LOZ:Twilight Princess: Ch.42 Rev

----Chapter 42:  Unleash the Beast


Link knelt to the collapsed frame of Zelda.  Her face was turned from him, and she lay there so motionlessly that he could not tell if he had killed her in the process of trying to slay the demon king inside her.  He knew from having felt the effects of Ganondorf's magic that the attack he had deflected onto her should not have been a lethal dose.  If anything, he had hoped that the sudden blast would weaken the body of the princess and drive the spirit of the King of Evil from her.

He inched closer to her body and saw that she still breathed as she lay on her side.  Link set his shield down but retained his grip on the Master Sword.  He did not know what to expect, but he only wished for Princess Zelda, the beautiful woman he had met so long ago, to be alive and free of Ganondorf's curse.

Gently, he touched her arm, grabbing her just above the elbow.  He had intended to roll her over to face him, but as soon as he had touched her, an icy cold squeezed his heart.  The feeling took his breath away, and he was just able to release her and stumble backward as Zelda turned.  Her yellow eyes met Link's.  The dark marks that revealed her curse were still tattooed across her skin.  Though her gaze promised vengeance, her body still shook as if with a fever.  

Ganondorf still infested her body, and he held tightly to the princess's saber.  In his weakness a yellow mist bled from his pores, and his eyes were glazed with a dazed expression trying to focus.  He groaned in pain.  His hold over her body was greatly weakened and he knew he did not have much time left before Link took action.

Link knew he must purge Ganondorf's evil presence from Zelda's body, but was driving a sword through her heart the answer?  What if killing Zelda would not even result in the death of Ganondorf?  What if he just escaped the dying body?  He just could not bring himself to do it.  Link would not let her die so needlessly.    

In Link's indecision, Ganondorf glared at him as he tried to rise … but then he saw it.

The barrier keeping Midna at bay dissipated, and the tiny imp rose from the ground.  Exhaustion and pain were written across her face, but she stood strong nonetheless.  The magic of her ancestors broiled within her, bringing life once more to her luminescent hair.  Ganondorf raised his left hand in frail defense of what he knew would come.  This body simply no longer had the strength to repel the pathetic magic of the Twili.

Link dove out of the way of Midna's spearing red hair as her locks crashed in and around the body of Zelda.  The princess disappeared within the interwoven tresses, and only the deep guttural scream of sheer torture could be heard.  The voice was slightly altered from the voice Link knew, but it was Zelda's voice all the same, and hearing her cry out in such a way made his skin crawl.  He hoped Midna knew what she was doing, hoped that she had full control of herself this time.

Within the grasp of the Fused Shadows, the light mist that had bubbled around Zelda's body turned to sharp rays of light and speckles of black as the curse and spirit of Ganondorf was squeezed out between the fingers of Midna's hair.

When Midna released the body from her magic's grasp, it was to reveal a Zelda cured of the horrid blackness that had seeped into her veins.  She fell in a heap to the blue carpet, but Link raced forward to catch her in his arms.  He looked from Midna to the princess in his arms.  They had done it.  They had banished evil from Zelda's body, and Ganondorf had been cast off as mere fragments of what he had once been.  Now, Midna could restore to Zelda the life-force that she had sacrificed in order to keep the small imp alive.

Link sheathed his sword and took Zelda fully within his arms.  He walked along the stained carpet and ascended the stairs.  Link stopped before the great throne of Hyrule and placed his princess in her rightful place.  Her body sat straight but motionless within her regal seat below the carvings of the three goddesses--as Link had presumed them to be--with her hands folded upon the gentle folds of her lap.  Link thought her still frame tranquil somehow, a faint glow already returning to her cheeks.  He stood before her as relief washed over him.

Yet, even as Midna flew toward the princess, a rumble rose from the stones and reverberated through Link's bones.  It caught him off guard, but he knew all too well what the tremors might mean.  A sound like rolling waves of dark water filled his ears, crashing in on him like thundering static.  As he turned, his fear was realized.

Ganondorf would not be slain so easily.  He was, after all, one of the bearers of the Triforce.  Link's eyes followed the specks of blackness as they rained in toward the spot where he had scooped up Zelda; it was as if the center of gravity had shifted to the presence of evil, sucking everything dark--even the blackest shadows--to that one spot.

Link stood ready, Master Sword drawn and posing for the coming disaster.  That was when he felt a body lean into him.  There was Midna, his faithful companion and greatest friend, leaning the curves of her cursed body against his side.  She draped an arm across his back and the top of his shoulder as she looked into his eyes.  A thin smile brightened his exhausted face as he looked at her, and it made the warmth she had felt when he had held her after breaking the barrier return.  He found renewed courage within her and he held onto that feeling as he looked toward the mass of darkness still growing before them.

