Author's Note: This wasn't too much of a wait compared to before, but this is another massive chapter for you all to read. I would love to split this up into two separate chapters, but it wouldn't give this major part of this story the flow that it needs to make sense. Anyway, I'm really enjoying writing these stories, though I really would appreciate the reviews, as I feel like I need the feedback on this story in order to improve it. Also, I am returning to the beginning of the story in order to fully enhance it, so be sure to check on those in the near future!

"Stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'"

~Ozymandias, P.B. Shelley~

Shards of Time

An Ocarina of Time FanFiction

Chapter 14: War

~Interlude~

"Father?" Ruto, Princess of the Zora folk, called out into the distant halls of her home. Her gleaming eyes wavered with concern as she entered the Domain from the exit of Zora's Fountain, calling out desperately for her father who did not sit where he resided most of the time in the Domain. The large ledge where King Zora would reside was merely empty, nothing but a gap where her father used to sit. The water that flowed through the Domain still did as it would, although there was a strange presence that altered Ruto's connection to the loving water's embrace and what it did to her in the water.

As the Princess rushed on ahead, determined to acquire the source of her father's disappearance, Link and Navi stayed close behind to survey the area around them and how quiet it was. Both the young Hero and his partner felt this dark presence surrounding the once calm and tranquil Domain, shuddering at the inky thoughts that stung the backs of their minds without hesitation. The Guardian Fairy flew on ahead as Ruto disappeared from their sight, finding her stopping and staring from a vantage point near the very summit of Zora's Domain; the three of them falling silent at the sight before them.

The Domain was spattered with blood and ruin.

Through the time that the three had been away in Lord Jabu Jabu's insides, Zora's Domain had been savagely attacked by such brutal force that it appeared to have been left near vulnerable to the opposing forces. Ruto released a choked sob as she averted her gaze away from her home that had been so violently damaged by an unknown source for a reason that none of them knew. Blood was scattered across the surface of the clear water, no Zoras left in sight other than the few bodies of the race left for dead in the water. Most of the actual Domain was unharmed, although the lack of King Zora and the other members of their small race begged a single question: what happened?

"Ciren." Link whispered in realisation. He knew for certain that the young Gerudo would have most likely escaped or be left by the unknown attackers due to her obscure location. While there was one other idea that clouded his thought, he knew that she must have held some of the answers if she was still alive. He could not consolidate the Princess, for he did not know what else to say. If he told her that things would be all right, then he would potentially be lying to her. Also, if he said that things were terrible, then he would be stating the obvious and upsetting her even more. He didn't know what to say, although it seemed that Navi had found her voice despite the situation that they stood in.

"Ciren will know what happened." She assured confidently, floating down to meet Ruto's gaze. "She's a good friend of ours that was imprisoned because it was believed that she had kidnapped you, only because she was a Gerudo." The Princess's eyes widened not fully due to what the Guardian Fairy was clarifying to her, but also because of the fact that a Gerudo was there and not killed on the spot; despite how "calm" the Zoran race were believed to be. "If she was here during the attack, she most likely would have escaped and will still be here for when we come back with you. We could check the cells first, if you wish to."

Unsure of what else to say, the Princess simply nodded. Also unsure of what else to say or do, Navi nodded towards her partner. The three of them exchanged simple glances of grief and hope before twisting fully away from the sight before them atop the waterfall that flushed one of the main sources of water in to the Domain. Link placed an assuring hand onto the young Princess's shoulder, to which she returned it with a tiny smile. As the Guardian Fairy flew on ahead to light the way down the darker corridors of Zora's Domain, the Hero returned the Zora's Sapphire to its original owner; nothing else being said as she took it softly.

In that moment, something sparked. Not love or affection, but a deep feeling of shared loss. For Link, he had lost both of his parents when he was young (barely old enough to remember them) and then the Great Deku Tree to a fickle event known as destiny. There was a lingering struggle in place over his heritage and the loss of such a father like figure, although he was coming to terms with it in his own way – no matter what destiny had to say about it. For Ruto, she had been lead through a life of meeting the high approval of her parents and arranged love which she did not want. However, ever since she had lost her mother and the tension had grown, to think that she had lost her father too was something that she didn't believe she could ever come to terms with.

Torches that once lined the tall walls now mostly lay across the floor, their delicate flames long since died out. The sun had set not too long ago, the evening chill whisking its way into the long halls of the Domain, signalling that the bloodbath of the attack had finished not too long ago. Nonetheless, there had still been an attack, and for that there was nothing else that the three could do but hope that the other Zoras had escaped unscathed with little trouble and not lost in pursuit of the attacks that had ambushed the Domain while it was at its weakest with such a sombre atmosphere lingering above the race.

Navi continued on ahead, taking in her surroundings on her own while Link continued to comfort Ruto with small words that meant nothing. She hated to see such doom in a wonderful place, and the thought of it reminded her of what would have happened if the same occurred in Kokiri Forest as well. If the Great Deku Tree was still alive, then he would have been able to enforce some form of calm towards the near immortal children, though he was long gone now (something that still made the heart of the Guardian Fairy twinge with a phantom pain) and there was nothing else for them to do without such a leader. For an attack to spread like fire to there would be the end for that race, another event that Navi couldn't bear to think about before it bought on an onslaught of tears.

Their footsteps and fluttering of Fairy wings echoed around the dead halls of the Domain, sounding empty and lost as they continued their way down to the cells near the very bottom of the Domain; kept out of sight of the once calming aesthetics of Zora's Domain. The torches became more and more attached to the wall as the steps spiralled downward. As the steps narrowed, only to then open out into a large area, Link was met with a burning memory at the back of his mind. "I promise that we will help you get your friends all right again. I know Navi will too. Your friends don't deserve this, and neither do you." He was almost too taken away by the memory to mind from bumping into Navi.

The Guardian Fairy stared at the cell were Ciren was imprisoned before, discovering that there was nothing but a dark space left where severed shackles hung listlessly from the wall.

