The Legend of Zelda: A Dream of Things to Come (T)

A Dream of Things to Come

My Schtuff
This is a Legend of Zelda fanfic. Please give me a gold medal for originality. It isn't set after any particular Zelda game, although if you had to place it, I think it would probably take place some time after Twilight Princess (a good few centuries or so), featuring a new Link and Zelda, and a resurrected Ganondorf, although he barely features in the story. That out of the way, this isn't perhaps your stereotypical Zelda fanfic. Every character in the Legend of Zelda games is black and white in emotional terms, either benign, or malign. In this, they aren't. By the end, I hope to leave you wondering who was right, and why they were right, and if it even mattered if they were right. But, it is probably just easier for me to start writing.

Foreword: The Limitless Stretches of Forever

Forever.

Such as a strange word.

Why is there a word for forever? What human concept could possibly last forever, on into the limitless stretches of infinity, unbound and untamed? Nothing truly lasts forever. Empires, kingdoms, civilizations, all crumble and turn to dust when pitted against the mighty forces of time. Eons pass, and all is lost.

All Ganondorf wanted to do was leave a legacy, create an empire that would last forever. But he failed, and his legacy was forgotten, and his words are as dust in the wind.

All Link wanted to do was leave a legacy, maintain an empire that would last forever. Be he failed, and his legacy was forgotten, and his words are as dust in the wind.

And yet, perhaps there is one thing that can withstand the steady onslaught of age, last the centuries, the many millennia, unfaltering. A single thought, created in the mind of one, and passed on to the minds of a myriad, a single, conscious, sentient thought that provokes an explosion of other thoughts, and ideas, and emotions, and concepts, a thought that endures time through the guise of humanity.

All I wanted to do was to be forgotten, and have my words as dust on the wind. But I failed, and my legacy was created, and my thoughts are as flames among the inferno.

Perhaps that is my atonement, the forgiveness for what I have done, that I be remembered, and that Link is remembered, and that Ganondorf is remembered. Not for their legacies, but for my thoughts, and my struggle, and my freedom. And the thoughts of the many, and the struggle of the many, and the freedom of the many.

To those reading this, I beg of them: this is not my story. Forgive me, forgive my words, and then, forget me, forget my words. Instead, this is the thought. The thought of wickedness, the thought of betrayal, the thought of ignorance, but also the thought of hope. Never forget this thought, and let your memories embrace it, hold it, clasp it tight. For as long as this thought is remembered, then it shall never happen again, and the mistakes of the past, the foolish mistakes which destroyed the finest man and women I knew, will never be repeated.

And now, I shall begin.

Chapter 1: End of Evil

Shimmering walls possessed by a menacing aura materialised in the midnight air, as the imposing figure raised his hand, the silhouette of it surrounded by a flickering flare of black flame that seemed to absorb all light. They constricted the two fighters, walled them in, forcing a showdown.

The gree-garbed figure, wielding a tempered, shining sword, shouted out in alarm, as the taller, dark-clad, flaming red haired figure laughed, an ominous note. Ganondorf Dragmire, the King of Hyrule, and Ruler of Light and Darkness, expertly balanced his greatsword in one mighty hand, muscles bulging in the ebony-coloured arms, and looked Link in the eye.

"You come, child, to face me? I, Ganondorf, ruler of this petty land? Why!" The harsh strident voice rang out.

"Because Hyrule deserves better than this. You have treated the land and its people so cruelly." Link replied, in that warm and confident voice of his.

"Then that is your choice, and you will suffer for it. After I have killed you, then Princess Zelda and the boy Deucalion," he gestured in our direction, where Princess Zelda and myself waited for the two combatants to decide Hyrule's destiny, "will suffer the same fate. And, then I shall re-establish my armies, and once more control Hyrule in an iron grip. And what then, Hero of the Gods, what then? If I kill you, all your petty adventures will be for naught."

"If..." answered Link laconically.

I can remember the moment so clearly, as though it was yesterday. Blood had been streaming from the wound in my chest, and Princess Zelda had been bent over me in the long grass of Hyrule Plains, trying to staunch the flow. Meanwhile, Link had stood against the crazed tyrant of his nation. If only Link had been the one wounded... perhaps he would know be the one writing this, and I the one who... well, there is not point discussing the if. Things happen as they happen, and that is that.

"So be it." Without warning, Ganondorf swung the sword around in a massive arc, yet to no avail, as Link leapt to the side, the Master Sword soon replying with a swift thrust that harmlessly bounced off Ganondorf's sable armour. Ganondorf gave a roar of anger, an inhumane, animalistic sound, filled with crazed wrath, and began to furiously slash at Link, raining blows with speed and precision. Link began to fall back, unable to withstand the onslaught.

