"One of the hardest lessons in life is letting go. Whether it's guilt, anger, love, loss or betrayal. Change is never easy. We can fight to hold on and we fight to let go."
~Unknown~
Shards Of Time
An Ocarina of Time FanFiction
Chapter 5: Cursed
~Interlude~
"Great and powerful Din, you have created the very basis of the lives of this sacred land. You carved the mountains that cut the sky like knives and churned the sands that rage across the deserts to the west. Oh great and powerful Din, may you grant your blessing and mercy onto us as we act in your stead since the creation of the red earth." The wind picked up the chanting of the Gerudo as more fuel was added into the fire, and a single arrow of blazing fire rockets into the sky.
Nisah unclasped her hands as the fire roared and danced in the eyes of her Sisters, watching as the Fire Arrow was consumed by the clouds above. Cheers surrounded her ears as the prayer ended, a smile creasing her face as many more torches were lit around the area as well as many incense sticks. The festivities soon began to carry on around the bonfires, and Gerudo songs are soon sang across the sandy terrain once more.
At that time, only a few hours had passed since Ciren had been forced to leave, and only about half an hour since Nisah had gone in search of her fellow Purpura.
There had been no sight of her.
While the moon was only just beginning to rise into the midnight sky, most of her Sisters were drunk beyond belief. As Nisah had always thought: drunks and fire was never a good thing. And yet, her Sisters must have been semi-coherent to send their prayers towards Din for creating their land.
She watched as some Hierbas waltzed past her, stepping on each other's toes without a care in the world, a smile growing across her face as they did so. She then found herself sighing deeply as she sagged once more against the wall behind her, catching Nabooru in the crowd as her thoughts turned to Ciren again.
Strangely, Nabooru seemed to be extremely agitated and uncomfortable, something that confused Nisah greatly.
Ciren hadn't returned after Nabooru had forced her into leaving, and Nisah isolated herself with guilt, drinking constantly. As much as Nisah wanted to be looking for her, Nisah knew better then the bother her fellow Purpura when she was in such a mood; not that she blamed her. And besides, Nisah didn't want to face the reality that her friend was in all of this trouble because of her.
This is all your fault.
"Of course it is." Nisah whispered, making sure that no one heard her.
Why aren't you looking for her?
She hung her head low. "I can't face her."
Is that the spirit of a Gerudo?
"No, but I can't just—"
You need to suck it up and be a Gerudo about it. You'll never make the top ranks with such an attitude.
"I..."
Gasps suddenly filled the area, causing Nisah to fall out of her mental argument and halt when she began to leave the Archery Range. She snapped her head upward, wondering what was going on. The crackling of the flames sliced her ears as the thick tension settled in her throat, and she couldn't help but feel her heart racing for some reason as she noticed shadows creep over the canyon – one main figure becoming apparent through the crowd of colours.
Ganondorf...
The King rose onto a small platform, the entirety of his tribe clumping together before him, all dropping into deep bows and calls of respect. Despite what Nisah felt, she had no choice but to follow her Sisters so that she was not isolated out for "treasonous behaviour". With a flick of his wrist, his followers all straightened simultaneously. "I am honoured to have such loyal followers..." He mused, diving straight into a speech that everyone listened intently to.
All except Nisah, whose mind was on Ciren only after what they had heard about their King in the Spirit Temple.
And yet, after a few minutes, the King's voice rose to such a level that Nisah had a hard time not listening to the "powerful" and "inspirational" words.
"We Gerudo are stronger than any other race in Hyrule." The King roared triumphantly. "Din blessed us with the power to dominate over the other regions in the hopes of becoming the greatest race of all time, and I believe strongly enough in this. I want to drive our tribe into a time of hope and prosperity."
As one, the crowd roared: "Hope and prosperity!"
The King revealed his set of pearly white teeth that contrasted against his tanned skin. "And, although the road towards paradise may be long, the unity of the tribe shown here today will prove the journey to be worth it!"
