-Approximately 23 years ago-

"Not good enough," The then king of Qin bluntly stated.

The twin priestesses of Din shared a knowing glance. The Elder of the Fae Grove grumbled within his wooden centaur form. Harken Dragmire grit his teeth and glared at the king of Qin. Among them were representatives of twenty clans from the mountains, including seven Majora tribes. They were all bowing and showing fealty to the king.

The outskirts of the room held representatives and leaders of major factions of Qin. The key figures were Ki family heads and the head of the Mitagi family, Ousen Mitagi.

"King, what do you mean 'not good enough?!'" Harken exclaimed. "We have taken three cities this month and killed forty-thousand enemies!"

"And yet the Mitagi have taken ten cities and killed two-hundred thousand," The chancellor of Qin, Abhdan, replied.

"The Mitagi have three great generals, four generals, and hold authority over the entire military of Qin!"

"And are you not in command of over twenty-three tribes? Cannot the Fae reduce entire cities to ruin with ease? Cannot the tribes pass over walls like water? Do you not claim that your ancient heritage is mighty?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then be silent. You humiliate yourself," The king interjected. He narrowed his eyes at the tribesmen. "The only reason I tolerate your existence is because you are useful, but your usefulness is waning. You have a quota to fill. I suggest you try harder."

Elder shook his head.

The twin priestesses whispered between each other, "How much greater can he demand?"

"You have something to say, insect?" The king glared towards the Fae. Elder's form briefly shook before solidifying, and the tribes sucked in a breath. Even Harken's eyes widened. The Fae disliked being compared to bugs. It is the equivalent of calling a human an ape because they appear similar.

"Yes, I do." The Fae Elder stepped forward. He bent his front two legs in a bow. "Oh, king of Qin, your allies, the Majora and Fae, are exhausted. While the Mitagi and Ki continue to fund the war effort with fresh trained soldiers, your other allies are not numerous enough to do this. You possess nearly four-hundred cities. Your allied cities number in the double-digits. The Dragmire have been reduced to using civilians to fight with and-"

"If I wanted to be preached to by an insect, I would have put a fly in a bottle!" The king snapped.

Elder shuddered. The Majoran King whispered, "Don't!" and put a hand on the wooden centaur's chest.

The king knew full well the Fae's healing magics produced a demand in the black market. Fae were hunted, trapped in cages they could not manipulate, and torn apart as if their flesh could be the magic's source. In extreme cases, they were even eaten whole and forced to merge with the soul of the human. The result caused both to be mentally torn apart through extreme pain or delve into madness.

The king hadn't made any attempt to punish the thieves.

"We will find a way," The Majoran king whispered to the Fae and Mitagi. "Trust me, there is a way."

Elder glanced at him, restrained his fury, and nodded.

"Pardon my impudence, king," Elder said. "We shall search within ourselves for a way." The Fae bowed once more and returned to the crowd.

"It is so unlike you to be worked up," The twin priestesses whispered as the Elder Fae walked back with them. "Is it because your people are little more than hostages?"

The Fae grunted. The twins giggled: it was rare anything riled Elder to anger.

"You'd better," The king said. "My tolerance for your 'kind' wears thin. If you fail to impress me next time... you may prove yourselves to be little more than an obstacle in my way."

-Later-

In a private room, Harken roared and kicked a table over. Unsatisfied, he took the table in his hands and smashed it against the wall. Then he tore apart what remained. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it all! Our people die and he just demands more and more!"

"His failure is in comparing us to others," Elder mused. "The Mitagi stand at the top of the world. He knows this. They possess the blood of the Hero and they are the hope of Qin. All armies are compared to them."

"I don't see him comparing the Ki to the Mitagi! Don't defend him!"

"I am not-"

"In all fairness, Lord Fae, you are defending the king's unreasonable request."

"...Maybe," Elder relented.

"How many cities have the Ki taken in these last months?" A chieftain asked.

"Wasn't it... one?" Another answered.

"ONE!" Harken exclaimed. "Just one! The fools are weak and take several generals to take one city, while we destroy armies in great slaughters! We have taken three cities this month alone! With the king so intent on us, the discrimination from the Ki isn't even trying to be hidden anymore! We need to hold the Ki accountable and make them pay, or have the king do his JOB and cut some damn Ki heads!"

"The king fears the might of Ki if they put together a cohesive force." The Majora king said.

"The king should fear us if we do the same! There is only so much we can take!"

The group fell silent. Harken panted angrily. Though some wished to argue, no one could bring themselves to speak against him. They knew it was true. If the Fae, Majora, and Dragmire united with the other mountain tribes, they could bring war to Qin on more sides than it could handle.

