Chapter 4 - Blasphemy
Link's feet touched the ground. His body felt light and like it was being guided with clear intent that wasn't his own. His vision, previously filled with warm light now adjusted back to the world.
The old hero had instructed him to pursue Ghirahim and told him that he would return him to just outside the temple. Link hoped being placed outside would allow him a moment of surprise.
As the holy light faded from around him, he looked about to get his bearings.
He was in the giant hollow tree where he had faced the curious Skull Kid a long time ago. His playful woodwind song couldn't be heard anywhere. Looking ahead, he saw the outlines of the ruined Temple of Time.
His stomach sank as the air around it looked thick with a black mist.
Trying to work through his fraying nerves, Link tried to imagine why the forces of evil always surrounded themselves with darkness and decay. He mused that if he were the type to try taking a throne, he wouldn't want it to be so miserable all the time.
On some small level, he wished he could pose the question to Ganondorf. Chuckling slightly at the madness of the idea, his nerves settled.
With resolve coming back to him, he made for the temple.
As he climbed inside a large hollow tree, the air started to smell different. It wasn't recognisable, but the rich odours of the leaves and wood was gone. The air seemed stale somehow.
As he rounded a bend in the tree, he stumbled in shock as he turned right into the small frame of the strange Skull Kid.
"Wah!" the strange child yelped in surprise.
His face didn't seem to change or shift slightly. It appeared he was made of a unique wood he had never seen. It unsettled Link somewhat. The face maintained a permanent, wide and unsettling grin.
"Ah! I'm sorry. I didn't know you were there." Link said quickly. He wasn't eager to make any more enemies.
The skull kid crossed his arms, turned his head and pouted.
"Grown-ups shouldn't be here!" he squeaked. The voice echoed slightly as if tainted with magic.
Link felt honesty would work best for him here.
"I'm here for the...thing that's in the Temple of Time. Have you seen anyone weird up ahead?"
"That way!" the Skull Kid yelled this time as he hopped about and pointed. "Go!"
Before Link could say anything else, the strange child waved his arm. A magical blast of force knocked Link back across a section of the tree. Momentum carried him past the end of the natural tunnel he was in, knocking him over as he fell to the floor from a worrying height.
Luckily, Link's reflexes were far quicker than they ever had been thanks to his journey during the Twilight crisis. He tucked into a roll as he hit the floor and let the momentum carry him forward, then he leapt up to his feet. A little winded, he was grateful to have avoided breaking anything.
Regaining his breath and quietly cursing the Skull Kid, Link saw he was at the edge of the main courtyard where he had previously met two large stone guardians. They had made a strange puzzle for him to complete before they allowed him into the temple proper. Feeling exposed, Link tucked himself behind a small ruined wall and peered around the edge.
This time, the giant stone guardians had their spears pointed at a small figure in front of them. They were on either side of the being, moving towards him with equal pacing. They intended to strike at its flanks.
As they both closed to within a few feet, black shapes appeared around the entire area. They appeared to be thin diamonds with red edges from what Link could see.
As he blinked, the entire collection darted towards both of the stone creatures in equal measure.
The sounds of stone splitting rang out across the entire courtyard as each guardian fell to pieces in a huge cloud of dust.
Chunks of stone scattered around the place, adding to the cacophony of noise. With all of the chaos happening around him, the being in the middle appeared utterly calm and still.
Link couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had witnessed the power of the Fused Shadow before and could feel raw power vibrating in the air. This was a similar sensation now. The great stone guardians were demolished in seconds.
Swallowing, Link silently prayed for courage to come to him. He couldn't allow Ghirahim to continue unopposed.
Link swore as he got to his feet and drew the Master sword and his dependable shield once again.
He hadn't walked more than a few paces when Ghirahim spoke.
"Ah! So the descendant of the hero comes for me." He hadn't even turned his head.
"Because no one else could, right?" Link retorted, clearing his mind and taking in every detail of his foe that he could.
Ghirahim gracefully pivoted on his heel with a soft laugh and turned to face Link. He was taken aback. He actually looked handsome for a being that was trying to revive Ganon. His posture was perfect and he carried himself as an experienced dancer would. Pale skin, complemented by ashen hair, accented his dark eyes. A darker silk cape adorned his shoulders, decorated with a diamond pattern. An elegant sword sat in a scabbard on his waist.
