[EDITING] The Legend of Zelda: Goddess of Secrecy

The Wish

...as the light flooded their world. It expanded, growing translucent about them while swallowing the Sealing Grounds whole in a dome of light.

Link was still shaking, weak and on his knees as he watched in awe. Zelda remained beside him as the light grew, a hand pressed firmly on his side.

And then Someone stepped out.

She was towering. As tall as Ganon had been, and just as menacing. Yet, She was not as cruel, even in Her harsh edges.

The form of a Woman appeared before them, radiant as She became material. She wore a gown that hugged tightly to a full form, before falling away to reveal fissures along Her arms. Her whole being was ever in motion even as She stopped before them.

Purple light contained in its many faces filled the space that She held. Following up to Her face, Link saw a great mask without holes for eyes gazing down at him, spikes like horns pointing out in all directions on its edge. Yet he knew he was seen.

When She lowered the mask, only two horns remained. A pair of curved bull horns hung heavy on Reechka's head as She stood before them in Her full.

"Hero of My Sister, Daughter of Her kin," Reechka greeted, a deep, but gentle voice more beautiful than words filled the air like a melody. Like the Song of the Earth.

Link was lost for words. He turned to Zelda for help, but she seemed equally awed by their Visitor.

"You have invoked that which has never been summoned before. And I have come to answer," Reechka went on in their lull. She motioned to the Master Sword in Link's hand. He looked down at the blade, its form reversed as he had found it, as legend had described it.

"My chosen, My champion, gifted you this. Your wish is dear to Me, and I would find great joy in gifting it," Reechka said, before Her expression grew somber. "But I am not my Kin. I will not send you blindly into a wish, secrets unknown.

"There is a cost to all things. Great magics most of all. As noble your request may be, it cannot be done without a price." Reecka lifted Her hand beside Her, motioning to the stars. Between them, lines began to form, a weave threading together. "Even now, the Fabric of Time is weak. I have driven for eons it back together, to now, to this Convergence. Should it shatter again, it will be this world's undoing. Not even I and My Kin could repair it.

"To do this thing you ask and keep Hyrule together, I would need reverse the flow of time itself. And undo her final act in the process," Reechka finished, Her face grave as She turned back to Link and Zelda.

"What do You mean? Restore the cycle?" Link asked as his heart fell. Endeavor's final gift, her total sacrifice, the cost to bring her back. It felt beyond cruel to even consider it.

"I am afraid so, Hero," Reechka stated, Her tone truly apologetic.

Link turned to Zelda, at a loss for words. He shook his head as he met her eyes. Shame filled him even as he thought about his answer.

"Link, that would...we're finally free. She would want that, wouldn't she?" Zelda asked, taking his hand.

"I know, but..." Link lowered his head, the guilt too much as he still weighed the option.

"There is another matter."

Link and Zelda turned to Reechka once more, the Goddess hovering before them in the great dome of light Her power had summoned.

"What My champion could not have known was the folly in her wish. Noble and dear, but with great ruin well to follow," Reechka said, true sorrow in Her voice. She turned to Her other side, raising a hand once again as a dark mass appeared among the stars. "The being you know as Demise is but a plaything of a greater evil that yet remains. The cycle of reincarnation ending will dispel the power it raised to free its true self, and hold it at bay for millennia yet."

The shadows grew darker in Reechka's illusion before expanding out to swallow the sky. "But the bonds holding back the heart of evil will fail one day. Without the cycle, it will break free and find no one to meet it."

"What about Hyrule?" Zelda asked, clutching her heart.

Reechka bowed Her head. "There is hope still. The Master Sword will remain. But with no Hero destined to wield it, it will fall on Hyrule alone to summon themselves to meet this evil. I cannot see whether they would prevail alone. I hold much love for My Sister's people, but She designed so much that depends on Her daughters and Her Hero.

"And yet I cannot ask that you take up this mantle again, even as My heart wishes My own chosen back. I will grant this wish, but only if you are both decided. Else I offer anything you so desire." Reechka extended Her hand out to Link and Zelda, waiting.

The duo again turned to each other. Link tried to face Zelda and again it hurt as his heart was torn.

"Link, I—I don't know," Zelda responded, a similar pain in her voice as he felt in his heart. "To wish this on...on my family to come, on you, for how long? And yet, Goddesses, and yet, how can I not?" She bit the inside of her lip and shook her head. "Even now, I can't abandon my duty to my kingdom, to what it will be. Even as it dooms me and the person I love most to suffer, endlessly."

Taking her hand, Link swallowed hard, trying to force down the lump in his throat. He had no words that didn't mirror what she had already said.

"I know my answer. But I will follow you. To the end," Link finally managed, holding her hand tight in his own. "Together."

Zelda drew in a hard breath, slowly nodding as she took his other hand in hers. "I know mine too."

The two rose and reached up to the Goddess's extended hand. Link's hand barely covered a fingertip, and then less as the Goddess's form expanded even brighter.

"Very well," Reechka said, smiling. She rose to Her full height, greater now than the dome, tall enough to reach the stars.

Raising Her hands, Reechka called into the sky. "My Sister! I must draw upon Your domain." Her fingers threaded the sky, the threads of time wrapping around them while Reechka pulled Her hands back, a great weaver restitching fate itself.

The dome expanded with Reechka now. Outside it, time reversed. Link watched stones melding back together, the dais made whole. He was forced to pull away from Zelda as his shield was flung back at him through the air from where it had fallen. When he looked down, he saw his tunic restored and felt his body whole.

Reechka's hands spread wider, time winnowing about Her as the Goddess grasped the heavens and rewrote them.

The light began to break. Link covered his eyes as the wind built up, and the sands of the desert were tossed about as though a sandstorm had descended on them. It blurred his vision and stung his eyes, yet he couldn't look away from the act they had invoked.

Beyond, he saw Reechka fading away, returning to the Sacred Realm as his wish was granted. Then, he was forced to shield his eyes before the storm.

As the light turned too blinding to see, he heard in his mind, "Beware, Hero. She will not be the only one who returns."

And then time began to move...