As the Guardian Fairy flew through the bars of the cell, Link slipped through the ajar door while Ruto watched; stood in place like a frozen statuette. While she watched intently as the young Hero and Guardian Fairy explored the cell, Ruto was still struggling to gasp a hold of the situation at hand. Slight remnants of the red, sticky substance spat itself across the cobbled ground beneath them, the shackles against the wall not severed; although empty of a person to wrap themselves around. Both Link and Navi stared down at the blood together, only to whirl around when they heard the young Princess scream in alarm, spinning around to see Ruto backing up against the cell bars; a figure stepping out of the shadows, crimson hair glinting against the flames of the dying torches.

"The Zoras managed to escape, including the King." Ciren of the Gerudo assured, scimitars in hand, her eyes darkening. "The rest of Hyrule, though, isn't going to be so lucky..."


~Ciren~

"Ciren!" Navi pipes up before anyone else can speak. "What happened here? We have only been gone for the morning at the very least..." I sigh deeply and lean back up against the wall, studying Malinda's duel scimitars as the Guardian Fairy flies out of the cell that I was in before and hovers before me. Link stays back, still caught up with something in the cell, while the Zora (who I assume is the Princess, wherever she suddenly came from so quickly is beyond me) watches me rather intently. Her dark eyes are glistened with tears that will not fall, and I know exactly what is running through her mind.

Pushing myself off of the wall, I ignore Navi's questions for just a moment to speak directly to the Zora. In any normal situation, I wouldn't be able to care less about what she was thinking or doing with her life. I wouldn't care about what had happened here, and I wouldn't feel much sympathy for her. However, after seeing the world for what it is and what she believes has happened to her people, I guess I could extend a hand for a few moments. "You're the Princess, right?" I make sure, to which the young Zora nods sadly. "Your dad isn't dead, and neither are the Zoras who didn't manage to escape. They went through some secret pathway near the bottom of Zora's Domain that apparently leads to Lake Hylia, and one of the Zora mages made sure that no one other than Zoras could get to Lake Hylia."

The young Princess is lost in a cloudy daze of shock, and struggles to keep it together. I chew at my lip, unsure of what else to say other than what I just have, and it seems that my partners are in the same situation as well since they are silent too. After a few minutes of silence, although, she finally gathers the courage to use her voice. "E-Excuse me..." Before any of us can do anything at all, the Zora has rushed out of the dungeons and up into the Domain to take time for herself. I shrug it off, knowing that going after her will be pointless, and turn back to my friends; ones that keep their gazes flickering between the exit into Zora's Domain and myself.

"What happened, Ciren?" Link finally asks, ignoring whatever he was looking at in order to come out of the cell and towards me. "Navi's right: we were only gone for a few hours, and all of this has happened."

I avert my gaze away from their burning ones, memories of what happened washing over me in the wrong way. "Stalfos and Gerudo attacked the Domain in the early hours of the morning after you had set out." I begin quietly. "I had all ready managed to escape, but waiting for the right time was hard when you've got Zoras interrogating you..." I pause, trying to figure out what to say next. "But when I managed to get out, the Domain was all ready ambushed. It took the deaths of many Stalfos from me to get the Zoras to trust me." Both Navi and Link are silent, though the former isn't for long.

"Ciren." The Guardian Fairy says calmly, though bluntly. "You've never been one to drag it on. What happened?"

I take a deep breath, attempting as hard as I can to conceal my huff. "From what I had caught from the Gerudo, Ganondorf had sent them out to the three Provinces where the Spiritual Stones were kept: Death Mountain, Zora's Domain, and Kokiri Forest." Link diverts his eyes away when I mention his once home. "They're going to find out soon enough that we have two out of three of the Stones, but we can't let them get the Spiritual Stone of Water. The Ki—Ganondorf is going after the Sacred Realm today, the Triforce too close to him for comfort, and he and the Gerudo have gone after its location in the Temple of Time while the other scouts go after to collect the Stones from the ruins of the Provinces."

Navi lets out a sigh of sadness, unsure of what to do in this situation. Link, however, steps up and hands me a bottle of Red Potion that they must have picked up before leaving the Domain in search of the not-so-lost Princess. I can't help but notice a look of doubt creasing his features, something that concerns me even after he says what he has to say. "Something else happened here that you aren't telling us." He says softly as I push the bottle back into his hand. "What aren't you telling us?" He forces the bottle back into my palms, and I soon give in, knowing that going against such a persistent boy is a waste of my energy. I don't bother drinking it all, let alone half it it, although he's somewhat satisfied with this when I return the Potion to him.

I contemplate telling them for far too long. In any other situation, I would have sucked it up and walked away, but this isn't any other situation; these people don't expect me to "suck it up" and walk away, for they are legitimately concerned for what else I am hiding. Passing him a dull glare, I finally say: "Fine." I chew at my dishevelled lip. "Nisah was here, all right? She was tasked with being Commander of the scouts who came here, and fought me until I pushed her off of the waterfall. After that, she came after me and the other Zoras, and was one of the last to retreat when realising that the Stone wasn't here."

I think back to it. "Oh Ciren, it seems that you're more of a Hylian than I expected you to be." I recall her remarking with a mocking tone that she had used on many others but me before she became corrupted. "Getting captured by the enemy, the Zoras too! And even worse, you cried out to the Gods who care nothing for you. "Oh Farore, oh Nayru, oh Din, help me please!" Pathetic!" I gained more than one scar in that battle, only because her fighting style is more like ones that Nabooru would have, and she's not the easiest to beat. "I can't wait to get my hands on you, Ciren. Once I claim what I can of Power, Wisdom, and Courage, I'll put you in your deserving place: Hell. I might even send "courage" boy and his Fairy down there with you for company, but they'll hate you so much that they'll kill you again!"

"Ciren?"

