Chapter 16

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[Time: 12:42 A.M.]

[Date- Month 4 'Late-spring', Day 13, 8th Era]

[Location- Hyrule, Gerudo Village - Ganondorf's Quarters]

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Ganondorf himself, the dark lord, was sulking in his hammam. With his clothing removed, a mere towel draped over his lap; he was attempting to relax with a bath. The day had come and gone into the wee hours of the morning. He was tired, struggling daily as of lately to figure out a new plan after previous events had left him unable to proceed with what was to have potentially been his most cunning scheme in the history of mankind.

"Lutiti… Sereig…" His deep booming voice echoed in the tiled chamber as he called out for his Gerudo servants. "My muscles are still taut. Another sponge bath, now." The evil mastermind demanded. "Focus on my shoulders and make sure the water is still warm."

Right away, two gerudo servants who were out of sight came into view to do his bidding. They were young, scantily clad, highly beautiful and likely handpicked by the Prince of Darkness himself. The fact that they donned incredibly short, white, see through silk-lace dresses designed to show off their bellies, thighs, arms, as well as half-nude chest meant they were royal bathing slaves. They were meant to be attractive. From the looks of it, they fit the part perfectly. Doing their jobs, they both grabbed a sea sponge from a basket, dipped them in a basin of warm water that had been sitting upon red hot coals, then slowly tended to their master by massaging him with a luxury bath.

He moaned softly to their touch, enjoying the sensation of the warm water pouring amongst his shoulders and back while they rubbed tenderly with damp sponges. Times like these were the only times upon which he could truly relax. Everyday, things had gotten progressively worse for not only him, but his people as well. Ever since then.

'Ever since the moment that little turd emerged from the forest.' Ganondorf contemplated subconsciously. 'He ruined everything and I don't even know how. Damn him.' His fists tightened, but he quickly returned to normal with a sigh, trying hard to not let frustration show. 'How did he know my plan? I don't understand it… How could he have known that I was going to betray King Harkinian or use the Sacred Realm to find the Triforce? Where could such knowledge come from!?' No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't contain the excitement of attempting to uncover how he was foiled. 'There's no possible way a normal boy could have known that. I've informed nobody other than Koume and Kotake of my true intent; nobody, not even Nabooru was aware. So, for a young hylian boy to come forth and tell The King everything, so straightforward-... He had to have had some help from a higher power. If it's unlikely I was betrayed by my own people, then it had to have been a deity." Moving his mouth side-to-side, the male gerudo felt let down. 'Months of thinking and that's ultimately all I can come up with.'

For such a mighty man as the Dark Lord Ganondorf Dragmire, to have been beaten by a young boy of hylian descent was almost preposterous. Nonetheless, it happened. He was somehow outwitted by a prepubescent boy. No solution the man came up with would ever satisfy that feeling of failure, that feeling of near success, only to fall flat on your face instead. The day his proposed alliance was rejected by King Harkinian of Hyrule, he lost out on decades of work he had dedicated his entire life to. Years upon years, he'd worked hard to get to that moment and it was all snuffed out in an instant. He felt as though it wasn't fair, nor appropriate to happen to such a powerful man. In his opinion, despite the fact the fairy boy was correct in all the assumptions, King Harkinian still should have listened to him instead of a little child. No matter what was said, done or shown, the imposing stature of a mature MAN should have trumped that of a puny adolescent. The fact that it didn't turn out that way had to mean that the boy was incredibly persuasive in what he said. Like aforementioned, it was said straight forward, directly to The King's face. It had to have been truthfully honest as well as believable.

'How do I possibly proceed?' Ganondorf thought more. 'Without the alliance, I'll never be able to get close enough to the Temple of Time, nor will I ever find the location of the three Spiritual Stones to open the Door of Time. Without getting into the Door of Time, I'll never be able to gain entrance into the Sacred Realm. Without the Sacred Realm, the Triforce is out of my grasp completely; not to mention, I'd have no clue what to do on the other side of the Door of Time without knowledge from hylian sources, no clue on how to actually get inside of the Sacred Realm from within the Temple of Time.' Still feeling screwed over, he hung his head with eyes closed tight. 'I-… I suppose it's time to start moving on. I failed, that's all there is to it.'

