End of Legend of FIVE #2-Legend of FIVE #3

Link didn’t fall. He found his hands empty of the Master Sword, or any weapon of the sort. The rest of his belongings remained with him; his Kokiri sword was sheathed in the sleeve between his back and the Hylian Shield while everything else remained in his satchel. Link wondered if he still stood on some form of a floor, on some kind of ground. His answer came in the form of a pull. He drifted through the shining space, as if the area were alive and guiding him through it. None of his friends were in sight. There was only the void–the pure white, the bright emptiness. Nothing else except for this strange bright sea and Link’s loneliness. Was the world gone? Did Link do the wrong thing? Link was wondering about himself… “Link!” Link quickly glanced to his left and right. He knew his guardian fairy’s voice to well at this point. Soon, her orb of light floated Link’s way. The translucent wings fluttered behind her lithe form with a new kind of speed. The tightness Link held in his chest relaxed. Link offered his palms to Navi. She landed on the skin, giving off a more familiar light than what existed around them. Navi’s expression looked different; a frown dominated her porcelain face. Her cerulean eyes glistened solemnly. For the first time since he met her, Link saw uncertainty in Navi. The two stood for a while, letting the drift take them. Neither dared to smile. They only held a stare and the quiet exchange lasted for who knows how long. “What have I done?” Link finally let out. Navi shook her head. “It wasn’t anything you did,” Navi said. “How could that be?” “I pulled on the Master Sword,” Link pointed out. “Then it was the Master Sword’s doing.” “But I pulled it.” “Link, I don’t think you had a choice…” Link’s eyes stung as an ache swelled in his chest. He blinked out oncoming tears. He wanted to believe Navi—something like this was bound to happen. Link simply didn’t think it was all the way right to see everything—the white void, the lonesome surroundings, nothing else. Two more shadows came upon the two. They looked as if they were one with the way the figures nudged against each other. Link’s honed in on the view. Even before Navi’s gasp of realization, Link already knew; Sheila and Jerome found them. Navi leapt out of Link’s palms. Link used his freshly freed hands to reach out to his friends. Sheila and Jerome did the same as the light revealed their shocked faces. The trio of children clasped at one another’s wrists. Every grip tightened around another friend’s forearm. Navi hovered nearby. “We thought we were gone,” Jerome said, his voice feeble. “We thought you were gone,” Sheila added. Link sighed and nodded. He couldn’t help but shed a tear this time. Jerome and Sheila weren’t supposed to be involved in this journey; his heart broke given the promise he made to bring them home. He just couldn’t bring himself to say sorry to them. Sheila’s red eyes panned across the white void, searching. “Where are Trevor and Rebecca?” Link shook his head. “I don’t know.” The children sulked. Link took it as another fault. He didn’t know why he stopped when all Rebecca and Trevor wanted to do was protect their friends. His fears only thought of the worst. He swallowed the thoughts, keeping them to himself. The only way to move was forward. Perhaps the Triforce was nearby. Link had no idea what the relic looked like, at least beyond the symbols representing it throughout Hyrule. It felt like the only light the children had left, aside from this strange place. Link peered past his friends. The white void felt so odd. Its light glowed brighter than anything Link had ever seen, but didn’t burn nor blind. There was a strange coolness in the air, a type of essence that was between what should have been blazing heat and unimaginable tepidness. Link looked, hoping that perhaps this place was the Sacred Realm. A sign of what was to come would surely arise at any moment. Another shadowy figure appeared in the distance. It floated still as the group trekked involuntarily. They closed in on it. Link’s stomach flipped as they drew close. To Link’s surprise, the figure stalked forward. They were in complete control of their own footsteps. As the shadowy figure marched, familiar feelings spread across Link’s spirit. The dark shades fell from the man as the light revealed him. Link’s tremble returned. He saw the features, as fresh as the nightmares that haunted him for days, weeks, months–admittedly, even years. Red hair. Swarthy skin. Dark armor adorned with golden patterns displaying brutal conquests. A triumphant, wicked grin that wouldn’t fade anytime soon. The light revealed the worst nightmare. Ganondorf, the wicked King of Thieves, stood before them. “Excellent work,” said Ganondorf. “As I thought, you held the keys to the Door of Time. I owe you many thanks.” Ganondorf’s sinister eyes glared at the group. He looked at each child. It was like he wanted them to see his malice. Link unsheathed his blade. The Kokiri Sword gleamed, even in the void’s overwhelming bright light. When Ganondorf saw the sword, he sneered, then chortled, shaking his head. “You still have insolence,” he said. “I admire your courage.” “You’re not getting the Triforce,” Link declared. Ganondorf looked unmoved. “And you will? You have no control over the great powers of the