Quick note: Before you begin this chapter, take heed in what I say. I expect all timeline theorists reading this fic to remain calm and refrain from attacking me. The last thing I want is a war over facts. Last time I checked, fan fiction did not have to be an exact copy of the storyline. I have taken a few liberties with this story and I'd appreciate if nobody complained. Thank you.

Chapter 32

Rosaria held up a dome of protection around her and the few Moblins who had stayed behind with her. A spray of freezing shards of ice evaporated in a cloud of steam around the shield. It was no use; neither Rosaria nor the Fungistuls could gain an advantage at the moment. Now that both sides knew of each other's presence, it was impossible to penetrate the enemy's barriers. If the Fungistuls would stop attacking continuously, she could try to think up a new plan.

"Rosaria!" shouted a Moblin. Rosaria glanced up from her thoughts and put up the shield again just in time to block another attack. "We need a strategy," said the same Moblin after the roaring of the ice subsided. "We can't keep wasting energy without doing any damage to them."

"Long-range attacks won't do any good anymore," offered another Moblin. "We don't know how much energy they have left, and we can't risk running out before them."

"It'll be dangerous to go into close combat," Rosaria warned, shaking her head.

"Everyone else is already fighting up at the castle," argued the first Moblin. At the sound of a whistling attack approaching, Rosaria projected the shield yet again.

"Yes, but they don't have to deal with the king," Rosaria explained, not letting the bombardment interrupt the conversation. "None of you would stand a chance when he was around."

"Wouldn't you?" asked the second Moblin. Rosaria paused for a moment. She knew he was right. She was the only one who could take on the king, and it would have to be a close-range battle. Letting down her guard for only a fraction of a moment could end in sudden death, but without risk there would be no victory.

Another incoming wave of ice tore through the air. The Moblins cringed as it neared, looking back and forth between Rosaria and the whitish splotch traveling through the sky. An instant before it hit, Rosaria gritted her teeth and held up a panel of light. The ice shot back off the panel, slamming into the lake. The water froze solid, creating a wide bridge with wave-shaped protrusions along the edges. Hesitant to cross the ice in fear of another fire attack, the Fungistuls could only watch in disbelief as Rosaria silently approached them by herself.

Horacio bashed his shield into a Fungistul's face, putting the creature in a daze. Its head came off cleanly in one sweep of Horacio's blade, landing at his feet with a puff of combined snow and bluish spores.

No spine, Horacio observed. No blood, either. He raised his sword quickly to block a Fungistul blade, twisting the weapon out of the creature's hands. Perhaps the jagged edges of the Fungistul swords were a good thing; they let him grip the metal with his own sword to toss it away. After sliding his sword through the Fungistul's stomach, Horacio turned to look for another victim.

A blast of blue magic swooped across the market, freezing anyone and anything in its path. Horacio gulped. The Fungistuls were starting to regain their energy, then. The Myrennian soldiers had nothing to protect themselves with; Horacio would have to hunt down the creatures who used magic and get rid of them soon. He caught a glance of one Fungistul raising its arms with a glowing blue orb between its hands, and he trudged through the snow in its direction, raising his magic shield.

The creature noticed him approaching and purposely aimed the attack in another direction. Horacio grimaced, throwing his body forward in an attempt to reach the magic. He fell short, tumbling into the snow as the spell soared over him. Fortunately, a Moblin with a similar shield was nearby, and he held the shield up, reflecting the attack back at the Fungistul.

Unaffected by the icy spell, the Fungistul angrily produced another orb. As it concentrated on an unprotected area, Horacio whirled in from behind, sending his blade through the creature's body. He gave the Moblin a thumbs up and jumped back into the battle, keeping an eye out for any more magic spurts.

Rosaria grasped the pure white hilt of her sword, unsheathing a long, bright red blade. With the sun hidden behind a thick layer of clouds, the blade illuminated her face as well as a circle of ice around her feet. She was standing in the center of the ice bridge, facing the Fungistuls on their island.

"King Mushi!" she yelled. "Show yourself!"

After a few seconds, the short mushroom emerged from the crowd of Fungistuls, wielding two jagged blue swords. He slowly walked across the frozen water, keeping the swords at his sides. Before he got close, Rosaria spoke again.

"One rule," she specified. "No magic."

"Whatever you say, Miss," Mushi assured, seconds before going in for an attack.

