The Legend of Midna: Clockwork Darkness
Chapter Thirteen
"This trail goes on forever," Siobhán complained as they continued on their way towards the Bronze City. "At this rate we'll never make it in time."
"We don't know that," Eoghan reassured. "We don't actually know what Zagros is doing, so we might have all kinds of time."
"In fact," she went on, acting as though she hadn't even heard him, "this may all be for nothing. As far as we know, he may have already killed all of his captives. Then we'd all be sunk; Hyrule would have no monarch, and…dear Gods, you'd be King of Twilight…"
"Oh, as if it would be any better have you as Twilight Princess –"
"Stop it, you two!" Cailin finally interjected. "I get so sick of hearing you two bitch all the time."
"She started it…" Eoghan muttered under his breath.
They continued on in silence, no one daring to risk another episode like that again. Finally they came upon a clearing. At one end was an opening that led into darkness.
"That's got to be it," Cailin said. "It's just like the stories of when the Hero of Time ventured to Termina."
"What are you talking about?" Siobhán insisted.
"You've heard the stories of the Hero of Time, surely," Cailin asserted.
"Vaguely," said Eoghan. "Supposedly Dad is a descendent of his."
"That's right," she affirmed. "He is a descendent of the Hero of Time. That's why he bears the Triforce of Courage. A hundred and fifteen years ago, there was another hero whose name was also Link. He came from the forest, but he was Hylian born rather than Kokiri. He was called by the Goddesses to battle the forces of evil and save Hyrule from Ganondorf."
"Ganondorf?" Eoghan interjected. "That's the guy that tried to take over fifteen years ago."
"That's right," Cailin affirmed again. "That was the same Ganondorf that fought against the Hero of Time."
"There's no way," Siobhán insisted. "That would make him over a hundred years old. No one lives that long."
"You'd be surprised," Cailin retorted dryly. "At any rate, Ganondorf was also chosen by the Goddess. He bore the Triforce of Power, and because of that, he had nearly deific powers. One of those was his seeming immortality. Anyhow, after the Hero of Time defeated Ganondorf and sealed him away in the void, he returned to his childhood so that he could relive his lost years." She stopped, seeing the utterly lost looks on the twins' faces. "Yes, it's very convoluted, but it's true. So, because he retained his memory of all that had happened during his adulthood, he was able to warn the King before Ganondorf got a good foothold. That's when the sages sealed him in the Twilight Realm. I know you all know that story. Anyhow, after that was over, Link still wanted adventure in his life. Because of that, he undertook a personal journey to 'try to find an old friend', as the stories say. He journeyed through the lost woods, but was beset by a skull kid who stole his horse. He gave chase through the forest and eventually came upon a clearing just like this one with a tunnel just like that one. When he went through it, he came out in a world parallel to this one, called Termina."
"So let me get this straight," Eoghan said, pressing his fingers to his temples. "You're suggesting that Zagros has taken Zelda and our parents to a parallel world where he's planning to do Gods-know-what to them, and the only way we can stop him is to go through that tunnel."
Cailin waited for a moment. "Yep," she said.
"Alright, sounds pretty straightforward," Eoghan decided. "Let's get to it."
"Eoghan," Siobhán interjected, "you don't have any idea what's on the other side of that tunnel. Are you out of your mind?"
"Could be," he said. "It's a good thing, too, otherwise this whole thing probably would never work."
"You're incredible…" she said under her breath.
"Actually," Eoghan said suddenly, "Cal, I had an idea. If you turned into a wolf, do you think you could track their scents?"
"Yeah…" she said, dumbfounded. "Yeah, I guess I could. I don't know why that never occurred to me." In an instant, a great white wolf was standing before them. With her nose to the ground, she meticulously studied the area until she found something recognizable. Finally her ears stood on end and she began to wag her tail furiously.
"I think she's found something," Eoghan said, giving his sister a determined look. "Alright, lead the way."
As soon as he said it, she was off. They followed her into the darkness, not knowing what lay before them.
"Excellent work, Igos," Zagros said, addressing the automaton that he had just filled with his former lackey. "Very nicely done. I hope you don't mind me calling you Igos." The automaton gave no response. "I didn't think you would."
Zagros then turned his attention to his mechanical army.
"Let's get some souls into you," he drawled.
One by one, the automata were placed onto a conveyor belt. Zagros pulled a lever near the end of the belt, and it began to move, ushering the mechanical army along into a large machine. After a moment, they were released out the other side one by one, where they autonomously stepped off.
"Excellent," Zagros said to himself. "Everything is going according to plan. Now I just need to get them into Hyrule and the Twilight Realm." He then turned his attention back to Ikana's replacement.
"Igos, I need you to go and fetch the boy."
"The one with the silver hair, master?" The automaton spoke with a voice that sounded like gears grinding together.
"That's the one," he affirmed. Without another word, Igos left the room with its awkward jerky gait.
"I've no idea if this will even work, but what do I have to lose?" Zagros said to himself. After a few moments, Igos returned carrying a pale Hylian boy with silver hair. He was unconscious, but his face still carried a troubled look.
"Hook him up to the machine," Zagros ordered, "and then bring me the reactor harness. There's no time to lose."