"Indeed". He took a practised formal bow. "Lord Ghirahim, agent of Ganon."
"Link. Ganon's foil." he said with a sharp nod.
It was a pleasant change to be able to speak to an enemy for once, but he wasn't about to let polite words soften his resolve. Any agent of Ganon would likely be a dangerous foe.
Chuckling softly, Ghirahim didn't seem shaken.
"The world knows of your battle with my master. As his most trusted agent...", his chest puffed out a little, "...I shall return him to his former glory and aid him in taking his rightful place upon Hyrule's throne. I'm afraid you will be unable to stop me".
"I've heard that a lot you know. I'd like to remind you that nobody knows the future".
Despite his anger, Link refused to let his dialogue devolve into petty swearing. It was too easy and showed the other person you were not able to make an effort with them, he thought.
"True, but you can make accurate predictions about the future based on your own experiences. Of which, I have plenty." quipped Ghirahim.
"As do I." Link responded.
During their talk, Link was trying to observe his opponent and find any exploits he could. He was certainly confident, so if he was wounded, he would likely lose composure and present a series of openings. He still had to land the first blow though.
"Tell me. Were you the one who set the forest on fire?" Link asked.
"Certainly" he said with a nonchalant nod. "Far simpler to find what you seek if there's nothing in the way."
He gestured to his side. Link looked and saw a great many trees were no longer there. In their place, great piles of ashes. The temple had lost a lot of its isolated splendour.
With a bitter taste in his mouth, Link only wanted to know one more thing before he made Ghirahim pay for his trespass.
"And that village, frozen in time?"
"Who would want to be disturbed whilst looking for something precious?"
How much power did Ghirahim have at his disposal? He talked as if it were a trivial matter to incinerate an entire forest and bend the laws of time in such a wide area. Link realised that this might be exactly what he wanted Link to think. He smirked. From talking with his ancestor, he realised something.
"This cycle of destruction. It has always failed, hasn't it?"
Ghirahim raised an eyebrow ever so slightly.
"Time and time again, Ganondorf rises to try and seize power. Only to be beaten back by my ancestors. For all of the countless thousands of years this has been happening, there has never been victory for him. Do you not tire of this constant failure?"
Ghirahim's handsome features darkened as he barely prevented himself from snarling.
"My my, your manners require work, boy. Such a shame when arrogant youths must be punished for their insolence."
Within a heartbeat, he drew his sword and adopted an aggressive stance.
"...And I will oblige"
Link barely reacted in time as Ghirahim rapidly closed the gap with long strides, intending to strike at his sword arm. Raising the Master Sword, the blow was deflected. Ghirahim moved fluidly to the side to prevent the Hylian shield from being any use.
The two danced around each other for a few minutes, with Link just barely parrying each blow. Then Ghirahim feinted and quickly moved right in front of the shield. Before Link could ram it into his face, his own legs were swept from under him as his opponent performed a low roundhouse kick. Instinct kicking in, Link moved with the momentum and landed on his hand. He pushed hard and gained height quickly in time to avoid a killing blow from Ghirahim's sword.
With a little distance between them, Link assessed his options. His enemy was looking for openings, so Link thought he'd give him one. Lowering his shield guard just enough, he baited Ghirahim with a new opening.
He didn't take the opportunity. Instead, he raised his free hand and snapped his fingers. A line of black diamond shapes materialised with faint pops to both of Link's sides.
In the periphery of his vision, he saw how they were lined up and knew they were soon to strike all at once. His instinct screamed at him to back away, so he did. After he took a single step, the row of lethal diamond shapes flew straight towards him.
Link reacted without needing to think, intending to cut through the evil black shapes.
Pivoting rapidly on his heel, Link span with his sword outstretched, putting his faith in the blade of evils bane. Halfway through his improvised manoeuvre, he felt the radiant energy of the Master Sword flare as it met the diamonds in their flight path. With a bright flash, most of the shapes were disintegrated on contact. The last two however were moving too fast. The first sliced into the bottom of the shield, cleaving a chunk of metal from it. The second sliced through Link's right arm, sending a rush of agonising pain into his body.