Ganondorf didn't truly want to proceed with a new plan, in fact, if he could go back in time and make his old one work, he would. Now, he'd have to rework all he'd trained for. It was going to be quite difficult too considering how badly things currently were for the gerudo tribe. Lack of supplies were leading to hunger, thirst and broken equipment from the shortage of available repairs; absence of trust in gerudo women in general also led to them being unable to reproduce viable offspring. Nobody wanted to have relations with someone whose ethnicity is instantly related to thievery, violence and now terrorism. All gerudo had been shunned and it was as untimely as it was unfortunate. 'There's just no possible way I can go about things stealthily, nor can I go about it diplomatically. No… No…' He thought about what to do. 'If I'm ever going to get my hands on the Triforce, then I'll have to use power. When reason fails, there is always force.'

After thinking about his new plan for a while, Ganondorf eventually began to zone out. It was late and he was more tired than he let on. If the feeling of the warm water wasn't so good, he likely wouldn't have stayed and would have gone to bed thirty minutes ago. But, his eyes closed completely as his breathing grew shallow. Nonetheless, Lutiti and Sereig, Ganondorf's servants, continued to rinse water over his body, not phased by the fact that he was teetering on the line between being awake or asleep.

Time soon passed and it was clear Ganondorf had fallen asleep. His brain needed rest, no matter how long it did so. To his disdain, it didn't last as long as he desired as he felt his ears begin to ring. The annoyance wasn't much and yet enough to arouse him from his slumber. At first, he merely grumbled until it became worse. "Ughh… For the love of-… Did one of you get water in my ears?" He asked his servants, expecting a swift answer.

As he opened his eyes, he realized he hadn't felt either of them pour water or use the sponge on him in a couple of minutes. "What-...?" He questioned as he turned around, seeing nobody. The hammam was utterly empty besides himself. "You're kidding me… They left without permission? Those imbeciles, I'll have them both whipped for this…" Standing up, the towel fell from his lap, landing on the floor with a soft thump. He walked to the door of the hammam bare nude, not caring in the least. At the moment, his short temper was getting the best of him as he wanted to find and antagonize his servants for leaving him behind as such. It infuriated him for no real reason other than how he expected them to not leave without him telling them to do so. "Stupid girls…" He bitched fervidly while gripping the handle to the door and attempting to open it.

"Wha-..." Out of nowhere, he found himself unable to open the handle to the door. It felt almost as if it was completely blocked from the other side. No matter how hard he pushed, it didn't even budge. "What the hell? What's the meaning of this!? Hello!?" Jiggling the handle more, he grew frustrated. The dark lord knew it should have opened by now if it were merely stuck. With his strength, he should have been able to tear the handle from the door. But, for some reason he couldn't. "Lutiti! Sereig! The damn handle is stuck!" He hollered for assistance. "Get me out of here before I have your heads!"

After another minute, he resorted toward banging on the door. He truly couldn't believe nobody was hearing his calls, especially at the time of the night whenever it was quiet and far easier to hear others. "Hello!? For goddess sake, open the damn door! RHAAA!"

Whenever he finally stopped, he hung his head in his hands with a long aggravated sigh. Not only was he locked in there and was likely going to have to bust the door down, he also still heard that same intense ringing in his ears. Somehow, he couldn't figure out what was more maddening. Neither compared to the sudden feeling he got as he abruptly sensed himself being watched, almost like there was someone else in the room. The creepy inkling turned to an oddly uncontrollable realization of dread. Just moments ago, he'd looked around in anticipation of seeing his gerudo servants, so he was positive that there wasn't anybody else in there since he saw nobody then. There's only one door and with that, it should be impossible for somebody to have entered without him noticing. Surely it was his imagination and yet he found it nearly impossible to not want to check. The urge was intense, to the point where he was still positive there was another presence behind him. Defenseless as he was, he wasn't sure what to do. He didn't want to be as vulnerable as he was, but saw no other alternative for the time being.

