Chapter 3: The Truth Revealed

       Kasuto and Kayla walked through the campus at the University of Hyrule. They were looking for the building that housed Dr. Sailann's office. After much searching, they found the building. It looked just like the other ones. They were round, about three stories high, and were topped with beautifully decorated domes.
      Kasuto approached the door labeled "Doctor Sailann, President of Archaeology Department." He knocked on it. After a moment the door creaked open to reveal a young man, it was Dr. Sailann's assistant, Keeto. "Can I help you, sir? Madam?" asked Keeto.
      "Yes," answered Kasuto. "We saw a flyer in the market about some pyramid you found. We believe that we can decipher the writing on it."
      "Oh? Well please come in." Keeto showed them into the lab. They looked around and saw the artifacts that filled the room. Keeto ran through a door to get Dr. Sailann. After a moment, Dr. Sailann emerged holding a piece of paper.
      "Thank you for coming," said Dr. Sailann with a smile. "I've had quite a few people in here who said they could translate the writing. But so far, I've had no luck. They probably just wanted the reward money."
      "Well, we can translate the writing," Kayla said. "And we won't need the reward money. You can put it back into funding your archaeological digs."
      "Let's get started then," Dr. Sailann said. "Keeto, you can go take a break. I can handle this." Keeto nodded and left the building. Dr. Sailann unfolded the paper that he was holding. It was the decoy that he had made when he first decided to get help. He led Kasuto and Kayla over to an empty table. He pointed to the  paper. Kasuto leaned over and examined the writing.
      "Power...is be...the to...," mumbled Kasuto. This writing didn't make any sense at all. "Is this some kind of joke? This writing doesn't make any sense. It's just a load of gibberish."
      "The gods be praised!" said Dr. Sailann as he looked up at the ceiling. "You're the first person to realize that that paper was just gibberish."
      Kasuto realized what the doctor was getting at. "Oh...I understand. You made this as a test to see if people really could read the writing." Dr. Sailann nodded. "Well, I trust I've passed the test?" Dr. Sailann nodded again. "Can we see the real thing?" Kasuto asked.
      "Of course. Follow me," answered Dr. Sailann. He led them into another room filled with artifacts. That's when they saw it. The beautiful black pyramid foretold in the prophecies. "Here it is," said Dr. Sailann pointing to the pyramid.
      Kasuto walked up to the pyramid. He touched it with his hand. He could feel the evil presence within it. This archaeologist didn't know what he had here. "Can I have a piece of paper and a pen?" asked Kasuto.
      "Of course," answered Dr. Sailann. He fetched some paper and a pen and handed it to Kasuto. Kasuto examined the writing and began to write on the piece of paper. He knew this language fluently; it only took him a minute to translate the writing on the pyramid.
      "I'm finished," Kasuto said.
      "That fast?" Dr. Sailann exclaimed. He was amazed that this man could translate the writing so fast. It usually took him quite a while to translate something in an ancient language. "What does it say?" he asked.
      " 'The powerful become weak. The wise become foolish. The courageous become cowardly. He who worships the holy relic believes in the biggest of lies.' " Kasuto quoted.
      "That's very strange," Dr. Sailann said. "It's very cryptic. I wonder what it means." He stood there silent for a moment, contemplating the words. "How did you translate that? I'm a linguist, and I've never seen anything like that before. I know many ancient languages, and that one's a mystery to me."
      "I'm not surprised," Kasuto said. "This language is more ancient than you could possibly imagine."
      "What language is it?" Dr. Sailann asked.
      "It's the Divine Language," answered Kasuto. "The language that was spoken before all others. It's the language of the gods. It was spoken before this world began, and will be spoken after this world ends. It is the eternal language." Dr. Sailann found this hard to believe. What is this man talking about? He thought.
      "Tell me, doctor," continued Kasuto. "Have you had any strange feelings about this pyramid?" He shook his head. "You do not understand what this is. This thing is more powerful than anything you could possibly imagine."
      "Who are you?" Dr. Sailann asked. He was beginning to feel uneasy. He didn't know what these people really wanted.
