer out of his pack. Neosquid's eyes widened behind his glasses.

"Now that's something."

"Glad you approve." Link smashed the Moles down, then shoved the lever into activation, causing the sound of rushing water to be heard. "Seems like it worked." Returning to the previous room, they dropped into the water, scaled the higher ladder and went on. "By the way… I noticed you don't seem to have a problem with saying Ganon's name. Ballio, Brutus and Kiki did."

"Eh, it's a superstition." Neosquid grumbled. "Something about saying the guy's name attracts his attention. Me and Handy figure it's a load of manure, but the others… ah, well. You'd think they'd figure they were being watched enough already with Vitreous around. Hoo boy… this looks fun." They had emerged in a huge chamber , filled with many shallow water rushing along from many openings in the wall and into grates in the floor, in a criss-cross pattern. Many balconies and a central island rose up on a higher level. On the island was a huge chest; and beyond it, on the north balcony, a locked door.

"We'll need a master key to open those." Link mused.

"Yeah… this room's basically the center of the complex." Neosquid pulled out a piece of paper from somewhere Link couldn't see and unfolded it. "We can go either west or south… it looks like there's a lot more rooms west."

"Is that a map of this place?" Link inquired. "West sounds good to me."

"West it is then… and yeah. We've got 'em for all of the Eyes' hideouts… took 'em off of subordinates of theirs." Neosquid explained as they swam through another, thankfully already filled, channel of water. Climbing out on the other side, they walked up a set of stairs. "Back to the top floor for one big room only… let's hope the key's up here." He winced as they saw what awaited them. "Well, SOMETHING had better be up here, anyways…" The large room had a security device in every corner, and in the center, a chain of endlessly burning fireballs swung around a block in a clockwise circuit. And as if that wasn't enough, the water began stirring, and water spirits began bouncing around everywhere. "Damn! One, two, three… gah, I can't count 'em! There's too many! I think this is a 'really need to' situation, kid!"

"I'm on it." Pulling out the Ice Rod, Link froze them, one by one. As it turned out, there were five of them; those, along with a couple of misses, had him fairly mentally exhausted by the time he was done. "Phew… looks like I made the right choice buying this stuff." He drank the green potion and sighed as the exhaustion faded.

"Some kind of magic restoring potion?" Neosquid inquired as the hero put the bottle away.

"Exactly." Link nodded. "Now, let's see here… ah, there's a chest… and what do you know, the key's inside!" He took it, and the two of them headed back to the central chamber. "I do have to wonder what's to the south, though."

"Probably just a runaround." The squid shrugged. "Let's see what's in the BIG chest now!"

"All righty…" Opening it, Link drew out the contents, and his companion looked confused.

"What the heck is this? Some kind of grappling tool?"

"It's… the hookshot…" Link murmured, examining it. A pointed steel head attached to a length of chain, which led into the wooden handle with the trigger. "My old hookshot… good to see it's still in shape…" Neosquid looked even more confused now.

"You… feeling all right, kid? Hit your head, by any chance?"

"No, I'm just fine… and I remember how to use this." Link pointed the hookshot at the wooden frame of the locked door. "Hold on tight…" Grabbing one of Neosquid's tentacles with his free hand, he fired the hookshot. The anchor head shot forward like an arrow and dug deep into the wood, then pulled the handle to it across the gap, hauling Link and Neosquid along as if they weighed nothing.

"Whoa." The squid muttered, after steadying himself and holding a tentacle to his… well, to the spot above his eyes. "Interesting gizmo there… might come in handy against Arrghus." He drew out his map again as they entered the next room and saw five identical waterfalls pouring from the maws of wall gargoyles, side by side. "Hmph… this map says all five hide passageways going to the last rooms, but I wouldn't bet a green rupee on that. What'd be the point? No, my money's on only one going forward, and the rest being trapped or leading elsewhere."

"Let's split up, then." Link decided. "Whatever you find, meet back here in five minutes." Neosquid nodded and took the second from the right, while Link decided on the farthest to the left. As it turned out, neither of his companion's guesses was correct; the tunnel simply dead-ended after several turns. When he returned, there was no sign of Neosquid. "Guess he hasn't come back yet… eh?" There were low noises coming from a grate in the wall. "Voices…?"

"Well, well, Neosquid. Fancy meeting you here." An alien voice, gurgling and hissing.

"Arrghus." Neosquid's voice now. "Hey, babe. Fancy some tentacle-on-tentacle action?"

"Why Neosquid… I didn't know you CARED!" As Arrghus yelled the last word, Link was already running towards the waterfall his companion had taken.

