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Among the foes Ganondorf had faced during his lives, many were quick to underestimate him and lose because of that. Perhaps they've seen him as a human – a powerful one, but still a human – and tried to fight as they would one. The truth was he had but two sides to him, and the other one was a beast. There were few signs of it in his human form: exceptional sense of smell and hearing, slight bowing of his head when facing an unkind situation or an enemy, and tiny lighter split ends to his hair that only sharp-eyed Ghirahim had ever noticed. That was all that betrayed him.
At least until one morning, a few days after they have taken the Gerudo Desert, he woke up to the sound of yelling and found out he was not a human anymore.
It took two minutes and some sharp orders to calm down the source of the yelling, a confused stalmaster officer (that had apparently brought news concerning the troops, but these could wait). Said officer was then immediately designated to find and bring with him Ghirahim and Zant. When he hesitantly saluted and left, Ganondorf could finally take a closer look at himself.
His form was undoubtedly that of a wild boar. It was much more similar to the animal in question than to his usual beastly embodiment. In the overnight transformation he could trace a spell placed by someone from far away. Judging by its animalistic nature, it was probably derived from forest arcana. He tried to use his powers and discovered he couldn't. It seemed that every piece of his magic had been sealed, its might building his new body. Alas, his powers had not been at their peak, not yet. Even after finally completing his soul, it would take time to gather enough magic to transform into a beast half the size of Hyrule Castle. Then again, he was not some little pitiful animal either; his height was around half of Zant's and the best of Ghirahim's broadswords could not compare in sharpness to his monstrous tusks. He could think clearly and speak intelligibly, albeit with a weird hoarse voice.
Ghirahim and Zant arrived soon. He could hear them speaking about one or another matter while walking down the hall, but the conversation stopped abruptly when they saw him.
He was quick to start talking himself, explaining what had happened before they could snap out of shock and possibly do something really stupid. Judging by them not attacking him after they recovered, they seemed to believe him, even though Zant had a look of pure confusion on his face and Ghirahim was much paler than usual.
He explained that the spell was of a powerful forest magic and, as such, to break it he would have to find a Great Fairy of the Woods that lived somewhere in a giant green wild on the edge of Hyrule fields. He knew all the Great Fairies were obliged to help everyone that appeared at their Fountain. She wouldn't deny him; he only desired of her to be returned to his normal form, which was not a crime. As for finding her, his keen sense of magic would easily lead him to her place.
“However,” he said finally, “that means the campaign will have to wait a few days.”
“That's hardly possible.”
He moved his sight onto Ghirahim and his weirdly dark cape (through boar eyes everything was a shade of blue, and red and yellow existed only as a memory of his human mind).
“The plan had already been set in motion,” the Demon Lord continued, “and vengeful hordes never take kindly for their violence to be stopped.” Judging by the casual tone, he seemed to finally accept the current form of his master, though he still looked faint.
“I see,” Ganondorf said and turned to his other officer. “Zant.” The Twili straightened his back immediately. “I value your opinion as well. Tell me: will it be possible to postpone the march on Hyrule?”
Zant thought for a long moment before answering, “It will be crucial to keep the existence of an organized army a secret, but it can be done.”
“I assume you have already devised a plan?”
“Of course, my Master. If I may suggest, feigning a revolt is probably the best way – the neighbouring lands will simply think the Darknuts, Stalmasters, Moblins and their brethren that were being held prisoners managed to break free and kill their oppressors. After all... no army had been seen entering the desert.”
Zant talked strategy for a while more, slowly getting more excited and finally gesticulating much too wildly with his long sleeves to emphasize his meaning. But the points brought up were valid and Ganondorf accepted them easily. Ghirahim acknowledged the strategy as well, even though he didn't seem that impressed by it.
The army doings on the Desert were then planned. Now it was only a meaning of breaking the spell.
“Ghirahim,” Ganondorf started, „Can you teleport me to the Great Fairy's woods?”
“But of course. It would require me to scout the area first, though. Just to make sure I know the exact destination and that no... intruders appear.”
“Then go.”
Ghirahim made a wide gesture with his arm and dissapeared. In a minute he was back.
“Have you found it?”
“Yes. A place with not a single soul in sight.”
“Very well. Take me there.”
His back was touched gently. Argyle patterns rose and lowered again before his eyes, and the next thing he knew, they were standing in a place much different from the Desert. In front of them a tree line extended, the trunks old and giant. Ghirahim withdrew his hand.
“This is the westernmost part of the woods,” he said. “Should we move more to the east, Master? Or should I perhaps assist you in the journey?”
“No. I will go further on my own. The Great Fairy shall not be alarmed by your presence, lest she flee or become suspicious. Go back and make sure the army is being held ready. I will be back in no time.”
“I understand.” Ghirahim smiled and bowed elaborately, but there was the slightest of worries in his voice. “I wish you the best of luck, Master. I will await your return.” With that, he teleported away.
Ganondorf stepped into the forest without delay. The rest of the day he spent searching, following the elusive strands of fairy magic scattered here and there, and soon discovered it wouldn't be an easy feat to find their source. It was like the Great Fairy had hidden herself and had thrown glittering magic around, ready to mislead anyone that was seeking her. Following it probably caused him to come closer to the destination, but barely a bit.
The evening came fast. He decided to rest; though with boar eyes he wouldn't have any problems navigating in the dark, this body was also much quicker to tire, demanding sleep. He found a small depression in the ground that he instinctively deepened, a perfect place to lie flattened and not be noticed by any intruders.
If anyone thought the spell would stop him, he thought settling down, they were amusingly wrong. A long road awaited him, but he was determined. He would undo the curse and be back on the Gerudo Desert in no time, and then it would be time to march for the Triforce – and Hyrule.
---
Ganondorf woke up feeling danger.
Wild boars didn't have many predators in Hyrule. Bears were rather scarce there and giant silently murderous cats preferred the far west of the great desert. There were only two things he was, within his deepest subcounsciousness, afraid of encountering: wolves and Hylians. And now he scented both.
