Krystal let out a final yell as she plunged the tip of the Master Sword’s blade into the last Darknut’s chest, the monster giving one last reflexive struggle before going limp. She leapt back, landing on her feet and putting the sword and Mirror Shield on her back. Following the IN-credible had led her and Tetra first to the armored base that was the Islet of Steel, where the warships patrolling around the exterior had been protecting a Triforce Chart inside the building. They’d decided to head for Stone Watcher Island next, where they discovered a challenge in the form of several interconnected filled with monsters that was topped off with several Darknuts that needed to be fought in the central chamber. As this last one broke apart into a dark cloud, the bars covering the door with the ornate frame slid up.
Tetra released a sigh, letting her arms dangle as she clutched the bow and Krystal’s shield in her hands. “Well, this has been fun so far. I wonder if any of the other locations marked on Tingle’s chart are like these last two,” she remarked. Krystal shot her a glance over her shoulder as she made her way to the unlocked door, pushing up against it to get it to slide up. On the other side was a small room with two raised circular daises that were marked like the spots in the floor on the inside of the Islet of Steel. One had the Triforce on it surrounded by burgundy, and the other had designs resembling the wind in light blue. Krystal stepped onto the latter and conducted the song she’d learned on Dragon Roost Island. Just like before, a chest appeared containing another Triforce Chart, this one equally illegible to her. She looked back at Tetra, who was leaning against the doorframe looking at her. She had a feeling she was thinking the same thing.
________________________________________
The head of Tingle Tower creaked as it rotated overhead as Krystal and Tetra finished climbing up the ladder to the top deck. They made their way around the two men dressed like Tingle to the man himself. Tingle initially thought Krystal had come to play, but then his nostrils twitched. “Hmmmm?! That fragrant… musty scent! Sir, you have found a chart!” He danced in place, “Splendid! Splendid! Show me! Show me!”
Krystal pulled out the chart they’d found at the Islet of Steel. “Here one of them,” she was able to say before Tingle snatched it out of her hand, unfurling it to look at it.
He gasped and said, “Why, you can’t read this chart in its current state! Impossible, sir!” He looked up at Krystal, “Would you like me to decipher it? …For 398 Rupees?” Krystal’s eyes widened at the price, but a nudge and look from Tetra convinced her to reach into her wallet, handing the Rupees over. “Tingle! Tingle! Kooloo-limpah!” he exclaimed, doing the same dance he did when they first met. He then performed a backflip and said, “Become… READABLE!” He handed the chart back to Krystal and she saw that it was indeed readable, the lines now depicting a spot somewhere in the Great Sea.
“Incredible,” Krystal breathed softly.
After forking over the Rupees to pay to get the other chart deciphered, Tingle said, “Hmm… Mrs. Fairy! I have marked the location of the Triforce shards on your IN-credible Chart, too! Make use of both charts to find where the treasure is much quicker!” Krystal and Tetra thanked him and he said, “Goodbye, Mrs. Fairy! Please come visit me here again at Tingle Tower, where wonderful fairy magic makes the place spin and spin!”
________________________________________
Krystal and Tetra sat in the café on Windfall Island, taking a short lunch break while they planned their next move. The IN-credible Chart was open on the table between them. Just as Tingle had said, there were two Triforce marks on the chart that hadn’t been there before he’d translated the Triforce Charts, pointing out the locations of the Triforce shards that they had the deciphered charts for. The two Triforce Charts they had collected were scratched out, but there were two other Triforce Charts marked on the chart as well as four other Triforce marks.
Krystal pointed to a square to the southwest of Tingle Island. “This is where Greatfish Isle… is located,” she said, hesitating for a moment on how to describe what was left of Jabun’s home. She looked at the Triforce Chart from the Islet of Steel. “Tingle not only translated the chart; it looks like he’s taken into account the… changes that have taken place there.”