"Hello?" He said, turning around on impulse without giving it much thought. Instantly, his eyes narrowed in on the fact that over half of the room had disappeared, giving away to utter darkness. "W-What the fuck?!" He stuttered as he backed himself up upon the jammed doorway. "Am I dreaming?" His mind tried to make sense of things. Logically, it didn't seem possible seeing how moments ago he was being bathed by servants in his well lit hammam. However, seeing is believing. The sight before him was exactly as such; there was no mistaking it. "What's going on?!"

Taking a step forward, he looked back at the door, then returned to face the darkness. His eyes narrowed, sure he saw something, movement of some kind. At the same time, he knew what he was experiencing had to be a dream. Half of a room doesn't just disappear into hazy darkness, nor does that hazy darkness make a person feel as though they are actually being watched by it in a sentient manner. The dark lord even tried pinching himself, only to feel the stinging of real pain. He wanted it to be all in his head, but pain signified he was definitely awake. Just as he had no choice in being defenseless, he also obviously had no other choice than to deal with the situation if he ever wanted to get out of it.

"Oh, come on. I don't have time for this…" He growled angrily. "I am the Dark Lord known as Ganondorf Dragmire; King of the Gerudo, conqueror of lands, destroyer of worlds. I am a very busy man and do not have time to deal with this charade. If you're some sort of shadowy assassin, then you might as well come out to fight because your tricks are not impressing me."

The cocky attitude presented stemmed from the fact that he wasn't scared. It would take more than a dark cloud hovering in his hammam to make him duck and cover. He'd fight naked for all he cared.

Unfortunately, it seemed as though the black energy wasn't looking for a fight, and it wasn't interested in fear tactics. "You think I am trying to scare you, Ganondorf?" An ominous, deep as well as multi-layered voice spoke in a mockingly sarcastic tone before letting out a slow chuckle of disgust. "Maybe I picked the wrong reincarnation. Here, standing before me with all his glory at display, I see what could have been, what should have been-… but, what failed."

From the very start of hearing the voice, Ganondorf was on alert. To hear it taunt him, that was enough for him to attempt to take charge. "What did you say?" He demanded to know. "Step forth and show yourself!?" He positioned himself accordingly in preparation of attack; both fists raised ready to brawl. "I don't know who you are, but nobody talks to me like that!" He walked forward, stepping out into the darkness to face the challenge head on. The voice didn't return and he was unsure of what to do from there. Options of what was going on as well as what to do ran through his head ceaselessly. "I don't know what you're talking about, but this has gone way too far. I'll have you executed for this as soon as this is over. Hopefully, you'll enjoy shriveling up in the desert and having birds peck your eyes out."

Prior to even being able to respond, he suddenly felt himself being thrown back quite violently against the jammed hammam door. "HUAA!" With a loud thud, he impacted the door, slamming into it. An unseen force was holding him back, not letting him fall or move a muscle no matter how hard he tried to do as such. "LET ME GO!" He hollered angrily while still fighting it. "I AM LORD GANONDORF DRAGMI-...!"

"YOU ARE NOTHING!" The demonic voice screamed at him, nearly roaring in intensity. Although Ganondorf couldn't see anything, he could feel air blowing in his face from the sheer power of the being's shout. "I MADE YOU, FOOL, I KNOW EXACTLY WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU'RE CAPABLE OF!" A thick rope-like object wrapped around the gerudo's throat, then his arms, then his legs. Tightening in on his throat, the man choked as his windpipe took on a lot of pressure. From the pain and stress the desert king was going through, under normal circumstances, he would have grabbed at whatever it was to pry it from his neck. To his dismay, he couldn't move either limb. "I ALSO KNOW HOW MUCH OF A FAILURE YOU WERE; SO YOU CAN CUT THE 'LORD THIS' AND 'LORD THAT' COWSHIT YOU FEED YOURSELF!" Each time it yelled, Ganondorf's throat tightened further as an invisible force crushed it. "TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT YOUR CREATOR!"

