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Legend had only a moment to catch his breath before the next monster rushed at him. The battle had been long and tough, but the number of monsters was dwindling rapidly.
The heroes around him fought with just as much ferocity as himself. He trusted Wild to watch his back, to take down any monsters attempting to sneak around him with his bow. He trusted Twilight and Four, who fought on either side of him. He trusted the rest of the heroes fighting around him, to fight hard and take care of each other.
He rushed forward, drawing his sword back to thrust into the torso of an approaching bokoblin —
As an arrow felled the monster in front of him. Legend leapt over its already dissolving body. Twilight and Four closed the gap behind him as Legend rushed forward, already slashing his way through a chuchu to get to the moblin behind it —
While the lynel roared as Hyrule struck the final blow. Legend hadn’t had time to observe the battle behind him. There were too many monsters. Not so many that he wasn’t confident that they could win, but enough that he couldn’t risk dividing his attention.
He hissed as an arrow barely grazed the side of his arm, but it didn’t slow him down as he ran towards the moblin ahead, which was already limping from previous attacks. He started twisting, readying a spin attack but —
The wizzrobe teleported away before Legend could land the hit. Instead, he pulled out his bow and shot one arrow after another into the wizzrobe before it could sneak up behind Twilight. It fell with a final cackle and —
Legend raised his shield to block a flying rock. The clearing was ringed by octoroks and the forest floor was covered in tektites. They were more annoying than anything, but the distraction was enough that all of the heroes had gotten hit by at least one rock.
He’d already broken away from the group, warning the others to stay away. He had a plan, one that would be especially good for taking out the group of monsters. He just needed space.
A final glance around him showed that he finally had enough room. Legend grinned as he took his sword in both hands and pointed the tip at the ground. He shoved the point into the dirt and —
He jumped out of the way as Wind ran past. Legend paused for only a moment to catch his breath and make sure the sailor reached his target safely.
Something about this battle was strange. Legend couldn’t put his finger on it. He tried not to let it distract him, but he slipped up, let a darknut get a little too close. He was lucky that Time was close enough to come to his aid, to block the worst of the attack, or it would have been much worse.
Legend cursed as a fire keese swooped down at him. He bashed it away with his shield. He could hear the screams of monsters as they were cut down around him. They were winning the battle, but taking heavy injuries as they did. Legend stepped forward to protect Time’s blind side before another monster rushed at him and —
He darted forward to fight the next monster. Slash, slash, stab. Dodge. Slash, spin and take out the monster trying to get to Time’s blindside. Fighting, to some extent, always felt like a dance. It became muscle memory, the moves choreography.
This one, however, felt like something Legend had rehearsed for weeks. Months even. Each step felt practiced. Each monster was another player in the performance. The ache in his body was a familiar burn.
He paused just long enough to catch his breath and looked past the monsters towards the edge of the forest. Red eyes glared out from the brush.
Legend knocked a goriya’s boomerang out of the air and rushed forward, readying a slash to take down the monster —
And the flock of keese fell to the ground, screeching as they died. The few fire keese smoldered, the grass around them catching. Legend coughed as he got a lungful of smoke. He waved a hand in front of his face to clear it away and looked around. He took stock of the other heroes. Wind danced around a darknut, working with Wild to take it down.
That gave him pause — hadn’t he just been fighting beside Time?
Legend barely noticed the monster rushing at him, just managing to raise his shield in time to —
Slam it down onto the bulbous head of an octorok. It deflated beneath him, wheezing as the air was forced out of it before it disappeared into wispy smoke. Legend jerked his leg as he felt a tektite starting to crawl up it. The nasty creatures were everywhere, more of an annoyance than a danger, but they were distracting.