He gathered all his human wits over the screaming instincts. As far as he knew, there was only one intruder, with some unholy mix of human and wolf scents: a domesticated beast or a hunter covered in animal blood, perhaps. There was something familiar about the smell he couldn't quite place, but what unnerved him greatly. He weighted his options. If it was a solitary wolf, it would not dare to attack a prey that much bigger. But there was not telling what a stupid Hylian, a filthy cowardly human with a bow or a spear would do. Then again, if he could scent a hunter at all, it couldn't possibly be a good one.
The best course of action, both in his animal and human mind, was to lie still in his hole, unseen, until the danger passes. After all, if there was something he had been always a master of, it was hiding, waiting patiently for an opportunity.
Something bright zoomed by just before his eyes. He thought it a delusion, but the light returned after a second and hovered in midair hesitantly. A fairy.
“Excuse me,” she said. “Are you a Great Spirit of these woods?”
When he didn't answer, she started pondering loudly (“but you have a strong magic, and you are really large, you have to be a Great Spirit”), and since it was quite obvious he would have better luck with her attracting the danger than simply going away, he muttered, “And who are you to talk to me?”
“Oh, right! I'm sorry! My name is Proxi, and my companion there-” she flew a few inches towards the predator scent, “-is Link.”
From between the trees came a wolf.
Ganondorf's mind was always quick to get rid of any shock, which was incidentally a part of what made him a good commander. That's why he almost immediately got rid of hows and whys and swiflty redirected his thoughts to a much more engaging topic: how many careful swipes of his tusks would be enough to kill an adult wolf. There would be resistance, but he could take a lot; the tough cartilage building his chest was hard to pierce even for sharp fangs and claws, and whatever injuries he would sustain would with time heal into scar tissue, arming him further. And if he paired everything with his Piece of Triforce-
Instead of the golden Power he found empty space and he remembered. He would not win. Not now. Just as anger started to flow in, he realized what this meant: Link wouldn't recognize him after the Triforce resonating, and if the scent was not recognizable to him either...
Ganondorf was good at waiting for an opportunity.
He stood on stiff legs, faced the wolf and the bright fairy light between them, and not breaking eye contact lowered his head in a bow. Link seemed to relax when he saw this, which could mean only two things: first, he had enough humanity left in this form that he took the gesture as he would a human bow; second, he hadn't known a thing about wild boars.
(The King of Hyrule didn't know that bowing to him was nothing more than a sign of intending to firmly stand one's ground, and he encouraged it even, what a fool, what an utter fool).
He blinked through the past. He had such occasional... glances, which were probably his long-gone memories, or maybe thoughts and feelings that he had experienced (even if he couldn't possibly), and sometimes – very rarely, in the dark of the night – glimpses of something he was afraid was future.
But more pressing matters were afoot now, and he said in a low voice, “Link the Hero.”
The wolf's ears perked up.
“Oh!” the fairy cried. “So you know who we are!”
“I am a Great Spirit of the woods. Of course I do. Yet I do not know what are you looking for here.”
“It's... a bit complicated.”
Link crept closer, but only to sit down calmly and observe the surroundings. There was a broad Hylian shield tightly strapped to his back. There was also a sword that Ganondorf didn't stop his eyes on for too long, but still felt the hair of his hide standing up.
“Some time ago we defeated a great evil,” Proxi said, “but we thought it would be safer to make sure. Our friend Lana the White Sorceress used a spell to find and possibly incacipate the Dark Lord, but... something went wrong. Link was turned into a wolf, and Lana as well as Zelda, the Princess of Hyrule, fell with a disease. Lana told us what she had done and she immediately returned to the Valley of Seers to seek out a solution, even if she was barely standing... Link and I met with the Great Fountain Fairy from the vicinity of Hyrule Castle. She told us to seek the Great Fairy of these woods that can break the spell. So now we try to find her! But... I can't tell where her Fountain is at all.” She fluttered around in nervous circles. “There would be much larger traces of magic were something to happen to her suddenly, so I think she stays hidden for some reason. Do you know where she is, Great Spirit of the Woods?”
“No,” he answered, thinking: Zelda and Lana, that's intriguing, “but I have also been in search for her.”
“Then you should go with us!” the fairy chimed. “You can find where she hides by yourself, it's always pretty obvious, but you won't be able to make her appear. The Great Fairy from the Hyrule Field said that my presence will be the key to her trust, since she wouldn't be suspicious of the ones led by a fairy.”
“Very well,” he said after brief consideration, “I shall go with you.”
The closer look he had on the Hero, the better, and if the fairy was indeed essential to break the spell, then there was truly no other choice.
They headed deeper into the woods together. No other animal or danger seemed eager to stop them, so the journey was going rather calmly. Proxi kept talking the whole way: noticing a weird tree, imploring about the forest (to which Ganondorf answered with convincing lies), speaking of how she and Link met and how she had been spending her days before that.
Suddenly a giant shadow fell upon them only to pass immediately. They stopped, startled, but Link was quick to resume the journey. After half a minute the shadow returned and this time it was concentrated on them, but then it disappeared again.
“That's the third time,” said Proxi.
“What was that?” Ganondorf asked, for as much as he would like to check himself, he was still a boar and couldn't lift his head enough to look straight up.
“Volga the dragon knight. We... know him. We thought he had returned to his kin, but it's the third time we see him flying over the woods. Each time he stops and looks down. Like he's checking on us.” She thought for a moment. “Lana said that when the spell had backfired, she could sense part of it escaping somewhere far from Hyrule Castle. Maybe it had hit him and he now searches for the Great Fairy. Link thinks that Volga can't transform into a human right now. And maybe he can't land because he would accidentally burn the woods down. But he still cares if we're alright.”
“Or maybe,” Ganondorf said, “he doesn't land because he doesn't want to have anything to do with you and checks only to see if he's on the right path to the Great Fairy.”
For a moment Proxi looked at him silently. “Great Spirit,” she said finally, “I do trust your judgement, but what makes you so doubtful if you have never met him?”
