Several days had passed. With the new trials facing the Triforce Team, much was happening, and Hyrule was in a time of change; mass change. In the midst of all of the problems and evils that had arisen, and the true identity of Twindora being revealed, there were also the massive changes being made to the land. Reconstruction was moving smoothly, and the raging fires were now gone, and the lake was filled to the brim with clear waters once more.
There was much yet to do, removing the Hell Lord’s body, filling in the crevice and replanting the grass and trees among the larger of tasks yet to be accomplished. Hyrule’s beauty had been robbed from it, but it was slowly returning, despite the efforts of many to stop it. Agahnim and Ganon were indeed a force to be reckoned with together, but separately, they were worse. Both had their individual skills, Agahnim with his cunning plans and Ganon with his brute power.
Link wasn’t in the soundest state of mind either. It had taken him weeks to get over killing his own father, and now the pain and guilt had come back with the revival of the Dark Knight. They had just barely escaped from the battle with Hell Hound without losing lives, and now there were four evils out to kill them and destroy Hyrule at any cost.
Jet hadn’t gained any wounds in the past few days, and some of his old strength had returned. He walked through Hyrule field now, overseeing the reconstruction with a smile, proud of his kingdom and the way the soldiers and villagers worked so tirelessly. Hyrule would be back to normal in several weeks, and then they could begin to remove the evil from it, once and for all.
Jet stood still in front of Hyrule castle’s gate for a moment, looking at the work the soldiers had done on the wall in front of Kakariko village. The wall was almost back to normal. It amazed Jet how fast and accurate these Hylian men and women were. A group of soldiers approached Jet, worried looks on their faces.
“Sir…there’s something you should see,” one of the soldiers said faintly to Jet, his face pale.
“Lead me to it,” Jet ordered, rather worried. The soldiers did so, and in this moment Jet knew what it was that worried them. A very long stream of blood ran from the large neck of Hell Modeus to the ground below. The wound Jet had not dealt to the Hell Lord.
“What does it mean your highness?” another soldier asked.
“Hmm….continue with the reconstruction as planned…as your king, the only thing I want you to do about this situation is keep the citizens from panicking, and keep an eye out on this body,” Jet ordered.
“Yes sir,” the head soldier nodded. He motioned to his crew and they left the grisly scene with haste. Jet looked at the body, bewildered. How could another wound be made to it? Hell Modeus was very powerful; one did not simply cut him, it took work and determination to make the smallest of wounds, but here, after the battle, there was a bleeding hole in the neck of a dead demon, and Jet could only guess what it meant. His train of thought was broken quite suddenly by a familiar yelling voice.
“Jet!!! Call the reconstruction team off!!! Tell them to take shelter!!!” Link yelled.
“Everyone! Get into the market, now!” Jet ordered. They did so quickly.
“He’s coming,” Link said between heavy breaths when he at last reached Jet.
“Who is?” Jet asked him.
“…my dad,” Link answered.
“The Dark Knight? What does he still want with us?” Jet asked.
“I want the Mystic circle,” the Dark Knight answered, appearing several feet in front of the two fighters.
“The Mystic circle?” Jet asked.
“Yes…it is all of the Mystic powers…combined. I wish to be the elemental lord, and you cannot stop me! Your frail body is all that is keeping me….from your magic…” the Dark Knight’s voice explained darkly.
“Frail body, eh? …mmm…k. so um…why dontcha try…to take it?” Jet asked, getting into a ready fighting stance.
“Very well,” the Dark Knight agreed, unsheathing his blade.
Bubbling acidic pools. An endless sea of sadness and despair. This was the level of the damned beneath the first layer of Hell. This was the very end of the universe. Here the tortured souls who committed the most horrible of crimes were constantly being burned alive by the acidic liquids floating around in the level. There was no shore here, no safe haven.
