A Link to the Past
Chapter Twenty: The Wrath of Agahnim
Not hesitating for a second, Link came forward and stabbed his silver sword at the wizard, followed by a hard overhand swing after Agahnim easily avoided the first one by leaning to the side. Even without using his magic, the wizard was fast and agile, leaning his body or simply stepping out of the way to avoid all of the young man's attacks, all the while giving the guards plenty of time to deal with Princess Zelda and the old Sage. As she was still dazed from getting punched, the armored men had no trouble getting the shackles around her wrists and ankles, and the others seemed to be taking their time in beating the older man.
There was nothing that Link could do to help them, though, not at the moment, so he kept attacking Agahnim, driving the wizard slowly back down the aisle toward the door. Maybe if the young man kept his enemy on the defensive, then the wizard would eventually make a mistake, but this plan was stopped when instead of avoiding the next attack, Agahnim simply reached out and caught Link's wrist. Struggling against this wizard, who was surprisingly strong even against the power of the glove, the young man grabbed the hilt with his other hand, slowly moving the blade down toward Agahnim's face until a ball of flame appeared in the wizard's free hand.
"I see that your uncle taught you nothing." The wizard scoffed after the fireball striking Link in the chest sent him reeling backwards to where he caught himself from falling on one of the pews. "Your attacks are slow, and your arms are weak; a feeble little boy trying to play hero… throw down that sword and surrender, or I'm going to beat you senseless."
"Surrender to a traitor like you? Never." The young man replied, groaning a bit as he got up. "I don't know why you want the Princess or those other girls, but its all going to end right now!"
Releasing a burst of power from the glove, Link charged full speed at Agahnim with a powerful swing of his sword, but the wizard vanished at the last second, reappearing just as the young man was trying to stop and turn around, and slamming the heel of his boot into the side of Link's head before he could do anything to defend himself. The sword flew from his hand as the blow made him spin around, the young man crashing to the floor and rolling a couple times before coming to a stop, and when Link tried to get to his feet he just stumbled sideways and fell down again. If not for the power of the glove and undershirt that he was wearing, the young man figured a blow like that might have killed him, and… the sword! Where was his sword?!
Struggling to even get to his hands and knees, Link's eyes frantically searched around for the silver weapon, finally locating it underneath one of the pews on the opposite side of the aisle, but when he tried to crawl toward it, Agahnim grabbed him by the hair, pulling the young man to his feet while moving him away from the weapon. He tried to break the grip, only to cry out when the wizard punched him in the stomach with his free hand, suddenly releasing the young man and kicking him in the chest so that he fell against the first pew so hard that it tipped over backwards. This caused the other pews to fall down in succession all the way to the temple door, but there was no time to worry about that since the wizard was grabbing him again.
Again pulled to his feet, Link tried to punch his enemy, but Agahnim vanished just long enough for it to miss, before reappearing in the same place and kicking the young man's feet out from under him. He tried to get up, but the wizard punched him in the face, putting him on his hands and knees, and then the wizard kicked him in the stomach, sending him the rest of the way down. Now Agahnim grabbed him by the belt with one hand and the hair with another, pulling Link forward and tossing him into the altar so that offerings and decorations scattered across the floor, the wizard turned the young man around and punched him in the face, keeping him leaned back against the altar and repeatedly punching him in the stomach and chest, just beating and beating him until Link didn't even realize he had been allowed to fall down until several seconds after.
"Guards, take him." The wizard ordered while taking something out from his robes. "As tempting as it is, I'm not supposed to kill you, but when this is all over you might wish I had. Magic mirror, show me Ganondorf."
The object that Agahnim took out of his robes was a small mirror, about the size of his palm, and upon hearing his command the glass shimmered, glowing white for a moment but then going dark… no, not dark, just reflecting something that was a lot dimmer than the temple. There was a distant flicker of maybe torchlight in a stone room, but then some kind of shadowy figure filled up most of the mirror, some kind of face where its features were just barely visible, but this creature was snorting a bit when its mouth moved, grunting to ask the wizard what he had to report, and then demanding to know when the seal would be broken, whatever that meant.
