Silent Hero: a tribute to Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda Read online

Chapter 3

  Neverending Story

  “My father used to say that the battle of Good and Evil is a constant. Like two living, breathing gods, neither can be entirely destroyed. Evil will keep resurfacing, and Good shall have to arise to conquer once more. Good keeps Evil in check, but the Evil is necessary for us to know and appreciate the Good….”

  Midna sighed deeply. A faint smile glimmered within her eyes, a smile burdened with great sorrow and longing. In that moment, beyond her youthful beauty, a deep age and wisdom veiled her face, as if she was some reverential sage. Sort of like Sarita, only more so.

  As Link continued to watch her closely, his heart softened; an instant respect washed over him towards Midna.

  “It is said,” she continued quietly, “that the battle between Good and Evil shall endure until the end of time. As long as there are more good, pure hearts existing in all worlds than there are evil, time shall continue, and the battle shall recycle. Only when the amount of evil trumps the amount of good shall all worlds be destroyed and evil vanquished by the gods for all eternity. And only those purest hearts who remain shall ascend to the heavens to reign forever with those who’ve passed before them....

  “Evil stirs again. When I returned to my realm after my adventure with my Link from your world, Hyrule, the Realm of Light, I took my place as the queen of Twilight, Realm of Shadow. I sought then to abandon my childish ways and gain all the wisdom I could to become the best leader possible. It’s what my people deserved, especially after all the hardships they’d faced. And my Link would have surely expected no less....

  “But as I studied ancient languages and legends of both my realm and others, I came across several prophecies. Prophecies which spoke of the rise of evil again, an evil which would again bind our two realms, Hyrule and Twilight, plus a third— called ‘Termina’, as I would later know.

  “The prophecies spoke of three enemies who would rise from these three realms.  This evil, being threefold, would be greater than any Hyrule had ever faced; not only was Hyrule itself threatened, but the two other realms so intimately tied to it. The three great enemies would seek to annihilate the three realms as we know them—past, present, and future.

  “The way to defeating these great evils would again lie in the Master Sword, that which the original Hero of old wielded, the first Link. And the Link I knew after him. And each of his heirs, right down to the one who would wield it again.

  “I now believe this is you, Link. You didn’t need to even tell me your name. I just knew. His spirit rests with you. Please forgive me for being disappointed at first. Somehow, I expected to be greeted by that same Link I knew so well. But you truly are his heir....”

  The first time she’d even implied he was the Hero’s heir, Link inwardly scoffed. The second time, he realized how serious she was, and a million questions and possibilities began zooming around inside his head. He? The heir of the first Link? Heir to a hero’s blood? But shouldn’t that mean...

  Glancing down at his hand, he stared. A Triforce crest etched on the back of his hand. Three triangles connected at the points to form a bigger triangle. When in all Kokiri did that appear? Was it when Midna arrived and he was distracted? But why? Unless she too was a destined bearer of the Triforce and her closeness brought his own crest to light....

  Glancing over, he saw he was right. The Triforce was etched on the back of her hand, also split into nine triangles. Though for her, one of the nine, tiny triangles was colored in, a solid, faintly glistening gold. She already held one of the Triforce Shards.

  Struggling to set his buzzing thoughts aside, he focused as much as he could as she continued,

  “When the Triforce crest first appeared on my hand and I saw it was split into nine instead of three, I delved into research. I sent out servants and spies to search for clues. And this is what I’ve found....

  “Ganondorf, the Great King of Evil who’s tried so many times before to take Hyrule, the Realm of Light, for his own, has escaped and again seeks to do just that. However, this time, his plot is broader. He wishes not only to take Hyrule for his own, but also two worlds intimately linked with Hyrule, the Realm of Light: Twilight, my own Realm of Shadow, as well as Termina, known commonly as Hyrule’s alternate dimension.

  “Ganondorf sought allies with past enemies of those two worlds—Majora, a wicked sorceress and spirit from Termina, and Zaruman, one of my chief rulers from Twilight, a man I once loved and trusted very well....

  “Ganondorf stole the Triforce of Power, splitting it into three and granting a piece not only to himself, but one each to Majora and Zaruman. He claims them as his equals, but I feel this is some trick of his; he’s never been known to share power.

  “Now, when the Triforce is split, it is always split equally. That’s why you see all three triangles split into three smaller triangles, giving a total of nine. One piece of Wisdom already rests within me, which is why it is illuminated on my hand. Where the other two are, I know not.

