Chapter 24: Recollections of the Future
If even Rauru had urged him to make haste, Link thought he was justified in throwing caution to the winds. He ignored Navi's pleas for him to stop to rest, hurtling up the stairs, racing to the bridge now providing a ready means of entering the central spire, and entering the blackness leading into the heart of the tower. In the room on the other side of the bridge was a small room, roughly circular in shape, and a long, spiral staircase leading up, with a red carpet, and dull brown walls. There were two torches on either side of the door that now stood behind him, and an army of fire keese. The torches must be there for their convenience.
Link shook his head, withdrew the bow, and notched an arrow to the string. Then, he started shooting the keese out of the air, one by one. Fitting that they met their demise by gerudo arrows.
Link climbed the staircase, glancing at the rough, dark grey stone walls, with a design of bright red gemstones decorating the base of the wall. It was something to look at, and to question, as he climbed, and climbed, and climbed.
At the top of the staircase was a door, slate grey, with a yellow border painted on it, and several yellow crosses. Again, Link questioned the significance, before shrugging, and asking the door to open. Navi hmphed at him, arms crossed where she sat on his shoulder. Link ignored her, entering the room beyond, which was large and circular, and guarded by two dinolfoi.
He drew the Master Sword, and the mirror shield, and prepared to fight this foe for the first time since his blessing by the Great Faerie.
The Master Sword bit deep into the first dinolfos the moment Link lashed out. He followed the preliminary attack with a couple of more swipes from the Master Sword, and the dinolfos burst into blue flames, and collapsed. Next, Link turned his attention to the second dinolfos, rushing it, slashing across its chest, and then backflipping, only to launch himself forward again. The second dinolfos collapsed, the bars on the door on the far side of the room retracted, and, with a curious glance to the bars covering the square archways to left and right, Link shrugged, and continued on.
Here was another staircase, with dull brown walls and floor. He waited several seconds for an ambush, but when nothing arrived to hinder him, he began his trek up the second flight of steps. At the top was another slate grey door, again with yellow crosses, and a yellow border. He raised a hand to his chin, considering the matter, setting it aside, politely requesting that the door open, and walking through into another large room, with brown walls, and a brown stone floor, and bars to left and right, again across square archways.
In the centre of the room, at the crossroads of the red cross connecting the bars, and the two doorways, was a pillar of flame. It did not look natural. As he approached, two stalfoi dropped down from the ceiling, going right on the offensive. He ducked under the attack of the first, swiping at the area that would have been its chest had it been possessed of skin or internal organs, and didn't pause to see what effect he had, leaping backwards away from the attack of the second stalfos. Navi fluttered over to the first stalfos, which, in the manner consistent with most monsters, didn't seem to notice her.
It leapt for him, swinging its sword as it did, and Link somersaulted to the left, avoiding the blow, and then leapt in himself, dragging the Master Sword through what still passed for vital areas of the monster's anatomy. A glance to the right showed that the second stalfos was keeping out of range, perhaps waiting to finish him off if the opportunity presented itself.
The stalfos he currently faced climbed on top of something hidden within the circle of flames, and then leapt for Link, again.
Link raised the mirror shield, wide-eyed at the unexpected move. Predictably, the stalfos was not on fire. Link gritted his teeth, glanced at Navi, whose face was screwed up in concentration. Was she, perhaps, hiding him from the awareness of the second stalfos, somehow? He considered asking her, but knew that the task at hand was more important.
In the moment the stalfos took to recover from its leap, Link lashed out a final time with the Master Sword, and the monster burst into blue flames. Navi fluttered back over to him, landing heavily on his shoulder, breathing ragged. He gave her his sternest look, and she crawled under the laces of his tunic, for the first time in a long time.
He turned to face the second stalfos, remembering that he was short on time. He wasted no time, but went on the assault from the outset, starting by balancing the Master Sword horizontally at his side, charging it with magical energy, so that when the monster came close enough to attack, it was met with the doubled force of a spin attack, and obliged to retreat. Then, he followed the move with a sequence of slashes to the monster's ribcage.
A moment later, the monster, and the flames towering in the centre of the room, died down, revealing a familiar blue treasure chest.
Link twisted the clasp, withdrawing the boss key, with blazing eyes of moonstone, perhaps symbolising the white void of the Sacred Realm, or the empty centre of the Triforce. He stared at it (what use had Ganondorf of a boss key?), but put it into his inventory regardless, and approached the steps leading to the next staircase. But for these steps, he would not have known the door through which he had entered from the one through which he might continue further.
The room beyond had walls of diagonal baked red bricks, and a dull, earthy floor. As with the previous staircase, this one was devoid of monsters. At the top was yet another of the doors with the gold-painted crosses on slate. Beyond was another, circular room, with a red carpet leading up to another short flight of steps, and bars to the left and right of the room.
The steps leading to the next, barred, door, were guarded by two iron knuckles, one white, one black. They were both slumped over. Judging by iron knuckles' behaviour, if he did this right, he would only have to fight them one at a time, when Ganondorf doubtless expected him to fight both at once.
He cautiously edged around to the white iron knuckle, which was identical to those he had fought before, save that its armour was white, and the trim of the hauberk was turquoise and red on white. Link drew the Master Sword, and stabbed at the white iron knuckle from the side furthest the black one.
With a loud guttural grunt, the monster stood, trying to swing its axe at Link at the same time. Link, however, had backed away even as the Master Sword was arcing towards the enemy, and had cleared quite a bit of distance between him and the iron knuckle. Now, he assessed the situation. True to form, the second, black iron knuckle, which Link had taken pains to avoid hitting, continued to slump on the steps, unaware of the world. He had his single combat.
He lunged at the white iron knuckle, and then immediately withdrew, watching the miniboss carefully, trying to draw it away from the steps, where it might yet awaken its fellow, by backing away, using the opportunity afforded by his greater speed to charge the Master Sword with energy. The moment that the iron knuckle came within striking distance, he released the energy in a spin attack, forcing it backwards, and then backflipping to gain more distance. With Navi under the collar of his shirt, he had to watch the movements of the enemy for himself, and likewise to keep track of his location relative to the walls.
