The Master Cycle tore through the grass and dirt as Link and Zelda raced towards Hateno Village. Even in the night, they could see the black and gray smoke come from over the hills and disappear into the stars. Link sat in the front with Zelda holding onto him in the back. They didn't say anything to each other. They couldn't. They both knew that something was happening to the kingdom, and that they would be there to stop it.

They both pushed the prior events to the back of their minds and continued on, preparing for the worst.

Link continued to speed around every corner leaving a very distinguishable trail behind. He could feel Zelda's grip tighten around him. As they got closer and closer they began to smell the smoke and saw it grow bigger in the distance.

A few minutes later, they could see a small group of people at the entrance to the village. They all had somber faces, which confused the two, because there was no fire to be seen. All the houses and shops were as they always were. No fire. Nothing.

They both got off the bike and stood in the midst of them. No one said a word.

"What's going on?" Zelda started to ask, but was cut short when Link sprinted away towards where the smoke was originating from.

"I'm sorry, Princess," one of the men said.

In that moment she realized where the fire actually was. She took off towards Link. She turned a corner, passed a few houses, and arrived at the bridge leading to Link's house.

Or what was left of it.

The house was engulfed in flames. Orange, yellow, and red swarmed around the small building, eating away at what was left. The roof had collapsed and was continuing to go down. The fire crackled and the flames roared.

Zelda ran across the bridge to where Link stood. His body looked as if it were to fall at any moment, much like the house in front of them. She had never seen him look so helpless and shocked. Zelda continued to stare at the house. All of a sudden her mind came back to her.

"Link!" she exclaimed. "We need to put this out!" She began to run towards the small pond to the right but then realized why Link wasn't moving. Not only was the house on fire, but everything connected to it: the tree in front, the small shed, and...

The stable. Two horses lay burned, motionless under the roaring fire.

Link collapsed to his knees. He sat emotionless as he processed what was happening. Then, his entire body grew tight. His teeth clenched and the veins in his neck began to bulge. He felt hot tears start to fall down his face. Then he screamed. He screamed at the burning building in front of him. He screamed for everything that had been lost inside. He screamed for Leighton. He screamed for Epona, his most loyal companion. In that scream, all the anger and sadness that had been building up was released. He silently sobbed, his breathing interrupted by the outpour of tears.

Zelda knelt down next to him with silent tears of her own. She watched the hero mourn for one of his greatest friends. She placed an arm around his shoulder. He turned to look at her. His eyes were red and tear stains lined his face. His whole body shook with his deep breaths. He shifted his eyes down to the grass. With his hand, he wiped what was left off of his face.

"Ok," Zelda said just loud enough for him to hear. "Let's put this out."

Link nodded. He began to stand but stopped as he looked at the house again. Zelda followed his line of sight to the door.

In the flaming doorway stood a dark figure. The flames licked the body. The silhouette stayed still in the doorway for a moment, then stepped out of the now scorched house onto the grass. The hero's eyes and the princess' widened in shock. The dark figure was unscathed by the fire. It was dark; black as the night. The skin was dark gray. The long hair was platinum and tied in a ponytail. It wore what seemed to be the champion's tunic, except instead of blue and white, it was black and dark red. The trousers it wore were gray as well.

Link shot up from the ground. He looked at the person some more. It was like looking into a mirror. The figure looked exactly like Link, except he was all black.

Dark.

"You're him?" The figure finally spoke. His voice was the same as Link's

Both Zelda and Link stood paralyzed.

The dark figure started to take a step forward. Instinctively, Link took one, too. They both walked up, legs in sync. Once Link was face to face, he could see even more details. The skin the figure had occasionally pulsed and moved ever so slowly around its body. The eyes were the same piercing black and yellow ones Link had shot at many times before. Small streaks of what appeared to be translucent black steam emanated off the body. Link's wheels turned as it finally clicked for him.

"Malice?" Link questioned the figure. His voice was hoarse after his outburst.

It nodded.

The figure standing before Link was a complete copy of himself. But made of malice.

How could this be possible? It had to be the same malice as the one Kanto used on him: it was the only amount left in the kingdom. Is that why he hadn't died? Had Link given the great evil life again?