Midna's stare upon Link's face lingered only a fraction of a second longer than Link's had, and in that quick moment she burned the image of his face--an expression so strong, so bold--into her mind and wrapped herself in the warmth he had given her as her attention refocused alongside Link's.  She shifted, grasping the collar of his armor, pushing herself forward with every intention of shielding him from any danger that Ganondorf would unleash.

It was a hideous sight, the image of this groaning man set on all fours as pure evil coursed back into him, giving dark life once more to this silhouette.  Once he had soaked in every last droplet, his groans turned darker, painful cries of deepening octaves.  Then suddenly, tendrils of shadowy hair grew out the length of Ganondorf's disfigured frame, and bones crackled and groaned as his body grew and continued to enlarge until he was the size of a massive beast nearly equal the size of the giant statues above the throne.

His new body reared and color poured throughout his naked figure.  Stiff, black fur coated his back and limbs, while a silver shade spread the length of his underbelly.  A great, blinding white scar tore across him from navel to collar bone, and Link knew immediately that this was the same scar from before, the scar of the sages' blade … the blade now in the possession of this evil tyrant.

The beast that was now Ganondorf thudded onto his new forelegs with a resounding thud and a great, guttural roar that sent dust and saliva at Link.  Looking into the face of the beast, Link saw the king's distinct features, his now mutilated Gerudo crown resting on the greasy red mane of this pig beast.  Its eyes were puny in comparison with the rest of its face, a bright yellow that seemed to encapsulate the entirety of Ganondorf's rage.  His facial hair remained the same, but now it outlined two thick tusks that looped from its jaw to a few inches in front of either side of his face.

After his initial animalistic challenge had been declared, the beast took a few paces back and raked his crooked claws against the stone, grating across it like a sword on ice.  During all this neither Link nor Midna abandoned their ground; they stayed strong in the face of their enemy, Link gripping tightly to the hilt of the blade of evil's bane … the one weapon he knew could destroy this evil once and for all.

Then all at once the floor shook under the thundering stomps of the beast's charge.  The speed of this beast was greater than Link had anticipated, and Midna and he barely had the time to duck to either side.  Link swung his sword as he went, his blade injuring only a tuft of fur.  He managed to keep his eyes on his opponent, as he leapt out of his roll.  

The beast quickly circled the edge of the room and was charging toward him once more with dexterity most unnatural for a creature of such bulk.  Link had room to dodge once more, this time not taking the chance of a counterattack.  He needed to get a feel for his enemy's new body and the strength it possessed, which he indeed did learn of its frightful capabilities when it missed him and rammed headlong into one of the pillars supporting the roof.

Any natural creature would have been somehow fazed by the blow to the head, but to this animal it may have only felt like a tickle as its tusks plunged into the stones, dislodging them and sending them flying across the room as its body flailed and ruffled the dust from its mane.  In seconds it had turned itself about with a roaring growl that sounded like something between that of a bear and a dragon.

At the middle of the throne room, Link backed up along the blue carpet, taking careful steps toward the entrance.  Midna had finally been able to rejoin him as well, and within the quick seconds it took for the beast to close in, a million thoughts ran through Link's mind.  He weighed strategy after strategy in his mind, recounting all the previous monstrous beasts he had battled against impossible odds.  There was the Diababa, Darbus's evil incarnation, the sea monster, a great skeleton, a tortured girl, the colossal Armagohma, a dragon, and the evil tyrant's minion.  Yet, even with all these battles ticking away in his mind's eye, he felt so very unprepared.  Nothing he had experienced throughout the course of his adventure had been enough to prepare him for such a confrontation with pure evil itself.  And as evil's Dark Beast came barreling down upon him, Link felt that in that moment there would be no hope for his survival.  Surely, come the end of this fight--however it may end for Ganondorf--Link's life would be forfeit.  

A sense of impending doom filled Link, and fear took hold of his bones, stapling his soles to the floor.  He had previously resigned himself to such a fate, even accepted that it may be some fitting end to his journey, but that had been before he had come face-to-face with the King of Evil himself.  Link stood there gazing into the glowing eyes of hatred and sin, consumed by its looming presence as the beast came closer and closer.