The darkness seemed to move, morphing into a form that didn't come together in a cohesive sense. Ganondorf kept his focus on it the entire time, in spite of gasping or gagging from being barely able to breathe. His eyes widened as they bore witness to the strange cloud-like entity beginning to congregate into a wicked looking gaseous cloud with absolutely no defined shape. It whirred and flickered like a dark flame. Occasionally, what looked like a few miniature bolts of lightning sparked from within. The scent of ozone could be smelled while the sound of it was awful, like the wind and yet, ten, if not fifteen times more powerful than he'd ever heard in his life. Although he could see what he did, he found it difficult to even look at as dread filled his body with high amounts of stress from the eye contact being made. He knew for sure he was seeing what he was; it only became harder to stare at, making him wonder if this was something a human such as him might possibly be unable to look at for long periods of time.

"W-What-… Nghh… What are you?" He choked out questioningly.

That demonic multi-layered voice laughed sarcastically in advance of responding. "You don't recognize me? You can't feel the connection whenever you look at me? I've always been with you, since the moment you slid from your mother's womb. I've influenced every decision you've ever made in my favour, I've taught you in your dreams, I've changed fate to keep you alive when you should have died, I did everything to lead you up to finding the Triforce." Lightning bolts inside the dark cloud scattered. As if on cue, the force wrapped around Ganondorf's throat, restricting even more breathing, even going as far as to feel as though it was about to crush his windpipe. Ganondorf struggled until it released its grip enough for him to gasp. "And now you've… you FAILED!"

Truly, Ganondorf had no clue what the voice was talking about. Yet, this wasn't the first time he had nightmares. Decades of his sleep had constantly been plagued by night terrors. He'd been deprived of a decent night for many years. Considering that, this wasn't new. Instead, what he found more interesting was the fact that he was realizing now how he could never actually remember what the nightmares were about. He tried to think hard, but to no avail. Quite vividly, he could recall the torment of waking up in a sweaty panic and yet there was nothing in his memory at all regarding what the horrid dreams were actually about. He'd awaken feeling odd, as if he'd had the worst experience possible. On the other hand, he always felt as though he'd awoken more and more. Each nightmare always made him focus more intently on the day ahead of him. The motivation he felt propelled his motives for the coming tests of the day, even whenever it came from nowhere. Because of the regular recurrence, he found himself used to it; not even having contemplated the matter in a long while.

"I don't know who or what you are!" He shouted at the entity, even with his throat still being crushed.

With that, the dark gaseous cloud of malice released Ganondorf's arms and legs, only to sling him by the neck against the wall faster than a speeding horse and carriage. "I ALREADY TOLD YOU!"

Following that, Ganon laid there for a moment, unsure of what to do about the scenario. Nonetheless, he knew one thing; that he wasn't going to take this from a floating ball of darkness. Without any further delay, he hopped back to his feet and lunged at the entity to strike at it with his mighty fist. Of course, this didn't work as he merely passed straight through the surface and then fell to the floor with a thud from having missed. He kicked, but the results were exactly the same even though he was now partially inside of it.

This all made the entity laugh wickedly. "Good! See? Looks like you're not ready to give up. That's what I needed to see in order to know you weren't just a pathetic dud."

From within the cloud, Ganondorf felt as though his life force was being sucked straight out of him. The chills going down his spine accompanied by the dread and fear was almost too much. He wanted to cry, to give up, to let everything go so he could die. There, life had no meaning, all was lost and completely hopeless. There was no sense in trying whenever all was futile. The cycle of life seemed to be a lie now. Truly, the only way to end it, was to die.

"Maybe I just need to let you remember a little more than you do…" The cloud entity grumbled. "Hmm…... Maybe, just maybe-… this will all be enough motivation for you to live up to your expectation."

Ganondorf continued to lay upon the floor with his upper body inside the evil plume of energy. His breath felt as though it were being sucked out his mouth, his nostrils, even his ears and eyes. Barely rolling over onto his knees, he tried his best to escape. He grew weaker, feeble and lethargic until he couldn't move at all, no matter how hard he attempted to get up. Before long, he collapsed on his stomach groaning desperately. His heart raced drastically. Part of him began to wonder if this was still a dream as it felt overly real. Right that second, he was wasting away from the inside out. He could feel his organs vibrating, churning inside him as if they were trying to disintegrate or liquify. It was all too real and he saw no way of getting out of it considering he was still struggling, clawing at the ground with his fingernails to try and pull himself along. Blood dripped from his nose each inch he drug himself.