When the malice had taken over his body, he had literally felt his life leave him. It wasn't like before, when he had died in Zelda's arms. Back then, he felt his life still inside him, it had just all stopped. With the malice, he felt his life leave his body. He didn't understand then, but now, looking back, it felt as if his life was being transferred to someone else.

He continued to think about this thing in front of him. He stared into his electric yellow eyes. They looked lifeless: like an empty void that never ended.

"Link!"

Out of instinct, Link jumped back at Zelda's cry. He backflipped and entered the state he went to when he had a flurry rush ready. He decided not to pull his sword out yet and just observe. The figure had tried to swing a sword down onto Link. It was a sword commonly used by the Yiga Blademasters.

Link landed relatively close to where Zelda stood: about 30 feet away from the dark figure.

It took a few steps forward, then slashed the air in front of him.

Dark Link

————————

Hero of Malice

He pointed the sword at Link and Zelda.

"You two were supposed to be in there when I set it ablaze," Dark Link stated. "We thought another slow death would be fitting for the boy who cheated out of it twice."

"What is he talking about, Link?" Zelda questioned.

"That's the malice the Yiga tried to kill me with," he responded.

"What? How-"

Dark Link sprinted towards them. Without thought, Link took off to meet him. In sync, they clashed their swords together. The Master Sword shined its blue hue on impact: the color it showed only when it was at full power. Or when it was in the presence of the Great Evil.

They both retracted and swung again. This time Link tried for his legs, but Dark's sword was already there. Dark pushed the sword upward, knocking Link back, and thrust his foot at Link. He dodged it just in time and steadied himself as Dark's back was towards him. Link saw his chance and swiped. In a flash, Dark's sword was there, blocking his back.

"I know everything," Dark Link growled.

Suddenly, the entire house buckled and collapsed. The fire consumed the wood and everything under it. Zelda placed her hands over her mouth as the flames danced around each other.

Link drew his sword back and readied for another attack. They exchanged blow after blow, but the other was there to block and retaliate every time. Neither of them possessed a shield, so it was all offensive attacks.

Link tried his best to find weak points in Dark's fighting style, but couldn't. It was like he knew when and where he would strike next. He fought exactly how Link did.

It was tiring, Link breathed heavy and sweat began to drip down his neck. The heat from the fire mixed with the maximum effort he was putting out were almost too much. Never had a monster lasted this long against him. Dark looked unfazed by the fight. He wore the same cold and angry expression.

Link drew his sword far back and tried swiping upward, but whiffed it. Dark Link easily dodged it and struck Link in the back with the butt of his sword. Zelda let out a cry as Link collapsed to the ground. Link raised his sword over his body, expecting a swing from Dark, but instead got a powerful kick to the stomach. Link doubled over. He felt a foot step on his shoulder to turn him over. He looked up at Dark Link with his sword raised high. Victory flashed in his eyes.

"I didn't think it'd be this easy," he spat.

Link raised his sword over his body. Everything ached. He could barely hold it for a few seconds.

"There can only be one hero."

Dark Link brought his sword down with all the force he possessed in his body of malice. He swung down on Link, but stopped in mid air, about a foot above Link's face. Dark Link's sword now lit up with a yellow color, flashing and dinging. Link snapped his head over to Zelda, who had the Sheikah Slate pointed at the sword.

She had activated Stasis.

"What is this?" Dark Link tried to pull his sword back, but it wouldn't budge. It was frozen in mid-air.

Link knew exactly what she was thinking. The sword was just far enough away, so Link took his own, and wailed on it. He swung the master sword as hard and as fast as he could. The yellow quickly turned to orange and just as fast to red. The dinging became faster, too.

Dark Link continued to yank on the sword suspended in the air. His red eyes shot to Zelda.

"What did you do?" he growled.

The flashing and dinging was now insanely fast. Dark Link's hands were tight around the hilt as he yanked harder. Then, in the blink of an eye, the sword, along with Dark Link, skyrocketed into the air, far over the hill, and disappeared into the night sky.

He was gone. For now.

Link fell back onto the grass to catch his breath. Zelda attached the slate to her pants and ran over to him.

"Are you ok?" she asked, kneeling down over him.

"I'm fine," he said. "Just a little shocked."

Zelda stood up and stretched her hand out to him. He took it and she pulled him off the ground. They both looked over the hill to where he had disappeared.

"That was the malice they used?" Zelda said.

