The Legend of Zelda: Spirit of Evil

A scream tore itself from Zelda’s throat. A scream of pure terror. She was sitting here, helpless. Her Triforce power gone.
She ran down the path, ignoring his cry of “Stop!” She could hear his feet as he ran after her, gaining. Her breath rasping in her chest, she brought forth her Sheikah powers and transformed into Sheik while running.
Lean muscles and easy clothing help Sheik gain ground. But, he was still exhausted, and the thudding of Ganondorf’s feet did not recede. Then, seeing some bushes to the left, he vanished in a swirl of darkness, quietly appearing behind them.
Sheik tried to calm his racing heart as he watched Ganondorf stop and look around. ‘How? How can I escape him?’
Ganondorf held forth his right hand and it glowed briefly, red light pointing in her direction. It all seemed like a horrible nightmare as Sheik watched Ganondorf’s gaze snap up to the bushes and start walking toward him.
A deadly idea ran across Sheik’s mind. ‘Perhaps I will be able to save my secrets from Ganondorf.’ Praying for it to be swift, he leaped off the cliff. As he watched the ground coming closer, he closed his eyes. As if he were back in the crater, he felt an arm wrap around his waist, pulling him up.
Thinking quickly, he placed all his energy around his mind, forming a barrier. With a bit of luck, it would stop Ganondorf from tearing into his mind for awhile.
“I have no wish to hurt you, Zelda.” Said Ganondorf as he set Sheik down, back where his cloak was.
Sheik wrenched himself from Ganondorf’s grasp, so tired he was shifting back into his true form without meaning to.
“Know then, that I shall not give up my mind without a fight.” Zelda defiantly glared at him coldly, keeping her senses alert despite her exhaustion.
“Zelda…” He just stood there. Quiet, almost emotionless. It was hard to see his features, for there was no moon this night.
“What is the matter, Ganondorf? Prey that bites back too difficult for you?”
His hands snapped forward, grasping her wrists. She flinched, trying to pull away, yet still keeping a firm shield around her mind. “Zelda…” Whispered Ganondorf.
He knelt, bringing her down with him. Despite her courage, Zelda felt herself trembling, and knew that he could feel it. ‘What is he going to do to me?’
“Zelda…I have something very important to tell you. All I ask is that you listen.”
She was shocked that his voice was so gentle. “Are you Ganondorf?” She mentally cursed herself for asking such a ridiculous question.
“…Yes and no. I am not the Ganondorf you knew.”
Zelda was bewildered, her mind faltering. “Wh…What?”
He picked her up and supported her as he walked over and set her down on his cloak. She tried to stand, but he pushed her back down. She immediately tensed.
“You need to rest. That was a powerful spell you used, and all that running did not help.”
Zelda rubbed her wrist, realizing the magical hold was still on her Triforce. “Release my Triforce.” She said coldly.
He turned from gathering some branches. “You will not use it against me?”
“At least until you finish what you have to say…But you surely know I am helplessly weak now, even with its energy.”
There was a silence, then she felt as if a weight had been lifted off her wrist.
Ganondorf arranged the sticks and branches into a pile, then created a ball of flame in his hand, dropping it into the pile. With the new source of light other then starlight, Zelda was able to see Ganondorf fully for the first time. She gasped.
She remembered his skin being very dark, and having a green tint to it. The unnatural hue was gone. His skin was a normal, brown tan. He still had his red-gold eyes, but they were no longer a bloodshot yellow. Nor did they hold the crazed, merciless look that they once held. His face had relaxed, losing the scowl she had always seen his face carry. She had known that his muscles were huge, yet his size was even more intimidating in the light. Even though Zelda was not short, the top of her head would still be slightly under his chin.
He was looking at her, staring into her eyes. She could see no evil there. None. Sadness, guilt, anguish and…fear?
She turned her head away, evading his gaze. ‘By the Goddesses, I remember that he did not even flinch when I teleported as Sheik. The energy should have stunned him.’
She spoke without looking at him. “Speak, but know that when I have recovered my strength sufficiently, I will search your mind.”
“…Can you not face me?”
Zelda turned sharply, figuring that he was taunting her. Pain…There was only pain in his eyes.
“Continue.” She said, eyes not leaving his.
“Then let me put this as bluntly as I can. I am not evil.”
Zelda raised an eyebrow but nodded for him to keep going.
“I was seventeen when I came to serve your father. I had a weak heart that wanted a higher position then the one I had. I wanted to prove that I was not just the King of Thieves. I wanted respect from the people of Hyrule. Everything seemed to go well.