Link swore loudly as blood started flowing down his arm, soaking his tunic once more. Daring to take a second to look at the wound, he saw that the diamond shape had sliced clean through his chain mail and cut deeply into his triceps. His shield suddenly felt a lot heavier than usual. He couldn't move the arm in its usual range of motion.
Smugly, Ghirahim laughed as he pointed to the now damaged shield.
"You know, I am willing to make surrender an option. You have been on the defence for but a moment and already your shield arm is useless! It won't be long before the rest of you is. That is if you wish to continue this?"
With the initial rush of pain and now the stinging of an exposed open wound, anger got the better of Link.
"Come closer, I didn't hear you." Link snapped.
Before Link could think about how he'd recklessly provoked Ghirahim, his opponent appeared in front of him in an instant. Covering himself with the damaged shield, he managed to avoid taking his sword to his gut. His arm felt as if it were on fire, but to lower his guard meant death.
Hopping backwards, he tried to get a little distance but Ghirahim would not allow it. With each step back he took, he deflected another stab. On his third retreat, frustration flared in Ghirahim's eyes and his former grace was lost as he bared his teeth in a snarl.
This time, he swung his sword arm to the side of the shield and knocked it out of the way, knowing his wounded arm would be unable to lift it again.
Anticipating this, Link let the blow hit the edge of the shield then ducked and span with the momentum, swinging the Master sword upwards as he sprang back up. The tip of the blade sliced cleanly up the vile Lord's face, leaving a long and neat wound that bled freely and almost destroyed his right eye.
Ghirahim looked shocked more than pained. As he momentarily forgot Link, he touched his wound.
"My face... You dare to disfigure the wondrous face of Lord Ghirahim?! You wretch!"
Full of fury, Ghirahim snapped his fingers and Link heard the same ominous popping noises he had before.
The entire arena was filled again with black diamond shapes. Link's heart sank as he realised he couldn't defend against even half of them. What could shield him from all of the lethal black shapes?
A little voice stirred in his memory.
"You don't honestly think you can wield that one-handed, do you?".
Even across worlds, Midna could still help him. Letting the shield fall, Link withdrew the huge ball and chain he had recovered in the Snowpeak Mansion. It fell to the floor with a loud clang. Ghirahim paid it no mind as he snapped his fingers again, blood ruining his handsome features. The diamond shapes began to point themselves towards him, one by one.
Link quietly prayed and remembered his exercises with the old hero. He managed to clear his mind, ignoring the agonising pain in his wounded arm, then started to focus on welling up his emotions. That at least, was not difficult. He remembered Midna more thoroughly this time. He recalled how sick she looked after their first encounter with Zant, how she had come to trust him, her elation at retrieving the fused shadow and finally, how hard she had cried before she left for the world of Twilight.
As his emotions threatened to spill over, he extended his arm and imagined rushing the pent-up emotions to the Triforce emblem.
'Make this weightless to me, help me defend against this overwhelming attack' he thought as the Triforce emblem glowed brightly through his hand.
With an incredible rush of power surging through him, he almost lost his balance. But he noticed how the ball and chain now shimmered with a golden glow. By instinct, he changed his grip and was delighted to find that the heavy chain weighed no more than a piece of string. Picking up the ball from the chain, it felt no heavier than an acorn.
Link began to spin it around his head, keeping his hand locked in place and creating a centrifugal spin. The ball continued to accelerate until it started to blur past Link's vision at a worrying speed.
This, Ghirahim paid attention to.
"So the useless goddesses offer you aid, do they? Their actions are much too late, young fool. I shall send you back to them in several different pieces."
Snapping his fingers once more, all of the shapes flew straight for Link in one go.
As he maintained speed on the spinning ball, he felt his instincts guiding him once more. He felt he wasn't entirely surrounded, so he jumped straight up with all of his might, hoping that his foe hadn't summoned any of the shapes straight above him.
As he rose into the air, the spinning ball didn't lose any of its momentum as it began to smash through the wave of shapes.