He was coming too close to the corner. He bit his lip, considering, and then lunged forward, somersaulting to the right—and then rolling—to escape the downward thrust of the axe, which hit the ground rigfht behind him. That was too close.
He came to his feet, whirling, swiping with the sword to his left as he did. The armour fell off, in pieces, to the floor, leaving behind a figure in a pristine white hauberk, with the remnants of its plate armour, hefting the axe, lifting it overhead for a blow.
Link lashed out, and then rolled under the ensuing attack, heading for the centre of the room. He'd come too close to the entrance. As the white iron knuckle approached, he focused energy into the sword, again, releasing it in yet another spin attack as the monster approached. The energy cut through the miniboss, consuming it in the familiar blue flames.
Link turned to the iron bars still preventing access to the next staircase, and approached the second, black, iron knuckle, lashing out at it, and then repeating a similar process to the one he'd just undergone, this time with more haste, and less caution, mindful of Rauru's fear. When even Rauru urged haste….
He did not finish that thought. Instead, he focused on getting the protective armour off the black iron knuckle. As a commonality, iron knuckles seemed so reliant on their heavy armour for protection that, without it, even a comparatively minor injury gave them pause. That would be the time for greatest haste.
Link lunged at the black iron knuckle, catching it in the breastplate, driving it back with the force of his weight, and then rolling away from it, turning to slash at it as it approached once more, somersaulting to the left, towards the centre of the room, and then lashing out again the moment the monster came within reach. The armour fell off, revealing the black hauberk, with its red and violet trim, that lay underneath. Now was a time to forgo caution in favour of speed.
As the iron knuckle stood, processing its sudden loss of defensive capability, he thrust at the breastplate, and then backflipped away, charging an attack at his side, then abandoning it when he realised he'd misjudged the monster's speed.
He swung the Master Sword to the right, catching it across the chest, and used its moment of distraction, as it yiped, and then growled, to back away, towards the centre of the room, in the direction of the steps. He lashed out again, and then rolled out of the way, as the miniboss brought its axe down in a powerful arc.
He came to his feet, swiping at its side, penetrating deep into the defensive armour, which was hardly a match for the Master Sword. The monster erupted in blue flames, leaving the way clear, as the bars rose at the top of the steps. He approached this next door, which was identical to the others, softly commanding it to open, as if some sixth sense warned him that his greatest foe was almost just around the bend.
He stood at the bottom of yet another flight of steps. The walls of this one had a greenish tinge, as the walls in the Forest Temple had, and there was a red carpet running up the steps. He cocked his head, listening hard. No, it wasn't his imagination. He really could hear the quiet strains of some ominous melody. Whence did it come? That remained to be seen, but he suspected that he'd find his answer at the top of these stairs.
At the top was a door, fully twice as wide as the previous, with the same design as on the Door of Time—rays as of light shooting from a disc that might have been the sun, gold rays on a blue background. There was a handle, and within the handle, a large keyhole. He took a deep breath, slowly breathed it out, in a ragged expulsion of air, and turned to Navi.
"Navi, are you recovered?" he asked, not daring more than a whisper. She crawled out of his collar, halo once more bright.
She nodded. "Let's do this!" she cried. He gave her a feeble smile, and then pulled the key out of his inventory, pushing it into the lock, twisting the key, and opening the door manually, slowly, hardly daring to breathe.
But, he found himself in an empty, rectangular room, with a column of astonishing size in the centre, with handholds that he might use to climb it. To his left, another of the barred archways. To his right, another door identical in form and decoration to that through which he had just entered. There were several jars off to the sides of the room, indistinguishable from those he'd seen everywhere in Kakariko Village, and Hyrule Castle Town. They might have been made in the same place as those he'd broken at the behest of the guard in the guardhouse by the drawbridge.
He swallowed his memories, and turned to the second door, swinging it open with great caution, lest it make a noise. The melody sounded even louder with this door even partway open. Something about the timbre of the sound—its muzzy buzzing—put him in mind of a stringed instrument. He couldn't imagine Ganondorf (for surely it was he) playing harp, or even a bass. It must be something else.
He pushed through the door, closing it softly behind himself, and turned to the dark stairway that lay before him. As with the others, it twisted up around a bend, out of sight. This one was flanked by stained glass windows of indeterminable shapes—purely ornamental—with a rich vibrantly violet carpet running up its length.
Already, twice now, he'd expected to open a door to come face-to-face with Ganondorf, but it hadn't yet come. His legs were beginning to protest the abuse he was giving them, but he gathered his resolve, and began the run up the final spiral staircase, which was far taller than the previous.
At the top, another door, radiant with its beams of light around that disc. He twisted the handle, and pulled the door slightly ajar. With that slight opening, he bit his lip to keep from crying out. The music was now a booming vibration that jolted up his legs and through his arms, as if the ground beneath him quaked.
He took a second to regain his composure, and then pulled the door open, and stepped through.
This room was lavish, opulent, ornate, with tall windows all around the floor, walls laminated with gold filigree, and rich, soft red rugs underfoot. On the far side of the room, at the height of a short flight of steps, Ganondorf played on an organ. Link knew him at once, although the Ganondorf he'd last seen had not worn that long red cape, nor had his hair been long.
Above Ganondorf floated a pink rupee-shaped prison, and within the prison stood Zelda, who frowned at his appearance, and then looked down and away, clutching her arm.
And Ganondorf continued to play, as if unaware of Link's entrance.
"Ah…it begins to succeed," Ganondorf murmured, ostensibly to himself. A buzzing, tingling sensation built up in Link's body. Initially, he couldn't tell if it was from the music, or something else, until his hand began to burn, and the mark of the Triforce appeared on the back of his left hand, even as he watched. It shone even through the silver gauntlets. Zelda gasped in dismay, and he turned to her, to see a similar mark appear on her right.
"I can feel it…the Triforce is reassembling itself. The pieces seek to come together once more. After all this time…. Those pieces of the Triforce, that I failed to gather…I never suspected they'd be hidden within you two! I should have known. Well, no matter!"