But something deep within Link broke through the black vines that gripped his soul, and the light of his spirit grew bright once more.  It did not matter how impossible the task seemed.  It did not matter how great or strong this beast was.  It did not matter that with one miscalculation Link could be squashed like an insect.

What mattered were the lives of thousands who depended on Link's sacrifice.  Whether he defeated this evil or not was directly related to whether the people would know peace or live in constant sorrow and a suffering that would never end.

It did not matter if Link died in making sure that the people lived.

Link's life was not his to own; it had never been.  His life had always been meant to lead to this road, this path that led into the maw of darkness.  His life had been foretold by the great goddesses, but he still had the choice to rise or fall.  Link had had the choice very early on to take up his predestined path or to turn his back on the people that needed him.  He had never asked to be a hero, never asked to be a leader, and he had had the choice to decline the honor so many times before, but something within him had always led him back to the same road … the road that had led him here.

The instant of his musings fell, and his heart burned with fire.  The Dark Beast was nearly upon him when he finally shouted to Midna, and in a breath she had cast out a binding magic that rammed into the beast and slowed its descent.  This gave Link the few seconds he needed to catch up, diving to the left under the slashing right claw of the beast.  He next grabbed hold of a tuft of fur and leapt awkwardly to keep his firm grip as the beast twisted in the attempt to reach him.

Link twisted his blade and thrust it toward its side, but the beast jerked and shook its body and loosened its fur from the Hylian's fingers.  Link soared into a nearby pillar and the hit winded him more from the pounding of his armor against his ribs.  Gathering his breath quickly, Link ducked as the Dark Beast bounded after him, ramming into the pillar.  The blow sent the sections of the beam crackling apart, and with a vibrating rumble, stones fell like hail from an unforgiving sky.

Link leapt and rolled out of the way of the tumbling debris all while dodging the sporadically slashing tusks and front claws of the beast.  Midna tried to lure the beast from Link with a barrage of her magic, but her power seemed to have little effect now, as Ganondorf thrashed about in the embodiment of his full power.  All she seemed able to do was slow the tyrant down enough to allow Link the chance to mount its back.

A true wrangler, the Hylian hero held onto the beast with fist clamped over a section of its flowing red mane.  The Dark Beast kicked and reared and tossed its head in deep, angry growls, hell-bent on throwing Link to the ground in order to smite his body into a thousand bony shards.  Whipped this way and that, Link found it near impossible to land a strike, and before he knew it his grip slipped away only to find himself able to latch back on at the last moments.  Now, as the beast ran and danced its thrashing dance, Link held on to the middle of its quaking tail.

Down the left side of the throne room they went, flailing all about, smashing through pillars, until finally Link managed to get enough momentum behind his arm to thrust his sword at the beast.  The hit landed against its hindquarters, trailing a long bloody gash from its lower back to the back of its right knee.  The Dark Beast responded to this injury with a roar that vibrated through the walls like a gong, and a quick flick of its hind end sent Link flying like a child's plaything.

Unfortunately, his sword flew in the opposite direction, but equally as regrettable was the predicament in which Link found himself.  He had been thrown so far and hard that his slick reflexes were his only savior, grabbing hold of the bottom pane of the large, open window where he now dangled in the heavy rains far above a blood red battlefield.  Link grunted in his struggle to keep his grip as his fingers slipped against the wet stones.  He wondered why the beast had not yet come to finish him, to jostle him free of his only lifeline and plummet to his death.  

All he had heard was Midna's petite voice screeching his name in fear.

Taking every moment as if it were to be his last, he wrestled for handholds, and when a stone tumbled free below his left hand and sent him careening, his heart leapt into his throat.  Surely, these were his final moments.  His body twisted against his single handhold, gravity pulling his back to hit against the stone.  His fingers struggled to keep himself aloft, and with a desperate swing of his weight, he twisted his body back around and grabbed for another break in the castle's surface … and at just the right time.

His right hand failed just as his left sunk its fingers onto the stones.  Link flexed his right hand from the pain it had endured in maintaining his full bodyweight and then sought another place to grab for security against the fall that thirsted for him.

Struggling against all the elements--gravity, rain, his failing strength--Link pulled himself up to the opening again and let out a half-relaxed breath when he had managed to yank both elbows above the pane.  His face red from exertion, the veins in his forehead pounding, he hung there a moment, his arms crossed above the stone as he dangled partially secure over its edge.

Looking into the throne room he now understood why the Dark Beast had not come after him.  Midna had engaged the evil lord in battle.  Her magic was no match for his brute force and power in his current state, but she was throwing everything she had at the beast in the hopes of wearing it down for--she hoped--Link's miraculous return.  She had seen him catch onto the stone, and she knew that if Link were to have had any chance of surviving, her constant volley of attacks was the only distraction keeping him alive.

