The Legend of Zelda: Wisdom and Courage

Chapter 36: The Eternal Cycle

As the light faded and Zelda regained her vision, she lowered her bow to take in the newfound calm of the temple, the sounds of a violent, bloody battle no longer echoing throughout its stone walls. Indeed, not a trace of Veran remained; the Master Sword was once again buried into the Pedestal of Time, as though it had never been moved before at all. The Sorceress of Shadows was at long last vanquished, her terror nevermore to reign across Hyrule and her evil to never again destroy innocent.

While she was relieved that their treacherous foe was no more, what caught the princess's attention most of all was her hero standing on the other side of the room, still wearing the Fierce Deity's Mask. Zelda took in a sharp breath as she ran towards him, praying and hoping that now that the battle was over, he would be able to take the mask off again, just as he had back in Termina. The princess stopped short a few feet away from him, noticing that he was not moving whatsoever, but rather simply standing firm and statue-like, his arms held at his sides in clenched fists and his expression cold and vacant. His pure white eyes stared off into the distance, not fixating on anything at all, only now they looked emptier than ever before. Zelda bit her lip and continued to move closer to him nonetheless, though she was somewhat fearful of what could happen next if the mask was still in control of him. Staring up into his face, she stood before him and slowly took one of his hands, noticing how icy cold and stiff it was, almost as if he was dead even though he still stood upright.

"Link..." she whispered gently, with a small, yet somewhat sad smile, taking his other hand and holding them both tightly to warm them. "Link, it's me, Zelda... I… I don't know if you already know this but… Veran's gone... We won... We defeated her… You defeated her…So... Please... Take that mask off now... You don't have to wear it anymore or ever again…" The hero did not so much as even move upon her touch, much to the princess' despair as she persisted nonetheless. "Link, please!" she tried again, this time with more desperation in her voice. "You... You have to take it off! I... I don't know what I'll do without you! Please," she said mournfully as tears began to stream down her cheeks. "I need you... I... I love you..."

Zelda let out a shaky, tearful breath as she gazed up into the stone-cold, emotionless face of her hero, a face that once held such life and warmth. Refusing to accept that he was truly gone, the princess tentatively placed her hands against the side of his face, gasping softly as her fingers brushed over what seemed to be the almost unnoticeable edges of the mask covering it. A burst of hope coursed through her as she slowly and carefully began to pull it off of him, finding that it was not as hard to do as she had anticipated. A white light enveloped Link as she did so, forcing Zelda to close her eyes and look away lest she be blinded by it. However, what bewildered her was the fact that as soon as she removed the mask from his face fully, it suddenly dissipated into thin air, though for what reason, the princess had no idea.

Upon looking to the hero once more, the princess let out a horrified, heartbroken gasp at his appearance. Indeed, he had returned to his original height and he was once again clad in his usual green attire, save for his cap, which was strangely missing, but the normality ended there. His hair, which should have been returned to its original golden color, had turned a dull, dark brown, making him look entirely different. But even more disturbing were his eyes, which once again contained pupils, but were still completely devoid of the sky blue that Zelda had come to love over the years. Instead, his eyes were empty and cold, his pitch black, almost hazed over pupils still not focusing on anything whatsoever.

"Link!" Zelda exclaimed in shock, quickly grasping him by the shoulders as she shook him roughly, hoping to break him out of whatever trance he seemed to be in. ""Come on! Just look at me! Please! Say something! Do something! I… I can't just… I can't…"

Her words trailed off into absolute misery as she realized that he was unresponsive, and he always would be, no matter what she did. Link was gone. He had lost himself, his soul, everything he had been, to the immense, uncontrollable power that the Fierce Deity's Mask had put upon him, just as the princess had feared would happen and now he was nothing more than an empty shell, his heart and mind both gone forever. She looked down in absolute misery and cried out loudly as she embraced his cold, almost course-like form, realizing all she had just lost. Never again would she adventure across the land of Hyrule or be comforted in his strong, yet gentle arms. Never again would she see his incredible smile or hear his infectious, wonderful laugh. Never again would he tell her that everything would be alright when all seemed lost or recount to her all of his grand exploits. And now, they would certainly never have the future together that they both had dreamed about and hoped for.