29: Wisdom

Whenever there was a meeting, a parting was sure to follow. However, that parting did not need to last forever. Whether a parting was forever or merely for a short time…

Would it matter if the parting all but solidified a kingdom being laid to rest, when its significance could transcend time itself? There had been so many allies whose lights had been extinguished right before her very eyes, all in pursuit of a quest that now bore nothing but shame and despair.

Ganondorf stood over Link’s body, his gaze fixed on Zelda, golden eyes full of hate, greed, and satisfaction.

“You did well to teleport us all here,” he caressed his foul sword. “Those Sheikari easily dispatched my phantom in the throne room, and I knew it was best to hide in the shadows while you and the Sages deliberated. Not one of you managed to detect me. Your terror blinded you.”

Zelda felt as though her blood would freeze solid at any moment. So, he had heard everything then, about the Triforce, how it would separate itself in the presence of one whose heart was out of balance, all of it.

“You didn’t think I would allow any bearers of the Triforce to live, did you?” he chortled. “And with you gone, I will have the completed Triforce once and for all. Think of the despair your champions will feel when they see the lifeless body of their princess tossed out before them. In the end, it will be you who they blame. You sought my destruction and ended up unleashing something far worse. Now, there is no Hero of Time and no Ocarina of Time, all because of you.”

Zelda hadn’t realized she’d fallen to her knees until she balled up her fists, scooping up a burning clod of sand that streamed back onto the ground as her hands trembled. It was all her fault. Link, the champion chosen by the Golden Goddess, now lay dead because of her, all of her efforts so clearly in vain. Ganondorf would still win despite all she had done.

“Foolish girl!” Ganondorf spat, sheathing his sword. “Just like your mother, you underestimated me! I couldn’t find the Sheikari artifact here, though I suppose it must have gone with her when she foolishly sealed herself into the Twilight Realm for eternity!”

He laughed then, a cruel, mocking sound that made every part of Zelda churn and quake. “But it’s no matter! Neither you nor your descendants can ever hope to defeat me! I will soon be eternal!”

Zelda buried her face in her hands, unwilling to call out to the Golden Goddesses or the Sacred Realm for that matter. What right did she have to ask for their assistance now, for their forgiveness? Her wailing sobs soon filled the air, coupled with Ganondorf’s satisfied laughter. She collapsed into the sand as she imagined her mother’s voice, hoping it would provide her with one last moment of peace.

“You know my favorite thing about you? You love it all, my duckling.”

Yet, when Zelda dared open her eyes again, she was no longer in the Arbiter’s Grounds but somewhere so foreign, yet so familiar, she wondered if she’d already perished. A war-torn battlefield, one far worse than what she’d seen on Hyrule Field, surrounded her. 

All that remained were two figures in the center of all the carnage, a small woman covered in divine light and a monstrous black demon with a flaming mane that billowed out behind him. His glowing red eyes were fixated on the woman, and his laugh was a great rasping sound that might shake mountains, though it was now laced with contempt. For the woman had managed to impale him with her divine sword, ensuring he would soon be eradicated. 

“The Triforce will still be mine no matter where you send it, impudent goddess!” the demon jeered. “My hate never perishes! It is born anew in a cycle with no end!”

The woman only smiled, feeling pity for something that could only understand hate and misery. “Perhaps you think that makes you extraordinary, but it only makes you all the more pitiful, Demise.”

And the demon roared, wanting to charge at the small woman, to rip her asunder again and again, yet all he managed to do was melt into the column of light the sword called forth. The small woman, no, the goddess, leaned her head back and heaved the greatest sigh Zelda had ever seen, confident this was only the beginning. 

“They will come back to me,” she whispered. “All who I have sent skyward.”

The vision dissolved as they always had, one scene blurring into the other, as Zelda returned to the pool of sand at the center of the Arbiter’s Grounds. Ganondorf sneered as he watched her struggle to her feet, and she herself couldn’t articulate where she’d found the audacity. 

“Good,” he chuckled, as if she was satisfying his boredom. “Allow your pathetic journey to come to a proper close. Unsheath your sword one last time, princess, and face your true destiny!”

