Where am I? How did I get here? Have I died?
There was nothing to see. Just an expanse of complete darkness, or perhaps an endless void.
Maybe I've gone blind. That goddesses damned boy certainly made a point of going for my eye.
Vaati couldn't hear anything either. He tried to speak aloud, to call out into the nothingness. He could not.
Perhaps in this space, there's no distinction between thought and voice. Then again, it's possible I've been rendered deaf. How, I can't imagine.
He made to move next, in an attempt to explore that which defied his senses. Pain surged through his being. It burned and tore through him; familiar and shocking at once.
This can't be. I should already be regenerating; my injuries subsiding. How is it worse?
Cautiously, Vaati tried to take stock of himself. If he wasn't healing, that could easily explain his crippled perception. Yet, as he tried to focus on his body, feel himself out, a chilling realization set in. There were no sensations besides the pain that wracked him each time he attempted to move. Worse still...
What..? What is this!? My... my form is...
Hesitantly, he shifted his concentration further out and deeper in. Periodically, he tried to move slightly, and made mental notes of where the pain was. The mental map that took shape was horrifying.
I'm constrained within what I can only assume is a pocket dimension. Somehow, the boundaries are indefinite, and yet my very being has been contorted to fit within. I'm... crushed and dispersed at once, as though there were no physicality whatsoever.
Examining the situation provided a temporary relief from the rising sense of panic, but without new information to analyse, that reprieve was short lived.
How did this happen? How did this happen!? Think; what can I recall?
Vaati had trapped his adversaries in a pocket dimension of his own design. It was easy enough to corral them, just by wrecking the halls and doorways of Hyrule Castle until they had only one path left. Zelda, the boy, and that old fool Ezlo had come straight to him.
He had left Zelda aside; risking losing the remainder of the Light Force was worth it to destroy his old master, who had forsaken and replaced him with the child that dared to challenge him. The boy that interrupted the ritual. The boy... that shattered Vaati's mortal body, and...
I lost? To a child? But... the Mage's Cap... the Light Force... my power... I had such power.
It occurred to Vaati that he had lamented his inexplicable defeat already. That his present thoughts echoed his last words before his magically constructed body caved in on itself.
What happened? Did I make a mistake? Was Ezlo still capable of magic in that cursed form? Was that boy-? Link; I heard the old fool perched on his head call him Link. Was he more than he appeared?
Doubts and regrets plagued Vaati's mind. Desperate to understand, he poured over his memories of that day. Searching for answers that would not come, he exhausted himself. Bitterness and frustration were his only reward.
What's become of me, then? My pocket dimension must have collapsed when I was defeated, but that would just drop everything within back into normal reality. Is this death? No. The afterlife is surely either total cessation of existence, awareness included, or else another plane of reality.
So, a punishment then? Is this my "just desserts" for choosing not to believe in fate? For taking it upon myself to shape my own destiny? This, this...
Vaati struggled with the words for a moment as he considered how best to describe his situation. He'd avoided contemplating it too deeply up to this point, and as the nature of it dawned on him, he wished he hadn't delved into it.
Solitary confinement... and sensory deprivation... forever? N-no... no so-called deity would condemn a soul to this. No crime warrants this! Even a murderer is summarily executed; what could possibly merit this torture!?
Reeling from the possible eternity before him, Vaati cast his thoughts through memory. Anything to do with the goddesses and their enemies. Legends of Hylia's chosen and the king of demons. The tales of the hero of men, who fought the impending darkness with help from the "Picori." The hero of men... with blonde hair and a green tunic, who vanquished evil with the magic blade and... sealed it away for all time.
No. No, goddesses...
The forces of evil and darkness, so often associated with symbols of power. Symbols like the lone, watchful, knowing eye, which Vaati had emblazoned all over Hyrule Castle during his occupation of it. A symbol he'd come to embody.
Please... This isn't what I wanted.
The mythos the village elder used to teach. Descriptions of how wicked forces have risen time and again to take from the goddesses' chosen people. How the Minish honour Hylians, and the people of Hyrule as a whole, because one of them always rebukes the villain.
I'm not a monster! I just wanted the power to make my ideals reality!
Unbidden, painful memories were dredged up from the depths of Vaati's mind. The pain of his earliest, half-formed memory, when he lost his family in a flood of rain. A storm he was sure must have been a devastating tragedy, only to learn years later it had been a light shower in an otherwise dry summer.
How is this just? I never wanted to be part of the endless conflict between good and evil! I only wanted to become powerful enough to ensure myself against any supposed higher power. Why am I damned for trying to rise above what I once was?
