Finale

A Legend of Zelda short story

8/16/2010

by MungoJerry

With the beast behind her, felled and hideous still in death, she marched through the clotted clouds of dust and ash until she reached the marble stair. Despite the fierce battle, the steps were still pristine, their surface swimming with rainbows like the surface of an oil slick. She could hear them singing, a choral hum that emanated from the stone and seemed to wash away all the pain that welled from her battered body.

As she raised her face to what lay at the top of the dais, she felt a multitude in her spirit shudder in response- the predecessors, all of those that come before. The chosen ones who bore the seal and sent the beast back to his cage time and time again.

It hung in the air, gold as fire from the center of the earth, gold as the hair of a princess, gold as the light of the sun. It almost blinded her, and when she blinked it left a harsh imprint on the backs of her eyelid- the three triangles. They spun and reformed, both ethereal and heavy as a mountain to the eyes.

On the backs of her eyelids the marks were dark and inverted, outlined in that bright, pale, colorless green favored by the brain and nerves of the eyes.

Choose...

She heard them in the back of her mind, a breeze and a trumpet blast in one, a triumverate.

One wish is granted to thee... ye who have assembled this sacred Triforce...

Absent mindedly, she wiped her hand on the soft, baggy leather of her pants and reached up to adjust a head-set that wasn't there anymore, smashed to pieces what seemed like ages ago. On her back a pulse pistol clung to its charger, but her hand gripped a tired, purple hilt. The sword weighed heavy, and the point sagged to the ground.

One wish...

Courageous guardians of wisdom and reclaimers of power from those who would abuse it. But there was only ever one- wasn't there?

Yes... oh yes... she heard them whisper from down the long corridor, from a thousand doorways. Always he returns... burning the land and maiming the people, pillager of peace- the beast whose body rots behind you on the old stones, yet his powerful spirit lives, gone again to some dark prison.

Till he swells with power, again and again.

The point of the sword dragged in the ground as she ascended the stair and felt the tone in the stones travel up through her boots, into her feet and her bones, making her whole body hum. The sword vibrated in harmony and what equipment she had shook in a mute racket.

The land rose and fell. Hyrule spread pristine, then burned. She built castles and villages, then burned. She built empires and cities and was consumed. Back into the dark she went, only to rise again and reach the stars, then fall back into the earth like a comet. She built homes of stone, she reclaimed her metals, engines, buried secrets and rose.

One wish...

She felt the call pulling her. How long would it wait? She could stand for eternity at the foot of the dais. She put a hand on her face then moved it up over blonde hair, a dirtier version of her wiser sister's flax, the flax of a thousand generations. She felt a connection to her sister too- through the triangle- she was safe. She was alright.

But so many. So many so many somanysomanysomany-

A sweet sea of faces she knew and didn't, all gone, taken by the cycle of blight. The corridor moaned, and she felt the weight of it all the way back to the first, the line that reached through time like a fissure, a crack in existence.

...these sacred triangles may grant you...

But she could reach with a finger, and feel the end of the crack, like the crack that had run over her brother's shattered armor after a blow from the enemy's many hands. She had run her finger from the smoother surface into the hairline fracture that grew and chewed at her finger tip, then caught it as it shrunk, became a line again, and disappeared, and the armor was smooth. Heavy tears had torn into the smear of blood her finger left.

The corridor erupted with doubt and dismay- anger- and she felt her sister grow anxious, but who could do this but her?

She reached with her fingers into the array of gold and light and color, the sound and power consuming her body with intense energy, quieting with a final chime like a far away temple bell as she finally touched the glassy smooth surface. It was warm. She spread the rest of her hand and pressed her palm against it. The corridor roiled as she dropped the sword, not hearing the harsh sound of its fall, and raised her other hand, doing the same to the other triangle, and she pressed her forhead to the topmost. She felt the hum again, rocking into her skull and making her teeth ache. Reassurance welled from the one who had come before her, and she wished she could feel her brother's supportive hand.

And again and again and again and again-

What do you desire?

The wicked laughter of the beast as it fell came back to her, and she allowed herself a tired grin as the radiant triangles supported the weight of her body.

"I would that you destroyed yourself."

A/N: This, like, practically came to me in a vision, I kid you not. It was awesome. Haha! Anyhow.

To my readers, would you mind sharing your interpretation? I know some parts are pretty straight forward, but I'm trying to hint at a much bigger story, like trying to encapsulate it all in this single moment. Ideally, you should have to think about it, or read through it more than once to catch it all. You should be able to chew on it.

That was my goal, anyway! So, yes, there are answers to any burning questions you might have. XD (I think!)

But, that is the best way to deal with it, isn't it? What the heck has the triforce ever done for anyone? It's a big slag of irresponsibly placed magical pandora, just waiting for some fool to come along and screw things up.

But, yes. I hope you enjoyed it! ;D