Chapter 37: Twice Comes Dawn
The Oracle and Elsa sat quietly at the table, each revealing a dual expression to the other's. Farore's eyes looked down upon her creation. Her hands moved gracefully, whittling away the wood with a knife, and there was a blissful expression upon her face. Elsa was fixated upon the Oracle, a morbid look in her eyes, her mouth open in astonishment at the Oracle's calm composure.
"What are you doing?" Elsa asked, frustrated.
The Oracle looked up, her hands tightening the hinge between two pieces of wood. "Why, crafting a chest," she said as if it were obvious.
"With all that's going on, why do you choose to make a chest now?" Elsa demanded, her frustration casting away her decorum.
Farore lifted and placed the chest upon the table. The metallic handles on the sides flapped up and down from the movement, clanging against the wood consistently, like the tick of a clock. The Oracle looked into her eyes, and Elsa felt as if she were gazing into her soul. "There is a reason for everything," the Oracle stated. "All of your questions will be answered when the time comes." The handles stopped clanging and all was quiet for a moment.
But then, as if to break the silence, a blast of smoke puffed out of nowhere, and standing where before there was nothing were two women. The first was fair-skinned, her hair as blue as the clear sky, her texture both inhuman and flawless. The second had darker skin, and her blood-red hair was a jumbled mess, flowing down to her shoulders; and yet her body too gave off an alluring hue.
"It has been too long, sister," said the blue-haired one.
"So you have finally arrived," Farore said, grinning.
"Is that all you have to say to us?" asked the red-haired one. "After all these years of planning and wait, you merely criticize the time of our arrival?"
"I told you to come with me. Our world is not the same as it was. We are no longer safe there. I guess you've learned of this by now."
"You were always the bravest one," indicated the blue-haired one. "I know we'll have to leave eventually, but I guess we are just not ready to abandon our home. Our original home."
"Until then," began Farore, "I suppose you should do what you came here for."
They nodded and walked over to the door, opened it, and walked out. Elsa's eyes were glued to the Oracle, still whittling away at the wooden chest.
The two Goddesses arose into the sky, surveying the entire battle with a bird's eye view.
"Shall we get on with it?" Nayru asked, the wind ripping through her rippling hair.
"I suppose," Din answered. "Remember, we must take caution. We cannot make the same mistake we did all those years ago. I fear this land will not soon recover."
"We have no choice but to act," Nayru admitted. "At least let's make it so we don't have to do this again."
"Agreed."
Nayru raised her left arm into the air and extended her palm. For a brief moment sparks of electricity crawled over her body, from her toes, up her arm, and into her hand. The once cloudless morning was suddenly filled with a swirling tornado of grey mist. It surrounded Nayru like a thundercloud, crackling and beaming with light that streamed through it. Her eyes turned as white as lightning, and soon everything turned awry.
On the battlefield, everyone looked up into the sky, up at this lone, ferocious cloud amid a blank sky. They all saw Nayru, like a bolt of lightning stagnant in the center, and their hearts jolted.
A voice was heard, but it was no ordinary voice. It was so angelic, so perfect in pitch. The soldiers could have sworn they heard it aloud. They turned to each other with odd looks, wondering where the voice had come from. Then they looked up into the sky and saw a tornado of smoke and light, and they knew.
Retreat into the village, the voice said. You will be safe there.
The soldiers turned and ran as quickly as they could, dumping all of their armor and weaponry to make them faster. The Poes saw this as a victory, and darted through the sky and towards them, eager to claim what they had so obviously won.
Nayru's eyes gained color again, and the winds around her lost their smoky appearance. Everything was clear again, and the swarms of tumultuous winds had blown out.
"It is your turn, sister." Nayru motioned to Din, and the other smiled.
The violent storm cloud arose once more, but this time it took a new form. With Din in the center, it spun with rings of fire, and it grew until it overshadowed the sun, scorching the sky.
When the soldiers finally made it within the safety of their city walls, they watched as the Poes crept closer, surrounding them.
"What now?" one of them shouted. "Have the Goddesses sentenced us to our doom?"
With a flick of Nayru's finger, a clear, blue-tinted dome surrounded the city walls. The Poes crashed into it, bedazzled and aghast by this new force. They began to claw at it, hoping that like the other walls, it would collapse. But it did not. Despite their efforts, the dome remained fixed, able to be seen through but unable to be forgone.
The Poes looked up just in time to see their sky overtaken by a hurricane of fire. It collapsed upon the earth, burning all that it touched. The Poes tried to fly away, by the fire torched them, burning them into ashes, engulfing everything it touched in flame. It was as if the world had become an ocean, but instead of water there was fire.
The people in the town looked up in horror as the conflagration came down upon them. They closed their eyes, waiting for the bracing heat to come, for the flames to melt them away. But they felt nothing, and when they looked up, they saw that the dome above them had blackened with smoke.
For a while the dome was dark, and they heard nothing. Everything was pitch-black, tense, and quiet. During those few uneasing minutes that followed, everyone held their loved ones close, praying that the Goddesses would protect them, waiting for the smoke to pass.
When it finally did, they looked out upon a changed world. They thought the grass fields would be singed to a barren stretch of dirt, but it was even more colorful than before. Daises and roses and sunflowers grew where there had once been corpses, and green, rolling hills had taken the place of the fortifications. A blue, sparkling river flowed where there was once blood and gore. It was as if everything was borne anew, as if the day had begun twice that morning. The wicked had been washed away like grime, and only good had replaced it.
"It is up to them now," Nayru said, content with her work, looking down upon the changed world.
"No," Din retorted, pointing out into the distance, where a towering mountain was filled with the frequent flashings of light, both red and white. "There is still more. The rest is up to Link. He must go where we hold no power. He must fight where we cannot. It is the only way. It is our last hope."
"Hope," Nayru repeated. "So that's what you call it."