Link knew her strength was depleting by the second; they were both already so exhausted from the battle, and so he quickly pulled himself up and fell, clanking, into the room.  He saw the beast's eyes snap to his position, and it let out an angry growl for having fallen victim to Midna's ruse.  Midna, however, managed to maintain her assault, slowing the beast and enabling Link to pluck up his sword as he ran toward them.  Link aimed his strike to land across the Dark Beast's underbelly with every intention to stab the swollen scar glowing there.  Yet, within the last moments of his charge, the beast broke free of Midna's magical barriers and bared its maw of sharp yet gnarled teeth at the warrior, and instead, Link's attack landed a deep gash across its cheek.

The Dark Beast roared and barked.  Link tried to back away before it attacked, but he and his sword were sailing through the air again before he could even catch his breath, the remainder of which was knocked out of him when he landed with a thud far across the room at the entrance.  Link laid there a moment, trying to process what had just occurred.  His mouth twisted in pain, his chest pounding from the hit, and he felt dazed as he tried to lift himself up.  That was when he felt the faint trickle of blood from his forehead.  He went to wipe away the sticky warmth and saw that his left forearm had also been injured.  The two long--but thankfully not deep--cuts had surely been made by the beast's claws.

As Link pulled himself up he realized his mistake in letting his mind wander, even for that split moment, from the battle.  He had let his pain take precedence over his enemy, and he feared it might cost him death or, in the very least, another barrage of injuries.  

Luckily for Link, he had a partner.  As the beast descended upon him, a magical barrier glimmered before the beast, and as it passed through the yellow magic its movements slowed.  Midna's power could not stop the beast entirely, but this gave Link the extra seconds he needed to duck out of its path.  When the creature again regained its full speed moments later, it bounded into the doorframe of the entrance.  

A loud crack rumbled ruthlessly through the walls and floor, and an ominous popping and snapping echoed within the room.  Link's eyes followed the large fissure that formed where the beast had hit as it splintered up and up and up, leaving cracks all along the stones.  As the fracture reached the ceiling, Link knew what the booming groan that followed meant.

As he turned tail to run, dust rattled free from the cracks webbing throughout the ceiling above.  The Dark Beast turned to chase Link, and the stones rained down behind their retreat, plunking onto the floor violently and shattering into even smaller pieces.  As the different stones dropped free, the veins of destruction continued along the ceiling, stopping only when a near-fourth of the roof had been dislocated.

Link's only defense had been to run, and once he had cleared the chaos behind him he turned to watch as the beast followed.  It had been caught within the rubble, however, blocked from its prey by a large piece of stonework that had collapsed directly in front of it.  Enraged, the beast tossed its head and growled and slammed its claws into the ground, scraping them as if imagining the feel of cleaving Link's flesh from his bones.  Its mane shook like a flurry of fire, and it smacked its head against the ground.  Only … just before its skull impacted, its body disintegrated into black smoke.

Then just as quickly as its body had crumbled, the dark haze disappeared into nothing.  This troubled Link.  As he sent his searching gaze about the rubble and the rest of the room, he wondered what other enchantments Ganondorf had been waiting to implement.  His powers were already far beyond anything he had thought possible.  What was to come next, Link could not guess, but he thought it a trap.  Lure him into a false security, bait him back toward his sword--the weapon he needed--and then set the trap.  Link had taken a few steps back into the room--toward his blade--when he realized this possibility, and when he stopped suddenly, Midna appeared at his side.  He wondered if she had been there while the ceiling had been falling in around him and if it had been by her aid that he had escaped unscathed.

Midna hugged closely by Link's side, watching every shadow and every corner for the reappearance of the Dark Beast.  Her breath came in pants, trying to control her quaking body.  The exertion of using her magic to such an extent had taken its toll on her.  She was not sure how much power she had left to give, but she would stand by Link's side to fight until one or either of them no longer drew breath.  She had made that vow.

With the Master Sword out of reach and the dagger on his belt out of the question--such close range would be suicide--Link only had one option of offense left.  In one fluid motion, his bow was in hand with an arrow nocked and ready to fly.  

Back-to-back they inched forward, knowing that when the Dark Beast reemerged they would need some initial momentum if they needed to leap out of the way.  That and they did not much like the idea of being a standing target.

