Impa rematerialized outside the entrance to the Shadow Temple. The low pop of her entrance echoed off the dank, stone walls around her. The cave was completely devoid of light, and outside Hyrule was still veiled in total darkness. The ring of torches surrounding Impa stood there unlit and waiting. As a result, the large stone door before her was down barring entrance into the temple.
Impa's eyes cut through the darkness as she stood in the center of the ring of torches staring intently at the door with unblinking eyes. Her face was long and drawn, and she stood there as stiff as a board. The only movement coming from her came from her hands which trembled at her sides as she continued to stare at the door with unwavering eyes. For the first time in her life, fear coursed through Impa's veins.
The dagger, the precision in which it had been thrown, and the poison that it had been coated in all awakened within Impa something that had been buried long ago. The dagger had been one thing on it's own, easily copied but still nonetheless suspicious, but the poison had clinched it for her despite its impossibility. Whatever the case, either way Impa knew that the answer she sought lied beyond that door, and it was what she might find that frightened her.
Knowing that only more harm would come to Hyrule if she ignored this, Impa raised her still trembling hand and snapped her fingers. The torches all around her instantly burst into flame. As the flames of the torches danced off the cave walls, the door began to slowly ascend into the ceiling. The grinding noise of rock against rock was earsplitting in the large expanse, yet Impa held her ground. The area around the door shook as it rose, and dust and small particles of rock fell to the ground. When the door was fully raised, Impa steeled herself and walked through the entrance, disappearing into the darkness beyond.
As the Sage of the Shadow Temple, Impa was able to easily and stealthily move throughout the temple's interior. None of the temple's traps were activated as Impa sped past them at blinding speed. The temple's guardians never even gave her a second glance. As far as Impa was concerned as she moved through the temple, nothing was wrong or out of the ordinary. The deeper she went though, the more her sense of dread grew.
It wasn't long before she was standing before the door that led to the room in which Link defeated Bongo Bongo in nearly eight years earlier. Behind this door rested the answer that she sought. The door flew open at her command and just as quickly slammed shut once she was through. The room was bare except for a large hole in the center of the room, the same way it was when Link had come through here. Impa edged her way over to the edge of the hole and peered over it. It was too dark and too far to see the arena down below. Taking a deep breath though, Impa stood up and jumped down.
Warm, stagnant air rushed past Impa as she plunged down the pit at an ever increasing speed. Her eyes were closed and her body was stiff as she made her descent. Rather than seeing, she pictured the chamber below in her mind. She felt the area around her as she dropped and knew exactly how far from the bottom she was. Just before reaching the ground, Impa front flipped in mid-air landing on her feet in a crouched position with her right hand hovering over the hilt of the sword strapped to her back as if in anticipation of an attack.
Impa's eyes darted back and forth across the length of the arena as she remained in that position. The chamber was only dimly lit, and the only sound came from the bubbling acid that surrounded the arena she currently stood in. Though nothing seemed out of the ordinary, Impa sensed something behind her and quickly whipped her body around, this time actually grabbing the hilt of her sword.
Standing there before her was the robed figure. His hood was up still concealing his face, and the rest of the robe was wrapped around his body revealing nothing. It was as if the robe was just floating there. He made neither a sound nor a move when Impa turned to face him. Keeping her eyes on him at all times, Impa slowly stood up, but not once did she loosen her grip upon her sword. Her eyes remained fixated on him, yet despite her best efforts she couldn't stop her hands from shaking ever so slightly.
"Well, well, well," the robed figure finally said with a laugh, "if it isn't Impa. Long time no see 'old friend.' How many years has it been?"
"It is you then," Impa replied as monotonously as she could. "It can't be though. You're . . . you're . . ."
"Dead!? Yes well, things aren't always the way they seem; now are they? You saw my body yes, but you never actually saw me get killed; now did you?"
"This is impossible! You're nothing more than an illusion, a trick."
"There is no such thing as the impossible, only the improbable. Remember that?"
"How dare you speak my own teachings back to me!"
"Aw, did my words strike a nerve? But really, what's with all this anger? Remember, while anger can be a valuable ally, it can easily become a hindrance in the heat of battle as well. Besides, there's nothing to be angry about. A teacher should be showing joy and pride in the fact that her student remembers all that she has taught him."
"Then why have you forsaken the sacred oaths that you took? You were supposed to protect the Royal Family, NOT KILL ITS KING!"