      "We're here to help," Kayla said. She approached Dr. Sailann. He started to back away. "Don't be afraid. We're not going to hurt you. We promise you won't remember a thing." She continued to approach Dr. Sailann. While Kayla distracted him, Kasuto snuck behind Dr. Sailann. "I'm sorry," Kayla said. Kasuto's hand began to glow bright blue. He touched Dr. Sailann's back. His body arched backwards and glowed blue. Then it slumped motionless onto the floor. Kasuto bent over to make sure he was still alive. A pulse. He'll be fine.
      Kasuto spoke to Kayla. "Okay you need to take the pyramid back home. I'm going to have to stay here."
      "Why are you staying here?" Kayla asked.
      "I have to clean up all the evidence of our being here. Plus I have to go find that apprentice of his and make sure he doesn't remember us either."
      "Do you think he'll be all right?" Kayla asked while looking at Dr. Sailann.
      "He'll be fine. And he won't remember a thing." They stood in silence for a moment. "Go on. I'll take care of things here." Kayla nodded. She walked up to the pyramid and placed both of her hands on it. The pyramid and her entire body began to glow with a greenish light. The light got brighter until Kayla and the pyramid disappeared with a blinding flash.
      Kasuto began to remove the evidence of their visit. He grabbed the paper, which he wrote the translation on and stuffed it in his pocket. He made sure that everything was as it should be. Now, he thought, it's time to find that apprentice of his. Just then, Kasuto heard a door creak open in the next room. He slowly walked up to the door and peeked into the other room. It was Keeto. Kasuto casually walked into the room and greeted Keeto.
      "Keeto," Kasuto said. Keeto looked at him. "Dr. Sailann said you'd be back soon. He told me to wait here for you until you got back."
      "What for?" Keeto asked.
      "He had to go somewhere for a minute. He left this for you." Kasuto pulled the paper out of his pocket and handed it to Keeto. Curious, Keeto looked at it. Then Kasuto's hand glowed blue again. He grabbed Keeto's arm and he collapsed as Dr. Sailann had. Kasuto took the paper and put it in his pocket once more. He grabbed Keeto's legs and dragged him into the room where Dr. Sailann was. They both lay unconscious next to each other. "I'm sorry I had to do this," Kasuto said. They couldn't hear him, but he said it anyway. Kasuto turned around and walked out of the building. He was about to return home the same way that Kayla did. But he hesitated. He had a feeling that he should check the castle again. He had learned to trust his feelings, so he decided to return to the castle. It couldn't hurt to check for the children one more time. He began to walk back to the castle.
 
 

      Link and Zelda had had a great time. Zelda played the Bombchu bowling game about twenty times. It wasn't really her favorite game though, she was just persistent. She had lost the first game she played, and wanted to keep playing until she won. Zelda never quit anything until she got it right. In the end, she won fifty rupees. That left her with a net profit of negative 550 rupees. Oh well, she could afford it.
      They had seen just about everything there was to see in the market. Zelda wanted to go somewhere else and do something. Link talked her out of it, though. They had been gone for almost three hours and Link was worried that somebody might've noticed that Zelda was missing. "We should go back to the castle," Link said. "They've probably noticed that you're gone by now."
      "I guess you're right. I had a good time though. It was so much more fun than staying inside. Now, how should we go back into the castle without the guards noticing us?" Zelda asked.
      "Follow me," Link said. It was his turn to lead. Zelda might have been good at sneaking out of castles, but Link was the expert at sneaking in to them. He led her on the same route that he had taken when he first went to the castle. But when they were running through the field, they saw a man in brown robes walking along the path. They would've ignored him and kept going, but it didn't feel right. They ducked down behind a bush and watched him.
      "Who is that?" Zelda whispered.
      "I don't know," Link answered. Just then, the man turned around a looked at them. Link and Zelda were startled. They immediately brought their heads back behind the bush.
      "Do you think he saw us?" Zelda said.
      "He probably did," Link said. He peered over the bush and saw the man coming closer. There was nowhere they could go. He would see them if they tried to run. Link and Zelda sat there thinking. They didn't know what to do. Kasuto reached the bush, bent over, and looked at the children.
      "I've been looking for you," Kasuto said.
      "I'm sorry," Zelda whined. "I didn't mean to run out like that. I just wanted to have fun. I...."
      Kasuto interrupted her. "Whoa, whoa. What are you talking about?"
      "You mean you don't know that we esc..." Zelda trailed off.
      "That you what?" Kasuto asked.
      "Um...never mind," Zelda said.