Tetra swallowed the bite of bread in her mouth before saying, “That’s why even we pirates go to him when we need help with our charts. The guy’s weird, but there’s no one better when it comes to deciphering charts.” She looked down at the IN-credible Chart, her hand moving to a square southwest of Greatfish Isle where a drawing of a warship that was colored golden-yellow was drawn in. “Hmm. I’m guessing there’s a ship somewhere around here that has a Triforce Chart in its hull. We’d have to sink it and salvage the chart, but we can get the Triforce shard at Greatfish Isle on the way.” She shifted her gaze to a drawing on the side of the chart that looked like a blue pirate ship with equally blue flames around it. “What about this ship, though? What’s with the flames, and where could it be? He didn’t mark its location even though this indicates it has a Triforce Chart on board.”
Krystal stared at it intently, something about it seeming familiar to her. Her eyes drifted up to one of the café’s windows, a memory coming to her.
Flashback
Krystal approached one of the pictographs hanging on the wall of Lenzo’s gallery, looking at it curiously. It showed a ship not unlike the ship that Tetra and her pirates got around on, but there was something off about it. Maybe it was the sepia tone of the pictography, but the ship looked almost… transparent. Like if she squinted hard enough, she could see through to the other side of the ship’s hull.
“What kind of pictograph is this, you ask?” Lenzo’s voice sounded behind her suddenly, though she didn’t jump this time. His words about sneaking up on people had made his sudden appearances behind her as she looked at the pictographs hanging on the walls significantly less surprising.
She turned around to look up at him and nodded, “Yes.”
Lenzo began, “One ill-fated day, misfortune befell me and my boat was destroyed. Clinging to the wreckage, I drifted at the whims of the waves… That’s when I saw this monstrosity.” He gestured to the pictograph as he continued, “This foul ship, veiled in mist and fading in and out of sight like something of another world… Yes, madam… ‘Tis none other than the Ghost Ship!”
Krystal turned to look back at the pictograph, her curiosity piqued. “The Ghost Ship?” she asked.
Lenzo nodded, “Indeed! When I finally made it ashore, I began looking into the matter more. The rumors I’ve heard tell of a man who researched the reaches of the sea where the Ghost Ship faded in and out of sight, and that he drew a map of its movements. But it is said that as soon as the man had finished drawing the lines of that cursed map… he died a most unexpected death.”
Krystal whirled around to look up at him. “He… died? Just like that?” she asked, a faint tremor in her voice.
Lenzo nodded as he looked down at her and wrung his hands together, “Yes. Chilling, isn’t it? Truly chilling!” He looked back up at the pictograph. “However, I believe that map he drew is still out there somewhere in the world, and I have a theory if you’d care to hear it…”
Krystal blinked. “A theory?” she asked.
Lenzo explained, “It is said that a treasure lurks within the hull of the Ghost Ship. If one were able to find that map and track down the Ghost Ship… then it might be possible to get onboard and get that treasure!”
Krystal tilted her head. “You really think so?”
Lenzo chuckled and said, “Well, I don’t think there’s anything normal about a man passing away suddenly after completing a map, madam. Perhaps the Ghost Ship was trying to protect its treasure because it deemed the man unworthy. I think you’ll find that there are many things in the world that sound incredible or absurd, yet there turns out to be some measure of truth to them. Take it from me, madam…”
End Flashback[/b]
“The Ghost Ship…” Krystal murmured, still looking towards the window. She looked back at Tetra a moment later to see her looking at her questioningly, so she clarified, “Lenzo, the pictographer here on Windfall… He has a pictograph in his gallery he took of a ship that he said faded in and out of sight. He said it was the Ghost Ship.”
Tetra rolled her shoulders as she replied, “Yeah, I’ve heard about the Ghost Ship. It’s just a story, Krystal, something to terrify people and lull sailors into danger. My crew and I have been sailing these seas for years and we haven’t seen any ships that fade in and out.”
Krystal pressed, “But he has a pictograph of such a ship. He said he saw it when his own boat had been destroyed. He also said that someone drew a chart of where it shows up and that whoever possesses the chart could, potentially, be able to get on board.”