Legend pulled out his firerod, hoping to take a bunch out at once. Something didn’t feel right about this, but he couldn’t figure out what. He looked around, making sure no one would get caught in the crossfire of his attack. The others were far enough away, but just inside the trees, he saw a figure shrouded in darkness, holding an object in its hands. Its red eyes met his just as —
Legend pulled Four out of the way of a blast of magic from a wizzrobe’s staff. Four barely had time to shout a thanks to him before he was chasing after the wizzrobe. Legend turned back to the rest of the monsters. They were beginning to thin, but Legend had a strange feeling that something else was coming. What it was, he wasn’t sure, but something was watching them.
He caught sight of movement at the edge of the forest and ran towards it. He trusted the rest of the heroes to take care of each other and watch his back, but if something was lurking there… he wanted to take it down. He tightened his grip on his sword and ran.
Through the brush, he could just barely make out an ashen figure dressed in dark clothes, its red eyes glaring as it raised a dark object to its lips. Legend shouted in fury and frustration as —
He raked his sword across the belly of a lynel. It roared in pain but took off running once more, rushing towards Hyrule. Wild shot a flurry of arrows into its flank, but it barely slowed it down.
Legend watched as Hyrule jumped out the way, giving Time the chance to land a heavy blow on the lynel. It turned to him and raised its massive blade.
Out of the corner of his eye, Legend saw a moblin ambling towards him. He turned away from the lynel, reluctant to miss the battle in case the others needed help, but he had his own fight to take care of.
An arrow grazed his arm, and Legend hissed. At least it was only — Legend froze. This was strange. Hadn’t he been hit with an arrow already? But he wasn’t bleeding anywhere else.
The moblin slashed at him with a jagged sword. Legend jumped back to avoid it before rushing forward, under the monster’s reach. At the last moment, he twisted, turning it into a spin attack. The moblin staggered back, then —
Legend stumbled, a sudden wave of exhaustion hitting him. This battle was tiring him out faster than normal. It hadn’t been going on for that long, had it? Sure there were a lot of monsters, but nothing the heroes hadn’t faced before. Except it felt like he’d been fighting for hours. For days. Small wounds were piling up. The other heroes were faring no better. He’d seen the other heroes downing potions after taking nasty hits, helping each other up after falling.
He would need healing soon as well, if this kept up. Legend knew he only had one red potion on him, so he had to wait for the right time to use it.
Rushing forward, he thrust his sword into the stomach of a moblin. As the monster fell, he just barely caught sight of a shadowy figure at the edge of the woods. It held something in its hands, though Legend couldn’t make out what it was. A gust of wind — likely thanks to the sailor — blew some of the brush out of the way, revealing the figure’s ashen gray skin and glowing red eyes.
Legend snarled and rushed forward, knowing exactly what it was. He raised his sword and —
Legend struck down the chu in front of him. He nearly slipped on the slime it left behind. He fought his way to the edge of the forest. Something was there. He had a feeling that whatever it was, it was controlling the tide of the battle.
Out of the shadows came a dark figure. Legend ran for it, trusting Time and Wind to watch his back. The figure drew a blade, and Legend readied his shield and —
He blocked a bokoblin’s club. He growled in frustration. This battle needed to be over. They were taking too many injuries. It needed to end. Now.
Legend broke away from the group of monsters, calling out to Wind to fight at Time’s side. He trusted them both to make sure no monsters snuck up on him. Especially since Wild was perched in a tree, taking monsters out with his elemental arrows.
He’d caught sight of the figure in the trees. Not a monster — a Dark. Something that many of them had fought at some point before their current journey. They had all been a little different, according to the stories shared around the campfire, but they had always been an enemy, a challenge, something to conquer.
The Dark had something in its hands, but before it could do whatever it was aiming for, Legend raised his shield and rammed into it, knocking it down to the forest floor. Legend fell with it, rolling around and back up to his feet. The Dark stood just as quickly.
Legend started circling, slowly, watching as the Dark mirrored his movement. The figure didn’t look exactly like himself — even aside from the unnatural color scheme — nor did it look like Ravio, which was a relief. It didn’t really look like any of the heroes, though there were a few familiar features. Time’s height, Hyrule’s fluffy hair. Even the way it held its sword reminded him of Four.
