Fan Fiction Legend of Zelda: Sin of Sheikari
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Sin of Sheikari Chapter 15

15: A Maelstrom

There was one temple Zelda had vowed she would never visit.

The many sacred landmarks scattered across Hyrule had been one of her first history lessons, their locations only known to those deemed worthy to help shepherd destiny along. Chief among them was the Temple of Light, nestled at the heart of the Sacred Realm. By now, Zelda had seen its innermost chamber several times now, granted entry by each Ancient Sage she’d awakened.

Yet, while the Temple of Light had become a second home for her in just a short time, she would now have to enter its polar opposite. The Shadow Temple was even more elusive than the other temples, for only the Sheikah and the royal family were allowed to know of its existence.

The idea of traversing its depths filled Zelda with the most pungent sense of dread any time the thought crossed her mind. Impa had never told her what was in it, and there were no written accounts of the temple in any of the books in the library. 

So, Zelda wasn’t sure how she’d come to imagine a hall full of horrors and decay, or why she was so certain her intuition was correct. Truthfully, there were times she wished such a place didn’t even exist, a haven built for shadows, but she knew better.

Light could not be without shadow. After all, wasn’t that what that horrible man had said before he’d departed the throne room when she was a child? For every creature of light, there was its mirror image in darkness. For every burst of creation, a calamity. 

Zelda might have mistaken the sudden blast of wind and rain that fell over her in sheets for an apocalypse had she not remembered where she’d desperately begged her magic to whisk her away to just moments before. She landed on her feet, then fell flat on her stomach as sobs wracked over her, tears mingling with the relentless storm. 

The images came to her like visions in a horrible nightmare, Dark Link leering over Nabooru as she lowered her hands and accepted her fate, her last words now echoing alongside her final shrieks of terror. 

“She knew…She always knew he was nothing but a wicked soul…and I believed her…”

Zelda cried out in agony just as a great thunderclap ripped through her senses. The rumbling, sickly green and black clouds swirled above her once more as they had when she’d faced Phantom Ganon, threatening all who lived below them. The withered, lifeless trees thrashed about, seemingly no more significant than blades of grass.

Zelda covered her ears, trying in vain to drown out the howling wind and thunder so booming it shook the ground beneath her. Realizing it was useless, she dug her hands into the mud underneath the patch of grass she’d been only too lucky to land on. She tried to push herself up before her arms gave away, sending her plunging back down. 

The stench of mud and wet grass made her stomach church. It was simply too strong now with her senses heightened to their limit following her narrow escape. She wanted nothing more than to stay rooted in the muck, lost in the ever-growing cyclone of grief and despair. Grief because every thought was tinged with images of her mother’s face, despair because her quest for knowledge only seemed good for summoning the specter of death. 

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed before she finally managed to at least roll over onto her back and sit up. Slowly, she got to her feet, shielding her eyes from the relentless torrent from the storm as she took in her surroundings. The sight of row after row of tombstones filled her with that familiar sense of dread as it dawned on her where she was. 

Kakariko Graveyard.

She looked ahead, through the rows of graves, and saw a familiar figure in the distance leaning against one of the larger tombstones. Long, silver hair framed a strong face that was set in a serious expression.

“Impa…” Zelda whispered.

Impa didn’t move, instead regarding Zelda with an unreadable expression. Zelda took one trembling step forward, her movements strained as if she was weighted down by invisible chains. Impa rose from the grave marker when she saw Zelda struggling to walk towards her, quickly crossing the distance between them. Her expression softened when she saw the tears in Zelda’s eyes.

“I warned you…” her soft voice still contained the firm reprimanding tone Zelda had grown accustomed to, usually to the former’s chagrin. “This was far more than you bargained for, wasn’t it?”

Zelda wanted to yell at Impa then, to unleash her outrage not just at her guardian but everything that lived, but the shock of what she’d just witnessed had all but muted an anger she’d wish to grasp at. Instead, she clenched her fists and looked away as more tears fell. “She’s gone…the woman I met in the Spirit Temple. Nabooru…she hated Ganondorf just as much as I did, and…she knew my mother.”

Impa’s face softened even more at the mention of the late queen. “I have heard of Nabooru, one of the chiefs of the Gerudo.”

Zelda wiped the tears and glistening rain from her face and suddenly felt dizzy, falling to her knees as the world spun around her. Yet, before she could collapse once more, Impa was already helping her to her feet. 

“Impa…” Zelda’s voice began to shake as she focused all of her concentration on keeping herself upright. “Something’s been following me. Each time I’ve awakened a Sage, I saw a Shadow. It knew I wasn’t part of the Sheikah clan, and it called me a ‘spawn of Hylia.’ None of the Sages would tell me what it was. And it…”

Zelda’s voice caught in her throat as the image of Nabooru screaming out in pain flashed in her mind once again. Impa sighed as she realized what Zelda was trying to say.

“I am sorry…” Impa whispered “You were never meant to see that Shadow.”

Zelda’s eyes widened as a chill ran down her spine. She slowly looked up at Impa, her heart pounding in her chest. “You…you know what it is?”

Impa nodded, and Zelda could see the fear in her guardian’s eyes. The sight of her expression renewed something in Zelda, and it was as if the overwhelming fatigue that had threatened to consume her had evaporated. She yanked Impa’s hand and pulled her closer. “You must tell me! Please! The Sage of Spirit was afraid to say!”

Impa closed her eyes and sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat.  “Listen to me carefully, Zelda. Many years ago, I was tasked with sealing away a powerful Shadow Beast deep underneath the well, and I came here to ensure the seal was still intact. It was not only broken, but the beast was nowhere to be found, not in the well, nor the temple. That phantom that spoke to you…I believe it is the same entity I sealed away long ago, but now it has not only escaped but grown stronger and recovered its memories. It is no longer a mindless, destructive beast but something far more dangerous.”

Zelda nodded in response. “It took on the appearance of the Hero of Time, as if to mock him.”

“It has taken on a form?” Impa’s eyes widened. “What has it said to you?”

Zelda’s mind raced as she began reciting the Shadow’s words. “‘I am not a creation, spawn of Hylia. I am more ancient than your kingdom and your heroes. Cast aside. Abandoned. You think me to be a shadow, softer than a phantom, but I am very real.’”

Impa turned to face the path that led to the back of the graveyard, but not before Zelda noticed how pale her face had grown in the few seconds it took to recite the Shadow’s words. 

“I take it you only have one Sage left to awaken,” Impa kept her back to Zelda, her stillness an unsettling contrast to the trees and bushes that continued to thrash about all around them. 

Zelda nodded. “Yes.”

Impa turned to face her, her earlier dismay nowhere to be found now. “Then you must hurry and face Ganondorf once you are finished here. We no longer have time to waste. That Shadow must not be allowed to grow any stronger. Defeat Ganondorf so that I may seal it once more!”

Impa started off without Zelda, clutching her sword as if they’d be ambushed at any moment. Zelda raced after her, her heart pounding in her chest just as another thunderclap sounded above them.

She looked up, watching as the great, black columns of clouds twisted and fell upon each other, before her gaze fell upon a large brown owl perched below the storm’s foul dance on a gnarled, gray tree. It seemed to be studying the pair closely, its calmness unnerving, even for an owl.

“Zelda, keep up. We must open it.”

She tore her gaze away from the owl and rushed after Impa, who leaped over a wooden fence. Zelda quickly followed, finding herself standing in front of a large cave opening. She continued forward until she reached what looked like an altar surrounded by several torches. 

A massive door with what looked to be an ancient Sheikah emblem engraved on its face loomed beyond the altar. The Triforce symbol rested just above the Sheikah emblem, and Zelda thought the entire carving must have predated Hyrule itself.

“Stand upon the altar and pray to the goddesses,” Impa instructed.

Zelda wasted no time doing as she was told, stepping onto the altar and bowing her head. As if receiving an answer to a question she hadn’t known she’d asked, she felt the surge of magic burst from her the moment she settled herself, rippling in every direction like a stone cast into the quietest pool of water. 

She lifted her head as every single torch lit up all at once and fought off a chill as the stone door shuddered to life. It slowly slid upwards, revealing a tunnel leading into what could only be the very absence of light and purity.

“You must come to fully understand what you have done, Zelda,” Impa’s voice broke into Zelda’s thoughts, not allowing her time to steep herself in the invisible smog billowing from the temple’s depths. “You have awakened the Sheikah’s greatest sin.”

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