"Just remember this…" The monstrous cloud said, sounding as if it were speaking directly into his ear. Ganondorf felt the invisible force wrap itself around his entire torso, this time flipping him onto his back. The man could see the lightning again and the swirling. It was enough to drive him mad with insanity. Evermore frightening, he saw what looked to be a beastly face coming together; manifesting itself using the black clouds around it. The face stopped with dramatic demon-like features mixed with that of animals. Its head shaped like a horse, face scrunched like a pig with a short upturned snub nose, the ears of a cow, and the black soulless eyes of a monster. "I gave you the right to make decisions on your own. You are yourself, no matter what I do. But, I can take it all back in the blink of an eye. I can kill you right here." The invisible force soon revealed itself, the muscular body of the demonic cloud entity becoming fully visible. What looked like the rest of the foggy haze pulsing with lightning and dark energy took the place of what he initially believed to be nothingness. After that, it flung him again, tossing him against the door where he was to begin with.

Ganondorf wheezed loudly as he hit the wooden frame. He wasn't sure how much more he could take now. His eyes barely stayed open as he felt his consciousness fading. Now, whenever the black stormcloud-resembling tentacle grabbed him once more, he hollered out in pain. "Wait! I-… I don't un-understand! I'm sorry I failed! I'm already-…" The gerudo king stopped talking for a moment to harshly cough up blood. "I'm already coming up with a new plan!"

The monstrous beast/demon/cloud smirked evilly, grinning from one ear to the next. "Good. I'll hold you to that." Ganondorf tried to get up, but the entity held him down. As it spoke, it came closer and closer. "Because, you might be a free man during the day, during your waking life, but, when you dream, when you die-… your ass is MINE." Before long, the monster had its face right in front of the man. It snorted and stared him in the eyes. With a creepy popping noise escaping its jowls, the demon opened its jaws wider and wider. In the next second, before Ganondorf could react, it latched onto his face; big curved teeth sinking into his head. He screamed in shock, but that made it worse as his breath was completely sucked out of him by the monster. He could vividly feel his lungs collapsing. Blood shot from his nose and mouth, pouring down the creature's throat. He screamed louder as more pressure was applied. The cracking of his skull cut into his brain and his eyes felt as though he were about to pop, that is, until they actually did. From there, it didn't take much longer. His body went limp as with one more try from the demon, his skull caved in and it all went black.

Ganondorf awoke in a panic, jumping up from the bench in the hammam he'd apparently been sitting on the entire time; the towel from his lap sliding off to the side. Lutiti and Sereig both gasped in shock from his sudden movement, even dropping their sponges as well as spilling some water on the floor in surprise. They watched as he grabbed his face to feel it, almost as if he was making sure it was still there. Nonetheless, witnessing the sheer anxiety coursing through him prompted them to ask. "Lord Dragmire, are you okay?"

He jerked his head back in their direction with a long blank stare, like he was looking straight through them. Blinking in a daze, he eventually sighed as his dilated pupils gradually returned to normal. "Yeah…" The male gerudo soon replied. "I just-… I think I had another nightmare. This one was so incredibly realistic." The desert king shook his head and then laid it upon his hands in disbelief of what he'd just witnessed. It was hard for him to believe all that was a dream, like he initially speculated it to be. All the pain he experienced, having his head crushed in the mouth of a demon that knew everything about him, as if it was angry at him for failing, was too much for him to take. He'd gone through the most realistic dream death he'd ever had in his entire life and it was absolutely horrifying beyond words. 'Was I really just sitting here the entire time? Did I honestly dream that?' He mentally questioned himself. 'And, what was up with what that monster said about being my creator, how I'll be his once I die? How did it know about me failing to get the Triforce?' There were more questions he had to ask, yet as he calmed down, he realized it was useless. He began to figure that it was simply another nightmare and there was nothing he could do about it.

