The Legend of Zelda - Tears of Light and Darkness

The underground of Hyrule Castle stretched before them like an abyss of darkness and mystery. The air was dense, filled with a cold humidity that seemed to envelop each step. Link and Zelda walked in silence, alert, while barely audible voices whispered in the darkest corners. They were ethereal voices, like laments asking for help, but they faded as soon as they tried to identify their source, leaving them with a strange chill.

They advanced to a vast hall, where the walls were covered with stone panels carved with ancient inscriptions. Zelda stopped immediately, her eyes lit up by the excitement of the discovery.

"Incredible... these inscriptions must be thousands of years old," she murmured, pulling out the Prunia Tablet and eagerly taking photographs. Her fingers traced the engraved lines delicately, as if trying to unravel the secrets hidden in each stroke.

Her mind returned to the teachings of her Sheikah tutor, and she pointed to one of the carvings that depicted a couple united in what seemed to be a ceremonial act, perhaps a marriage. The figures were clearly of different races.

"In the castle records, there is a legend about the origins of the royal family of Hyrule. According to those stories, my ancestors descend from a union between the Hylian race and gods who descended from the heavens. If this is true... they must have been the Zonnan!" she exclaimed with growing excitement.

Without waiting for a response, Zelda moved to the next mural, where a female figure lay in a horizontal position, while a monstrous presence loomed over her, holding a jewel.

"However..." she continued, "the legend also tells that an evil being arose, from one of the villages of Hyrule. This being, endowed with immense power and supported by two sorceresses, betrayed the kingdom and stole something of incalculable value."

She moved to the next panel, where a horde of monsters formed a devastating army. At the side of the mural, a colossal figure seemed to command the forces of chaos. Zelda could hardly contain herself; the legends she had heard throughout her life were taking tangible form before her eyes.

"Then the Demon King was born. He led a brutal attack on Hyrule, and a ruthless war broke out to stop his advance... the so-called Exile War."

As Zelda spoke fervently, Link remained silent. His senses were on high alert, scanning every shadow for dangers. The tension in the air made his skin crawl, and his instincts warned him that they were not alone.

Zelda stopped at a corner, where a pile of rubble blocked part of the murals.

"What a pity..." she said, her voice lowering, almost melancholic. "It seems that these carvings are inaccessible. I wonder... what secrets do they hide? Could this place have ever been crucial for the kingdom?"

She paused for a moment, the air heavy with mystery and the sensation that something was lurking in the shadows. Her mind was torn between fascination and unease. Finally, she turned to Link, her face marked by an inexplicable sense of fear.

"Let's keep going..." she said, trying to sound confident, but her voice betrayed a slight tremor. "Surely, further ahead we will find the answers we seek."

Link nodded, but a shiver ran down his spine. A visceral shudder seemed to emanate from the depths of the dark corridor when he saw the Master Sword begin to glow, first with a faint light, then with a radiance that grew stronger as they advanced.

"Zelda," Link said in a low whisper, the tension in his voice vibrating in the air. "There's something there... something in that hallway."

Zelda raised her gaze, her eyes anxiously searching the shadows that Link was pointing to, but all she found was the darkness, deep and suffocating. Her heart began to beat faster, fear rising in her throat. She put away the Tablet, and her steps, once sure, now became hesitant.

With each step toward the stairs, the air seemed to grow denser, almost tangible, as if the darkness itself were pressing down on them. A cold sweat ran down her neck.

"Link..." she murmured, her voice filled with anguish. "No... I don't feel like we're alone."

But it was already too late. The darkness enveloped them, and deep in the hallway, something was watching them.

It was deep within the castle where they made an even more unsettling discovery. There, in the center of the room, lay a dried-out mummy, its features erased by time, but still held in place by a metal arm. The gem embedded in the artifact glowed faintly, and from the top emanated a spiral of blue and green light, a mysterious aura that seemed to envelop the mummy's figure. As they approached, the metal arm collapsed to the ground, and the gem detached with a dull sound.

Zelda took it carefully, feeling a strange fascination with the relic. She studied it closely, examining the rune engraved on its surface. Immediately, she recognized it: it was a Zonnan rune, an ancient symbol full of power. A chill ran down her spine as she realized the magnitude of what they had just discovered.

Suddenly, something broke the silence and her concentration. A shiver ran through her as she instinctively stepped back. The mummy, which had been asleep for millennia, began to awaken.

Link, always quick to react, shoved her aside, stepping in front of her to face the mummy. However, the horrors that were unleashed were far worse than either of them had anticipated. Malice emanated from the mummy, cruelly enveloping Link. Link's scream of pain, as he was touched by the malice, echoed through the hallways. Zelda, powerless, watched in terror as the malice consumed him.

