Chapter 13: Tales of Spirits and Swords

Link

After discarding my bottle, I walked to the staircase in the room ready to ascend.

"Wait!", the Hero of Spirits called out, stopping me, "Do you still have the Phantom Sword?"

I stopped, turned around, and pulled it out of my inventory to show him.

"Why haven't you combined it with the Master Sword?"

"Wait, combine it with The Master Sword?" Revali asked, taking the words right out of my mouth.

The Hero of Spirits nodded and continued to speak as I found my place in the circle with the rest Champions that was forming around him.

"It's one of the reasons why you were told to bring the Champions to begin with. Their power, combined with the Princess', will be able to forge all four of the legendary blades into one,"

"Amazing," Zelda said.

Revali however, remained skeptical.

"Are you sure?"

"Come on, I brought you here, didn't I?" the Young Hero said with a shrug.

"Regardless, as Champions, we owe it to Hyrule and Link to try," Mipha said.

Revali sighed, "Very well. So little one, what do we need to do?"

How quickly was Mipha becoming Revali's voice of reason? And why was he becoming so quick to listen? As one possible answer crossed my mind, I couldn't help but smile. I quickly composed myself as The Hero of Spirits began to organize us for the ritual.

"Lay the swords onto top of each other," he said.

I did as he asked.

He then turned to the Champions, "On my signal, focus your energy into the 2 swords. To combine them, it will require all 5 of you."

"What about me?" I asked.

"Just wait, trust me."

Revali

Ok, so maybe this could work. Nevertheless, I had some concerns.

"Should we secure the swords first somehow, so they don't get washed or blown away? I would hate for us to go through all this trouble just to lose two legendary swords."

"Focus your raw energy and they won't budge, ok?" he said.

"Raw energy?"

"Yes, your power as Champions isn't just over your respective elements. The Zora wouldn't be able to do her healing if that truly was the case."

"So how exactly do I do this?"

He smiled, "You'll know, don't worry."

I sighed in exasperation. More riddles! I wasn't sure what good it would do, but I outstretched my wing toward the swords, closed my eyes and concentrated, not on the wind but on my own power I somehow knew I had.

Nothing! Not even an accidental small breeze!

I sighed in defeat and started to drop my pose but someone or something caught my wing before I could drop it all the way. I opened my eyes to see a certain small red Zora holding my arm and adjusting it into a more suitable position for casting magic.

I… I… wasn't sure what to think, let alone what to say. What was she doing this close to me? Was I blushing… somehow? My feathers were trying to stand on end, and I couldn't deny I felt warm but…

Seriously!? Stop it! STOP IT! Oh no, she's looking at me.

"I suppose I should say what I was going to say before we were interrupted by Ganon the first time," she said with a giggle, obviously amused by my behavior.

Someone help me.

"What I meant to say that day, is that when I'm healing it helps when I think of… someone I love."

Someone you love? Of course that for her that meant Link, well, maybe not anymore. Who else could she be thinking about? I decided not to think about it any further.

"You can do it, I know you can,"

My heart leaped to my throat and fell back down to my chest as she walked away with yet another gentle giggle. After getting back into her position, she closed her eyes in focus before a beam of blue energy shot from her hand, enveloping the sword completely. Urbosa soon followed with her yellow-colored energy, Daruk with his orange, and finally Zelda with her gold. With a small sigh, I once more closed my eyes and focused on the energy inside of me…,

Nothing.

Ok, let's just assume that maybe Mipha's advice has some merit, so maybe think about Mom and Dad…?

Still nothing.

Maybe Link and the relationship we used to have…?

Not even a spark.

Ugh…! This was stupid! I loved them all in my own way, I know I did! Why was my power not responding!? Suddenly it was clear exactly why Zelda struggled so much 100 years ago; magic was… difficult.

All right then, I'll bite, who else do I "love"?

After I asked myself that pivotal question, I found myself picturing red scales enveloping a gentle smile without exactly meaning to. As I did, I felt something…

I opened my eyes just in time to see my own lime-green energy join the others.

