Chapter XXXVIII – Sacred Melody

Ganondorf lay on his back. Brightness. He put his arm in front of his eyes. Far too bright. He felt his breath, slowly. He must have fallen asleep. Exhausted from the hunt of the wolfmen. No surprise. He opened his eyes. That was no excuse to lay dormant.

Ganondorf lifted his upper body, feeling a bit dizzy. His view tended towards the tree. Motionless it stood there, stiff as one expected from wood. As he looked around, something had changed though. Moments slipped before it dawned on him. The glowing had vanished. Those insects, they had all gone.

No matter. Ganondorf stood up, whipping of the grass stalks sticking on his armor. He could not deny that his protection had seen better days before. The leather had gotten ripped of the metal, parts of his body only got covered by cloth. At least the claws of the wolfmen had not torn his flesh in such a degree, only inflected him with minor wounds.

Towards the tree he walked, the grin returned on his face. "Now, old wood pile. Still resisting? If you tell me about your secret, we can make this quick and clean." Ganondorf stared at the blank face of the tree. It did not move. He waited. Still nothing.

Ganondorf let his hands slap against his legs. He just had woken up and he was already annoyed. Fine! He would figure out the secret and how it connected to the Sacred Realm on his own then.

The hole in its bark caught his interest. Even big enough that he fit in. The spider must have gotten really hungry if it ate that much in just one night. How deep had it come? He had to see for himself.

Ganondorf stemmed his hands on the bark, lurking inside. He could not trust his own eyes. Astonishing. A vault, a great vault. That tree, hollow, it was hollow! His view wandered over the walls. Albeit only slim light, from the look they had the texture of something that had grown here naturally. Unbelievable, inside this tree dwelled a habitat of its own. Just when he had thought things could not get any weirder, this forest showed him better every moment.

He gritted his teeth, rubbing along the bark. There had to be something hiding in there yet alone the thought of climbing into a speaking hollow tree disturbed him. Not to mention whatever weird things could be hiding in there. That curiosity though. And the urge to get closer to his goal. He had to get inside. He just had to. He must.

Ganondorf shoved all of his worries aside as he lifted himself up, climbing into the hole and sliding onto the ground. It cracked under his feet. Now inside, his view fell on the web spawned in the middle, big enough that even he could easily fall into the hole. Probably the spider began to create its nest deep down there. Seeing the proportion, he wondered if his incantation was really a great plan to begin with. Who knew which monster he might have created?

He shook his head. No time to think about it, he could not change it anymore. Carefully he wandered around the hole, still awestruck by the sight. A hollow tree with such a habitat inside. He could not get over it.

Pain. On his head. Ganondorf suppressed the scream of surprise as he touched the aching spot, turning around to see what hit him. Besides clumps of grass and flowers here and there on the various wooden ledges he saw nothing. He scratched his head. Maybe something had fallen down. That tree was old, from the looks even very old, should not surprise him that it crumbled.

Ganondorf walked along the wall, feeling on the bark. Pain. Again. On his head. That could not be a coincident. Yet this time, he only tended his head around slightly, observing the other side of the room out of the corners of his eyes. Movement. A pile of leaves.

As he turned around, the leaves had become immobile again. He would not fall for that. No way. Ganondorf conjured a fireball in his hand. Not too strong, he did not want to kill it. Not yet, first he wanted to see what it was before he turned it into ashes.

With whimpering, the pile of leaves leaped down once Ganondorf had set his lower parts on fire. Perplexed, Ganondorf watched it as it run around in circles, panicking. He neither had seen something like this before, nor any clue what it was supposed to be. A small body of wood, covered in leaves. Yellow glowing eyes with something reminding him of a pipe between them. With that it must have shot him.

"Can you speak?" Ganondorf raised an eyebrow, not believing that thing was capable of it. Whimpering and even more whimpering as it still tried to quench the flames while running in circles. Pathetic, just pathetic. Ganondorf turning it into ashes.

He leaned on a wall, observing if more of these plants longed for death. Though the longer he stared at the inside of this old tree, the more he felt it. Something strange, hidden from the eye. Too bizarre to be comprehended by the mind.

