The Legend of Zelda: Goddess of Secrecy

Mini Boss 17 - Phantom of the Woods

...alone.

"Alone?"

The voice that spoke that word sounded more in Link's head than it did in the room itself, but Link knew it wasn't just in his mind. The door swung shut behind him, sealing as it closed. He only briefly heard the calls of surprise of his companions before he was plunged into darkness.

"But you have all those friends of yours, and you come in here alone?"

Link reached his hand back, his spatial awareness thrown by the darkness. Finally, his hand found the Master Sword, which he slowly drew, unsure where an attack might come from.

"What is that going to do for you? Are you going to hit an enemy you can't even see?"

"What are you?" Link demanded, keeping his blade steady in front of him. The blade shimmered a faint blue light, but it wasn't enough to see whatever was in the room with him.

Suddenly, the room was a kaleidoscope sea. Link shielded his eyes at the colors whirled at a nauseating pace. The shapes and shades whirled even faster until Link could remember where the door had been before. He swore he hadn't moved and yet it felt like he'd taking a thousand steps as the light flashed behind his eye lids.

Slowly, the colors stopped spinning. Link lowered his arm and blinked as sunlight stared back at him. He could hear the lowing of cattle and goats, the gurgle of a stream, the whisper of wind through the trees. Eveningale.

Link turned, taking in the sights of his childhood home. How? What was going on? Had he been teleported out?

He felt something in his hand. Link clenched the hilt of the Master Sword, drawing it into this illusion with him, a ripple passing over the vision before him as it did. That's all this was. An illusion. It had to be. This blade had never belonged here.

"Link, my boy."

Walking towards Link was the old figure of the Headmaster. The sight was frighteningly realistic, so real that Link started to forget that this was a mind trick as the memories of Eveningale caught up to him, pressed at a sense of nostalgia and the want to be home.

The Headmaster frowned. "Link, you know you can't be running around with swords. You're nameless. If the village knew you could—"

Link raised the blade. "What are you?" The Headmaster would never have spoken to Link like that, even if he had been reckless with a blade. Even more so, Link knew the Headmaster was aware that Link was no longer nameless. This wasn't the man who had raised him.

Putting up his hands, the Headmaster started blubbering at the threat, "L-L-Link! After ev-everything I've done for you!"

Raising the blade an inch higher, Link stood his ground, staring back at the image of the Headmaster with a steady glare. He didn't know what this shadow had in mind, but Link wasn't going to let his closest friends be turned against him.

Kaepora shuddered as he looked down at the blade. "Wh-what are you going to do? Kill me?"

Before Link could process the sentence, the world snapped to another image. Narizah stood in front of him. The two fatal blows Parijan had dealt were now replaced by one single wound, a wound that look too much like a blow from the Master Sword. The Gerudo cupped the wound, blood dripping from her lips and her side. "You're...more like him, ah...than I thought..."

Link felt the blade in his hand start to burn. As his stomach lurched, he wanted nothing more than to cast it aside. But a voice in the back of his head shouted at him, reminding him that his sword was the only thing confirming that this wasn't reality. This wasn't real.