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The Legend Of Zelda - The Worlds End Ch. 7
By CarnaRaptor
Drops of water fell from the ceiling, falling through the beams of light, and covering the steps of the two travelers as they waltzed into the temple, weary from their travels.
“Not at all what I would have expected,” Nacie whispered, as the two reached over the ledge and pulled themselves into the temple entrance. “A little warm. A little dry.”
Link’s mouth dropped open as he took in the scene. “It’s…it’s changed so much!” he whispered. “There was a column, and doors, and passageways that made no real sense.”
The two stood in a bare room, only a few feet deep, filled with sand, and a river, starting from the walls and flowing through the middle of the room to the other wall. It didn’t seem to come from anywhere or go anywhere, but it flowed as fast as any river in the world. The heat was intense, especially compared to the icy winds of the outside, and the two quickly stripped from their cloaks and hid them away.
“Now, perhaps you see the power of Nuerme?” Nacie asked. “His magics have changed entire parts of the world.”
“How do you know so much about him?” Link asked as he began to wade through the sand, which came to his knees before it was solid enough to hold his weight.
“Because,” Nacie answered, following slowly behind the warrior, “Nuerme is a legend. Gerudo mothers scare their daughters with tales of Nuerme. He is, essentially, to us, the devil, I suppose.”
“Well, your ‘devil’ is probably not as strong as some of the creatures I have faced in my travels,” Link confidently answered. “Tricks of the eye, such as this room are one thing, tricks of the sword, are another all together.”
“The current of the river is too strong, Hero, we’ll have to hookshot across.”
“Hold tight, then,” Link said, putting his arm around the Gerudo and pulling his weapon out. He aimed carefully for the wooden boards at the door of the far end of the room. His shot wedged in the boards and yanked the two across the river and sand to the end of the room. The two landed lightly and brushed themselves off.
“Hungry, Hero?” Nacie laughed.
“What?” Link asked.
“Your stomach was growling, I just wondered if you were hungry?” Nacie asked.
“My stomach didn’t growl,” Link answered.
“Then what was the noise I just heard?”
The growling sound Nacie heard filled the cavern again. Link looked up, hearing it this time. The two turned slowly to the doorway, easing their weapons from the sheathes. Two large, red hellhounds stood at the doorway, showing their teeth as they growled.
Three more hounds walked up behind, baring their teeth at the sight of the humans.
“Any suggestions, Hero?” Nacie asked, readying her dagger and lowering her stance.
“Yeah,” Link answered. “Don’t get bitten.”
“You’re a real help,” she responded. “I’m not going to laugh, right now, though.”
“Probably better if you don’t.”
The first two hounds shot forward with blinding speed. Their barks shook the cavern as their large strides carried them to the two travelers in no time. The first hound leapt to the air, pouncing down on Nacie. The Gerudo, however, darted forward, thrusting her knife into the beast’s chest as it came down.
The second hound zig-zagged around, chasing Link down as he tried to flank around it. The creature went low, trying to come under the Hylian’s blade, but Link caught the creature’s neck with his sword.
The two turned, ready for the next attack, but no sooner had they turned, then they heard growling again from the beasts. The two looked over their shoulders to see the hounds rising again, their wounds healing almost as quickly as they had been inflicted.
“I think we’re in trouble,” Link whispered.
“Try to act as though we’re not,” Nacie answered. “Maybe they’ll believe us.”
The hounds darted forward, all attacking at once, this time. Nacie spun and twisted, barely avoiding each attack. She sliced her blade again and again, but it felt to her as though she were simply hitting nothing at all.
Link ran towards the door, slicing with his sword again and again, powerfully knocking the creatures back again and again, but they continued to get up and continue their attacks. One of the creatures slammed into a wall and charged at Link from his left. The dog hit the Hylian, knocking him and a torch to the ground.
Link screamed as he thrust his sword all the way through the beast’s neck. The creature howled and ran back, biting at the sword handle to try to pull it the sword out. The attack was successful, but it had left Link without weapon.
Two other dogs rushed directly at the unarmed fighter. Link desperately grabbed the torch that fell from the walls and jutted it forward, lighting the first hound on fire. As the other hounds watched, the creature screeched in agony as flames engulfed it. The creature fell to the ground and exploded, the ashes disappearing to thin air as they flew up.