Zelda gazed at Link’s lifeless body once more, then toward her kodachi still half-buried in the sand. Yes, she wanted to pull it free and cut down this horrible stain of a man, to banish him even beyond Twilight’s reach. 

Instead, she began calmly and deliberately ambling toward the King of Evil, ignoring the sword completely. Ganondorf paused, obviously confused by her actions, before brandishing his sword of filth, and that was when Zelda understood at last. 

This meeting between them was ordained, something that she could never truly circumvent. So, she relinquished the illusion of control she’d be holding on to, allowing the tides of destiny to course through her. The fountain surging inside of her manifested as a brilliant light that emanated from her body as if she were ageless, as if she were undying, incapable of yielding to the threads of fate and time. 

“There was once a lone goddess, the sole keeper and protector of the Triforce, who roamed the land…” she slowly lifted her arms towards the sky. “A demon rose from the earth with a calamitous army, and that goddess was destined to battle him forever. Yet, instead of an eternal fight, she chose to make a great sacrifice. She took the Triforce and gathered her chosen people, sending them skyward along with the divine relic. Her sacrifice was giving up her godly form, choosing to be reborn as a mortal, and so she was, era after era. And the demon was eventually defeated by the first hero.”

“You once asked me if I could break the cycle,” Zelda began to lower her arms as she met Ganondorf’s wrathful glare, wanting to nod in satisfaction but refusing to break her concentration. Yes, she wouldn’t allow this pitiful man drenched in his own scorn to look at anything but her. “But you see…I broke the cycle then, which means I can do it again. And I am so much more than my destiny.”

She brought her arms down as she summoned a slender, golden bow that must have been crafted by the Golden Goddesses themselves, its design and detail impossibly intricate. Ganondorf brutishly threw himself at her in response, but Zelda calmly nocked her arrow and released it. 

The arrow burst to life with a flash of light so blinding the sorcerer king paused to shield his eyes from its radiance, and that was when Zelda seized her opportunity, calling upon Farore. The arrow disappeared as it was overtaken by the spell, and Ganondorf was momentarily stunned, his expression full of bewilderment.

It wasn’t until Zelda saw the light arrow whizz past her left shoulder from behind coupled with a pitiful howling that she was certain the real Ganondorf had been standing behind her all along. The phantom before her faded as the true King of Evil materialized next to her, stumbling slightly as he clutched his side where the arrow had embedded itself. Zelda rounded on him, cupping his chin and dragging his face down to meet hers as his strength was slowly drained away.

“Now fall.”

She shoved him with her free hand, and he collapsed face-first into the sand. Even if he dared try to stagger to his feet, it would be pointless, for the Ancient Sages had already descended upon him. Working quickly, they chained his hands and dragged him to the monolith, binding him to it with ease. Zelda watched as the Sage of Light, once Rauru, fashioned a sword ordained by the goddesses, and she determined they would cast judgment over the King of Evil.

Ganondorf looked at her then, his eyes now filled with as much loathing as he could muster. Yet, despite his defeat, he didn’t utter a single word as the Ancient Sages made their preparations. Zelda hurried to Link’s side, satisfied the Sages could handle matters from here, gently turning him onto his back and brushing the hair out of his face.

His eyes were closed now, and Zelda embraced him, letting the tears fall as her spirit called out to the Golden Goddesses once more. She imagined him, as a child, running through the forest, desperately trying to return to Hyrule, only to find himself back in Termina with no choice but to venture elsewhere. Would there ever be another as kind, as strong, and as selfless as Link?

She then recalled the vision of Hylia facing Demise, of how their final confrontation had led to the first hero of Hyrule. She had to believe, if not for herself than for her people, her descendants, for all who had the courage to hope. So, she closed her eyes to allow the last of her tears to fall before facing him again.

“The Golden Goddesses chose you,” she whispered, her voice breaking as new tears threatened to blur her vision once more, “and they will always choose you. You will always be worthy.”

The brilliant green light enveloped them, and within seconds they had vanished from sight.