I blink a few times, noticing that Navi hangs from atop my head with a frown that doesn't suit her whatsoever. I shake my head, causing the Guardian Fairy to fly back over to the shoulder of her partner. "Sorry, lost in thought." I mutter. They give me raised brows in scary unison, making me sheathe my scimitars and cross my arms angrily. "Doesn't matter. You may have found the Princess, but if we don't find the Stone then there's nothing that any of us can go back to, which includes her too. It seems that the leaders have the Stones, but King Zora didn't know very much of it when he escaped..." I kick the wall behind me. "Dammit!"

"Hey." The sudden voice cuts any further outburst from myself off. As one, all three of us turn towards the exit of the dungeons to watch as the Princess of the Zora folk makes her way down the last few steps before stopping before the three of us, holding out a large sapphire out towards us. "I had attempted to give it to you before, but I mean for you all to take it this time. It was my Mother's Stone, and the Zora's Sapphire. My Mother had once said about how precious it was to our people, and I know in my heart that it belongs with you to protect Hyrule from the brink of destruction that clouds it."

I raise a brow as she extends her cupped hands out towards us. "Why would you insist on giving something from your parents to strangers?"

She shrugs lightly, nodding to Link and Navi. "They protected me from danger caused by the Gerudo King, and while you are a Gerudo, I can see that your heart sings for a life free from him. I had felt like that with my Father, and I regret it now, but I know that you never will and never should." She presses it into Link's hands, knowing that I won't take it because of how ever so slightly stunned I am by her change in manner. "Remember what I told you, Link, as I mean it indefinitely." Struggling to realise what she means, the Princess smiles a tiny bit and backs away from us. "While I would want to fight with you, knowing the art of battle is something that I am not accustomed to. In the future, however... we'll see."

"Thank-you, Princess." I say before Navi can.

The Princess rolls her eyes, something that I am more used to my Sisters doing rather than a Princess. "Call me Ruto. I think you've all earned the right to, after all. Now," She adds after a few moments of silence, the drips of water emerging from the ceiling above us more than the usual to me after how long I sat in that prison cell stained with the blood of battle. "I believe that it is time for us to part ways. I trust my life in that Stone with all of you, and hope that you return them to their rightful places in order to quell this conflict." She smiles a little more at our questioning looks, most likely due to the news of her people and parent lightening her mood a little. "I may have been kept from many things in my life, though I know when Hyrule's balance is not as it should be."

She nods at us once, and we all decide to move as one out of the dark cells. The Domain is still darker than usual, the ambush created by the people I call Sisters still lingering here and will continue to do so for a long time to come, and I can feel the dark presence of shadows here; something that I did not know I could feel up until now when things such as destiny decided to intervene. We clamber up the final few steps and past the shattered lamps that limply hang from the walls, the light of the torches flickering into embers as Ruto halts at the edge of the main pathway through the Domain. "Thank-you, Ruto." Navi repeats. "We will repay your kindness in the future somehow."

She smiles at us genuinely. "I'm sure you will." She replies almost cryptically, nodding at us in silent thanks. "Until we meet again..." The Zora Princess twists away from us so that all we see is her back, crouching down for a moment before leaping high into the air and into the chilling waters beneath. Link, Navi, and I rush over to the edge, watching intently as she glides through the blood stained water and into a dark passageway that the other Zoras had flown through – the one that the Gerudo, nor the monsters accompanying them, could ever dare hope to get through no matter what power they suddenly held.

Moments pass where no one speaks, lost in thoughts that seem to lead to nothing important. After a while, though, Link is the very first to speak up after the Princess's absence. "We need to go." I turn away from the water's edge and to him, where Navi flies around his head while he stares down at the Stone in his hand. "Returning these to the Princess will stop Ganondorf, and hopefully save more people before the Gerudo realise that we have the Stones and not the leaders of the Kokiri, Gorons, and Zoras." When he finally lifts his gaze up to meet mine, there's a hint of courage that steels into place in his pupils that I haven't seen before. "Let's go."

"I thought you'd never ask." I comment with a smirk as I draw my duel scimitars as Link pockets the final Stone. Within seconds, we are flying off and out of the empty Domain. I wish that I could stay and make sure that the Zoras are all right, but I know that they will be and have to focus on showing the supposed King of mine what happens when you distort the idea of the holy Three. If they can place their faith in me, then I can do the same with them. My companions have the same thoughts, it seems, because they hold the same look of resolve that I feel in my bones. Turning my eyes towards the exit, the blinding early afternoon light that I desire is blotted out by World Order.

As we break through the Sleepless Waterfall that draws apart as we reach it (almost like curtains onto a pantomime), my lips part at the sight before me. The crumbling walls break away into the churning waters beneath us, the sky a torrent of swirling coal and scarlet. The last time that anyone had ever spoken of a time like this was when the Great War raged across Hyrule so long ago, and to think that even something remotely like this is happening again turns my stomach in a way that makes me feel sick; especially since I am a part of the race that is bringing this destruction to the land again.

In the distance, I can see Luz galloping across the chunks of Zora's River that connects where he is to us. A small smirk traces my tanned skin as this sight greets me, apparently attempting to find me once seeing the Gerudo and Stalfos retreat towards where I assume is their next target: Castle Town. I leap down to meet him across the sturdy bridge, glad to see something else other than Link and Navi as a form of a life that I had always wanted: people who I can trust. While I had once expected my Sisters to be a part of it, the thought of the Valley is but a distant memory now. I shift his saddle across his muscular body and mount him, taking the reigns as Link and his Guardian Fairy come down to meet us.

"Well..." I say, tightening my grip around the reigns. "I think there's a date with destiny that we should meet, hmm? After all, we wouldn't want to be late for the downfall of the "King", now would we?" Their grins is all that I need as Link mounts with me, Navi peeking out from underneath his hat, and we break off into the distance, my heart beating for the downfall of this attack on the land of the Gods that we have only borrowed from them to live on – not to corrupt and destroy for our own needs.

This is war.


~Interlude~

Hyrule Castle was ablaze.

In the early hours of the morn, the entire Town had awoken to crying, screaming, and bloodshed. The Gerudo, who many had all ready perceived as savages, had broken down the drawbridge leading into the prosperous area without a care in the world, mounting a brutal assault onto the people just awakening to collect their usual goods from the Market that was almost finishing opening up for the day. While many of the Gerudo went straight from Hyrule Castle in the distance, some stayed behind to take whatever they could from the thrill of the hunt for glory.