“Because I know how the world works, little sprite. I have been living for much longer than both of you. I have seen a lot more.”
“But you trust us.”
“Yours is a different case,” he said and started to walk forward again. The others followed quietly.
Some time around noon Proxi announced that Link was hungry, but it took them at least an hour before they actually came upon an animal: a fox. They observed it from a hidden place waiting for an opportunity to jump out and attack. A suddenly discovered instinct told Ganondorf to sharpen his tusks and he took to grind the large lower ones against the upper ones; he decided there was no harm in following what nature told him was a good way to prepare for combat.
At least until Proxi looked at him and screamed.
The fox darted off.
“Oh no!” the fairy was shouting, “He's mad! Link, don't touch him! Run!”
“Calm down!” Ganondorf roared, and when Proxi finally did, he asked, “What do you think you're doing, fairy? Don't you know not to raise your voice when hunting?”
“But...” she stammered, “but you were foaming...”
“I was preparing for battle. Would you scream at a warrior for sharpening his swords?”
“Swords?”
“My tusks. As you would better a sword against a whetstone, the cutters have to be sharpened against the whetters. And if you find the process hurting your pitiful eyes, little sprite, feel free to leave.”
“Oh,” she just said. “I... don't know a lot about boars. Truth be told, this is my first time in woods that deep... I'm sorry.”
“You will be if you scare off our prey again.”
Proxi dimmed with embarassment. Link send him a condemning look, but followed him again without protest; hunger always lessened judgement.
It took them a long time to find another opportunity to hunt. As far as Ganondorf could tell, the woods were strangely devoid of bigger and smaller creatures. Just as he was about to delve deeper on what could be the cause, Link abruptly stopped and looked at something far ahead of them. It was a lonely doe. Ganondorf felt the twinge of hunger return.
“Link, wait!” Proxi said in a hushed voice. “I don't know a lot about deers, but I heard the hunters from the castle never kill does in June. I think she has fawns waiting for her.”
Link thought for a moment, then nodded. He sent the lonely doe one last hungry look and turned to walk away.
“Really?” Ganondorf asked with disbelief. “Oh, what high standards you have! I am sure every other wolf will think about it as well!”
“Link is a human,” Proxi corrected. “I see what you mean, Great Spirit, but we don't have to hold on to the standards of wild nature. And I'm sure you care about the well-being of the animals as much as we do.”
“Indeed,” he said coldly, because he couldn't exactly deny it while posing as a guardian entity of the woods.
In the end, Link caught a single hare. It looked weak or even ill, but the wolf didn't care as he gulped the meat down. Some of it was offered to Ganondorf, who only scoffed and stood clear of it. When the meal was over, he said:
“I believe we should split up starting tomorrow. The search will go much faster if, say, you both head east and me west. A wolf alone will cover larger distance than when slowed down by me, and I will also search through a significant area by myself. We will go in circles, so that we end up here again at the end of the day.”
And if Link finds the Great Fairy of the Woods first, he will surely come back to tell about it, because he is the Hero with good intentions and no deeper thoughts. Meanwhile, Ganondorf will probably manage to eat something without Proxi hanging over his head with her morals.
How incredibly foolish of a creature a fairy was, he thought as he set down to sleep and made sure that Link lay within his careful sight.
---
With the first rays of the morning they resumed the journey. Link and Proxi followed the rising sun, while Ganondorf headed in the opposite direction.
It took him only a few minutes to come upon something he wouldn't expect that close to their sleeping place: other boars. The sounder he found comprised of eight sows. Scattered around were their young, still sucklings not weaned from the mothers, as it was only June and they could be no older than four months. Two sows that he recognized instantly as the matriarchs came up to him. They regarded him with concern, but after a while seemed to accept his presence, as even a few times their size he was still a boar. There was a bit of wolf scent on him, but they seemed to get used to it quickly, thinking he had a lucky meeting with a predator.
Ganondorf asked them about the Great Fairy, but got only blank stares in return. The sows were simple animals, after all, not concerned about magic or their protector. They couldn't tell him nothing useful. When he turned to leave, however, one of the matriarchs stopped him.
“There's danger in the woods,” she conveyed. “It smells of blood and attacks suddenly. It leaves nothing behind. The woods are now empty. Our group was made from two sounders that each got half-eaten by the danger. Be safe.”
He acknowledged the warning and went to explore the woods further. He fully intended to focus on finding the Great Fairy, but soon realized hunger was starting to numb his thoughts and overcome any strains of magic he came across. The next few hours were therefore spent almost entirely on feeding. He found a scrape nest full of eggs, which was lucky. He also discovered rooting was almost impossible due to the sheer size of his tusks, which was frustrating, but only until he used said tusks to kill a fawn. All in all, he managed to get a lot more food than he probably would with Proxi observing his every move. As he slowly moved back to their meeting place, magic and wits were flowing somewhat more freely through his mind, and for some reason it occured to him to check on the sounder again. But when he was almost there, he saw wolves.
The small pack was very much interested in whatever was further ahead. Ganondorf had a suspicion what it was – what prey had the predators found – but he didn't much care for any wild animals. He started to back off slowly, intending to just go another way. Then he noticed one of the wolves had a shield and a sword strapped to its back.
For some unfathomable reason he swiftly decided to go warn the sounder instead. The wolves were going upwind as to not alert the prey, but this meant he could potentially sneak up around them. He moved forward inch by inch. And then he heard a sound – a voice of the sounder matriarch, anxious and distressed – and something in the animal part of his mind snapped.