Cheers broke out all over the crowd, and Nisah was forced into clapping herself, as much as her mind was elsewhere. Nisah would have effortlessly before she had heard what the King spoke of in the Spirit Temple when she and Ciren went in there after Nabooru's suspicions over the King, and now Nisah could easily read between his words as well as the glint in his eyes.
Whatever he's planning, it isn't good.
Nabooru's eyes watched the King's skeptically, the fire dancing in her eyes much like with the King's, but it was a different glitter; it was anger and defiance. He watched the crowd with a potent smirk as the crowd carried on cheering without Nisah.
"Now..." He commanded as his grin grew until it was almost abnormal. "We toast to our tribe!"
He raised his fists, and all glasses but Nisah's were risen into the air before being downed by her Sisters as they all chanted: "To the Gerudo!" Nisah simply rose her hand in recognition, her mood wilting since the King arrived. As the crowd died down, Ganondorf began waging through the crowd and met Nisah's eyes.
And, in that fraction of a second, she saw "the look" again. The look of empowerment, and how much dominance he held over his tribe; a power so big that Nisah was surprised that it hadn't choked him to death yet.
I need to find Ciren, she resolved when she averted his gaze. She'll know how to make me feel better, no matter what I did.
Nodding to herself, she carefully began to cut her way through the crowd of drunk and less coherent Gerudo, my mood being even more dampened by the feeling of power in such a place. Yes, Gerudo nature was about power, but the power that the King wanted seemed corrupted in a way. No matter how much her loyalty was to the King, she didn't like it whatsoever.
Nisah's speed picked up drastically as she raced down the dusty strip returning her to the Gerudo Fortress. She smiled a little as it rose up over the rocky mounds surrounding her. She wanted to do nothing else but put the Agasajar behind her, apologise dearly to her friend, and then move on with her life so that she could obtain a true power.
'True power, what does that mean to you? Is it even real?'
"W-Who is that?" She called out to the open world around her, eyes narrowing into thin slits. She recognised the voice, but she couldn't put her finger on where she had heard it before. "Why are you following me?"
'Nisah the Weak, Nisah the Unworthy... do you truly believe that your friend, your Ciren the Wise, Ciren the Worthy, is one that you can trust?'
"I am not weak! Ciren is my friend, and-!"
'You do not deny the fact that you are Nisah the Unworthy, my dear.' In the distance, the Gerudo noticed two shadows lurking around her, and she scolded herself for leaving her weapons behind, even if it was only for the Agasajar. The voices mocked her, they beckoned her, causing her to sink to her knees as the voices invaded her mind, picking out lost memories and reviving them in twisted manners.
Nisah shook her head wildly, her Sisters unable to hear her plight. "I want the power to be dubbed worthy by my Sisters. That's all that I want."
The voices laughed lightly, the two figures drawing closer to the girl. 'Do not despair, Nisah the Unworthy, for we have the ability to help you.' She rose her head, golden eyes wide with awe. 'We can guide your path to the power that you rightfully deserve. We know that you are worthy, and we can show your "Sisters" that too. Take our hands, Nisah the Unworthy, and crush all that stand in your path.'
She shook her head once. "But, Ciren..."
'She was never your friend.' The two looming shadows hissed in unison. 'She used you as a stepping stone to become worthy. Ciren never cared for you, and you should crush her first. Make sure that she pays for giving you the title Nisah the Unworthy.'
"She stood up for me. The King is—"
'Your King is your true leader, and was never corrupted. Ciren lied to you; she never heard anything. She wanted to leave you to die in the Temple so that she could return as a Hero.' The voices laughed again. 'She only "stood up" for you so that she could show the courage that she robbed from you.'
"She—"
'Rise, Nisah the Unworthy. We shall show you the way to the power that you rightfully deserve, the power that you may use to crush Ciren the Worthy.'