The children in the orphanage and at school always stared. They were uncomfortable, wary. Vaati could still recall the whispered words they thought he couldn't hear. "-like a ghost-" "blood-eyes" "winter skinned"
I always assumed my albinism was a mere mistake of nature. Was I marked from the start, chosen for this grim purpose? Why me?
Somehow, he'd caught the attention of the great sage, Ezlo. Widely regarded as the most magically learned of the Minish, he'd notoriously never accepted any apprentices. Evidently, he'd been looking for a child with the right qualities. Vaati never knew what exactly Ezlo saw in him.
You bastard! For years and years you turned away hopeful acolytes, only to choose me. For what? I never learned anything from you. You were so busy... I studied and trained and ran myself ragged doing your errands... you never had time for me... You were more concerned with making that cap than teaching your apprentice. Second place to a hat.
Then came that fateful day. The best day. The day that reshaped Vaati's understanding of the world, and finally put everything into perspective.
Ezlo had business with some town Minish; scholars living in the library of Hyrule Castle. Vaati was keen to listen and perhaps learn something, but he was sent on a meaningless errand. One he never finished.
An unusual looking Hylian was skulking through the halls. Pale as moonlight, hair like snow, and ruby red eyes. Vaati was so surprised and curious at seeing a human like himself; he had to follow. The human crept unseen through the castle, deeper and deeper, until finally they came to the dungeons. Vaati was shocked to see the king himself there. The king and the pale one spoke briefly in a whisper, then his majesty returned upstairs while the other pressed on into the dungeon. Tired, Vaati climbed onto him and rode along.
They came to a canal, and before Vaati could get away, they were in a tiny boat on the water. It was all the boy could do to not panic at the thought of being washed away, drowned, lost under the surface. They rowed for quite a while. When they finally arrived...
Vaati had never imagined such things. It had never occurred to him that humans might do such things to one another, or that someone as respectable as the king might be involved somehow. The pale men and women were very good at it. They had so many tools and techniques; they always made the others say what they wanted the others to say. Confessions, accusations, information, screaming. So much screaming.
By the time the pale one returned to the castle, it was night and Ezlo was very cross. Vaati didn't sleep much for a while after that. He'd learned something, though. Something much more valuable than what the pale ones learned in between the screaming. The strong survive, the strong decide what's wrong or right, the strong aren't afraid to hurt people. Humans were much stronger than Minish.
My entire life, I'd been taught to honour humans. To love and respect them. To serve them in addition to serving the goddesses. Because humans are special. Because Hyrule is a nation formed under divine guidance. Because the Hylians in particular have a connection to the goddesses.
Well, I'd say I gave them what they deserved. The royal family understood what it meant to be the strongest, to have others underfoot. I merely paid them in kind for what they taught me!
Tiny slaves to those brutes, who never noticed us, hardly believed in us! Weak and vulnerable, struggling to survive, yet giving everything to them! Why did they deserve it more than I? Why are they forgiven while I am not?
Memories of religious services, divine origin stories, and studying prayer bubbled up in Vaati's roiling fury.
I defied fate! I denied destiny! I chose to be what I wanted to be! So, is that why? Is this punishment, not for the harm I caused, but for challenging the gods?
A moment of quiet, as wrath gradually subsided into a dull ache.
I wanted something else, something better. For that, I was twisted into an example. A monster, a villain, a story for elders to tell. Used and tossed aside. Forgotten? Will anyone remember me? Remember me as anything besides another tale?
I was real. I lived. The world hurt me and I fought back. I didn't want to be tiny and insignificant, serving the world of men that I didn't even exist in.
Was turning some royals and their servants to stone so terrible compared to their sins? I didn't know I might unleash a horde of monsters, and so what? Most of them were little more than wild animals.
I'm not even a fully grown adult yet! How could you do this to me? Sealed away in the chest, or the sword itself? Alone and senseless... How long has it been? Hours? Days? Weeks..? Years..?
Please. Please don't leave me here. I'll give the Light Force back. I'll give the cap back. I enjoyed the feeling of power, but I don't need it! I don't want to be a demon! Let me out! Please!
...
How long has it been? How did I get here? I remember... A princess. She was important. I needed her. Why? There was a boy in green, with a sword. Was there someone else? The boy was alone, I think. I don't remember seeing anyone else, but... I think he had help? From someone who hated me.
When I get out... If I get out..? It'll be different. I'll... I'll take her away, so they can't stop me.
I need to get out... I'm losing myself...
...
How long has it been? Where am I? Think, think. I remember, I'm Vaati, the greatest sorcerer alive. I need the princess... because...
Augh! It doesn't matter! Let me out! Let me out! You think you can hold wind itself prisoner!? The Wind Mage shall reign again!
...
The seal has begun to weaken. Unattended for so many generations, the elemental powers have waned.
I feel... A breeze. Finally..!