He took his hands off the keys, and whirled around, tossing his cape behind his shoulder as he stood. "I will remedy that now! Those pieces of the Triforce…you are not worthy to bear them. By all rights, they are mine! I was the one to enter the Sacred Realm, after all! Return them to me!"
He held up his own right hand, and the sign of the Triforce appeared there, as Link stared at the man, who seemed greatly aged from the youth he'd encountered before Hyrule Castle. Finally, he recognised the man who had almost killed the Hero of Winds atop the Forsaken Fortress.
The Triforce of Power shone on the top of Ganondorf's hand, and a vortex of violet-black energy—similar to the one that had consumed Phantom Ganon—spiraled out from Ganondorf's hands. Link held his right hand before his face, as if trying to protect it from the sand of the Haunted Wasteland. Navi shrieked, and he turned to look at her, but she'd been blown back off his shoulder by the energy exuded by Ganondorf.
"Oh, Link," she said, in the most wretched, dejected voice he had heard from her. "I'm so sorry. It seems you're on your own. Because of Ganondorf's evil aura, and those waves of dark energy, I can't get close."
She flew over to land in the corner of the room. Link's stomach clenched. Now for the first time, he had to fight without Navi? Could it be?
Good thing he'd been practising.
Ganondorf laughed, and rose into the air, and the world around them seemed to fade away, leaving Ganondorf himself, and a dark, dungeon room. There were no steps, no organ, no windows, no Zelda, only the tiled floor under his feet, and tall, solid slate walls.
And then Ganondorf gathered a ball of energy, and slammed his fist down into the ground, and around a central pillar—the central pillar of two rooms ago—tiles dropped down into the room with the vases, crumbling as they fell. Only his position at the entry door spared him the same fate.
He swallowed, hard, and watched Ganondorf intently. He ran over to Navi's corner, staring at the sorcerer all the while. Floating in the air as he was, Ganondorf didn't have to worry about not having floor to stand on. He did, however, need to make bodily contact with the floor to break it. And the edges of the shockwave he had created, even at that great distance, had nearly knocked Link off his feet.
As he watched, Ganondorf held his arm up, and the familiar yellow energy began to gather in his hand. Knowing what to expect, for once, Link drew the Master Sword, and swung the blade as the ball of light reached him. It turned green, and headed back for Ganondorf. But, Ganondorf was familiar with this battle, too, whacking it back at Link, corrupting the energy.
Link was waiting, and Ganondorf was also waiting, either unable or unwilling to use another spell whilst he waited to see whether this one succeeded or failed. Link gritted his teeth, and hit the ball of yellow light with the flat of the Master Sword, purifying it, changing its colour, and sending it back to Ganondorf, who wasn't slow on corrupting the ball of light, and sending it back.
Each time the ball of light reached one or the other of them, it seemed to take less time to ricochet, back and forth, faster and faster, until it was certain that one or the other of them would miss the return blow. Link knew well how devastating such an attack would be. He also knew that he was faster than Ganondorf, and that if he could just keep hitting the ball of energy, Ganondorf would surely fail to react in time, one of these times.
It hit Ganondorf, and he writhed in the air, covered by yellow light. Now what? If he'd been incapacitated, Link would have expected him to sink onto the central platform to recover, the way that Phantom Ganon had. Was it only a difference between them?
But, no. As long as he was in the air, Link couldn't hit him with the Master Sword—not directly. That was the entire reason he'd had to rebound the energy. Link's mind raced, latched onto the only other weapon that might work, the very weapon that the Hero of Winds had used to finally destroy Phantom Ganon, once and for all.
He withdrew the bow and quiver, drew an arrow, clamped his hand over it, filling it with light, and then aimed the silvery arrow at Ganondorf's heart. He barely took the time to aim, sensing that Ganondorf was already starting to recover (in the space of only a few seconds!), before shooting the arrow, which hit Ganondorf dead on, in a blaze of white light that exploded outwards, and then drew back into itself, bathing him in light. He sank to the ground, and Navi fluttered over to where Ganondorf lay crouched on the ground, in the same position as Phantom Ganon.
Link switched out the kokiri boots for the hover boots, and crossed to the central platform. He sent away the bow and quiver, already drawing the Master Sword as he ran across the gap, slashing repeatedly at Ganondorf, trying to do as much damage as he could before Ganondorf recovered, as he surely would. The Master Sword behaved unusually when pitted against him. It didn't cut flesh, or make him bleed; what, precisely, it did, Link couldn't tell, but judging by Ganondorf's grunts and groans, it was extremely painful.
But despite that, he eventually threw off the pain, having gathered enough power from his piece of the Triforce to rise again into the air. Link's first warning that this was about to happen was when Navi, casting an apologetic glance his way, zoomed back to her corner.
Link retreated back across the gap, following Navi, who was at the very furthest corner of the room. He walked off the corner platform, edging off to the side, to try to protect Navi. He remembered what had happened seven years ago. A single backhand from a Ganondorf not yet possessed of the Triforce of Power had seriously injured her. He'd leave Navi out of this fight. He tried to look after her, as she had cared for him.
He stopped in the middle of the edge of the room, as Ganondorf gathered a ball of yellow energy to hurl at him. Link drew the Master Sword, to send the purified energy back, and thus it began again. He paid attention to nothing but the light, as it bounced back and forth, carefully judging its approach, and swinging the sword at just the right angle, timing it just right. He did not want the energy to hit him. He knew this fact all too well.
It seemed to take forever; it seemed to be hours that they sent that little ball of light back and forth, and after ten exchanges, counting took up too much of his attention, and he stopped. But he knew it took at least twice as long for the light to travel too fast for Ganondorf to respond.
The moment it hit Ganondorf, Link was sheathing the Master Sword, drawing out the bow and quiver, withdrawing an arrow, and clamping his fist over the head, until the arrow turned silver, blazing with white light. Then, he shot the arrow at Ganondorf, who hung suspended in air. Ganondorf, in turn, plummeted to the central platform, and Link leapt off onto the platform, drew the Master Sword, and began hacking at Ganondorf without finesse.
