KING DAPHNES immediately sprang forward to intervene as Link dodged and attempted to parry Ganondorf's blows. Ganondorf momentarily turned in the King's direction.

"You'll wither into dust before you're of any help to these thorns!"

The Gerudo raised his hand, and a shimmering prison of purple light began to entrap the King. Just before he was trapped, the King reached his hand inside his robe.

"Princess!"

He flung a gilded bow into the air, and Tetra caught it. The triforce now gone from her, she'd returned to her normal appearance.

Link tried to get in a strike at Ganondorf's back, but was only able to gouge a large tear in his outer cloak. Tetra drew back the golden bow, and a shaft of radiant light appeared on the bowstring.

The bow of light.

It was something that had slipped his mind. Wielded by the ancient princess, it had weakened Ganondorf enough to allow for lethal blows. Link couldn't believe he'd forgotten something so critical. Growing up, he, Joel, and other boys on the island had always played games where they wielded the master sword.

But without the cleansing fire of the bow of light, the strikes of the master sword were fruitless. Tetra loosed the arrow with a smirk, seeing Ganondorf's anger.

The arrow streaked past Ganondorf, but despite the miss, Link no longer felt faint as he once did.

Ganondorf could be stopped.

The fight was more intense than any Link had ever fought. Ganondorf was a very accomplished warrior, spinning his blades as though they were as light as pieces of straw. For the most part, Link stayed far away from his enemy's blades.

The Gerudo king had fought a hero before, and was probably drawing upon his past knowledge to fight this new one. Link knew that Ganondorf was fighting harder than Link would. The man had gone insane, and now had no other thing to look forward to than their deaths.

But as much energy as Ganondorf was putting into the fight, Link was himself increasing the friction between him and his foe.

Link had saved Aryll. He had seen the fear and torment Ganondorf had brought to his world. Link now realized everything that could be lost if no one stood against this ancient evil.

This was not like his battle with Tetra.

Link did not hold back in the fight.

And neither did Farore.

He seemed to get suggestions in his mind of where to place his sword. He felt that his step was quickened, and his agility improved.

Despite his youth and inexperience, Link, an uninteresting boy from Outset Island, was somehow matching the skills of the literal embodiment of evil.

He took advantage of his smaller size compared to the giant of a man Ganondorf was.

He slid beneath the flailing swords, striking at his opponent's legs.

Tetra's arrows only angered the Gerudo further.

Despite his size, Ganondorf began taking flying leaps across the tower at the both of them.

Like a starving, dying helmaroc, Ganondorf relentlessly sought his prey.

The fight did not slow. Link watched uneasily as the ocean roared harder. The whole tower was surrounded by massive sheets of water, and spraying mist was constant.

This fight could not go on forever. They would all drown.

Farore, he thought, I promise that I will not fear being a hero any longer. I will not fear what the future may hold. Just please, give us the aid we need.

It is not lost hero.

That voice was different.

Nayru? he thought.

"Link?"

Another voice.

"Tetra!" he thought. "The triforces are connected!"

"Let's make the most of this!" she thought to him as he glanced away a sword blow with his shield. "We don't know how long this will last!"

"Stop firing at him for a while!" Link thought. "I'm going to go in on the offensive. Distract him. Make him forget that you're there."

"By Gerudo I will, you're -"

"Do it!"

Link drew closer to Ganondorf, giving all he had. He immediately realized he could not keep up with him. He was battered and bruised as he tried to land some sort of strike on the man.

Ganondorf roared like a feral beast, knocking Link down to the ground with repeated, intense strikes.

A bright flash enshrouded Ganondorf.

He collapsed to his knees, and dropped one of his swords. As Link ran towards him, Ganondorf thrust forward with the sword still in his hand.

Link backed off, and saw that the crackling, fiery yellow light had diminished. They'd need to try again.

Tetra grabbed Ganondorf's other sword, and he didn't notice till she tossed it into the torrential wall of water. Ganondorf shouted something, but over the rushing water it only sounded like indiscernible madness.

Tetra hurriedly readied her bow as Ganondorf stalked toward her with pure bloodlust. Link sprinted with inhuman speed at him.