With his arm burning in unbearable torment, Link looked at the Master Sword, trembling, horrified to see that the evil had touched it, weakening its blade, making it vibrate with a sense of disintegration. With his heart pounding in his chest and excruciating pain coursing through his body, he tried again, raising the sword toward the torrent of malice approaching. But what happened next was a mortal blow to his hope: upon contact, the Master Sword shattered into a thousand pieces with a terrifying sound. The one symbol of resistance, the only weapon capable of repelling the darkness, broke like glass before the unyielding evil.

A shard of metal flew through the air, grazing the mummy's cheek, leaving a superficial wound. The creature's laughter intensified, now crueler, more triumphant.

Severely wounded, he fought to stay on his feet, his breath heavy and his body on the verge of collapse. His sword, the Master Sword, was shattered into a thousand pieces, its light gradually fading, as if it too were losing its power in the face of the growing darkness. Despite his exhaustion, he prepared to face the creature once more, regardless of the cost he would have to pay. But the sound of the ground collapsing behind him made him spin around quickly.

Horror consumed him. Zelda, who had been by his side moments before, was disappearing before his eyes. The ground beneath his feet crumbled, swallowing her into a dark abyss. Link reached out, desperate, but it was useless. His heart-wrenching scream tore through the air, a mix of helplessness and terror that only a human could experience when everything they fought for crumbled before them.

The darkness began to engulf everything around him, chaos invaded the place. Shadows rose like serpents, devouring the light, as Link leaped toward her with his injured arm extended, a desperate scream coming from his throat. Each second felt like an eternal torment, his body torn by pain, but his mind thought of only one thing: I can't lose her.

For a moment, he saw her figure surrounded by a blinding light, warm and familiar. But when he reached out to grasp her, everything faded away.

The silence that followed was absolute. Link woke up sometime later, his body battered and his arm glowing with a strange light. A voice spoke to him, explaining that he had been replaced to stop the spread of the malice.

He stumbled out into the open, but what he found was not the Hyrule he knew. Floating islands drifted across a broken sky, and in his mind, a familiar voice resonated:

—Find me, Link...

He clenched his fists, the echo of his name whispered by Zelda still ringing in his soul.

Meanwhile, deep beneath the castle, the mummy, transformed into a titanic creature, stood in the center of the room. Its grotesque figure rose larger than ever, its dark presence dominating everything around it.

A deep, cavernous laugh echoed, crumbling the echoes of the past, and the Hyrule Castle trembled under the weight of the evil that had just awakened. The air filled with an ancient, terrible presence, a sound that seemed to foreshadow the imminent destruction of everything Link had known. The Demon King had returned.

The Demon King raised his head, surveying his surroundings with a terrifying calm. His titanic figure, deformed by centuries of evil, seemed to absorb the light around him, plunging the room into even darker shadows. Each movement of the creature resonated like a rumble through the castle's innards, as if the very walls feared his presence.

—Everything that was once mine will be reclaimed. Hyrule, its people, its history... will fall before me. No one will live to remember it. No heroes, no legends... only ashes.

The darkness spread around him, and the shadows seemed to obey his will, slithering along the walls like serpents, covering everything. The air was thick with a sense of inevitability. There was no escape. No hope remained. The Demon King smiled, a cruel and merciless expression.

—There was no one who could stop me before. There will be no one who can now.

With a gesture of his hand, the darkness expanded further, engulfing the castle in a thick fog. The shadows seemed to come to life, taking the form of monsters and abominable creatures, all in service of his will.

Suddenly, the ground beneath the castle cracked, and a deep roar shook the earth. From the very bowels of Hyrule, thousands of eyes glowed in the darkness. The land began to quake as if the kingdom itself was about to crumble, and the Demon King's dark forces spread like a tidal wave.

Across the kingdom, in the hills, valleys, forests, and fields, the earth opened with a hellish rumble. Deep cracks began to form, connecting the kingdom with the abyss below. From these fissures, hordes of monsters emerged, creatures deformed by the corruption of darkness, their eyes glowing with fury and their twisted bodies reflecting the evil that had birthed them. They ruthlessly invaded the fields and roads, sowing chaos. Shadow giants and black-scaled dragons rose from the depths, responding to the Demon King's will, unleashing a storm of destruction upon Hyrule.

—The kingdom will fall! —he roared, his voice charged with absolute power—. And with its fall, I will be reborn, stronger than ever!

The Demon King's laughter echoed throughout the castle, a deep sound that seemed to drag everything in its wake. The earth trembled, and the broken sky darkened further, as if the world itself were preparing for his absolute reign.

And in that moment, Hyrule, the once-prosperous kingdom, was dragged into the depths of darkness.

There was no hope. No light remained. Only the shadow of the Demon King, who had returned to claim what was rightfully his: the end of all resistance.

As the world sank into darkness, the Demon King's voice echoed through the deepest corners of Hyrule, a sound that reached the farthest corners:

—No one will survive! This is the end!