Navi, uninformed of his plans to keep her safe, had hastened over, but, with another glance filled with guilt and regret, she hurried back to the corner, and Link leapt back across the gap, as Ganondorf rose again into the air.
Ganondorf immediately drew back his hand, but this time, he continued gathering energy for much longer than he had previously. Link was already wary when the ball of green light, surrounded by black orbs of similar light, shot from Ganondorf's hand in his direction. When he tried to avoid them, they followed him. He swung the Master Sword, and some of them, hit by the Master Sword, reversed their directions, fizzling out nearby, but that left the rest of them to hit Link full on.
As the green energy slammed him against the wall, he discovered entire new thresholds of pain. He didn't recall screaming, but judging by the itchy roughness of his throat, he had. Not to mention Ganondorf's gloating. He'd impacted, hard, with the wall, but suspected that nothing was broken.
But there were whole seconds of his life that were nothing but the haze of agony created by Ganondorf's attack. It burnt worse than the room down below, where he'd retreated because the very air scalded in the inhale. But the strong jolt of electricity left him shaky, even now, uncertain on his feet, as red-hot needles of pain continued to shoot through his entire body.
It was a very good thing that the Master Sword apparently couldn't cut him open, because he'd very nearly impaled himself, when he'd dropped it. He bent over to pick it up, and discovered that his fingers, numb as if frozen and just beginning to thaw, tingling with a feeling stronger than a reawakened limb, refused to close over the hilt.
He leant against the wall, biting back a cry as it aggravated wounds he'd somehow failed to notice, under the burning sensation that permeated his entire body. He grimaced, but, seeing Ganondorf throwing another of those balls of green light, decided to try to outrun it.
This turned out to be a mistake, as the ball of light hit him dead on, sending him plummeting into the room below, which he barely noticed, because his poor body was being subjected to electrocution again. He staggered over to the bars he had noticed down here before, and leant against them, trying to cool his body down; it felt as if he were on fire, and being jabbed with hundreds of tiny knives. He swayed on his feet, leaning against the wall, breathing heavily. He withdrew a bottle of the medicine of life, and drank it down.
Energy returned to him, the pain at last began to subside, and his head to clear. He realised the folly of his previous decision, and firmed his resolve, climbing back up the central pillar.
Of course, there was the small problem of Ganondorf waiting at the top. The instant Link appeared over the side, he gathered energy above his hands, preparing to drive it down into the ground. Link knew that such a blow would surely kill him, at such close range. He switched out the hover boots for the kokiri boots, and raced back to the safety of the ring of tiles surrounding the room in a (mostly) unbroken line.
He found the corner where he'd dropped the Master Sword, picked it up, set his feet, and waited.
Ganondorf had already gathered another orb of yellow energy, and was throwing it at Link. He hadn't noticed him plunge his hand into the ground, which was a disconcerting thought, but he took a deep steadying breath, and swung the Master Sword, at just the right time and angle, bouncing the energy back at Ganondorf.
And thus the battle was again joined.
And it only took what seemed a hundred exchanges before Ganondorf finally failed to respond in time. But Link was prepared, already sheathing the Master Sword, and pulling out the faerie bow, he reached for a gerudo arrow, filled it with light until it glowed white, briefly aimed, and released. It struck Ganondorf, and collapsed back in on him in a second brilliant flash of light.
Link leapt over the gap, still wearing the hover boots, and lunged at Ganondorf in a jump attack, following it with a flurry of blows from the Master Sword.
Ganondorf roared, and then collapsed, sinking to one knee. Link paused, unsure of what was happening now, as Navi called out something in a faint voice.
The arena on which he had fought Ganondorf vanished, as if it had all been an illusion (and, perhaps, it had been), replaced by the room with the organ, and the tall windows, and the lavish, ornate walls. Zelda's crystal, with Zelda still inside it, reappeared, and he glanced up, to see her straining to smile.
"You…how could you defeat me? It isn't possible. Link Sylvanus, you will pay!"
Link turned back to Ganondorf, wide-eyed, as Navi sank heavily onto his shoulder. Ganondorf rose to his feet, raising his hands straight up overhead, and roared. With his roar, the entire room shattered, roof and walls alike, crumbling instantly into dust, as if aged a thousand years and more in a single moment.
Ganondorf coughed up blood, sinking to his knees, and then falling flat on the ground. A moment later, any remaining worries about the threat posed by him disappeared, as Zelda's crystal prison lowered gently to the ground, dissipating as it came close enough to the ground for her to land on her feet. The smile she gave Link now seemed much more earnest.
"Link! You did it!" she cried, in a breathless voice. She clasped her hands below her chin as she stared at him.
"What a relief…for a moment, I feared…. But, that's over now. We've won! You did amazing work!"
She turned to Ganondorf, bent over to examine him more closely, and then turned her head to look at Link, without standing back up.
"What a pitiful soul. Without a strong, righteous heart, he could not hope to control the power of the goddesses, and therefore—"
She paled, snatched her hands back to her chest, looked overhead, as the ground beneath them began to shake. Her eyes widened in the familiar look of terror, and she turned back to Link.
"Link…the tower is starting to collapse…Ganondorf must be using the last of his power to bring down the tower around us. We have to hurry and get out of here!"
Link didn't question how she knew this; the Triforce of Wisdom had to have some manner of hidden abilities, after all.
Zelda ran over to an exposed ramp leading around the outside of the tower. He hadn't noticed it before, too engrossed with recent events, but he didn't need Zelda's urging him to hurry to follow after her, and together they raced back down the ramp, until they came to an archway covered with bars. Oh.
Zelda raised her hands over her head, and violet light gathered around her. The bars rose, and he stared, despite himself, at the unexpected sight. Then, he shook himself, following Zelda into the room beyond.
He recognised the room; he'd seen it only just recently. This was the room that lay beneath Ganondorf's arena. They entered through one of the barred-off archways, with Zelda running for the second square archway, on the other side of the room.