And Nisah stood, the light in her eyes flickering once before dying out. From the two figures did flames and particles of ice appear, engulfing the Gerudo entirely. Nisah indulged in the power that she felt coursing through her veins, lips revealing a feral grin. "This is what I deserve, what I want! This is what true power really is!"
The two figures smirked triumphantly, the beginning of their mission complete.
Mist covered over Link's face like a blanket, but it wasn't like the cool and refreshing mist that sometimes settled in the Forest. His hands trembled around the Deku Shield, holding both that and the Kokiri Sword in a death grip as the two boys reached the very base of the Great Deku Tree; the darkness weighing his entire body down as both his and Mido's breathing was the only sound that they could hear.
"Why did you come with me, Mido?" Link couldn't help but ask as he clambered down one of the many tree roots around them, his voice sounding quieter than ever before. "You didn't have to put your life in danger like this..."
Mido scoffed loudly, making Link stop as he stretch his leg down to another tree root beneath his feet. "Why?" He laughed mockingly, despite what was going on. "Because I don't want you showing off just so you can have Saria all to yourself! How did you get to be the favourite of Saria and the Great Deku Tree anyway?"
Link almost fell off of the tree root in surprise. The Great Deku Tree is dying, I'm not doing this for Saria!
"Just ignore him, Link." Navi told her partner quietly, snuggling his shoulder comfortingly as she glared at the other boy. "He's just jealous and..." Her voice trailed off as Link blocked her out, his ears catching onto another sound instead. He couldn't even explain what the sound was, but it was immediately sending chills down his spine.
An earthy smell filled his nose as Link's feet thudded against the ground of the Great Deku Tree, the foggy smoke flying everywhere as Mido followed, still arguing with Navi. He felt Mido shove him again, yet Link's mind was far away from both him and Navi. Something was there, and it certainly was not a good thing. He held his hand up and shush them both, helping in no way with halting the small argument between the two.
"Where's the Stone?" Navi and Mido were automatically silenced when they all hear the voice simultaneously, subconsciously shuffling together. "Where is it?!"
A massive shadow crashed against the ground harshly, scaring the living daylights out of all of them. However, the shadow was soon devoured by something even larger and even more unidentifiable; an eye. "W-What Stone is it talking about...?" Mido whispered from behind, a large trembling in his voice. "W-What even is it?"
"I don't know, Mido." Link replied quietly. "I don't even—"
And then it appeared.
A light appeared ahead of them, growing closer to the group by the second so the light could reflect off of its shimmering body. The rest of the creature's body was mostly concealed by the darkness around them, all except for the glowing eye watching the three with a sparkle that wanted to devour them like it did with what could have been the Great Deku Tree.
"Y-You're the one killing the Great Deku Tree!" Link cried in realisation, tightening his hand around the hilt of the Kokiri Sword. "Turn him back to—Mido, what are you doing?!" Link's upset nature was rather suddenly cut off into a harsh whisper as Mido wrapped his hands around the shimmering blade without warning in an attempt to get the sword himself. "Give it back!"
Mido dragged the sword towards him, and it became a battle between the two boys over the Kokiri Sword while the shadow shifted even closer towards them."I am not letting you take all of the glory, squirt!" He shouted back, struggling to hold his ground.
He, however, soon managed to gain the upper hand, but with too much power, and the sword went flying backwards and into the side of the Great Deku Tree.
"Mido... what the—Mido!" But the small Kokiri was suddenly off, dashing towards where the Kokiri Sword is lodged high up in the large tree; leaving Link to turn back to the creature, gulping thickly. The creature was shifting even closer to Link now that Mido was lost to the shadows, and Navi was squealing as he noticed a claw being driven towards his tiny body at an amazing speed.
Farore...
~Ciren~
I punch the wall hard again, uncaring completely for my bleeding knuckles and burning pain that courses up my arm in the process. However long it has been since I had left the Agasajar, I refused to return to my chambers, but to linger in the echoing halls of the Fortress instead. They are empty, of course, except for those switching duty so that everyone can enjoy the Agasajar as much as physically possible. While I don't regret saying what I am, I am angry at the shame that will befall me.