"It has to be," Link responded. "I must've somehow given it life... or something. I don't know..." He trailed off as he looked at his house and saw Epona once again.

He sharply sighed and began to jog to the bridge. They could start to feel raindrops hit their bodies.

"Start to put it out," he said over his shoulder. Zelda watched him draw farther away and to the villagers. She found a toppled bucket on the ground nearby and filled it with the water from the pond.

The house wasn't much of a house anymore. There wasn't a lot of wood: more ash than anything. The rain made the fire sizzle at the contact, along with the water from Zelda's bucket. The rain began to fall harder as Link returned with a few villagers with buckets of their own. They started an assembly line passing buckets from the well across the bridge to the house. Bucket after bucket and raindrop after raindrop the fire shrank until it was only embers, coals and piles of ash.

Link and Zelda stood at the pile. Staring. A lot of things had just happened in a very short amount of time. Link mopped some of his wet hair away from his eyes and walked onto the pile. It looked like he was searching for something. He stepped around for a while until his eye caught a piece of paper under some blackened wood. Zelda joined him on the pile. In his hands he held the picture of Hyrule's Champions. The edges were singed and parts were now scratched. Zelda touched the picture as well. She ran her fingers along it.

Link gave the picture to Zelda and stared out into the dark and rainy landscape. Zelda put the picture into his bag.

"I think this is the only time rain has been convenient," Zelda said half-heartedly, knowing that rain had impeded his travels many times before.

Link didn't change. He continued to stare out.

"Let's hurry back," Link whispered. He began to turn when Zelda grabbed his arm. He paused.

"Link," she said.

He turned back to face her. He had never looked more somber.

"I'm sorry," she said.

He looked at her. Then, brought her into an embrace. She ran her hand through the hair on the back of his head. "We'll be ok," she whispered.

They both let go and followed each other across the bridge, to the master cycle, and back to Kakariko Village.

—————

The rain had let up significantly when they arrived back to the village. The Master Cycle splashed to a halt in front of Impa's house. They walked up the wet stairs and paused at the door.

"What do we tell her?" Zelda asked.

Link just stared at the double doors in front of them.

Zelda sighed. "I guess we'll figure it out as we go."

Link nodded and pushed open the door.

They were shocked at the scene unfolding in front of them.

Paya knelt in tears at the bed. Sheik stood next to her looking down. On the bed was Impa. On her back, eyes closed.

Zelda ran to Paya and kelt by her.

"You must lead them, Paya. I believe in you," Impa whispered before she fell completely silent.

The room was still. No one dared move a muscle. They took in the reality of what had just happened.

Impa had passed on.

"Oh, Zelda! Zelda!" Paya shoved her face into Zelda's shoulder and bawled. She gripped Zelda's shirt and wept. Link stood with his mouth hanging open. Sheik's red eyes looked back at him. He slowly walked up.

"Sheik, if you had anything to do with th-"

Sheik held up his hand. He then used it to pull his scarf down.

"Hero... I did nothing," Sheik whispered. He bowed his head and looked back at the bed. "I did nothing," he said, even quieter than before.

Link studied him as he choked up. "You will stay."

Sheik turned around. "What?"

"Our deal," Link answered. "You said I could choose to do whatever I want with you. I've decided you will stay in the village." His eyes trailed to the bed again. He felt his eyes well up and stumbled back. He quickly ran out the door leaving Sheik standing confused and Zelda and Paya weeping at the edge of the bed.

Link braced himself on the handrail outside. It was all hitting him at once. The Yiga wanted him dead, another evil who wore his own face was alive and hunting him down, and his house had been destroyed. On top of all that, his greatest companion, Epona, was gone and now Impa, the woman who guided him and always knew what to do, was gone.

He ran his trembling hands through his hair out of stress and confusion. He threw his hair band on the ground and let his hair fall in front of his face. He backed up into the wall and slid down. His thoughts wouldn't stop coming.

Link sat there for a long time and eventually watched as the sun peeked over the hills and cut through the purple sky. A sudden calm passed over his body. He felt as if the sun had filled him with a calm assurance. He slowly stood up and looked over the village. He sighed and set his jaw. Wiping the tears from his eyes he knew what needed to be done.

Even though they had lost many and had to overcome it, Hyrule was in need of a hero once again.

Main Quest

DESTROY THE YIGA