Rosaria raised her sword, letting the blue blades whack against it in vain. The two circled each other a few feet apart, waiting for the right moment to attack, ready to defend themselves if the other attacked first. Mushi stumbled a little over a bump in the ice, and Rosaria thrust forward with her sword. Mushi managed to catch himself and stop her blade with the broken edges of his own.

Rosaria had to duck as Mushi took a swing at her with his other sword. She pushed him backwards by thrusting her sword against the edges of his and rolled away, sliding a few inches after coming to her feet. While Mushi tried to regain his balance, Rosaria leapt into the air, preparing to shove her blade down Mushi's head. Unable to bring his swords up in time, Mushi closed his eyes and whispered but one word.

Her eyes opened wide as Mushi disappeared beneath her. Her sword slammed into the ice, sending cracks everywhere. It was lodged in deep; she couldn't pull it out. Before she had time to spin around, the jagged edges of Mushi's sword ripped through her back, puncturing her armor and exiting through her stomach. Her mouth was wrenched open, and she coughed up blood. In an instant, the world transformed into one of darkness and shadows.

The water surrounding her was warm; too warm to have just melted. Glancing around, she found that the sky had turned a sickly purple color, and she could barely make out the shore in the darkness. Her skin had turned a pale green, and upon further inspection, she discovered that her abdomen was not injured. Several greenish shapes flailed helplessly in the water nearby; they were Fungistuls. Was she dead?

She swam between the thrashing Fungistuls, staring at them with horror. They seemed to be drowning, yet they continued floundering endlessly. Were these the Fungistuls who had drowned earlier? Was this a world where the dead continued to live?

Upon reaching shore, she found that nobody was in sight. She was about to start walking when she caught a glimpse of a shadow passing by. It belonged to no body; it simply walked along on the ground, depending on the dim sky's light for its existence. She began to follow it. After several yards, the shadow stopped, but she couldn't tell if it had turned around or not.

"Stop following me, you sicko," it threatened in a raspy voice.

"W-who are you?" Rosaria asked, a bit taken aback.

"It's none of your business," answered the shadow. "Just get lost."

"Just tell me why I'm here," Rosaria pleaded.

"The dark world?" asked the shadow. "Everyone goes here when they die. Don't get all depressed about it." So she was dead after all.

"How come you're just a shadow?" questioned Rosaria.

"I'm not dead," it answered, starting to walk away. "Now get over it and learn to live here. If you can call it living."

The shadow disappeared, heading around the lake to the west. After a few minutes, Rosaria turned around only to see two small glowing fairies; one was yellow and the other was blue.

"Did you see which way he went?" asked one.

"No," answered the other.

"He went that way!" Rosaria exclaimed, pointing in the direction the shadow had taken, hoping he was the one the fairies were talking about.

"Maybe he's in that castle over there," suggested the blue one, completely ignoring Rosaria.

"Hey! Listen!" shouted Rosaria. "He went west!"

The blue fairy flew away as if she was deaf. Unfortunately, the yellow one followed. Could they hear her? They didn't have a green color, so maybe they weren't dead. But the shadow wasn't dead, and he could hear her just fine. This was all so confusing.

Leaving the fairies to their fruitless search, Rosaria stared out towards the island in the middle of the lake, even though it was too dark to see. As the fairies faded into the distance, Rosaria's ears picked up one word: Link. She ran after the fairies, struggling to hear their conversation.

"Link can't be dead," the yellow one assured. "Dark Link is just trying to trick us. All we have to do is find him; you'll see."

The blue fairy was silent. Rosaria waited impatiently for more, but it never came. Apparently someone named Dark Link was claiming that Link was dead. If Link was dead, she might be able to find him with more information. She had to catch up with the shadow and find out the truth.

Tael and Mohan cautiously led the fully equipped Kenak army up the winding, icy staircase, wary of possible guards around every turn. There was no sound coming from above but a slight breeze whistling through the passageway.

"What do we plan to do when we get to the top?" Tael whispered. "It might be difficult to attack from such a tight place."

"If the Fungistuls are up there, I'd assume they're alone," Mohan figured. "There's no sound. So if we find them there, we can probably take them out with some kind of large-scale magic attack. If they're all up at the castle fighting in the middle of the humans, we'll need a different strategy."

