25: A Tale of Two Relics

“Well, we won’t exactly be going back in time, but there is something you should see!” the mask salesman clasped his hands together, his chortle somehow more disturbing than his permanent grin.

Zelda scoffed, shaking her head in frustration. There was absolutely no time for this! “There is nothing I need to see or learn or protect, for that matter! I can achieve nothing so long as the Sheikari have the Triforce!”

“You’re correct,” the mask salesman held up a finger and nodded. “And you’re wrong as well. It’s very fascinating!”

Zelda stomped her foot, unintentionally plunging it beneath the sand. “You will not have me listen to any more of your riddles! What is it that you must show me?”

“Very well…” the mask salesman’s expression didn’t change, though his posture seemed deflated. Then, as if just remembering something important, he perked back up. “But first, I must tell you something about me.”

He turned to face the monolith, cupping his chin with one hand as he became lost in thought. “I was once a candidate to become a Sage, you understand. My father trained me in the ways of the mystical arts, so I came to know of a great many artifacts and relics with strange powers. I learned how to communicate with the Gossip Stones, how the Lens of Truth allowed you to see through walls, and even how to correctly harvest the souls of Poes. Oh, I was quite proud of that!”

He then returned his attention to her, his eyes containing an odd combination of determination, madness, and delight. “But nothing quite caught my interest like masks! It was always peculiar how lingering sentiments, regrets, and even love could be contained within these inanimate objects. I became quite obsessed with them, and my father began to worry that I would never take on the mantle of Sagehood. He was quite right, however, as I quickly lost interest in it altogether. I began searching high and low, collecting as many masks as I could. Then I learned of a relic known as the Fused Shadow that was supposed to be hidden deep in the desert, and so I came here in search of it.”

“What does this have to do with me?”

The mask salesman didn’t answer, instead simply waving his hand, and the air all around them began to shimmer. Everything within Zelda’s line of sight began to bend and stretch at unnatural angles as if she’d had far too much ale and would soon be sick from it, and she closed her eyes, hoping her stomach wouldn’t feel the need to purge itself in response. 

When she opened them again, she was no longer in the middle of the arena but perched two stories above where she’d been previously standing along its perimeter just below one of the tall stone pillars. She yelped in surprise as her eyes darted around before landing on several figures below, some crouching in front of the monolith. 

Even though the crouching figures bore no emblems on their clothes, she could make out silver hair and red eyes amongst them. There could be no mistaking who these individuals were and why they were here. 

Opposite them were several Hyrulean knights and Sheikah warriors standing at attention. Zelda watched as a large man whose powder white beard, long flowing red cape, and golden crown that glimmered in the sunlight approached the crouching figures.

“Father?” Zelda whispered.

“Yes,” the mask salesman’s voice caused her to jump. She hadn’t realized he was right beside her. “And I’m sure you know who he’s approaching. They must be very familiar to you now.”

Zelda closed her eyes once more, as if doing so could somehow hide her shame. “Yes. They are the Sheikari. They resemble the Sheikah, but they come from a parallel world. This must be the day when we banish them.”

“Correct,” the mask salesman nodded in approval. “And did anyone ever tell you why they originally came here?”

Zelda shook her head, deciding it was safe to open her eyes once more. “I never thought to ask.”

The mask salesman continued to rub his chin. “There is a cursed kingdom in their world known as Ikana. Today, it is a haven for the undead, but it was once as prosperous as Hyrule before Ganondorf’s reign. The Sheikari charged themselves with protecting Ikana’s royal family just as the Sheikah protected Hyrule. They tried to prevent a massive, destructive war with their incredible magic, but it only led to catastrophe. The ensuing fallout resulted in a curse that forces Ikana’s inhabitants to continue to war long after death.”

Zelda could only stare at him now. It was all so much to take in, a parallel world where a kingdom similar to Hyrule had been reduced to a land of endless death. Was that the fate that would soon await them all now?

The mask salesman seemed to have noticed she needed a moment to process what he had said, taking a moment to pause before continuing. “That was why they wanted to guard the Triforce with all their might, for they had already seen what unchecked power could lead to.”

The king stopped just before the Sheikari and finally addressed them, his voice much more clear than Zelda had expected from their vantage point. “You understand why we must do this. I am the ruler of this kingdom, which the Sheikari have tried to destroy along with the Sacred Realm! The Golden Goddesses have declared you to be interlopers, and so you must face their judgment!”