Link turned and immediately set fire to the second dog, kicking it away. As it exploded behind him, he pulled the sword from the third dog and set fire to it, as well.
One of the dogs attacking Nacie, seeing the demise of its comrades, rushed away from the fighters, fearing for its life. It rushed away from Link, unsure of where it was going, and quickly found itself washed up by the waters of the river.
The final dog darted at Nacie, determined to finish her off. Link turned and threw the torch through the air. It spun around as it sizzled in the hot atmosphere in the room and struck the final dog in mid-stride, blowing it up instantly.
Nacie lowered her arms and looked to the Hylian. Catching her breath, she turned to the doorway and sighed. “Perhaps you Hylians are more resilient than we Gerudos give you credit for.”
“Not all of us,” Link answered, walking through the doors. He stopped for a moment and looked around in shock. “This place just keeps surprising me.”
The two were surrounded by fields of grass and trees under a blue canopy of sky. Distant rumbling clouds thundered over rolling mountains, while butterflies fluttered through the tall weeds on either side of the two. At different and somewhat random places, purple holes appeared, sweeping back into darkness, while one large blue portal sat at the end of the long pathway.
Link looked over his shoulder, staring at the doorway that sat in the middle of nowhere, the temple still seen inside the doorway. It was an odd sight, but one Link was not bothered by any longer, after all the sights he had laid eyes on through the years of travel.
“Where do you suppose we should go?” Nacie asked, walking to the edge of the dirt path at the center of this strange world. “Dare we try the portals and see where they lead?”
“If our enemy possibly controls them, then he may well have it come out in the middle of the volcano,” Link answered. “Best not to slide through any of them. Let us go for the blue portal. It seems to be a way out.”
“Or it could be where waste is sent,” Nacie smirked. “Maybe it’s blue as a way of warning to friends. ‘Don’t go here.”
Link ignored the Gerudo and carefully put his arm into the blue opening. The air on the other side of the portal felt warm, so he reluctantly stepped through. Within, a chamber, similar to the blue oasis of the chamber of time flowed before Link’s eyes, except fires raged, and red water passed through red symbols.
At the center of the room, an enormous stone throne sat, contrasting the busy movement of the room with its simplistic style. Within the chair, a large figure sat, its head slumped in its hand, and its legs lazily crossed as feet touched the floor.
The yellow face and red eyes of the human-looking creature were haggard, even bored. Massive black horns grew from its head, which it wore a helmet upon, and black and purple armor adorned its body. A great black cape twisted down the chair as he sat on it.
“Get down, you fool!” Nacie whispered, yanking Link into the red waters that fell of the edge of the platform they stood upon. Around the entire chamber hundreds of purple and blue portals opened and closed, and Nuerme, when he showed signs of conciousness, looked into different ones, taking a moment’s notice of what was happening within. “We don’t want to be seen!”
“I…I can feel him,” Link whispered, eyeing the large creature. “Power, or magic, maybe both, seem to flow from him.”
“Now that you’ve seen him, can we leave?” Nacie asked, looking quickly over her shoulders. “This guy’s got armies more numerous than you can imagine.”
“All the more reason to strike,” Link nervously answered, quietly drawing his sword.
“Wait!” Nacie hissed, yanking the Hylian back down. “Something’s happening!”
Neurme slowly rose to his feet, taking his enormous staff in hand. His height was unreal, standing from his throne, he could easily see over the platforms sitting dozens of meters in the air.
The portals began to swirl around and open up, as masses of soldiers, both zora and goblins began to pour through to the lowest platform, before assembling in front of Nuerme’s feet. Wizrobes flew overhead as Link and Nacie whisked around behind the portal, hiding carefully from the swarm below.
The grumbles and growls, loud as they were, could not drown out a strange shrieking sound that did not seem to fit in with the other creatures. As the portal swirld to a close, Link slowly edged out from behind the portal to look down below again.
Nuerme kneeled, the room shaking with his every move. “The Baby?” he asked, holding his hand out over the army.
A single black knight on horseback rode through the ranks, the shrieking coming from him, apparently. A smaller figure walked quickly behind the rider, a yellow cloak flapping in the winds of the fires below as it walked. Tufts of purple hair flittered out from its hood.
Link shook his head. “No, it can’t be,” he whispered.
As he whispered, the figure in yellow turned her head and looked up, as though she heard his voice through all in the crowd. Link lowered his head, but caught a glimpse of her purple eyes just before he pressed his face against he red water.
