The War of Darkness

By: Zoshonel

The night was calm, cool, and clear. The stars twinkled brightly in the huge expanse of blackness up above the sleeping kingdom of Hyrule. The nearly full moon lit up the darkness of the night allowing for a clear, if not somewhat shady, view of all of Hyrule for those few travelers out upon the open roads. It was the perfect kind of night to just lay back and stare up at the wondrous enigma above. It was a romantic night, the kind written of in romance novels and the perfect night for a young couple in love.

None of this beauty could pierce into the heart of Death Mountain Crater however. Large billows of dark grey and black smoke rose out of the bubbling lava and out the vent at the summit totally obscuring the night sky from view by anyone inside the crater. Not even the darkness of nighttime could enter the crater. The lava glowed brightly casting a reddish hue over the brown and bronze colored rocks that made up the interior of the mountain giving it an unnatural and hazy fluorescence. Though the temperature outside the crater was cool, inside it was a boiling inferno that threatened to melt the skin right off the bones.

The only living things currently inside this fiery pit of death were two Goron warriors. They were situated on either side of the entrance to the Fire Temple. The Gorons were laying in their traditional face down position, their hard stony backs up in the air barely even registering the immense heat all around them. As they laid there, secure in the knowledge that no one except a Goron or someone wearing a Goron Tunic could possibly enter the crater, a black circular object appeared on the ground near them.

The black object was spinning clockwise, growing larger and larger with each passing second. As the object spun and expanded, it emitted a low viscous sounding hum which caught the attention of the two Gorons. Both Gorons picked up their heads, groaning as they did so, and looked around. Upon discovering the source of the hum the two Gorons stood up slowly, stretching their limbs once they were fully upright. Cautiously, the two Gorons began to slowly walk toward the still expanding black object.

When the object had reached a diameter of about three feet, it stopped expanding. It continued to spin clockwise, but now it was slowly hovering up off the ground. This new action stopped the Gorons' advance. The Gorons now watched as the flat circular object began to morph into a sphere as it floated upward. Maintaining its three-foot diameter, the object transformed into a large, black sphere which hovered high enough off the ground so that the top of the sphere was eye level with the two Gorons. When it was finished, the sphere stopped spinning and just hovered there in midair.

The two Gorons just looked at one another not sure of what to do. They had never seen anything like this before, and as such were stumped. Knowing that they couldn't just leave it alone, one of the Gorons stepped toward the sphere. When the Goron was within arms reach of the sphere, he stopped as a long black tentacle emerged from the sphere. The tentacle emerged several feet from the surface of the sphere, making the same viscous sounding noise from before as its length continued to grow. While the main body of the tentacle remained round, the tip of the tentacle flattened to the point where it was barely even visible anymore.

In a lightning fast move, the tentacle lunged forward decapitating the Goron closest to it. The cut was clean, and it happened so fast that not a drop of blood was spilled. As the Goron's head flew into a nearby chasm of molten lava, his body just fell limply to the ground. The other Goron, now realizing that this object was not friendly, charged forward in an attempt to avenge his comrade's life. Before he could even make it five steps however, the tentacle lunged forward again decapitating the Goron in the same manner it had his comrade.

With both Goron guards dead, the tentacle retracted back into the sphere. The sphere then began to morph once again. Five protrusions appeared on the surface of the sphere as it began to twist, turn, and stretch into the form of a human. It took mere seconds, and now standing before the entrance to the Fire Temple was a rather large and menacing looking man.

The man towered at roughly seven feet tall, and he was well built. His muscles were extremely well defined giving him the appearance of a god. A long flowing black cape made of silk, which was held in place by a pair of spiked shoulder pads, extended down his entire back. Currently, the man had the cape wrapped around his body making it impossible to tell what else he was wearing. On his face he wore the top half of a skull that was as black as his cape. The only part of his face that could be seen was his jaw, on which a scar could be seen running diagonally from his neck up under the skull mask that he wore.

Without even cracking a smile at his accomplishment, the man walked toward the Fire Temple, every step he took more menacing than the last. Despite being wrapped up in his black cape, the tremendous heat rising up from the crater's bottom didn't even seem to phase the guy. Not even one drop of sweat could be seen on what was visible of his face. A large stone door blocked the entrance to the Fire Temple, but with a simple wave of the man's hand the door exploded into thousands of stone shards. With the way now clear, the man entered the Fire Temple.

Heading deep into the temple's interior, the man walked with great strides. He walked neither fast nor slow, but someone half his size would've had to walk twice as fast just to keep up. With every step he took the man's boots resounded deeply and full of purpose along the temple's empty halls. He was heading down deep toward the center of the temple, a path which Link had never even neared on his journey through the temple nor even knew about. The path the dark and foreboding man walked upon was a lot older and far more awe-inspiring then the main temple.