"I suggest that you take your leave from the Agasajar with shame." I hit the wall with the back of my hand, grunting once in pain before carrying on.
I carry on past the Purpura chambers, picking up my pace and rounding another corner before harshly colliding with someone. Muttering a harsh apology, I cry out in sheer alarm when the person grabs me by the arm and shoves me against the wall, skin pale in fear. I squirm furiously, only to slow a little when the moon's brilliant light reflects against my captor's face.
"Naboor—" She covers my mouth before I can even finish saying her name, and I stop myself from fighting her, more concerned ever the fear in her eyes over what she may say to me next. She snaps her head to the left, then to the right, then down on me. I stare back at her with a perplexed expression, one that she reads and notes down.
And yet, when she opens her mouth to explain, she doesn't even get to speak before she is cut off.
A set of screeching, familiar cackles burst across the Valley, ones that send me chilled to the bone. These cries are then promptly followed by the sky being filled with a dazzling array of light. I watch through an open window nearby as the bright lights cover the blanket of stars and snuff out their lights like a shroud, the lights transforming into droplets and raining down from their peak in the sky.
As they start to disappear once coming into contact with the floor, both Nabooru and I allow our eyes to widen even more as she releases me, staring at the ground as the particles of light merge together on the ground into a mist that I can't even try to see through. It swirls around the ground before clawing its way towards the Fortress and the Archery Range.
Now that I can speak again, I yell: "We need to warn our Sisters!"
"There's no time, Ciren!" Nabooru shouts back, her voice hard and stern. She turns on me, the mist coming closer to us. "I ordered you to leave because I knew that the Witches were planning something after what we found in the Spirit Temple, and I wanted at least one Gerudo away without it looking suspicious in any way."
My lips part. "Nisah—"
"Can take care of herself." The Coraje responds as calmly as she can, focusing deeply, the mist crawling its way around the corner. She raises her arms into the air and shouts: "Scutum!" Upon her cry, a golden shield surrounds us as the mist flies past us. It attempts to corrupt the shield, causing Nabooru to struggle against it, however, after a long few minutes, the mist dissipates.
She sags against the wall once it disappears, breathing heavily. "Nabooru..." I whisper after a few moments. "What's going on?"
The Coraje slumps against the wall for a little while longer before finally sighing deeply and gesturing to the corridor leading back towards the Purpura chambers. "Come." As we break into a jog, she explains what she knows. "The King wants to enter the Sacred Realm, and knew from the beginning that we would not agree to what he wanted. His greed is going to far, and he knew that there would be resistance because of this."
"But that doesn't explain the mist."
She shakes her head. "It does perfectly, Ciren. He drew the Witches to his side, and they promised to curse the Gerudo race so that they would sway into his favour when he was ready to storm into the Sacred Realm, which was that mist. I barely countered such a strong attack. He said all of this in the Spirit Temple when you and Nisah were there, and is why I wanted to get at least someone out of the Agasajar without it looking suspicious. Someone must help this tribe return, and I am not the one to do it."
I raise a brow at her. "Why not?"
"I don't have the capabilities to do this, and I see something in you that assures me that you have the power to help." She clarifies. "I will help, of course, but I must stay behind and do what I can."
"I don't understand. What about—?"
"You will set out for Hyrule and search for all clues necessary to stop the King from breaking into the Sacred Realm without spreading word of it. We need allies that we can trust, and their society may perceive you differently because you are not of age yet." She notices the look on my face and stops me outside of the chambers. "The spell has all ready been cast Ciren. It's too late for Nisah now."
I grit my teeth. "No, I refuse to leave her behind. I don't care if she has fallen to the curse, because I am not doing any of this without someone like her at my side."