“Sakura?” he asked. “How can they be here? Why are they working for him?”
“Who?” Nacie asked. “Who are they?”
“A Knight from distant lands, but how he came here so quickly is beyond me,” Link answered.
“My prize?” Bishops loud, harsh voice called out to the demon, silencing the crowd around him. “You’ve promised me a kingdom, ye have. How do I know you will keep your promise?”
Fires swelled within Nuerme’s eyes. “You have no choice, Knight, but to believe me. I should strike you down, for such insolence. Now, hand me the baby.”
“What do ye want with this ‘ere pint size thing, anyway?” Bishop asked, holding the baby up. Nuerme took the baby, smiling, a whiff of fire came from his nostrils as he laughed.
“I care not for this baby, only for the guardians who will come to rescue it.”
“We have to get that baby,” Link whispered, pulling out his hookshot. “Whatever it is, it is far too important to be in the hands of that thing.”
“It is a baby, nothing more, Link,” Nacie hissed. “I care for it, too, but we cannot die for something that is already lost. Don’t be foolish!”
“Foolish?” Link asked. “I’ve never been more sure about anything I had to do in my life.”
Link waited for the loud fires to explode again and fired his hookshot, the sound drowned out by the fires. He swung down to the back of the army, threw his arms around a goblin’s neck and put his other hand on it’s mouth as he dragged it back to a lower platform and knocked it out.
They Hylian pulled on the Goblin’s cape and helmet, knowing it would not buy him much time as he looked nothing like a Goblin, but a few second’s head start was all he would need.
Nacie slid across the water, ready to jump down, but before she could throw her feet around, the portal behind her suddenly came to life. She rolled over and jumped to run around the portal, but it was too late. Whatever was coming through could see her, now.
Light from the other side was blinding, causing Nacie to cover her eyes with her arm. Winds gushed through the portal, knocking the Gerudo down on her rear, splashing water as she hit. Small floating lights floated randomly by, leaving different colored trails in their wake. Two enormous, bright beings flew through the portal, ignoring the young woman and flying straight into the room. A third being, a woman, emitting a blinding blue light from all portions of her body stopped in mid-air and looked down at the Gerudo.
Nacie slid her hand to her blade, unsure of what to make of the new being. The blue woman smiled at her and flew off, to join the others.
“Interfered with the prophecies for gain,, you have, Rau,” the first goddess, Din spoke, her voice so loud, all save Nuerme and the other goddesses covered their ears.
“Suffer much, you must.” The second Goddess Farore added.
“Rau?” Nacie gasped, holding her hand to her mouth. “It is true, then. He is the god of the underworld.”
“Feel our wrath, you shall!” Nayru screamed, her blue form shimmering to a red hue. The goddess’s hair flailed around, as if alive itself, and her eyes blazed with fire. She reached to the air with her hands, speaking an ancient language, then thrust her hands to the floor. Blasts of lighting shot down from the unseen ceiling, ripping through the armies as they scattered and ran.
Chunks of the platform lifted to the air as debris shot out in all directions, and fires swelled through the cracks.
The other two goddesses, both turning dark red floated forward, throwing blasts of magical energy at the god, knocking him back with each attack. Nuerme countered, slamming Farore into the red waters behind her. She splashed out, gigantic blobs of water crashing down on the fires below, and threw two more blasts of magic with her arms.
“Link, the baby!” Nacie screamed, pointing from the platform to the wet and crying child lying precariously on the arm of the great chair.
Link threw his helmet down and darted forward. With a great leap, he reached the large platform just as several goblins charged at him. He pulled his sword and sliced through them, easily knocking away attacks from startled and scared creatures.
Lightning blasted through the troops, and the ground began to lift up as the section Link stood upon lifted to the air. The Hylian jumped across two goblins’ fallen bodies and grabbed a hold of the edge of the rising platform. He swung his body around, threw himself over the fires and rolled with the landing below.
Wizrobes scattered past his body as he lay flat, each throwing attacks at Nayru, who easily knocked the attacks aside. She waved her hand, and fires consumed the creatures, their shrieks filling the air.
Two goblins fire arrows at the goddess, barely missing her. Link swung his legs around, kicking the first goblin to the ground and thrust his sword through the second and darted forward.
Link fell forward as something hit him from behind. His nose bloodied as he rolled around just in time to see a Zora raising its sword, ready to strike the Hylian down. Link reached for his sword, but knew it would be too late. The creature began to swing down with his sword, when Nacie landed on his head, slamming him down, then catapulted over Link, landing with grace on her feet.
“Come on!” she screamed, grabbing his hand.
The two darted around the lighting as it ripped through the ground and jumped from edge to edge as the great rocks began to float away from each other on the river of lava. Above, the goddesses waged war on the god, hitting his kneeling form again and again.
Link yanked out his hookshot and put his arm around Nacie. He shot wedged on the stone end of the chair, barely holding the two on as they were pulled up the side of the chair.
Nacie pulled the baby up, pulling its wrappings away from her face as the baby cried out. “Hush, child,” Nacie whispered, drawing the child close to her face. “It’ll be okay.”
“We have to get out of here before everything comes down!” Link screamed, looking to the portals. “Will those work for us?”
“They should work for anything, provided you come from this side!” Nacie answered.
A scream filled the cavern, destroying entire platforms that floated in the air. Link and Nacie looked over the arm of the chair, holding their ears painfully as trickles of blood fell from them.
One of the goddesses fell to the lava, her body smoking as she landed. Her body began to dissolve as she sunk into the lava, and slowly, a bright glowing pyramid formed at the center of her body. The first piece of the triforce sat where Din’s body had been.
Nuerme, now standing taller then he had ever before thrust his staff at Farore, firing a blast of energy straight through her body. Her screams blew up the rest of the cracked platforms that had survived. As her body slowly turned into the second triforce, the chair Link and Nacie stood upon began to bobble up and down in the flowing lava, as it was no longer on the platform.
The two fell to the seat, trying to hold on as the whole chair twisted and floated around.
“The Triforce!” Link screamed. “I have to get to it before any of them do!”
“How?” Nacie asked
Link pulled out a red tunic and handed the hookshot to Nacie. “Carefully, from stone to stone,” he replied. “If I fall, this should help me survive! You get out of here with her!”
“Link!” Nacie screamed. “You can’t! Don’t worry about them, it’s too dangerous!”
Link ignored the Gerudo as he pulled himself over the chair and looked to the lava. Above, Nayru gave Nuerme everything she had. She threw one blast of magic, twisting her body around and threw another with her other hand. Each blast landed, slamming the god into the wall, but did little damage.
“Becoming the Triforce has weakened you goddesses,” Nuerme laughed. He lifted his staff and fired another shot. Nayru dodged it, flipping backwards in mid-air as the blast ripped through the waters, slamming through the walls.
Link took a big breath and jumped from the slowly sinking chair. He landed on a small stone and used his momentum to keep jumping from stone to stone, rather than roll off into the lava.
The Hylian danced from edge to edge, many of the small chunks sinking deeper into the lava until he at last reached the closest edge to the nearest triforce.
A wave of magic ripped through the lava, and the platform Link was standing on thrust forward on the wave from the explosion. Link edged down and grabbed the triforce, nearly falling out.
Link laughed and held the triforce in the air, surprised at his own success. That was when it all fell apart.
An arrow sliced through the Hylian’s chest, the head coming out through is sternum. The pain was unbelievable, and the darkness at once overwhelmed him.
“Link!” Nacie screeched in horror. She shot the hookshot to a chunk of floating platform and swung to the ledges near him, then jumped across the lava to the Hylian. Still holding the baby and tears forming at her eyes, she pulled his body up. “Link? Are..are you okay?”
The color began to leave Link’s eyes, save for the red capillaries, which swelled up. His skin lightened, and his hair turned silver, as he tried to look up to her.
“Save…her,” he whimpered as he tried to breath.
Nacie yanked the arrow from his chest and looked at the end. The green liquid on the end was the blood of an Ankou, deadly, and worse, metamorphic at the touch. She threw the arrow into the lava and looked over the river to the edges where land still stood. A Knight in black lowered his bow, a bright smile across his face. “Don’t reckon there’s much time left for ye, lass!” he yelled just as he and the rest of the army disappeared behind the floating chair.
Nayru let out a scream more tremendous then the other goddesses combined as she fell to the lava, the force of which shot great globs of molten rock crashing back down into the lake, and the ripples began to make the platform which Nacie stood upon sink again.
Not far, now, the lava came to an end, and with the waters of the walls, it fell over the edge of the land into oblivion. There was nothing left in the air for the Gerudo to hookshot to, and the portals were too far away for her to jump with the baby and the Hylian.
She looked from one to the other, having to make a choice she wished she would never have to make. Her hand swept down the Hylian’s face as tears swept down her own cheeks. “I am so sorry, hero. I cannot make the choice. The arrow had to make it for me.”
“That’s it?” a voice called from behind. Nacie pulled her dagger out and twisted around, coming face to face with a woman in a yellow cloak with purple hair. “You give up so easily, fool.”
“I cannot carry both!” Nacie yelled as the edge became louder. “Link is gone! I must go!”
Sakura reached into her pouch and pulled out purple dust. She tossed it to the empty space between the portal and the platform, creating a clear bridge between the two. “Hurry,” she whispered in disgust. “Take them both and leave before I change my mind.”
Nacie grabbed Link’s arm and dragged him from the platform as quickly as her strength would allow. She never looked back to the woman in yellow, and never questioned why she would help. Nacie only rushed as quickly as she could through the portal.
Behind, Nuerme lifted the three pieces of the triforce and forged them together with is own magics, and squeezed the two in his fist. “Now, the world of the living and the dead are mine own.”
~~~
“Another portal is opening!” Darunia hissed. “Ready your weapons!”
The purple portal opened, and a Gerudo passed through, precariously holding something in her arms and dragging something behind her.
“Now!” Impa yelled, and Darunia, Ruto, and herself charged over the graves, directly at the thief, weapons raised.
Nacie dropped Link’s arm as the portal closed and drew her dagger, ready for the new threat. She parried away Impa’s spear, and readied a counterattack, when the assailants stopped in mid-stride.
“She has the baby!” Ruto gasped. “H—how?”
“Who are you people?” Nacie hissed.
“Nacie, it is all right, lower your weapon,” Nabooru commanded as she stood atop a gravestone. “These are friends.”
“Nabooru?” Nacie asked in surprise.
“Yes, Nacie, it is I,” Nabooru laughed as she darted forward. Impa took the baby and smiled as she checked it for injuries. The baby giggled as it was tickled by the search.
“Where are we?” Nacie asked. “What has happened here? Can you help my friend?”
“Rauru, we have injured!” Darunia bellowed to the yard.
“You are at the Kakariko graveyard,” Nabooru answered. “War is what has happened. Hyrule Knights, Unknown goblins and hordes have waged war and attacked each other, as well as innocents.”
“Unknown?” Nacie asked. “It is Nuerme! He has come again! The goddesses said he interfered with a prophecy or something.”
“By the goddesses,” Rauru gasped as he floated over the fallen warrior. “Could it be?”
“He was struck by Ankou blood!” Nacie cried. “He’s changing into one of those fowl creatures, we have to help him!”
“It is the hero of time,” Rauru whispered quietly.
“LINK!” Saria screamed as she rushed from the grave opening to the field. She threw her crying body across his wounded chest, wailing and beating his arm. “Link, you can’t leave us! Not now, not after all that has happened!”
“You know him?” Nacie asked. “What is going on?”
“Get him to the grave. We will have to summon some powerful magic to help him and the Princess.”
The very ground began to shake. Slowly, at first, but then the vibrations became worse. The group turned and looked out to the horizon, over the fallen windmill and to the field of Hyrule. Lightning bursts flashed through the lands, and mountains began to thrust through the grounds, ripping and changing the land. What was left of the horse stables was swallowed whole into a pit which instantly turned to fire, and the clouded skies began to swirl and open up.
Blue and purple portals began to swirl all through the countryside as demons and long dead warriors rushed through, immediately causing havoc and destruction with anything they could find, even each other.
Death mountain exploded, raining rocks and lava down on the peoples below, and roaring floods blasted out from the Zora caves. The Kokiri forests were ablaze, and Hyrule castle crumbled as another castle, floating over a pool of lava took its place.
“Rau has complete control, now,” Rauru whispered. “He is reshaping the entire world.”
“Can any of us survive this?” Ruto asked.
“I don’t know, but if we do not bring the Princess and the Hero of time back from their dance on the edge of death, then we will definitely fail.”
“We should hide within the grave chamber, friends,” Impa said, watching as large chunks of rock crashed down around them. “We will not survive long out here.”
COMMENT:)
5/11/2002 2:04:22 PM
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