by N Felts
from her chosen’s form, the goddess glances back to see Rift’s confused face as he comes to his senses, and reaches for her desperately. Her open palm drifts away from his extending grasp, eternally reaching for her helping hand. The only word the boy wants to hear is the four lettered offer of assistance from the companion he trusts with his safety. His life. His very soul. As the single tear falls from her cheek, Mai’s doesn’t understand what she is feeling when her lips part to speak her final farewell.
“I-I’m sorry,” she breathes, her eyes watching his fingertips strain to reach her before settling on his helpless face, struggling to form the words.
“You promi—“
Epilogue
In the years of ruin following the escape of the Fierce Deity, the unfortunate few to survive the grand ordeal desperately search for a meaning in the events that simply isn’t there. An explanation, simple in verse, but grandiose in theory and depth delivered to the mortal souls craving spiritual sustenance from their creators. Their faith shaken to the point of uprooting, the inhabitants of Hyrule slowly cease looking to the sky for answers, but instead live in an era of depression and resentment. A land bound by tradition and alliance left to its own devices, eventually splitting into separate regions just as it existed in the years before the Civil War. With history poised to repeat itself once again, the goddesses gaze down upon their creation, each of them pondering a different manner of meaning. Unable to explain the transpired events even if they chose to do so, the four deities watch their earthly inhabitants, finding themselves in a similar state of uncertainty. Independently they are unable to see the larger picture. Even Nayru, in her infinite wisdom, falls short of total comprehension, though her sisters look to her for guidance in these trying times. The simple truth and meaning behind even their presence lies in pieces. Just as an entity of perfect balance does not exist to claim the Triforce, the goddesses each possess merely a fragment of the grander meaning of their existence.
Intuitively compelled to create, the three goddesses of legend maintain their design as best they can, juggling concepts of morality and justice while maintaining natural laws and psychological order. Din, peerless in strength and will, relishes in the concept of power. It was through her chosen she hoped to establish an incontestable reign, and with it, force into place the necessary adjustments to establish a lasting state of order throughout the realm. Farore, an entity of infinite courage and optimism, cannot understand the necessity of evil. With her chosen she strived to banish all who would do another harm, and in her ideal world, every last inkling of immoral and wicked intent would be sought out and banished. Nayru, embodiment of knowledge and discourse, understands the need for both good and evil, but even so she finds no appreciation in the endless cycle. There can be no enlightenment without ignorance. No love without hatred. No peace without violence. Each side of the coin defines the other. Her chosen was a magnifying lens through which she hoped to better understand the aspirations of both good and evil creatures. Unfortunately, mankind is an animal ever changing in its needs and desires, and it is in her quest for unconditional comprehension she fails to simply allow the ultimate answer to find her.
Mai, the lonely keeper of the void, grew resentful in her eternal prison, endlessly looking inward for her own answers until she finally broke free. Her beloved chosen was only intended to be a shell through which she could enact her own solution to the perpetual cycle of her sister’s creation. No thirst for violence or love of destruction drove her to this end. Instead, a core connection with the void showed her a world without chaos. A world without sorrow, or limits, or questions. In time it became the only thing that made sense to her. Death. Concepts like love and indifference blended together in her mind, both of them equally perplexing in their irrational ways. It was only in retrospect that she finally understood the monumental meaning in establishing a connection to another. Through all of her lies, love, deceit, and affection she did not come to cherish the utterly unique bond between herself and the boy who trusted her unconditionally. In the single instant she left him behind, she learned more about the incalculable depths of emotion than in all the eons of her imprisonment combined. As she tasted the rawest fear, she understood security. While she executed her betrayal, she comprehended trust. When Rift reached out for her hand, she saw the essence of love. Now that the void has claimed his soul, as it does all things, Mai is left to her eternal prison to contemplate her obsession with nothingness, and her evanescent taste of happiness.
There once lived a man of many names. A hero. His life was extraordinary in every sense of the word. From his birth until his death he faced every manner of trial, both physical and mental, anyone could ever encounter. Living life to the fullest is a claim he, and he alone can make. He enjoyed the most potent happiness in the arms of his love, but suffered the most severe sorrow in the years following her disappearance. He endured the worst kind of pain, fighting for his life throughout his travels, but found the highest state of accomplishment upon achieving his aspirations. The purest of heart, and never faltering in his moral obligations, his mettle was tested beyond that which any mortal being should be put through. His body and mind beaten and pushed to the brink of destruction, he found the greatest power the world has ever seen within himself, and with it, saved the world from utter annihilation. The Triforce has long been heralded as the pinnacle of everything a man, or even a God, should strive to achieve. On that fateful day, Link revealed there are forces within the universe beyond even a deity, and with his unyielding, relentless, tenacious, and righteous passion, he found one. Without the aid or guidance of the goddesses, the hero spent many years combing every inch of the kingdom, searching for what he should have sought out in the beginning. With the Master Sword finally whole once again, the Sacred Realm opened at long last, and inside he was reunited with the only thing that gave him reason to continue all those years. The true source of his strength, deeper than any degree of wisdom, power, or courage. The inspiration to fight against all odds, throughout all pain, and despite all sorrow. A reason to seek justice in a world where there is none.
That is the Legend of Zelda.