The young Princess of Hyrule had awoken from many premonitions in the night, fighting against the realm of dreams to wake and make use of the thoughts emerging from sweet Nayru herself. However, she had very little time before she was whisked away by her caretaker and they were assailed by the Gerudo who had come from the Valley and those who had stayed with the King while he visited the Castle in order to create a treaty with the King of Hyrule and the Desert folk. All remnants of that treaty were lost in the flames of the battle that they danced, only there as a simple distraction from the Stalfos in the room anyway.

Hyrule realised that day what Ganondorf's intentions were, and the King of Hyrule regretted listening to the premonitions that his daughter had been seeing before that day most of all.

As Impa pulled the young heir along, she held the Princess incredibly close so that she would not fall behind or out of the grasp of the caretaker that she had come to love ever so dearly. The Gerudo that had been sent after them were no less than a few paces behind, therefore any failure to keep up from either Impa or the Princess would cost them their lives. They could not afford to stop, nor could they afford to waste their energy on running for so long through areas of the Castle that were all ready stained with blood. Many of the Knights fought in the numerous buttresses sprawled across the grounds, battling valiantly against the tribe that they were about to call "allies" and dying at the ends of their blades; very few doing the same back before passing on into the arms of the crying Three.

However, the time that the caretaker and young Princess could not afford was ripped free from their hands when the scales were turned against them, and the Princess stepped too weakly over the blood soaked cobbles beneath them – causing her to slip free from Impa's caring arms with a cry.

The caretaker spun around with wide crimson eyes, darting forwards in panic to grab the Princess before any Gerudo could snatch the young heir away. One of the Gerudo, dressed in green (their tanned skin covered in the blood of many fallen soldiers), was in inches of taking the Princess easily before Impa arrived there first, dragging the heir towards her chest without hesitation. Blonde hair billowed out, blood and grime all ready mixing into the Princess's beautiful hair and night gown as she wrapped her arms around her caretaker and whispering over and over: "I'm sorry, Impa. I'm sorry..."

Impa's bloody eyes scanned the area, realising that the single moment of falter has caused them to be surrounded by Gerudo, blades and arrows alike pointed at the two of them; especially the weeping Princess in her arms. Her back faced one of the main castellated towers of the Castle, one leading down into the main act of this circus that was murdering many innocents as Impa stood their clutching the young Princess carefully and soothingly. There was nowhere for them to go, for going deeper into the Castle would bring the Princess into more danger that they all ready faced, and staying where they were or leaping from the Castle walls would mean destruction.

The group of Gerudo savages parted ways, the Princess pleading to the Goddesses that none of them held the Gerudo that she had met with and trusted her life on dearly, revealing a tall, imposing figure that stepped into the light created by the fanned flames. "With only a fraction of my power, I have reduced the Princess of Hyrule to a blubbering mess and the leader of the shadow folk into fear of her own element." The King of the Gerudo chuckled. "Tell me, did those premonitions from sweet Nayru not warn you enough, or did you not want to listen to your little Princess as she babbled on about war and ruin?"

He opened his arms out wide, forcing the Princess to take in what her home had been reduced to. "W-What have you done to my Father?" She pleaded desperately.

Ganondorf grinned manically, understanding just exactly what she was implying and taking solace in knowing that he was the one to break the "alarming" news. "I put him to sleep. Forever." The Princess burrowed her face back into the stomach of her caretaker, attempting without prevail to block out everything that was going on and all that she was hearing. For such a race like the Gerudo to break into the peaceful realm of Hyrule Castle and attack it with such horrors was foreseeable, although in all the wrong ways that she could not dare hope to fight against.

"If it is the seat of Hyrule that you desire, then you shall not have it." Impa snarled. "You may be desperate for power, but your corruption will only let you go so far before it comes back in on you. You won't live to sit upon that throne that is not your right to have."

The Gerudo King snickered and stepped forwards with his dagger in hand, the caretaker for the Princess tightening her grip around the Princess and the ceremonial Sheikah knife in her hand that she held close over the young heir for protection. "My main intention is the throne of Hyrule, however my ways of attaining such a title is not what you may expect, as the only one here in this Golden Land who understands my methods fully is the Princess." Impa's eyes snapped down to the girl in her arms, perplexed. She knew of the Princess's premonition, although thought that she knew all of it.

The young Princess poked her head out of Impa's clothes, twisting herself around so that she could face Ganondorf with a defiant glare while still in the protection of the Sheikah. "You beg for the Golden Power, Ganondorf." She stated calmly, fingers clenched around Impa's arm. This proclamation caused her caretaker's eyes to grow wide, knowing that such an idea had floated around her mind, although to hear it from the Princess was alarming to say the least if she had known all along. "However the Resistance against you is far greater than you could ever fathom, and the Keys to the Sacred Realm that you lust for are far from your reach."

"Ah, yes, the Keys." The King murmured in response. "The Keys that you sent a one of my own after. Do you really think that one of my own will ever have the power to fight against her own leader? Soon enough she will return to me, or she will be dead, and either way her corruptions of freedom will end. Why would you place your trust in a Gerudo who has the ability to turn her back on you and what you "fight" for at any time? I don't think that you understand what your own Resistance entails, for it is teetering over the edge of collapse as soon as I even attempt to rush for the Golden Power. You and your Resistance is futile as a whole, Princess. It always was..."

The Princess grit her teeth in hatred, not wanting to let this vile man win after all that he has caused to the World Order of Hyrule. "No." She retorted harshly, tightening her grasp around an object in her hand. "You will not win. While you believe you have won, the one you call your own set off with two others. She is not alone, and the Hero of Time will step up to this torrent and settle the storm that you have caused!" Before the Gerudo King could say any further, the Sheikah leader leapt high into the air with the Princess in tow, leaping across the Castle walls and out of danger; one of the final Keys to the Sacred Realm in her hand.