Ganondorf let his hand slide into his pocket and put out the jewel, the guide to the Sacred Realm. Astonished he noticed a glowing within. Even its color had a brighter shade. "The guide, eh?" Ganondorf mumbled. "So, just how will you lead me to the Sacred Realm?" He had no doubts anymore to have found the place Azett had described, as fuzzy as his notes were.

Ganondorf fumbled around his pockets. He had to get a view on the documents again, he had read remarks about how to call the gates to the Sacred Realm, but without knowing the place, they remained too vague to make much sense for him. Now though, now he should be able to figure them out.

Nervously, he searched further. Why did he not find his records? A sting in his chest. Paralyzed. Of course, he had lost them in the forest. He gritted his teeth. Damn it, why had he not picked them up the moment they had fallen down. How careless!

Ganondorf ran his fingers through his hair. No use to get enraged, he would not get them back from that maze. He had to concentrate, to remember what Garland and Azett had written about getting into the Sacred Realm. The jewel would guide him. Now the next step. What was the next step… something about a melody. Yes, a melody. But which…

Ganondorf tore his hair. What a nightmare. The stronger he tried to remember, the more blurred his thoughts became. This had no meaning. He had to distract himself to regain a clear mind. Maybe to get something to eat and drink would help as well. Luckily, he did not need to fear the tree would flee if he left him alone for a while when he scouring the village for a meal.

The sun had passed her highest peak as Ganondorf had sat down on the glade, a jar filled with water in his hand. Much better, he felt much better with a filled stomach. He also remembered now, Azett wrote he needed a melody able to conquer time to lure the other realm to open its gate to this world. The demon had also mentioned a connection to the Hylian dynasty.

Melody. Time. Hylian dynasty. That sounded familiar. "The Song of Time," he mumbled, first played to him amongst other songs by Zelda in that one night in the cathedral to prevent him from leaving. Later on he had heard it played on festivals as well for it being a traditional song rooted deep within the Hylians history. He even learned it on the organ for it sounded majestically and he liked that.

A good thought indeed. From where he should get an organ though to try out his assumption remained a mystery. Maybe humming could do the trick. A desperate grin appeared on his lips. As if he could hit a tone, less form a whole melody.

Ganondorf let his jar drop and rummages in his pocket. How could he forget what Link brought back? The ocarina that mysterious man had gifted him after his first mission. The royal's emblem engraved on it. Three golden triangles, connected to form a great one. Could this be the key, his key to true power? He rushed towards the tree, climbing inside again.

His euphoria vanished. Despite the one time his curiosity overpowered him, he never had lead the ocarina to his lips. Too embarrassing, a tall man playing a tiny instrument.

Glancing. To the right. To the left. No one here, the tree and the spider did not count and the children were too busy hiding anyway. Ganondorf took the ocarina into both hands and held it on his lips. Blew air in it.

A sound. Fading. A gentle breeze. Something changed if only for a moment. He sensed it, as soft as it was. Good, very good. On the right track he was, now he needed to follow it further, educe a sacred melody.

Tones echoed through the tree. He felt a pulling. He felt it within every muscle. No matter how bland, something reacted towards the ocarina and its tones. Even more when he could lure different sounds from it.

Ganondorf played on it again. Trying to form the 'Song of Time' he had listened to so often. His sounds remained monotonous. Without a soul. He tried. Again and again in vein.

Wrath. He almost crushed the ocarina within his hand. No melody, he could form no melody. He could not even hit a tone! How was this abomination of an instrument was even meant to be played?!

Ganondorf let his arms fall down and leaned against the wall. Calm down, he needed to calm down. With wrath in his veins he achieved nothing. He had not learned the organ within mere hours either, he could not expect it to be different with an ocarina, despite its rather simple form.

He knew the melody. He knew how to play that an organ. All he needed to do now was to transfer his knowledge onto the ocarina. That needed time. He needed to give it time. Determined, he encompassed the tiny instrument. True, he lusted for the power awaiting him, but what would be a few more days, maybe weeks compared to the years he had spent in oppression.