The wolves noticed him, but it was too late: he ran up to the two closest ones and with all his might slashed at their legs. They tried to escape, but he was fast and the wolves limping. Even though the chase was intense and tiring, he finally managed to catch up with one. Quick hit of tusks swept it of its feet and sent tumbling to the ground, where it tried to defend itself with claws and teeth. Ganondorf laughed at its efforts, laughed as no attack has pierced his chest, laughed as he mercilessly beat the life out of the creature. The second wolf jumped at him only to be struck to the ground as well, and his existence was ended just as quickly. But Ganondorf wasn't done yet, oh no. Anger and power coursed through his veins as he was still slashing, biting, tearing apart. What was left he feasted on, in a twisted reversal of nature ways. In his furious mind it had to be done, something had to be shown and proved. After that he gashed the trees around with his tusks in a silent warning: this is my land, my land only, remember it or perish.
When he returned to his human senses, he stood by a small forest stream, quenching his thirst. His thoughts ran wildly in all directions. Why was a random group of stupid wild animals enough to cause him to snap? He truly hadn't meant to go as far as he had (not that he regretted it terribly, for he didn't). But something had told him to, something that was a deep animal instinct. He realized the more time he had spent in the woods, the less he thought about the Great Fairy or his army left on the Desert or even Hyrule; something was horribly wrong.
He shook his head forcefully to get rid of the thoughts. He had been just tired and hungry and fed up with the Hero. He had forgotten himself for a moment. That's all.
He tried to wash the blood away, but it clung stubbornly to his hide, a mark of what he had done clear as day. It took him a long time before all of it was gone. Even then the taste was still vivid on his tongue, only now instead of sating it felt foul.
He set to go back to the meeting place; it was getting dark and he wished to rest. He briefly considered the possibility that Link would not be there, but then he would just find himself a place to sleep and resume the search on his own. Then again, he needed a fairy to-
His thoughts were abruptly stopped.
In front of him, far enough that they wouldn't see him, were the wolves; they gathered close to each other as they were eating what was left of a few piglets and a sow. The hunt had been successful.
Ganondorf looked upon the scene and discovered he felt nothing. As if all the anger he had let pour freely before had run dry, leaving behind gnawing emptiness.
He noticed movement to his side. Link was standing there observing him silently with slightly flattened ears and tail held low.
Ganondorf turned and walked away. Silent sounds of a sword clinking against a shield followed him. He didn't stop until much later, in a place far from the wolves and danger, and only then did he turn around to face Link.
Proxi asked very quietly, “Great Spirit?”
“You did nothing,” he said. “They call you a Hero... and you did nothing.”
“We couldn't do anything!” Proxi said quickly.
“Do not lie to me,” he spat. There was no anger in these words still, just bitterness. “You were with the wolves. I saw.”
“We didn't intend to- We had gone to ask them if they had known the way to the Great Fairy. They hadn't. But they had told us- told Link about a monster hunting in the forest and not leaving much for them to eat. We had suspected something like that, Link hasn't found much to eat too, but it hasn't been as long as to hinder him. The other wolves, they had been starving for days. I know they can go like that for months, but still... We couldn't exactly tell them not to hunt when they have to do it to survive-”
“Then why have you stopped us from killing the doe? Why was it so precious to you?”
“Because it had fawns and... I mean, I know they had young too, I... What I mean is-”
“That it's only good when the boars die? That they do not deserve to live? Or that the wolves, the great and noble wolves are above all and they can kill what they desire? Is that what you mean?”
“No, I do not!” she shouted. “I don't think killing anything nor anyone is good, even though I understand it can't be helped sometimes. But you seem to think it's alright as long as it's not done upon your kind!”
“Just as every single animal upon this land thinks! Why should I be any different?”
“Because... because you are a Great Spirit,” she said with what sounded like barely restrained sobbing. “You're supposed to lead and teach... Not bring about death...You're supposed to...”
“Then consider this today's lesson: survival is a cruel ordeal.” Having said that, he eyed the soil under him carefully and started to dig.
“What... what are you doing?”
“I am preparing for rest,” he announced, “and you both can do what you want.”
When the hole was finished and he raised his eyes, he saw to his discontent that Link had settled down not ten feet from him, as if nothing had happened. Still, Ganondorf wouldn't let anyone interfere with his sleep, so he just got into his hole and tried to relax.
Hours passed in silence. Link was now sleeping soundly, lying on his stomach with weirdly thrown about legs, as if he felt extremely comfortable and content. If not for the Master Sword and the shield that hindered him, he would probably lie stretched on his back like a happy domestic puppy.
Ganondorf was sleepless, observing the wolf and seething with hatred.
“Hey?”
Small light of Proxi fluttered close. He turned his eyes to her, but did not move.
“Hey,” she repeated, “I'm... I'm sorry. About earlier. We were both upset.”
He didn't answer.
“Link decided we won't split up anymore,” she said. “He doesn't want anything like that to happen again.”
He stayed silent.
“I know it's meaningless now, but if it can comfort you, they... fought back really hard. The sows. They were very brave. For a moment, I thought... I thought they would scare the wolves off. I thought they would win.”
Ganondorf started to laugh.
It wasn't a dignified laugh, not in the slightest, punctuated with grunts and little squeals, and he didn't care. He didn't care that Proxi was looking at him worried or that he would wake Link up.
“You,” he said through the slowly dying laughter, “you, pitiful fairy, know nothing about boars. They do not win. They are not destined to win, neither in human stories nor in dark wild woods. They know it. And what can they do when they are not meant to win, little sprite?”
“They... they can escape...”
“And when they cannot? They know what to do then, oh yes, they know. They have learned from their mothers what I, too, have been taught long ago, and it's to go down fighting. If they send dogs after you, run in a circle so you can return and slash at their legs. If they pierce you with a sword, impale yourself further if it means your tusks can rip open their bodies. If they make that you can't move anymore, gift them a look that will wipe out the last of their courage. If they blind you, curse them with what life you have left. That is my creed.”
Proxi was silent. Her usually bright magic dimmed.
“What's the matter, little sprite? Are you afraid of me?”
“Great Spirit of the Woods,” she said quietly, “I... indeed feel afraid of you. But I know you have lived for much longer than me, and I trust your wisdom is much greater than mine. I know you have seen many things. I think... that you regret. That you wish you have been there to defend them.”
For a long while, none of them said anything. Link was staring at them through the night.