The Ocarina of Time.


~Ciren~

By the time that Hyrule Castle (Castle Town with it) emerges on the early afternoon horizon, all that we can see from out vantage point on the knolls sprawled across Hyrule Field is destruction and fire. Even from minutes away from the Town, we can hear the angry and sorrowful cries of bloodshed, many shouts towards the three Old Gods in particular ringing out into the depths of Hyrule Field. The skies above are still churning with the ideas of death, a physical premonition from the Goddesses that I will defy until I draw my final breath; no matter how near or far that may be from now.

It's rather strange to think how much I will sacrifice for a world that I have only set foot into really for a few days, more than a week at the most, and most of that being filled with depression and topics surrounding world domination. However, I know that this land does not belong to anything or anyone who lives in it but the Goddesses who created it themselves, therefore I am fighting for their world that they cherish with all of their might, not the world that we now take for granted because they simply created us. That resolve won't ever change.

All three of us exchange unhappy glances before I kick Luz's flanks, urging us onward and into the fray ahead of us. The sounds of final breaths, blades clanging against blades, the twangs of bowstrings, and even the continuation of crying people grow in intensity and volume, my stomach twisting violently every time that I hear death ringing into my ears. I was raised in a tribe where battling was the right way out of everything, and that running away did not count for the honour of dying in battle, although it seems that my Sisters have lost this now that the rainbow of colours from their uniforms surge through the once peaceful Castle Town.

I can't stand to even think about it.

Not before long, the skies grow darker and darker, shadows casting further across this Golden Land. My loyal stallion is unnerved by this sudden change in the world entirely, and I have to admit that something is sending a few alarm bells off in my mind. The idea of a Resistance battling against a traitorous King is nothing more than a Hylian fairytale in my books, though to actually live through something that is even remotely close to the Great War sends ice coursing through my veins faster than Luz could ever gallop in his life. Any Hylian fairytale, it seems, always had that sense of reality about them – lost in the shadows, but always looming.

I throw myself off of Luz before I even think about it, dragging Link off with me. Hyrule Castle is ablaze in the distance, something that pricks at a nerve brushing against my heart to know that I had the power to help stop this, although my cowardice (something that the Gerudo in my blood has always tried to ward off, but never found that it worked) has caused such an immense change in World Order and the lives of too many to count. How many lives could I have saved if I had acted more like a Gerudo? If I had helped instead of been a burden?

How can I dare to tell Din that I am a Gerudo?

The rain is pouring now, although I barely notice that nor the white dot growing from the distance before I am pulled out of the way from a lost arrow. The shattered drawbridge sinks deeper into the moat surrounding it as more and more people (bodies included) attempt to flee from such an area that has been transformed in the space of hours. I stare on, my golden eyes catching on one couple in particular. A mother, Hylian I assume, rushes out from the bloody mess of Castle Town, a small child in her arms. She, however, is suddenly shot down by a Gerudo hidden from her sight, her child in another. The two collapse in a heap, bodies tumbling into the blood soaked moat surrounding the edge of Castle Town.

I twist around to Link, who seems that he would vomit if he had the energy to right now. I pull Luz closer to me, shaking Link a few times by the shoulder with me free hand to help him focus. His Guardian Fairy flies upwards despite my protests of her being shot down, her tiny blue eyes welling up with tears. "We won't be able to get the Stones back to Princess Zelda. There's too much going on, and you'll be killed easily with how many Gerudo and monsters there are terrorising the Town..." Link watches Navi, holding his hand out to hold her close in comfort.

"You aren't going, but I am." They whirl around to me in shock, and I can feel something spark in my heart and Soul that I haven't felt for a long time: honour. "I don't care. The Princess needs those Stones so that she can get to the Triforce and stop Ganondorf before he gets his grimy fingers on it, but you're needed by too many people. Look," I add before either of them can protest further. "I don't have time to explain why, but they do. I ain't gonna die in a nice way, but you never will being a Gerudo. No matter what happens, someone is going to spot me and class me as the enemy at some point, so I might as well die with whatever shred of honour I have left." I hold my hand out, eyes dark. "Give me the Stones, Link."

He hugs Navi closer to him, and I know that he wants to defy me. His eyes glint with sadness. "No." My eyes narrow in irritation.

"I don't care if you don't want to, you don't have a choice." I lunge forwards for his bag where he keeps the three Spiritual Stones, desperate and corrupted by honour to almost desire death. I grind my teeth together as I throw myself at the Kokiri, determined to die with honour than to live eternally without it. "Give them to me!" He pulls himself away from me, Navi squirming out of his grasp in order to blind me with her light. It works little, for I am pretty much used to such light now, and press on. I grab onto his bag and pull at the flap, and yet he throws me away before I can grab onto any of the Stones.

Our fight, however, is abruptly cut off by that white "dot" from earlier becoming far more than that.

My attempts to gain the Spiritual Stones brings us in front of the drawbridge, and any of us would have been shot down if it weren't for the dot becomes a white mare that appears and diverts the arrows away from us. I roll out of the way, Link and Navi following suit, and we watch from the wet and blood covered grass. The mare, I believe, is decorated highly in purple banners and Triforce symbols. From what I can see through the darkness of the skies, there are two riders; one holding their body over a much smaller partner with an arrow sliced through the back of their shoulder blade.

"My dream..." Link whispers from beside me, shaking violently from the cold. "It's coming true..." I open my mouth to say more, but the second rider breaking free from the grip the first has on them startles me greatly.

My yellow eyes bore straight into the sapphires of the Princess of Hyrule, her attendant holding her firmly as she rides them into safety. Our eyes meet for a fraction of a second, though she holds her gaze with Link for longer. Her eyes flicker down to something in her hand, clutching it close to her chest for a moment before straightening despite her attendant's protests. "Impa!" I hear her cry. "Stop the horse, now!" Impa, apparently, says something in response that she does not like; and Link rises to his feet to go after her. I pull him back, though, knowing that we don't have the time to catch up with her and pass the Stones onto her before she is gone forever.

