Whelp. I'm back! I wanted to quickly (yeah, that part didn't really work out) write something short and sweet to get me back into writing. So I asked Maracta for advice, and she suggested I do Zant. He was a little harder, 'cause for some reason I feel like I can't relate to him at all. That's probably because everything he does is motivated by one thing alone; him gaining more power, and he seems to care for literally nothing else in the world. And yet I still like him as a character, so I decided to give it my best. Power-mad, desperate, and completely insane: that's all that I feel is left of Zant, and that's what I want to portray here. So, without further ado…

To God be the Glory

Dark Perception

The King of Shadows

Why is it that acceptance mars this world? That we accept our fates without struggle or fight? That we resign ourselves to such a meaningless existence as to follow the paths that countless others have tread before? That we do not break the restraints that those others have bound us with? That we refuse to even aspire to anything more than what has already been given to us? Such acceptance, such weakness; truly it is our greatest failure.

To be complacent, is that our destiny? For this has been the question on my mind, for…how long? Days, months, years? Now that I think about it, I have been wondering this since the first day I came to the palace, which means…always, doesn't it?

A swish of a skirt; the pad of a graceful, swift foot. Midna has arrived. For all her long strides, she strides for nothing at all. I continue staring into the sky, unchanged in my mood, unchanged in my intentions. For she changes nothing, to be sure. Exactly as her mother before, and grandmother before her, she is nothing but a predetermined piece in this puzzle. Elegant and fair, intelligent and cunning, princess of the Twilight, pawn in a game long since dead.

And so her gait slows and halts midstride, my ears tell me, and she turns towards me. "Taking your sweet time gazing at the sky? Or is there some great hidden power up in the clouds?"

I lower my head and prepare to face her. "Do not fool yourself, there is no such thing in our realm." I crane my neck so I can see her, and then continue, "The only great power left in the world is that of our ruler, and yet even that has…diminished." I say the last word softly, as that very ruler is the one standing before me. She arches her eyebrow, lifts her chin (so as to look further down on me), and spreads her smile. Some might see that smile as sweet or benevolent, but I see what it truly is: mischievous, mocking, deceptive. This…this is Midna's true self, who no one else, locked in their own deluded versions of reality, is able to see. This is what has been looking down on me my whole life.

I decide to venture onward. "Tell me, princess, what would you think if our people were to come together, to move toward a goal, to follow after a purpose? To finally accomplish something?" And now, it is my turn to smile, ever so condescendingly. "Such action…such…spirit," I turn and begin to walk past her, continuing, "It would come as quite a shock, wouldn't it? To see them ruled by their ruler?"

Feeling pleased with myself, I slowly walk towards the back of the palace. "Why so eager, Zant, to have us pave roads for the sake of going nowhere?" My footsteps halt. I can hear sadistic amusement in her voice, and it burns my soul.

I start to turn, but at the same time start to twitch. That twitching, that accursed twitching! I try to stop it, but it will not obey me. It never does, not when she speaks, not when I can feel the maddened, boiling rage inside!

And so, in spite of it, I turn till I can vaguely see her form in the corner of my vision. Whispering, I reply, "You would be surprised by how often one can find something out of nothing…" I leave, haltingly, the twitching only getting worse.

()

"What is the meaning of this!? What have you done!?"

Denied.They denied me?

"You can't-! You cannot-! You're a monster! A MAD, DELUDED – MONSTER!"

Denied. They DENIED Me?

"No! Do not do this! I will – I will not- Stop! Help! PLEASE!"

DENIED. THEY. DENIED. ME!? They denied their one liberator, their one chance to be free from this meaningless half-existence!? And why? To continue living, without a reason to live! Their bodies and their power are needed, for this world balances on it. But their minds!? Their souls!? Their deluded, obsessive, and withered souls! Like all blemishes they shall be wiped away; cleansed and then reborn. This is my task, to be done by the magic of my God, and NOTHING, NOTHING will be as sweet as the purity we bring to this realm!