“But, my weak heart attracted an evil spirit. The spirit had been part of the chaos before Hyrule was created. The great Goddesses came and left, leaving behind this world. He searched for ages, looking for a weak heart that was not content. It found mine.”
Zelda simply stared at him. ‘The great Ganondorf was not evil?!’
“Once the spirit took over my body, it made everyone forget that I once had been good. I, trapped in the back of my mind tried to reason with it to no avail. Its desire for power and destruction were vast and insatiable. Sometimes I could only watch with horror as he slaughtered women and children, sending monsters to towns and villages.
“Yet I watched as you and Link deified him and eventually forced him to the Cursed Realm. I was overjoyed, despite that I was still imprisoned. As long Hyrule was safe, I could find enough of happiness.”
Zelda was shocked and touched by his saying. ‘Can he really be faking it?’
“But, the spirit of Evil burned with anger that it had been defeated. It began to make a flawless plan for its return. It knew what held the Seal in place, and knew what could break it. Using all of its power, the spirit cracked the Seal. But it knew that it would never be able to break it…without help.”
“Who would help it?” cried Zelda. “No one is allowed near the Seal…” She stopped. “No…Link would have never of helped y…it.” She finished, laying off putting the blame on Ganondorf.
He looked surprised and smiled slightly. “I agree. But, he did. Unintentionally. With Link outside the Seal, the spirit used the last remains of his stored up energy to pull the two Triforces together. Their need to join was great as they hit the Seal on either side. It broke, and the Triforces rebounded back to their holders.
“But the Spirit forgot one important thing: That he had used up all his energy, even the Triforce was weak.”
Ganondorf turned away from her. “I tried to stop him Zelda, I truly did! But, just as before, nothing worked.”
Cold filled Zelda’s chest. “No…Oh Gods…No no no…”
“He left my body for the first time in ten years, and took over Link’s.”
Zelda straightened herself regally. “Then be happy that they are both dead, the one who held you, and the one that fought you.”
He sighed. “I will be hard to accept this, Zelda. They are both still alive.”
His voice seemed to echo in her ears. “…Alive?! How?”
“Your purifying blast weakened him immensely, but he is still alive. I know that spell you cast, it is supposed to work on people that have been fully taken by an evil spirit. Link is not fully evil. He is still alive, buried under the spirit’s evil mind.”
“Alive…”She said in a voice full of wonder.
“Zelda.”
She turned. “Yes?”
“What were Link’s ambitions? I need to know what he wanted when he was good.”
“Why?”
“Because, if Link was not able to keep his heart hidden from it, the spirit will see his desires and corrupt them terribly. Even using them against us.”
Time stopped. Zelda had trouble breathing as the air seemed to freeze in her lungs. The thing he had desired most…was her. ‘By Nayru…he would never…’
“Zelda!” Said Ganondorf, gasping. “You have turned so pale! What is wrong?”
“It is nothing…Nothing.” She muttered, keeping her eyes averted.
“Zelda…you have remembered something. Tell me what it is.”
She brought a hand to her chest, the coldness of fear filling her. She detested the feeling. “Link’s goal…Was to have me.” She said, incapable to stop the tremble in her voice. “He desired me, wanted to have me…”
“NO!” He hissed fiercely. He caught her hands in his own, holding them tightly.
Her eyes widened with surprise and alarm. She tried in vain to pull away from him.
“No.” he said, still holding her hands in his, bringing them to his breast. “Such a devastating deed of evil, will not happen to you. I shall not let it.”
“Th…Thank you.” She said as he released her hands. ‘I am starting to believe him! How can this be? I must hurry and recover my strength so I may search his mind for truth.’
As Zelda slowly went over all of the things Ganondorf had told her, she suddenly realized something.
‘Two years…’ She thought with horror. She stared at Ganondorf as he gazed at the flames of the fire, lost in his own thoughts. ‘This man…lived in the Sacred Realm for two whole years…and survived.’
“How did you survive?”
Ganondorf looked up, confused. “You mean being controlled by the spirit?”
Zelda shook her head. “How could you endure the horror of the Sacred Realm?”
His eyes widened with shock. “You know…? You have seen the Sacred Realm?”
“I had a vision of it as I looked at the breach. The…dreadfulness cannot be conveyed through words.”
For the first time in their entire conversation, Ganondorf sneered coldly at her. Yet, it was just a pale image of the cruel sneer she had seen two years ago, before his tyranny was brought to an end. Only an inner bitterness remained. “You…no nothing of the Twisted Realm.” He whispered. “You cannot possibly comprehend how it feels through a vision.”