I try to run away from Nabooru, no matter how much danger I may fall into, however Nabooru grabs me and throws me against the wall brutally, holding her face within inches of mine. "Ciren, you are going to leave this Fortress whether I have to knock you out and throw you onto Luz in the process. Nisah has fallen, and there is nothing yet that you can do to change it!"
My face falls in defeat, the vows that I swore to my Sisters almost in vain. She places a hand onto my shoulder, but I don't say anything until many minutes later. "She'll have forgotten what she saw in the Temple, won't she?" Nabooru nods, frowning. I take a deep breath. "I'll leave, but only after I get a few things first."
Despite her internal thoughts, the Coraje smiles sadly and agrees without word. I pivot around and head inside, memories returning when I shift over to mine and Nisah's bunk, leaving me to think deeply. Gerudo Kings have never been like this, or not this bad from what Nabooru said, so why has our King decided to immerse himself in the art of dark magic. What has made him feel like dominance over the other races is right?
I have too many questions that can only be summed up in one word: Why?
Then, after a while, I turn to Nabooru with a sad complexion. "I can't take anything. Not only will it look strange, but I... I just—Nabooru, watch out!"
A small shadow falls behind Nabooru, the moon from the window behind me shining onto a single throwing knife. The Coraje whirls around, but she's too slow to be saved. The shimmer of silver delves deep into her shoulder, I assume deliberately missing her chest so she is kept alive for longer.
A tense silence fills the room as Nabooru drops to the floor, crying out when she collides with the stone ground harshly. And yet it is not just the attack that has frozen me, yet more so how the sun soon reveals who the person is. "N-Nisah?!"
She steps over Nabooru's weak form and towards me, twisting the blood-stained blade in her hand venomously. "A meaningless sacrifice for the greater issue here..." She pauses almost dramatically. "You." The moonlight illuminates her face, the shadows created sending chills down my spine as I look into her eyes.
Her pure black, menacing eyes.
"This isn't you, Nisah. The Witches are pulling the strings." I cry as she steps within a metre of me before stopping, begging that she will hear me in some way. "Where's the girl that wakes me up when I sleep in over the person before me? You're not a killer, Nisah! I know she picked the wrong people, but you don't go and—" She rolls her eyes and lunges at me, sending me crashing into the wall behind me; her knife barely scraping my throat.
"You want to know what happened to me?!" She hisses. "I realised that I don't want to live in your shadow any longer, Ciren. I don't want to be blocked out and have my life ruined by Ciren the Worthy. I have been Nisah the Unworthy for far too long, and I will crush you for what you have done to me!"
I fight her grip in an attempt of wriggling free, though her abnormal strength is locking me in place. "You aren't unworthy, Nisah. You are..."
I feel her knee me in the stomach, tearing out my oxygen supply painfully, her next words slicing through me like a knife to the heart. "You traitorous bitch!" She slaps me hard across the face. "I can't believe that I was stupid enough to even think about trusting you! You lied about the King, and you only took me along so that you could let me die and return as a Hero. You aren't a Hero, Ciren. You are a cold-blooded, traitorous—"
No, no! I cry inside, eyes drooping. That's all lies, I swear!
Nisah is, without warning, cut off by being knocked aside by some unknown force. I snap my head up as her head collides with the wooden bunk, effectively knocking her into a semiconscious state, only to discover Nabooru barely holding her gaze with me. "Nabooru—"
"Ciren." Her authoritative tone comes back as she drags me away despite how I look back at Nisah's shrinking, partly bleeding, form. "Get Luz and get out of the Valley as fast as you can like I told you. I had managed to saddle him up, so he should be waiting outside for you. Make sure you put on what's in the saddle bag when you get out of here." I open my mouth to object, but she then roars: "That's an order!"
I won't ever go against that tone.
Taking one last pitiful look at Nisah, I pray for the Goddesses to help her as I force my stiff legs into movement. I break into a fast run, leaving the Coraje behind as I grab the door frame to spin around in a tight circle so I do not fall. My mind races at a hundred miles per hour as faces like Nisah and Izia flash before my eyes, knowing fully well that they will have fallen under the weird ass influence that has been created.
