Lost in Time- A Zelink Story

Chapter Fifteen

The door swings open slowly, in a breathtaking arc. Standing in the center of the room is Lord Ganondorf, surrounded by a corroded, gloomy substance that oozes from where he stands. He's facing us, and he is obviously in some sort of trance, his eyes rolled back into his head. He must be impersonating someone.

As we cautiously enter, he awakens, snarling as he spots us.

"You," he says, his voice dripping with poison, "I should've known it wouldn't be that easy. You're like little bugs. I have to squash every one of you myself."

With that, he lets out a torrent of black magic, and Rauru and I manage to erect a shield of light just in time. After several moments of unyielding assault, Ganondorf falters, enraged, and is immediately bombarded with attacks of all elements.

The battle goes on like this, a blur of light and dark and magic tainted air. The sage's weapons- swords, daggers, clubs, spears, arrows- all fly in all directions, but Ganon manages to knock most of them away. At one point, the Goron sage accidentally steps foot in the strange, oozing goo and immediately collapses. We manage to drag him out of the way, but he remains unconscious.

Link shoots arrow after arrow at Ganondorf, occasionally breaking skin, but he is like a tornado, enraged and powerful and relentless. King Rauru and I work as hard as we can blocking his acidic blasts of magic, and I do my best to slow him down with my time powers when I can, making it easier for us to strike. The eight of us spread out in the circular room, surrounding him and bombarding him with attacks while dodging his constant offenses.

It goes on like this for what feels like days before Ganon lets out a roar, emitting a giant shield of crimson and black light, surrounding himself and pushing us away. The Zora and Rito sages are thrown back against the walls, their bodies crumpling at the force. The rest of us- King Rauru, Mineru, Risa, Link, and I- scramble together as best we can, breathing heavily as Ganon laughs hysterically from inside his shelter. We are sweating, dirty, and most of us have minor wounds from the phantom weapons that the demon king has been launching at us. I have a large gash on my forehead, and several cuts on my knees and arms, but I don't feel most of it because of the adrenaline coursing through my body.

From inside his strange forcefield, he lets out more and more beams of his power, shaped into daggers and swords and arrows that somehow have sharp edges. I stop many of them in their tracks, sending them flying back towards the demon king, but I can't stop them all.

Finally, a small, dagger shaped piece of magic breaks through the frey before I can react. Time seems to slow- unfortunately, not literally- as it hurtles towards my chest. My life seems to flash before my eyes, everything I've done and haven't yet done and wish I had done. It gets closer and closer, and I prepare myself for the sting of pain, but it never comes.

In front of me, there is the sickening sound of a falling body, and there is Link, the dagger embedded in his thigh. He- he jumped in front of it to save me. Tears immediately well in my eyes, and I fall to my knees next to him, using my powers of light to remove the dagger of pure evil and clean the wound. Link groans softly, unconscious on the stone floor.

"I cannot be defeated," Ganondorf shouts, momentarily pausing the onslaught. I guess even he is tired from the battle. "Even the eight most powerful people in Hyrule cannot bring me down. You think you are strong, Rauru, but you are weak. I will not die."

I watch, terrified, as something in Rauru's face changes, an air of understanding washing over him, just as it did with me. "I see," he mutters to himself, perfectly calm, "it's how the timeline must be completed."

"What?" I ask, frantically shielding the five of us as Rauru kneels, motionless.

"We can't kill him," he replies, "we need to bind him. I need to bind him."