Wow, it's been a while since I've been on here. I've been reading and working too much and this story is actually difficult to write. I think it's because I don't have that strict OoT guideline to follow like most use. I'm going in a totally new direction. Well, hope you enjoy the story. Read and review and all that jazz.

Chapter 3

"General, it is just how you predicted." came the cry of a cloaked soldier as he made his way through the mass of waiting troops, "The Gerudo scourge is celebrating their victory inside this latest ruined village, with very little guard or noticeable chain of command to speak of. We could take them now with little trouble."

Link, resting against the trunk of one of the few trees in the arid climate, sighed in resignation as his troops began to rile themselves up as word quickly spread. "Scout," the Hero testily questioned, "did I not tell you to come to me with this information with the utmost discretion? I'm sure that with all the noise you just made, the bloody Gerudo themselves just heard your clamor!" The man had the decency to blush, stepping back as his lord stood up and began to pace back and forth before him. "All is well, I guess, as your foolishness doesn't change my plan. Squad captains, come!"

Five men quickly appeared before him, the large red Hyrulian crests on their tunics differentiating them from the rest of the troops. Beckoning them to follow, the blond haired hero led the captains along with his scout away from the general clamor of the battalion and into a large, simplistic tent in which he held his maps and other such documents vulnerable to the elements. Licking his lips to try and ease their ache, he snorted softly to himself, 'Like there are any elements but hot sun and dry sand out here in this hell.' Sitting down at the battered stump of oak he had fashioned into a chair, Link looked around at them all before bluntly asking, "Are you all ready to fight?" Each of the men looked affronted, nodding vigorously at their general. One, known as Ardis, saluted stiffly,

"Lord Hero," he stated softly despite his generally rough voice and appearance, "my archers are ready for this. Though I will not speak for the other captains, I believe it safe to assume that we are more than prepared." Another man, whose name Link could never remember despite many a moment reciting it to himself, boldly proclaimed,

"I will speak for everyone here, my Lord. This fight is ours tonight, and these barbarians cannot and will not stand up to the might of the Hyrulian Legions." The other four captains each broke out into devilish grins, nodding to each other in complete agreement. Link stared each of them in the eye for a long moment before standing up and pulling out his knife. With a quick flick of his wrist, he was now holding it by the tip and with a dull thunk it stuck into a crude drawing of Norobu that he had pinned to the side of the tent.

The cheer that came up from Link's tent more than drowned out the sounds of the troops outside.

The sun was just setting over the edge of the mountains as the forces of Hyrule made their way down the side of the Gerudo Valley. Some villages, having long since forgotten the stories of old about the horrors of the Gerudo tribe, had decided to branch out into sections of the valley itself. Little did they know the fate that awaited them at the hands of the people they had obliviously coexisted with for centuries.

The village before them was actually quite large for an area so isolated from the rest of Hyrule. Its highest building was a burning watchtower that now bared testament to the gruesome horrors of warfare and death. Bodies of men and women lay mutilated all across the bloodied grass, their faces forever locked in a terrified mask. Link felt sick, having never been witness to so much pointless slaughter. He felt his hatred for these cruel barbarians rise and his eyes narrowed into slits as he and his five captains stood in the shadows of the mountain pass staring down at the scene. Finally, he barked out,

"Captains, get your men prepared. I want everything ready before the sun sets so these Gerudo have to fight with the light in their eyes." Each of the men nodded, galloping off to their destinations as Link's grip tightened around the hilt of his sword.

An eerie wind blew through the chamber as the uppermost portion of the Triforce began to glow. It wasn't the shining blue of Farore or Nayru, but the unholy sanguine of Din's Power. The woman who stood before it slowly began to glow with the same other-worldly light, an evil laugh tearing from her lips as she slowly stepped forward and drew her now glowing hand across the other two portions of the Triforce.

With a shattering hiss, large cracks began to branch out along the other two until, with a roar, she threw both hands forwards and slammed them against the two.

"For Din and my lady Antari!" The door blue inward with an earth shattering roar, the fabled protective strength of the three-pieced Triforce circumvented by the might of the Triforce of Power. The woman could now hear footsteps running down the long stairs behind her, but they were already far too late. Making her way through the stone rubble without so much as a scratch, she stopped breathless before a plain alter that held atop it a simple, crimson colored stone.