Tetra snorted, “That’s all it takes, huh? Sounds like wishful thinking to me.” She glanced back down at the ship on the chart. “Still, I guess we could talk to him before we leave.” They exited the café a minute later, passing by Zunari’s shop, where the once-rich girl they’d rescued from the Forsaken Fortress was now working at.
They exited Lenzo’s studio a few minutes later, the pictographer having no additional to share regarding the Ghost Ship with them. He did, however, reveal to Krystal he had developed a way to take color pictographs and so made the necessary adjustments to her Pictograph Box to give it the deluxe treatment. She had already tried it out inside the studio and was very impressed by it. “Pictographs in color… A culmination of years of research and he was willing to share it with me,” she murmured as they walked down the steps outside the door, the box held between her hands. She paused and looked back at the building. “I’ll be sure to take as many pictures as I possibly can, Lenzo.”
Tetra grabbed her arm and pulled her, leading her towards the docks. “That’s a nice sentiment, fox girl, but it’s time to focus. We’ve got a ‘golden triangle’ to find and your boat’s probably getting antsy with how long we’ve been on dry land.” She let go and continued walking, Krystal hurrying to catch up with her.
________________________________________
The Triforce Chart did indeed lead them to a spot off the coast of Greatfish Isle, where they found their first Triforce shard. They then sailed to the southwest as they’d planned and found Needle Rock Isle, its titular rock rising up like a tower. They found a gold-plated warship off the coast of the island that they used the boat’s cannon to sink and then used the Grappling Hook to drudge up a chest containing the Triforce Chart it had been carrying. They were about to sail on when Krystal’s ears twitched and she looked towards the island. It felt like someone or something was calling to her from it and she steered them towards the shore to investigate.
She disembarked on the sloped bank and Tetra slid out after her, running up after her as she called, “What are you doing? There’s nothing else here! Let’s get going!”
Krystal glanced around the ring encircling the needle rock, which had Kargaroks circling around it near the top, as she said, “I thought I sensed something here. Something like…” She paused, noticing a block of ice sitting atop part of the grass. She raised an eyebrow. “Hm. That’s unusual,” she murmured, making her way around to it with Tetra following behind. When they were closer, they saw that there was a hole in the ground under the ice. Krystal knelt down and put her ear to the ground near the ice. “I… I can hear it again,” she said after a few moments. “It’s like… a whisper. Someone’s whispering something down there.”
Tetra rolled her eyes before asking, “So you want to jump down into a hole because you think you can hear a voice coming out of it?” Krystal shot her a look from where she was, so she held up her hands as she said, “Okay, all right. You have your ways, I suppose.” She grabbed the bow and readied a Fire Arrow. It melted the ice when it hit and they dropped down into the depths of the island.
They dropped down into a cavern that looked like it was a graveyard of ships, the space occupied by wooden masts, hulls, and the bows of various large ships, all scattered around. Directly in front of them was a wooden signboard, an oddity in a space where everything looked like it was trashed. They stepped closer to it. The letter was a bit faded, but they were able to read it: ‘To the living: Light the six torches and dive down to the sea floor. Guide the lost spirit of the boat that forever wanders in darkness.’
The girls took a step back from the sign. “Six torches? Here?” Tetra wondered, looking around. She soon spotted one on the bow of the ship to their right. At the same time, Krystal spotted one on the crow’s nest of one of the ships in the back. Working together, they were able to locate all six torches scattered around and light each one with a Fire Arrow. When they were all lit, a treasure chest appeared behind the sign. Krystal opened it and found an Orange Rupee inside. A nice find to be sure, but it seemed oddly disconnected from what the sign had said.
“Well, that’ll help pay Tingle for deciphering the rest of the charts, but what are we supposed to do now?” Tetra grumbled. Krystal didn’t answer. Her ears were twitching slightly; the whispers she’d been hearing were louder now, sounding like they were right in front of her. She gasped softly a moment later. She could just barely make out something over the open chest, but Tetra didn’t seem to notice it at all. Krystal grabbed her Picto Box and raised it, taking a picture. “What did you do that for?” Tetra asked, moving closer. Krystal switched to the photo viewer and they both gasped at what they saw.
