by N Felts
floor. Simmering all around him, he can feel the weight of the pelting raindrops beating down upon his back as the shallow pool is steadily animated. Finally mustering the strength to rise to a knee, he finds Dark Link standing over him, bringing down his blade for the death-stroke. Without warning, the temple shakes once again, and the steadily increasing sound of falling rock has finally reached the battleground. A massive chunk of stone descends directly upon both Rift and the merciless shadow. Abandoning the killing stroke, Dark Link dashes backward, gliding across the water like a phantom as he carefully observes the boy’s response. Without an instant to lose, Rift thrusts his hand at nothing in particular while calling for Mai’s assistance.
Safely dropping a short distance back to what is quickly becoming a pool of death, Rift spots his nemesis already dashing toward him with bad intentions. Suddenly, the lone crystal illuminating the room is smashed by more falling debris leaving the arena in utter darkness. Rapid splashing footsteps accompanied by a pair of glowing, red eyes betray the imminent attack as Mai instructs Rift to dodge. The sharp spike of metal piercing rock echoes through the dark room just before a new crystal drops through a hole in the ceiling, revealing the shadow’s narrowly failed stab attempt. Tumbling atop the falling stone to an eventual stop nearby, the yellow gem glows brilliantly, illuminating the battleground once again. No longer able to dodge at all, Rift is forced to desperately block the ceaseless offensive. Another volley of calculating strikes send shockwaves of force in every direction, spheres of water exploding from the impacts as the boy does everything in his power to avoid being cut down. Another crystal of light is destroyed, the falling debris steadily increasing in volume as the empty battleground becomes clustered with obliterated stone. Teleporting through the darkness, Rift evades the shadow for the moment, clueless how to best such an opponent, especially considering his apocalyptic environment. A mixture of frustration and panic charges through him as several yellow crystals fall nearby, the walls of the dome falling away as the temple collapses. Bursting from the water with an upward strike, Dark Link throws Rift backward with a thunderous clang, leaving the boy on the defensive near the massive hallway.
Deciding to finish the fight once and for all, the phantom Hylian executes a carefully constructed combination designed to fundamentally break down the boy’s defenses. An overhead slash bounces off his crossed gauntlets before instantly spinning three hundred sixty degrees, knocking his arms apart. Releasing his sword for the moment, Dark Link catches the blade after a single rotation overhead, cutting diagonally downward in an impossible display of skill. Arching his back, Rift avoids the first strike, but the double slashing technique proves efficient as ever as the blade twists into a new horizontal trajectory. Cut just beneath his rib cage, the boy cries in pain, reeling from the endless onslaught as he clutches the wound. Changing hands once more, the shadow spins into a horizontal slash with his right hand, continuing to push the boy into the long hallway as the dome is now lost to the avalanche behind them. Raising a knee, Rift is knocked off balance, but the attack fails to wound him, bouncing off his greave harmlessly as his foe’s exposed chest offers an unexploitable weakness. Letting go of his blade once more, Dark Link spins in the opposite direction, catching the sword with his left hand in another abrupt spin attack. Caught on his cheek, the boy doesn’t feel the initial sting of pain on his face, the rest of the laceration slowly opening down his chin. His head still tilted to the side in a futile effort to dodge the dark blade, he knows the final blow is coming, though he cannot see it with his eyes clenched shut in pain. Stumbling to a crouched position in the shallow water, Rift’s eyes open just in time to see the shadow dash at him, promptly finding its footing as it hovers over the rising boy.
“Jump!” The long-silent Mai screams, unable to give any useful direction until now. Prepared to dodge, but not knowing when or how, Rift blindly leaps forward, bracing himself to be cleaved in two.