“Heretic!” one of the crouching figures shouted, and Zelda could make out a face that seemed stretched into a disturbing grimace. After his outburst, his mouth was left hanging open, drool dribbling down both sides of his mouth and down his neck. “You do not serve the Golden Goddesses, only your own greed!”

“Silence!” the king thundered before gesturing towards the surrounding stone pillars. “Honorable Sages, protectors of the Sacred Realm, reveal yourselves!”

The sky burst to life as an assortment of multi-colored lights danced above them, each of their hues now familiar to Zelda after having woken up the Sages herself. They split from each other and flew to their respective perches at the top of each stone pillar. After settling, the forms of Odan, Mison, Grig, Nove, Abnar, and Rauru emerged, floating serenely and regarding the king expectantly.

“Your Majesty!” Rauru bowed. “We have come here at your request and are prepared to banish the interlopers from Hyrule!”

The king waved his hand, signalling to one of the Sheikah nearby. “Bring the accursed artifact before the Sages. Then, we can begin.”

The male Sheikah stooped down to retrieve a strange, black, helmet-looking object that bore a sinister-looking eye carving on its left side, with four black prongs protruding and curving upwards. 

However, the moment he touched the artifact, black, rune-like markings began to climb up his arms like vines, and soon his entire body was covered with them. His screams pierced the crisp desert air as his body twisted and folded into itself, the sound of bones cracking almost drowning him out. Soon, he burst into a hideous cloud of red meat and smoke that evaporated into the sky, and all that remained was the helmet, which was now broken into three shards. 

“What was that?” Zelda gasped and clutched her stomach.

“The Fused Shadow,” the mask salesman explained. “It contains some of the most powerful sorcery we’ve ever seen. The Sheikari were brought here so that the combined effort of the Sages and the Light Spirits could contain it.”

As if hearing his words, four orbs of light burst into view where the Sages had first made their entrance in the sky. The orbs spun and pulsated as they slowly descended to the ground,  four ethereal figures emerging from each and taking on the appearance of a giant goat, squirrel, bird, and serpent respectively. All at once, they gestured to the broken helmet’s shards, and the helmet’s remnants disappeared from sight.

“Those are…the Light Spirits?” Zelda’s voice trailed off. They looked familiar to her, but she couldn’t remember where she’d seen or read about them. 

“Yes, they are ancient guardians of Hyrule!” the mask salesman supplied, sounding positively delighted. “They protect the Sacred Realm from evil on behalf of the Golden Goddesses. Their names are Ordona, Faron, Eldin, and Lanayru.”

The Sages, noting the appearance of the spirits, began to raise their hands in unison toward the heavens, and the king nodded in approval.

“Begin the purge!” he commanded.

“No!” the disturbed man from before screeched, his voice now high-pitched and childlike. He jumped to his feet, his shackles somehow removed, and every warrior present drew their weapons at once “No! No! No! No! No! None of us go! None of us go! You will see! I’ll consume! Consume everything!”

That was when Zelda noticed an object in his hand that hadn’t been there before, a bizarre heart-shaped mask with monstrous, glowing yellow eyes with green irises. Its markings were red and purple with four horns sticking out on each side and two on top. The longer Zelda stared at it, the more she felt like it was looking back at her.

She watched as one of the Sheikah warriors, having noticed the mask, dropped his weapon.

“You must run!” he called out. “You all must run now!”

“W-what is that?” Zelda cupped her mouth in disgust. She looked over and noticed the mask salesman’s smile was gone as he gazed upon the scene below.

“That is something I should have never found,” there was no hint of mirth in his voice now. “Something that should have been destroyed the moment it was discovered.”

The man put on the mask and slowly leaned his head back, his chest rising and falling as if he was experiencing the greatest ecstasy in his entire life. The veins in his body bulged and pulsated as the man began to scream and cackle. Within seconds, he became what looked to be a diseased husk of what used to be a human being. Like the man who had touched the Fused Shadow, he too began to twist and crack, bones protruding out of places they shouldn’t before pushing themselves back in. 

It was as if he was trapped in an endless cycle of reanimation and being unmade. Finally, his corpse-like form began to settle, his hair now as stark white as the king’s with the infernal mask fused to his face, becoming a disturbing combination of the two.

“You will all feel the wrath of the Sheikari!” the creature that used to be a man roared, showing off row after row of needle-sharp teeth. Then, it laughed again, a high-pitched, maniacal sound that sent shivers down Zelda’s spine. “You and your precious Sacred Realm!”

