Myozunitonirun the Wise

Chapter One

In his floating castle over an active volcano in the ruins of Hyrule, Ganondorf wrecked violent melodies through his organ. The disharmony echoed through the throne room and resonated in his bones.

It was, after all, his hour of triumph; such an event called for music.

Seven years. It took him seven years to find her. When he first gained the Triforce of Power, he had thought that was all he would ever need. He thought he could destroy anything with his power. The nightmare began when he discovered that he could.

His piece of the Triforce made him nearly omnipotent, but the power of the Goddesses offered no subtlety, no grace, and he became a giant ruling over a kingdom of ants. All that once was stone became glass to him, and the world shattered at his touch.

He pounded at the ivory keys before him, and his own form of music rang cruel. Castle Town had once been the most vibrant and vivacious city in the realm, and his mere presence had murdered it. The sun itself, the Golden Tyrant of the Sky, hid from his view and nothing walked the once crowded cobblestone streets except the dead.

He had banished himself from his desert homeland once he realized what he could do. That was why he needed Zelda and her near omniscience to balance his brute force. For seven years he hunted her, pursued her, until today.

Because for the first time in seven years, Zelda—Princess of Destiny, Sage of Time, Bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom—made a mistake. He snatched her from the Temple of Time the moment she revealed herself, but the thought gnawed at him that this was somehow her plan all along.

He glanced up at her where she stood imprisoned in crystal. For the life of him, he couldn't see how any of this fit into her objectives. She couldn't run, she couldn't hide, and she was powerless. She had closed her eyes and prayed for a miracle, because that was the only option left for her.

This shouldn't have happened. Zelda shouldn't have been capable of error any more than Ganondorf was capable of dying. Either this was part of her elaborate plan to gain the upper hand, or the Triforce of Wisdom had a flaw, a weakness like the Sword of Evil's Bane was to him, and until he understood what that was …

A light appeared above him from within the crystal where Zelda stood imprisoned. It shone as bright as the sun, enveloped her, and stole her.

The light vanished as quickly as it had come. The crystal remained. Zelda did not.

"No!" he screamed, rising from his seat. "That's impossible! That's—"

The crystal shattered before his wrath, as well as the organ and much of the hall. But then another emotion usurped his rage and tugged at the corners of his lips.

"Magnificent."

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Louise de La Valliere, third daughter of the duke and student of the Tristain Academy of Magic, cast a spell, and the field exploded. So, nothing new. Louise was a weak mage, pure and simple, which would have been bad enough if she hadn't come from one of the most distinguished families in the kingdom, but as things were, she was a joke.

A joke that her classmates laughed at every chance they got.

"What a surprise," Montmorency, one such classmate, said with thinly veiled mirth. "Zero cast a spell, and something blew up."

It was jealousy, jealously trying to reassure itself. No one else in the academy came from a family as distinguished as she did, so they put her down every chance they got.

Unfortunately, they got that chance about twelve times a day. She had tried to summon a familiar, and just like the last three times she got nothing besides an explosion, and Louise the Zero lived up to her nickname once again because when the dust cleared … wait a moment ...

In the middle of the field stood a beautiful monster.

And she was beautiful, the creature Louise had summoned. She looked deceptively frail and delicate with ivory skin and the form of a slender young woman. She wore a carefully embroidered white gown with a soft violet blouse. The rich clothes, as well as the circlet on her head with a sapphire centered between golden laurels would have marked her as a princess of a royal family somewhere in Halkeginia, if it weren't for the long, pointed ears that marked her as an enemy of all mankind.

A shiver ran through her. She, Louise de La Valliere, called Louise the Zero for the unpredictable destruction unleashed by her spells, had summoned an elf.

Oh, Founder, I've doomed us all.

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Zelda knew the difference between luck and fate. Luck was like rain, fate like a river. Luck might cause one to trip and fall, but it wouldn't grant a monster entry into the Sacred Realm and plunge the kingdom into seven years of darkness and ruin. Neither could mere luck raise up a champion and arm him with the one weapon that could challenge the might of a dark god.

She had been trapped, sealed in crystal in the King of Evil's fortress, practically under his nose … and now she was not. No coin flip, no dice roll could have freed her when the bearer of the Triforce of Power held her captive. It shouldn't have been possible at all, but probability, logic, and reality warped around the threads of destiny like a river carved into the earth.

But Zelda knew all the prophecies. She had read them, studied them, and prophesied more than some of them. None of them said anything about … this.

The golden triangle on her right hand lit up. It whispered patience to her, and she relaxed.