“Hyaaaaaaat!” Dark Link roars, his demented voice echoing down the hallway as the exertion put into the attack becomes apparent. Rising over the spin attack at the last possible moment, the boy finally sees the smallest of openings as the vicious whirlwind below him subsides, his greaves having thoroughly amplified his vertical leap. Crossing his arms in his signature X fashion, Rift scissors them apart just as he descends upon the shadow’s back. A deafening clang sounds as the phantom’s unused shield saves him from the blow, though he is sent sprawling down the hallway anyway. Agilely springing off his free arm, Dark Link has yet to return to his feet when he hears an indecipherable word called from the direction of the collapsing dome. A brutal knee hits his shield with terrible force as Rift’s teleporting attack hits much harder than his initial strike. Soaring back into the dome, the shadow drifts over one of several crystals, detailing his silhouette clearly just before a massive pillar of earth crushes him down into the pool below with a pitiless crunch. As the light source is destroyed, so too are the boy’s seconds of celebration as the collapse of the temple increases dramatically.
“Time to go?” Rift asks, turning to take in the perilous path stretching all the way back to the exit.
“It’s well past time to go!” Mai insists with attitude, not having a moment to congratulate her partner. Leaping into a furious sprint, Rift quickly discovers his newest piece of armor has drastically increased his running speed in addition to his jumping potential. The path ahead narrows in the frantic rainfall, the walls dropping chunks of earth and stone constantly in a catastrophic display of time running out. The occasional tumbling gem of light offers what guidance it can before the next inevitable rock slide blinks it out of existence. Running, ducking, and leaping through the chaotic hall, Rift hurdles a seemingly small obstacle when the floor on the other side falls out from beneath him. A gargantuan chasm opens like a hungry mouth of darkness as the boy falls alongside a random glowing stone of brilliant yellow. Time and sound drift away as the infinite depths below welcome the boy to absolute oblivion. “Here!” Mai offers, snatching him from the jaws of eternity as the light continues to fall and fall into the bottomless abyss below. Thrown upward, Rift palms a pillar of stalagmite as it tilts into the ravine, pushing off to maintain his ascent. Another helpful hand from Mai reveals her worried face as she tosses her companion higher. Now scrambling up the side of a tumbling slab of stone, he manages to leap back up to ground level as the grand hallway collapses completely.
Making the final push to the exit, all hope seems lost when another massive chunk of limestone crashes through the arcing path leading back down to the portal. The passage behind caves in as if it were built of glass, and the roaring sound of crashing rock and rushing water surrounds the boy. Far below the surface of the newly created lake, the stain of yellow sand glows faintly, beckoning Rift to hurry. Standing on the precipice, he cannot summon the willpower to make the dive, unsure if Mai is strong enough to pull him all the way through. Between the torrential rain and falling debris, the growing lake seems to rise up in front of him, ready to seize him in a suffocating embrace forever.
“Rift! Come on!” Mai pleads, her ghostly image standing atop the water for a moment, beckoning him toward the exit.
“I-I can’t,” he stammers, essentially reassuring himself as the darkening environment is far too deafening for his mumbling to carry.
“Rift! Please,” she begs as their window for escape shrinks to nothing. “We’ll make it! I promise!” She declares, desperately holding out a hand before vanishing once again. He hears her promise, though no amount of encouragement could ever convince him it is in his best interest. Still shaking with fear he leaps as far forward as he can, plunging into the water with incalculable angst. Already beginning to slow in his descent, Mai’s firm grasp jerks him forward, soaring toward the exit with purpose. Debris smashes into the water all around him as they jet toward the only faint source of light remaining. Her grip slowly starts to relent, but they are on track to
cover the distance long before her strength fails her. Suddenly, one of many massive pieces of earth drops directly upon what little of Mai’s form is visible. Ramming into the side of the obstruction painfully, Rift twists and thrashes in the dark water, unable to determine what happened to his comrade. Desperation takes hold of his heart, but even so, he feels a more important urge to fight for her. She has carried him as far as she could, and giving up now would be nothing short of pathetic. Gathering what little resolve he is able, the boy grabs at the slick surface of the damnable boulder, clawing furiously as he gradually makes his way around. His need for oxygen reaching critical mass, he kicks off the stone, rocketing him forward as the boulder is blasted to pieces in his wake. The patch of yellow fills his vision as he finally succumbs to his burning lungs, exhaling violently as his senses grow fuzzy. Kicking and thrashing through the weightless darkness, the only thing he is certain of as consciousness leaves him is that he didn’t make it.
Bid for Power:
My Fury Knows no