The creature then shot its hand forward, several tentacles erupting from its body and hurling themselves toward a group of Hyrulean knights, impaling and disintegrating several of them the moment they made contact. It then sent out another wave, easily wiping out all of the Sheikah present along with any remaining knights. 

The king whipped his head around, eyes wild with terror, as he turned to sprint away. He’d only made it a few feet when he stumbled and fell, a new tentacle tightly coiled around his ankle. Forgoing any sense of decorum he’d once had, he howled and shrieked much like a child, clawing fruitlessly at the sand as the monster dragged him back. 

The sound of Rauru’s voice somehow managed to pull Zelda’s attention away from the pitiful, heartbreaking sight, and she could now see that each of the Sages were bathed in a brilliant, glowing light. 

“You will be gone from this place!” Rauru cried out. “You will be gone from Hyrule!”

Yet the creature simply laughed as it slowly turned around, a new series of tentacles soaring towards the Sages. Rauru braced himself as walls of light materialized before all of the Sages, intending to serve as protection from the hideous-yet-deadly appendages launching toward them, but it would be no use. They pierced through the barriers as if they were nothing more than parchment and latched themselves onto the men’s faces.

Their muffled screams were something Zelda was sure she’d never forget.

“My father never told me what truly happened when he went deep into the desert that day,” the mask salesman’s voice sounded far off, unable to fully breach Zelda’s horrified trance, though she could still make out his words. “It was the first day he didn’t ask me how my magical studies were going and the first day he didn’t pressure me to become a Sage.”

The king, watching as the Sages thrashed about helplessly, resumed his desperate attempt to crawl away, now with a maddening urgency. In response, the monster sprouted yet another tentacle that quickly wrapped itself around the king’s throat. He let out one quick, final rasp as his body fell unconscious into the sand. 

The monster leaned back and sighed again, smiling and roaring at the sky where the Light Spirits regarded him, their forms still appearing like nothing more than expressionless observers. The monster then leaped into the air and zoomed towards them, likely confident it could dispatch them as easily as the others, but the spirits cried out and resonated in unison, trapping the creature in a colossal pillar of light.

“I knew my father had seen something terrible, something truly awful,” the mask salesman continued, “and I knew one day I would find it.”

The creature shrieked horribly as the light burned its body away, its tentacles shriveling down to mere threads before dissolving completely. The Sages, their faces covered in blood and rows of bite marks, fell upon the tops of their pillars, and Zelda was impressed they didn’t slip from their high perches onto the sand below. 

Unlike the knights and the Sheikah, the creature’s demise was not quick. Its childlike screeches were now mixed with pleading, as if such a monster could dare be understood much less forgiven. Its arms, now completely black, plopped into the sand like burnt tree limbs, and Zelda was certain it was nearly over. 

Soon, there was no trace of the creature besides the accursed mask and a pile of ash that was soon cast into the wind, yet the Light Spirits continued to resonate, which Zelda found odd. That was when the black, circular object that faced the monolith began to stir, humming to life as several white glyphs Zelda couldn’t make out blinked in and out of view before settling along its surface. They began to spin before casting the glyphs onto the monolith, and its surface pushed inward forming a dark, spinning portal. 

Zelda immediately nodded in understanding. That was it, the path to the Twilight Realm.

“That is the Mirror of Twilight,” the mask salesman explained. “I’d learned of it long ago. In ancient times, it was used to cast criminals who’d committed heinous crimes into the Twilight Realm. Of course, only the Sages and the royal family were permitted to know of its existence, let alone use it.”

The remaining Sheikari began crying out, pleading with the Light Spirits to be merciful, yet they must have known it would be in vain. Even if the Light Spirits had decided to spare them, the Sheikari were already within range of the spell. Their gathering place had been carefully selected, and it was obvious the king had wanted to prevent any possibility of them managing to escape. 

Zelda watched as the Sheikari froze in place, some in mid-run, others in mid-air having been knocked off their feet by the surrounding commotion, as the mirror’s ray of light hit them. Their bodies burst into what looked like ashes rising from a campfire before being sucked into the monolith, leaving behind no trace their feet had ever touched the sand, or that they had ever existed at all. 

This seemed to satisfy the Light Spirits, who ceased resonating and vanished from sight. The glyphs faded from both the Mirror of Twilight and the monolith, and all that could be heard was the gentle whirling of the sand accompanied by the collective rasping and wailing of the king and the Sages.