Though they served the Qin faithfully, there were whispers. The Qin people did not appreciate the mountain and desert people living among them, and so they did what they could to push the tribes out. Guards sided with Qin in civil matters. Tribesmen were mocked, pushed, beaten, and even killed by their neighbors. The Fae were captured and torn apart. The king was rumored to have kidnapped a number of Fae himself for his own unknown purposes. Meanwhile, each month, the king demanded more and more from both. The alliance between Qin cultures was strong in the days of King Shorlin, but in the days of his son, it looked like it would be tested to the breaking point.

The Majoran king broke the silence. "We cannot allow that to happen. We must do something! Brothers! Are there no more warriors among you that we have assembled!? Are there no more powers we can use?"

"You can use the masks," Harken suggested. "If you release the monsters you hold, it will satisfy him." A few other kings nodded in agreement.

The Majoran king argued against it, though. "And destroy everything else with them! Our hold of masks have the power to destroy a kingdom and everything in it! You think monsters care whether Qin or Gerudo die? Or Qin and Zhao? I tell you now, it is better to return to the mountains in exile than to unleash that trove of power."

"Why?! The Mitagi have their own trove of power they use!"

"Not quite, it is guarded by the Rebellious Hero," Elder rebutted.

Harken scoffed. "Some good his guardianship does! The Mitagi wield three of his weapons! Four if you count the Mark. In his possession, the Mitagi hold ten weapons total!"

"Nine," Elder corrected.

Harken rolled his eyes. "My point being... What good does it do to withhold the power we have at our disposal when we are being pressed into competing with the greatest army in Hyrule? They wield weapons of the ancient hero and bear his blood in their veins! It is difficult to imagine, but don't you think that we can compete if we only try? Some of us have the blood of the royal Gerudo in our veins! Some of us come from the deserts! Some of us, and you, have the blood of the Demon King!"

"That bloodline is hardly doing you any good," The twin priestesses mocked.

A tribe's king waved his point aside."Yes, yes, we know the stories."

"The prophecies are not to be mocked!" Harken pressed. "Look, you know the legends! The Rebellious Hero lives and is hidden! Who is to say the Demon King does not!? After all, he wasn't killed! He was banished to another realm. He lives."

"What are you suggesting?" The Elder Fae asked.

Harken huffed. He looked around the room and hesitantly said, "If we could reclaim the Mark of Din... If... If we could fulfill the prophecy... If we could bring 'him' back and if we use the might of the Majora masks. Then we can-"

"Absolutely not! You incite war!" The Majora king roared. "You think your Demon King would accept the Qin?! Or us for that matter!? You don't know him! We don't know him! I don't know about you lot, but anyone with the name 'Demon King' probably earned it for a reason!"

Everyone nodded in agreement. Harken Dragmire grit his teeth angrily. "You would just bow in submission!?"

"It is better to find another way than to damn your souls," Elder replied.

"I have had enough of you and your 'holier-than-me' wisdom!"

"And you are too competitive," Elder countered. "You think immediate results will satisfy a long-term problem. If you do succeed in reaching between realms and pulling 'him' back, then what? The king will find another reason to press you harder against the grindstone. We must appeal to the king and appease him in some way to lessen the burden... or accept that this alliance will destroy us and respond accordingly."

The Majoran king stared at the floor in thought. He frowned heavily. "You are wise, Lord Fae, but I do not want to waste the wishes of my people. We were promised a home with land and food, where our young mothers and children will not starve and die. We were promised cities. Already, we have merged our people so much with the Qin. I have watched families form between us, children born, and my people smile."

"They are spat upon and mocked at every turn!" Harken barked.

"And they smile despite that!"

"They will not be smiling when the king gives the order to have us all exterminated. No one will lift a finger to stop him because they all agree! Already, the law offers us no protection! Our woman cannot walk down the street alone without threat of rape, and our men cannot leave their homes without a weapon on their hip!" Harken slammed his fists on a table that missed his wrath. The tribesmen at it jumped and moved a small distance from the angry Dragmire.

"Mark my words! All of you! A great slaughter is coming!"

-Approximately 22 years ago, 1 year later-

In his tent, Harken Dragmire looked up from his sleeping mat as the twin priestesses of Majora approached. The night was heavy, and the grass beneath their feet was lush. They could understand why Harken chose this place to pitch his tent and the tents of the nomadic Dragmire. The wilds of western Qin were a rare beauty. These lands were untouched by the ravages of war in the east.

Harken waved his guards away and stood to his feet. "Welcome. I had a feeling you would come."

The two said, "We have listened."

"And we have watched."

"The Qin put our peoples to the grindstone."