"Ah, but not every Sheikah has followed the oaths. There have been those who fell from grace; those who took another path."
Impa's eyes opened wide with shock at his words. She stood there unable to breath for several seconds. Impa then lowered her head humbly as the realization of the robed figure's words hit her. Her grip upon her sword was finally released and she brought her hand up to her mouth as if in thought.
"You know then, don't you?" Impa finally said morosely as she slowly raised her head.
"Yes, I do," the robed figure replied, all amusement gone from his voice. "At first I couldn't figure out why you had wanted to hide that from me, but now I know. You never trusted me. You thought I would follow their path."
"No, I was trying to protect you. You were to be the future of the Sheikah. You were to be the beginning of a new generation of Sheikah; a generation that would not have to suffer the crimes of its predecessors. I would've trusted you with my life."
"Amusing, truly amusing. How can you stand there and spew forth those lies knowing that you and I are the only true Sheikahs left?"
"No," Impa said, her tone turning dark, "for some reason you are still alive, but you are no longer a Sheikah. You lost claim to that title the second you raised your fist against Hyrule. Whoever, or whatever you are now, you're a creation of this 'Master' of yours."
"Oh my god," he chuckled, "you don't know who he is. You haven't figured it out yet. You must be slipping Impa, to have not noticed him. You didn't have any trouble realizing who it was the last time I'm sure."
With a wary eye kept on the robed figure, Impa felt out with her senses. At first nothing came to her, but then it hit her like a sack of bricks. She sensed a very dark, and very evil presence from within the charred remains of the Lost Woods. Her body began to tremble, and her eyes and mouth both opened wide with fear.
"No!" she cried. "How can this be? He's dead as well. It's . . . it's simply impossible."
"Oh, I assure you that it is not. Just think, not only did you not see him die, but you never saw a body either. Didn't that ring a bell in that little head of yours?"
"How could you have joined forces with HIM? You are not the man I once knew, not anymore. Whatever you two are planning, it ends here."
"I don't think so. Like you said, it's time for the new generation of Sheikah to rise up, and in order to do that the older generation must die."
"Do you honestly believe that you can defeat the person who trained you herself? I know all your moves and exactly what you're capable of."
"Wrong, you only know half my moves. Remember, in Sheikah training the master only teaches their apprentice the basics. It is then up to the apprentice to go off on their own to complete their training. In this fashion no two Sheikah will ever be alike, and so no one technique can wipe out the entire Sheikah race. You only know half my moves, while I on the other hand know all of yours."
"If you truly believe that you witnessed all that I am capable of, then you severely underestimate me."
"Well then, it looks like things are about to get very interesting. It's time to see if the student has surpassed the master."
Even before the robed figure had finished speaking, his robes flew open and five small daggers came speeding toward Impa. Impa was ready for this and quickly unsheathed her sword. She then effortlessly deflected all five daggers before they could get anywhere near her. After deflecting the daggers, Impa quickly looked up only to find that the robed figure was no longer standing there.
Impa sensed rather than felt the presence of the robed figure directly behind her and immediately placed her sword behind her blocking the strike that would have cleaved her head cleanly off otherwise. She then whipped her body around to face the robed figure directly, her sword making a horizontal slash as she spun. The robed figure blocked the attack, and he then jumped up high into the air. Impa was thrown off by the height of his jump and barely had any time to defend herself when he came barreling back down with his sword held out before him. The two swords met and both the robed figure and Impa were pushed back by the impact.
Wanting to show him the true might of a Sheikah master, Impa gripped the hilt of her sword in both hands and rushed toward the robed figure at blinding speed before he could recover. Impa underestimated him however. The robed figure had already recovered and blocked Impa's swing at him despite the speed of her attack. Impa's eyes revealed shock as the two of them stood there with their blades locked together, and though she couldn't see it Impa was sure that he was smiling beneath his hood.
With a show of strength the robed figure pushed Impa back and immediately followed it up with a thrust attack aimed at Impa's stomach. Impa parried the thrust, and then back flipped out of his attack range. He wasn't going to let her get away so easily though, and charged right at her. As Impa came out of her back flip she was greeted with the sight of the robed figure's sword making a horizontal swing at her neck.
Impa didn't have enough time to bring her sword up to block the attack. She barely managed to tilt her head back as the cold, gleaming steel of the robed figure's sword swung past barely an inch above her face. Not allowing him the time to perform another attack, Impa quickly dropped to the ground and tried a leg sweep. The robed figure jumped up to avoid the attack and went into a front flip. As he came out of the flip he had his sword held out in front of him and pointed down toward the ground at Impa.