As the light started to fade away, Tael noticed the walls stop glowing. Instead of crystal, these blocks were made only of ice and stone. Ahead, the light appeared to be more natural somehow. The group slowed, increasing their guard. Tael suddenly dropped down to Mohan's level and stopped in front of him. Mohan quietly leaned his head forward and saw two mushroom creatures blocking the exit to the stairs. The tunnel came right out into the open air, and he could see the cloudy sky above. He pushed the army back down the stairs until he felt it was safe to whisper.

"If you take the bombos medallion and get to a safe height above the island, you should be able to take them all out at once," Mohan instructed Tael. "Go check it out, and come back if you think we can handle them without the medallion."

Mohan reached into a leather pouch at his side and pulled out a bronze medallion designed with four crescents curved in a spiral. Tael grabbed it, and he found that it was actually light enough to carry without much effort.

"How do you know what it does?" Tael asked.

"It's one of the many medallions stolen from us a long time ago," Mohan answered. "It's powerful enough to cover about a half mile diameter, and based on what we've seen, the Fungistuls may be weak to fire."

"But what does it do?" Tael asked again. "What's a safe height for dropping it?"

"It kills people, that's what it does," Mohan whispered harshly. "Just get about a half mile up and you'll be fine, though you might want to get out of the way of the smoke. Don't worry about us; I can put up a barrier. Just make sure the Fungistuls don't see you or else they can protect themselves from it as well."

That said, Mohan pushed Tael upwards through the air. Tael silently fluttered around the spiral staircase, and upon noticing that the Fungistuls at the top were looking in the opposite direction, he slipped out of the tunnel above their heads and landed softly on the stone roof of the staircase. He was on top of a tiny structure on the island in the middle of the lake, and there was only a small group of Fungistuls lounging around on the ground nearby.

Suddenly Tael noticed a glowing blue crown on the head of one of the shorter Fungistuls. Was this their king? If the small group had been composed only of normal Fungistuls, the Kenaks could probably take them on, but Tael wasn't sure what powers the king might hold. He considered going back into the tunnel to tell Mohan, but he didn't want to risk being seen now that he wouldn't be able to see where the guards were looking without showing himself.

The only thing to do was drop the medallion. He was sure it would be a worthy cause; getting rid of the king would send the rest of the Fungistul troops into disarray, wherever they were. He had made up his mind. He double checked the status of the small group on the ground; they were all watching Myrennia Castle intently. Shooting up into the sky, Tael discovered the rest of the Fungistul army behind the walls of the castle. Swirls of ice were tearing through the market, freezing everything over. Humans and Moblins were desperately trying to hold the Fungistuls back.

Unfortunately, dropping the medallion on the market would probably only result in the death of all the human and Moblin soldiers as well as the Fungistuls. Perhaps the effect of the bombos medallion on the island would be enough to distract them into noticing the absence of their king.

Reaching what he thought was about a half mile up, Tael gulped, staring at the medallion dangling from his hands. The land appeared so much smaller from up there; he could see over the vast forest to the base of the mountain ranges on the other side, where the dusty, yet peaceful Amathar Mountains abruptly changed into the black, storm-covered Haunted Mountains, disappearing into the Kenak Jungle to the north. The jungle where Link had died at the hands of the very people Tael was helping.

No, he was doing this for the Myrennians. And at the same time, he was doing it to destroy the Fungistuls, the only reason Link had even gone to the jungle in the first place, the only reason the pearl of darkness had ever been created.

Tael dropped the medallion.

A roaring explosion tore through the market, and a billowing cloud of orange and black soared into the gray sky, lighting up the field with a wave of heat. Pillars of fire twisted around each other, encompassing the island in the middle of the lake, popping into sparks without cease. Finally, as the deafening noise reached its peak, the flames disintegrated into small embers that floated down into the murky water, which had already been littered with the bodies of Moblins and Fungistuls.

The market was completely silent but for the quiet sounds of plates of armor scraping against each other in small movements. After the sound of the explosion, nobody could really hear anything anyway.

Unable to see their king over the wall, most of the Fungistuls were still in a state of confusion and fear when the few humans and Moblins remaining regained their composure. The Fungistuls quickly snapped back into action after a sudden attack by the humans and Moblins, but with less energy than before. It would still take another miracle to defeat these mushroom warriors.