"I just hope I'm not too late…" Dropping down another floor, he leaped into a fast-moving stream of water and let it carry him until he saw the door and scrambled up onto the land in front of it. Hanging above it was the fossilized, preserved husk of a jellyfish. Ignoring it, Link burst into the final room of the Swamp Palace. Like most of the others before it, it was covered in an ankle-deep pool of water. What attracted Link's attention, however, was a huge mass of… things. Soft, squishy blobs, clustering in one huge mass and twitching slightly, hovering above the water. From that cluster, a bunch of thin, ropy tendrils dangled down… and among them was the defeated Neosquid, grimly clutching daggers in several tentacles.

"Sorry, kid… she jumped me…" He croaked.

"Drop him, Arrghus." Link snarled. "NOW."

"So, you know my name…" The voice he had heard earlier came from the center of the cluster. "Fair enough, since I know yours… Link, I believe. I'm afraid I can't comply with your request…" As she spoke, the tentacles began pulling Neosquid up into the mass. "This punk's right below you on Dark World's Most Wanted. If you want him back… TAKE him back."

"Count on that!" Link yelled, charging, Master Sword raised. He hit Arrghus with a massive overhead swing… and the sword slid off, doing no damage to the blobs. "Huh?"

"Ha… as long as my babies are one with me, neither of us can be harmed!" Arrghus crowed, slamming the entire mass into him bodily. "Our magical auras combine, protecting us! You made a mistake in underestimating Arrghus of the Eyes of Ganon!" Link grunted and aimed a different weapon.

"Well then, I'll just have to break up the act, won't I?" The hookshot sprung out, and dug into one of the blobs slightly, oh-so-slightly… but it was enough to pull the blob away from Arrghus, and towards Link. As soon as it left the cluster, its normal red color faded to a dead white. Taking that as a key, Link sliced it in half. "Bingo!"

"You DARE!" Arrghus bellowed, charging like a bull. Link waited until the last moment, sidestepped and drew out another blob, which he killed like the first. Her next scream cut off quickly into a low growl.

"You want to get my babies away from me? Fine… take ALL of them!" The blobs began moving faster, and then in a blast of speed they burst outward, rotating Arrghus in a complete circle. Link was slammed into a wall, but even as he was he fired the hookshot and pulled another one to him. Doing so revealed a flash of white near the bottom, and Link concentrated his targeting there until Neosquid was revealed. He charged in and sliced at the tentacles, hoping to free his comrade, but once again even the Master Sword had no effect. He jumped back barely in time to avoid a repeat hit from the circle storm attack, and this time he got a look at Arrghus revealed; a bull-sized jellyfish with red, rubbery skin. Her most dominant feature, however, was a single golden eye that took up most of the front of her body. The eye glared at him as the blobs closed over it and Arrghus resumed her chase of him, but Link stayed one step ahead of her at all times, pulling the blobs off and killing them one by one. Finally, the last one fell, and Link hacked at her tentacles. This time, they gave with a screech, and Neosquid fell from them onto the floor. Howling, Arrghus launched herself straight up into the darkness above them. Link stared up.

"Running away?"

"No…" Neosquid moaned. "Look out…" Link dived away as the massive mollusk slammed back down where he had been a moment before. The shockwave as she hit knocked him off his feet, and sent the nearby Neosquid slamming into a wall. Arrghus, however, did not pause, but began blasting around like some kind of motor-powered vehicle, blazing a trail through the water. Link stood fearlessly in her path, striking with the Master Sword as she bore down on him like a tidal wave. The blade sunk into her rubbery flesh even as she smashed him forward, then leaped again. Link scrambled away, turned and slashed, and again she continued forward to run him down, taking the hit from the sword before jumping once more

"Come on!" Arrghus taunted as she landed with another shockwave and launched into movement once more. "We'll see who wears out first!"

"Got a point…" Link growled, downing his only bottle of red medicine. "But I've got more tricks up my sleeve!" He pulled out the Ice Rod and fired it. The cloud of blue sparkles covered Arrghus' bulk with a thin coating of ice, and she laughed.

"Idiot, did you really think that would do much against ME?"

"Not much, but enough!" Link fired again and again, and with each additional layer of ice Arrghus' speed slowed a little more. When he judged it to be enough, he ran forward and began striking repeatedly, hacking and slashing at the vulnerable enemy. Arrghus attempted to get away, but the ice held her down too much, and she could not get enough momentum to hit Link with much force. Finally, she collapsed, bleeding from all over her body.

"I…" She hissed. "I didn't want… to die like this. Why… what did I do… to deserve this? To be consigned to this hell… with my brothers? You who serve the Sages… why couldn't they save us?" Link approached her.

"You… blame the Sages for what happened to you?" He wondered.

"Their descendants…" Arrghus snarled. "Their job was supposed to be to watch the Dark World… and yet, my brothers and I fell into it without a word of warning! We've been here for five hundred years, and all we've had was each other! And now YOU come to rescue girls who haven't even known a year in this hellhole, who haven't even had to have their human forms ripped from them forever? Simply because they come from the families of the Sages? Is THAT what matters to you, HERO!" With an effort born of pure rage, she smashed her way free from the ice and lunged at him, slamming him into a wall. As she charged, intent on smearing him against it, Link pulled something out of his pack.