He realized then that his servants were still staring at him. Either they were scared or not sure what to do. Regardless, it was getting on his nerves. "What?" The two women looked away and he growled at them for their apprehension. "Just clean up. And, do it quietly… I'm going to bed."

With that, Ganondorf grabbed the towel from off the floor, wrapped it around him and then walked to the door of the hammam. This time, the handle wasn't stuck and it opened normally. He was greeted with the expected sight of his large and lavish bedchamber. In front, his regal bed with magnificent red silk sheets hemmed with gold along with a wooden desk for writing; to the left was the door to the rest of the fortress along with some containers as well as a bookshelf with plenty of old books or scrolls; to the right was his wardrobe, dresser, some chests, as well as comfy furniture.

The first stop he made was to his dresser. Pulling open the top and middle drawer, he removed a pair of silk pajama bottoms and then a matching silk pajama top; both dyed burgundy in colour. They fit perfectly and were soft, perfect for sleeping in. Now, with clothes on, he flopped down on his bed, not even pulling back the sheets.

More than anything, he was ready to go to bed. All he wanted to do was to forget about what happened. He laid there with his head on the pillow for a solid ten minutes. Lutiti and Sereig had come and gone as quietly as possible. Unfortunately, he still couldn't get to sleep no matter how hard he tired. He merely laid there restlessly. For some reason, he had sleepless legs. Energy coursing through his body gradually picked up until even his heart was beating fast. His eyes shot open, pupils moving side-to-side as he thought ardently about his plan. Tossing and turning, his brain raced until it became clear that he simply wasn't going to be able to sleep any time soon. In all the thinking, he'd realized something important and needed to begin working on the matter immediately.

His feet touched the floor again and he lifted himself from his bed, only to sit on the stool in front of his desk. "It all makes sense now…" He spoke to himself as he opened a drawer to remove some parchment paper, then another drawer that had a few books in it. "It has to be him."

Rummaging through the books, he pulled out one from the center of the pile, one that read 'Legends and Information on the Triforce' on the cover. The book was quickly opened and Ganondorf flipped between them to a certain section. Eventually, he came to the section which at the top read 'Saviors and Heroes of the Triforce'. Quickly scanning his eyes onto the section, he had to read the whole thing to find the part he was looking for. He read where 'throughout the ages, those of evil or those who held malicious lust for power attempting to gain access to the Sacred Realm were always opposed by a person who would rise up to make sure the Triforce remained in holy hands. The background and knowledge of these heroes have mostly been forgotten to history, but interestingly, what remains and is translated refers to major similarities regarding most of these brave souls. It would seem that the most notable individuals to share these similarities are hylian men clad in green. Perhaps there's a significance?'.

"I knew it!" He exclaimed, glad he was able to remember the passage from his years of studying. For the most part, he was sure that he was dealing with a hylian and not a kokiri. He knew well of the legend on how kokiri were unable to leave their forest. However, thinking of how the kid he had in mind was similar to a kokiri, he figured it was only due to the fact that he was a child in body shape. That in itself raised another issue. "Wait… hylian men? This was no man, this was a boy!"

His fists tightened as he thought about it. "A hylian boy clad in green and that stupid Princess Zelda ruined everything!" Slamming his fists down on the table, he thought about it again and again until it drove him mad. "Could it be that this hylian boy in green is a hero, just like the book said?" He asked himself in deep contemplation. "If he is, then this presents a new problem. I don't understand why he'd be a boy, nor why I was bested by him diplomatically." His eye twitched as he clenched his jaw. "Is it possible that I'm facing off against a young hero because I'm not evil? I'm not evil at all… No… The Triforce or Goddesses must have simply misunderstood my conquest and judgment as malice."

He continued to ramble to himself as he threw the book off to the side, letting it land on the floor with a thud. "This is the real world. People are going to die no matter what." The Desert King groveled. "I take care of my citizens as best as I can and want to lead them to prosperity. But, I cannot succeed without the death of innocents. Times are changing. There are nations popping up left and right amongst the lands, all competing for supplies or putting a strain on our own. I hear whispers of inferior religions that make absolutely no sense, militaries from places nobody has ever heard of threatening to take what's ours, even new technologies and equipment that tear down the very foundation of culture; they are all becoming more widespread."