  “However, I did learn what must be done to find your Shards, Link, the Shards which will make up the Triforce of Courage. You will need the Triforce’s power to defeat the three enemies, and we also must not let Ganon obtain the full Triforce; to do so would make him unstoppable.

  “Your Triforce pieces are hidden away, protected by three bearers. Two of these are in the land of Termina, and one inside my land of Twilight. Not only will these three bearers impart to us a piece of the Triforce of Courage, but they will each give us a melody which will become important to us as well.

  “The three melodies they teach us will create a Song, and this Song will somehow help us find the weapon which has been used countless times by many Links past—the Master Sword.”

  Midna studied him calmly again, and Link shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around everything. Then, he returned to what he’d started doing as she spoke, concentrating, trying to organize all the important bits she’s just shared with him.

  Link scratched a picture of three music notes in the dirt, alongside a picture of three triangles and the best stick figure of himself that he could muster. Then, he grinned up at Midna, hoping she could make sense of his scribbling.

  “Not bad, Hero,” she said with a smirk. “Better than myself; art was certainly never my forte....

  “But, yes, we’re looking to collect the three Shards that will make up the Triforce of Courage. According to how the past legends work, these will all go to you; you will be their protector, and they will also empower you to defeat our enemies.

  “And the same bearers who will grant us the Shards should also grant us the three pieces of song we need to form the Song which shall help us obtain the weapon needed to defeat our enemies.”

  Link nodded, then paused, thinking. There had been something else....

  Remembering, he hastily scratched: Zelda?

  Midna’s face fell; her brows dipped in worry, a frown crossed her lips, and her eyes narrowed, a mingled pain and sadness filling them. Link tilted his head, wanting to reach out and take her hand to comfort her even though he did not understand....

  Just as he moved his hand, the sadness and hurt vanished from her eyes, hiding behind her steady, solemn, unreadable gaze. Quietly, she answered,

  “I do not know what has become of Zelda, the Princess of Light, of your world of Hyrule. I do not know if she is safe now, as we are, or what part she is meant to play in all of this. I do not know if she holds the two missing Triforce of Wisdom Shards, or if she is meant to help find them. I simply do not know....”

  Link nodded slowly, reflecting a moment on what might be going on with Zelda. But then, he shrugged it off. In the old tales, Zelda seemed always to show up at just the right time, and one could never say what she was doing or how she might appear before that. As the princess of wisdom, her ways were wise, yes, but part of her wisdom was that her ways were often mysterious, hidden not just from the eyes of heroes but from the eyes of enemies, until those ways were needed.


  Dropping the subject, Link scratched another name in the dirt. He was familiar with two of their enemies, Ganondorf and Majora. But he’d never heard the third name....

  “Zaruman,” Midna gasped. Her steady gaze wavered once more. Her eyes closed, and she bowed her head. Her breaths came in short gasps, and he wondered what possible tears or pain she tried to hold back. Again, he hesitated, wanting to reach out a hand yet also wishing not to offend her....

  Her eyes opened. They were steadfast again, calm and collected. But she could not hide all the sadness which had filled them.

  “There was a man,” she said quietly, “a man named Zaruman, who claimed to hail from your world. But Twilight blood also ran through him though, that much I was certain of....

  “For a while, he claimed allegiance to me and my realm. He even offered his hand in marriage. I was so certain of his sincerity, and in all my years, I would like to think I was not so easily fooled. But perhaps my great longing for a companion after loving my Link and being parted from him forever blinded me. Or maybe Zaruman really was that good at deceiving. Whatever the case, I believed him, and I was wrong....

  “He disappeared, but with a promise to return to Twilight and take all he wanted by force. I had seen displays of his magic and power and feared he was capable.

  “There was only one thing to do after his parting. I had to reassemble the Mirror connecting our two worlds and seek outside aid—something I would have forever thought impossible many, many years ago. However, in my long years of study, I had learned how to put the Mirror back together again. I never did so before, for I held only selfish reasons for desiring such a thing; the last time our worlds collided, dark and light created only shadow. I couldn’t put our worlds at risk unnecessarily.

  “But then, I learned of the prophecies, and of the three enemies and their plan. And the Triforce appeared on the back of my hand. And the moment I learned the first steps the Hero must take to overthrow this new evil—the collecting of the Triforce Shards and the three melodies—I reassembled the Mirror and...

  “Here I am.”