"Ciren, don't!" He struggles furiously, thanking the battle going on inside the Town and not out here. "We need to get the Stones to her! I can't let the Great Deku Tree down!" My grip slackens for a moment, but I do not falter for long. I tighten my grasp around his arms, the Guardian Fairy trying to calm him down as much as she is able to no matter how little it works, and I stare on as the world slows around me, the Princess's intentions continuing to confuse me beyond belief as she tightens her grip around the object in her hand.

"I-I trust you!" Is her final cry before the wind whisks the rest of her proclamation away into the distance, using the last of her might and energy to throw the object in her hand towards us, her night gown billowing around her pale yet muddy legs and feet as the shadows of the skies above us consume both her and Impa together. My eyes follow the small object as it almost slams straight into the wall surrounding Castle Town, plunging straight into the blood infested waters of the moat before the wall. My eyes stare as the ripples of the water fade away, leaving nothing behind as the object sinks to the bottom of the moat.

I can't even breathe before these events roll onward.

Navi's sudden cry forces me into movement. I whirl around, my eyes widening as a horse looms over us, skidding into a stop and creating a wave of mud and grime to shower the three of us. I release my grip on Link, though he is far from attempting to go after the Princess once he follows the shout of his Guardian Fairy too, my hands reaching for my scimitars when the rider of the coal horse turns down to us. This horse is also decorated, although this stallion is decorated in gold and in familiar banners. When I meet the eyes of the rider, yet, I just know what I am up against.

"King." I sneer, rising onto my feet and drawing my scimitars. "It's been a while."

His lips part, revealing a smug grin a pearly white teeth. His dagger is strapped to his side, "adorned" in Gerudo styled attire, one of the most highly decorated Gerudo scimitars in existence in his tanned palm. The King drops his eyes onto Link and Navi too, glints of realisation on something that I do not know of lost in his sickly yellow orbs. He shakes that off, however, and returns his glare towards me. "Where did the Princess and Sheikah go?" He snarls, completely ignoring my sarcastic remarks for all that they are worth. When none of us respond, his tone raises in volume until he roars: "Answer me!"

Some of that anger towards me stopping him before forces Link into action beside me. He pushes me aside so that we stand together, his sword and shield drawn and ready for blood. "We know what you want, Ganondorf, and we won't let you get the Triforce!" He cries in defiance. Deep inside my core, a sensation of satisfaction courses through me at his boldness, not even clouded by the slight doubt that lingers when I realise just exact what he says. Navi floats high above the two of us as I return my sight to the King, her defiance shining even more than the light that surrounds her despite her and Link knowing so little about Ganondorf in general.

He hums, shaking his head slightly as he directs his words to the Kokiri beside me. "You have guts, boy." He compliments darkly, twisting his grip on his blade subtly. "While your courage may be reckless, I admire it." He raises his blade towards him. "Now, I don't want to cause any harm—" Our scoffs are enough to irritate him even more. "What I mean to say is that I can keep children like you from this fight. All I simply ask is for the three Spiritual Stones, the ones that you have, and the Ocarina of Time. Is that not simple enough?" I grind my teeth further.

"No, because what's simpler is dying without honour!" I shout over the din of the battle and pouring rain. His eyes narrow at me, but I continue anyway. "You decided that what you had, the life of a rich King, was not enough, and that the aspiration of apotheosis was the perfect life for one like you. By corrupting a race that you are supposed to lead valiantly was bad enough, but to then mount a brutal assault onto this land that isn't ours is something that you can't put into words about how sinful it is. I will do everything to defy you, no matter what uniform that I wear, and we won't let you win!"

The once King is ever so slightly stunned by my battle scream, and yet it soon transforms before me into a fit of cackles that radiate out and improve the unwavering morale of my Sisters. He releases his grip on his reigns and raises his hand towards us, dark electricity pulsating around his palm and shifting in sickly colours. I knew it! An inner voice snarls. He's delved into the Black Arts! In seconds, the magic shoots towards the three of us. My senses come alive and I shove Link out of the way before I can think about it, honour twirling into my thoughts once again. He falls to the ground, Navi crying out as I pivot back around to meet the sphere dead on.

To say that it hurts is an understatement.

The magic slams into my stomach that is unprotected by clothing, not that it does all that much, setting my core ablaze with dark flames. I condense down the scream that starts to escape me by biting down hard on my tongue, feeling the metallic taste of blood soon after as I collapse to the ground in a twitching mess; my scimitars left in the grass. I can hear another bout of dark magic being created, but it never gets far before a shadow appears to protect both Link and I from the magic; the former being the protector against the King's magical influence. The swirling electricity bounces off of the Deku Shield before it shatters into a burning mess, dealing a physical, personal, blow to who it belongs to.

Link falls to the ground beside me, holding onto the remnants of the shield for all that it was, and I push myself up onto my knees; not able to get back onto my feet this quickly after such an attack. My eyes flicker down to the wound, discovering a black scorch mark caressing my skin, torn up skin and blood being the disgusting aftermath that forms a stench which I cannot stand. The King breaths out a laugh. "Pathetic. It'll be worth my time to find them myself." He rears his horse back and races off into the shadows, leaving us behind in another layer of mud and rain.

My hands shake as I press them against my wound, violently flinching as I force myself to grab Link's shoulders. I make him look at me, blue eyes swelling up with tears that he's trying not to let go. "Listen." I begin, my wound acting up as I shift my weight. "Don't let this get to you. I know that this is a hard blow for you, but you need to forget about it until this is over, got it?" He stares at me blankly. I shake him hard. "There's a battle still going on, and you need to get the Stones to the Temple of Time. Don't you remember what the Princess told you? If she isn't here to do what she wanted to, then she trusts you to do it for her. This will stop it, and then you can come to terms with it. All right?"