She waited for him to follow, and then raised her hands overhead. He wasn't sure what to think, whether to be upset or grateful, touched that she was risking her life to ensure that he, too, made it out of this tower alive. If he'd used Farore's Wind here—but that would have left Zelda to fend for herself, and no matter her skill, that was unconscionable. They were in this together.
He nodded to her, as they raced back outside, to another ramp leading around the tower, and back down. He didn't even pause to question how it was that the ramp didn't just fall off already; only at the ends did it connect to the tower proper. At the bottom, where it reconnected to the tower, there was another barred archway. Link suspected this led to the room wherein he had fought the two iron knuckles.
Zelda raised her arms into the air before the bars, which retracted, for some reason, as a result of the glowing violet light surrounding Zelda. Maybe it was merely some spell that she had learnt, and he hadn't. Or maybe, one that was hers by virtue of her possession of the Triforce of Wisdom.
He shrugged it off, running in after her to the familiar room. Bars covered the doors through which he had originally entered and left, but Zelda could doubtless lift those, too. However, she seemed to decide, for reasons unknown to him, that it was safer to travel the outside of the tower than the inside. Perhaps it was to protect them from falling debris as the Tower collapsed.
She approached the other barred archway, and raised her arms. As the violet light surrounded her hands, the bars retracted, and they hurried out onto another ramp, leading down.
At the bottom of the ramp was another set of bars. Link knew what room lay beyond. It was the room where he'd acquired the boss key, the room with the two stalfoi. But Zelda didn't know that. Did it matter now?
He watched her raise her hands overhead, until violet light gathered between them in a ball of energy, and then followed her through the doorway, into the room beyond. Here, the bars across the doors through which he'd first entered and exited the room were not the only things blocking that route. There were also fallen beams (structural supports, or even doorframes) which had collapsed across the doors.
Zelda ran into the room, towards the door to the staircase leading down, then turned, finding it blocked, and headed for the other door, leading up, perhaps on her way to the other set of bars, the last option of the room: the barred off archway.
But as she approached the bars, a ring of fire sprang up around her. And then, the stalfoi reappeared.
Somehow, that made sense. He drew the Master Sword, and, knowing his time was limited, if he wanted either of them to survive, he wasted no time. Navi, breathing hard, nevertheless flew from the safety of his shoulder to help him. She fixed one of the stalfoi with a steely gaze, and Link, trusting her judgement, followed, lashed out at the stalfos.
There was no time to defend himself against any attacks; he had to dodge or take the hits. It was far from an ideal situation; he narrowly avoided the sword before it could disable his left hand, ducking under the blow, and thrusting his sword into the skeleton soldier's ribcage. Then he further had to swipe the Master Sword clean through its chest.
It collapsed, but not into blue flames, and Link, well aware of what this meant, despite his fatigue redoubled his efforts, leaping at the second stalfos, and then straightaway ducking under the answering blow, receiving a shallow gash down his back, which could have been much worse, but, he wouldn't think about that now….
He swung the sword in an arc from his upper right, across the ribcage, ending at his lower left, the monster's shorter sword following the motion, too slow to properly block his attack. Link somersaulted to the side, to the right, and the stalfos turned to keep him in sight, unfortunately leaving him no vital area to attack, but then, as the stalfos continued to turn towards him, he pushed off the ground, circling around the stalfos in the air, slicing up its back as he spiraled around the monster, in the faintly familiar parry attack. The stalfos collapsed in a heap of bones and blue flames, the other stalfos joining it, but Link was looking to Zelda, where the ring of fire died down.
"Oh, Link! Thank you for saving me! You were so brave! Just a minute…."
She ran over to him, and placed her right hand on his back. There was a sharp stinging pain in the area, and then the pain died down altogether, and energy began to fill his body, and he knew what she was doing. He stared at her, wide-eyed, and shook off her hand.
"Save your energy; you need it, too," he cautioned her. "I've healing medicines that can help me recover. We just need to hurry to leave this place."
Zelda looked as if she dearly wanted to protest, but then she nodded, expression tight, eyes wide with fear, but she raced over to the bars, and raised her hands, gathering that violet light. She turned her head to look back to him, and he ran over to her, and together, they raced back out to what must be one of the last ramps leading down around the outside of the tower.
The ground looked impossibly far way, even still. Link did not dare to look over the edge. He kept his gaze firmly fixed on the path before him, until he was forced to stop before the barred doors, just as they rose into the archway. They ran into the room wherein he'd fought the dinolfoi. There should be one last staircase, but then what? Link couldn't think what they'd do then.
Zelda crossed to the far side of the room, and lifted her hands over her head before the bars. Again, the light gathered around her hands, and again the bars retracted. They ran together into a familiar staircase, making Link disoriented; surely, this staircase should not be here, when he knew for a fact that it was located beyond the door they'd passed right by.
He shook his head, resolving not to think about it, as they ran down the steps. By now, the tower was in such a state of collapse that its constituent materials were raining down on them, pieces of the ceiling falling in huge chunks, that Link and Zelda had to take care to avoid, lest they be crushed. He wished that he had the time to cast Nayru's Love on them.
When Zelda reached the bars, he saw his chance. He slammed his hands together, and then spread them apart, muttering a prayer to Nayru as he did. Zelda cocked her head, quizzical, looking as if she very much wanted to say something, but then set her face in determination, and raised her hands over her head before the bars, gathering violet light around them.
The bars rose, and Link saw a bridge that far too closely resembled the one over which Link had crossed to enter the central spire of the tower. This one, however, had a redead lying in wait for them. Almost, he lost sight of the blue haze protecting both him and Zelda. Zelda gasped as it turned to face her, fixing her with those eyes, but Link knew that, as long as he maintained his concentration on the spell, it couldn't hurt them.
"Just go! Go!" he cried to her, but she couldn't move. He knew how it felt. He frowned, and then, taking a deep breath, managed to pick her up (she was surprisingly light, or maybe that was the silver gauntlets at work), and carry her in his arms across the bridge, to another set of bars. He set her down gently, and she sank to her knees, shivering.
"Hey, now, Zelda. It's alright. The spell I've cast won't let that monster through. Just look straight ahead. Don't meet its gaze. Look straight ahead, and focus on getting out of here. Can you do that?"