There is a plan, it said in a voice that felt like sunlight. Not yours, nor his. In her mind, she saw a new destiny pulling her from her predetermined path like an eddy in the stream of fate.

Zelda examined her surroundings. She wasn't in Hyrule; this land had a different ... breath. She felt the world turn beneath her feet, and she knew that she stood upon a stranger. Hyrule recognized her, but this place did not. Was she in one of the Mirror Worlds, like Lorule or Termina? Such a place would have its own prophecies, perhaps one independent of the Blessings of the Goddesses.

People surrounded her on the grassy field, but though they outnumbered her, their expressions and postures were filled with terror. Many backed away as though she were a wild animal loosed among them, others ran, and still others disregarded gravity entirely and flew.

No, despite what new destiny she was apart of now, these people had not expected her.

She needed time to think, but she was surrounded by fear, and fear was never patient. She held her hands out to show she was unarmed and said as gently as she could, "Be at peace. I mean no harm."

But if anything, her words made the people flinch and back up further. "Oh, Founder!" one of them gasped. "Louise summoned an elf!"

Zelda pondered the statement. It had four key words, and she only understood one of them. "Founder" seemed to be an oath of some kind, "Louise" a name, and "elf" … was that referring to her? If this Louise had summoned her, even on accident, then that made her a catalyst of fate.

Still, the most urgent issue was to calm the fears of those around her. Another might have tried to use their fears and pretended to be the "elf" they thought she was; she could craft a mask of lies and terror and drive them to do her will, revealing their secrets to her and telling her all they knew.

Instead, Zelda knelt down on the grass, closed her eyes, and waited.

The crowd fell silent, and their panicked cries gave way to whispers.

"What's it doing?"

"Did it fall asleep?"

"Quick, Professor! Blow it up before it wakes up!"

Zelda remained still. Sudden movements would spark conflict, and Zelda had built herself day by day to know how to avoid that. She had but one enemy, and the King of Evil could not be defeated by strength alone.

Instead, she began to hum. There was power in music, and even those too far away to hear the melody could be touched by it. She hummed a lullaby, the same one that Impa had sung to her during the kinder years of her childhood. The nights when Impa could promise her that she had nothing to fear were precious and few, and Zelda pushed that promise into her song.

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"Everyone, calm down!" Colbert said. "If the elf is not attacking us, then we are not going to provoke it! Her."

Louise finally spoke up. She had to. This was, after all, her fault. "Sh-should I finish the ritual?"

The crowd went silent like they always did when she was about to do something monumentally stupid while they were in the blast radius. Colbert looked down at her. "I ... I can't ask you to do that."

"If it works ..." she started. It should control her. Keep her from hurting anyone. Plenty of her classmates had summoned wild animals and magical beasts, but as soon as they completed the contract their familiars had become as tame and docile as household pets.

"But if it doesn't," he said, "then she'll start killing people. Beginning with you." He didn't remind her that throughout her entire life, she had only ever succeeded in casting one spell, today, and even that was a stretch. The Familiar Summoning Ritual was a sacred spell, and to have an elf answer the call seemed perverse.

Still ... though her classmates called her Louise the Zero, she was Louise de La Valliere, and she would live up to her name. Though her mistakes grew around her like grass in a field, she would face them, and not back down.

She stepped forward.

So, she thought, this is how I die. Her feet ignored her and kept walking.

The elf didn't move. Maybe she didn't even hear her. She remained kneeling in the grass, not even opening her eyes. She looked like a princess, unless even elven commoners wore elegant gowns decorated in gold and gems.

"M-my name is Louise Françoice Le Blanc de La Valliere," she said as loudly as she dared, tracing her wand in the same motion she had practiced countless times before in preparation for this moment. "Pentagon of the Five Elemental Power, bless this, this creature, and make her my familiar."

There was only one step left, and then she would be done. She licked her dry lips and proceeded to toy with death one last time. My first kiss, some inane part of her mind thought. She didn't even like girls. Still, even she had to admit that she could do worse than an elven princess. If nothing else, it will make for a good story. If she lived long enough to tell it.

Louise leaned in close to the elf and pressed her lips against hers, and the world held its breath.

She pulled back and waited, not sure if the spell would work or do nothing or—

The elf flinched, her first uncontrolled movement since her arrival. She breathed in sharply, keeled forward, and clutched her hand against her forehead as her once serene face twisted in pain.

Louise fell backward—in a ladylike and dignified manner, and she wasn't going to let anyone claim otherwise—and saw a symbol appear on the elf's hand, a triangle made up of smaller triangles, shining as brightly as the sun.