A human male was standing inside the chest in the pictograph, but when they looked up, they couldn’t see anyone there, at least not as clearly as the pictograph showed. They looked back at it. He was slightly transparent and his arm raised to point straight ahead, which was to their left. “Which way is he pointing?” Krystal wondered, holding up her arm to look at her Tingle Pad. Something, perhaps the cavern itself, seemed to be blocking its signal as it displayed only a blank screen, so they made a note of the figure’s direction before stepping into the light to exit the cavern. Outside, they checked and saw that it seemed to be pointing to the south. Krystal pulled out Aryll’s telescope to look. To the south, there was a silhouette that looked like a ship, but it became clear that it was another island when she zoomed in.
They sailed to the south and located the local Fishman jumping around in the waters near the island. He surfaced and, after appeasing him to get him to Diamond Steppe Island to Krystal’s Sea Chart, he said, “I’ve got some great information for you, small fry! Lucky you! If you use the treasure that’s hidden on this here island, the thing that vanishes as soon as you get near it… It won’t vanish anymore! You know… IT!”
Krystal tilted her head, “‘IT’?”
The Fishman nodded, “Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about! The thing that appears in these waters on nights when a wee bit of the right half of the moon is missing! You know what I mean, fry?! IT!” He leapt backwards and disappeared below the water’s surface without another word.
“Well, isn’t he cryptic,” Tetra remarked. She looked up towards the island. “There’s a treasure on this island, huh? We’re going to need my ship to get up there; there’s no shore or anywhere to climb up.”
Krystal glanced up at one of the palm trees on the lowest cliff. “Hmm. I think we can climb up from here.” She pulled out her Hookshot and wrapped her left arm around Tetra's waist. She then aimed up at the tree's trunk and fired. The hook caught in the bark and the chain pulled them up to it. Tetra nodded in approval after the surprise wore off and they used it to climb up to the top of the island, where they found another hole in the ground and dropped down into it.
They found themselves in another cavern filled with old ships. This one was less cluttered, but they quickly found out that it was a maze as pieces of the various ships made it difficult to move around, requiring them to jump into Magic Jars to figure out the correct path. It took a couple of tries to get through, especially with the Floormasters reaching for them almost every step of the way, but they were able to get on top of the last shipwreck and defeat the Floormaster waiting to catch unsuspecting travelers. They then moved to the stern, where they found a treasure chest containing a chart.
They leapt down off the ship, landing by where they entered, and moved over to a torch before Krystal unfurled the chart. She and Tetra looked it over. It was very simple, displaying the phases of the moon in a circle and a different island for each phase. They looked at each other for a moment, confused, before exiting the cavern, the chart still open between Krystal's hands. As they landed on the grass on top of the island, Krystal noticed the sky. “It's almost nighttime?’ she wondered, surprised by how much time had passed during this venture.
As the sun went down, Tetra glanced back at the chart and her eyes widened. “Krystal, look!” she said. The fox looked down and saw it: a blue ship marking had appeared over one of the islands, fading in and out of sight as they looked at it.
Krystal looked at the island while the ship was fading out. “Where is that?” she wondered.
Tetra peered at it. “I think that's Greatfish Isle. Before it… you know.” Krystal glanced at her Tingle Pad. The blue ship was showing up on her Sea Chart as well, on the square where Greatfish Isle was located.
She looked up at the rising moon. “We'd better get there before the night ends,” she murmured, rolling the chart back up. They made their way back down to the King of Red Lions, jumping down into him and setting sail.
The sky turned stormy as they arrived at Greatfish Isle. The clouds lit up and thunder rumbled, but there was no rain. “Okay… That's a bit… ominous,” Tetra muttered, looking around. “See anything… unusual?”