Ganondorf began to scream and raise his sword, but his figure became enfolded in lightning.

Link leapt high into the air with Farore's Courage burning in his chest.

And then, everything seemed to slow.

The blade of the master sword found its mark, landing in Ganondorf's head.

The already bright light seemed to explode.

Link held tightly to the blade of evil's bane, and everything went still.

The roaring of the water quieted, and was replaced with a new sound.

A strong breeze.

"The wind," Ganondorf uttered, "is... blowing..."

Link jumped backward as he felt Ganondorf quake.

Tetra caught Link just before he struck the stone, and they watched in unbelief.

Starting from the master sword, Ganondorf's skin turned grey, and then to stone.

Over the course of several seconds, the thief from the deserts, the warlord who had caused untold misfortune to Hyrule, became a statue.

Link doubled over, nearly vomiting from the battle. Tetra held him steady, and after a moment, Link was able to focus on something other than his heaving breath.

"Link," Tetra said, "we did it."

He looked back up. Ganondorf stood as stoic and empty as the rest of this lost world.

Link felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to see the King Daphnes freed from his prison.

"You've done well today young heroes."

"Is he dead?" Tetra asked.

The King walked up to the stone form, and placed his hand on it.

"The triforce of power has not returned to him," the King said. "Without it, he was powerful yes, but not like he once was. Even before this fight, he had grown far weaker than he was when he fought the Hero of Time."

"So he is dead?" Tetra asked again.

"I feel no more evil in this place," the king said. "And being a mortal without the triforce of power, I discern that he is dead. He gave up the very thing that protected him. Perhaps now Hyrule will be able to die in peace."

"But why does it need to die?" Link asked. "Why can't the goddesses restore the land?"

The King turned away from the petrified Ganondorf, and back to them.

"Not a day has gone by," the King reflected, "in these long centuries, that I haven't thought of my once glorious kingdom. I... I am ashamed to admit it, but I resented the goddesses for a time. A long time. They had destroyed all I held dear."

He bowed his head, then made eye contact with them once again.

"I bound myself to Hyrule. In that respect, I was very much like Ganondorf."

He sighed. "I kept myself alive, through magical means, all those years. I was in a deep sleep for many of them. Until I was awakened. Summoned by the goddesses, for a chance to repair my own mistakes."

"And you helped us," Link said.

"Yes," the King replied. "but I saw that Hyrule could not come back."

"Why not?" Tetra asked.

"Because it is not my place," he said, "to destroy your world to bring back mine. I saw that the world Hyrule existed in was once stained with hatred, and greed. Your world, largely, has been free of the great evils that plagued us."

"But our world is a shattered one," Tetra said. "It is a world where we are isolated by vast stretches of sea."

"I am sorry," King Daphnes lamented. "I am sorry that this... that this is the world we left to you. Had we not been so foolish, so wicked in our time, we may have given you a better future. Please... please forgive us."

No one spoke for a moment. They simply heard the flowing water around them.

"No," Tetra refused. "I'm not going to give up that easily. I've seen how this amazing kingdom once looked. There is an entire world out there! We could find another land! We could build a new Hyrule! One even better than the old!"

The King looked up, seeing that the ceiling of water was approaching closer.

"My resistance on the ocean is slipping," he said. "And my time is close."

"Come with us!" Tetra pleaded. "You don't have to die! You can help us find a place to rebuild Hyrule!"

King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule walked closer, and took both of their hands.

"My young friends, that place will not be Hyrule."

He smiled.

"It will be a new land. It will be your land!"

The water cascaded down, and surrounded them. Link grabbed Tetra's hand as they were tossed in the turbulent water. The two of them were enveloped in air.

Link saw the water settle below.

The King of Red Lions stood with acceptance, somehow perfectly still on the flooded roof of the tower, staring up at them.

Link smiled, feeling tears come as he and Tetra floated upward.

"Farewell, friend."

The darkness of the ocean depths soon hid Daphnes from his vision. After a thousand years, the land of Hyrule had finally been laid to rest.