“Go to sleep, little sprite,” Ganondorf said eventually.
His own rest wouldn't come for a long time yet.
---
The next day welcomed them with a light rain. Its murmur accompanied them for a good few hours of the journey to finally quiet down and leave only earthy scent behind. Proxi had been silent the whole time.
They came across a large clearing. Link was quick to run straight into the open space, but stopped when he noticed he hasn't been followed.
“What's wrong?” Proxi asked. „It's this way, I'm sure.”
Ganondorf didn't answer at first. Something unnerved him about the meadow, but he couldn't quite place it. He figured it was just one of wild instincts, one that told him not to show himself to every predator around.
“I am not going through a wide open space like this. It's a call for unwanted attention.”
“Suit yourself.” she huffed. It seemed she had finally grown impatient with him. Maybe the previous day's events gave her a lot to think about. “We're going straight through, right, Link?”
Link nodded and resumed his pace and Ganondorf had no other choice but to follow, although with silently muttered curses. When they were almost on the other side, Proxi turned to him and said, “See? Everything's alright.”
But for some reason he still felt unsettled. The dread rose and rose in him and it was finally so giant it made him stop in his tracks again. Link and Proxi came to a halt as well.
“Great Spirit?”
Something was wrong, something he was able to smell, and it moved underground-
(It smells of blood and attacks suddenly)
It was pure animal instinct that threw him to the side and urged to run away. The ground shook when something emerged out of it, but he didn't look, didn't stop when something large fell next to him, he kept running until he was at the treeline again. Only then did he turn around.
A manhandla towered over the clearing. It snapped its many jaws in the air as if wondering where the prey has disappeared to. It wasn't a large one, definitely smaller than the one Ganondorf had fought on the Gerudo Desert a week earlier, but a week earlier he had been a human warrior and not a slightly larger than usual boar. There was no way he could win a potential battle.
In the centre of the meadow there lay a motionless body of a wolf.
“Link, wake up! Link! Great Spirit, please, help us!”
It was the fairy, the stupid fairy that was the key to undoing the spell, and she was flying over the one that was holding the Piece of the Triforce that would once again be lost in space and time would he die. Ganondorf clacked his jaw in anger and ran back. Manhandlas were, thankfully, pretty slow and stupid and he was quick.
Link was barely conscious. There was a wound on his upper back where the monster had apparently grazed him with its teeth. If he was any slower in reacting to sudden danger, he would probably be dead.
“Link! Liiiink!”
“Shut up!” Ganondorf snapped, for the manhandla was already heading towards them, and what on everything that's sacred were they going to do now-
The air thundered with a roar.
Something giant and dark dived from the sky in a flurry of wings and scales, and the impact that followed shook the clearing and the trees around it. Ganondorf couldn't look up, not in his current form, but the strong claws and tail covered in sizzling dark fire were enough to recognize what – who - was standing before them.
“Volga!” Proxi cried in surprise.
Ganondorf couldn't tell what exactly happened next, but angry roars, metallic clangs and snapping of the manhandla's teeth spoke volumes about intensity of the battle. A giant stalk fell on the ground writhing for a few seconds more before stilling. Another joined it soon. Volga was tearing the monster apart piece by piece, successfully weakening it, but his roars grew increasingly more pained and frantic. And when the last of the stalks fell and the crystal heart of the monster shattered, Volga turned around swiftly, roared once again, and suddenly there were giant claws coming close-
“No!” Light of Proxi fluttered just on the upper edge of his vision, “He's with us!”
Volga froze. He seemed to consider for a bit. Slowly, the flames flickering on his body lessened and disappeared (so he could calm himself down enough these days, interesting).
“Thank you,” Proxi said. “Um... the grass is burning...”
But Volga was already lying on top of the biggest fire, effectively containing it with his body. His torso and legs were covered in wounds. As he lay down on burning patches of grass, his stare was fixated on Link, who had been for a while lying on his side and breathing harshly.
“He needs help,” Proxi cried, “Volga, please, take us three to a town or someone who can heal him... he's... he's almost... and I'm... oh...” her voice quieted down. One of her wings was somewhat more crooked than the others. She flew slowly towards one of the straps that the Master Sword was attached to and slipped under it. “I'll... stay here for a while.”
Volga stood up and approached Link clumsily on his wounded legs. He regarded the wolf for a second, then scooped him up very carefully with his front paws, holding tight. Prepared as such, he spread his wings and flew a few feet up. Ganondorf had to concentrate hard to hold his instincts in check as two sets of giant claws closed on his sides. He hoped that wherever Volga intended to take them, it wouldn't take long.
It took barely two minutes before the dragon lowered his flight, carefully manoeuvring between the trees. He set Ganondorf down in front of what was, based on the sheer amount of magic surrounding it, undoubtedly a domain of the Great Fairy of the Woods.
The ancient building was hidden by moss and ivy, and from the middle of it grew a giant tree, its green top reaching high and wide over the temple roof. They entered through a large, ever open gate. Inside there was no floor, only the forest ground. The tree trunk in the middle was covered in strange lettering and drawing, which upon closer inspection seemed to had been weaved by the bark itself.
Volga placed Link delicately on the ground only to lie down next to him. Faint embers danced over the countless wounds. The dragon's eyes were closed in pain. It didn't look like he would be able to fly again anytime soon.
“Oh, it's...” Proxi said faintly from under the strap, “It's closed. Wait...”
She got free and flew towards the sigils, drifting slightly to one side. Her light seemed to burn brighter for a few seconds. It then dimmed. Proxi spiraled down and lay on Link's fur, exhausted. But the sigils have already begun to glow brighter and brighter and Ganondorf had to avert his gaze. When he looked again, between the massive roots there was a hole just big enough to let him through. Volga's eyes opened to pointedly look from him to the entrance, and then they closed again.