Krystal looked around before pulling out Aryll's telescope. She looked around for a few seconds before her breath hitched. “There! Over there!” she gasped, handing the telescope to Tetra. She took it and peered through. She saw it after a moment: a ship like her pirate ship with torn sails and blue flames hovering around it. And she could just about see through its hull.
“The Ghost Ship… It is real…” Tetra breathed. She lowered the telescope and, after a moment, asked, “So… how do we get on board?” The King looked back at them as they considered this.
Krystal thought for a moment longer, remembering what the Fishman had told them, and then suggested, “Um… sail into it?”
Tetra looked at her with a raised eyebrow before shrugging and saying, “Yeah, sure, why not? It’s supposed to disappear, right? It’s not like we’ll crash into the side of it.” They raised the sail and went north past the island to where the Ghost Ship was ‘sailing’ through the waters. It looked more imposing as they got closer, the blue flames floating around it and an echoing voice emanating from it sending chills along their spines. Krystal remained steadfast, though, her hand never leaving the rudder. The Ghost Ship got closer and closer, and then, suddenly…
________________________________________
Krystal blinked, once, twice, and then raised her head. She lying on her side on a set of wooden stairs that were dark and faded. She looked around. It almost looked like she was in one of the stairwells on Tetra’s pirate ship, but there was something off about it. She sat up suddenly in realization. “Tetra? King!” she exclaimed, her voice echoing oddly in the stairwell. She sat up and stood up carefully, the stairs shifting back and forth slightly under her feet.
She walked down the stairs into the hull and looked around with wide eyes. “Is this the inside of the Ghost Ship?” she wondered. The wall to her left had a sizable opening in it near the top, through which she could see what seemed to be ghosts floating up on the outside of. Looking down at the floor, she saw it had a blue fog just above it that was hanging in such a way that it formed little skull outlines. And off to her right, a single white flower grew out of the wood under a narrow beam of light.
Almost as soon as she leapt down to the floor, a Wizzrobe appeared, its hands held close to its wand. Krystal didn’t have her bow, so she hit it with her boomerang before it could cast its magic. The projectile only stunned it for a moment, but it disappeared afterwards and the next time it appeared, closer to her, she threw a bomb at it, sending it flying up with a cry before it exploded into dark smoke. A pair of Poes lunged at her from the shadows, but she used her Mirror Shield to bounce the light shining down around the flower at them to make them solid and took them out with the Master Sword.
A ladder dropped down on the other side of the room. She climbed up it to reach the doorway opposite the one she came through. In the small room beyond, she found jars filled with Rupees along the sides as well as a treasure chest underneath a golden plate showing an impassive face in the back. As she scooped up the Rupees, though, she could swear the face was gained a wide sharp-toothed smile out of the corner of her vision, yet every time she looked at it, it showed the impassive face. She gave it a wary look as she approached and opened the chest. Almost as soon as she pulled the Triforce Chart inside out, she heard an eerie sound, like an eerie laugh or wail somewhere in the room. As she looked around, her vision began to go dark…
________________________________________
Krystal stirred, feeling cold water against her legs and wet sand beneath her. She blinked her eyes and saw Tetra lying across from her on the sand. She gasped and lifted her head, looking around. They were on the shore of Greatfish Isle, and the sun was coming up. She looked down at her left hand; she was clutching the Triforce Chart.
She looked over at Tetra when the girl gasped, “Krystal!” She saw her lifting her head up, her hands pressing her up off the sand. “What happened? How did we get here?” She noticed the chart in Krystal’s hand. “Where did you get that?”
Krystal looked down, taking a moment to collect her thoughts and remember what happened. “It was in a chest on a ship… I think I was on the Ghost Ship.” She looked back at Tetra, “What happened to you after we reached the ship?”
The pirate girl paused, considering. “I don’t know. All I can remember is a… void? I just remember darkness around me. I think I was… falling? Being held in place? I’m not sure.”
