Chapter 20

A New Lonely King

Pain surged through Ganondorf's body. The trident had penetrated his side deeply, and the monster reacted with fierce vengeance. He released the hilt and watch Link slump to ground lifelessly. He had betrayed him at the end. He would have taken the Triforce from him. Of course he would have, he betrayed even the King of Hyrule. He was always a traitor.

"Look at what you've become!" screamed Zelda in the pouring rain. He noticed that she had taken her father's crown, Nayru's Diadem, and had it in an angry white-knuckled grip. "What happened to you?"

"What happened to me? Ask your father!" he yelled, pointed at the dead king.

"Don't you dare blame him! I was your friend. What did I ever do to betray that trust? I even disobeyed my father… for you!"

The monster was tired of the guilt. "Lies! I saw you going for the Triforce!"

"If I really wanted it, I could have had it. This isn't about me. Or Link. Or my father. This is about you! Look around. If you're looking for blame, point to the murderer!"

"Your father is guilty of the same; he tried to murder my entire people. He knew all along that without me, my people would die!"

"Aveil filled your head with lies. There is no mysterious force between you and your people. She manipulated you."

"No! You did! You were always your father's tool of oppression. Your job has always been to placate me. To keep me calm. To prevent me from being who I truly am."

"And who is that?"

"Ganondorf, Slayer of Demons!" He let the monster loose fully. Electricity crackled at his fingertips as he released a mighty war cry. "I was born with great power, and you were Harkinian's means of suppressing it. Now I will use it as Din always intended."

He stepped towards the Triforce. "To rule!" He slammed his palm against the golden triangle. The Triforce shimmered in reaction. The triangles pulsed and rotated, coming to life. He waited expectantly for his gift, but instead the triangles separated and move away from him. Was this some kind of trick?

Each triangle morphed into a golden replica of a Great Goddess—not the goddesses themselves, but sentient avatars. Standing before him was Nayru, Din, and Farore. "Choose," they said in unison.

"Choose?!" He looked at them angrily. "The Triforce is mine! I claimed it!"

"Choose," they repeated.

He looked back and forth. The choice was clear. To save his people and rule a land hell-bent on their destruction, he needed power. "Din! I choose you."

Din stepped forward and extended her hand to him. He grasped it, and upon doing so, she melted away as he absorbed the essence of the Triforce of Power. His body went into spasms during the alteration, and he saw glowing golden marks appear on his hand and forearm shaped like lightning bolts emerging from a triangle centered on the back of his hand. When it ceased, he felt new. Unstoppable. Powerful.

He turned his sights on the Farore look-alike. He could just take that piece for himself, but when he made to move, he could not. His feet were bound to the floor, magically. He twisted and fought, yet he could not move. Farore walked towards Link.

"No! Where are you going?!"

Silently she knelt beside him and placed her hand on his chest. In a swirl of heavenly light, he watched Farore and Link's motionless body vanish, leaving behind the bloody Sword of Power.

"No! This isn't fair! The Triforce is mine!"

The avatar of Nayru walked toward Zelda whose gaze was not on her, but on him. Never before had he seen her face marked with so much pity. "Enjoy your new prison," she said coldly. Nayru touched her forehead and the two of them faded away.

The supernatural hold upon his feet was released. In the distance, he watched the portal to this realm, barely visible through the still falling rain, close. "Nooooo!"

That was it. He had an entire land all to himself and god-like power. Yet no one to rule. The Gerudo were even more abandoned than ever. They were alone.

He was alone.

A lonely king.

But he would not pity himself. He could feel his newfound power pulsating in his fists. With it he would perform miracles. He would find a way back to Hyrule. He would save his people, but he would need the other two pieces of the Triforce, and this time nothing would stop him from claiming his prize.

Even if he had to pull them from their cold dead bodies.

Zelda appeared inside the underwater temple. Impa, Knowl, and the zora were coming to. Link was nowhere to be found, and the gate to the Sacred Realm was gone.

Knowl was the first to speak to her. "It appears your plan to touch the Triforce at the same time did not come to pass."

Zelda looked at her reflection in the polished marble floor to observe the triangular marking on her forehead. It did not surprise her, for somehow she knew that hosting the Triforce of Wisdom would not be born lightly, or silently. "The Triforce split into three, just as it has done hundreds of time before," she said. She looked at her father's crown in her hand, then placed it on her head. The magical crown morphed into a diadem that complimented her new insignia. "Ganondorf tried to take it all for himself, but given the choice of only one, he of course chose power. Wisdom came to me of its own will. Courage to Link. We are their guardians now. Ganondorf's power is great, but incomplete."

"Where is he?" asked Impa.

"He is trapped in the Sacred Realm. For now."

"For now?"

"There are other doorways to our world. In time, he will find them. And he will come for me."

"What happened to Link?" asked Knowl.

"Ganondorf killed him, but I am sure he's alive, thanks to the Triforce of Courage. I can't guess where he was taken."

"And the King?" asked Impa.

"Dead. Ganondorf's rage is boundless. I cannot say whose hands the Triforce would have been better off in."

Impa consoled her. "I'm sorry. Deep down, your father was certain he was protecting the realm. He believed he was good."

