Chapter Thirty-Four: Escape from the Battlefield
Before the battle on Hyrule Field had even started, Nylania had been ordered by her father and brother to stay at the back of their army. She was too important to risk being slain by the Hylian knights they had said. No matter what happened, she was not to use the Twilight. Astralose in particular had wanted to leave that as a surprise for the peoples of Hyrule for when the time finally did come to use it. She had agreed with little protest. That was when her evil relatives departed for the castle. Their goal was to kill the royal family, so there would no longer be a rightful heir to the throne.
Throughout the battle, Nylania spent her time sitting on a small boulder near the Zora River. She entertained herself by floating rocks into the air and forcing them to collide with each other, shattering into shards of stone. Victory was achieved—she decided—by breaking the rocks into at least a hundred pieces with one hit. After a few hours, she was finally getting close to winning her little game. However, her fun came to an abrupt end when she suddenly noticed that her family's evil minions were no longer around her.
It appeared that the tide of the battle had finally turned in Hyrule's fortune. Ganondorf and Astralose's army had been divided and conquered so much that there only remained a few small pockets of resistance. Almost all of the individuals that Nylania could see now were Hylian knights, Gorons, and Zoras. Also, she noticed a giant owl flying from the direction of the castle. It spread its wings to slow down and opened its mouth wide. From its gaping beak came a beam of light so bright that Nylania was forced to avert her gaze. When the dazzling glow subsided, she turned back toward the battle. She was surprised to see a pile of armor and weaponry where a group of Moblins had been standing only moments before.
The awe-inspiring owl then turned its attention to Nylania. It was obvious that it recognized that she was an enemy. Nylania was more than prepared for its powerful light attack though. She would not be as easily vanquished as the Moblins that had been by her side throughout the battle. The owl spread its beak wide once more and another powerful ray of light shot forth. Moments before this attack could strike the appropriately titled Twilight Princess, she lifted her hands above her head. A swirling ball of black smoke formed between her palms. The light beam bent towards it in mid-flight and was sucked into the dark ball. The light continued to burst forth from her enemy, but it was being continually absorbed by her defense.
After this continued for a moment, sparks began to shoot out from Nylania's hands violently. A second later, a foggy smear of blackness began to crawl up the owl's light beam. It started slowly, but quickly gained momentum as it crept towards her enemy. It was clear that the owl's eyes were widening with fear as the consuming darkness was now only feet away from its mouth. The owl tried to discontinue its attack, but Nylania had gained complete control over what had been a beam of light and was now a streak of shadow, so there was nothing that the owl could do. It was with this realization that her attack finally followed the ray of light into the owl's gaping mouth.
In a desperate attempt to prevent the darkness from gaining entry into his body, Kaepora Gaebora threw out a wave of light, hoping it would push back his enemy's strike, but it was unsuccessful. The sparkling radiance that had shot out from his feathered body for but a moment was quickly subdued. A veil of darkness cloaked his face and spread down his body, wings, and tail feathers. Once the black ball had completely consumed him, it began to spin and shake rapidly. It was becoming elliptical in shape when it ultimately collapsed in upon itself.
A brief squawk by the reincarnated sage was quickly cut off. The black cloud caved in instantaneously, spraying chunks of blood, feathers, and meat into the air around it. Red gore rained down upon the battlefield below in a gruesome shower. The smoke dissipated and it was clear that Kaepora Gaebora was no more. Nylania breathed a sigh of relief. "It was more powerful than I thought. It almost killed me." She turned around and was surprised to see that the enemy had surrounded her. "I have no choice," she muttered.
She closed her eyes and a moment later a swirling cloud of black smoke formed at her feet. It quickly rose up her body and then expanded outward. It began to consume the knights that had been surrounding her. They screamed in pain as they entered the Twilight and were transformed into various animals. When the Twilight had swelled so that it took up the entire northern portion of Hyrule Field, Nylania broke her concentration intentionally and allowed her spell to stop. She turned to the northeast and raced away from the battlefield. She left the Twilight without looking back.
A brief rumble in the ground below her feet caused her to look around. She saw that the tallest tower of the castle was shaking intensely and its top was wreathed in a dark cloud. It was clear that a battle was taking place at its summit, because flashes of multi-colored lights were occurring within the fog. She decided to ignore this battle though and continue along her path. She would make her way to the Lost Temple in the Forest of Gormoth. A part of her hoped that with the loss of her father and brother's army, they would give up on their plan and her powers would not be needed. All that she wanted was to settle down in peace in the Lost Temple. And as she continued to walk farther from Hyrule, she began to grow certain that at last, this was exactly what she would get.