"It's not my job to judge such things… but I know something that can." He shoved the Magic Mirror at Arrghus' eye. "Look in here… and see if you really DO deserve to return to Hyrule!" Arrghus stared into the mirror for a moment, frozen in shock… and then she screamed and fell back, writhing, as wisps of smoke came from her eye.

"It hurts… burns!"

"As I thought…" Link stood over her. "That Mirror only allows those who deserve to return to Hyrule its grace… those who belong here, it punishes for their attempt. You may not have deserved coming here… but like you said, that was five hundred years ago, and you've changed too much… you've truly become the monster your appearance shows."

"Arrghus." Neosquid muttered, crawling over as well. "Nobody made you ally yourself with Ganon. You could have done what we did… stood up to him. But you were too weak to do so… strong in form, weak in spirit. When your spirit gave in and you chose to serve somebody you knew was evil, you made the destruction of your body as well inevitable. And in the process, you corrupted yourself… corrupted your soul."

"I didn't… want to…" Arrghus sobbed.

"But you did." Link raised the Master Sword. "But Arrghus… it's over now. All of it is over. Sleep." The sword descended, and the light in Arrghus' eye went out. Link turned to Neosquid.

"You going to be okay?"

"Squids heal fast." Neosquid shrugged. "And it looked worse than it really is. I'll be right as rain tomorrow. But before that… we've got company." Looking away from Arrghus' mangled corpse, they watched the crystal fall from the ceiling, and then enlarge. Link had never seen the girl inside before, but judging from her skin tone, he hazarded a guess as to her identity.

"Are you Aginah's daughter?"

"I am Nina, yes… that is correct." The girl nodded. "Thank you, Link and…" She frowned. "Mister… octopus."

"Mister OCTOPUS?" Neosquid stared at her over the tops of his dark glasses. "Excuse ME!"

"Let it lie." Link muttered to him. "Ahem… we're glad you're all right. Your father will be happy to see you returned to him."

"He lives, then…" Nina let out a sigh of relief. "I had worried for him after I was taken by Ganon… that evil man's power is truly incredible."

"Maybe so, but he hasn't had access to the majority of it for a while." Neosquid explained. "Not sure why, but that's the reason he's had to rely on the Eyes so much recently… and the reason guys like us can exist without getting blown away as soon as we make a peep."

"So I see… then we must hope he does not regain full control of it, or we are all lost." Nina shook her head. "Even one segment of the Triforce will attempt to grant, if only in part, the wishes of whoever bears it, as long as that person lives." She chuckled bitterly. "And, of course, the one who discovered it was Ganondorf the bandit king… that's the way this world goes."

"It's not always bad." Link objected. "There's the barrier… Ganon couldn't get back to Hyrule."

"Yes, until it started cracking." Nina sighed, then smiled. "But even that has an upside, I suppose… you can use those portals to your advantage, and pop in when and where the Evil King's forces aren't expecting you. Use every advantage you have, Link… it's the only way you can stop Ganondorf… no, Ganon… now." She shrank back to her pocket-sized form, and the three of them turned towards the exit.

"So… now what?" Link asked as they neared the entrance.

"Now, we get back to Resistance Base." Neosquid decided. "It's south of the Village of Outcasts… underneath the shooting gallery. Let's go back there and exchange stories… there's a lot we can tell you about the Dark World, but I get the feeling you've got an even bigger doozy of a story to tell US."

"Fair enough." Link nodded as they emerged out into the sunlight. "Lead the way, then-WHOA!" He, Nina and Neosquid all dived aside as a fireball slammed into the spot where they had been a moment before.

"Awww, almost got you!" Blind cackled, grinning as wide as ever… but his eyes were burning with anger. "What say we play a game in memory of my good buddy Arrghus? I like to call it 'taxidermy while still alive!' ANY TAKERS!" He continued to belch fireballs as, from above, another threat manifested itself.

"BASTARDS!" Vitreous screamed much less eloquently as a cluster of ten, then fifteen, then even more eyeballs swooped down like a swarm of insects. "You killed my sister… I'll kill YOU! You'll be screaming for merciful death by the time I'm through with you!"

"Aw geez, not this again!" Neosquid yelped, diving away into the swamp grass. "Get out of here, kids, and meet me later!"

"Wait!" Link called as he pulled the Mirror out for Nina to gaze into. "You can come too!"

"No, I'm good!" Neosquid called back. "I've been dodging these dolts for decades! Just get out of here before they rip you to shreds!" Link started to protest more, then winced as the eyes of Vitreous slammed into him en masse.

"KILL KILL KILL!" Vitreous screamed, and Link struggled to bring the Mirror to his face. He managed to do so, and as the Dark World faded to white, the last thing he heard was the disappointed screams of the Eyes of Ganon.