Smirking, his eyes narrowed in on his shifting thoughts. "I'm going to fix all of that by being the true King of Hyrule, as my birthright so demands."

Removing a single inkwell from a cubby hole on his desk, he then grabbed a plume prior to writing down all he knew about the boy in question. It was important he learn more about the young man so that he may truly know who he was dealing with. Part of Ganondorf wondered if this was just some crazy kid posing as a hero from the stories. Then again, he wasn't sure of that at all. A kid with an overactive imagination surely wouldn't be able to convince The King of Hyrule that the gerudo would commit treason to the Royal Family. Considering that piece of vital data, he figured this might be the real deal. It wasn't encouraging. Even as he wrote, he still felt the anger swelling inside him for losing to a boy, no matter the fact that he was some goddess sent savior. It was infuriating. Forever, Gonondorf would have to live knowing that his greatest plan was foiled by a child. The only thing that made him able to continue onward was his new 'revised' plan which, if works, will make everything correct again.

Motivation to keep going fueled him. More was written down until he was satisfied. Thinking about it, he supposed a few minor adjustments would be needed, yet in the long run, the scheme should work out nicely. By the end, he'd regain control. That was all he wanted. So, with that, the prepping was done. The thief king knew exactly what he needed to do and precisely who to use.

Getting up from the desk, he went over to his wardrobe. Swiftly, he changed out of his pajamas and into his regal outfit. The outfit consisted of black shoulder armor, hand gauntlets and knee armor with gold spikes and golden jewels as well as brown outer leather armor with intricate gerudo designs. To top it off, he attached white desert cloth onto his arms, legs and chest, all with blue and red lines on them. Now, he looked fit for his title of King of the Gerudo. Once he donned his strengthened leather boots, he was finished.

Keeping a particular goal in mind, he smirked wickedly. The more he contemplated it, the more he felt confident in this plan. All would work out fine. Leaving his room, on the way out, he grabbed his sword. "Perfect…" He said prior to opening the door. Walking out, he then left to pursue his next object. Though it was late, he could care less. He knew for sure the others would get up if he commanded them to. 'After all, it's never too late to work on dominating the entire realm'. His guards closed the door for him in advance of following closely behind their master.

For about ten minutes, his room remained undisturbed. It wasn't until then that his door cracked open again to reveal Nabooru, Ganondorf's second in command. Like most gerudo, she had red hair, dark skin and golden eyes. She was a mature woman that loved to be decorated all over with gerudo jewelry. She dressed very sparsely, with the upper half of her clothing consisting only of a pattern-designed bra, leaving the rest of her upper half bare and revealing her belly button. Her lower half of the body was covered by a pair of large, puffy, pink salwar pants. Red, pointy shoes covered her bare feet, ending her look there.

"Lord Ganondorf?" She asked with a gentle knock on the door, unsure if he was still awake or not. She knew he was a night owl, yet would not dare disturb him had he chosen to retire to bed early. "Are you still awake?" Once she received no response, she peered in to see that the evil king wasn't in the chamber. The door to his hammam was open, meaning he wasn't in there either. She took one more glance around the corridors prior to entering his room altogether without permission. Considering how his guards weren't stationed outside of the door, she had a feeling the dark lord wasn't there. From the Spirit Temple, she came to inform him that she was unsuccessful in her assigned endeavour. She wasn't proud of it, but there was nothing she could do without blowing up part of their sacred temple or using someone smaller to progress through a passage as somebody of her size was unable to do.

She was just about to turn around to leave when the gerudo woman noticed something peculiar. The sheets were jumbled up on Ganondorf's bed, stuff was strewn across his desk and his wardrobe was left wide open. 'Oh no. He must be having nightmares again.' Her thoughts came to a conclusion. Proceeding over toward the side of the bed, her foot kicked at an object. Looking down, she saw a book. The book read 'Saviors and Heroes of the Triforce'. She hadn't seen the book in a long time. On the other hand, she knew exactly what it was about as Ganondorf had been obsessed with scripture regarding the Triforce for most of his life.