Impa rolled out of the way as his sword came crashing down upon the ground, the tip of the sword becoming jammed in the floor of the arena. While he struggled to free his sword, Impa stood up, gripped the hilt of her sword tightly, and charged at the robed figure. He managed to free his sword just in time to block Impa's attack, but Impa had no intentions of letting him off that easily. With her first strike blocked, she swung her sword again and again. Each attack she made the robed figure easily blocked, but the fury in which she was attacking left no room for him to make a counter-attack.
As Impa's attacks increased, she was slowly pushing the robed figure back. He tried to put some distance between them, but Impa refused to allow the small gap between them to grow even an inch. She stood her ground and pounded away upon the robed figure's sword. The strength and speed of her attacks had increased so much by this point that sparks shot forth from each impact of the two swords.
Impa now smiled as she watched the robed figure get ever closer to the edge of the arena. Once there he would have no place to go except into the bubbling acid surrounding them. Impa stepped up her attacks even more. She could sense the desperation now growing heavily within the robed figure. In just a few more seconds a major threat to Hyrule would be eliminated. Putting all her strength into one last swing, she made a horizontal slash that pushed the robed figure back making him teeter on the edge of the arena when he blocked it.
Impa watched with a smirk as the robed figure tried to keep his balance. He was defenseless as he teetered back and forth, and even though Impa could have just easily shoved him off and into the acid she decided to take pity and give him a warrior's death. With both hands gripping her sword, Impa held her blade perpendicular to her body and thrust her blade at his chest. Just before the blade pierced his body however, the robed figure vanished into thin air. Impa stumbled forward a few steps from her momentum, but after regaining her balance she stood there awestruck at his disappearance.
Just then Impa was kicked hard in her back. Caught off guard, the kick knocked her off her feet and she went flying face down over the edge of the arena. Impa's eyes opened wide as she watched the green, bubbling, acid grow closer and closer. She closed her eyes, and just as her body was about to come into contact with the acid, she teleported out of harm. She reappeared high above the arena. Just as she was about to begin falling, Impa reached into her belt and pulled out several daggers. She spotted the robed figure down below searching frantically for her, and quickly tossed the daggers at him before he realized where she was.
The daggers cut through the air at blinding speed. The robed figure heard the low whistle of their approach and looked up to see the rain of sharp, metal death fast approaching. Knowing their was no time to get away, the robed figure lowered his head down toward the ground and braced his body for the immense pain he was about to feel, yet it never came. The daggers slammed down around him, pinning the edges of his robe to the ground. The robed figure laughed at Impa's pitiful attempt to take his life and looked back up only to find Impa speeding down toward him with her sword ready to cleave him in two.
The robed figure turned to get out of Impa's way, but his robe was pinned down tightly. He tried going in the opposite direction, but still he couldn't budge. He looked back up to see Impa now filling his entire view, his eyes focused on the sword aimed right at his head. In desperation he summoned all his strength and rolled his body forward ripping nearly all of his robe off of his body. He rolled several feet away as Impa stymied her attack and landed gracefully upon her feet. With her sword held high she then turned to look upon the robed figure as he scrambled up off the ground.
With the greater majority of his robe now torn off, Impa had a good view of the robed figure's muscular body. The Sheikah outfit he wore was a tattered mess. Holes and slash marks were abundant, and the Sheikah eye on his chest, the symbol of the Sheikah people, was gashed as if a sword had pierced it. It's once proud blue color was now a pale shade that was covered in dried dirt and blood. His skin was extremely pale, yet it held a bluish hue to it that was unnatural. His hood still remained connected to the roughly foot long length of robe that lingered and continued to keep his face hidden in shadow.
Impa watched as he stood there, panting and holding his sword in a defensive stance while he sized her up. Impa was panting as well. She could not believe how skilled he had become since the last time she saw him. Impa stood sizing him up as well, trying to decide what was the best course of action to take next. Slowly, the two of them began to circle each other as they continued their stalemate. Each step they took was slow and calculated, and they stared at each other intently. Impa was positive that underneath that hood his eyes were meeting hers.
In a move designed to both surprise and throw off Impa's guard, the robed figure began to yell as he charged straight for her, twirling his sword as he did so. Impa planted her feet firmly on the ground and turned her attention to the robed figure's spinning blade. Her eyes followed its every movement, waiting for when it would strike. Impa kept her sword out before her on a slant ready to deflect any attack, both her hands gripping it tightly. The robed figure continued his yelling as he closed the distance between them, twirling his blade ever faster to throw Impa off.
