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”Lord Vaati? Lord Vaati, wake up!” The familiar voice of Shadow Link called out of me. I woke up, and when I sat, my vision went dark and I instantly felt like I wanted to throw up. Shadow Link pushed me down so I could lay again. “Don’t sit up, okay? I know you’re still weak. And don’t worry. I stole you a wheelchair.”“Wheelchair?! I’m not disabled or anything, I bet on my life I can walk!” I shouted at him.“Woah, woah. I wouldn’t bet that much. Your life’s important. …Somewhat. If you really think you can walk, then be my goddamned guest.” Shadow Link gestures to the wide, moss-covered Sanctuary.I look around for a moment, slowly sitting up as to not make myself feel faint once more. “…Why’re we in this wretched place, Tellie?”“The Four Sword Sanctuary? I freed you from the sword. Which is why…” He points behind me. I look, and three other versions of Shadow Link are standing bright there. One with red claws, another with blue eyes, and the final with a long, green scar across his face.Now that I really look at him, Shadow Link does seem a bit more purple.“You can call me Quill.” Shadow Link says. Then, he points to the green-scarred Shadow Link. “We call him Perri.” He points to the blue-eyed Shadow Link, “That’s Saph.”“What about that one?” I ask, pointing to the one with red claws.“He doesn’t have a name yet.” Quill chuckles. “But for now, we just call him ‘Claw’. Sound okay to you, Lord Vaati?”“Only if you kill those Heroes,”“…But we can’t. They’re…our friends, Lord.”“You don’t deny me! Go and kill them! I don’t feel strong enough to do it myself yet.”Behind me, I hear a gasp. “L-Lord Vaati, your leg!” Claw shouts, pointing to my leg. I look at it, and notice blood soaking me. “What happened?!? Do you feel okay? What’s wrong? Are you alright? How deep is it? Do you have any bandage? What about the bone? Does it hurt?” He’s already getting on my nerves.“Shut up, Claw!” Saph yells. He seems annoyed with this stupid kid already, too. And honestly, I think Saph and I will get along just fine. “You’re so annoying! He’s our Lord, he can handle it!”“But-But he’s hurt!”“Okay? What’re you gonna do about it?”And so, Claw stayed quiet. Thank the Ancient Winds!“Why’re you dressed like that?” Perri asks, pointing to me. I look down, and notice that my tunic is black, not lavender. And my cape starts out silver, and goes to gold.“And why’re your pants to brightly coloured?” Saph asks, “It looks silly.”I check my pants and boots. They’re the colours of the four Heroes! But…why? I hate them. This is upsetting. I don’t feel like myself!“Did you guys change me?” I ask. If they changed me, not only will I kill them, but I’ll break the Four Sword, too.“No. We didn’t.” Quill answers. What? But how? “I think, Lord, that you were trapped inside of the sword for so long that…” He gives a nervous chuckle. “You’re…the Spirit of the Four Sword, now.”I feel my eyes widen and my heart speed up. Spirit? Of the Four Sword? But I’m a force of evil! Tsk…Ganon better take me back!“You look angry.” Claw whispers.I glare at him with a hiss. “Shut it!” I shout. Claw flinches, covering his face with his hands. “Where’s Lord Ganon?!” I stand up, looking to Quill for answers.“Lord Vaati…” Quill mumbles, looking nervous.Saph looks at Quill from the side of his eyes. “Lord Ganon is dead.” He says, “The Heroes defeated him. His darkness was banished by the light of the sword, that’s what Quill says. And that means…”All four of them bow.“…You’re our Master, now.”I look down at them with worry. Master? Do I own them? That sounds horrible…I don’t want to own anyone! But I do want to have control… I won’t mention it.“Stand up.” I demand. And so, they stand. “Quill, do you know where the Heroes are?”“They’re in the Great Caverns, Lord.”“Great Caverns?”“Yes. After the war against Faron…Hyrule was destroyed. So they live in the Caverns now, which were created via Faroain explosives.”“…Hyrule was destroyed…?” I whisper. “Is-Is Zelda okay?!”“She’s fine.” Quill pauses. “…Probably. Why?”“Oh, that’s good…” I whisper to myself.“Why is that good?” Claw asks from behind me. I shoot my hand up, and hit him in the nose. “Ow! My nose!” He cries.“Yeah, Lord, why is that good? You sent us to bring her to you. You said you wanted her heart in your hand.” Saph grumbles, looking suspicious of my intentions.Next thing I know, I see them all staring at me, looking for answers. “Look, I just wanted to kill her myself, okay? End of story, end of discussion.”