Shaking, trembling as if made of jelly, she nevertheless managed to push herself to her feet (he was so proud of her in that moment!), and raised her hands over her head. Violet light gathered in them, and the bars lifted, and Link felt the redead as it struggled to latch onto him, but the shield of Nayru's Love held, and he and Zelda raced together up the final staircase leading to safety.
They escaped just in time. Link let go of the protective shield of Nayru's Love, concentrating fully on running as fast as he could from the collapsing tower. They had the time to run to the opposite side of that tiny island upon which Ganondorf's Tower rested before the tower itself began to collapse behind them, with a slow, painful grinding, as the ramps they'd raced over peeled off, the supporting towers holding up the structure toppled, the whole began to sink into itself, compressing, compounding, all as the earth itself shuddered underfoot.
They raced to the very edge of the cliff, looking down at the ground, far below, and making sure their footing was secure, before turning to watch the show. And it truly was a spectacle, worthy of cherishing, the culmination of seven years' effort.
They watched it in silence, as the tower flattened out into a mound of rubble, mostly flat, a slightly curved plain of black stones. As the dust settled, Zelda turned to Link, smiling, and he couldn't help smiling back. Hyrule was saved. Ganondorf was defeated. And Zelda had apparently forgiven him for whatever he'd done wrong earlier; perhaps their relationship, even, wasn't doomed.
"Oh, Link," Navi said, fluttering out of her hiding place before either he or Zelda could say anything. "I'm so sorry I wasn't any help during your battle. Some guardian faerie I was!"
Link stretched out a hand to her, offering her a place to land, if she decided to stop being unduly critical of herself. "Navi, you were amazing. You are amazing. What's one battle, after all? We made it out, and you helped as much as you could. Without you, I wouldn't have known when Ganondorf was recovered enough to take to the air again. You helped more than you think."
"Still," Navi began, but he cut her off, and Zelda added. "Navi, Link and I do appreciate all the help that you've given us. I haven't been there for most of it, but from what I've heard from the Sages as you awakened them, the two of you have made a phenomenal team. I'm sure that you did your best, and Link isn't upset with you, so don't worry."
She gave Navi a reassuring smile, and then turned back to Link, fixing him with a very different kind of smile that had him looking down at his shuffling feet, blushing scarlet. Any lingering misgivings she'd had about him cleared. She wondered how she could have placed that little trust in him. But, she owed him more than could be repaid. She could start explaining, now.
"And, thank you, Link. You've saved Hyrule. But, now—"
Before Zelda could finish her sentence, there was an odd, rumbling quake, with the heart of the ruins as its epicentre.
Her hands flew to cover her mouth as she involuntarily gasped, and whirled back to face the rubble, from which a cloud of dust emerged. Link threw out a hand to forestall any approach she might make, trying even here to protect her.
"I'll go check to see what that is. The rubble should have settled by now…."
Link could feel it building as he approached, a portent, a presentiment of danger, crept up his spine, with the chill of an arctic wind. Something malignant still lurked in the heart of the tower. But what?
He didn't properly appreciate how the black circle of stones formed an arena until he crossed that threshold, and a humanoid form leapt from the rubble, limbs outstretched as if trying to encompass the entire sky. Did nothing stop him? Could nothing kill him? Here he was, floating in the sky, once more, leathern armour and red cape torn and tattered, breathing heavy—if his body had been forced to support him, he wouldn't have had the energy, but would have sunk to his knees.
As Link watched, Ganondorf, with a roar, crossed his arms over his chest, hands at his shoulders, drawing into himself, legs drawing likewise up to his chest. The Triforce of Power glowed on his right hand, and there was a flash of ominous, bright yellow light.
Ganondorf landed on the ground, and began to grow, taller and taller, broader and broader, his body twisting and reforming, growing horns, and a tail, a pointed snout, a long mane of red hair. There was little humanity remaining about this new figure, save for the gleam in its eyes, that it walked on two legs, and that in each hand it carried a golden trident in clenched fists.
Link swallowed, hard, took an involuntary step back, as a ring of fire sprang up around the arena, cutting him off from Zelda, who gasped. He turned, despite himself, to ensure that she was safe, as the thing that had been Ganondorf Dragmire raised its tridents to the sky, with an animalistic roar, and then brought them down, in several quick slashes, which Link strove to block.
The first two blows whipped by him, ruffling his clothes, but leaving him unscathed. The third blow jarred on the Master Sword—Link's arms rang with the force of it, and the next blow, coming in his moment of shock from the opposite direction, sent the Master Sword flying upon collision.
Zelda gave a horrified shriek, hands flying to her mouth, as the Master Sword spun through the air, end over end, to land outside the arena, outside the circle of flames, where he couldn't reach it.
"Link! Hold on! I'm with you! No matter what he does, he won't separate us again! I'm with you, 'til the very end! We'll defeat this…Ganon-thing, together!"
Ganon-thing. Ganon. That man, who had nearly slain the Waker of the Winds, millennia hence, had not been Ganon at all, but merely Ganondorf Dragmire. But, that marionette had been a mimicry of this. Somehow, he knew this battle would not be as easy.
"Ganon," he breathed, even as he ran to give himself space to use the only weapon he had any cause to think might work: the silver arrows of light.
"I called him Ganon-thing only because his name is so long, it doesn't lend itself to insults. But, you seem to be having a strong reaction…."
Link shook his head, determined to drive away his current thoughts. There'd be time for them later. "Our only choice. Navi, do you see that glowing blue ball at the base of his tail? I bet that's his weakness. It'll probably be sensitive to the light arrows, but…."
"You want…me to help you aim for his tail. Got it!" Navi said, sounding only slightly the worse for wear at this distance, but he feared for her, in that extended proximity. "And, Link, since I haven't been doing much, I have plenty of magic energy. Take some of mine!"
Since when did Navi have "plenty of magic energy"? Where had she acquired such magical reserves, with him unaware? Unless….
