Link bounded toward Hyrule castle as fast as he could run around, and sometimes over, the debris cluttering the once clean roads of the main street. He stumbled when he saw the corpses of the guards, the crushed cars, and the busted iron gates. He sprinted forward to defend Zelda and face the evil head on.
The duo of evil were not difficult to find. Their statures were drastically different, but both were topped with fiery red hair. Link charged in their direction, his knight's sword poised to strike. The blade sang through the air when he lunged forward, but he made contact with nothing. The King and Queen of Evil were magically gone. Link spun around wildly, but found no trace of them. He did locate the crushed crown on the ground, the mutilated King of Hyrule nearby, and to his left was Zelda. He dropped his sword and slid to her side on his knees.
"Link. You came, just like I knew you would. I was so worried," Zelda said, and tried to raise her hand to him.
He accepted her gentle hand and pressed her fingers to his cheek. Her skin was ice. That was when he realized the deteriorated state of her body. "Zelda, what happened?" he asked, even if he feared the answer.
Zelda smiled warmly at his kind heart. "I have limited time left, Link. Ganondora has used dark magic to invade and ravage my body. I am unable to fight against it. This power comes from hate, malice, and resentment," she explained, and emitted a groan. Her skin darkened to a deeper shade of purple. "Link, I need you to promise me something."
He heard her, but with his world spiraling out of control, his reaction was slow. This can't be happening, his mind repeated over and over. Making his mouth form a different sentence was difficult. "Anything, princess, anything at all."
"Pull the Master Sword as you were destined. Fight Ganondorf. The entrance to the Sacred Realm, where the Triforce rests, is hidden deep under the Hylian Sea. Claim it by any means necessary. When you touch the Triforce, and your deepest wish comes true, please keep in your heart the King and Queen of Evil."
Link was flabbergasted. "I can't! Why? Those villains deserve to be trapped in the Sacred Realm for an eternity."
The princess faintly giggled at his reaction. "I agree. Even if you are victorious, their evil will return. For Hyrule's sake, make sure they are together. Please make sure Ganondora is happy. You see, I want to right a wrong that my family has done to her. We have kept her from happiness, from the love she seeks, for hundreds of years. She despises us for that. It is the center of her hate. If we can give her back the time she lost, that hate may change."
"I don't understand," he stammered. "After what they've done, how can you-?"
"The love they share is not a storybook tale, but it is special to her, to them. All she ever wanted was to be a wife to her husband, and my family stole that. She has waited hundreds of years to live happily ever after. Is that so much to ask?"
Link brushed Zelda's yellow hair from her face. Forbidden tears tumbled from his blue eyes. "Even in death, your only concern is that of your people, and the future. You are truly an amazing princess. I will make everything right," he promised.
"Thank you, Link. Be careful. Hyrule's future is in your hands."
He knew he could not delay. The peaceful way she closed her eyes, how she accepted death as her heart finally failed, was mesmerizing. He forced his eyes to look away to face the bodies littering the lawn, and remembered he had a job to do. He leaned over Zelda and tenderly kissed her forehead.
Link entered the castle with new determination. He walked straight forward, and through the fake wall. His own voice and the voice of his father battled back and forth. Link doubted that a few hours would change his ability to pull the sword, but he trusted his father's words. Horus believed it impossible for the sword to deny him.
Link descended the stairs to the bare stone room and stood at the pedestal for the Master Sword. He realized that a few hours did make a difference. His family was gone. He would never feel his mother's loving embrace, hear his little sister's annoying whines, or give another eye roll during his dad's boring lectures. Everything he ever thought impossible came true in the blink of an eye.
Zelda was gone. Link would never see her beautiful smile, or make her the happiest wife like he always dreamed. Where he should have felt hate and vengeance, he felt justice and retribution. More people would be forced to grieve for their loved ones if he did not step up and be the hero he was destined to be. After evading his nightmares for years, he was turning around to finally face them head on. The people who bullied him, the people who believed in him, and the people that barely even knew of him relied on him to save their world from falling apart like his.
His dad's voice whispered to him that it was time to stop hiding.
"I know," Link said, exhaling a deep breath slowly. He only realized how sweaty his hands were when he wrapped his fingers around the hilt. Anxiety made his muscles tremble. He swallowed his uncertainty, bent his legs at the knee, and pulled up with all his might.
The Master Sword budged.
Link overflowed with so much relief that his eyes even widened in surprise. The grind of steel against stone echoed in the empty room. As the entire blade was revealed, Link marveled at the mystical light that shined from it, proof that its power to repel evil still survived. He swung the sword in a few practice swings. It was unlike any other blade he ever wielded. He expected the metal to be heavy, but it was light, which made him swift. The energy resonating from it was warm, welcoming, and righteous, where the King of Evil's power was frightening and crawled on him like death. Link removed his knight's sword from his sheath over his left shoulder and replaced it with the Master Sword.
"I got it, Dad," he said to himself, and turned to leave.
He took only a few steps before the bright glow of the symbol on the back of his hand distracted him. "What's happening now?" he wondered. His shock was clear when a female disembodied voice answered him.
"Hurry, hero chosen by the goddesses, and save our sister. Save your Zelda."
Link's wide eyes followed a bright, pale green trail of magic that appeared from the back of his hand and encircled him rapidly. His body felt as light as the feather he once plucked from the back of a cucco, and his mind was at ease for the first time in years. He feared that his life was being taken by this entity. His surroundings began to fade and he was surrounded by a white light that twinkled with gold.
Suddenly, the acceptance that he would soon be facing his fears and nightmares became an unbreakable resolve to defeat what once terrified him. This courage erupted in his soul when the twirling green energy collided with his chest. "Farore," he whispered. This was Farore, the Goddess of Courage, that had just revealed herself to him, to share her courage with him. Link closed his eyes, and felt like the biggest fool in the history of Hyrule.
When he opened his eyes, he stood on the shore of the Hylian Sea, except the sea was empty.