“Who would create a mask like that?” Zelda’s voice trembled as she peered down at the foul relic. “Something so evil and full of hate?”

“An abomination,” the mask salesman replied all too quickly. “That mask houses nothing but the hate and madness of its creator, born from the dark desires of someone who would seek to destroy everything in his path. His name was Majora, one of the most powerful sorcerers among the clan, and also the most shunned. That mask belonged to him.”

“Majora…” Zelda recalled her conversation with Impa at Hyrule Field, where she told her about the man who could see the truth who was also shunned by the Sheikari. Zelda now knew that man’s name to be Adelora, but Impa had mentioned he had a brother. “Then Adelora must be his…”

“Yes, very good,” the mask salesman nodded in approval. “Adelora and Majora, Sheikari siblings feared for their unimaginable power.”

“Yet they still managed to banish him…” Zelda observed.

“And his mask was left behind,” the mask salesman shivered. “And I would be the one who would stumble upon it years later, not knowing its true purpose. Yet even before that…”

The mask salesman waved his hand once again, and their surroundings once again began to shimmer and blur in and out of sight before settling once more. Now, the pair was back on the ground, standing between the Mirror of Twilight and the monolith just a few steps from where the Sheikari had been gathered. 

At first, Zelda thought the arena was now empty until she noticed another figure kneeling in front of the monolith, long, fiery red hair pulled back from her face and adorned with a dazzling assortment of golden ornaments. Even though she was wearing traditional Gerudo attire, Zelda knew who the woman was instantly.

“You see, child,” the mask salesman went on as the woman rose and turned to face them. “There were others who knew of its true purpose to an exact degree.”

Zelda couldn’t move any part of her body if she wanted to, so she simply stared at the woman, whose striking blue eyes seemed to reach into the depths of her soul.

“Mother…” Zelda whispered.

“I knew you would eventually come here,” the queen spoke, though her voice was low and cold, dripping with contempt. “I knew the sand barrier wouldn’t be enough to stop your greed and hatred.”

Zelda felt a pit grow and fester at the bottom of her stomach. She’d never heard her mother talk like this before, no matter how upset she became. What wicked person or creature could bring out such scorn in her?

Zelda jumped as a hulking figure strolled past her left side, furnace-red hair set against green skin and glowing, golden eyes filled with a hateful determination Zelda knew all too well. Ganondorf’s steps were as slow and deliberate as they’d always been, brimming with arrogance and delight from toying with what he must have considered his “prey.”

“You are too late!” the queen’s voice became barbed and piercing as he drew nearer. “I will not allow you to claim this unholy relic!”

“I had a vision,” the mask salesman once again interrupted. “When I ventured off with that mask, it showed me the events that took place so long ago. By then, I’d been discovered by a forest imp, who managed to take it from me. Luckily, your friend was able to help me retrieve it. Even at such a young age, there was no mistaking him as the Hero of Time.”

Just as he finished speaking, Ganondorf charged at the queen without warning, and it was all Zelda could do not to scream, for she knew it would make no difference. The queen calmly lifted a hand just as Ganondorf was closing in, raising a barrier of light that knocked him on his back. She gestured, and the barrier shot forward, pushing Ganondorf all the way back to the Mirror of Twilight. 

“Yet it also showed me something else,” the mask salesman went on, “a man who not only found it but learned to use its wicked power with ease. It wasn’t a vision of the past but a warning of a possible future and of the mask’s desire to find this person who was worthy of being its master. That master would have been Ganondorf, and the queen had known for quite some time.”

“Stay back!” the queen shouted. “Stay back, or you will be banished from here!”

“And where would you banish me?” Ganondorf stood and shattered the light barrier with his bare hand before continuing to stalk toward her. “This very kingdom, your true kingdom, is glorified banishment already! We suffer under its harsh conditions while the Hylians are bathed in the blessings of their forsaken goddesses!”

The queen called up the barrier again, and Ganondorf smashed through it once more.

“You leave me no choice!” the queen took a deep breath and closed her eyes, the Mirror of Twilight stirring in response, its glyphs spinning into place as it opened up the portal once more. Ganondorf finally reached the queen, wrapping his hand around her neck and lifting her into the air before she could react.

“Do you think that will contain me?” he asked mockingly. “I will never remain imprisoned!”