They both looked towards the water when they heard the King of Red Lions say, “Excellent, Krystal!” They saw him drifting closer to the sand they were on. “Another Triforce Chart! We’re one step closer to restoring the Triforce of Courage!” Krystal tilted her head slightly. Something about his tone sounded… unusually light. And forced.
“Erm, sire? Are you okay?” she asked.
He nodded, “Of course I am, now that I know you’re both okay!” He turned his head to look northward. “It would seem the Ghost Ship was protecting the Triforce Chart from evil. Now that it’s in your possession, I surmise that it no longer needs to wander the Great Sea. The spirits on board can finally rest.” He looked back at them. “So, let us be off! We must continue our search!” They stood and climbed aboard, but as they were getting settled, he kept his head pointed forward, away from them, as his expression briefly changed to one of disturbance before he smoothed it back to a neutral expression. He shook his head slightly as they set sail, trying to get the voices he’d heard out of his head.
“You old fool!”
“When are you going to be honest with her?”
“She’s innocent in Hyrule’s affairs! Doesn’t she deserve to know?”
“She trusts you!”
“You’re just like him.”
________________________________________
Tingle’s deciphering of the last two charts and pinpointing the islands where the remaining Triforce shards were hidden away continued to prove invaluable to their search. They opened a locked cavern with the help of a seagull, found a hidden slightly submerged passage under an oasis, and went through another gauntlet of Ganondorf’s monsters in order to find the Triforce shards, getting closer and closer to restoring the golden triangle with each piece. By the time they arrived at Outset Island, they had six shards, and with the chart from the Ghost Ship, they found another shard in the waters around Krystal’s home island, but the seventh shard wasn’t the last one. They could clearly see they were missing one more piece.
They sat together in the boat as they looked at the IN-credible Chart. There were two Triforce marks on the square that marked Outset Island’s location. That meant there was a shard somewhere on Outset Island. Tetra looked at Krystal as the fox rolled the chart back up and asked, “Got any thoughts on where a treasure might be hidden on an unsuspecting island like Outset?”
Krystal looked at her for a moment before turning her head to look up at the plateau behind her house. Near the western edge of it was a large boulder with a carved face on it, much like the one that had been on Headstone Island. “Actually,” she began, “I think I know where it is.” She stood and hoisted the sail to bring them around to the shore below her house.
They disembarked and ran up past the front of the house, Krystal using the Hookshot to latch onto a palm tree to get them up on top of the plateau. She then pushed the boulder back towards the edge with the help of the Power Crystals, revealing a hole in the ground underneath it. They dropped down and found another signboard in the cave they landed in, this one oddly not as faded as the one in Needle Rock Isle. It read, ‘The Savage Labyrinth – Deep in the never-ending darkness, the Golden Shard you seek awaits.’
Tetra raised an eyebrow. "Savage Labyrinth, huh? Guess whoever hid these shards and charts wanted to make sure whoever reached them really was courageous." She turned to Krystal. "Well, shall we get this spelunk started?" Krystal nodded and they made their way to a carved doorway in the wall of the chamber that led to a short set of stairs leading down into the next room.
The first chamber they entered was filled with Bokoblins that they had to defeat to open the door leading to the next chamber, where Miniblins leapt down from the walls and tried to stab them with their pitchforks. It didn't start out too bad, but they quickly learned that this trial had earned its name as the monsters became more and more varied the deeper they went, with some chambers having more than one type of monster in them. It didn't help that it got harder to breathe the further down they went as the air got more and more stale. It wasn't conducive to keeping sharp reflexes, but even though opportunities to turn back presented themselves in certain chambers, they kept going deeper.
The exact number of chambers they went through became unknown to them after a while, but after almost forty chambers of monsters, they finally reached the end. In the middle of the circular chamber were two circles, one marked with the Triforce and the other marked with wind designs. Krystal stepped onto the latter, Tetra close behind her as she conducted with the Wind Waker. The chest that appeared afterwards contained the Triforce shard as the sign had promised. As she added it to the collection, though, all the shards floated up between them. As they watched, they all came together. A blinding white light shone suddenly, forcing them to look away for a moment. When they looked back, the Triforce of Courage was whole again. They didn't see a single crack or seam as it floated back down, coming to a rest above Krystal's outstretched hands.