"It pains me to say it, Link, especially after how much it meant to you." Navi comments from above, placing her hand against his cheek. "But Ciren's right about this. We need to protect the Sacred Realm from Ganondorf and the Gerudo. Otherwise, we will all lose much more than we all ready have." She smiles sadly at him. "It's hard, but we can make a new one that's even better, right? It'll be easy, Link. Just you wait!" He forces a smile, something that we are both satisfied with. "I wonder what the Princess threw at us before. Whatever it was, she didn't want Ganondorf to get it..."

I hoist him up onto his feet, his hair covering most of his face so that I can't see it properly. "I cover us while we get it." I scan the area as I brush my fingers down Luz's mane while we pass him. I press myself up against my stallion and whisper into his ear. "Go. I can't let you get shot down, not when you mean so much to me. You're my last reminder of home, even if I don't want to go back..." He snorts in protest, but I pull away and pass him a dull look. "If you don't leave, then I'll make you leave, right? I've done it before, and I will do it again."

Shaking my head, I scoop up my weapons and scan the area while Link leans over the edge of the moat to search for whatever the Princess had thrown at us. He brushes the bodies aside and digs deep into the water, searching for a few moments while I cover him before he finally attains what he needed. When he gets to his feet, we move away from the water's edge to study what is in Link's bloody hands. It seems to be a small, blue instrument, the insignia of the Triforce carved into the blow hole, numerous other holes punched across the instrument's cool surface.

"The Ocarina of Time." Link whispers, leaving both Navi and I silent. His eyes flutter shut, and he brings the stained Ocarina to his lips. I part my lips, recalling the last time that this happened at the Sleepless Waterfall, only for my voice to die when he begins to play a song. It's slow and hesitant at the start, very much unlike the last time, but it soon begins to pick up a little. He repeats the same three notes twice in a row before they flow out into a longer tune that is strangely uplifting and sweet. His fingers fly across the instrument as if he had played it all of his life, which it seems like he has since he all ready had one before.

It takes a lot of my strength to catch him so suddenly when he staggers away.

"Link." I whisper. "What the Hell is happening to you?"

He stares up at the sky, dazed and confused all of a sudden. "The Princess appeared suddenly, telling me that she wouldn't be around when we had the Ocarina. She said that putting the three Stones in the Temple of Time and playing a special song would open the way to the Triforce." He explains softly, his Guardian Fairy fluttering around him in concern. "She taught me the Song of Time and..." The rest of his words zone out when I spot something in the corner of my eye, and my wound twitches.

A Gerudo in red clambers up onto the high walls surrounding Castle Town, shooting around manically before noticing the three of us outside. I snap my head up, Navi following my gaze as the young Gerudo grins and point the tip of her arrow straight at the one that I hold onto tightly. As Link continues on, I barely have time to move before the arrow begins to sail through the air. I stare at the Gerudo as I rip myself away from the Kokiri, racing around to move him away and hopefully onto Luz; the stubborn stallion staying exactly where he is. I raise my scimitar up to try and knock it away too, but I know that I'm not going to make it.

What I also don't expect is an unknown saviour creating a magical shield to protect us from the same arrow. How, again, can I call myself Gerudo if I am acting like a damsel in damn distress?

"S-Sheikah!"

The boy who I had matched up against in the Archery Shop in Castle Town dispells the barrier around us. Navi flies around to meet his gaze, bouncing up and down as he shoots a burst of magic up to knock the Gerudo off of the edge of the wall. He turns to me, eyes burning with hate towards me. He jabs a blade in my face, holding the tip of it against my jugular vein. "You've caused this!" He shouts in my face. I grind my teeth, Link behind me and finally more coherent than he was before. "Your forbidden tribe has killed too many people, so now I kill you!"

"So why did you save us?" I sneer.

He gestures to Link behind me. "Because word has gone about our tribe, our tribe who is loyal to this land, about how he is the Saviour among us." I blink a few times, confused at his words no matter how much his knife is digging into one of my main sources of oxygen. Something at the back of my mind sparks, recalling the premonition like dream that I had before Nisah and I went into the Spirit Temple to "find the King's secrets". One of the voices in there had described one who looked, I now realise, like an older version of Link as "the Saviour". That can't be right, though, because who could have the same dream as me?

"Much like my Mother, I have been having dreams in dire times..."

"That doesn't matter." If I could turn to Link, then I would. "She may be a Gerudo, but she is more loyal than anyone else that I have ever known, even you in a way! She never wanted to happen, and she didn't cause it. We understand about your hatred for the Gerudo as a race, but she needs to help me get to the Temple of Time unscathed and will do if you let her go. You can figure this out after, but right now, we need to go." Kaei says nothing, stunned by Link's sudden audacity. However, Link is too far away from that to care. "Thank-you for saving us. We'll pay for your debt when this is all over..."

He pulls me to my feet, thanking the Sheikah again before pulling me over to Luz. I climb up onto the horse with Link following, and I shuffle through my saddle bag and grab my bow and quiver, slinging it across my shoulder and readying an arrow. I mutter some form of thanks to Link, feeling too much like a Hylian to admit it, though he says nothing even if he did hear it. He holds the Ocarina close to him, Navi flying over to the irritating Sheikah for a moment. "Get out of here, Kaei. It's not safe." He says nothing as she returns to our side. "I'll help as much as I can. Ready?"

I don't even let myself or Link reply before I let Luz swing into action.

My stallion rears back, making his presence known before leaping high over the broken drawbridge and crashing down into the fray. My heart beat rapidly picks up, adrenaline coursing through my veins more than usual now that the true battle comes into play. I start off with small hits, shooting the Gerudo archers that attempt to kill us with simple shots to the legs and arms, something inside of me compelling me to keep from killing your own Sisters; for they are still my Sisters, no matter how much neither side wants to admit that. It is the will of the Goddesses, and for that I can't not stay from the will of the holy Three.

As we break into the Market square, there's even more blood than I had ever expected to see in one place. There are more bodies here too, many of them soldiers, though I don't realise this fully because a cry from behind me halts me. I whirl around, taking down another Lizafos with it, finding that an arrow from the shadows has pierced Link's back deeply. I kick Luz's flanks again and burst towards the courtyard in front of the Temple of Time, throwing some knives from my saddle bag into the Stalfos that surge after us before pulling Link onto the ground and helping to wedge the arrow free before shoving a Potion down his neck to help dull the extreme pain that he makes us know.

