Rewriting the Past

Astor

"I dream of the day when we won't have to deal with sentient pools of Malice." Impa grumbled as the Hollow lunged.

Impa met the mimic Master Sword with her kodachi. She twisted it and tried to force it out of the Hollow's hand. But the fiend held fast and, in a fluid motion, twisted its sword back around, forcing Impa to drop it before delivering a swift key to her chest. Impa fell back, Destiny took her place and reached out and grabbed its arm.

Her hand glowed as it made contact with its arm. It screamed, trying to free its arm, but Desi, who was much stronger than you may think, clamped down, not letting it get away. The light under Desi's palm grew to encompass the Hollow.

It grew so bright until I couldn't look at it straight on. There was a fading scream that sounded too much like my own as the light finally overtook the Hollow.

The prophet cackled as the light faded. "Learned a few new tricks, I see?" He taunted as we turned on him. He didn't look the least bit afraid, only smug. "You're not the only one."

He lifted his hand and Malice from the air condensed into and formed yet another Link Hollow. It looked mad as it targeted Destiny. I blocked it and kicked it back.

"So he can obviously regenerate the Hollow as many times as he pleases." Impa said, throwing a knife at the Hollow's chest. It flew through harmlessly, tearing through a tapestry as it fell. She growled in annoyance.

"That means we have to take out the source: Astor!" Desi yelled as she shot an arrow at the Hollow. It got stuck in its shoulder and seemed to hinder him, but not enough to make a difference.

"But how do we do that?" Impa asked. Astor was cackling madly, watching all of this from above. Like we were the most entertaining thing he's ever seen.

Without warning, a glowing arrow shot through the air, just barely missing Astor. He stopped cackling and looked down to glare at Desi, who was nocking another arrow. "I'm sick of this." She said as she took aim and fired again.

This one hit his hand, causing the strange object he always had to fall out of his hand. Malice streamed after it like gross streamers as it succumbed to gravity.

"No!" He cried, diving for it.

I swiped the Master Sword through the Hollow, causing it to dissipate, and spun around, waiting to crush the object as soon as it entered range.

But that's not what happened.

Astor reached the object in time, just as it got close enough for me to smack out of the sky with the Master Sword.

His smirk was back and he cradled the object. "You really think you could destroy it that easily?"

"No," Destiny said. "I just wanted to get you close enough for this next bit."

I was just as confused as Astor was until I saw Flora climbing over onto a ledge just behind Astor. She must've found more arrows as she got out her bow and loaded it. A pale yellow light blossomed around the arrowhead as she lifted the bow.

The arrow flew through the air and hit Astor in the shoulder (Desi must've told her to maim not kill so we can punish him).

Astor yelled, but by the time he turned around, a Rito had picked up Flora and she was gone.

"What is the meaning of this?" Astor tried to say, but was interrupted when I grabbed the hem of his cloak and forced him down to ground level.

He fell down, the object rolled away under Impa's feet. I put a foot on his chest and leveled the Master Sword at his throat.

"It's time to pay for your crimes," Desi said, coming up beside me. "for all the destruction you've caused and lives you've taken."

"Oh, my dear." A creepy grin spread across Astor's face. "I don't think I will."

He melted into shadow, causing me to stumble forward with the sudden loss of balance. I felt someone kick me in the back, sending me sprawling. I heard Impa cry out, but by the time I scrambled up, he was gone.

"The story of my triumph was writ long ago! How dare you try to efface!" Astor's voice echoed through the Gatehouse.

"It." Desi said. "How dare you try to efface it."

"Where'd he go?" Impa yelled in frustration. "I thought that kind of magic was long dead! Shadow Magic hasn't been used since the Shadow Invasion!"

"What happened?" Time asked as they came running in, they must've gotten the doors to open. "Where is he?"

"Was all that for nothing?" Flora asked. "D'you know how hard it is to summon that much light for me?"

"He ran away, but we have to find him!" Desi said. "Let's continue up to the sanctum, I have a feeling he'll be waiting for us up there. I also feel like this is all just a game in his eye..."

The little guardian came up to Desi and whistled for her attention. She smiled.

"But we can face this, we will be able to defeat him. One way or another, Hyrule's fate shall be decided today."