      "What did you mean that you're looking for us?" Link asked.
      "You two are the ones foretold in prophecy. Foretold by the first Guardians," Kasuto said. "You have both have been having strange dreams lately, haven't you?" They nodded hesitantly. Normally they would've dismissed some strange man's words. But this person was different. They could feel it. "Those dreams you've been having, about the black pyramid, aren't just nightmares. They're trying to tell you something. You can feel that there's something you should know."
      "Yes..." Zelda said. "You're right. I remember that dream. I felt like something bad was going to happen."
      "Me too," Link said.
      "Something is going to happen," Kasuto said. "And you are the ones who are going to stop it. You, Link, are the first key. Zelda is the second."
      "What do you mean?" Link asked. The words this man was saying were confusing Link. He just wanted to know the truth.
      "Come with me. My friends and I will explain everything to you." Zelda and Link weren't afraid. Normally, they wouldn't think of going off with some stranger. But they knew this was different. They had to. They had to trust their feelings. Zelda was no longer afraid of getting in trouble for the mischief she caused today. That was no longer important. They had bigger things to do.
      "Where are you going to take us?" Zelda asked.
      "To the outskirts of a small village called Kataan, it's about twenty miles south of here."
      "How are we going to get there?" Link asked. "I don't want to walk that far. Do you have horses?" Kasuto shook his head. Link was confused. How else could they get there?
      "Both of you, hold my hand," Kasuto said. They each held one of his hands. Link and Zelda began to feeling strange. It was a tingling sensation. It felt like when their feet fell asleep, only throughout their whole bodies. They saw their surroundings glow with a bluish tint. Everything disappeared in a blinding light. The light subsided and they were standing inside a cottage.
      "Wow! How did you do that?" Zelda exclaimed.
      "It takes a lot of practice. And unfortunately, it also takes a lot of energy, too," Kasuto said. He was really exhausted. Teleportation took a lot out of him, especially when he took two people with him. He had to sit down for a minute.
      "That was so cool!" Link said. He looked over at Kasuto, who was breathing heavily. "Um, are you okay?"
      "I'll be fine I just need to sit down for a minute." So they sat there. Link and Zelda looked around the cottage they were sitting in. It was pretty typical. A dining table, kitchen, and a bedroom through a door in the back. After a few minutes, Kasuto caught his breath. "Sorry. But teleporting like that really makes me tired."
      "Tell-eh-pore-ting?" Link mumbled.
      "Never mind," said Kasuto. "I have more important things to show you. First of all, let me introduce you to my friends. This is Dejaren." He pointed to the short bald man. "Kira...." He pointed to the woman with long, braided, blonde hair. "Kayla...." The woman with the brunette ponytail. "Soral...." The tall man with short black hair. "Talan...." The man with salt and pepper hair and a mustache. "And Zoya." The short, gray-haired woman. They all greeted each other warmly. Link and Zelda didn't know why, but they felt at home here.
      "Now that we all know each other," said Kasuto, "we have to get down to business. We need to take you to our temple."
      "Temple?" Zelda said, confused.
      "Yes. The Temple of Truth," Kasuto said. Link and Zelda had never heard of that temple before. "It's very well hidden. Follow me, and I'll take you there." Kasuto walked out the front door of the cottage, followed by Link, Zelda, and the other six people. About a hundred yards away from the cottages was a large mesa. All they could see in front of them was a sheer cliff face a hundred feet high and stretching out from east to west. "Here we are," Kasuto said. Link and Zelda looked around. All they saw was a cliff face. This hardly looked like a temple. They gave Kasuto quizzical looks.
      "This is the entrance," Kasuto said. He pointed to the cliff face. On the spot to which he pointed was an engraving. It was a seven-pointed star with strange writing underneath it. Kasuto placed his hand on the star engraving. A portion of the cliff face, a rectangle of about eight feet high and six feet wide, began to glow blue. All of a sudden, the portion of the cliff face seemed to disintegrate. In front of them was a short, torch-lit hallway. "Follow me," Kasuto said.
      They walked to the end of the hallway and stood before a staircase carved into the rock. They walked down the staircase. It led to a colossal underground cavern. Link and Zelda were amazed. They could see rows of torches stretching out as far as they could see in all directions. In the center on the floor was a glowing blue square.  Before the square were seven stone benches. Another thing they saw was stone coffins. Hundreds upon hundreds of coffins. "This is it. The Temple of Truth."