"To fuel their war at the cost of our children."

"We believe you are right. A great war is coming."

"Already, our people are being forced from their homes."

Stolen story; please report.

"We are made to flee our allies and return to the tribes."

"The next step is undoubtedly death."

"Already, the king has gathered the Mitagi for council."

"And the great Kyou Mitagi is leading an army west."

Harken gave a deep growl. Extending his hand, he took his drinking goblet and crushed it. "Bastards. We aren't even given enough time to redouble our efforts! If they seek to threaten us, they will find the Dragmire more than prepared to show them how we handle threats! But you have not answered my question. What do you want?"

"We wish to help," The two said as one. "We seek to help you reclaim the Mark of Din."

Harken's face broke into a wide grin. "Very well, I gladly accept your aid! Look how the prophecy comes together! He said you would come, so I had made preparations for if he was right."

"Who is this man you speak of?" The twin priestesses asked. They shared an uneasy glance. It unsettled them to hear Harken had been told they would meet him. They wondered if this someone's ability to predict the future surpassed their own.

"He is peculiar, I will grant you that much, but we do not have time to waste. He said he knows how to summon the Champion of Din, and he said you two would be crucial to it."

They left the tent, and Harken called the elders to another tent in the center of camp. There, the twin priestesses saw a symbol dug into the ground. The symbol was etched with care a full inch into the ground. At first, the twins grew curious, but closer inspection alarmed them. It was a symbol bearing the trinity of the Triple Goddess atop the pentagon of the Twilight Pantheon.

"What is this?" The twin priestesses demanded.

The elders squeamishly looked to each other and would not answer. A young man presented himself from among the elders. He looked very different from most people, and that alarmed the twins. He was a man with the palest skin, the whitest hair, and eyes that lacked any color.

"This is precisely what it looks like," The albino answered. His voice was as sweet as honey, relaxed and slow. He smiled gently and approached without hesitation. "If one is to summon a power locked between the realms of Divine and Twilight, one must link both. Do not look so shocked, my ladies! You knew on coming here that the Dragmire seek to revive the Demon King from his five-hundred-year slumber. You even offered yourself to helping with the plan. Let us not mince words, nor say it as anything less than what this is: a grand occasion! We are all allies seeking a common purpose! Power and honor is your birthright, and so you shall reclaim it."

The elders nodded in agreement. The albino's speech was pleasant and sweet in their ears. Even the twin priestesses could not help but agree. They had come here knowing they would be helping the Dragmire summon the Demon King. That did not mean they would not have a moment of weakness seeing the unnatural site arrayed before them, nor in hearing their actions were prophesied. The albino was likely the prophet if they were to guess.

The albino continued, "It is not like you are committing a heresy, after all. You are not raising the dead, nor twisting the order established by the Divine. We are not like the Rebellious Hero. You are merely opening a door, calling forth a man who is still very much alive, and closing the door. It was the Rebellious Hero who tampered with the laws to send him there and deny the Champion of Din a natural death. It is only right that what is natural is restored. No! You are rescuing the laws. You are doing your duty. Din would be proud."

"Quite right!" Harken exclaimed and looked around. "And what better sign from the Divine is there than the very high priestesses of Din who have come to help us?"

The elders nodded their agreement. They thanked the twins for their aid and looked onto the symbol with excitement. In their eyes, the Divine was with them. They believed what they were doing was right to their own restoration, their ancient heritage, and their goddess.

With each word the albino uttered, the twin priestesses only felt more apprehensive. Harken's words shamed them. They had come of their own volition. All the same, they had come to do this task. It was too late to turn back.

The elders cut their hands and poured their blood into goblets. The goblets were then poured into the symbol's trench-like lines on the ground. Goblets such as these were sent out until they were filled along with the symbol on the ground. The priestesses added their own blood as well.

Unbeknownst to everyone after they finished, the albino slipped his own blood into the ritual.

With the needed blood spilt, the albino stepped in the symbol and placed an object in its middle.

"What is this?" The twins asked.

"The realm you reach into is large and wide and filled with demons," The albino replied. "Best to not pluck someone at random and destroy yourselves. Rather, let us draw out the one you seek. This is a bit of jewelry I found that ties to the Demon King himself."

It was a headpiece with a red rupee on it. Harken snorted and burst out in laughter.

"You find something amusing, Lord Dragmire?" The albino asked.

Harken stifled himself. "I would have expected a crown, a menacing helmet, or a weapon. But the Demon King wore a piece of cheap, gaudy head jewelry depicting a twenty-rupee gem on his forehead? Why not glue a yin to one's chest while we're at it?"