Endless attempts of pouring out the right tones from the ocarina. Days passed by. He concentrated still, feeling the gentle breeze, the soft motion in his surroundings within the tree. He played again. A shiver in the atmosphere, his hackles rose. Playing. Relentlessly. The breeze. The motion. The shiver.

Stronger. They grew stronger every time. The 'Song of Time', he heard it clearer with his every attempt.

Concentrating. The surrounding blurred. Go on, go on. The melody, such a familiar sound. He had it, he almost had it. He felt it. The motion, the shivering, stronger, stronger. This time they spread through his body. Prickling. At first in his chest, moving into his hands, his feet. His head.

Too strong. This prickling, too strong. Ganondorf let go of the ocarina, bracing himself on the wall. He could not keep himself on his feet. Down on his knees. Air, he gasped for air. Something pulled on him, robbing him off his breath. His senses, they whirled, they twisted. A mess, all blurred into just one mess. He did not see the tree anymore. He did not hear the spider. The ground beneath, he felt it no more.

He was pulled, deeper and deeper still. Or was it higher? Every scream, eaten away. Brightness. He closed his eyes, trying to protect them with his arms. Everything spun around. Further around and around. Darkness.

Ganondorf felt cold from his legs and stomach. He stretched out his hands. Yes, ground was under him again. What a relief. Should be stones. He opened his eyes. His view was still blurred yet he looked at a hallway, its floor ornamented with golden symbols. Round plates with the symbol of the Golden Power within them.

He moaned as he lifted himself on the elbows. Such a strenuous task. He looked up at those high walls. Pillars held the ceiling, more than a dozen standing next to each other on both sides of the hallway. At the end of the hall, he saw an altar, guarding a door behind. The great windows though, he only saw a white fog outside. No sky, not even a glimmer of the sun.

Bizarre, truly bizarre. As if he had entered another world. Was that the Sacred Realm?

"I have told you, you are not welcomed here." Alarmed, Ganondorf leaped on his feet. His exhaustion, blasted away in an instant as he heard that familiar voice. "This place is not for you, unsacred invader!"

Ganondorf looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. Only at a second glance he noticed a transcendence being hovering over the altar. The proportions of a human, clade in armor, its face hidden behind a helmet. It wielded no weapons.

"I haven't missed you either. So just go back into the hole you silly ghost came from and leave me alone." Fear, he felt none. Too far he had come by now that he would let this thing intervene. And now that he had that thing in front of him, he could show this miserable existence what it meant to mess around with him. Steel might do nothing to a disembodied apparition but magic worked wonders.

With a grin on his lips, Ganondorf walked towards the ghost, his dark powers called within his fists. Not half way towards it, he felt a heavy weight on his feet. Looking down, he saw nothing. Trying to make a further step, the weight climbed up his body. First his legs. Into his chest. Arms. His hands. Making every step an agony. Ganondorf gritted his teeth. No, he would not go down. No, not now.

His knees gave away. Too much the load, yet nothing to see. Ganondorf trembled, still bracing himself on his elbows. Too heavy, he became too heavy. His face kissed the stone. Horrified, he stared at his hand lying next to his head.

"I am the guardian of the Sacred Realm. I will not allow the unblessed to enter and dishonor this world." Ganondorf felt the shady presence of the ghost amidst the cathedral, causing a shiver on his neck when it neared. "If you wish to enter, prove your worth, dishonorable carrier of the sacred Spiritual Stone. Otherwise be trapped in time for all eternity for the sin you have committed when tainting this realm."

As if he cared what this ghost wanted! He had to get up! That was all that mattered. But how, this question remained unanswered. He felt like being buried under stones, yet nothing was upon him. Just what was wrong with him, this could not be. It could not!

Breath in, breath out, no meaning to panic. Fear would get him nowhere. He had gotten out of other hopeless situations before. He just had to keep calm. He had encountered worse than a ghost who believed himself to be some untouchable guardian. His mood lightened, his unease changed for joy. That thing would be in for a surprise. A big one.

He might be unable to move but neither his magic got silenced nor his strength drained. Within one hand he concentrated his magic, trying to keep it hidden. Might take a bit more of his powers to suppress its particles from outspreading but it was well worth it.

