Chapter 4: The Master Sword

Even with the Pendant of Power, Link realized that he had no hope of piercing the monster's hard shell. Then, he decided to take a different direction and attack its underside instead. With all his strength, he drove the blade deep into the creature's weak point. The centipede gave out one final cry of pain before it died.

With his enemy destroyed, Link began traveling across the desert. But without the special wings, it was hard going.

"Man!" he exclaimed, "This desert goes on forever!" as he sank to his knees, he looked up and saw. . . "Sahasrahla! Am I glad to see you! I need some water!"

"Finding the next pendant should be your first priority," the old man said sternly. "Head to the Tower of Hera on top of Death Mountain, there you will find the Pendant of Wisdom. The tower is very near . . ." and with that, he was gone.

"It was just a mirage? Ohhhh. . ." moaned Link. He looked up and saw a huge shape looming in the distance. "That must be it. I don't know if I can get that far. . ."

Suddenly, his sword, which he had been dragging on the ground, bit something. He glanced down and saw that a ring with symbols in the middle had been carved into the ground. At the very center was a pyramid made of three triangles. "What's this?"

All of a sudden, a huge beam of blue light shot out from the ground, and two figures, a man and a woman appeared.

"Link . . . Link . . ."

The boy staggered backwards. "How do you know my name?" he asked nervously.

"We are here with our brother . . . in the world of darkness . . ." the figures continued, ignoring his question. Suddenly, another form began to take shape, one that he recognized instantly.

"UNCLE!" he exclaimed in shock. "Then you must be my parents!"

The female figure smiled sadly as she extended one hand towards him.

"Mother . . ."

Link reached out with a trembling hand to touch the ghostly figure. His arm penetrated the pillar . . . then without warning, the pillar turned red and Link was sent hurtling backwards. As they boy climbed to his feet, he noticed two things. One: The pillar of light was gone, and two: His arm was now furry and had claws at the fingertips!

(AN: Uh . . . this is part of the reason I wanted to do a novelization of the comic.)

"AHHHHH! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY ARM?" He exclaimed.

"I know why. . ." said a voice. Link looked up to see Sahasrahla looking at him. "You penetrated the gate to the dark realm, a place where your body can be changed to reflect your heart. Sand since your heart was full of negative emotions you were nearly turned into a beast!"

"But Sahasrahla," Link protested, "Agahnim killed my uncle and now he's holding Zelda!"

The old man nodded. "Yes, but hatred can not win alone. Even if you were to succeed, you would be consumed by darkness! Only one force is strong enough to oppose evil and hatred!"

Link paused to reflect on this. Just then, he heard another voice.

"Link?"

The boy looked up to see Princess Zelda smiling at him.

"More illusions! What happened to Sahasrahla!"

"We are in our dream," she replied. "If more than one people dream of the same thing, they will meet."

For some reason, this did not comfort him.

"This is a dream? Dreams . . . mirages . . . it's all so confusing! In fact, it's making me even more exhausted just thinking about it!"

He fell to the ground, and Zelda kneeled beside him and put his head in her lap. For some reason, the background had changed into a field of flowers.

"You must be very tired. You have given us so much hope . . ." she said softly.

"My arm . . . it hurts . . ." Link moaned.

"Please rest, don't worry . . ."

And with that, he fell into a deep sleep.

When he awoke, Link found himself lying on the ground, his sword nearby. "That was a strange dream," he mused, sitting up. Then he noticed that his hand had been completely bandaged up!

"But my arm!" he exclaimed. "Who did this!"

With no answers coming to him, Link decided that the best thing to do was to make his way to the tower. After about an hour of walking, he managed to reach his destination. When he entered the building, the first thing he noticed was the long staircase that spiraled up the inside.

"GROAN! Not more stairs to climb!" he complained. But since he had no choice, Link started climbing the steps that lead to nowhere. "I hate climbing stairs . . ."

After a while, a huge light began to shine brightly.

"That's much better. . ."

Suddenly, Link realized that the 'lights' were actually the eyes of a giant spider!

"What the-!"

The monster jabbed at him with one of its legs, but he dodged it, jumped up, and jammed his sword into of its eyes.

Hey, I'm getting pretty good at this! He thought. Just then, he heard Sahasrahla's voice in his head.

(AN: I have no clue if the brackets are going to show up, so anything in telepathy will be in bold letters)

Link! The pendant is in the third eye!

"You gotta be kidding me!" He groaned. Then he looked down, and sure enough, he could make out the image of pendant in there. Link reached down, into the eye, and grabbed the object with his bandaged hand, shuddering at the texture.

Thank goodness this is the last pendant! Link thought to himself. As he drew out the object, he saw that the bandages around his hand were beginning to come off, exposing the mutated hand beneath. But as the final bandages fell away, he realized that his hand was completely normal!

Wow! He thought in excitement. Without the pendant, the spider instantly died. Link took this chance to ride it down the center of the tower.

"Good thing I don't have to use the stairs!" he said to himself. As he landed, he heard Sahasrahla's voice again.

Very good Link! You have recovered all three pendants! Now you must head to the Lost Woods!

"Aww . . . can't I take a break?"

No. There is no time!

Reluctantly, Link exited the tower and headed to the Lost Woods, which happened to be very close by.

If you are the Legendary Hero of Hyrule, Sahasrahla told him telepathically, Then the sword will select you as its bearer!

"Select me? What does that mean?" asked a confused Link. "And what if it doesn't?"

Then you will never be able to enter the dark world and find your parents!The older man replied.

"Are they still alive?" Link asked hopefully.

Yes, but now they dwell in the dark world. Your parents were knights of Hyrule, but they stumbled into that evil realm. After they disappeared, your uncle took you in and sheltered you from the intrigues of the royal family.

Then he spotted it. There, sitting in a block of granite, was a well-crafted sword. Silently, Link made his way over to it, and then he reached out to grab the hilt, and pull it out of its pedestal.

Link brandished the weapon and smiled.

Agahnim was going down.

To be continued . . .