The tunnel was narrow, but he managed to get through. Sudden light blinded him for a few seconds. Then he started recognizing little dots of fairies observing him curiously, and he realized the Great Fairy was already there, waiting. She was hovering lazily just over the fountain's water surface, laying so that her eyes were on level with his. He wondered if she did it so he could see her better, or if it was her who wanted to take a closer look.
“It is not everyday I find an injured Hero and a dragon knight on my doorstep,” she said. “Could you tell me what happened?”
Her eyes and her smile told him: she already knew that. She already knew who he was, too. Still, it would be foolish not to answer.
“We were attacked by a manhandla.”
“Ah, yes,” she said. “The monster that almost killed the woods. I wish I could tell it was its fault, but I cannot blame a predator for what it did to the prey. The manhandlas are desert creatures, thriving in the barren lands, feasting on lizard and goblin folk and getting the rest of their needs from the searing sun. But someone,” Her smile didn't change, but her eyes did, “has driven them out of their right place. They had no choice but to come here. Poor creatures, don't you think?”
“Poor?” Ganondorf snarled. “Why, they certainly seem to enjoy having a lot more to eat.”
“But the sun is not right, the soil is too moist. The prey may be plentiful and easy to catch, but, not knowing what they're doing, the predators are going to drive it to extinction and poison the very woods they thought they could survive better in. They may rule for a while, but this is not their kingdom. It will never be.”
Her friendly smile didn't waver. The stare, on the other hand, was terribly intense. It was a stare of an amused god looking at a particularly rebellious ant.
Ganondorf took a deep breath. Then he took another. There was no use arguing with one of the Great Fairies, for every single one was the same: speaking in metaphors and allusions, testing, checking, laughing when tearing all your armies and all your convictions apart. She just wanted to provoke him.
“I have come here because of a failed spell,” he said, “and I suppose you already know how it failed.”
“I do know.” She stretched her back slightly, as if their conversation was taking too long for her liking. “The Triforce is a unique entity. Each of its parts can grow accustom to the one that wields it for a long time, and Power is no different. When forced to act against the one it had grown to belong to, it rebelled and weakened the spell by spreading it throughout all the ones with the Gift of the Godesses.”
“Why would it affect the dragon knight, then?”
“The Dark Sorceress from the Valley of Seers may have passed away, but she had used the Gift on her warrior so much it left an imprint, and the spell recognized it. I have noticed it after observing Volga for a few days. He had found me almost immediately, even if he couldn't get inside my fountain. He had to learn first, learn to calm his spirit down and that he cannot achieve everything by himself. The spell working on him may have been a mistake, but it did help him learn.”
She was now looking at him carefully and piercingly, as if trying to find something.
“I would say you yourself have discovered something too, something about leaving things behind”, she said and there was unexpected sadness in her voice, “but that is the one flaw that defines and defeats you: inability to learn.” She searched him for a few moments more before saying, “I will undo the spell. It is going to transform you back as well, but it won't matter, not if the boy of Courage will return to his strength.”
“You hold that much trust in your Hero? How pitiful. Do you really believe he has a chance?”
“I do,” she said and smiled sweetly. “And you know the destiny agrees.”
She whirled in place, raising a cloud of fairies to dance with her, and-
---
Ganondorf woke up with a start. He was lying on his back, which was quite alarming – unless, after a moment, he noticed he was not a boar anymore. He sat up and checked his body carefully: yes, he was definitely himself. Everything seemed to work in proper human order. He looked around and sighed content when met with a familiar sight of his quarters on the Gerudo Desert. The undone spell had returned him where it had found him.
A stifled cry came from the entrance. One of lesser ranked darknuts was standing there, shocked. He dropped on one knee.
“My lord,” he said, „We... we haven't known you had returned... nobody had told us yet...”
“Is that so?” Ganondorf asked. His voice sounded clearer than he expected. “Then you shall be the messenger. Go and inform your superiors their general is back. After that, find Lord Ghirahim and King Zant and tell them to meet with me.”
The darknut rushed off and Ganondorf was left alone. There was no use wasting any time, so he located his clothes and armour and began to dress up. He noticed that even if the spell had been broken, some things had passed onto his human form: faint marks were visible where Volga had held him. They bloomed with ache when pressed, but didn't seem more troublesome than ordinary bruises. Even when he put on his armour they weren't bothering him much. In fact, for a while it was easier to wear the armour than to look at it; suddenly seeing that much of gold and scarlet after a few days of knowing only blue was painful for the mind.
A whirl of black and white danced on the edge of his vision.
“Master.”
Ganondorf looked to the side, ignoring pain in his brow when his eyes were attacked by a vibrant red cape.
“Ghirahim,” he acknowledged with a nod.
“Welcome again, Master.” the Demon Lord said. “I am infinitely glad to see your search has been successful.” But there had never been any doubt about it, said his smug expression. “Forgive me for not noticing your arrival, I have been busy with an officers' meeting. Nothing unusual, just resource management, but Zant had to stay behind. He promised to appear as soon as the meeting ends, though. What is it you expect from me, Master?”
“Gather the troops. As soon as the army is ready, we're heading out to the Valley of Seers to reclaim the Triforce of Power, and the day after that... we're taking the Hyrule Castle.” Seeing the surprised look on Ghirahim's face, he continued, “We have no time to lose. Lana the White Sorceress is currently considerably weakened by an illness, so is Princess Zelda. Their Hero is injured and even if they use fairy magic to heal him, he will still take a few days time to recover fully. I found a trusted source of information while conducting my search. The time to strike is now. You, Zant and the best commanders will meet me in the officers' tent in half an hour. We'll talk details then. As for now... you may take your leave.”
Ghirahim looked at him stunned for a moment before smiling and bowing.
“Ah, Master,” he said and chuckled darkly, “whether in battling or reconnaissance, your abilities never cease to amaze me.” Argyle flurry signaled his exit.
---
The next days were perfect.
