The Legend of Zelda: Wisdom and Courage

Chapter 22: The Spirit of the Blade

"I love you." The three very same words that she had wanted to say to him for so long now took her breath away upon hearing him say them to her. And, she had only been a few seconds away from saying them when he had done it instead, showing once again that his courage was greater than hers in the best of ways. The sincerity and affection with which he had proclaimed it had assured her that his feelings were nothing less than true and absolute, mirroring her own love for him perfectly. She wanted nothing more than to immediately respond by stating her own feelings for him, but she was so taken in by his sudden confession that she could hardly breathe, much less speak. And so all she could do was stare at him with wide eyes, words completely failing her as he drew her in closer, hoping to finally bridge the gap that had been standing between the two of them for far too long. But it was only as their lips were seconds away from touching that the storm of darkness began.

Only a few feet away from where Link and Zelda were sitting, a bolt of violet lightning crashed down, the break in the dark clouds above refilling almost immediately. Violent winds began to stir up the rough sands of the desert around them and booming thunder crashed throughout the area. It was clear that this was no natural storm, but rather a magical one set upon the hero and the princess by Veran. Perhaps she knew that the two of them were there, but even if she didn't, they still had to hurry out of the rushing winds, blowing sands, and raging lightning and find shelter somewhere.

Without a second thought, both of them were on their feet, running back across the desert towards the general direction of the Spirit Temple. Neither one of them was able to shout a word over the roaring thunder, lest they receive a mouthful of sand, which was blowing across the desert so thickly it felt like a lingering fog. As they rushed through the storm as fast as they could, Link made sure to hold onto Zelda protectively, lest he lose her in the blinding sands. After what felt like hours of pushing through the tossing winds and dodging the erratic lightning, the couple somehow managed to make it to the temple and found refuge from the storm in its entrance, where they both leaned against the stone walls to catch their breath, despite the fact that they were both covered in sand from head to toe.

"Veran… must have sent… this storm…" the princess panted out between heavy gasps of air. "Oh goddesses…" she whispered in fear, her eyes widening in realization a moment later. "You don't think she's found us… Do you?"

Link glanced out of the temple into the still raging sandstorm and found no sign of the sorceress. But even still, he couldn't help but feel guilty as he shook his head in confirmation that Veran wasn't there. After all, he knew full well that the sorceress was able to see their every move and know their every location thanks to the curse she had placed upon him, which was why she had sent such a brutal storm after them. "No," the hero told the princess nonetheless, even though he knew it was a lie. "I don't see her, but we can't be certain that she's not out there."

Zelda sighed, closing her eyes to think the situation through for a moment. "I don't think this is the kind of storm that we can just weather out…" she mused, looking to the door of the temple. "She must be trying to corner us. She knows everything the sages just told us and she knows that if she can kill us, there will be no stopping her. All she needs to do now is find us."

"She already has…" Link muttered to himself, casting a glare to the ground.

"What was that?" Zelda asked, having not heard him clearly.

"Nothing," the hero quickly dodged the subject as he posed his own question. "So, what do you think we should we do now?"

The princess frowned as she leaned her head against the wall of the temple. "I don't know…" she said, rubbing her temple to try and ease her newfound headache away. "It's not like we have time to just wait this out, and the ocarina and the harp wouldn't be able to get us out of here thanks to the storm's interference. We need to go as soon as possible. Like the sages said, Hyrule needs us. And, it's like you said: we can't just sit around while Veran causes even more damage."