The elders laughed as well, and the albino smiled tightly. "Yes... a bit shallow, I must admit. Still, it is tied to him. It will have to do."

"If it works, it works. I apologize, but there is amusing irony in the Demon King's prize crown being a twenty-rupee gem attached to his forehead."

The albino stared at him, no longer smiling. "May we continue now?"

"Yes, yes. Certainly."

"Then there is one last thing." The albino extended his arms. Harken nodded, and a baby was brought. The baby was also placed in the center.

Seeing the twin priestesses growing alarm, Harken whispered, "Continue. His parents consent to this."

Swallowing and more and more regretting their decision, the twins started the ritual. They closed their eyes and began quietly speaking in foreign, archaic tongues. The blood soon boiled and their forehead gems glowed a respective red and blue. Their whispering grew louder and faster. The boiling blood overflowed from their crevices and pooled around the jewelry and babe. With the jewelry acting as a link, the twins found the ritual much easier than originally expected.

Their gems flashed a blinding light, and the blood exploded under the whole tent, filling the ground like a swamp. The elders gasped in surprise. If someone were to look outside in western Qin, they would see all the ground for miles had suddenly became an ocean of blood. Every unlit torch in camp burst into flame, and every lit torch burned brighter until the place was blinding. The Dragmire present roared and fell to their knees while clutching their heads.

As soon as the nightmare began, however, the blood soaked through the ground as if it was never there. The yelling stopped as well.

A man ran into the tent proclaiming, "My lord! The blood! The fires! It has gone as far as the Mitagi who are now marching this way!"

Harken grunted. He looked at the elders around him. The twin's gasped fearfully, for they saw his eyes changed. Harken was always aggressive and easily angered, but the feral anger and ferocity within set him on alert. In addition to the feral expression, his eyes shifted to be blood-red, his hair became as red as a fire, and both glowed. The change came over every Dragmire the twins saw. All of their hair was red and glowed softly.

"Know this and remember well how I was right!" Harken barked. "Let them come. We will show them the might of the Dragmire. Gather the warriors! Who leads them? There will be no parley! I am done with Qin!"

As Harken barked his orders, the twins looked down between them. To their relief, the baby was still alive and well. However, it also now had glowing hair and red eyes. The albino stepped in, gently took the baby's hands, and inspected them. On one hand was a single golden triangle. The other bore a black mark, but it looked more like a smudge than any discernable shape.

"Looks like it was a success," The albino said, grinning widely. He grinned too widely for the twin's tastes. They stepped closer, and the albino backed off. He put his hands up in surrender. "Apologies. Your ritual. I shall not interfere."

"Priestesses," Harken addressed. "The Mitagi have come in great force. My scouts tell me the Qin have also engaged your tribe and our allies. Your people are fleeing west."

"We must all flee then," The twins insisted. "Take up your people and-"

"No." Harken shook his head. "We are done being the dog given scraps and the whip. We are a proud people. We forgot ourselves in coming to this land from the desert, but now... We have become what we have always been meant to be! We will fight to the last man. We will defeat the Qin and show this world what it is to fear our power!" He looked at the baby between them. "But I must admit... I had hoped to be led by him. To see power such as that wielded in ancient days. Alas, it seems he holds but a seed of it at this time. I ask of you: flee and take him with you. Do not let him forget who we are, our heritage, or our birthright. One day, he will return to set these betrayers to the fire. I am sure of it."

Harken took his blade and left the tent. The rest of the elders followed after him, and the albino had already disappeared somewhere. The twin priestesses stood alone with the child.

They stayed frozen still until the sounds of battle reached their ears. Then they abruptly carried the child to a horse and fled west.

All along their journey, the twins and child saw fire burning in the horizon as villages were destroyed and their inhabitants slaughtered. The mountain tribes' few settlements in the plains were being destroyed. Harken's words rang true in their ears. Qin had betrayed them.

They saw an exodus of men and women fleeing to the forests. A great Qin army gave chase, but the land itself turned against them. Shrubs too thick to pass sprouted between trees. Vines roped themselves across the army's path like tall walls. The earth became mud, forcing them to slow. All the while, the Majora were left untouched and entered the forests' depths like a ghost through vapor.

They saw a line of tree-like men walk out of the forest and stand against the Qin army. A few Majora stopped with them to fight and buy time. One succeeded in severely wounding a Qin commander before dying themselves. The commander collapsed in a bloody heap, but managed to pull a bottle from his pack. The bottle glowed in his hands. Seeing it, a Fae Elder charged towards him, gaining speed as what he realized what he saw.

The commander smashed the bottle on the ground, grabbed the contents in his hands, and tore at it. Taking the glowing blue blood in his hands, he wiped himself down desperately.