Sacred Realm. You’re undisciplined. Untrained. Young and foolish. All of you fail to see the power of the Triforce. Your other friends were blind as well.” Jerome’s eyes widened. Sheila’s eyes glistened. Tears fell down both their cheeks. Link’s heart pounded harder than ever before. “What did you do to them?!” Jerome exclaimed. Ganondorf focused his glower on Jerome. “As far as I’m concerned,” he said. “They’re in the afterlife. Waiting no doubt, for you.” Sheila’s tears kept flowing. “I…I can’t see them…or feel them…” Sheila clasped her arms around Jerome, sobbing into his shirt. Link’s heart wretched at the sight of his friends’ pain. Link thought of The Great Deku Tree in the Kokiri Forest. He thought of Saria and the rest of the Kokiri children. The failures, even after everything he accomplished, seemed to still matter to him. They still hurt. Navi balled her delicate hands into fists. They shook as she straightened herself, standing tall in the air before Ganondorf despite her size. “You won’t get away with this,” she said to the King of Thieves. Ganondorf’s smug grin grew wider. His eyes became wild. Another cackle dominated the somber air. “I already have!” he said. “Soon, this realm will be mine and so shall the rest of Hyrule. And it’s all thanks to you, faerie. No…it was your charge. You supported his folly and now he’s rewarded for his shortcomings…” Ganondorf threw his head back and laughed even louder. He crossed his arms. The void separated the children from Ganondorf. Though the divide between them grew vastly in fast succession, Ganondorf’s sounds carried. The children couldn’t escape him. Soon, all Link could hear was that laughter and his friends’ sorrow. What have I done? Link thought. Why…why did I take that sword? It’s not even with me…where…? It was as if the blade had heard Link. The Master Sword drifted into view. It rotated in the air, its tipped pointed downward. Link kept still at first. Seeing the blade again just made the trouble grow in both his heart and in this place. It made him feel unworthy. When he lifted his arm, he reached out and touched the hilt. It seemed to fit more into his grasp. Perhaps the Master Sword was made for him in a way. Link couldn’t really explain it. He just wrapped his fingers around the weapon and pulled it in, bringing the blade close to him. As soon as Link held the sword against himself, a strange feeling overcame him. His vision darkened. A powerful force swept over him. Link’s eyes began to flutter shut and a pull whisked him further in. He fought back against the need to sleep. He looked over at Sheila and Jerome. They no longer clung to each other. Their own eyes had closed, fully succumbing to the force that started to take over. Link looked at Navi. She had been claimed as well. Her wings stopped fluttering, her body in a dream-like stasis. The drift had taken them fully. Only Link was left. Link fought the need to close his eyes. A part of him felt as if this was suddenly the end. His friends were dead, but an essence took them. He wouldn’t go with it, no matter what this force tried. As Link searched desperately for a way out, he saw it. A majestic structure. One with spires sprouting from its diamond-like base. Everything about the building looked as if it were crystallized. Its walls glimmered with colors that seemed to swirl on a clear surface. The structure had a door made of gold, like the drawbridge in Castletown. Like a copy of that very door from Hyrule, the golden gate lowered itself. It prostrated towards the void, as if to bow before the structure’s newest arrivals. Link’s eyes would have shown pure awe if they hadn’t grown so heavy. He wanted to keep fighting back against this slumber, against the need to embrace darkness. Link wonder if he truly wanted to go inside the structure, brilliant as it was. It didn’t matter whether or not Link wanted to enter. The void made this clear. The structure drew the entire group in. Link resisted the pull, though the force dragged him deep in the halls anyway. Perhaps his weariness from all the battles in the land caught up with him. Suddenly, the group glided in midair over the golden gate. They went deeper and deeper into the structure and Link could do nothing about it. Link was suddenly out of the void and into a mystical room of blue. It had platforms hovering about. Link and his friends were on one themselves—a large platform with strange colored symbols all around the edges. Link still stayed in the air, clinging to the sword, not knowing what else needed to happen. A deep blue essence surrounded him. It materialized and Link found himself lifted up into the air. “Navi?” Link whispered, wondering where his fairy was. Navi was by his side, though she seemed to lose her ability to fly for now because of the void. Link reached out to her, his eyes full of distress. “Navi—NAVI! Navi, please—“ The material crystallized. Link didn’t move. He couldn’t protest. He couldn’t change the past nor remain in the forest. He changed everything else except his heart for the woods. Link wondered if this was some kind of punishment, some kind of way to make him pay for the Master Sword being pulled. Either way, Link couldn’t do anything about this moment. All he could truly do now was lament Hyrule, lament the loss that came with it and wait until everything faded to black.