Link felt the divine magic pulse slightly with each hit, disintegrating each one it connected to. As if speaking to him, Link felt the 'ball' insist that he pull it close to him as he reached the peak of his jump.
Pulling the loose part of the chain with his wounded arm, the distance of the ball matched the closing pattern of the black diamonds, striking through even more of them. As the ball smashed through the last one, Link landed back on his feet, amazed he was still in one piece.
Looking around, he made sure there were no more shapes in sight.
This time, Ghirahim's fury was palpable. He had nothing to say, but he was still a threat if he could do that again.
Pulling the chain and returning the ball to him, he began to swing it again with ease. This time, he launched the ball as fast as he could at where Ghirahim stood. With astounding speed, the ball closed the gap in less than a second. It wasn't enough.
Ghirahim disappeared from where he stood, only to materialise again between Link and the ball with his sword drawn. The ball connected with a wall and it almost exploded from the force. A loud crack rang around the area as shards of old bricks were blasted from the impact.
Link tried to snap the ball back to him before Ghirahim could close the gap, but he wasn't fast enough.
With a furious lunge, he sank his sword straight into Links's gut. The razor-sharp tip pierced straight through his chainmail and plunged into his skin, all the way out through his back.
The wind was forced from his lungs in one overpowering heave. Ghirahim's sneer erased all traces of fury he previously had.
He twisted the blade slightly, causing intense agony to burn through Link's entire being.
He screamed hard as he felt the edges of the blade nick him internally with each slow twist.
His vision blurred and his limbs went weak. Breath wouldn't come to him, no matter how much he tried. As Ghirahim delighted in the horror he was inflicting, fury came to Link this time.
How dare he... After everything he had to go through to stop Ganon, this mere puppet thought he was going to stop him?
"No!" Link shouted with his remaining breath.
Still holding on to the lightweight chain, he quickly wrapped it around Ghirahim's outstretched arm as he did his best to maintain focus. As Ghirahim was snapped out of his victory, Link quickly pulled with all of his might to the left, hoping he had left enough slack on the chain.
As he pulled sharply, it brought the ball with it whilst the chain tightened around Ghirahim's exposed arm. It slammed right into his elbow with a loud wet crunch, snapping the bone into an unknown number of pieces and bending his arm the wrong way.
This time, Ghirahim was the one who screamed. His hand had reflexively let go of the blade which remained in Link's gut.
The high-pitched scream was powerful, Ghirahim's face contorted in horrific pain. The sickening scream echoed all around the temple grounds and probably beyond, Link imagined.
Wanting to waste no time, Link grabbed the Master sword he had dropped, being careful to not cause the sword stuck in him to move too much. Turning, he brought the sword over his head to bring down on Ghirahim.
The tip of the sword clanged off the floor as his foe disappeared again, reappearing a moment later from a perch on top of a wall. Snapping his fingers, his expression as broken as his arm, which remained bent and shattered.
"You... you've destroyed my arm!" he uttered with a shaky voice, still high pitched.
"Mark my words, tool of the failed goddesses... We're going to meet again."
Snapping his fingers once more, he disappeared to parts unknown.
As he did, the black mist lifted from the area almost instantly. Looking up at the ruined structure, he saw tendrils of black smoke converging into a symbol of the Triforce above the door. They too were dissipating, one by one. A moment later, a beautiful golden triangle materialised in front of the symbol. Link stared in wonder, momentarily oblivious to his situation.
The Triforce of Power hung a short distance from him. Before he could spend much time marveling, cracks appeared from each point and travelled to the middle of the golden triangle. On its final rotation, it hung still as a loud chime and the sound of breaking glass echoed across the woods. With another bright flash, the Triforce of power fragmented into three pieces. They then orientated themselves in different directions and rushed away with astounding speed, leaving a loud boom to ring out behind them.
The old hero spoke true. The pieces of the Triforce shattered and spread themselves across the land.
The beautiful golden Triangle was no more and Link felt that the world had become more mundane. As he winced with fresh agony, it became real once more.
Through the intense pain, he managed a small smile at his deed. Then a rush of pain caused him to cough blood over the stone floor.
Link stood alone, with a sword in him and his shield arm bleeding profusely, desperately trying to find the energy to continue.