Then the light faded, the elf's breathing slowed, and she rose to her feet. She opened her eyes that were so blue they made the clear sky seem pale, looked down at Louise, and extended her hand to help her up. "Hello, Louise," she said. "My name is Zelda. Thank you for bringing me here."

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Some time later, Zelda sat in Louise's bedroom, studying her reflection. After seven years disguised as a Sheikah, she was used to seeing a stranger in the mirror. She'd get used to seeing a set of runes written across her brow as well.

"So Brimir, the savior of your people, placed a special interest on these familiars, setting up the tradition for mages to summon one of their own," she said.

Louise nodded. "That's correct."

Myozunitonirun, the rune said. Louise couldn't read it, and Zelda shouldn't have been able to either, but the Triforce of Wisdom unlocked all secrets. Puzzles solved themselves for her in her mind without trying, doors unlocked themselves at her command, and any language she read translated itself. She didn't know what Myozunitonirun meant, but she expected to be able to figure that out in time as well.

As for what it was, it was a slave brand, burnt into her body and soul to subvert her will and imbue her with love and devotion for her "master." It didn't work, of course. Any piece of the Triforce would defend her against such a curse, and the Triforce of Wisdom was the strongest of the three when it came to protecting her own mind. Still, it soothed her to know that Louise knew little of the nature of the spell she had cast, and had acted out of misinformation and incorrect traditions instead of malice.

"Now tell me about the elves."

Louise hesitated, and her posture showed discomfort. "Well, it's just that they were what Brimir saved us from six thousand years ago when your people, um, tried to wipe us out. I know that was a long time ago, but there's still history, you know?"

Zelda frowned. Old enemies, and recognizable ones at that. "I see. And what makes you think I am one of these elves?"

She blinked. "Aren't you?"

Zelda shook her head. "I am Hylian. I have never heard of these elves you fear until today."

"But you have pointy ears!"

Zelda cocked her head. "Is that an unusual phenotype here? Ears come in all shapes in my home country." Round ears like Louise had were more common among the Gerudo than among the Hylians or the Sheikah, but compared to the stone-bodied Gorons or the aquatic Zoras, such differences seemed slight.

Louise stared at her. "So you can't do elf magic?"

"No, just Hylian magic."

Louise seemed both relieved and disappointed at this. "Is that any good? I know that elf magic is stronger than human magic, but where does High ... Hy-li-an magic fit in?"

"I have been able to get by," she said. "Though if you are seeking a being of great power with which to impress your friends, I'm afraid I shall disappoint you. What of human magic? Are all human mages as powerful as you?"

Louise hesitated. "Um, I'd say I'm about ... average." A lie. "Maybe a little below average. But I'm still learning."

Interesting. She was insecure. The girl had been able to snatch her from the grasp of the King of Evil himself, and she was insecure about her abilities. Zelda studied her for a long moment until Louise grew uncomfortable.

"Tell me," Zelda said at last. "Are you learning, or merely being taught?"

"What?"

The latter, she decided. The second most impressive feat of magic Zelda had ever seen, and Louise had done it without meaning to. What would she be capable of when she finally knew what she was doing? Zelda had spent the last seven years preparing Link to fight her enemy, aiming him like an arrow. Perhaps when she returned to Hyrule, she'd have another in her quiver.

"Nothing," she said. "An idle thought, nothing more. The hour is late, and I'm sure you are tired."

Sure enough, the sun had long since set and a pair of moons had risen in its place. "Yeah, I guess." Louise looked at her bed, and seemed to realize that there wasn't a second one for Zelda. "Oh! Uh ..."

"Worry not. This chair is comfortable enough, and you have given me much to think about. It will be some time yet before I retire." The bed was wide enough for two, but Zelda was still a stranger and her presence would make Louise uncomfortable.

"Okay. If you say so."

As Louise prepared for bed, Zelda stared up at the night sky. Oddly, the stars bothered her more than the moons did. In Hyrule, Zelda had memorized the name of each one and learned the stories behind their constellations. Here they were a chaotic mess of nameless, scattered lights.

Still, she wasn't planning to stay long.

She pulled out her harp and began to play. It wasn't a magical instrument like the Ocarina of Time, merely a musical one, so Ganondorf had let her keep it when he had captured her. She first played a lullaby for Louise until she heard the girl's breathing slow. Then she played a song about a constellation that did not exist in this world. After that, she played a song about herself.

Her fingers plucked the strings, one by one and chord by chord. She always knew her mind best when she could hear it, and her life made more sense in song.

Besides, her destiny and the fate of all Hyrule had changed this night. Such an event called for music.