Long ago the Fire Temple had served as a magnificent and unparalleled forge. The original Goron inhabitants of Hyrule produced both weapons and armor of unmatched beauty and effectiveness from this forge. To protect the forge the Fire Temple had been built around it to prevent any who would bring harm to Hyrule to delve into its secrets. As the ores and other minerals used in the production of Hyrule's finest weapons and armor began to grow scarce, and with Hyrule finally entering an age of long-lasting peace, the forge's importance diminished. As such, the forge was sealed and its existence wafted off into the pages of history along with its once proud creations that now lie buried and useless in ancient battlefields.

Save for only the eldest of Gorons and the few historians who actually believe the legends, the forge itself has just become another legend, a legend that most shrug off as nothing more than a fairy tale. That was where this man was heading now. His lips just turned into a grin that became ever more maniacal the closer he got to the ancient forge. It would be here that he would create his ultimate weapon and then soon afterward conquer the kingdom of Hyrule.

The man was soon standing before the great doors that barred his way into the forge. The doors were twice his size, and made entirely of iron. The exact thickness of the doors could not be interpreted, but just by staring at them one could see that they were at least half a foot thick. Ancient inscriptions lined the doors, but they were written in the ancient Hylian language. Though their translation was unknown, the man knew that they were actually incantations and other such spells designed to prevent these doors from ever opening again.

With a short gruff laugh that was full of defiance, the man thrust both his hands at the door hitting them with such force that the walls of the room he was currently standing in shook shaking off centuries worth of dust and debris. When the echo of his hit ceased, the man's hands became engulfed in a black aura. Keeping his hands perfectly still, the aura expanded till it engulfed the entire door within the same black aura as the one around his hands. Once the door was fully engulfed, the man removed his hands and the door began to swing open. With the path ahead of him now clear, the man stepped into the legendary forge.

The room was as large as it was magnificent. Large furnaces occupied an entire wall of the forge while on the opposite wall hung various hammers, tongs, and other such metal shaping tools. The third wall was a waterfall of molten magma. The magma continually flowed down the wall and into a large basin on the floor. Since the magma didn't overflow, it was safe to assume that there was some sort of drain at the bottom of the basin. Situated within the basin were large vats of assorted sizes. All the vats were completely submerged in the magma except for their very tops. In the middle of the room were situated large tables, anvils, unfinished swords and shields, and many barrels full of different kinds of ores and minerals.

With a wicked smile the man waved his hand and a large barrel full of dark silvery metallic rocks appeared out of thin air. He lifted the rather large and heavy barrel effortlessly and carried it over to one of the larger submerged vats. Dropping the entire contents of the barrel into the vat, he watched as the rocks began to melt almost instantaneously. While the rocks were melting, the man waved his hand again and a huge stone slab with the mold of a sword etched into it appeared on one of the tables.

When all the rocks in the vat had melted into a dark silvery liquid and began to boil, the man stared at the vat and made a rising motion with his hand. The vat floated out of the magma without any help and over to the stone slab. Now hovering over the stone slab, the man made a turning motion with his hand and the vat turned pouring its entire contents into the mold. Once the liquid had cooled and hardened enough to be held, the man walked over and lifted the sword out of the mold. He now carried the sword over to one of the great furnaces and shoved the blade inside. While the metal heated, he reached into his cape and pulled out the Megaton Hammer, a souvenir he had picked up from the War of the Triforce.

With the edge of the blade now glowing red-orange, he pulled the sword from the furnace and placed it on top of a nearby anvil. Then, wielding the Megaton Hammer in just one hand he began to hammer the blade. For hours the man continued to hammer and temper the blade till it was finished. He carved and etched the designs of the blade till it was perfect. Once he was finished, he took the sword and laid it out upon one of the tables.

The sword was 4 feet from end to end. It's scalloped blade was as black as coal, yet it held a silvery glint to it. Etched down the middle of the blade on both sides were golden runes, their origin and meaning a complete mystery. The guard of the sword was different. It was of a bright silver color. The middle of the guard was in the shape of a diamond out of which extended what looked to be layered arms that ended in sharp points. In the center of the diamond on both sides was carved an eye, and to make the picture complete a red gem had been placed in the eye to give it the appearance of being alive. The grip was wrapped up in black leather, but the pommel kept the same silvery color as the guard. The pommel had five sockets in it, four along its circumference and one at is top, all of which had a brilliantly shining gem in it.

"Finally," the man bellowed in a deep voice as he picked up his sword, his voice echoing all throughout the Fire Temple. As he held the sword high above his head, the same black aura from before engulfed his hand and quickly spread up the length of the sword.

"With this sword in hand, none shall stand in my way. Even the legendary Hero of Time shall fall before the might of Dragonflame. All is now set. The only thing missing now is a general for my army, one whose skills and abilities equal those of Hyrule's greatest warrior. Fortunately, I know exactly where to find one. Mwhahahahahaha!"