Before they had a chance to even consider celebrating, the chamber began to shake. Krystal pulled the Triforce closer to her chest as she and Tetra looked around, seeing dust and rock particles spilling down from the ceiling. "What's happening?!" Tetra asked, her eyes wide as her body seemed to recognize what was going on even though her mind didn't. Red eyes suddenly flashed in the darkness behind her and a black, shadow-covered arm suddenly reached out and wrapped around her, Krystal's shield and bow falling to the ground as she was pulled backwards with a cry.
"Tetra!" Krystal gasped, rushing forward. She wasn't able to get far as a ring of flames suddenly rose up at the edges of the circle, forcing her to stop and leap back, landing next to her shield and bow. The being in the shadows rose up to reveal Phantom Ganon. Tetra was clutched against him, the girl kicking and trying to struggle despite his unshakeable grip on her. A dark, deep laugh echoed through the chamber, causing Krystal to pull the Triforce of Courage completely against her chest with one hand while the other went to the hilt of the Master Sword.
“Geh heh! Excellent work!” Ganondorf’s voice sounded in the chamber, sounding amused. “You were right to question the King… Now that my power has been restored, there is no safe haven for either of you!” Phantom Ganon rose up slightly. “Your precious Zelda is mine. And this place will be your tomb!” The phantom floated up, vanishing through the ceiling. Krystal didn’t have a chance to react as a pair of Darknuts in red armor with red capes leapt down from the opening they’d come through, landing at her sides.
Krystal glanced between them before slipping her boot under her bow, flipping it up and grabbing it midair before backflipping away as they swung their swords at her. She slipped it away and pulled the Master Sword and Mirror Shield off her back. She eyed them as they approached her, maneuvering carefully to try to keep them from crowding her. When the first one swung horizontally at her, she leapt over it and slashed both of their helmets, exposing their heads. While they grunted in surprise, she took a swing at their capes, tearing them slightly before they turned to face her again.
She spent a few minutes moving around them before she managed to take out the first one, at which point she focused on the second, aggressively dodging and attacking it. It soon fell like the first and the ring of flames flickered out of existence. She noticed a shaft of light appear around the circle with the wind design and put the Master Sword and Mirror Shield away before grabbing her shield off the ground, holding it in her hand before approaching it and letting it lift her up towards the ceiling.
She leapt up out of the hole, landing on the plateau. Despite her concern for Tetra, she had enough presence of mind to slide the boulder back over the hole. As she finished, she flinched at the sound of Phantom Ganon’s laugh and turned to see him flying out across the ocean in the distance. She ran to the edge of the plateau and leapt down, noticing out of the corner of her vision that his presence hadn’t gone unnoticed by the rest of the village. Not only was her grandmother standing outside, but Sue-Belle was also standing in the middle of the path by her house with her hands over her mouth. Sturgeon and Orca were standing on their respective doorsteps, and Abe and Rose were standing in front of the pen outside their house, the latter holding onto both Joel and Zill.
Krystal’s gaze went down towards the dock and a gasp escaped her throat. Her shield fell from her grip, falling to the ground with a clatter as she ran towards the water. The King of Red Lions was not at the end of the dock where she would’ve expected him to be waiting while they were searching for the Triforce shard. Instead, he was on the beach and he was cut into pieces, no doubt Phantom Ganon’s doing. He raised his head weakly as Krystal ran onto the sand. “Krystal…” he groaned.
She knelt down next to him, placing her hands on his forehead and side of his face, tears beginning to prickle her eyes. “No… No, he… I… He took her…” she breathed, her thoughts a whirlwind as she looked down at him.
He shook his head slightly, the action seeming to take a bit of effort on his part. “All is not lost yet, Krystal… I believe I know where he’s taking the princess…” he murmured.