As they waited and watched for the beast, the rain came harder and louder, pounding against the stones behind them.  Droplets rained down on them from the cracks in what remained of the section of the roof above them.  Puddles already began forming around them, and the steady drops created a constant, soft melody against Link's armor as they bounced away.  He kept his fingers steady against the wet bowstring as his eyes continued to dart around the chamber.

Everywhere he looked it seemed as though the faint outline of the Dark Beast's red mane was staring him down.  He had to refuse every impulse of aiming at these shadows, for though they seemed to appear in every corner, he knew that they were just a trick, illusions of shadow to confuse the Dark Beast's prey.  Link continued to edge forward and, though he did not take defense against any, he looked to each in turn as they appeared to be sure they were still just red shadows.

Link made every effort to inch his way down the chamber once more toward the throne of Zelda.  He had discarded his shield nearly at the center of the chamber, and his blade was near the bottom of the stairs leading to the throne.  With the entire entrance sealed off by the rubble of the ceiling and every last pillar on the left side knocked into dust and debris, there would be no avenue for retreat, which made reclaiming his sword and shield a priority.

A sound like the flutter of humming glass rang in Link's ears, calling him to danger behind.  Quickly, he whipped about and at the slightest flicker of a red mane, he let loose his arrow … but it only pinged off the side of a stone.

An illusion, like the shadows.  That was all it had been.

"Link!"

As his companion called his name, Link had already readied another arrow.   He turned to face the middle of the chamber once again, and there it was, the fiery red mane emerging from some sort of dark portal.  The reflection of the carpet made the shadows appear blue, and once the Dark Beast had rematerialized, the circular gateway blasted into nothingness just as quickly as it had come.

A scheme came to Link, lighting his eyes with new hope.

"Midna!" he cried as he aimed toward the beast's fast approaching body.  Somehow she knew without further explanation what he requested.  Perhaps now their bond had gone beyond the mere shadows they had shared for so long.  

As the glaring yellow eyes charged toward them, the beast's tongue licking at its teeth hungrily, Midna snapped her fingers and an orange fire engulfed the tip of Link's arrow.  Eyes reflecting the raging fire, Link plunged toward the beast as he aimed.  He let the fiery arrow fly--the magical properties of it repelling the rain--and it sank straight into the beast's right ear.  Not the target he had hoped for, the pain it delivered nothing but a pinprick, but something unexpected happened.

The fire licked at the beast's ear, and when it gave a quick shake of its head to dull the feeling, the flames leapt to the bouncing mane.  The red shine became true flame as the embers jumped to each tendril of hair in turn.  Within seconds, the beast's great mane had turned to rampant fire, smoke absent from its magical essence.  This would have been a pleasant surprise to Link--who had to keep pace and take the sight in stride--but the fire did not appear to burn or cause the slightest grief to the Dark Beast.  It became another complication to Link's already impossible challenge … and the rain would do nothing to extinguish it.

Link did not yield to this fiery beast and as he closed the space between himself and the growling creature, Link tossed away his bow and dropped into a roll right at the beast's forelegs.  As the beast scratched at the tiny human, Link threw himself sideways in his roll, his right arm landing perfectly through the waiting straps of his abandoned shield.  In the same motion Link twirled out of the roll, and in that roaring burst of motion, he used the base of his shield as a saber, bringing it down hard on the beast's left paw.  The metal sank through the skin and muscle and bone to meet the stone below.  The shriek that escaped Zant's god, Ganon, was enough to deafen all of Hyrule.

The beast responded immediately to the blistering pain by smacking its opposite set of claws against Link's body.  The strike tossed Link to the side, and with a few jerks it freed itself from the shield's confinement.  Leaving Link no time to scramble away, the beast pounced, trapping the little Hylian underneath the weight of its giant paw.

The only thing that had saved Link from the initial mass of the beast was the protection his armored breast provided, though … the weight was crushing and made him squirm underneath the Dark Beast.  He struggled with all his might to keep the massive claws from gnawing the skin from his face.  His cheeks boiled red from not only exertion but as each moment ticked by it became harder and harder to breathe.

At that moment Midna sailed toward Link's captor with volcanic fury in her eye and an orb of dark magic in her fist.  Just as she cast her spell, however, the beast's opposite paw smacked her away like a puny ragdoll.  Her magic immediately dissipated as she landed roughly at the base of a half-standing pillar.  Link saw that she did not move and what gave him deeper fright was the slow trickle of blood that caressed her side.  He could not see her face to know if she was still alive, and that terrible thought sent a burst of strength through him.