As he came upon her he ceased twirling the sword and brought his arm out to his side for a horizontal attack. Impa immediately saw this and turned to intercept the attack only to watch instead with surprise as he tossed the sword out of his right hand and catch it in his left. Before Impa could react he swung away, the tip of his sword nicking Impa's side as she did her best to sidestep the swing. Impa screamed in pain but held her composure. Quickly recovering she turned and parried a thrust aimed at her chest.
Impa followed the parry up with an upward swing of her sword. The robed figure jumped back away from the attack, momentarily losing his balance. Impa capitalized on this and charged him. He blocked the first attack, but the strength of Impa's swing knocked his sword downward and left him open to a counter-attack. Impa saw this as well and quickly swung her sword. The robed figure jumped away, but not before suffering a deep slash across his arm. Unlike with Impa however, he never made a sound as the cold steel sliced through his flesh and blood spilled across the ground.
Ignoring the blood now flowing freely down his left arm, the robed figure readied his sword and jumped at Impa. Impa blocked the attack with ease despite being pushed back slightly by the impact. The robed figure meanwhile pushed off of the impact and jumped back out of the way in preparation for a counter-attack. Upon landing back on his feet he immediately charged Impa to ensure she didn't have any time to plan an attack of her own. He made a thrust at her, which she easily side-stepped, but his true intention was to make her sidestep so he had a clear shot at slicing her stomach open.
Impa saw the deception at the last second and quickly teleported out of his reach. When she reappeared she immediately adopted a defensive stance, yet the robed figure was nowhere in sight. Impa quickly spun 360 degrees in search of him, but the arena was empty. The only trace of him left was his already congealing blood upon the ground. Impa looked above her in anticipation of a copycat of her move, but there was no sign of him there either. Despite the relative safety she was in, not once did she relax her defenses.
"Coward!" Impa shouted into the empty chamber through her panting. "This is not how I trained you to be. I taught you to stand your ground and never give up, but I guess your precious 'Master' has taught you different values. I guess the student has not surpassed the master then."
As soon as Impa's last words left her lips, a dagger flew out of nowhere and jammed itself directly in the center of Impa's right hand. Impa screamed in agony as her sword fell from her grasp and clanged upon the ground beneath her. Blood gushed forth from the wound. Fighting through the pain, Impa reached over with her left hand to pull out the dagger. Before she could though, another dagger came flying out of nowhere piercing her left hand.
Impa screamed out again as blood now gushed forth from both her hands. The pain coursing through her body was so intense now that she was beginning to stagger. Just then there was the popping sound of the robed figure reappearing behind Impa. Before Impa could turn around however, the robed figure took his sword and slashed the backs of both of Impa's legs severing her Achilles tendons. Impa's legs collapsed underneath her and she slammed face down upon the ground with a crash. Meanwhile, the robed figure stood over her body laughing sinisterly.
With so much pain coursing through Impa, her body was slowly becoming numb to the pain. Her own warm blood began pooling underneath her. Impa was now gasping as her eyes started to become hazy. Still laughing, sporadically now, the robed figure kicked Impa hard in the side turning her body over so that she now rested on her back. He stared mirthfully at her pained face which had become blood covered when it had rested in the pool of blood beneath her.
"A coward you say," the robed figure laughed. "You should know better than anyone else the value of surprise attacks. After all, I did learn from the best. Besides, weren't you the one who fled from Ganon eight years ago when he conquered Hyrule? You know, before you said that I was no longer a Sheikah, but now I suppose neither are you. Sheikah's are warriors, but seeing as how you can now longer wield a weapon nor even stand, what kind of a warrior are you?"
"Just finish it already," Impa gurgled through a blood filled mouth. "End my life so that I can at least leave this world with some honor."
"If only it were that simple. I'd gladly give you a warrior's death, but my 'Master' has demanded that you be brought before him alive."
"What's the matter? Are you afraid to speak his name? Are you afraid to say . . ."
With a powerful right hook the robed figure knocked Impa unconscious before she could finish her sentence. He then sheathed his bloody sword and hoisted Impa's bloody and unconscious form onto his shoulders. With one short chuckle he took a Deku Nut out from his belt, tossed it at the ground, and in a bright flash both he and Impa were gone.