Greenish flames ripped through the dark sky, erupting in an ear-splitting thunderclap. Rosaria was knocked to the ground as a tidal wave of hot air sent her tumbling. When the sound faded away, Rosaria chanced a look up and noticed several tiny spots of green light across the lake where she figured the island was located. Could King Mushi have been killed?

Opting not to let it distract her, she stood and continued running, scanning the ground for a hint of Dark Link's shadow. She finally saw it ahead about to enter the trees and quickened her pace into a sprint. Without thinking, she dove at the shadow, unexpectedly ramming into an invisible body and shoving it to the ground.

"What are you doing?" the shadow screamed at her.

"I'm not getting off until you tell me just what's going on," Rosaria demanded. "Who are you and what have you done with Link?"

"I said it's none of your business," Dark Link answered. "Unless you plan to hold me down forever, you're not going to get anywhere."

"You may be invisible, but that doesn't mean I can't kill you," Rosaria threatened, not completely sure whether or not she was telling the truth. It seemed to work, because the shadow grew silent. "Now, you're going to tell me who you are, what you're doing here, and what you know about Link."

Dark Link thought silently. If this fairy knew Link, perhaps she was his good side's only chance. However, she would be equally harmful to his evil side. Unable to decide, his only option was to leave it up to Rosaria.

"Pretend I'm holding the answers in one of my hands," Dark Link began, feeling somewhat stupid, even though the process was necessary. "Pick one. Right or left."

"You're kidding, right?" Rosaria responded.

"Believe me, it's the only way for me to decide."

"Well, if you insist," Rosaria gave in. "If I guess the wrong hand, though, I won't hesitate to hurt you."

"Sounds fair," Dark Link joked, not sure whether he was glad or worried.

"Then I guess the left hand," Rosaria replied. Dark Link was quiet for a moment.

"My name is Dark Link," he began, struggling to hold back his evil side. "I guess I'd better start at the beginning. A while back, a man named Ganondorf tried to take over Hyrule, the land Link comes from. After time traveling to the future, Link was able to defeat this man. A princess named Zelda sent Link back to the past, where he had come from. Ganondorf was still free in this age, but Link was able to warn the king. Ganondorf was executed before he got the chance to obtain the Triforce of Power."

"You're confusing me," Rosaria complained.

"I'm just giving you the short version," Dark Link replied. "Anyway, as you now know, people enter this dark world when they die. Well, Ganondorf is stuck there right now. He hopes that after coming back into the world of light using the pearl of darkness, injecting the blood of Link will allow him access to the Master Sword and the sacred realm, where he would try to get the Triforce."

Rosaria was left in silence.

"I left out a few details here and there," Dark Link added.

"...So, the pearl of darkness can bring people back to life?" Rosaria managed to ask.

"That's what I've been told," Dark Link answered.

So that's why the Fungistuls want the pearls so badly, Rosaria concluded.

"I believe that answers all your questions," Dark Link interrupted her thoughts.

"Then Link is dead?" Rosaria asked.

"Of course. If you meet him, make sure to say hi for me." Without warning, Dark Link suddenly shoved Rosaria to the side and scurried out from under her, disappearing into the western woods.

While most of the Kenaks had gone up to the castle to help fight, Martel, Tael, and a handful of Kenaks for protection trudged south through the forest to the ruins of Hayen Village. All were shocked at the sight of the rubble strewn about the clearing, but Tael and Martel most of all.

"Did those creatures do this?" Martel gasped.

"It looks like it," Tael replied, taking note of the orange mushrooms that had sprouted amidst the debris.

"If that's the same tree..." Martel mumbled to himself, marking out steps across the stone and wood covering the ground, "then the house should be in...this general area..."

"What are you doing?" Tael asked.

"I'm trying to find out if you're telling the truth," Martel answered as he lifted beam after beam of splintered, charred wood. Tael waited breathlessly. For some reason it felt wrong to be digging up the demolished town.

Soon a clatter of wood against stone echoed through the clearing, and Martel shoved aside the stray planks of wood covering the dark hole in the ground he had uncovered.

"This is the right place. Here was our basement," Martel announced, leaning to step down into the hole. Before he got the chance, someone else poked his head up from the basement. Tael's mouth dropped open. His shock didn't come even close to the expressions of Martel and Garod as they stared at each other, both very much alive.