"My lady, I have finally found you," she cried out breathlessly, tears rolling from her eyes. She reverently reached her hands forward, ignoring the shouts from behind her, and grasped the stone with her palms. A pain unlike any she had ever felt ran through her and her breast arched forward in pure agony. A long, keeling screech of pain ripped from her throat, her body paralyzed as the stone slowly began to grow brighter and brighter until the symbols and runes traced on her body began to respond and absorb the light from the stone. As it grew duller, the red symbols on her body grew in intensity, until cracks began to form within the stone and it shattered between her hands, throwing her backwards until she hit the wall with a dull clamor.

Far westward, near the burning town on the outskirts of Gerudo Valley, Link stood ready atop Epona with his Hero's Bow in hand. The Gerudo were almost totally incapacitated down below after their drinking and festivities, and just outside of an arrow shot. It would be a quick and decisive victory if all went according to plan. Link should have known that life never worked out the way he hoped it did.

Lifting his bow into the air, he drew an arrow and pulled the string taught. Closing his eyes and letting the powers he had not used for over a year run back through him, the tip of the arrow began to whirl and glow with a dull, holy light. The men around him began to murmur and whisper to each other, but he drowned them out and concentrated. With a loud, whirling hum, the arrowhead sparked into life and almost seemed to gain a life of its own. The shining nexus of light energy was only in his possession for a moment though, Link releasing his hold on the bowstring. It soared through the air and gave off the signal to attack with a burst of holy energy.

"Charge!" The cry was heard throughout the hills as two hundred men began to charge down the hillside, arrows or spears drawn. Cries of alarm could be heard from the Gerudo below, but the sun had been purposefully placed directly in their line of sight. Link's army had no such hindrance, arrows whistling through the air and piercing whatever they hit. Link once again concentrated, this time trying to form a burning vortex of fire around the arrowhead. 'What in the name of The Three?' he wondered as he failed to access Din's burning energy. The shriek of a spear hurling directly past his head and into the body of some unlucky soul behind him shook him from his stupor, his arrow quickly felling the redheaded warrior who threw it with a shriek of pain.

"Epona, stay safe!" Link ordered as he got his bearings and jumped off the side of his horse, his Hero's bow once again strapped down to her side. Grabbing the hilt of his sword and slipping his hand into his shield straps, he landed in a roll before darting forward in a jab. The unsuspecting Gerudo before him could only stare with wide eyes at the sword that had slipped between her ribs and into her heart before darkness took her all at once. Link wasted no time, ducking under the jab of a spear and disemboweling the next with a grunt of effort. Clean and efficient, he moved through the ranks of Gerudo with nary a scratch.

Storm clouds the color of twilight suddenly began to appear over the tree line, a roar of thunder shaking the ground around them. It was ignored, though, as the battle raged on and those that had once been the predators became the prey. This was a costly mistake. The first strike of lightning, the color of blood, was almost surreal as it streaked down and exploded in an unholy fire in the middle of a group of horrified fighters. Their screams were cut off simultaneously as they were vaporized, the scorched, black grass bearing mute testament to their deaths. The battle had come to a sudden halt at that point, everyone staring in horror at the spot. No one spoke, the only sound the reverberations of the storm overhead. Then came the next bolts.

All around them, these unnatural bolts of energy began to strike, those that had just been foe now running around in a maddened craze as they tried to escape their own demise. It was inevitable.

Link's heart beat had never been this all consuming, as if it was about to blow out of his chest. He, the Hero of Twilight, ran for his life along with the rest as the terrible storm bore down on those that remained. It seemed to track them, searching and finding as more and more of the victims were reduced to scorched patches of blackened earth.

More than ever, Link could feel the dark powers of some unholy madness that not even Ganondorf had ever been able to achieve. Jumping forward with a cry, he felt the bottom of his boots grow hot as coals as the area just behind him -and those unlucky enough to be there- were annihilated in a flash of crimson fire. Now, lying on his back, Link felt his life slowly crawl across his vision. Ordon, Ilia, his friends, Midna, Zelda, and all those horrible creatures he had faced throughout his trials. 'Is it really going to end like this?' he wondered as he stared up at the cloud directly above him that began to glow an unearthly red, 'Did all of my life account for nothing?'

It was as if time had slowed down, a red bolt of energy ripping down from the heavens towards his person. Gripping the Master Sword in both his hands, he let out a cry of defiance as he slashed at the bolt with all of his might. The two met, though only for just a moment, and as the crimson light streaked back up towards the heavens the unbelievable happened. Spider-web-like cracks began to form up and down his mystical blade. The sword, that had seen so many apocalyptic battles and faced so much evil, shattered on the hills of the Gerudo Valley and Link fell into darkness.