“…You’re lying, stop.” Perri demands.“I’m your Lord! Compared to me, you’re nothing! Don’t command me, fool! I’ll kill you right now!”“Lord, I think you might need to breathe.” Quill gently suggests, looking at me with a smug glint in his eyes.I whip my whole body around, but it end up making me too dizzy and I stumble a little bit. I feel Claw put his arms around me from behind, and instinctually bite him without realizing what I was doing.“That’s enough! Vaati, sit down! I’m in charge now!” Saph shouts. When I don’t sit down, he pushes me onto the ground to sit. “Quill, use your nerd ass and find out where the Heroes are! Claw, go away! Perri, just do something like banging rocks together!”“You’re not in charge of me, dipshit.” Quill groans. “But since it’s necessary, the Heroes are all exploring Death Mountain right now.”“Well, then that’s easy! Take all their materials to keep cool and watch them burn to death!”“Saph, that doesn’t sound very nice…” Claw raises one finger, “I think we should make friends with them!”“Yes! And then, when they least expect it, shove our claws into their bellies!” Saph growls, smiling.“N-No…just be friends with them…”“If you make friends with any of them, you won’t be around to make any more friends.” I mutter.Claw giggles nervously, then steps out of the conversation. Finally. He can shut up now.“How about we let Lord Vaati decide what we do?” Quill proposes, turning to me.Saph looks to me, almost glaring. “Go on, kid. Give me something fun.”“Uhm…We could…eat them?” I shrug. I don’t actually want to eat them. Especially the one who wears the red. He’s too…fatty. For me, anyway.“That’s lame.” Saph rolls his eyes.I sigh, trying to come up with another way. “We could strap them to a wall and let them die of starvation?”“Too messy.”“What do you mean ‘too messy’?! Fuck you! That was an amazing idea, foolish shadow!”“Foolish? Vaati, you’re but a mere child. You may be a powerful mage, but still…your body is small and fragile, like a little glass cup. I could snap you right in half.”“Wanna bet?”“Saph, M’Lord? Please don’t fight.” Perri says nervously. “Just don’t kill each other, at least?”“Oh, I don’t have enough gut to kill a child.” Saph laughs at me.I stand up with a low growl, and ready myself. I get into a low battle stance, and make my fangs longer using magic, but deciding to keep my claws the same. Hopefully my tail blade works…“Hey! That isn’t fair!” Saph points to my tail, which is now covered by a sheet of metal that turns it into a sort of axe blade.“What? I can’t get my feather ruffled, you know. It’s a real pain to clean blood out of the fuzz.” I smile.“Fine…it’s not like an advantage or anything! Now it’s just even!”“Three, two, one, go!” I shout, then instantly start spinning myself around using my hands as jets. Even though it’s just wind, I’m still going really fast. Luckily I didn’t eat…Before Saph can even do anything, I hit him over the head with the flat part of my tail, causing him to fall to the ground, out cold.I look to Quill, whose mouth is open, jaw dropped. “Is he dead?! Like, is he okay???”I slowly stop spinning, and fall down due to the dizziness. Nonetheless, I heal Saph of his injury. He doesn’t wake until a minute later or so after any magic use, though. Well, he’s alive. I don’t care about him right now.This doesn’t make much sense, does it? I’m fighting…Shadow Link, technically. We’re supposed to work together…or is that even necessary?“He’s fine.” I say. I make sure to sound upset.Perri looks to me, then to Quill. “All I heard was a crack. What happened?”“I think you cracked his skull, Vaati.” Quill mumbles, sounding a bit fearful. Yet, he’s still calm. I look down at Saph.I pick up Saph, keeping his head supported. Checking the wound, I realize I had cracked his skull a little bit. That’s okay. I set my hand gently on the spot, and heal him.“Be careful, Vaati! You haven’t used magic in eleven years, it might sputter out and hurt someone!” Quill exclaims, now sounding frantic.Just like that, I felt my hand go numb, and then limp. My magic grows out of control, and switches between the elements. The second it switches from wind to fire, though, it explodes, and sends my flying back into the hard, stone wall, leaving me winded and unable to catch my breath.