Ravenous Skullfish and Desbrekos swam through the acid, devouring lost souls when they could. But the suffering did not end there, no. there were the demons of liquid, of water, of acid. The demons that could take shape in anything as long as it was in liquid form. The Aqua demons. They played with these souls gleefully, enjoying the torment of the lost ones. Then there was the source of the massive ocean’s terror. A mighty ship of wood and metal, wood and metal that the acid could not touch or damage. The captain of this ship was a mighty demon in black robes known as the Drifter. Every day he took souls onto his ship and tortured them in unimaginable ways.
“You! Spirits! Lost souls! The damned! How would you like another opportunity at freedom?” Modeus asked loudly from the staircase of stone leading to the acidic pool. There were groans of pain and suffering, but many of them now had hints of hope in their tone.
“Very well…you will be my army…the army of the damned…now, rise! Lift your bodies from the acid and join me! The weak minded demons have failed me…ironic that God’s humans are aiding me, the Hell Lord…heh heh…somebody up there must like me,” Modeus laughed to himself. He had an army once more.
The Dark Knight charged forward, sword in hand. Jet and Link ran in different directions, avoiding the angered knight. Link unsheathed his Master sword and ran at his father, trying to cut the areas of his body where his armor was not linked. The Dark Knight knew well how to defend himself, and easily blocked each of the blows. The Dark Knight punched Link in the chest, the blow knocking him to the ground.
He suddenly held up his cape, expecting an attack. A dagger bounced off of his cape and fell to the ground. Shinota had arrived. All three of the warriors immediately were on the Dark Knight, blades cutting in all directions. Amazingly, the Dark Knight kept up with the three, not being wounded in the least. He charged a quick spin attack, then backed away from the three fighters.
“Mystic Fire Attack!” he yelled, his black armor momentarily shining red as the magic flew from his hands to Jet. He absorbed the magic with his Black Sunset, turning and accidentily launching it at the wall that just been reconstructed. The stone again crumbled to the floor; the wall would have to be rebuilt once more. It was upon closer examination that Link revealed what Jet had unearthed. In place of the wall there was a large cave leading down, much deeper into the rock than the wound that had originally been dealt to it.
“You guys,” Shinota tried to gain the attention of the other two.
“Yes?” Link questioned.
“He disappeared….” Shinota commented.
“The Dark Knight….just vanished…I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Jet said darkly.
“…we don’t have the time to worry about it,” Link said, eyeing the cave in the distance.
“Come on….let’s go check that place out then,” Shinota suggested.
“Fine with me,” Jet agreed. The three made their way across the bridge over the stream to the demolished rock wall. They knelt cautiously in front of the cave entrance, peeking in. there was little light below, and a very evident drop off, no way of walking down into it.
“There’s no way down there,” Link stated.
“Let me go down…I can fly…if there’s a drop, I’ll tell you guys,” Jet offered.
“Be careful then,” Shinota warned.
“Yeah,” Link agreed.
“I will,” Jet said, nodding. He turned slowly, sitting down on the grass and jumping into the dark of the cave. There were two or three seconds of silence, followed by a loud splash. Link and Shinota were assured by this sound, and followed behind Jet, fear gone from them. The cave they landed in indeed was filled with water, ice cold liquid up to the knees of the three fighters. There were a few stalactites hanging from the rather low roof of the cave, and the walls were painted in a haunting red color.
“Oh….my goddesses,” Link muttered to himself, turning in a full circle, examining the walls of the cave.
“What is it man?” Jet asked.
“This place…they mention it in the Book of Mudora. They describe it as a black shadow outlined with blood, filled to the brim with liquid. This place….” Link’s voice trailed off.
“What’s so significant about it?” Shinota asked.
“…this cave…it’s sorta like a fountain of raw energy. The Book of Mudora says whoever drinks from the water is given incredible strength…people have been looking for it forever…to think it was right in front of Kakariko village,” Link answered.
“Who’s gonna drink it though? I mean can we all?” Jet asked.