I closed my eyes in partial focus and I admit partial frustration, You've got to be kidding me! Mipha, of all people! Thinking of Mipha was what unlocked it? I didn't love her! I never did!… …Ok, maybe it was finally time to stop lying to myself about that, despite the fact she would never love me back.

I guess we were both doomed to never have the person we love requite it. On the other hand, she did get pretty close to me when I escorted her to that lake she requested, and-

Suddenly the energy that was flowing stopped, I opened my eyes to see the new sword, its blue blade had turned a deep red.

"Did we accidentally corrupt it?" I asked.

Link ignored what I said as he took the new sword and looked at it in admiration. Holding it close to his face, eyes closed before opening them and raising the sword into the air, as if showing off the blade and its new power. He gave it a few practice swings, before spinning the blade in his hand around and sheathing it on his back.

"I take it you were trained by the Hero of Twilight?" The Hero of the Spirits said.

Link nodded,

"What was that all about?" I asked.

Link just shook his head with a smile before turning serious again, "We need to move, those elixirs will only last so long."

Link

The Phantoms my other self was talking about turned out to actually be there, but the power of the Phantom Sword and the increased stealth as a result of the multiple Sneaky Elixirs we had drank allowed us to make our way past them and to the top floor, where a sword not unlike the Master Sword or the Phantom Sword but with a different wing shape in the crossguard and a pattern on the blade that reminded me a lot of The Spirit Tracks rest embedded in a stone.

"So that's the Lokomo Sword huh?" Zelda asked.

The Young hero nodded, "Yup, right where I left it."

I walked over to the sword and wrapped my wings around it, ready for whatever test this blade would give me. Lifting with my legs, I attempted to remove the blade, only to find that this was easily the hardest sword I'd ever removed, not because of an energy training test, or a trial, but because it just… wouldn't budge no matter how hard I tried. After one last failed attempt, I let go of the sword with a grunt.

Revali turned to the Young Boy, "Alright short stack, no more jokes! Where's the real one!?" he said.

"That is the real one, but the one who wields it has to prove themselves worth with his relationship with the spirits, not just the Goddesses,"

"So how do I do that?" I asked.

He pulled out a pan flute, "Allow me show you."

He then turned to Zelda, "How's your singing voice?"

She was caught off guard by the question, "Uh… I was told it was good? Or at least my music teacher thought it was good."

"Have Confidence, Princess. Link will need both your power and your voice to awaken and release the sword. As for you Link, I hope you still have that Ocarina."

I pulled it out in answer.

He nodded, pulling out a pan flute in response, "Good, repeat after me with the Ocarina, as for you Zelda, don't worry you'll know what to do."

He played a tune of six notes, going up and down at various intervals, even though the song sounded nothing like it, it somehow reminded me of a train. After practicing a few times to get it right, he turned to Zelda and told her to sing.

He was right about her knowing exactly which song to do as the flute seemed to awaken a song from her bloodline. Even though I had guessed she had a beautiful voice from the moment I started falling for her, I wouldn't have guessed exactly how good it was. As she opened her beak to sing, a voice with a vocal beauty beyond that of any creature of Hyrule, even a female Rito or Zora filled my ears and heart. She had the voice of an angel, no… that was not quite right… a Goddess. I was listening to a golden-feathered Goddess. I was so mesmerized by her singing that I almost forgot to play my part when the duet transferred over to me, but after we got it, the unbelievable happened…

The Sword started to glow as Zelda and I continued our music but was it just me or were more instruments joining in as the song progressed? The unseen instruments seemed to create a pseudo unique orchestra as we continued to make music. Revali's beak opened in awe as the song came to a crescendo. When the song ended, I handed the Ocarina back to The Hero of Spirit's waiting hand before he gestured for me to try to take the sword again. This time, it came out without effort and soon after we had it combined with The Master Sword as well, turning the red blade gold after the ritual was complete.

Revali gave Mipha a congratulatory smile as the circle we had made to combine the Champions Powers dispersed, all of us ready to receive the location where the last blade was.