Just as things looked lost, Link rolled under Ganondorf's blade, and feinted at Ganondorf's side. As Ganondorf brought the vast edge of his greatsword up to parry, Link, having learnt his lesson, swung the Master Sword at Ganondorf's head. Yet Ganondorf, with more speed than I would have thought possible given his muscular bulk, brought his blade up with surprising agility.

The blades locked, and Link began to throw his entire body into the struggle, trying to force Ganondorf down. Ganon chuckled, and somehow, the quiet, ominous undertone of it was far more frightening than his earlier blind rage. One-handedly, he pushed Link back, and with the other hand, struck Link with his gauntleted hand straight in the face. Fortunately, it was only a glancing blow, and yet Link still was smashed to the ground, his face now bleeding badly, the nose and cheek a bloody mess.

Ganondorf drove the tip of his sword toward Link, but Link rolled to the left with great agility, then used the Mirror Shield to trap Ganondorf's blade on the ground. Again, Ganondorf easily stopped him, merely by kicking him, throwing him back to the ground again. Then, Ganondorf drew black flames seemingly out of the air. Burning with a sinister malevolence, he threw them at Link.

With great agility, Link dodged the first barrage, before slicing the others deftly in half with the Master Sword, which met them in a shower of sparks. However, he was tiring now, and Ganondorf seemed unstoppable, a towering menace of power beyond imagining, wielding arcane and dark magics beyond those of any normal magician or priest.

"I'm bored of this game, Hero of the Gods." Ganondorf quietly stated, then lunged forward, his sword slicing through the air, as Link barely parried, only just staying up-right, exhausted and desperate. Ganondorf then thrust his entire body weight into the blade, pushing Link over - which was exactly what Link had been waiting for. Ganondorf's wait caried him on as Link straightened his sword arm, and the Master Sword pierced Ganondorf flesh, burying itself inside his heart.

Blazing bright, a divine light flared on Ganondorf's hand in the shape of a triangle, as he mouthed a silent scream, swaying, as blood spurted from the wound, his eyes rolling uncontrollably in his head, then vomiting blood and bile. His hands twitched and grasped and clutched at the air, as though trying to hold onto the precious gift of life.

Somehow, he focused. I have no idea how. The sheer energy, and desperation needed... he was truly a powerful in every sense of the word. He focused on Link, and stood still, although his sword fell from his grip, no longer needed.

Link watched him, and yet there was sadness in his eyes.

"Why?

Why did you do this? Why did you enslave the people of Hyrule, and lie and cheat and murder? Why do all this? Power? Glory? You have none of those now. So why was it? What evil drove you so?" Link asked, sorrow for his fallen nemesis clear.

"Because!" Ganondorf spat, blood and spittle flying through the air. "Because I could! Because you were less than me! I am better than all of you, a chosen ruler by the gods! I had power! Power beyond imagining! You are nothing compared to me! None of you. And you never will be. Never. You are less than me, lower than me, inferior to me, undeserving of your petty, meaningless lies. I was meant to rule you! Because I am the ultimate being, the perfection of life! I was going to create a legacy! Something that would last forever! Don't you understand? Your lives mean nothing!"

And with this, Ganondorf made the move that would preserve his legacy, although perhaps not in the way he wanted. This is what he will be forever remembered for in my thoughts, and the thoughts of the many. This is what he did to Link. This is what he did to Zelda. This is what he did for me. And this is why his name is cursed.

He raised his hand, veins bulging, and the shimmering, restricting walls disappeared. Then, his hand dropped, descending like the blade of a guillotine, and a blackened inferno shattered the air, arcane magics scorching the skies. I felt the heat of it as... as it spun past me, and hit Princess Zelda.

Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust. Life is as dust in the wind.

Link screamed, an unearthly, raw call of anguish and torment. I could make no scream, for no sounds would leave my mouth. I had loved Zelda, loved with all my heart, loved her beyond any other. She had chosen Link, and he had chosen her, and yet I would always love her, and care for her, and now, she was gone.

Absence is something that lasts forever too. When someone is gone, you can never truly bring them back. If only I had learnt this lesson sooner. It pains me to write this. To write this makes it seem so much more real, so much more vivid. Encompassing Zelda in a sphere of words... it is more painful than I can bear.

I didn't see Link bring the Master Sword down. All I heard was the dull thud that marked the moment of execution. And as much as I may have wished, it was not the end. Ganondorf did indeed create a legacy, although perhaps not in the way he imagined. It is so strange how someone who died so long ago, can still shape the world. Ganondorf was dead. Never again would he rise. And yet, he lived on in people. In the evil in the hearts of beasts and men.