“…no. only one person every….ah somethin’ psycho like ten years…can drink from it,” Link answered.
“Then who should it be?” Jet asked.
“I vote Jet,” Shinota answered.
“Me too…you need it man,” Link agreed.
“Um…I don’t think I should-,” Jet was cut off.
“Two against one…the decision’s been made…drink it man,” Link instructed. After several moments Jet cupped his hands and carefully placed them in the water. He lifted his gloved hands out once more and moved them slowly toward his open mouth, and it was then that he was struck in the back. He spun quickly around, face to face with the Dark Knight.
“I have been waiting in here for one of you to try that…heh heh…but alas, I have already drank from the pool…looks like you’re out of look…such a tragedy…your highness,” the Dark Knight laughed out.
“We don’t need any kind of water to kill you…” Link said darkly, readying his sword and shield.
“We shall see,” the Dark Knight responded, unsheathing his sword. He swung at Link, the Hylian finding it difficult to dodge attacks in the small cave. He ducked, submerging his body in the water then running at the Dark Knight. His legs were knocked out from under him and he fell to the watery ground, rising after several moments. Jet unsheathed his sword after this, charging a small amount of Ki energy into the blade. He slashed at the knight, blows being blocked, others parried, both fighters at a disadvantage in the dark room.
Jet stabbed the Dark Knight in the shoulder then pressed his fingers tightly into the Hylian’s throat, trying to take the breath from his body. The knight punched Jet hard in the gut and he backed off. He retaliated with a punch which the Dark Knight blocked with haste, so much haste that the red crystal in his hand, the mystic fire core, flew out of his armor and into the dark cold waters below.
The Dark Knight noticed not, knocking Jet back into the cave wall and turning to face Shinota. The Zedusrian flung his powder at the Dark Knight, the attack doing nothing. He unsheathed his Twin Diamond sword at this, slashing at the knight, blow after blow countered yet again. The knight rammed his hilt into Shinota’s face, and in an instant, he was below the water’s surface.
Link ran forward now, shield in front of face, sword in front of shield. With an echoing yell the Hylian stabbed through the leg armor of the knight, and he stumbled back. Shinota resurfaced after this, a smile on his wet face. He held his hands out, then moved them in a peculiar fashion.
“Mystic Fire Attack!!!” Shinota yelled, the entire cave lighting up with the magical flames. They hit the Dark Knight with full force, sending him back against the cave wall, cracking it. He warped away with the last of his magic.
“We won the fight! Good goin’ Shinota!” Jet yelled proudly.
“…Yeah…when I was knocked underwater I just saw the core layin’ there so I picked it up and put it in my gauntlet…good call I guess,” Shinota spoke. Without warning, the crack the Dark Knight’s body had formed in the wall began crumbling, stalactites and debris falling into the water quickly.
“We gotta get out, now!” Link yelled.
“How?! The wall that we came in through caved in!” Jet yelled.
“Maybe we can make another exit?!” Shinota suggested, dodging a large rock.
“Yeah! Good idea!” Link said, pulling a bomb out of his bomb bag and lighting the fuse. He timed the throw perfectly, lobbing it at the wall and blowing it to pieces, open daylight in front of them; but out of reach.
“What do we do now?” Shinota asked.
“Hmm…that big stalactite near the cave…we could climb it…and I know the perfect way to get it down here,” Jet said with a smile. He unlatched his chakram and threw it with all of his might at the rock. It fell to the ground with a splash just as Jet reclaimed his weapon. The three climbed on top of it, realizing they still weren’t close enough.
“Umm…there has to be something…the bridge that leads across the stream!” Link yelled. All three of the warriors held onto each other as Link readied his Hookshot, launching the hook at the bridge. It stuck into the stone, and the three were pulled to safety just as the mighty cave of past ages collapsed into nothingness. It was over for the moment, but the Dark Knight was still alive, and now his hunger for the Mystic circle would be greater.