Holding my arms around his shoulders, I turn to Navi as I push the empty bottle into his bag. "Help him to the Temple." I command, knowing that she'll do anything for her partner. "If he can get to the Triforce before the day is through, then we'll be more than fine. We can't lose this battle now. Not when we're so close to the end." The Guardian Fairy nods, helping Link along despite the arrow in his back and nodding at me as if to say: "You better live." I force an assuring smile to her, although she doesn't quite believe it.

It doesn't matter, though, because she'll still carry on without me.

Drawing my scimitars, I slap Luz's side and force him to leave. He reluctantly gallops away, and I turn back around to face the horde of monsters rushing up to take the Temple and the three Spiritual Stones that is known that we have by the Gerudo. Drawing my scimitars, I narrow my eyes into thin golden slits as the onslaught of shadows rush at me. Screaming a battle cry, I leap head first into the fray. The Gerudo in my blood chants for the deaths of my enemies, watching intently as Lizalfos, Stalfos, and numerous Gerudo of all different ranks dash forwards. I dance around the blades thrown in my direction, rain spiralling out from the tip of my crimson hair and down the slivers of metal in my hands.

I tear my first scimitar across the throat of a Lizalfos, then my second through the bony chest of a Stalfos. I spin around on the tip of my toes, allowing any slashes from monsters to barely hit me. The deaths of two monsters costs me a light gash to the arm, but nothing more, and I jump backwards in order to kill any more monsters that come at me. There are no archers in Gerudo form here, apparently planning that the Temple of Time would be easy to take once the Market was in peril of losing control from the Hyruleans. However, that is more than an advantage for me as I can easily take care of those on ground instead of having to think about both them and archers at the same time.

The final Stalfos collapses easily in the next few minutes of monsters charging at me, leaving behind four Gerudo of low rank. They have grown in skill, three guesses why, although they all seem to have a same form of fighting style that I get used to rather easily. Noticing how most of Ganondorf's forces are pushing into Hyrule Castle, I surge against the Gerudo trying to knock me down and stun them long enough with the butt of my scimitars to take two down with a simple slash at the chest before the same with the other two, instead cutting at their stomachs too. The bloods seeps out onto the ground, and they retreat before I can say anything about it.

Twisting back around to face the Temple of Time, I jump onto the tips of my toes and run inside, grabbing at the large oak doors and pulling them too when I get into the large shelter from the battle outside. Taking a moment to breathe, I pivot around and lean heavily against the two doors decorated simply with Triforce insignias, my feet pressing deep into the plush red carpet that lightly covers the white tiled flooring beneath me. I can imagine the sun filtering in through the high arched windows that line the white walls, though even that is tainted with Ganondorf's influence. Come on, my mind whispers when I see no sign of Link or Navi. They're the only hope right now...

I push myself back onto my feet properly and follow the carpets golden linings towards an altar on the other side of the room, over a small platform in the middle with the symbol of Light carved into it. The large pillars rise high into the room, holding the entire structure up. I stop just before the altar, my hand brushing along the three Spiritual Stones that spin in place above three indents. Raising my eyes upward, I spot an open doorway ahead that leads into a corridor that doesn't look like it has seen the light of day for centuries.

I do not feel any more at ease when the sound of doors creaking open behind me enters my hearing range. I whirl around, water still dripping from my hair flying everywhere, watching as Ganondorf enters the Temple through the ajar doorway. His eyes dance in the torchlight, crimson mantle damp from the rain. The blade in his hand is drenched in blood of innocents, and I unconsciously drop into a battle stance. "Did you honestly think that I would leave this time of need in order to scour the land for a deranged Princess?" He scoffs as I sink down deeper, towering tall above me. "And yet, your consistent irritability is enough to keep my eye on you, even when the Golden Power awaits me."

I glance over my shoulder for just a moment, noting a blur of green and light moving around the chamber through the doorway, no idea that their main threat stands right here. He grabs my face and forces me to look straight at him. "I still mean what I said, "King". You aren't getting the Triforce, and I don't care what I have to do to stop you." He grins devilishly at me, eyes glittering with joy and mirth as he leans incredibly close to me. I purse my lips and continue to stare at him, not allowing my guard to drop when he whispers something in my ear.

"Even death?"

I let my guard drop just long enough to let his blade slice straight through my stomach.

My lips part in shock as he draws away from me, his knife protruding out from my spine. Still grinning, he holds me in place against the altar as he tugs the blade free from my body. I can all ready feel my blood simmering up my throat, my scimitars clanging against the ground with an empty thud. The King leans in close, planting a tiny kiss atop my forehead to mock me before letting me collapse against the floor. I slump against the altar, the shadow of Ganondorf casting his yellow eyes onto my body one last time before leaving in a flourish created by his mantle.

I stare up at the curved ceiling of the Temple, finding that the aspect of honour and death do not go together when you are corrupted by it. Dying for life is honourable, not dying for the sake of honour. In a tribe like the Gerudo, you are bought up knowing that dying honourably is the way to go, not without leaving something behind that you can be remembered for in a positive way, but we were never told what "honour" truly meant. Somewhere, deep in my mind, I feel more like myself than any other time in my life in the face of death.

Silence befalls the area before light consumes it from the chamber beyond, although I can't even register it before darkness begins to take my vision. I'm not afraid of death, and I'm not afraid of leaving this world. I feel strangely content with what I did, no matter what damage it may cause to many. As long as this conflict die down at the hands of my companions, then I guess I could find somewhere in the Spirit Realm at some point in time.

I squint at something in the distance suddenly, following a figure dressed in Sheikah garments as they slip into the Temple. The spots eating away at my sight doesn't help in identifying them, though I don't seem to care all that much, as I am far from saving and calm about it.

I search for the light, only to meet nothing but darkness that I welcome with open arms.