The Legend of Zelda: Blood and Spirit

Chapter 26: Standing Together

"But what about Master Link?" Fi asked, and that question alone made Zelda stop in her tracks. The close proximity of the dark relic had distracted her from the true reason why they had come to this treacherous place to begin with: to save the hero from extreme pain and torture. But if they had the possibly to get rid of the source of the Interlopers' great evil power at the same time, then wouldn't it be worth the risk to do it? Zelda knew that they would really only have time to do one or the other before the rebels overpowered them and she knew that this choice rested solely on her shoulders. On one hand, she had no idea where Veress was even keeping Link and she knew with near certainty where the Fused Shadow was located. The destruction of the dark relic would effectively mean the end of the Dark Interlopers and their wickedness once and for all. Yet on the other hand, the hero was no doubt gravely injured or worse, even if he was incapable of dying, and the girl's heart cried out to be near him again. But even so, she found that it was impossible to make such a choice in the heat of the moment, and so she merely shook her head as her former calm began to fade away.

"I… I don't know!" the girl exclaimed fretfully, but thankfully Sheik stepped in just in time with a plan.

"Then we'll spit up," she said succinctly, turning to Fi. "You go find the Fused Shadow and Zelda and I will go look for Link. All four of us will meet up somewhere before getting out of here. Got it?"

Zelda and Fi both nodded in agreement with this plan as they parted ways. The sword spirit hurried off in the direction that the girl indicated, hoping that it would lead her to the dark relic quickly. And, though they had no idea where to even begin to look for the hero in this labyrinth, Zelda and Sheik rushed off, hoping that they could make it to him before it was too late.

What the girl, the sword spirit and the Sheikah leader could have never known however, was that the Interloper leader had known of their escape from the very moment it happened. Veress scowled with displeasure as she stood in her quarters and used her dark powers to sense the three of them running around her fortress completely unrestrained. She knew what they had come there for, and she had no intention of letting them ruin her meticulous plans so easily. When she had first heard that her followers had managed to capture Zelda, Sheik and Fi, she had been wickedly overjoyed, especially when she had found a way to use this news, mingled with a little lying, against the hero. But now, the three of them were poised to rip her ambitions apart by the seams with their constant meddling. And Veress simply wasn't going to allow it.

The Interloper leader growled with frustration as she rubbed her temples, trying to think of a way through this situation. Her followers, as plentiful as they were, simply weren't going to cut it this time. Veress knew that she would have to take matters into her own hands if she wanted to come out of this round the winner. She hadn't lost yet and she had no intention of losing this game now, when she was so close to winning it. And so, she decided to adapt her strategy once more. She knew it would require some level of sacrifice on her part, but there was one thing that she absolutely could not let them take away from her if she ever hoped to win in the end and that was her Fused Shadow, the dark relic that she had put so much time and energy into creating and the key that she was certain would lead to her success in the end.

Despite the fact that things weren't going exactly according to her original plan, Veress grinned cunningly nonetheless as she began to saunter out of her room and head down the hall, alighting her hand with her dark magic nonetheless as she cast a simple enchantment over the entire fortress, shifting its various corridors in different ways to meet her needs. If the goddess thought that she was so clever, then the Interloper leader knew she was a thousand times more so. She would not let herself be defeated or outdone. She refused to be beaten by those she viewed as weaker than her. She was going to win this war, no matter what it took.