Travel to Hyrule was instantaneous. It was exactly as Sir Gamelon had described. Zelda touched the mirror, causing the outer edges to glow with a golden light. She grabbed Link's hand and together they stepped into the mirror. Its seemingly solid surface was actually almost entirely illusory. Walking through the mirror was like walking through air. It felt like they had simply walked through a hole in the wall, except it was actually a hole between worlds.
When they emerged out on the other side, they were in a cave. The lower floors of Vaati's castle had been illuminated, but the cave they now found themselves in was dark. The only sources of light were coming from the surface and from the faint glow of the mirror's magic. The cave floor was smooth like the texture of glass. All that remained of the mirror was a faint outline of golden light. When they emerged out of the cave and into the light of day, they immediately saw Hyrule Castle in the distance.
Within about half an hour, they arrived at the castle gate. "Queen Zelda!" cried out one of the guards. "Open the gate!" he shouted. "The Queen is back!" A cheer rose up from behind the walls as the large metal gate was raised by a pulley system. Zelda and Link were immediately greeted by soldiers lined up on either side, saluting them as they walked past. They entered the castle and strode towards the Royal Guard barracks.
A lieutenant was sitting behind a desk in the barracks lobby. He immediately jumped to his feet and saluted Zelda. "At ease, Lieutenant" she said. "We have need of soldiers for a dangerous mission. You have two days to gather together your best men. We are invading a desert land swarming with moblins, so plan appropriately."
"But Your Majesty", I'm just a lieutenant" he protested. Zelda nodded. "Of course. Relay my orders to your commanding officer then. Either way, be advised that it's a dangerous mission but one that is vital to the safety of Hyrule." The Lieutenant saluted her again. "Yes, Your Majesty!"
"Two days?" asked Link as they departed the barracks. "Can we afford to wait that long?"
"We will have to" replied Zelda. "Two days really isn't much time at all for preparation. I would like to have at least a month but that would mean Lord Ghirahim has more time too. I wasn't planning on this mission being so urgent but Ganondorf forced us to hurry when he tipped off his allies in the Sacred Realm."
"So what do we do now?" asked Link.
"Well I am going to check on affairs here at the castle" replied Zelda. "I need to be informed of what has been happening in my absence. You can do whatever you wish, but I would suggest getting some rest first. Your fight with Vaati has clearly made you exhausted."
Link nodded and headed towards his chambers. He collapsed on the soft bed. The fight with Vaati had taken more out of him than he liked to admit. The surprise of facing such a powerful for was unnerving. His fights with Zant and Ganondorf had been planned confrontations, but he hadn't expected this "Count Munro" figure to actually be the legendary wind sorcerer Vaati. He wondered whether he would be taken by surprise like that again. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear the door open behind him.
"Master Link!" a familiar voice cried excitedly. "Serana?" said Link as he rolled over to look at her. She was standing in the doorway smiling coyly at him. Something was different about her but Link couldn't tell what it was exactly.
"Queen Zelda commanded me to see to it that your needs are met" she said, walking slowly towards the bed. "Whatever those needs may be."
"I'm on a comfortable bed" said Link. "After a very long day, that's all I need right now."
"Well that is an awfully big bed for just one person" said Serana. "Maybe I should join you."
Alarm bells were ringing in Link's head. He knew something was off about Serana. Despite his intuition telling him there was something wrong, he began to be lulled into a sense of passivity by Serana's intoxicating eyes.
"You must have had a hard time out there. Your muscles are tired and shaky. Let me help you feel better." Serana licked her lips sensually as she ran a hand over the front of Link's trousers. She reached back behind her head and moved her hair back out of the way. It soon became obvious to Link what she wanted to do.
Before he could say anything, the door to the bedchamber was flung open. Zelda stood there in the doorway. She had an arrow nockedd in her bow and it was pointed straight at Serana. Zelda's face was contorted with seething rage.
"Get away from her, Link!" she said angrily. "That's not Serana."
Link rolled out of the way just in time to avoid Serana's knife plunging into the mattress. Zelda immediately loosed her arrow and sent it plunging into Serana's back. Serana let out an otherwordly howl as she ripped out the arrow from her chest. Chunks of flesh and blood spilled out into the floor along with the arrow but Serana didn't seem to notice. She lunged at Zelda, but Zelda managed to narrowly dodge her and shout to the guards waiting outside.
Guards starting piling in through the doorway. The guard in the lead rammed his sword into Serana's neck. Blood sprayed from the slit in her neck and came oozing out of her eyes. She shrieked in rage as she grabbed the guard's sword by the blade and tore it out of his hands. The blade cut deeply into her palm but she paid no attention to it.
Link was back on his feet and lunged at Serana. His Master Sword pierced her heart. She was momentarily stunned by the power of the Master Sword. Guards had her completely surrounded in an instant and began hacking her to pieces. In seconds, her shrieking came to a sudden halt. Pieces of her shredded body were lying in a bloody puddle on the floor.
Everyone in the room stared at the gruesome mess on the floor in stunned silence for a moment before Link found the words to speak.
"Please tell me you are sure that this wasn't really Serana."
Zelda looked at him. A tear was trailing down her cheek. "I know it wasn't her because I saw Serana's dead body. She was murdered. An ancient spell had been used to sap the life force from her and use it to create this imposter. Most people wouldn't have recognized the magic used and would have simply assumed she died of unknown causes. It seems Vaati had one last surprise waiting for us."