Chapter 18

The Gate

Link held tightly onto the zora girl as they rushed through underwater channels. He could sense they were moving at speeds even Epona couldn't achieve. The zora's expert swimming was impressive, for she was able to propel them with only her legs thereby removing any risk of losing "the kiss." The kiss itself was exciting for the first minute, but after a while Link felt rather helpless. She did the swimming, the breathing, and the navigating.

Even the navigating was remarkable. He could feel her turn and weave through the circuitry of currents even though she couldn't possibly be using her eyes. So what she said was true. They could see where they were going without looking. Every now and then he opened his own, only to see her staring right back at him, and would immediately close them again to escape both the sting of the water and the awkward stare.

It was a long journey as a passenger, but seemed too short to cover the distance from Northern Hyrule all the way to Lake Hylia in the south. How fast were they going? Eventually they slowed and rose upwards until breaking the surface. The zora released her kiss and Link finally breathed his own air.

He looked around to see he and his friends standing in a pool positioned in the center of a marble room. The room rippled with the warm light of ensconced torches that reflected off the pool's surface. The firelight on each torch flickered in unusual ways. In fact, the entire room felt supernatural. It was clear that the ordinary was behind them. A single high archway positioned at the far side of the room opened into a long hallway.

He looked over at Zelda, thankful to see she was more enamored with the room than with "Prince Charming." "Amazing," she gasped, her words echoing through the chamber.

"Goodbye, lovely Princess," crooned Rito, kissing her on the hand for the thousandth time.

"You're leaving?" asked Link, feigning disappointment. "Oh, too bad."

Rito smirked and Zelda shot him another accusing look. Link didn't care. The more distance between Rito and Zelda the better.

"Yes," said Rito. "This place is just another room to the zora. Our family is where we belong."

"How will we get back?" asked Zelda.

"If this place is everything father says it is, you won't need a ride back." At his signal, the zora sank back beneath the surface of the pool and out of sight.

"So, princess," said Link. "Should I lead the way?"

Zelda smiled politely. "No, there is no danger here." She took the lead towards the room's exit.

Zelda led the group through a series of halls that opened into a magnificent chamber. It was impossible to withhold her awe, and even Knowl—who could never be impressed—gasped at the sight of it. The room shimmered in splendor, longer and wider than father's throne room.

Footsteps echoed from the patterned floor to the spired ceilings as they entered. The great room reflected in the polished floor causing her to feel as though she were walking on suspended glass. The hall held enough majesty alone, but it was the statues in the center that drew everyone's attention: life sized visages of the Golden Goddesses. The statues faced each other from the edges of an inset ring of marble, each one resting silently at the vertex of a Triforce emblazoned in brilliant gold.

Each goddess had been rendered in loving detail. She approached the unmistakable figure of Nayru whose eyes were closed in concentration. Her hands framed her face with fingers pointing to her temples as though enhancing her mental powers. Crystalline designs were lightly etched into her forehead. Zelda was filled with a desire to be even a fraction as wise as she appeared.

"Amazing," she heard Link say. She joined him in observing Faryu who was depicted in a gown of leaves accented with flowery stems that wrapped around her fashionably. She stood tall and straight with her right forearm out front and parallel to her torso. The bodice of her dress was cut low enough to reveal markings on her chest—similar to the ones on Nayru's forehead though more organic in design.

She joined Ganondorf as he gazed silently at Din. Her pose was one of action, her hair of fire whipping wildly behind her. She carried all the fierceness of a warrior, yet her face showed neither anger nor hate. Her hand reached out ready to release the power for which she was known and admired. Markings adorned the back of it: shapes of sizzling lightning—shapes of power.

"So, here we are," spoke Impa. "Never in my life did I imagine I would see such a sight."

"It is time," said Knowl, "to unlock the door."

Zelda looked at Link and Ganondorf. Three keys: the crown, the shield, and the sword. Such atypical keys means an atypical lock. She realized the statues were posed for more intentionally than she originally observed. Din was not actually holding out her hand in a pose of power, she was grasping the hilt of a sword that wasn't there.

"She wants your sword," she said to Ganondorf. "These 'keys' were gifts from the Goddesses themselves. To get the greatest gift of all means we must return these treasures back to them."

Ganondorf nodded his understanding, and with no trace of disappointment at giving up his beloved weapon, he placed the hilt into her waiting hand. The sculpted hand came to life and gripped the handle firmly. The blade gleamed radiantly as its blade morphed into the shape of flames. The hilt became solid gold adorned with sparkling rubies. Din's eyes began to glow.

Zelda turned next to Farore. Her arm clearly positioned to be holding a shield. "Link," she said, "your shield."

Link appeared a little more reticent to give up his shield, but he nevertheless placed it on Fayru's waiting arm. Arm and shield connected as though drawn together by a powerful force, and it too altered its shape into an elongated shield of silver metal. A giant emerald ornamented the center. Her eyes came alight also.

It was Zelda's turn. Her heart beat with excitement. No one in a thousand years had come this close to the Triforce. She removed her diadem with two gentle hands as she approached Nayru, set it carefully upon her carved brow, and took a step back to watch the magical transformation.

Nothing happened.

She looked at Knowl questioningly. "What am I missing?" she asked.

"This!"

She turned to see her father, King Harkinian, standing at the doorway. With him were dozens of zora, armed with harpoons and tridents, including Rito, whose expression informed her that he had known all along of her father's intentions. That's why the zora had left so hastily.

She looked at her father's crown. Of course. Why would he have given the crown to anyone else? It was the perfect way to protect it, always on his own brow. She tried desperately to recall actually seeing her own crown change shape like the other keys, but she already knew the answer. She never would have seen the transformation herself, for she was the one that wore it—the only one.