Zelda smiled in understanding. "Don't we all? Even Ganondorf believes his actions are justified."

"What now?"

She turned to Rito. "Can you flood this temple?"

He nodded.

"Do it. Let's ensure at least one doorway remains closed."

"Yes, my Queen," he said, and after a quick bow, he gave orders to the others.

Queen. A moment ago she would have felt unfit, but she had wisdom beyond her years now. Wisdom to assure her of her next move.

"We must find Link. When Ganondorf returns, we will need his courage."

"We have many courageous men at your disposal," said Impa.

"Yes, and we will need them all, but only Link can wield the goddess's special weapon."

"Special weapon?" questioned Knowl. "What do you know of such a weapon?"

"Nothing. I have wisdom, not knowledge. I can't explain it, but it just makes sense that the Great Goddesses would have a counter measure for such a circumstance, and only a mortal imbued with the courage of a goddess should wield it."

"If there is such a power," said Knowl. "I will help you find it."

Link awoke and immediately went into a panic. He'd been stabbed. Horribly stabbed. He looked at his body, but to his relief, no sword was sticking out of it. His tunic was soaked in blood, his blood, and torn at the sword's point of entry. Instead of a gaping mortal wound, there was a merely a neat scar. How on earth did he survive?

He noticed strange markings on his chest. A tattoo of sorts; a triangle with swirling organic lines growing out of it. It shimmered in the light unlike any tattoo he'd seen before. How long was he unconscious? Weeks? Months? And why was someone using his body as a canvas.

He was in a bedroom; one he didn't recognize. Against the wall rested a plain looking shield. He got out of bed anticipating pain or weakness, but there was none. He felt very strong in fact. He picked up the shield, and it morphed and molded itself back into his signature blue shape.

It dawned on him that Zelda might be in trouble, perhaps even dead. Ganondorf had overpowered him. All those years of training, yet he was still caught off guard. He had failed. He had lost. In the end, he always seemed to lose. His father. His friends. Zelda. Ganondorf surely has the Triforce now. The world is probably already in ruins, and all because he dropped his guard.

The door opened, startling him. A silhouette of a person whose face was darkened by the backlight from the other room.

"Well, well, well. Look who's up."

The figure stepped into the room, exposing their identity. Link rolled his eyes dramatically and said, "Oh, great. You!"

Navi fluttered through the forest. She was in a deep blue funk and had been ever since she parted ways with Link. She had made a new home in this forest—one of the oldest ones—with another group of fairies. As an outsider, she had to forage for her own food. Fairies had one cardinal rule: avoid people. They all knew she'd been chummy with a Hylian, so she lived alone on the outskirts of this forest's well-concealed fairy colony. She found an overly ripened berry and considered it suitable for lunch.

She spent her days wandering aimlessly through the less explored part of the forest. The thought occurred to her leave the forest to find Link, but she didn't know where to begin. She didn't even know if he was alive. She often hoped he would show up suddenly with that wry smile, insulting her as though they had never parted. She knew such hope was silly. So, she lived her days in a constant state of depression, flittering here and there in the less travelled parts of the forest without a care. It's possibly something could catch—something hungry, but she didn't care.

There wasn't much of interest in the forest, except for an interesting tree she discovered. It was pretty deep in the forest. The tree was in an open glad, but the glade was surrounded by such dense foliage that no one would know it was there. The tree fascinated her. It was stout and strong, and the lines of the bark make it look as though the tree had a face. She found herself visiting it often and talking to it. Even if it was just a dumb tree with a dumb face, it was nice to talk to someone.

Little did she know, the tree was ancient. The oldest in all of Hyrule. Magic surrounded that tree, and beyond that was something even more spectacular. A man-made pedestal protected by the canopy of strong trees, housing a magnificent sword. A sword that never rusts or loses its shine.

A sword waiting patiently for a master.

To be continued…

Thus concludes my first ever complete fan fiction. I always intended this to be in multiple parts. I wanted to tell a traditional Legend of Zelda story where Zelda, Link, and Ganondorf were slowly built up. I didn't want Ganondorf to simply be a power hungry mad man. I wanted his journey towards evil to be rational, even if misguided. I also liked the idea of Link being all courage and spitfire on the outside, but rather insecure internally. Zelda, of course, is really the hero. It's her legend, not Link's. She's made some mistakes, but now she has wisdom to guide her in the next story. It pained me a little to make the King the antagonist, but it was interested to play with the idea of being so obsessed with good that you become evil in the process. It was also necessary in order to craft Ganondorf's fall from grace.

I took some liberties with traditional LoZ canon. I tried to breathe new life into the things we've come to take for granted. Instead of triangles on the backs of hands, I give the markings new positions to add distinction. Ganondorf's sword and the Hylian shield needed to have more importance than just looking cool, so that's how they become gifts from the Goddesses. The gifts, in fact, will play an important role again later. I didn't want the Master Sword to show up too soon, since it needs to feel like a prize that comes after much struggle and experience. I also expanded on the theology of the goddesses a bit, trying my best to make sense of how they work together and what their motivations are.

It's taken me five years to finish this thing. I would appreciate a final review to let me know if you like it (or not) and if you would like to see the next story. Thanks to everyone that took the time to follow my silly story. It feels good to finally get it all out there.