"As you can see, I've recaptured Zelda." Agahnim reported, aiming the mirror so that the figure could see the Princess in chains. "The ritual will be completed as soon as I return to the castle, but first I have a little surprise for you… a gesture of good faith to help you not forget about our deal."
Now the wizard turned the mirror back toward Link, putting the glass so that it was right up close to his face, and now the figure was laughing, snorting and grunting kind of like a pig as it moved its own face closer for an even better look at the young man whose arms were being held by the guards. Even with the tiny bit of flickering orange light in the background, it was hard for Link to tell what he was looking at, it was… it was kind of shaped like a person, but the face and what he could see of its shoulders were all wrong, like this was some kind of monster straight out of a child's nightmare.
"The resemblance is remarkable, the boy looks just like him." The figure grunted as the mirror was turned back to the wizard. "Lock the boy in the castle dungeon, and finish the ritual; I will attend to him when I arrive, and don't worry… once I'm done with Hyrule your little reward will take no effort at all."
With that, the mirror shimmered again, reverting back into a simple reflective surface before Agahnim tucked it back into his robes. Motioning for the guards to follow him, Link and the others were dragged along toward the temple entrance, but not before the wizard stopped to pick up the fallen silver sword. However, instead of keeping it he walked up to the old Sage and stabbed him through the chest, Zelda screaming as the guards allowed the impaled older man to crumble to the floor with the sword still in him. Now something else was happening as the prisoners were dragged outside, a kind of yellowish glow was forming around both of the wizard's hands, getting brighter and more intense as everyone walked back outside into the pouring rain.
"Poor boy, you were so close to claiming the Master Sword." Agahnim said, still the glow getting stronger. "Perhaps with it you could have stood a chance against me, but now we will never know, and I want you to think about that as you rot in the dungeon… that… and this small taste of what real power is… Bombos!"
Aiming his hands back toward the temple while yelling this word, the glow erupted into a screaming projectile that left a trail of smoke as it flew right in through the temple doors, and then a massive explosion shook the land. An incredible flash of yellow light came from the doors and windows, followed by billowing smoke and flames as cracks formed across the building's exterior just before the roof collapsed. When the light and noise was over, the walls of the temple were still standing, but everything inside had been reduced to a pile of rubble that was hissing now that the rain from outside could put out the flames. The temple had been completely destroyed, with the old Sage and the silver sword lost within.
"Why?" Link managed to ask, trying not to get choked up. "Why… why would you do this? What reward in the whole world could be worth… this?"
"If you want to blame somebody, boy, blame your uncle." Agahnim replied coldly. "I'm sure he told you about Koholint Island, and the three weeks he spent there before waking the Wind Fish, yes? Well, I was on that island for twelve years… I had a wife… children… but the Power of Gold can only grant one wish at a time, and right now it's… it's for lack of a better word, stuck. Guards, bring them."
The armored men had only brought one full set of shackles, so one of them kept a grip on the bound Princess, while the other four kept close watch on the young man; two of them holding his arms tightly while the others kept the tips of their swords pressed into his back to keep him from trying anything. It was a long walk to the castle from the temple, er… where the temple used to be, so Link had time to go over what the wizard was saying in his mind a few times, even though none of it made any sense. He had been talking as if the island and all those people who vanished when Link's uncle woke up the Wind Fish were somehow going to come back, but that was impossible… the place hadn't even been real.
For a few moments the rain started to let up, but then started pouring again, making it difficult to walk down the slippery dirt roads as they flooded a bit, but Aghanim and the guards just kept on marching, and eventually the walls of Hyrule Castle came into view. This time there was no need to sneak around, so entering through the gates was a lot faster, but instead of taking the young man down into the dungeons immediately, the wizard had the armored men bring him along as Zelda was being moved over toward the upper levels, and then before he knew it, it was raining again when they had to exit the castle on the second floor in order to reach the entrance to the tower.
"I know that I'm supposed to lock you up, boy, but I want you to be able to see this." The wizard explained as the guards unlocked the heavy door. "In the mountains you were wondering what happened to the other girls, so I'm going to show you… I'm going to show you the final fate of your beloved little Princess."