Link looked up at the beast, who seemed to smile against the backdrop of its flaming mane.  Link fought a wave of nausea as its saliva dripped from its hungry, lusting teeth.  The young Hylian tried to reach for the dagger on his belt, but his right arm was trapped under the weight of the beast, and his other held the claws at bay.

In a moment of desperation Link gave up his fight against the claws and stretched his arm out in the hopes of reaching his sword.  The Master Sword was within spitting distance, but the inch still between his wriggling fingers and its guard was like a bird trying to reach the horizon … the distance never closed.  His only reward was the searing pain of one of the beast's claws scraping against his cheek.  Link responded by reclaiming his grip on the monster's claw, prying it away.  Its white veins throbbed and Link could feel every sinew flexing as it crushed him.

Please, just let Midna be alive.  Let her live.

For any other man there would have been no escape from these jaws of death, for no amount of strength or wit would have been mighty enough.  But, for Link, the chosen hero, this silent prayer he had sent out to any god that would listen was enough to reignite any star in the sky.

The back of his hand burst with a sudden golden light which blinded the creature just long enough to unbalance it.  Link choked on the air reentering his crushed breast and rolled over to his sword as the beast righted its posture.  Before the beast could attack, Link swung his saber with a growl bellowing from behind gritted teeth.  The speed and ruthlessness of the strike cut through one of the Dark Beast's tusks like a brittle bough.

With its tusk cut cleanly in half, the beast raged and fire leapt from its mane to Link's cheek when it head butted him in reaction.  The hit knocked Link back but it did not ground him, and he was actually thankful for the burn.  The fire had no doubt sealed his wounded and boiled away any infection from the beast's gritty claws.  Not waiting for a repeat performance, Link retreated.

He ran toward where Midna had gone down as he sheathed his sword.  The exertion pained him with the dented breastplate digging into his lungs.  Link scooped up Midna just as the Dark Beast gave chase, but Link hopped up and around the gathered debris.  The grounded stones provided a makeshift shelter for the wounded pair, the perfect buffer between them and the beast that tried to rattle more stones loose upon them.

Link knew they did not have much time anyway, for even if dislodged stones did not kill them, there was no telling if the beast would have any mind to abandon the chase in order to slay the unprotected Princess Zelda.

Link looked down to Midna when he heard her gasp, and as she rolled out of his arms to sit with her back against the stone same as he, Link noticed the two long cuts on her side.  She grimaced, cupping a hand tentatively over the wounds.  As the stones behind them rocked and threatened to crumble onto them, Link sat trying to come up with a solution.  He had escaped death at the hands of this beast several times within mere minutes.  If he continued with his current strategies, both he and Midna would likely be dead within another few.

The task seemed insurmountable by all odds.  A tiny man versus a beast of such strength and magnitude….

His breath caught in his chest both at the sudden idea that came to him and the damaged suit that now made breathing impossible.  He struggled against the tightness, but the clasps that held the pieces together had been broken and twisted from the battle.  No matter how much he wrestled with the clasps they would not loose.

Hearing Link's desperate gasps for air, Midna looked up to him.  She saw his pain as he let his hands fall from his attempts at prying his armor from his body.  He met her gaze with exhausted eyes, and a look of defeat washed over them both.  Yet, as he looked into his partner's weak eyes, he found his reason for fighting … for living.  He had to continue; he could not lie down and surrender.

Midna could see his struggle to carry on, his soul's need to overrule his body's fatigue.  There was at least one thing she could do for him.

With a snap of her fingers, the clasps of his armor loosened, leaving Link able to peel the layers from his torso.  The rush of air into his lungs rejuvenated him, and after giving Midna a nod of thanks, he let his head fall back against the rumbling stone.  Closing his eyes, he got used to the idea of unhindered breathing again as he thought over the idea that had come to him.

They were quickly running low on time to act as the roars of the Dark Beast continued and the stones at their backs jostled and threatened to tumble down.  Link swept the beads of sweat from his brow, and it was with a defeated countenance, lips pursed and brows furrowed in fear, that he extended an upturned palm to Midna.  It took him a moment to explain his desire as she looked at him expectantly.  In that moment his crushed demeanor shifted to one of acceptance.  True, he feared what his choice might make him suffer, but … he was not afraid of the choice.

"Zant's crystal," he breathed.  "The one that changed me before."  He looked to Midna.  "Give it to me."

She remembered his continuous reluctance to use the dark magic to his advantage, especially in Snowpeak when the coat of the wolf would have kept him warm.  She remembered how the magic had turned him mindless and was sure that this combined with the pain of the transformation had kept him from using the crystal.  She knew he would not make the decision lightly.