But I still can't get my head around why.
I shake my head as I leap out into the evening air, spotting Luz nearby, who waits eagerly for me, and seems to sense my fear. His saddle is on as well as his bridle, just like Nabooru had told me, and he can definitely see that something isn't right now from my restlessness behaviour. "It's okay, boy, we're going out on... a big trip."
Glancing over my shoulder to check that the coast is clear, I rummage deep into my saddle bag at Nabooru's request (even if I should be riding out of here right now), eyes widening in alarm when my fingers brush against something smooth. I tug out the neatly piled object and let the moon's radiance shine on it beautifully, gasping at what I see.
A Carmesi uniform, one used for me to blend in.
Snap out of it! A voice screams. Go all ready! You have a duty to your Sisters, and you must leave to fulfill it!
I quickly leap up onto Luz's saddle and hold the reign with one hand. I kick his sides, though something inside of me keeps his pace slow, my mind telling me to go and my heart telling me to stay so I can help Nisah and the others. However, my brain wins effortlessly with: Your duty. Remember it, and I am off at a faster pace within seconds.
In the far distance, a voice screeches: "Traitor!" Snapping my head behind me, I watch as Nisah appears from where I exited and locking her dead eyes onto me. My stomach drops, and Luz senses this too, driving himself onward faster than ever before. I urge him onward to go as fast as he can, my ears picking up on the sound of another horse pounding their hooves against the dusty earth in pursuit of me and Luz.
I don't even want to look around to know who it is, and how angry they are towards me, because I know it.
Luz carries on further and further out into the canyon, and I hold the uniform in my hands closer to me until it's almost a part of me. But why do I want to keep something like this? My mind asks me. I love my Sisters, but not enough to stay when they see me as a— I cry out in alarm when a burning pain strikes my spine and wedges itself deep into my body.
Daring to look behind, I find Nisah's throwing knife embedded deep within my back; the knife already sending the target numb from the pain.
How the Hell could she do that? I panic. She's been training to do it, but she's never been able to with that much precision... I pause, then realise. The Witches' influence.
And yet when I realise that Nisah is in hot pursuit as I race across the thick bridge of the Valley, I remember how something must have happened between Nisah and Nabooru; and Nisah won. My mind becomes even more clouded and frantic as the pain in my back grows worse and worse, my grip on Luz's reigns growing weaker too quickly. The knife must be infused with something if I'm deteriorating this fast... My brain whispers quietly as I see the thin board in the distance leading out of the Valley.
Neither Luz or I have been this far, and we both hesitate over crossing it despite the current situation. "Don't worry, boy." I soothe to him quietly. "Just keep going as fast as you can and we'll be okay. I promise..."
A wave of pain enters my core, and I bite back a cry of pain again as he leaps over most of the board with incredible speed; his hooves digging deeply into the earth as he skids about to regain his co-ordination across the sandy terrain.
I force myself to look behind despite the pain that it causes, watching as Nisah's horse rears at the sight of a person appearing in front of them. My eyes barely catch the sight of the familiar Coraje uniform before the canyon walls cover up the both of them.
And then I see it.
For twelve years, I have been waiting for the time when I would finally leave the Valley in the traditional way. And now I am leaving, I am running with fear. As the sun sets behind me, I watch as the red earth of Din levels its way out into the luscious green grass that I have never touched before. Luz whines happily as a tiny smile creases my face.
I'm not free yet, though. But where do I go? At the moment, though, I don't care for where I go as long as it is away from the Valley. I kick Luz's side, who moves into a brisk gallop before I have even fully nudged at his sides. The effects of the knife in my back, however, quickly boost up on the level of pain and my eyes begin drooping shut as I feel the terrain shifting towards me.
I'm unconscious before I even land fully against Luz's back as he rides me into the land of freedom.