Ganondorf unleashed the spell on the self-proclaimed guardian. A sound pierced the air, a crash into the wall. However, he remained just as unmovable as before. No, no! He could not have missed his enemy.

"Magic does not save you." The voice, it sounded just as cold as before. No fear. No pain. Nothing. As if his spell had just gone through. "Magic does not prove worth of any living creature. It does not make you worth entering the Sacred Realm."

"What then?" Ganondorf mumbled, his voice having become thin from the load, heavy as mountain. The ghost remained silent. This could not be the end. It could not. It must not! Too far he had come! Way too far!

Some stupid ghost would not get in his way and deny him what he desired. All his hardship as a slave, as a knight, as a king. He would not allow them to go in vein just because of some pathetic ghost. No! He had to take revenge on Aldar! He had to avenge his folk! He was their hope, their one and only hope!

His blood boiled inside him. A warrior's cry. No load would keep him down. No! He had to push on! He pushed on! Nothing could hold him back from gaining the power to set himself atop. He had overcome all those challenges, this ghost was nothing compared to them. Nothing! Everything he put into this one attempt, everything of his power. He leaped back on his feet. The load, away with it! The ghost, he saw him right in front of him. He balled his fist. Black magic surrounding it, ramming it into the transcended being's mug.

Within a moment, Ganondorf felt losing all of the weight dragging him down. The ghost grew hazy around Ganondorf's fist. "I understand. Your willpower is beyond that of a mere mortal. Your willpower is of worth." The ghost disappeared, only its voice echoed through the cathedral. "Come. Come then, carrier of the Spiritual Stone. Follow the call. Take the blessing of our creators. Take what fills your heart. Embrace what you most desire."

Silence. Ganondorf remained rooted on his spot, gazing at the altar. He still could not realize what just happened, fighting his way out just with his will to survive and keep on his quest to rise to power.

He laughed. Whole-heartily. If all his foes would fall to his ambitions he would have an easy time.

Ganondorf walked towards the door and his view fell on a pedestal. The symbol of the Triforce was engraved into its stone yet he was more surprised about the sword which stuck in it. A blue hilt, reminding him of wings of a bird. At first curious, he noticed the unease arising inside him when he neared.

Unpleasant, truly unpleasant as if something in him was repelled by it. He had neither seen nor even heard about a sword with such abilities. He stretched out his hand. No pain but an urge to move away as far and fast as he could. Yet he would not. To strong his own curiosity. He encompassed the hilt.

A sting. Right from his fingers down to his toes. He let go, shaking his hand. Once he looked into his palm, he did not see any injury. The aches faded as fast as they came.

What a weird blade. What worth did it have if it could not be wielded? No wonder it was abandoned here, stuck into the stone, never carried by anybody. Ganondorf walked past.

He examined the gate, gigantic in size, topping his own with ease. In the height of his chest, he noticed a small niche in the proportion of the jewel. The Spiritual Stone as the ghost called it. As he took it out, it glowed in an intensity he had never seen before. He pressed it into the hole. The glowing spread, covering the whole gate. Slowly it opened, giving free the way for the light from outside. The white fog entered and covered his feet.

Ganondorf stretched his arm through the fog. He took a step into the unknown. Carefully, could he not say what awaited him. Solid ground beneath his feet. He passed through.

Outside, the fog cleared, giving him view on a realm so different. He stood rooted on his place. Silence as if not even time existed here. The sky glowed in gold. Islands of rocks, plate on top, pointed on bottom floated midair, surrounded by the fog. Between all those islands one path lead along to a glowing on the horizon. The source though, it remained hidden.

Deep inside, hidden beyond mortal's will…

Ganondorf turned around, looking at the cathedral. He could have sworn he had heard something, yet it differed from the voice of the ghost. It sounded soothing and calming instead. He shrugged it off as his imagination.

His one true wish rests within his heart, waits to be fulfilled…

Again. It sounded more like a remnant of an echo. Ganondorf turned his view on the path. There laid his future. And only there. He pressed on. The further he came, the more he felt this restlessness, this urge to go on, follow the path to its end. Almost as if he was lead from an outer force.