Tears of a Broken Kingdom

Chapter Twenty-two ~ Instrument of Destruction

Disbelief.

Zelda stares at the shards in her hands, not believing her eyes.

The pieces of glass were smooth and rounded, like fallen flower petals.

Would it even work? The notes still seemed to hang in the air, taunting her.

Zelda continued to back away from the Gerudos, worried she'd have to make a break for it. She'd never get away though, they had the advantage of knowing the desert, she was the outsider. It would play out the same, she'd have to experience it all over again, Link's torture, his death, the aftermath. Zelda didn't think she could handle to see it again.

A small pinprick of light began to grow out around her, wrapped the world in white. It was gradual this time, as if the power had drained. Brightness grew and blossomed around her and the world faded away.

I'm sorry.

>*<

The dimension of nothingness appeared before her again, and Zelda was floating and yet standing at the same time. The clocks appeared on the floor, but they were still this time.

She still held the fragments of the ocarina in her hands, worried her tie to this rift, this dimension beyond time, would fracture, taking her to Hylia knows when.

There was something about the rift that felt off, but Zelda couldn't put her finger on it. It was like the feeling of solemn power and mystery had vanished, it felt tired, worn out. But what had happened?

"Zelda."

Zelda felt herself jump at the voice, it boomed across the void, filled the air. She didn't know exactly who it was, but with the feminine voice it had to be one of the goddesses.

A pit formed in her stomach and she fought the nausea that came along with it.

A figure appeared before her, out of nowhere.

Hylia.

"Y-your Grace,"

It was near impossible for Zelda to get her body to comply, it must've been an effect of the void, but she managed a head bow to show reverence.

Hylia's expression was solemn and serious, a small frown on her face. Her hair seemed to move by an invisible wind, long and golden blonde. She was impossibly tall, like a giant.

Why is she here?

The words stuck in the back of Zelda's throat. It almost felt like she was a child again, being scolded for something she did wrong.

What is she going to do to me?

"That ocarina in your hands, it is an advantage over everyone else.
No mortal should have the power to challenge fate."

Zelda's eyes slid down to the broken ocarina, it felt like ice in her hands. All the power had been sucked away. An innate sense of fear had come to her and Zelda felt cornered against a wall, dreading the punishment she knew awaited her. Zelda had been so blinded by the fantasy she'd built for herself she hadn't thought of it like that.

"The past is set in stone, fate is already written. There are things at play beyond your control and meddling with what has already passed won't solve anything. His death had to happen. It marks the end."

Huh?

Her voice almost sounded forlorn. Just a hint of it. What was going on? Zelda didn't even want to begin guessing what was going on. Her mind was already in overdrive and this just cranked up the gears.

Silence pervaded and Zelda felt herself began to fade, a pain rose up into the front of her thoughts, a rude awakening from the strange weightlessness she'd felt before, almost like she hadn't existed in the physical sense.

Hylia's face remained as impassive as it had been from the beginning, but her eyelids drooped, a look of disappointment.

Zelda's vision began to go dark. Sharp sounds rang out, screams seemed to shatter her glass mind. The bloodcurdling sounds deafened her and Zelda fell into darkness again, the only sense left being the shards in her hand.

>*<

It stung to open her eyes, light flooded her vision.

It was strange, the light. It flickered and crackled.

She couldn't hear anything, but she felt hands on her shoulders. A small noise began to rise up over the deafening white sound as her hearing returned.

"mom."

"Mom."

"MOM!"

Everything clicked together and Zelda bolted up from the floor with wide eyes. So it was fire, it blazed and filled whatever room of the castle she'd been sent to. Dark smoke ascended to the ceiling, thick and pungent. The world was on fire, sparks sprayed as the flames claimed the room, charred remains fell down into the ashes and embers.

"Mom we have to go!" Ashton said, panic in his voice.

"O-okay."

She picked herself off the ground, feeling the ocarina pieces fall to the floor, but it was too late to gather them back up. Too late for anything. Time to run.

Ashton grabbed his mom's arm, pulling her out of the room. Zelda didn't know how long she'd been out, not too long was her best guess. She'd worry about when she was later, the fire fueled the adrenaline that coursed through her.

It was tricky getting out of the castle, the fire licked up the walls and the heat from the flames became unbearable. The smoke was dark and it hurt to keep her eyes open- much less breathe. But they pushed on, that was the only thing that could be done, other than letting the flames turn them to nothing but charred skeletons and ash.

What had happened to cause the fire? It seemed too powerful to have been caused by accident.

Zelda kept her mouth shut though, she didn't want to risk inhaling more of the fumes.

The castle seemed almost unrecognizable in the fire, charred pieces of rubble littered the floor and everything was dark, the only light was the fire. The rubble ranged from mostly intact to ashes, and some of the remains were unmistakably corpses.

Despite the castle being made of stone, the walls seemed to burn too, the flames eating away and leaving small holes that peppered the hallway.

There were a series of loud booms that shook the castle, a large blast issued down the hallway, leaving a hole in the wall. Rubble surrounded the opening, large cracked slabs of stone.

Is the castle under attack?

Fear mixed with the adrenaline, and Zelda knew the opening was a chance to escape.

The hole in the wall was large enough to slip through, but it would be a hard landing to the ground, several feet below. Zelda swallowed hard. She'd do it.

Zelda went up to the gap and leaned herself out into the open air, the cold air welcome in contrast to the broiling heat from the fire.  She let the wall go, dropping to the ground as lightly as she could.

The shock of her landing left a jarring pain in her ankles, her entire body ached from the fall. But she tried to shrug it off, there were more important things to worry about.

Ashton dropped silently after her, managing to land a roll which helped to absorb some of the shock.

There wasn't time to stop now. They needed to get somewhere... somewhere safe.