Not quite a combination of them, but Legend could see where its origins lied.
Legend twisted his sword in his grip as he came to a stop. They were at an impasse, neither willing, or perhaps able, to make the first move.
“So what kind are you?”
The Dark tilted its head to the side, not unlike Wolfie when someone spoke to him in a silly voice.
“Are you a copy? Created from the darkness in someone’s heart? A challenge from the goddesses?”
Legend wasn’t expecting an answer — he was merely trying to garner some hint about the creature. So when it spoke, Legend nearly dropped his sword.
“No.” Its voice was raspy, like a metal fork against pewter dishes.
Legend winced, then dropped back into a fighting stance. “Then what?”
He didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, he rushed forward, attacking head on. The Dark met him attack for attack, like a mirror image. They traded a few blows before leaping back away from each other. Though its stance reminded him of Four, its battle style was all Legend’s.
The sounds of the battle were beginning to die down as the remaining monsters were defeated. Legend kept his attention on the Dark in front of him.
“Are you the one dragging us across eras?”
“No!”
Legend rushed forward again, fainting an attack before spinning and trying to slash the Dark’s back. It stumbled forward, barely avoiding the blow and breaking their mirrored battle.
Legend stepped back again. He shook out his shield arm. It was beginning to ache from the long battle, not helped by the multiple clubs he’d had to block earlier.
“Then what do you want?”
The Dark gritted its teeth, its red eyes glowing brighter. This time, it was the one to rush forward. Legend parried its attack and countered with a thrust. The Dark wasn’t able to dodge, and wheezed out a pained breath as they separated once more.
The Dark still hadn’t answered his question. Something about this wasn’t right. It was fighting him, yes, but it wasn’t mindless like a monster. Or an empty shell like that darks he’d fought. It felt the most like —
Legend yelped as the Dark’s blade caught on the edge of his shield, just barely stopping it from slicing his neck open.
“Who’s command are you under?”
The Dark froze, and Legend stepped back, taking a breath. The clearing behind him was almost too quiet but he didn’t dare to turn and check on the others.
“Who says I’m under anyone’s control?”
Its voice grated on Legend’s ears, and the hairs on the back of his neck rose. He didn’t know why, but he had a feeling that this was not the mastermind behind their traipse through time. The mastermind behind this battle, sure. But not the war.
“For one,” Legend said as he ran forward. “If our true enemy had the power to turn back time like this, then it wouldn’t have taken this long to use it.” Legend slashed at the Dark a few times in quick succession, pushing it back.
“Two,” he continued. “We’ve seen it take the form of a lizalfos. If you had that ability, you’d be using it about—” Legend used his shield to ram into the Dark, knocking it over again. “Now.”
Legend kicked the sword away from the Dark’s loose grip and stepped on its shield arm to pin it down. He lowered the tip of his sword to its throat, putting just enough pressure on it to not draw blood. “And three. I’ve heard enough stories to know that a shadow is not always an enemy. Now, are you working for Ganon? Veran?”
The Dark huffed and narrowed its eyes. Its fingers dug into the soil and it shifted, as if in preparation to struggle and throw him off. Legend didn’t waver. He could hear the whispers of the other heroes behind him. Could feel the way they were ready to come to his aid. He paid them no mind.
“Are you a foe? Because I have no qualms with putting a stop to you.” Legend narrowed his eyes, glaring down at the Dark. Trying to convey a sincere threat despite his reluctance to strike a downed opponent like this.
“Call me… an interested party.” The Dark grinned, its teeth too sharp for its mouth. “Our goals are the same after all.”
Before Legend could even open his mouth to question what that meant, the Dark started fading beneath his feet. In moments, it had dissipated into inky smoke which soon blew away into nothingness, leaving nothing behind except an imprint in the grass and a single drop of black blood on the tip of Legend’s blade.
What in the name of the three did that mean?