Midna pulled out the crystal in a puff of shadow and set it gingerly in his hand.

Link looked at the crystal, the embodiment of Zant's magic, with a wondering eye.  This was his only option.  More than that, however, he thought that perhaps this was the will of the goddesses who had cursed--no, blessed--him.  Had it not been for his ability to transform into the beast, Ganondorf would have already won.  There would have been no one in Hyrule with the capability to oppose him and free the lands from Twilight.

This was his destiny.

Still, he had his concerns.  "I don't know if I'll end up like I was before," he said.  "Midna, if I … if I lose myself again…."  He locked his eyes on hers.  "You're the only one who can bring me back."  

He said it with such emotion, such trust, that it nearly brought a tear to Midna's eye.  And perhaps this was his way of expressing that something he had always left unspoken.  Link gave Midna a quick, reassuring smile--that special smile that had brought fire to her icy heart--and plunged the crystal straight into his chest … into his heart.

Link's eyes widened at the sudden warmth that burst into him.  He had prepared himself for the horrors that the transformation brought, but the sharp, knifelike feeling did not bring pain.  Instead, it was as if his very soul had become a beacon of light.  It felt strange, unlike anything he had ever felt before, but so similar to the night the Master Sword had stripped the darkness from his body.  He wondered if the blade of evil's bane was the device that had disallowed the terror of shape shifting, or … perhaps it was that of all the times he had previously transformed, this was the first time that he had accepted it as an extension of himself, a true part of his identity.

Whatever the reason, when the tendrils of shadow spread over him and engulfed him, he did not cry out.  There was no pain.  He calmly embraced the new sensation and discovered that without pain he could feel the true radiance he suspected the beast had always possessed but that he had been too blind with pain and contempt to notice before.

Midna watched how Link's eyes remained serene as they became those of the wolf, and she was surprised how his body did not clench with spasms of pain.  She did not understand how something that had delivered such unfathomable torture by the shore of Lanayru could now be something so gentle, and as he then stood on all fours and ruffled his full coat of fur, she thought that the white patterns from his underbelly shined with renewed gloss.  The presence of the Master Sword perhaps.  Then again … transformation should have been impossible since he still wore the Sheikah cloak.

It was clear there was a different kind of magic at work with so many powerful objects brought together as one.  The cloak, the Master Sword, the dark crystal.  Even Link himself who bore the mark of the goddesses.

Midna could not begin to understand.

Link leapt up through the rubble of the pillars, and when he perched on top of the pile, the Dark Beast stopped its assault.  Its bright yellow eyes met the crystal blue of Link's and it flailed its mane of fiery hair and bared its teeth in a show of strength, urging the new incarnation of its victim to the challenge.  A growl built in Link's lupine throat and he replied with a bark, showing rows of sharp teeth that glistened as if shards of the Master Sword itself.

As Link made his way to the floor of the throne room in just two leaps, he was reminded just how limber this body was.  Having four legs to guide his every move gave him an additional burst of speed.  He growled and barked as he drew closer to the Dark Beast, and as Link's hunkered and carefully stepping body circled the red and black monster, it gave a final roar before descending on the tiny wolf.

Link danced around every swipe of its claws with perfect timing, and in a matter of seconds he was alongside the beast and hopped up onto its side.  The wolf's claws dug into the skin of the beast, keeping him grounded against the now reeling beast.  Not even waiting for it to slam back down on its forelegs, Link scurried across its skin as if he were climbing a tree back in Ordon.

When he came to the brightest part of the white scar at its underbelly, Link sunk his teeth into the light … or, he would have.

In the instant before Link's maw clapped onto the exposed tissue, the Dark Beast tossed its body into a roll, which forced Link to abandon his position lest he be crushed by the weight of the beast.  However, he did not entirely give ground, for as the monster tumbled, he spun up and around or under whichever way he needed to stay aloft.  He paid no mind to the raging fire that flickered throughout its mane, even though it threatened to turn his tail to ashes on more than one turn of the beast.

As the beast slowed, staggered most likely from both its dizzying countermeasure and Link's impossible ability to remain buzzing around it like a fly on dung, it took a moment for it to recover.  Sharp, stinging pains no doubt raged within its body from the multiple small cuts delivered from Link's claws.  It was during this intermission that Link pounced on the opportunity for another attempt to attack its underside, but as he dove under the pit of its foreleg it rammed itself into one of the only columns left standing.  The hit jolted both of them, and it served to dislodge Link from the beast's arm.