Krystal blinked her tears back slightly. “Where?”
The King winced, his movements seeming stiffer than they were a moment ago. “You must… get to the Tower of the Gods, Krystal… Present the Triforce you have assembled to the gods… The path… to Hyrule will open again… I… will…” His mouth clacked shut, the light leaving his eyes as his head fell against the sand. Krystal stared at him for a moment; he didn’t move.
She was vaguely aware that the villagers were gathering behind her, but she continued to stare at the King’s head for a moment longer before standing up. Her gaze went to the fishing boats on the beach past his remains. She wiped her eyes with her arm, a determined expression on her face as she lowered her arm and made her way over to one of the boats, beginning to push it towards the water. She heard footsteps in the sand behind her and hear Sue-Belle ask, “Krystal, what are you doing?”
She kept pushing the boat as she answered, “I’m going after her.”
Sue-Belle gasped lightly and asking, “In a fishing boat?”
Krystal didn’t stop. “It’s all I have available now that he’s destroyed my… my boat.” She hesitated a moment before giving the boat one last push into the water. It left the sand and bobbed slightly in the water as she looked at it.
“Krystal!” She flinched at Orca’s voice and turned to face him fully. He was walking towards her, his fishing spear in his right hand and his left hand behind his back. He stopped in front of her and looked down at her for a moment before bringing his left hand out from behind him. In it was a wooden oar. “You’ll need this,” he said, holding it out towards her.
She took it, holding it between her hands and looking down at it before looking back up at him. He nodded to her encouragingly, and her grandmother did the same when she looked over at her as she stood with Sturgeon, Abe, Rose, Zill, and Joel. She nodded slightly, her gaze filling with resolve as she turned towards the ocean, her arms dropping to her side as she stepped into the water. She climbed into the boat and took a seat, placing the end of the oar into the water.
As she began to paddle away, Sue-Belle looked at Orca and tentatively asked, “Do you… Do you really think she…?”
Orca nodded, cutting her off. “I have no doubt. It doesn’t matter what it takes; as long as she has an ounce of strength and the breath to continue, she will not give up.” He turned to look out at the ocean as a strong gust of wind blew past. Krystal was nowhere to been seen.
________________________________________
Cyclos’ cyclone dropped the fishing boat in front of the Tower of the Gods. Krystal let out a sigh of relief that the boat held together during the flight. She paddled forward towards the entrance of the Tower of the Gods, reaching it after a minute. She stood up, holding the oar in her right hand while she pulled out and held up the Triforce of Courage with her left hand. As the King had said, the ring of light reappeared in front of her, the path open. She crouched down and began to paddle forward while she tried to wrap her fingers around the Triforce, only to close around thin air. She looked towards her hand and let out a gasp as the boat entered the ring and began to sink below the surface.
King Daphnes was waiting for when Krystal’s boat reached the end of the path and drifted forward. She was staring at the back of her left hand, transfixed. “What is it, Krystal?” he asked. She looked up at him and turned her wrist to show him. The Triforce marking was on the back of her hand, the right triangle glowing brightly while the other two were dim.
The King blinked, his eyebrows raising slightly in surprise for a moment before he smiled softly. “The Triforce of Courage dwells within you now, Krystal,” he said. “It is proof that you are indeed the hero of our time… You have controlled the wind and crossed the seas, and here, near the end of your quest, the power of the gods has been bestowed upon you… Surely, from this moment on, you will be known as the Hero of Winds…”
Krystal turned her wrist to look at the Triforce marking again. “The Hero of Winds,” she breathed, tasting the title on her tongue.
The King spoke, his tone carrying that cadence she was used to hearing from him. “Krystal! Hero of Winds! Now that the Master Sword is once again blessed with the power to repel evil, you should be able to break through Ganon’s barrier! Go forth! Into Hyrule! To Zelda’s side!” Krystal clenched her fingers into a fist, her resolve growing stronger at his words.