In one fluid motion, Ganondorf threw the queen into the mirror’s beam of light before leaping out of the way. The queen froze in mid-air as her feet began to dissolve into black the same black ashes the Sheikari had been reduced to, drifting toward the monolith like dandelion seeds caught in a summer breeze.

“No!” Zelda shouted, realizing she no longer cared if such an outburst was futile, as she raced to her mother, Ganondorf’s laughter ringing in her ears. This couldn’t be what had happened to her! She must have found a way to stop the mirror! Yet even when she’d reached her mother, she knew there was nothing more that could be done. 

She looked up at the queen one last time, gazing upon the face she’d always gone to for comfort, for strength, for everything. Even now, she was poised and luminous as she faced what was to be her eternal banishment.

“You are right,” she glared down at Ganondorf, though there was no trace of despair in her words. “I cannot imprison you myself, but you will never reach this place again!”

She slowly lifted her arms, and Ganondorf’s eyes widened in realization as she clapped her hands together. He tried to dash towards the monolith, but a spinning column of sand erupted from the ground and sent him sprawling. Again and again, he tried to stand, but each attempt brought him back to his knees. 

The winds grew so strong Zelda thought she could see the stone pillars around them swaying and shaking, and she was shocked they didn’t crumble amidst the maelstrom. Ganondorf made one last attempt to stand before he was finally carried off into the sky. The sand twister then began to swell in size, swallowing up everything around it. One moment, the sky was clear, but now it was as if the world was stuck at the very edge of dusk just before true darkness made its return.

“And so the barrier held for years, thanks to the queen’s efforts.”

Zelda dropped to her knees, the weight of her mother’s sacrifice an even greater burden than she could have ever anticipated. When she looked up, all traces of the storm were gone. The mask salesman now stood before her, hands clasped together and regarding her expectantly. 

“Now you must understand,” he slowly spread his arms apart, as if waiting for an embrace. “Yes, you must understand a great deal.”

Yet there would be no time to answer him as Zelda spun around at the sound of something rumbling towards them. She couldn’t decide if the sound reminded her of the twisting cloud from Hyrule Field that had torn apart the ground or a great explosion, but she quickly decided it didn’t matter. It was still a great distance away, but she could still see it. A colossal wall of fire that bridged the gap between the earth and the heavens was racing towards them.

“What…what is that?” Zelda asked out of habit, knowing any answer would make no difference.

“I’m afraid you were right,” the mask salesman’s voice was truly weary now, free of irony and mischief. “There is nothing you can do now. The Sheikari have wished for Hyrule’s destruction, and it will be fulfilled.”

Zelda didn’t know whether to feel startled or ashamed at how despondent she was. Surely, she’d accepted this was the end, that there was no possibility of escaping the cataclysm barreling toward them. Still, why had he even shown her the past if there was no possibility of saving their future? “You jest! Surely there’s something we can do, even now!”

Yet the mask salesman only smiled and shook his head. “Not we, I’m afraid. Only you.”

He dug into his jacket and brandished a tiny, blue ocarina, and Zelda’s mind spun with realization. The Ocarina of Time! So, that was why Link hadn’t used it! The mask salesman delicately placed it in her hand, the trademark grin returning to his face.

“You must have wondered why he didn’t have it,” he nodded. “You must have wondered why he didn’t use it. We crossed paths on his way through the woods of Termina, and I asked to borrow it. He must have sensed my intention back then, that I would one day return it to you.”

He walked past Zelda towards the approaching inferno, which would reach the stone steps in mere moments. He bounced on the balls of his feet and crossed his arms, the act reminding Zelda of how someone would watch a downpour from their window. 

“I can take you back with me,” Zelda offered, but the mask salesman shook his head as he turned back to face her.

“I know you wanted him to come back to save everyone,” he spoke softly now, his tone mournful and a bit jaded, “but I was the one who prevented this. Every time he tried to go back to Hyrule, he found himself somewhere else, in another land, another place. I wanted…for him to…have a chance at having a real childhood. He deserves to outlive us all, that one. Yet, as you’ve seen, that boy never quite knows how to stop being heroic, does he?”

The flames were now at the entrance of the Arbiter’s Grounds, and Zelda realized she could no longer delay. She held up the Ocarina of Time to her mouth, closing her eyes and playing the melody the Goddess of Time had taught her long ago.

When she opened her eyes again, the gentle, blue light of time had already encased her, and she could no longer feel the coarse, dry heat of the desert winds or the growing intensity of the approaching flames. The mask salesman gave a small wave as they consumed him, his smile never leaving his face.