But then I stop. I think of purity, and I think…of her. She does not deserve purity, no, no, no. She deserves her own separate judgment. She deserves…what? What punishment could possibly measure up to the silent torture she has placed upon me? Upon all of us!? I agonize over this, beginning to twitch again, O how does she ALWAYS CAUSE THAT TWITCHING, until my agony is cut short by the swift pad of a graceful, retreating foot.

MIDNA.

I pursue her, slowly but surely, into the depths of the palace. There is only one remaining place here that the Shadow Beasts have not run over, where I know she will escape to, where I plan to meet her, where my God met me.

As I go, the problem of her punishment rises in my mind. It must be done, it must be severe beyond all else, and it must match herself in cruelty. And then, an idea comes to me, one that just might work. One that just might show her all the pain that I have dreamt of giving her all theseYEARS!

()

I had changed Midna into this form because her sentence had to be worse than death. That would have only stowed her away from bloodshed…forever. No, she had to see it. See the action of our people that she never made them take. See the conquest of the land that had forever thought itself our better. See the power and mastery that I had gained over her and both the realms of Light and Shadow. See the might of my God as he trampled and bent all worlds to his will. See all of her failure, and all of my glory. All the while, others would have seen her. No longer as the royal, graceful lie, but now beheld by all as what she truly was! A dark and treacherous monster, spiteful and vicious; a thing to be despised as long as it lived!

Indeed, she had seen it all, and been seen by all. But now…

…now…WHAT WAS THIS!? She, MIDNA, had returned to the Palace of Twilight with her Light-dwelling ally, ravaged it, and cut me down! My vision only a blur, my breaths only rasps, I stare down at the floor from where I sit slumped on the throne. The remaining Twili had been restored their desolate minds, the Sols had been returned to their resting place, the remaining Shadow Beasts had been slaughtered, my power had been undone, and it was all because of them! They…they…had brought back the kingdom I had stored to its grave.

"Y-you…Traitors!" That is what they are, TRAITORS! Such a kingdom does not deserve to live! But they had resurrected it, all the while thinking themselves heroes! HEROES! Heroes do not exist. There are the doers of action, be it in that moment good or evil, and then there are the laggards, but there are no heroes.

Midna begins her retort, O can she ever find it in herself to NOT DO THAT, and the twitching…the twitching… is slowed, nearly stopped. I remember…my God…He would help me as he did before. His power, now greater than ever, would drive the Light World to its knees, while keeping me from ever falling to mine! They do not understand what they face; a god who will grasp mastery over Light and Shadow unhindered. And I tell them this, tell Midna this, that their efforts can never prevail against my master's might. She cannot free this realm, the Light realm, or herself as long as my God reigns. I begin to laugh inside; nor can she ever reclaim her throne.

My words anger her, then, infuriate her. As a fanged and feral snarl crosses her impish face, a powerful sensation covers me, the immeasurable satisfaction of victory. I lift up my head, staring straight into her violent eyes, and give out a soft, steady, goading cry. No real words escape my mouth, for none are needed. We both know what it means. You lose, Twilight Princess. In the end, you lose.

Suddenly I hear a sound like churning water, coming from – three fierce coils of light SHOOTING TOWARD ME PIERCING ME! EXPANDING INFLATING – PAIN UNLIKE ANY EVER CONCEIVED! SCREAMING FLAILING TWITCHING TWITCHING THE TWITCHING! IT ALL COMES FROM MIDN-

SNAP!

Well, there's that. I hope you enjoyed it! I and my sister quite like this chapter, and I hope it's a good way to close out this series, at least for now. Due to various reasons (see the latest post for my other story, "Onettsons" for those), I have decided to take a break from posting my writing on , perhaps indefinitely. If you are interested in this story, I would suggest following it/continuing to follow it, as I might start posting again one day. But, who knows? Once again, if you want a better explanation, check out the latest post on my other story, "Onettsons".

But as for this chapter itself, I would love to hear what you thought about it in a review. And if you have any suggestions for who I should focus on next in this series, I would love to hear that as well, as I am still going to continue writing, just not posting online. But whether you have something to say or not, I thank you for reading this!

This is Nacartor of Cut Productions, signing off.