Before Link could shake off his landing, the Dark Beast pounded a sharp set of claws against him that tossed him a few meters back.  Winded only slightly from the hit, Link gathered himself to his feet in moments … but with a minor limp.  He tossed a gaze to his aching side and three vicious cuts ran along his side and leg.  When he looked back to the monster it was giving him yet another growling smirk.

Link's lips parted to an angry grumble in his throat.  He charged at the beast and again feigned this way and that until his claws took hold of its tough skin once more.  The Dark Beast tried to ram its body into the pillar over and over to dislodge the wolf again, but this time it seemed that the small animal would not release its hold.

Biting and ripping at the beast's body sent it into a rage.  It flailed and bucked and smashed its body into the edges of the room as it ran along the walls while Link continued to attack.  He was determined nothing the beast did would send him spiraling away as he had so many times before.  Every other clamp of his teeth or thrashing of his claws would draw up a yelp or malevolent roar from the beast.

Blood dripped and poured from wounds on both beast and wolf.  Then, taking his steps with both care and speed, Link was again at the underbelly of the beast.  This time before it could dislocate him, he slashed his teeth violently across the great white scar.

The Dark Beast reared and Link knew that his attack had truly wounded it, weakened it.  After a repeated bite, however, it was impossible to keep hold of the belly as the beast toppled from the pain.  Link leapt away as its massive form slammed into the floor, sending an echo of vibrations through the stonework.  

Four flailing legs kept Link from its blemished underside.  It tossed its head, livid wails thundering into the air.  All Link had was his lupine instincts.

He pounced.

And landed at the beast's neck.

In only a few seconds, Link had nuzzled his way to the soft flesh of the wild beast's neck and bit down.  Hard.  With his prey's throat in his maw he tossed his head like any hound during the kill.  Yanking and pulling.  Growling.  He could taste the blood on his tongue now, could feel how it sapped away the energy of the beast.  He could feel the heat of the fire that shaped its mane, could hear and feel its struggle.

In the next moment, the Dark Beast stopped wailing … stopped fighting … stopped everything.

Its large belly no longer rose and fell.  Its jaw hung open in a silent roar and its eyes stared with a dim shadow.

The Wolf had slain the Beast.

Link leapt down from the thrashed neck and after tossing a long look back at the Dark Beast to be sure it was truly dead, he took a few steps away.  He closed his eyes and in a warm and bright flash of light he was almost instantaneously transformed into his human self once again.  There was no pain, no pounding crack of bones, no swelling ache of his insides remolding.  He breathed in human air once more and saw with human eyes.

But the taste of warm blood was still wet on his tongue as it covered his lips and dripped down a corner of his chin.  He spat out a mouthful of its stickiness, but nothing could cleanse the sour taste from his mouth.  He gazed back at the Dark Beast.  At last, his ultimate foe lay dead in a puddle of crimson and rainwater.  The fire that had defined its mane was no longer, and all that remained was the charred residue of what had once been fine red hair.

Link looked to where he had left Midna and saw that she had managed to climb to the top of the rubble at some point during his fight with the beast.  He saw the relief in her face, not only that the Dark Beast had been killed but that Link had indeed not lost himself to the dark magic.  Link could not manage a smile of reassurance, but the bright sparkle in his eyes told her that it was indeed over.  She slunk down against the rocks, thankful at last that they had come to the end.  Link was safe.  His world was safe.  And with the death of the evil tyrant her realm was free at last.  That was all she wanted.

He started toward her to help her down, but his foot scraped against something.  At first he thought it a stone jostled loose from the battle and paid it no mind, but when he glanced from mere reflex, he realized it was the dark crystal.  It seemed an ordinary thing among the ruined chamber, but the power it held was unimaginable.  Something in Link, an ache in his bones, told him that the time of the divine beast was over.  He had taken its form for the last time.  With the Dark Beast dead, the people of Hyrule would no longer need the great wolf to protect them.

It was not on some whim that he drew the Master Sword.  He understood now the truth of the divine beast.  It was part of who and what he was.  Now that he had finally accepted that, had called on the power not only because he needed it but because he finally understood it … he thought perhaps that had been the purpose of his journey all along.  Not only protecting Hyrule but discovering and believing in who he truly was.

With a swift downward thrust, the tip of the Master Sword scattered the dark crystal into powerless shards, and in the silence that followed, Link unclasped Zelda's cloak from his shoulders and let it fall to the floor.  No longer did he need its protection.

No longer did he fear the Twilight.