Chapter Text
"Impa once told me that life was like music, it ebbed and flowed to the heartbeat of the land and each goddess values it as a divine truth. She maintained that even monsters, from the lowly bokoblin to the stal themselves, hold some small piece of that goddess-given song."
A grating, dry rasp of a voice cut her off. "A foolish fantasy." The hunched form in front of her did not move as it spoke, its ragged cloak revealing only the cracked paper thin skin of its tattooed, bony hands. "I held life jealously, once upon a time. I remember the warm winds of my homeland, the ocean spray upon my face. The experiences we have upon this earth, good and bad: that is life. I am derelict, bereft of all feeling, all life. Your retainer stunted you with ignorant fantasies." The room became silent as Zelda attempted to organize her thoughts.
They had been speaking for some time, there had been little else to do, as all doors were now sealed. If anyone were to know how to open the way out, it would be the sentient remains sitting upon the granite throne. Zelda had hoped to never be trapped with an evil being again, but at least this one was capable of conversation. Truthfully, despite the malice evident in its form, its presence did not exhude evil like ganons had, it was simply like talking to a statue that could talk back. The being did not breathe, did not move, though she knew it could. She stilled her shaking hands, telling herself that the cold of this ancient cavern was to blame.
"Why do you hate so thoroughly? I have attempted courtesy, and been met with hostility, I have presented a positive outlook and you have stubbornly retorted with venom. Are you so far removed from hope that you believe hatred is all you have left?." Her stomach clenched as the form shifted with a brittle crack. A grating, rumbling scratching sound began to emanate from the body and she began to wonder if her curiosity had finally crossed a line she would not be coming back from. The sound repeated in short, clipped intervals and she quickly realized it was the sound of amusement. Its laugh echoed through the space and she wondered, idly, if it would attract more unwanted attention. That would be just her luck, and she doubted this creature would protect her from a raging broodwraith.
The being had stopped laughing, and now sat silent once again, though zelda could see the eyes peeking from under the hood at her. They burned with blood red fire, as if the malice itself was being used as fuel for an unholy engine. "I do not hate, princess, this is fear. I fear for what has become of hyrule in my absence, I fear for my people and I fear for what will transpire in the future..." a pause, as Zelda processed his words. "The boy, he fell, did he not?" Her heart skipped a beat as Links desperate face flashed through her mind. "His name is-" "Link, I am aware." Zelda found herself becoming angry. Her analytical mind using its best defence mechanism: frantic problem solving "W-Why... How do you know all this? Your connection to malice is apparent, but ganon has been destroyed, I watched his influence burn away with my own eyes, yet here a font of malice boils anew. Are we cursed to never truly live in peace, to always be under threat of this corruption? What are you? Who are you? What has happened to Hylias last champion? Where is link?"
The dam had been broken, she had been attempting to maintain poise but her royal training could only hold back her stress and worry for so long. She now stood face to face with the corpse, glaring into its eyes with righteous intensity. Her hands were shaking again. The being was silent for a moment. "Now who is being pessimistic?" The humor evident in its tone only served to stoke her rage, but before she could do something rash, it began to stand. Zeldas fury extinguished as she stumbled back.
"You asked me who I am. That is not a simple question. I have had many names, all are long dead.
As for what I am? Well... I have been a criminal, a seer, a martyr. I have been a warlock, a mentalist, a thief and royalty. I have saved many lives, and ended many, as well. I have been witness to the rise and fall of nations many times over, and now..." he stood over her, at least seven feet in height, even hunched over as he was. "... now I am a fetid corpse, standing in a pit, waiting for an opportunity to be freed of these corrupting shackles." His hunched form sagged even lower as he sat upon one of the steps leading to the throne he once occupied.
Zelda managed to catch her breath after a few moments. Her mind working overtime connect dots in the confusing web before her. "Are- are you saying that returning you to life would remove the malice from your soul... and this land?" The corpse turned its head in her direction with a click. "What use have I, for malice, when life is all I desire?"
Zelda swallowed thickly, before clenching a shaking hand into a tight fist. "Then I shall help you achieve this." Her eyes turned hard "Not for your sake, but for the sake of Hyrule as a whole. We must remove the threat of malice once and for all. Finding Link is the first step, I will not lose him twice." The corpse stood slowly, once again. " Very well. I will assist you in finding this boy and escaping these ruins, and you will find a source of life that I may possess. Shall we call it a deal?" The skeletal hand pushed itself from the darkness of the cloak in front of her. Zelda's distrust warred with her desire to protect her kingdom and her greatest friend. The creature before her was obviously dangerous and was hiding something, yet the more she listened to him, the more his words sounded like truth. She found herself clasping her soft, warm palm to dry, cold, leathery skin with little hesitation. Her hands steady.
"If I am to assist you, then what shall I call you? It's hardly fair that you seem to have always known my name, yet I do not know yours." The creature placed a fist to his chest and bowed slightly in a pose that tickled Zeldas memory oddly. "You may call me Dragmire, Lich King Dragmire."
The, now dubbed 'Dragmire', stepped away from the princess and towards a large stone vault door on the east side of the cavern. Zelda trailed behind, watching his hunched, deliberate walk. "Lich King... what is the meaning of that term? I have not heard it in my studies." "It is an ancient word, even ancient by my standards. It is a title denoting-" he paused as he waved a hand in front of the vault door. It shifted with a deep thud and fell into the floor, creaking ominously. "A being who persues life... at any cost."
Zelda stepped through the door after the lich, humming in contemplation. The two forms disappeared into the darkness, footsteps echoing quietly, across moss covered stone.