But, there was no time to think of that. Link pulled out the bow, and the quiver Tarasha had given him, and clamped his fist over the first arrow he withdrew. A faerie arrow. That seemed fitting. He filled it with light, and took aim for the tail. It hit Ganon's leg, instead, causing it to roar in pain, as Link whipped out a second faerie arrow, filling it with light, and aiming at the tail again, as Ganon began to recover from the attack to his more heavily-protected legs.
But, even as he kept his eyes on Ganon, he filled the arrow with light, setting the glowing silver arrow to the string and aiming for Navi.
When the arrow impacted with the sensitive area on his tail, Ganon roared, the roar of a wild beast, shaking the twin tridents in the air, visibly shaking, before gradually regaining control of himself, lowering the tridents again into a defensive position. By this time, Link had drawn a goron arrow, and was already filling it with light.
Unfortunately, from his great distance, he couldn't circle around Ganon as fast as Ganon could turn (and Ganon was surprisingly fast for his size). He drew a second arrow, and filled it with just enough light to distract Ganon, before shooting it at Ganon's chest, to stun him long enough to follow the blow with the real silver arrow.
Again it hit, again Ganon reared back, with a loud roar. After a few moments, he began to recover, lowering the tridents back to protect his already invincible chest, and then stomping off towards Link, making the ground quake.
Link withdrew a zoran arrow, filled it with just enough light to stun Ganon (this seemed to work), and then withdrew a second arrow, clamping his fist tightly over it as he pumped it full of light.
Ganon was too close. He had to somersault to the side, and then again. He'd roll, but he feared to damage the arrows. The moment he landed from his second somersault, he fitted the lesser light arrow to the string, fired it at Ganon, and notched the second, already aiming for the tail. He ran toward it to maximise his chances of hitting, judging as best he could before firing.
He paused to glance at Navi, and Ganon almost hit him, as he slowly recovered, lowering those tridents as Link was staring at Navi, and then swinging them at Link, who backflipped away, and reached back for another arrow.
Sheikah arrow. That was doubly fitting. He filled it with light, and then reached back for another arrow, thankful for Tarasha's ultimate quiver.
His hands closed over a faerie arrow, and he pulled it out, clamping a fist over the arrowhead, feeding light energy into it.
Before he could take aim, he had to regain a superior angle and distance from Ganon, who was far too close for comfort. He ran towards Ganon's back, and away from him, trying to get as good of an angle as he could. He shot the faerie arrow into Ganon's side, and then followed it, quick as blinking, with the silver glowing arrow he'd found in the Shadow Temple at the raised tail. Again, it struck true.
Navi looked a bit dimmer, however, and Link bit his lip. Just what was the cost of this battle for Navi? Perhaps he ought to order her return, no matter that he knew she wouldn't listen.
He drew a gerudo arrow, injecting it with a minimal amount of light, and shooting at Ganon, then drawing a second such arrow, filling it with light until it blazed with the silvery glow, notching it to the string, and firing at Ganon.
This time, Ganon sank to his knees, driving his trident into the ground, and lowering the ring of flames. Now, Link could see Zelda across the way, on the opposite side of the arena. It was astonishing how quickly he'd become disoriented, with no means of distinguishing his current location, no landmarks, no sun or moon to guide him. But, he knew that Zelda hadn't moved, because there was the Master Sword.
Heedless of the fact that he was turning his back on his foe, he ran for the Master Sword, turning to Zelda as he passed. Her hands were clasped below her chin, as she fixed him with a wild stare. "Link! The Master Sword! Disable him, and then finish him off with the blade of Evil's Bane! Hurry, before he recovers!"
He yanked the sword out of the ground in which it settled, and it fairly glowed with the power of the six elemental Sages.
No sooner had he stepped within the arena but the ring of flames sprang up again. Still, he frowned, and with resolute steps approached Ganon as he rose once more to his feet.
Link sheathed the Master Sword, and withdrew a single arrow, a gerudo arrow, he idly noticed, and filled it with light. He was beginning to feel the toll all this consumption of magical energy was having on him, and he therefore pulled out a bottle of the ultimate medicine, drinking it down, feeling his body flooded with renewed magic and life energy. Light arrows, even lesser light arrows, seemed to consume a lot of energy, and he'd used much energy before, inside Ganon's Tower.
He sent away the ultimate medicine, and notched the light arrow, aiming at Ganon's chest, and Ganon momentarily stilled.
Then, during Ganon's moment of shock, Link sent away the bow without thinking, drawing the Master Sword, and leaping at the glowing ball of light at the end of Ganon's tail. He impaled it with the Master Sword, and then managed to slice into it twice with an attack pattern, but then the tail rose back into the air, Ganon recovered, and Link was forced to retreat, to sheathe the Master Sword, and to set a second arrow. (A sheikah one, he noticed with some slight humour drowned out by the urgency of the situation.)
He filled the shadow arrow with light, and aimed for Ganon again, letting the arrow explode on contact in a burst of light, already running forward to impale the blue orb at the end of Ganon's tail with the Master Sword, and to follow that up with a couple more, swift blows before Ganon roared, and the tail curled up again.
Ganon whirled on him, but he rolled under the blow, and somersaulted away around Ganon's side, reaching behind him for a faerie arrow, filling it with light, aiming at Ganon for a split second before firing, and running forward again, arrows and bow already returned to his inventory room, Master Sword already drawn, to leap at the incongruous glowing sphere of light, and to follow that up with a couple more swift blows.
Ganon sank to his knees, again, head bowed, and a beam of light hit him full in the face. He froze, in the manner of the redead exposed to the light of the sun. Link turned, following the beam of white light to its source: Zelda, holding out both of her arms straight out, palms out, fingers straight. She turned to look at him.
"Link! I'm using my powers to hold him. Now, while he's immobilised, finish him off with the Master Sword!"
As he watched, holding the blade up before his eyes when he felt the strange tingling emanating with it, it began to absorb the light of Zelda's beam, and to glow bright blue, wreathed in the familiar flames.