      "It looks more like a tomb," Zelda said. She didn't like being in a place with so many dead people.
      "It is," Kasuto said. He outstretched his arms and slowly turned around. "These are all the Guardians who ever lived, 1785 to be exact. For ten thousand years, we have preserved the truth about the Triforce. A truth you are about to learn."
      "What truth?" Link asked. "What about the Triforce do we not know?"
      "Everything," Kasuto answered. "Here, sit down. You're going to need to." He beckoned them to come sit on the stone benches. Link and Zelda sat next to Kasuto, the other six Guardians sat on adjoining benches. "First off, let me tell you who we are. We are the Guardians of the Triforce. I am the Guardian of Truth. Dejaren is the Guardian of Courage; Soral, Guardian of Light; Talan, Guardian of Darkness; Kira, Guardian of Time; Kayla, Guardian of Wisdom; and Zoya, Guardian of Power.
      "Now, here is the truth. The Triforce, the relic of the gods that you worship, is nothing but an illusion. The Sacred Realm, the Sages, and the Triforce itself are parts of the biggest of lies. The real Triforce lies through this gateway." He pointed to the blue square on the floor. "Inside the Sacred Realm, there are four forces. Three of them belong to the Triforce: wisdom, power, and courage. The fourth is evil. A force of incomprehensible evil. It makes Ganondorf seem like a holy man. Until about ten thousand tears ago, these four forces existed in perfect equilibrium. Unfortunately, our predecessors destroyed that equilibrium. The original seven Guardians were the first people to ever step foot inside the Sacred Realm. When they did, they all of a sudden became full of knowledge. They understood everything about the Triforce.
      "Their entering into the Sacred Realm, however, had disastrous consequences. For eons before that moment, the gateway was a one-way door. When they stepped into the gateway, it became open in both directions. This, for the first time, gave the evil force somewhere to go. Inside the Sacred Realm, the Evil Force could do no harm. But if it escaped into our world, the results would be unbelievably catastrophic.
      "They realized that they had to do something in order to prevent this. You know that the Triforce has the power to grant any wish. They wished for the four forces to combine. For the first time, the Triforce was one object. It had only one purpose: to contain the Evil Force so it could not escape into the world. The seven had fixed their mistake."
      "But you said the Triforce was a lie," Link interrupted. "What do you mean?"
      "The way that the Triforce grants a wish comes with limitations. If you ask for a definite wish, for instance a million rupees, it will be granted. That's a one-time wish. One thing happens, one time, it's done and over with. But the rules are different for continuous wishes. If you wished for world peace, that is not a definite, one-time thing. The wish must be constantly maintained, every moment of every day.
      "When our predecessors wished for the imprisonment of the Evil Force, they realized that it was a continuous wish. This is the problem: when someone makes a continuous wish it will be granted indefinitely. But if someone else comes along and makes a wish, the previous continuous one will be... 'ungranted'. A continuous wish only lasts until another wish is made.
      "The first Guardians realized this. They came up with the only logical solution: create a decoy to prevent people from making a new wish upon the Triforce. When they entered the Sacred Realm, they were endowed with certain powers; like the teleportation you two saw earlier. They used their powers to construct a false Triforce and a false Sacred Realm. They built the Temple of Time and the Temple of Light to house the false Triforce and to create a door to the false Sacred Realm.
      "To prevent someone from discovering the truth, they gave the false Triforce the power to grant wishes. But these wishes were never fully granted. That is why when Ganondorf wished to rule the world it was granted, but eventually his empire and his power collapsed. Any wish made on the false Triforce is destined to fail, even if it's a righteous wish.
      "The sages who protected the false Triforce have been protecting a lie. They do not know this, though.  They give their lives to protect a decoy. People worship a  false idol. But this is the price we must pay for existence.
      "If the Evil Force were to escape, our entire universe would come to an end. This evil does not want to take over the world, enslave whole races, or build a vast empire. It is only death and destruction. Its only goal is to destroy all life and all of creation.
      "So I hope you understand why we had to do this, why we had to create this lie, and why we had to perpetuate it."
      Link and Zelda sat there absorbing what they'd just heard. They found it almost unbelievable; but somehow, in their hearts, they knew it was true. They had always known.
