Silent Hero: a tribute to Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda
Page 25
Chapter 19
Weapon of Shadow
As they burst through the grand doors of the Temple, the Spiritual Stones shimmered, more brightly than before, like dear friends congratulating and bidding them make haste before it was too late.
Pausing before the altar, Midna breathed, “This is it,” with all the finality of one who truly knows that now, at the last, in this moment, the it has truly come, the it which will forever send one’s destiny careening down a different and unknown path.
She released the rest of her breath in a long, drawn-out gust, as if hoping to prolong that moment just a little more. Then, glancing at Link, she reached into her cloak to reveal the flute. It glinted sharply in the light of the Spiritual Stones, as if responding to their urge to complete its chosen task. Link delved into his satchel and drew out the ocarina. Then, placing it to his lips, and Midna her flute to hers, they shared a final nod before beginning to play.
Midna played the Lullaby, and Link echoed, memorizing it fast. Then, sharing a glance at each other, Link continued the Lullaby while Midna played her Requiem.
Zelda’s Lullaby and Midna’s Requiem. A Song of Light and a Song of Darkness. The two Songs converged with a certain dissonance, yet within that dissonance was something lovely, haunting. A knowing that the Songs were meant to be played here, in this place, at this time.
They played until losing themselves completely in the passionate pleading of Midna’s Requiem and the calm soothing of Zelda’s Lullaby, until the notes began to merge in their minds as one, until their fingers almost forgot who played which Song, and then, at last....
A rumbling bid them lower the instruments and look up as the stone doors beyond the altar parted, receding into the thick temple walls. Then, all lay still, and the pathway was open. Link and Midna made their way around the altar and slipped into the dark opening.
At first, utter darkness. But then, beyond the short hallway, a pure while glow. Stepping into the circular room, they stopped short. The room was black, like a sea after a storm—or perhaps before. Beaming like a single star illuminating the water’s surface was the Master Sword.
They approached the stone dais in which the sword rested fast. They slipped up the steps without a sound, hearts pounding. Here was a place even more deserving of silence than the grounds of the Spirit Temple. That was just it—this place, more than driving a need for silence into them by fear, literally deserved it. A need for reverence fell over them.
The hilt of the sword was encrusted with black and white diamonds. Swirls of a glittering dust steadily spiraled in a continuous loop around the sword’s blade. The swirls combined in alternating bands of faint light and dark shadow, merging in places as a silvery sort of half-shadow, half-glow, embedding the Sword with new—as well as ancient—powers of dark and light.
“This truly is the Weapon of Shadow,” Midna breathed.
Link looked up. How fervently the awe glittered in her eyes, and no wonder. It amazed him too that this was the weapon he was meant to use, that this would defeat the great evil they’d been pursuing for what seemed now like an age.
“Well, go ahead, Link,” Midna urged, almost sounding impatient. “Go ahead and claim your true destiny as the Hero of Time’s heir. Take the sword....”
Link nodded slowly, focusing on the blade. Resting his hands gently on the hilt, he suddenly felt connected by some strange, magnetic pull. His heart pounded in rhythm with the power pulsing from his fingers, up his arms, through his entire body. He feared to feel such conflicting powers of dark and light flooding him before he even hefted the blade from the stone. Would he be able to handle the sword's full potential?
But then, beyond fear, a new courage filled him and, almost effortlessly, he slid the blade from its stone. He held it aloft, and its edges gleamed with a brilliant silver hue, sharper than any blade he’d ever beheld. He held it towards Midna who continued to stare, incapable of speech or any type of reaction save utter amazement.
When it was apparent she would not break her gaze of her own will, he carefully drew the rapier from his sheath and instead slipped the Master Sword within. The sword glowed faintly within its new hiding place, but the spell was broken enough for Midna to look away, take Link’s old sword, and say, “Well, I finally got my sword back. Good going, Hero.”
She sheathed her own blade and shared a smile accompanied by proudly gleaming eyes; he could not resist a broad grin. The sword retrieved, some of the need for silence had been lifted. Perhaps because the two of them were now actually part of the sacredness, woven into its fabric. This place was now as much theirs as it was the sword’s.
“Now where?” Midna asked, face drawing serious again. “Do you think Ganondorf would hide in the castle of this Hyrule, or the present one?”
Link didn’t need time to respond. Ganondorf sought to destroy the old Hyrule; he only valued it for what ancient powers he might extract in the Stones and for how it might ultimately lead him to Link and Midna. Ganondorf’s true desire was to establish a new Hyrule where he would be King, making everyone forget the ancient, true Hyrule....
Link held up two fingers, and Midna nodded. “Choice two it is. What I would have guessed myself, actually. Come then, to the castle. I suppose that’s the last stop in our journey.”
With a small nod, Link took her hand, guiding her down the steps, through the doorway, and from the Temple of Time.