Link understood, braced himself, as Navi flew back to land heavily on his shoulder, gasping for breath. Zelda, too, sank to her knees, clutching her left arm in her right hand with a painful grip. He nodded to Zelda, and then turned back to face Ganon, slashing at the now exposed head with the Master Sword, slicing left, right, up, down, and then thrusting the blade deep into Ganon's skull. A moment later, he wrenched the blade free, as Ganon lay there, quivering.
"Ancient Sages, now! It is time to seal Ganon!" Zelda cried, holding her hands over her head, forming a bright ball of violet light there.
She sank onto her knees, as the violet light left her arms, to fly over towards Ganon. It was swiftly joined by a yellow ball of light, and then a green, and then a red, blue, violet, orange, which all converged on Ganon, surrounding him, enveloping him, smothering him, and wrenching open a door into whiteness, throwing him in, and then sealing the air back together again, as if sewing a torn shirt.
But, Link shuddered, for although he knew what had just happened, knew that those lights had somehow been the powers of the Sages, that Ganon was sealed in the Sacred Realm, and that Hyrule was now, indeed, safe (for the moment), he could still feel the imminent threat of Ganon lurking near the doorway, and hear his voice.
"Curse you, Sages. Curse you…Zelda! Curse you, Link! You may have stopped me for the moment, but no seal lasts forever…and I swear that someday, when this seal is broken, and I am once more free, I swear that the first thing I do when I return is…the first thing I'll do is take my revenge on your descendants! You can't stop me! As long as the Triforce of Power is in my hand, I—"
But, his voice had grown too faint to hear, which was perhaps a blessing, or perhaps a curse. Link shuddered at the vehemence in Ganon's words, the violence in his threat, the hatred in his voice.
And, some corner of his mind thought to the quest of the Hero of Winds. Ganon was sealed away, not slain, and someday, he would make good on his vow.
"We did it!" Zelda said, seeming willing to overlook Ganon's final threats, if indeed she had heard them at all. "Ganon is defeated, and Hyrule is saved. You did it, Link!"
She turned to face him, with a small smile that lit up her face, and made Link blush, again, looking away, sheathing the Blade of Evil's Bane, as he looked up at the sky, which was returning to its familiar blue, with the familiar, wispy clouds.
Around them, the remnants of Ganon's Tower began to fade away, replaced, slowly, by the verdant hills he remembered from his childhood, if a bit changed. It was as if, with Ganon gone, life could return to the land.
"Thank you, Link," Zelda said, walking towards him to stand next to him. She tilted her head back, appreciating the sun overhead, and the clear blue sky, before turning to Link, her smile soft and sad.
"Ganon is defeated, and peace has returned to Hyrule…for a time."
Something flared in the edges of Link's mind, a suspicion, a question, but it eluded him. He turned, staring at Zelda, thinking that now, with Ganon gone, they could move forward.
They could restore Hyrule together, but then, why the sorrow, those deep depths of premature grief, threatening to spill from her eyes in the form of tears? Her hand rose to her chest, the loose posture belying the turmoil that lay in her heart.
"All of this…what has happened…it is all my fault. Because of my plans, Ganondorf acquired the Triforce of Power. The ruins that he turned Hyrule into…all of that is my fault. I, too, was arrogant enough to think that I could control the power of the gods, and—"
"No," said Link, in a flat voice that brooked no argument.
He turned to Navi, seeking her counsel, how best to say what must be said next, but she wasn't there. He realised that Zelda had dragged him into whatever otherspace she had, before, used to convey the "Song of Time" to him.
He shook his head, shaking such memories aside. "It is not your fault, not any of it. These things, what has happened. You are not to blame, and nor am I. This is on Ganon's head, and not ours. Now, he is gone, and Hyrule can recover again. Be of good cheer, princess. Look to the future, and don't regret what cannot be changed."
There was an omen, a warning, a threat, in the way that Zelda bowed her head, looking away.
"I dragged you into this, too. And, while I did it, not in malice, but in childish ignorance, it doesn't change the fact that you lost seven years of your life, because of me. But…I can give you those years back. I owe that to you. Happiness, in the life of your choosing. A chance to grow up."
Again, without thinking, he looked to Navi. Again, he felt strangely naked at her absence. Was this how all kokiris felt? Was this how Saria had reacted, sent to the Sacred Realm as a Sage?
"Zelda," he began, but he couldn't continue.
"Link…give me the Ocarina of Time. With it, I will be able to send you back in time to regain your seven lost years. All will be as it was. You will have a new start, a new life. It is the least I can offer you as a reward. And everyone else, too. They deserve to live their lives."
She held out her hand, and Link willed the Ocarina into his hand, and then hesitated. He didn't want to go back in time seven years. He didn't want to regain those seven years.
His entire quest as the Hero of Time, he'd planned for the future and not the past, and he was being told to set aside all of his plans, all of his dreams, any chance for a future. He was being asked to give up the friends he'd made, such as Tarasha and Naburu. He was being asked to give up the skills he'd acquired—no place for them in Kokiri Forest. He was being asked to give up all his future plans, his hopes to marry Zelda lurking there among them, the respect that came of having saving the world, the promise of safety that lay in his network of friends.
But, how selfish would it be, to know the disasters that loomed over his friends, and to choose to stay here, in the future, anyway? If he could save Malone from being abused by Mr. Ingo. If he could keep Naburu from being brainwashed and slandered by the sorceress sisters. If he could save the Great Deku Tree. Wasn't it worth, then, any sacrifice on his part, to know that they were happy, healthy, safe?
He bowed his head, thoughts unspoken, realising that he was staring at the Ocarina, and then he set it into Zelda's hand, but couldn't let go, as if any second, she might change her mind. He'd still see her again, at least, right?
Tears streamed from her grief-darkened eyes, eyes drooping, smile fragile and faint. Neither of them wanted this.
"Link…return the Master Sword to the Pedestal of Time. And, after that…I'll be out of your life. Goodbye, Link."
She gently pushed his hand away, and raised the Ocarina of Time to her lips, beginning to play the familiar melody named after her, and the world faded away into blue light.
Link didn't have time to grieve, to regret his sudden loss. It was over and not over. Because there is only one thing to expect of undoing the past, and that is that the past…is undone.
End Part II