They got to the Valley of Seers. Lana tried to defend herself, and when that failed, tried to run. But even when she split in half she was soon stopped by Ghirahim and Zant, both relentless and sure of their strength. And when Ganondorf got to her again, the pure strength of his hits was too much to dismiss with such weak magic and Lana fell. On that cue the golden Power flew out of her, seeked out its place in Ganondorf's mind and fit there immediately, doing everything as swiftly as if it has been anticipating the moment for a long time. It greeted him with a blast of confidence and warm strength. Even if two pieces were missing, it still made him feel complete.
He left the girl alive; in case he for some unfathomable reason lost the Power again, it would seek her first, and he would know where to look.
Then it was time for Hyrule Castle, where they got without any delay. The Hylians anticipated their coming, but even the endless waves of soldiers soon thinned out, and crowded keeps were becoming deserted within minutes; no one could ever hope to stand against the might of newly recovered Power. Almost no one, Ganondorf was reminded when he looked at who just entered a keep he was in a middle of taking.
Zelda rose her rapier in a silent challenge. Her eyes were cold.
She was paler and quicker to tire than she had been last time they had fought, her stance was less sure and the strikes slower, but she still managed to throw a few thrusts that would surely put him in a bad position were it not for his heavy armour. She was dodging and attacking again with such mastery he started to fall behind and only answered to her lead. The few Hylian soldiers that hadn't fled the keep and desperately tried to help their Princess by swinging at him from the sides and behind didn't help his case, if only because they annoyed him greatly. In the middle of the fight a darknut messenger ran into the keep.
“My lord!” he shouted, “Our Allied Base is under siege!”
“What?” Ganondorf barked between one strike and the next.
“They are lead by the Hero! What should we do?”
The rapier clanked barely an inch away from his throat.
“Inform King Zant by the Castle, now!”
The messenger rushed off. Ganondorf couldn't help but notice that, for the first time since the beginning of the battle, Zelda had a smile on her pale face.
“Very clever, Princess,” he gritted through his teeth, turned back and started to run north. She started chasing him. Of course she did. And just in the right moment he abruptly stopped and with all his might pushed his swords backwards. Zelda screamed. He whirled around and hit her once, twice, thrice more, until her hand could not hold the rapier anymore nor could her legs support her body. He looked at her quivering form by his feet with disdain as he reached, both with his arm and his mind.
The Wisdom rose from her body like a queen from a throne. It seeped slowly into his mind, its gold searching, seeing, judging. It told him with a glittering laugh, You think too much of yourself. You do not know everything. You haven't experienced enough. You have made grave mistakes again and again. Your wisdom is not perfect.
He told it quietly, I know.
The Piece glinted and locked into place.
With the keep finally empty, more of Ganondorf's army could get through to storm the Castle. A stream of bokoblins poured by as he ran to assess the situation by the royal gates. Zant's tall silhouette stood out among the army.
“Master!” Zant shouted over the fighting, his voice steady if high-pitched, “A messenger says the Hero has somehow gotten himself into our Allied Base! He is being withheld by Ghirahim, but there's no tell what can happen should he get reinforcements!”
“I know,” Ganondorf answered simply. “Stay here and lead the siege. I'm going for the Hero.”
He rushed to the Allied Base. Ghirahim was there indeed, locked in fierce combat with Link, surronded by an impressive amount of fallen Hylian soldiers. At the sight of Ganondorf his confident smirk grew even wider. He indulged in the fight for a few seconds more before disengaging and leaving Link somewhat confused before the boy, too, saw who had arrived.
“We were just having a pleasant conversation about you, Master,” Ghirahim said, “even if it was sadly one-sided.” Though his tone was cheerful, patches of his true form showed underneath the light exterior and his hair was in disarray.
“That's quite enough, Ghirahim. Leave him to me and assist Zant's advance by the Castle gate.”
“Ah,” Ghirahim sighed lowering his blood-soaked broadsword, “then the Princess has already been taken care of. What a pity, I was curious about whether her fencing was as magnificent as they said-”
“Now, Ghirahim.”
“Right away, Master.” He turned to Link. “Forgive me for interrupting this little play of ours, but I have a castle to take.” One lazy flourish later he was gone.
With that, only the two of them were left, as it always happened, as it was always meant to be, and Ganondorf felt a shiver (of fear or excitement, or perhaps both) run down his spine. He made sure to show Link the two Triforce pieces glowing brightly on his hand. To wordlessly tell him: this is what you are trying to fight against. You will fall.
But when they actually clashed, Ganondorf realized something stopped him from winning.
He couldn't get rid of apprehension that hit whenever the Master Sword cut close to his body. He feared the blade, feared that what had happened many times before would happen again, anticipated it even. He wasn't sure whether it was just the memories that made him anxious, or if it was a doing of the Courage trying to defend itself from being taken. Either way, it made him too careful with his movements and miss opportunities to counterattack. It had to be overcomed.
The next time Link charged, Ganondorf willed himself to stay still for as long as he could. At the last possible moment he dodged the blade, which caused him to suddenly find himself behind the boy. And just by accident, yes, by a strain of luck, he knew a spot on Link's upper back that caused him to cry out and stumble for a second when struck, and a second was enough. Another hit sent Link down on the ground, where he remained unmoving. A ball of light appeared from nowhere to fly over him frantically.
“Link!” shouted a familiar voice. “Wake up! Please, Link!”
“How... pathetic...” Ganondorf said, his breath still hitched from the duel, “a pitiful Hero... and his pitiful little sprite...”
Proxi looked at him and froze. One touch of his magic was enough to blast her to the side, and another one reached deep inside Link's mind to hold and pull and at last come back with the last piece of the Triforce. It writhed in his grasp. It struggled and fought against his mind, trying to rise fear from every little thought and memory it touched, but he held it tightly even then. Finally it recognized a place it could fit in, and did so.
What just occured didn't get to him for a few seconds as he stood there, breathing harshly and blinking sweat away from his eyes. But then came a hot wave of excitement.
The Triforce was his. He could do anything. He could will the castle to be his, will it to bear his markings and darkness, will the entire Hyrule Field to turn against the ones that it had once been looking after with its light. His laughter echoed wide as the last Hylians ran for their lives. And when he got to the Castle Ghirahim was laughing as well, his eyes glinting with triumph, and Zant was expressing delight in his own screeching manner.
The Hero and the Princess along with some of their army managed to escape, in the end, but it did not matter anymore. He was victorious. There was only one thing that still made him wary: the Great Fairy's words. Something about leaving things behind.
He pondered for a long time, and finally decided he discovered the meaning: he had a habit of taking his lands for granted and leaving them to be overtaken by the vengeful foe. He swiftly ordered Ghirahim and Zant to return to Gerudo Desert along with a large part of their army. If the Hylians were to gather their forces again, they would have to do so there and the sheer number of his followers under such great command would be enough to nip their effort in its bud. They wouldn't dare to immediately attack the Castle, and if they did, the power of the Triforce would be quite enough to wipe them out, especially after Ganondorf would complete a ritual to gather all what was missing of his magic.
Ghirahim and Zant didn't seem thrilled by the prospect of getting separated from their master yet again, even rose some valid counterpoints, but the freshly won battle was still lessening their judgement and they soon agreed to the plan.
---
Magic was twirling inside him, rising more and more with each passing minute. After three days the ritual was almost done. A few hours – he needed only a few hours.
“Lord Ganondorf!”
He sighed inwardly and secured the loose strands of magic in place. Only then did he open his eyes and turn around. A darknut officer was kneeling on the ground, his armour dented and broken in places, his voice terrified and breathless.
“The Hylian army is drawing near, at most two hours away... they had destroyed our forces in the Gerudo Desert... taken even the Arbiter's Grounds... the Hero is with them... we gathered what was left of us and retreated...”
“I see,” Ganondorf said calmly. “If they wish for another loss, that wish shall be granted. Bring me Lord Ghirahim and King Zant. Immediately!”
“Your... your majesty... I'm afraid...” the officer stammered and a cool feeling nestled instantly in Ganondorf's chest, “They fought back hard, as we all did, but...” His voice trailed off.
(Proxi hesitated, a bright spot against the night. 'For a moment, I thought...')
Ganondorf shook down the memory and realized he was being looked at in dreadful anticipation.
“No matter,” he said. “In three hours time all my powers will be gathered. We will easily stall the Hylians until then. Anyone that dares to oppose me after that will be destroyed.”
Two hours later the Hylian army appeared indeed, much too soon for Ganondorf's liking, for he still needed time. He tried to wait in the Castle and command the troops from there. However, it happened to be such an ineffectual way of commanding, too slow in both bringing him the news and spreading the orders, that the opposing army gained an upper hand fast. And when the Hylians blew up an entrance to the only keep left between them and the Castle, Ganondorf had no choice but to join the battle himself. In a few minutes he found out he was terribly distracted with keeping his magic spinning and aggregating. He had all the powers of the Triforce, though, so it did not make that much of a difference. The Hylians died in masses in his way. There was much more of them than Ganondorf had anticipated. He briefly thought about getting Ghirahim to teleport a small moblin squad behind the enemy lines to drag some of the forces away. He set out to find Zant and tell him the plan, ask what exactly was their army trying to do in the northeast and possibly gain some knowledge about the foe's strategy. Then he remembered.
Link chose this moment to appear, green and blue clothes instantly recognizable among the soldiers, Master Sword cutting relentlessly through bokoblins. Ganondorf had no time to think before he was forced to deflect a blow, and another, and another one; Link seemed determined to get rid of him fast. They fought long, each hit being countered, each chance denied. Ganondorf forced himself to breathe and move through the combat as tighly spun magic in his mind tried to gather all of his attention.
A sound erupted over the battle noise: a military horn. The Hylians have taken the Castle.
It was just enough distraction, on top of the buzzing magic, to make Ganondorf fall.
But Link weren't meant to triumph yet; the small strands of magic that had been twisting around each other for three long days had finally interlocked and united in a spell.
He rose and saw the Hero small and pitiful before his monstrous form, saw the Castle that he could break in half should he want to, saw the soldiers frozen in terror, and laughed. The Triforce burned brightly inside him, coating his magic with its golden glow, strengthening it tenfold. He charged a spell, a pure entanglement of power, and wiped out an entire division. He summoned fire and anihilated a keep. There was nothing that could stop him.
Despite all the power that caused the Hylians to fall in droves before him, the Hero held up surprisingly well. Each time it looked like he was on a sure way to his death, he pulled out something ridiculous that caused the attack that would evaporate him to fail. It didn't matter; Ganondorf had a lot more tricks at his disposal, and he had the Triforce, the guarantee of victory, powering his every move and magic, he had it still, he had it...
But with each minute exhaustion crept more and more into his body. He stopped for a second to assess the situation: one of his tusks had been snapped in half. Both shoulder spikes were gone, and so were the bracers. Sharp pain shoot through his spine whenever he tried to move his tail. As for the Hylians, they outright refused to die out. Each time he shook a group of them out of his form, more appeared from nowhere to pick at his legs, and there was no one that could thin the crowd out with a spell and a broadsword. His own troops flailed around aimlessly, scattered and lost, and there was no one to guide and gather them into a proper army again. If only there was. If only he hadn't overextend.
(If he hadn't gone after the wolves)
(If he hadn't left Ghirahim and Zant on the desert alone)
(If he hadn't left them on the desert alone, if he wasn't triumphing and forgetting while they waited)
(„But that is the one flaw that defines and defeats you,” the Great Fairy said with a smile on her face and sadness in her eyes)
An explosion of pain snapped him out of it. He roared and stumbled on the ground. The blinding agony spreading from a single white-hot sting was well-known to him: a hit with a light arrow. He looked in the direction it came from. Link was standing there, among his still living soldiers. White light enveloped another arrow he held.
Ganondorf knew what this meant. And maybe he didn't learn, but he remembered what he had been taught long ago.
He stood on stiff legs, faced the Hero and the bright light of an arrow being prepared to be launched between them, and, not breaking eye contact, lowered his head in a bow.
END