Blinding Darkness - Zelda X Ganondorf

Chapter 11

     "Come closer."

      Zelda felt a tug hooking right on her navel, as though an invisible but iron strong string was slowly pulling her closer.

     "Can you see it?"

     The empty span of nothingness that Zelda had found herself in twisted sharply, and she stumbled, a startled yelp building in her chest, but never released, because what she saw next made the breath die in her lungs.

     Three stars, alone in a deepening night sky. Two bigger, one smaller in the middle of them, twinkling much, much brighter, almost drowning out the other two. 

     "Do you understand?"

     No, she didn't understand. But try as she may, she could not form words in her misty mind.

     Reality warped again, and Zelda was standing in the middle of an open field, filled to the brim with warm sunlight, tall, swaying grass lazily tickling her exposed calves.

     Then suddenly, it was as though something had been cupped over this land. Darkness fell, shadows took over the light and settled into the very soil, seizing this beautiful, peaceful space in its claws.

     "Do you understand now?"

     Fear clamped down on Zelda's chest and she scrambled back, trying vainly to get away from the looming darkness rearing up, trying to escape, while knowing all along that she was trapped, trapped forever. 

     "Go forth, Princess of Order, go forth valiantly. But try as you may, you cannot escape your fate."

     And then she was back in her bed, her limbs tangled in her sheets, tears streaming down her face, her scream muffled in her pillow.

     Somehow she had stress-paced herself into exhaustion and fell back to a broken sleep, voices and words she could not understand splitting her troubled dreams. 

     Zelda woke into a crisp dawn. She threw her window side open and breathed in deeply.

     It was the day of the ball. And she... had already forgotten why she had hosted this dance. The more she thought about it, the more foolish it seemed.

     She sighed. It was way too early to already be racked with worries.

     Zelda had, in a rare strike of wisdom, picked out her ballgown the night before, so that was one less thing to worry about. 

     It hardly made a dent in the pile.

     All the more important of the nobles of Hyrule would be there. And while Zelda had enough confidence in the military competence to assure their safety, it was still a gamble. 

     The last thing she wanted to do was shatter this fragile, momentary quiet through a ball, of all things. 

     But with Hyrule's most important people and its greatest historical enemy throughout all the ages in one place? That was risky. That was dangerous.

     Too late now!

     Zelda pushed back her shoulder blades and raised her head high.

     She would make this work. She had already done so much of the impossible. This was just another one.

     Zelda struggled through the day, trying to focus on her work instead of anxiously glancing incessantly at the clock. The moment seven in the night struck, she shot up, and raced to her room, to change. Technically, she didn't have to worry about clothes, since she had her dresses specially tailored to suit her style. However, she couldn't help but try on pretty much every piece of accessory, then look at herself judgmentally.