"Not this again…" She uttered while picking up the book. The section upon which it was open to was the same as which Ganondorf had read. Just based on curiosity, Nabooru read it too. Her lips pulled to the side as she was unsure what to think. Stories of men who think they were heroic for doing what they were supposed to didn't impress her. 'Why does he read stuff like this? It's ancient and half is probably blasphemous.'

Investigating the room further, she closed his wardrobe and then went to straighten up the spread of parchment papers on his desk. Once more, being nosey got the better of Nabooru. She had to catch a glimpse of what was written and whenever she did, she narrowed her eyes while staring at it in confusion. "Wait a second…" She uttered aloud as she lifted one of the papers. On it were descriptions of a small boy. Her mind read it out in her head. 'A young hylian or possibly a kokiri boy, between the height of three-foot to four-foot, blonde hair, blue eyes, wears green clothing with a green cap.' Below that were the names of four gerudo who excelled the most in stealth. 'Nookeki, Aufure, Sanoalu, Eraka.' Scribbled below that was information regarding a few different locations. 'Hyrule Castle? A forest, possibly Kokiri Forest based upon clothing?'.

Such things had no relevance to anything she knew, so it did no good for her to read onward. She knew that which the dark lord was working on must have been private or new. There wasn't much else she could learn from it.

Quickly, she sat the book down on the desk and tucked the stool underneath prior to blowing out the candle Ganondorf had left burning. The room was dark now, but with the door open, she had enough light to find her way out.

"What are you doing?" A voice suddenly spoke.

Nabooru jerked her head up in surprise, only to see Aveil, the Emira (general) of the gerudo standing in the doorway, staring at her suspiciously. "Oh… Aveil, you startled me. I'm just looking for Ganondorf. He left his room a mess, so I figured he ran off somewhere in a hurry." Walking back toward the door, she stared back at her younger subordinate. The look in Aveil's eyes could be read as distrust. Nabooru wasn't sure why, nor did she care. "I have important news to tell him. Do you know where he is?"

Aveil continued to eye the older gerudo. Although she didn't say anything, she had seen Nabooru snooping around. There was a part of her that had never trusted Nabooru's abilities. For years, Aveil thought she could do a better job. Deep down, she figured that she could even inform Ganondorf of what she'd seen. Then again, there was no way to call the sneaky gerudo on it though, so she left it out. For the time being, Aveil merely replied. "He just ordered me to wake up Sanoalu, Eraka, Nookeki, and Aufure. They've assembled outside and he's briefing them on a new mission. If you hurry, you'll catch him."

After that, Aveil watched as Nabooru walked off down the corridor to find her king. She stayed behind for a moment, thinking of what to do. Her eyes shifted as she thought. A sigh then escaped her lips before she too walked off.

Back to Nabooru, the fiery red-haired Gerudo made her way down the hall, still in search of Ganondorf. It wasn't until she came upon the barracks that she began to change her mind about venturing off to find the dark lord. Although she knew that she needed to tell him her progress report at some point, it wasn't as pressing as what was going on with him trying to find a little boy. For one reason or another, something in her head kept trying to remember a kid fitting a description like that, but she couldn't fully recollect anything decent enough to use as memory. Instead, she recalled another instance when her niece talked to her about a boy. That had been months ago, so she figured that surely her niece hadn't been talking about the same boy.

Turning around in the middle of the hallway, she decided that it would be best to go see whether or not it was true. Besides, she hadn't seen her niece in a while. She missed the young farmgirl. Normally, she wasn't allowed to go see outsiders, but the girl was different and she'd always been there for her ever since the gerudo's sister passed away from a plague. Nabooru had acted like a female parental figure ever since the red-headed gerudo woman was the only real woman who ever came into her niece's life. The trek to see the girl wouldn't be long either. She figured she'd go now, get there by horse in about half of a day, figure out whether or not her niece knew of this green clad boy, then return to Ganondorf to tell him all that she learned so far. She hoped the farm girl would have information regarding the matter, but also wanted to figure out exactly what was going on.

"I hope you know something, Malon."