Chapter 17
Time Undone
Even as black turned again to rich blue and then faded, the blue of the sky through the Kokiri Forest’s branches greeted them. Dazed as ever after such an exhilarating experience, Link lay on the soft grass, breathing deeply and wondering again if he didn’t just wake from some incredible dream....
Then, three stars whisked by above him, one red, one blue, one green. With a glisten and echoing chime they circled above, drawing closer and closer to each other in their spiral dance.
Red. Blue. Green—
Link bolted up, glancing over just long enough to see Midna sitting up and also staring at the hovering Spiritual Stones before turning his eyes back to them. Link’s eyes darted to the Mirror, and he wondered at how they’d been returned to this place once more. Then, his eyes watched the hovering Stones.
The Stones finally united, fitting intricately like a jigsaw whose pieces have gone missing far too long. They locked together in a perfect whole of smooth gold and glittering facets. Then, music chimed from within them, creating a melody even more ancient than the Stones themselves, a song which had existed at Hyrule’s Creation.
Midna grasped his hand. He didn’t need to look at her. Anyone who knew the smallest sliver of Hyrule’s history would recognize its solemn yet majestic, commanding strands.
The Song of Time.
Louder it played, its chords progressing into something truly passionate and intricate.
The symphony flooded all the wood, holding their eyes captive to the Stones which radiated with a promise that the goddesses yet watched over them. The ground began to rumble. It shook, swayed, jolted. Still, Midna and Link could not remove their eyes from the Stones. Some force seemed to freeze them in time even as the boundaries of time were utterly defied. From his peripheral vision, he could see the ground splitting as something huge erupted from the earth, building its way up and up until it surrounded them....
And then, everything stopped.
The silence felt deafening.
When he finally thought to look around, Link stared with a wonder that, were he able to talk, would have made him speechless.
“Ah...my goddess...” Midna breathed.
They sat in the midst of Hyrule Castle Town. Not as it stood now, in their time and miles away, but as it had stood countless years ago. Over the rafters, they glimpsed the highest cliffs of Death Mountain. Through the gate, swung open wide, Hyrule Field stretched. Just beyond a far ridge, they could make out the edges of Lon Lon Ranch. Behind them loomed the Temple of Time.
The First Hyrule had been resurrected and stood now in the midst of their present Hyrule.
Link could hardly tear his eyes away until his fingers crept upon something smooth and cool. Glancing down, he noted the Stones, lifeless at his fingertips, no longer glowing by their own power but merely by the shine of the sun. With awe, he picked them up, knowing what powers yet pulsed within them. The goddesses had made their mark; they meant to fight for Hyrule, and they would, just as Nayru promised.
Link looked up at the Temple, and then at Midna whose single nod signaled her agreement. Scrambling up, they hurried towards the wide, sprawling steps of the Temple.
Upon entering the tall arched doors, they slowed. So strange to literally step into a part of Hyrule’s past. How many times had he heard the tales, the descriptions of Old Hyrule? True, some details had been exaggerated, as legends often will be, yet, for the most part....
I know this place. It was as he’d always imagined.
He and Midna stepped forward. The only sound came from the gentle sweep of Midna’s cloak and the soft thud of Link’s footfalls. High arched windows allowed sunlight to stream down and dance upon the stone altar set before the stone doors marked with the winged Triforce, the royal crest of Hyrule.
No sooner did they rest before the altar than the Spiritual Stones suddenly hovered above the altar meant for them. Link’s heart raced. This was it. The final key which, upon its turning, would gain them access at last into the Sacred Realm, and the Master Sword....
“Link...” Midna barely whispered.
He glanced over at her. She gazed at the words etched into the altar, and his gazed followed, reading:
The Song of Time has already been completed many years ago.
Instead, the Songs of Shadow and Light must converge in this time and place.
A small frown played on Midna’s lips. Link also wanted to frown but tried not to. He understood they must play Midna’s Requiem...or he thought they must. Yet what did it mean by a Song of Shadow and Light?
“Link?”
Angst edged her voice. It didn’t seem like Midna to panic, but doubt began to cloud his mind too. They stood at the brink, at the end of the last chapter. If they failed now....
Calmly, he removed his ocarina. With a hopeful nod, Midna took out her flute. Together, they played her Requiem.
Over...
And over...
And over til their fingers grew sore of desperately pressing the notes. At last, their hands dropped, and Link could only stare at the Stones whose shimmer did not seem so vibrant and full of power now.
“Why?” Midna breathed, “What could we have done wrong now...?”
“You did nothing wrong,” echoed a chorus of voices from within the Stones which turned gently, glinting in the sun. “But the Songs of Light and Shadow must converge. If the worlds of Light and Shadow are to combine their powers in this time of need, their weapon must be of Light and Shadow as well. Both worlds are needed to save the other. Thus, both Songs are needed as well.
“The Songs of Shadow and Light must converge here....”
The last words echoed then failed like a dying zephyr until only silence met their ears.
How quickly that silence morphed from something peaceful and reverential into something sounding the approach of Hyrule’s imminent death.
Part 3