Childish naivety had once again made her a fool.

Ganondorf's blood boiled at the sight of King Harkinian, the man that had imprisoned him all these years. The one that called him Ganon—called him 'Demon.' The one that had taken his freedom. The one that was killing his people. Impulsively, he tried to take his sword from Din, but the statue's grip would not yield.

"The sword is no longer yours," said the King. "You are disarmed and outnumbered." Ganondorf watched the traitorous zoras file into an aggressive formation. After all this time. After coming all this way. He was going to end up back where he started. Even worse. At least before, when he was in that prison, he was ignorant of the great evils done to him.

The King approached the center of the room in full confidence. Even without a weapon of his own, he carried himself as though already victorious. It made Ganondorf loath him all the more. Harkinian approached Impa first.

"So," he said, anger lacing his words. "Is this where you lie to me and tell me you've still been working for your King this whole time, Captain?"

"No," she said, unfazed. "I have allied with Zelda."

"You swore upon your life you would serve me."

"I swore to serve the goddesses, to serve Hyrule."

"I am Hyrule!" snapped the King.

"Father," interrupted Zelda. "If you would just listen—"

"Silence," he said, turning to face her. "As painful as it is to be betrayed by my trusted Captain, it is insignificant when compared to the sting of seeing such disloyalty in my own flesh and blood."

"But I—"

"I fed you. I educated you. I protected you. I even watched your mother die as you entered the world. You were everything to me!"

"Were?" she asked. Ganondorf could see sorrow swell into her eyes. "What am I now?"

"A cold knife in my back," he said seething. "Like him." The king faced Link now.

"I did what was right," said Link. "Nothing more. Nothing less." Link was not backing down. Good. Ganondorf liked that.

"And you decide what's right, do you?" asked the King.

"No, I just know what's right. It's not something you or anyone else gets to decide."

"Then it's your word against mine?"

"No, it's just you versus the goddesses, and I picked the strongest team."

"I see," said the king. "You all see me as the enemy to the goddesses. It's so simple, isn't it? You sit there from the comfort of your safe little lives—safety I made possible by the way—judging me. You have no idea what evil really looks like. You have no idea the sweat, blood, and tears I shed to keep it at bay. You think you know better. Well, evil is out there, and the goddesses—as strong as they are—aren't lifting a holy little finger to help us out. Yes, evil is out there. It's even here, right now, in this room."

The king looked at Ganondorf. Rage boiled within. The monster within was coming alive again, and it wanted revenge. There was no hiding his emotion.

"You see," said the king. "Look at his eyes. You want to believe he is a good person even while his eyes are full of murder. Even after he loses control of his power. Even after he kills your friends. You still believe. Yet you say that I am delusional." The king looked at Zelda. "Look at him, Zelda!"

Zelda looked at Ganondorf, but then her eyes fell away. She didn't trust him. No one was looking at him. They all distrusted him. Of course they did, Ganondorf didn't even trust himself.

"You see?" scoffed the king. "What are you fighting for? Do you even know, or is this just a game to you? Did you think you could come to the goddesses themselves and just get a pat on the back? The fate of all Hyrule is affected by your careless actions. That's why I'm here. That's why I didn't give you the real crown. There is too much at stake. There is too much danger."

The king look at the statue of Nayru. "But, not anymore." He marched toward it. Ganondorf moved to stop him, but the zoras moved even quicker. Two of them aimed their tridents at him. Magical ropes shot forth from them and bound Ganondorf's arms and legs. Inertia brought him hard to the ground. The monster inside fought the bindings, but it was no use.

King Harkinian tossed Zelda's fake diadem aside and eagerly placed his own crown in its place. The masculine crown morphed into a queenly shape, a large sapphire appearing at the forehead. Everyone stepped away instinctively from the statues as the room began to hum with power. Beams of light blasted out of each pair of glowing eyes, converging at a single point. The supernatural forces droned more and more loudly, building in intensity until finally exploding in a flash of blinding light.

The sound was gone, and as Ganondorf's eyes adjusted he could see a magical portal leading to a whole other world. In the distance, he could see the Triforce. It was leagues away, waiting at the top of a pyramid. It was real. They had made it, only to fail. The symbol of hope was now a badge of despair. He had lost. Already King Harkinian was stepping through the doorway to claim his prize.

The statues themselves had disintegrated, leaving behind the three keys. Were they still magical? It hardly mattered now, did it. He looked around and was surprised to see everyone in the room, including the zoras, were unconscious. The blast from the status' magic was apparently too much for them.

Ganondorf lied there for what seemed like an eternity wallowing in his defeat. He lied there hating the Goddesses, hating Harkinian, and even hating himself for being so weak as to be defeated by ropes. Minutes passed one by one. Every now and then he pitifully checked to see how close King Harkinian was to the Triforce. More minutes passed, and in all that time no one else woke. The blast must have been powerful.

So why didn't it knock him out? The thought had had not occurred to him before, but anything strong enough to knock out both Link and Impa for so long should have knocked him out too. But it didn't. And there was one crystal clear reason why.

Because he was stronger than all of them. Stronger than the power of the goddesses themselves. He felt the monster awake again. He hadn't lost after all. Not yet. As long as the Triforce was within reach, he hadn't lost. With new found determination, he got to his feet and began to press hard against the ropes. He let the monster loose, roaring mightily as he did so. Snap! One by one his bindings ripped apart until his arms and legs were free.

"This is not over!"

Ganondorf picked up the Sword of Power. To his delight, it morphed back into his signature shape. It was still strong, like him. He could see the king was almost to the pyramid now. With a new sense of power and determination, Ganondorf ran through the portal after him.