  Here they were indeed. Link’s head still spun painfully. Three Shards of Courage, three songs, the Master Sword—and him, the one meant to wield it? He couldn’t resist a smirk, though he hoped Midna didn’t think he meant any disrespect. But these were just the sorts of stories he and Sarita were always telling. Stories of the past Links; they never thought they could be “the one” either, even though they’d been given the same name, even the same looks as every past Link before them. The only thing Link supposed he was missing from the rest was his voice.

  He looked back to Midna then, nodding, trying to give her a strong, ready gaze, though his heart raced wildly from the exciting possibilities, and he couldn’t help wondering if it all wasn’t some kind of dream. And if not a dream, too surreal for him to fully accept yet.

  “Well, then,” Midna said, releasing a deep sigh, as if relieved she hadn’t overwhelmed him so much as to scare him off. “As I said, we’re looking for Triforce of Courage Shards and melodies. There’s three of each, and the same three bearers should grant us one of each. Two bearers are inside the realm of Termina, and one in Twilight.

  “I thought perhaps we could go to Termina first, get the two out of the way. Only...to get there, well, perhaps you know where a certain landmark is? I’ve read the entrance to Termina lies near an ancient carving of some sort of significance.... You wouldn’t happen to know the place, would you?”

  Link nodded towards the wood, pointing. He jumped up, leading the way, and she followed.

  As they walked, Link couldn’t help smiling. He knew the exact place she spoke of. That “carving”, made on the stump of a tree, looked like a child’s drawing of a happy, young boy and an imp with two fairies, one white, the other red and bright purple. It was a portrait of the original Hero of old and the friends he made on a very special and personal journey, often called the “Legend of Link and Majora’s Mask”. The stump had become a favorite landmark for young Kokiri to play and win mock battles.

  How often Link sat in that clearing, watching the Kokiri battle and studying the picture from time to time. Despite its simplicity, it held a certain allure. It had somehow survived even between Hyrule splitting into islands many years ago, and then reforming into one giant continent many years after that.

  Its long-lasting echoed the important message of friendship and forgiveness inside the picture. Twas a friendship between boy and an imp that had come at great risk. Link admired the Hero in that, as such a young child, he had learned such courage and willingness to forgive no matter the cost, to press on and—

  “Um, hello? You do know where we’re going; not just making that up, I hope?”

  Midna had stopped several feet ahead of him, turning to look back. With a more fervent nod, he broke from his reverie raced to catch up.

  Midna shook her head. “Just like the other Link after all. Head lost in the clouds. Without me, his head would be floating around up there with the Oocca forever....

  “This is it,” she gasped.

  A young boy and an imp smiled up at them from the tree stump as if beckoning them forward, to come and play inside the world of their memories, inside Termina.

  Yes, this was it. Link had hardly absorbed everything Midna had told him and didn’t know if he would be able too, namely because a few, choice thoughts drowned out all else:

  Hyrule was in grave danger, as were Twilight and Termina, two realms closely tied to his.

  He was the heir of the first Link and the newly chosen Hero by the goddesses to save these three realms.

  He must somehow reclaim the Master Sword and find a Song which would infuse it with powers of Light and Shadow.

  He must contend with three great enemies, more than the former Links had to.

  The most amazing, wise, and beautiful lady would accompany him on his quest.

  That was all he knew, and maybe all that mattered for now, except...

  Delving with Midna deep into the woods past the stump, the trees became taller, their trunks much broader.

  He led the way up several fallen trees which had formed a twisted path of bridges leading only one way—up.

  At the top of a ledge, they entered a small cavern and stopped short, nearly toppling into the bottomless pit before them. Catching each other just in time, they stared down into the abyss.

  Link’s heart pounded with excitement as he realized that, in all his years, this was the closest to anything daring, dangerous, or even rebellious that he’d ever come. The Kokiri elders always warned the Kokiri not to stray too far beyond the stump, lest they tumble into the “endless” abyss which, in truth, was not so endless but provided a portal to Termina, Hyrule’s alternate world. Even now, Link wondered how they’d ever get back up again once they wanted to leave. Midna must have wondered too, because she cast him a side-ways eye roll that read, “Seriously? You’re absolutely sure this is the right way and we’re not about to plummet to our deaths splat on the floor of some cave?” Link almost grinned but held back, not sure if Midna would feel his amusement....

  But then he supposed the first Link had gotten back out some way or other. And while he still wasn’t so convinced he was the Hero’s heir, this was no time to show doubt. With a final nod, he gripped Midna’s hand, and together, they leapt over the edge.

  A weightless black soon enveloped them.