Zelda’s eyes narrowed as she matched his glare. “I felt through my vision…and what I felt was nothing. An endless nothing that filled me want to scream, but I could not.” She looked away, feeling the tears returning. “I just ask how a man, no matter how strong, could survive such a feeling of emptiness, of…loneliness.”
The coldness of Ganondorf’s gaze receded somewhat. “Forgive me. I now can see that you have grasped understanding of the Realm.”
“So…how did you survive? How did you hold on to sanity?”
He smiled slightly, a sad smile. “I cannot answer that now, but I swear on my honor…” He paused, chuckling darkly. “Ah, I have no honor. I can only promise that I will tell you another time.”
Zelda did not push for details. Somehow, she knew he would tell her when he was ready. She slowly stood, picking up his cloak and shaking any fragments of dirt out. “I need to get back to the castle. The Sages need to be alerted and my people warned.”
“May I offer to fly you there?”
She handed him his cloak. “You flew me down here, did you not?”
“I did.”
She thought for a moment, then shook her head. “I cannot trust you until I have searched your mind. I shall call my horse, she is strong enough to carry both of us.”
She walked up to a higher ledge and summoned the Ocarina of Time, quickly remembering the correct tune. She had barely raised it to her lips when something cold grabbed her foot, yanking her to the ground. She turned, and shrieked.
A brown fleshed hand, tinged faintly with green had sprouted out of the ground. It held onto her ankle with a viselike grip. Its other hand and the top of its head were slowly coming out of the ground too. Looking up she found two of them had already fully pulled themselves from the ground. They were emancipated, their shoulders slumped greatly, confirming that these creatures were born when all hope was lost. Their eye sockets were empty and their mouths were gaping holes filled with jagged teeth. ReDeads.
Zelda’s scream of fear was drowned out by their shrieks and moans. The hands that gripped her slowly began to melt, for the evil creatures could not touch the holy princess of the Triforce without injury. However they pitilessly did not let go, their broken nails gouging her skin. The one closest to her turned its face toward her. She froze, unable to throw off the affects of their gaze and scream combined. It squatted near her, lifting her upper body up. With an inhuman moan it buried its teeth into the yielding flesh of her neck, drinking her essence. The other one tore into her ankle. She weakly tried to get away, reaching for the ocarina, kicking feebly, yet both ReDeads were relentless. Dimly she felt another one bite her in the side. Then, there was a roar. A roar of fury and anger.
“GET OFF OF HER, YOU MONSTERS!”
The ones biting her ankle and side released her immediately, letting out screams of pain. The other buried its mouth deeper into her neck, refusing to let go. Zelda heard the whistle of a sword and felt the ReDead slump and fall on top of her. Someone grabbed the limp body and flung it away. She whimpered slightly as the sharp teeth tore some more of her flesh as it was pulled away.
The person lifted her up, leaning her against their body.
“…Zelda! ZELDA!!”
Her eyelids opened weakly, and she felt like weights dragged them down.
Ganondorf’s face hovered above hers, eyes full of worry.
“You…did not summon…those…correct?” She whispered.
“No…No I did not. Gods, Zelda forgive me. I was too slow.”
She smiled slightly. “There is nothing to forgive…I am just disappointed that I must die like this.”
“NO.” He said firmly. “You will not die here. You will not die while there is still hope for Link, you will not die by my fault.”
“But…the poison…I have no power…left…”
Ganondorf lifted her more until her head rested on his shoulder. He bent toward the wound in her neck, and Zelda felt the Gerudo fangs of his birthright, enter where the ReDead’s had been before.
“Please…no…” She said, struggling weakly as she felt him start to drain her. He pulled back and spat. Zelda’s eyes trailed over to where he had spat. A horrible dark green liquid, tinged faintly red with her own blood, was splattered all over the rocks.
Understanding, she gave no resistance as he did this several more times. He then gently lifted her. “The wounds in your side and ankle do not have much poison. What should I do, Zelda? I never learned how to heal, and I do not want to risk trying on you.”
“Go…south. My castle.” Said Zelda, more clear minded now that most of the venom was gone, yet quite unable to move. ‘This is a massive test for trust, though he did just save me now.’
“Of course! Do not worry Zelda.”
He leaped off the edge of the cliff and soared outward, flying quickly and silently.
While they were flying, Zelda noticed the hilt of a sword over his shoulder. It was a dark purple. “Ganondorf…That sword…”
He held her closer, protecting her from the wind. “It is the Master Sword. It enlarged itself so I could wield it. Link took my sword.”
‘He can hold it…’
“Rest, Zelda. We are almost there.”