      Link decided to ask a question. "If the Triforce is all a lie, then what happened to me a few weeks ago. Did I really travel through time? Was Ganondorf destroyed? Did anything I do even matter?"
      "In a way it mattered. As a matter of fact, you did travel through time, the false Triforce is that powerful. And Ganondorf was banished to the false Sacred Realm. For all intents and purposes, the false Sacred Realm behaves the same way as the true Sacred Realm. The only difference between the two is that the true one is hidden.
      "Your time traveling was just a precursor to your true destiny. There is another piece to this story, however. When the first Guardian of Truth was dying, he made a prophecy. He said that in ten thousand years, the Evil Force would attempt to escape its imprisonment. This would be accompanied by five signs.
     "The first sign is 'the great Guardian of the Forest shall perish at the hands of evil.' This was the death of the Deku Tree. What you don't know is that the Deku Tree died because of the Evil Force, not because of Ganondorf. The Deku Tree's fate was sealed when the door to the true Sacred Realm first opened. Part of the Evil Force infected the Deku Tree, and it was destined to die. It just took ten thousand years for that to happen.
      "The second sign is the appearance of the black pyramid, the one you two dreamed of. This black pyramid is another gateway through which the evil could escape. You see, the problem with the wish the first Guardians made is not the wish itself. It's the Triforce, the true Triforce. Even when the forces of power, wisdom, and courage are combined, they are not equal to that of the Evil Force. Its imprisonment was only a temporary fix.
      "Over time, small portions of the Evil Force drained from the prison. The amount was so small, that it had no immediate effect. It's like taking one drop of water from a well every day. It takes a long time to make a difference. The evil that escaped didn't fan out and dissolve like we'd hoped. It concentrated. All of the evil that has escaped over the last ten thousand years has manifested itself as the black pyramid. Now, the pyramid is almost finished; the prison is almost empty. In a short while, it will gather enough evil energy to break the seal that the Triforce has made. When that happens, our whole existence will be erased in the blink of an eye. This sign has come true; the pyramid was unearthed at an archaeological dig a little over a week ago."
      "Wait a minute," Link interrupted. "If the Evil Force is escaping, why are you continuing this lie?
      "Because, like I said earlier, if someone places a different wish upon the Triforce the Evil Force will be released. Even though it has been slowly escaping its prison for ten thousand years, it never had its full strength in this world. If our wish were ungranted, the Evil Force would completely engulf this world. Only when it has full strength can it destroy the universe. If half of it is in this world and half is in the Sacred Realm, it has no power. So continuing this lie prevents the Evil Force from having full strength in either dimension. But if we don't act soon, it will obtain full strength in our world.
      "Allow me to continue. The third sign is 'a boy who remembers the future shall learn the Truth.' That is you, Link. Your traveling through time is the second sign. Now that you have learned the truth about the Triforce, the third sign has been fulfilled.
      "The fourth sign is 'a girl of high social standing shall travel to the future, but will not remember. She shall learn the Truth.' That's you, Zelda. You don't know this, but you played an important role in Link's adventure. You were the one who waited for him to return for seven years after Ganondorf took over, and you were the one who eventually locked him in the false Sacred Realm. But since Link changed the timeline, you don't remember. As far as you're concerned, Ganondorf inexplicably vanished a few weeks ago. Now that you too have learned the truth about the Triforce, the fourth sign has been fulfilled.
      "The fifth sign hasn't happened yet, and I pray that it never will. This is the final sign before the world ends. It will begin as common natural disasters. People won't think anything of them because the disasters will be mild and isolated. But after a week or so, the disasters will become more severe than anyone has ever seen. The ground will shake violently. Earthquakes the likes of which we have never seen will ravage the world. Then the storms will come. Colossal torrential downpours will cover the land. There will be tornadoes, hail, and winds that will topple buildings. Floods will cover the plains and fields, drowning crops and people. Volcanoes will appear out of the ground overnight. Then, all of a sudden, the death and destruction will cease. At noon on that day, the Sun will turn black. For one day, there will be darkness and silence. This is the last day. Twenty-four hours after the Sun turns black, the world will end. The Evil Force will have completely escaped from the Sacred Realm. At the moment when all of it is in our dimension, the universe will cease to exist."
 
 

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