He looked at himself and gasped out, "Why is it not working?!"

The Fae Elder roared. The sound alerted every fighter, and the battle stopped. Never had the twin priestesses heard a Fae roar so loudly or with so much anger. It scared them. The Fae were always calm and at peace. It shook them to hear one so angry.

The Elder stomped the wounded Qin into the ground, picked him up, and grew another set of hands. With another roar, he took the man's arm and tore it off.

"HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?!" The Elder screamed. "DOES IT HURT?! CAN YOU LIVE?!"

He threw the man into the ground and stomped on him again. He grabbed the commander's remaining limbs and viciously tore them off his torso too.

The Qin fled from him fearfully. The Fae Elder was like a giant among them. He crushed the beaten man's head beneath his hoof, took up the severed body parts, and painted his own torso with the blood.

The Fae roared, and it echoed out of the other Fae centaurs.

"HEAR THIS, SONS OF QIN! FROM THIS DAY, I DECLARE YOUR KING THE BETRAYER KING! OUR ALLEGIANCE IS OVER! OUR ALLIANCE IS SHATTERED, AND YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE! IF YOU ARE FOUND, YOU WILL BE KILLED AND YOUR BODIES WILL BE FED TO THE DOGS!"

The Elder thrust his fist into the ground. Many large vines with thorns erupted from the ground like worms, roiling and coiling towards the Qin. The Qin finally retreated, and the Fae swallowed those who straggled behind in the thorns. They then turned aside and created a wooden wall around the forests.

The Fae returned to the forests' depths. Out of the seven Majora tribes who settled in the plains, only two escaped into the Fae's safety. The Dragmire stood their ground to the last man. Many more mountain tribes were slaughtered or escaped to the mountains and forests. The priestess twins would forever look onto the plains and feel lost with how much fire and blood soaked the land.

-Present, Zelda-

The twins finished their story in saying, "There are many victims. We have paid the costs for our trust. We do not hold you to the unreasonable demands of your former, but we see the cycle returning. Unreasonable demands, misplaced justice, and betrayals. This is how your 'civilized' houses will inevitably view us from the mountains. The victim of the conflict within Qin is the man you are pressed to judge as the orchestrator. He is being set up as an example."

As the twins spoke, Zelda listened and reflected. She silently looked out her window into the meager night life of the Mitagi city. It had shrunken tremendously since her arrival. The fortress city was massive, powerful, but even it still had its flaws. The people sensed the security was lacking since the killing continued, and the Mitagi still held secrets from them despite all their honor.

Ousen Mitagi struck Zelda as dangerously ambitious. The Mitagi held a horde of weapons guarded by an uncontrollable being who aided to the downfall of Hyrule. Their desire to make an example out of Lord Dragmire was disappointing. Zelda did not view their decision as much of a vicious desire like the Majora would no doubt feel, but rather as them struggling to reclaim some sense of honor and strength. Their pride was wounded. They suffered a great loss in losing Ouki Mitagi. It would be a great boon for the Mitagi to say that the one who killed Ouki had been placed before them and executed as a show of strength. If Zelda had her wish, she would judge Lord Dragmire fairer, with only minor repercussions, and lay the blame upon Harken Dragmire. However, Harken disappeared after the war. So without one Dragmire to place on the judgement seat, the Mitagi chose the other.

"This explains much," Zelda said. "The Fae told me upon our first meeting that they could, and would, slay many Qin if we betrayed them again. I see why now. I understand the words Lord Dragmire told me when I met you in the Majora Hall, the rivalry between Ouki and Harken, the pain, the hate, and the suspicion you all felt. It was only twenty-something years ago. It would take a full generation to even begin to forget... to forgive, but that wounded generation still lives. The false history written in Qin does not portray my grandfather as a betrayer, but a zealous hero of the people. It occurs to me that the history of war is written by the victors. History is written by men that care more for how they are written after death than for what they did during life... I must make a formal apology to many people on behalf of my grandfather later."

Zelda turned away from the window to address the elderly twins. "But there are a few things I question. Who is the albino?"

"We do not know," They replied. "He was as much a mystery to us then as he is now. Our concern was on other matters."

"Fair enough, but that still leaves the matter of who Ganondorf Dragmire is. The Mitagi claim he is a demon. The Majora claim he is a man possessed by a demon. Your story shows him as a child, yes? He is the child you spoke of?"

"Yes."

"Then does this mean the child is Ganondorf Dragmire, possessed by the Demon King? Or does this mean the child is possessed by Ganondorf Dragmire, making Ganondorf Dragmire the Demon King rather than the original child? Who is in control of whom? