The Waters of Nayru
Chapter 47: Call to Destiny
By, Frank Hunter

When it wasn't the end, Rigo almost felt disappointed. There would have been a simple kind of peace in losing, in dying. A rest the likes of which he hadn't felt in years. But he didn't go out for long. Didn't see a light at the end of the tunnel. He could feel the blood trickling down his back, but it was nothing more than a scratch. The Hero of Time had not finished him. He had left him there.

Vision began to clear, and the sight of grass beneath him, green in the shaded daylight, coalesced into recognizable sight. Rigo felt light-headed, but pushed himself up anyway. He fought delirium, needing instead to see what had happened. Had the battle ended? Was everyone dead?

As he made his feet, he spotted the shape of the green-clad Hero off to his side, and started almost violently enough to fall to the ground again. But the Hero didn't see him. Link had his back turned, and was facing the Pedestal of Time and, Rigo knew, the Chalice. He had his weapon, the Master Sword, raised high overhead, but something was wrong. The Hero wasn't moving. He stood, still as a statue, as though striking a dramatic pose for an audience that wasn't there. Rigo watched him for a long moment, but nothing continued to happen. He just stood there.

Maybe this is a dream, he thought to himself. Maybe I really am dead.

Sorry to burst your bubble, came the immediate reply. But we're both still here.

Rigo stifled a laugh. Like you can prove anything, he thought at Nabooru. You're dead too.

With an effort of will, he was able to put one foot ahead of the other. Through a challenge of balance, he kept from falling, and repeated the procedure, approaching the Hero slowly as the world blurred around him in a fuzzy, surreal way. Were there still the sounds of battle clamoring in the distance? He couldn't tell. He could only distantly notice that his sword was still clutched in his hand.

He circled around the Hero to get a better look at the man, and had to process what he was seeing. Link stood there, before the Chalice, and Rigo could feel something radiating off the artifact. There was a kind of energy there, flowing like water from the Chalice into the Hero. Rigo thought that if he closed his eyes he could almost see it, but decided that that made even less sense than usual. Still, he could feel the force, and apparently Link could feel it too, because he was fettered with no apparent means of escape. Though as Rigo came around into his field of vision, Link's eyes darted to him. So, his opponent could still see. He was still conscious. And he looked afraid. Deathly afraid.

So, this was really happening.

Rigo lifted his blade and looked up and down the weapon. It felt like it weighed a million pounds in his hand, and he knew that if it came down to it, he probably couldn't fight another battle now. But from the looks of things, he wouldn't have to.

Link's tunic overlapped a jacket of strong chain mail. Rigo could see it under his sleeves and at his waist. That sort of armor, good for protecting one's body during a fast and frantic battle, wouldn't be of any use to him now. Helpless as he was, Rigo would have only to slide it up to expose the soft flesh of Link's side, his mortal body underneath the symbolic outfit he wore. Rigo's sword would cut through that flesh without trouble or hesitation. The steel would slide up between his ribs and puncture his heart, his lungs. It would put an end to him here without trouble. The battle would be over. And from the fear in his eyes, Rigo guessed Link knew it too.

The way in which he stood, with his hands over his head and his sword safely out of the way, served to make him appear that much more vulnerable. It was an odd stance in which to get caught. Rigo wondered what it was he'd been trying to do. He could have just reached down and taken the Chalice, stolen away with it while Rigo was unconscious. That would have done the job, to close the Fountain and leave Hyrule with the key. But the way he was standing it almost looked like his plan was to destroy it.

He smirked at the idea, contemplating the absurdity of the notion when he was forced to the conclusion that it wasn't absurd at all. His condescension turned to curiosity, then slowly into epiphany. His denial disappeared and was replaced with absolute revelation. Rigo realized that this, all of it, made sense under an assumption that he had never before considered. Until now, he had expected that Queen Zelda was only looking out for her own interests. That she wanted the Chalice for Hyrule. He'd felt betrayed when Link had shown up here, that was true. It had looked on the surface as though Zelda had sent some powerful agent into the chaos simply to ensure that she came out on top in the end of it all. But what if that wasn't the case? What if, when they had spoken, Zelda had simply been telling Rigo the truth?

Truth. It was a novel concept. Rigo had spent the majority of his life weeding through so many lies and deceptions, how could he possibly have expected it? But if Zelda were just speaking truth, if she was just interested in the safety of both of their people, Hylian and Gerudo alike, and was not interested in gaining the power of Nayru for her own benefit, that would explain things. It would explain the rift between her and Tydus, a man who knew only might and how to best use it against an enemy. It would explain the glorification of Zelda's line in the Hylian mythology. And it would explain this. Rigo looked at Link again, in a new light, as he stood there frozen in time. This was Nayru's Fountain alright, but Rigo wondered which goddess's power it was that had prevented the Hero from lashing out at the Chalice. It probably wasn't Nayru standing against Link now.

It was Din. She stood watch over her investment, seeking the preservation of power as it now stood in Rigo's hands. She watched over Rigo, who would take that power and use it to defy the other entities and claim lordship over all. He looked again at the sword in his hand, no longer wearied by the weight of it, but frustrated that his hand should serve as such a single-minded tool in this game that the goddesses had been playing seemingly since the dawn of time. He didn't need to be a pawn, did he? In chess, a pawn could always reach the end of the board. At that time, it could become anything it wanted. Any other piece, which could move in any way imaginable. Nothing kept it on the straight and narrow after that.

He felt like he'd reached the end of the board. There was nowhere to go from here but backward, and to start cleaning up the mess he'd helped create. But to do that, he'd start with a move that none of them could have seen. It was the only move left to him now, and the only way to ensure that the future came out with a grain of hope left in it.

Under Link's stare, Rigo gripped his sword tighter with his hand and, with conviction, took the single, powerful swing that would lock him into a new destiny. He did not aim for Link's neck, or his gut, or any part of his body whatsoever. He aimed for the Chalice. And whatever power it was that safeguarded the artifact now was either too preoccupied with the Hero or too unprepared for this new attack to stop him too.

Rigo's sword came down onto the Chalice with all the force he could put behind it, and when he struck the lip of the cup, the blade sliced through the soft metal until it was cloven straight in two. His sword clanged hard against the Pedestal of Time at the bottom with a spark, and the essence of the Chalice's magic blew out from it in a hurricane gust. Rigo raised his arm to shield his eyes as his cloak and hair were thrown out behind him. Leaves tumbled about the clearing outward from the Pedestal. Link's hat blew out in the gale like a windsock. And just as quickly as it all had happened, it was over, and the two men were in the clearing alone.

Link came back to himself in an instant of release and stumbled, seemingly unfamiliar with the sensation of moving his own body again. He lowered his sword to his side and looked at Rigo in utter disbelief, before turning to the severed halves of the Chalice of Nayru. Rigo stepped up and examined them as well. Whatever mesmerism the cup had held before, that was gone now. Broken as it was, it was nothing but two small hunks of molded silver and the insetting, some of which was shattered on the ground. It no longer pulled or fascinated. It was finished.

Rigo couldn't help but let out a laugh. The sound of it was a relief, and he burst into a fit of laughter on the spot. This. Everything had been fought for this. All the dire consequences and visions he'd had of disaster. All of that, because of this. And now here it was. Useless. He laughed and collapsed, sitting down on the edge of the Pedestal. He wished he'd thought of the idea himself.

Link turned to him and apparently couldn't help cracking a smile himself. Rigo wanted to say something to the Hero. Some apology or explanation, or any rectification of what he had done, but there was nothing. No words could do more than his action had, and instead he just looked at Link, giggled, and nodded. Both of them knew what had needed to be done, and Link, it seemed, understood. The Master Sword was tucked back into its scabbard, and the Hero exhaled a sigh of relief.

What would happen now? Would the survivors be able to get out of Hyrule? Could they flee back to the desert, back to their homes, without any more death? Could he and Amili come out of this alright after all? He could only hope.

He didn't know how long he sat there reveling in this victory, forgetting about the conflict outside, before Nabooru's voice came to him again from its usual place.

Kid, get up! We have a problem.

Rigo groaned outwardly, eliciting a raised eyebrow from Link. He turned his conversation inward. Did we manage to stop it? Did we lower the Fountain?

It's destroyed, kid. The Chalice and the Fountain are one here. It's destroyed. But you weren't fast enough!

Rigo swallowed hard. What do you mean?

You've gotta get through the Door now, Nabooru insisted. It's Tydus.

Rigo's heart froze. No, he thought. No, there was no way that man could still be a problem. How was it possible? He turned to Link. "We need to check on the Fountain," he said. The Hero agreed and nodded.

Rigo pulled himself to his feet and trotted off toward the stairs, back toward the battle, and prepared to enter the Sacred Realm with Link at his back. If Tydus was really still alive, then it was time to end him once and for all.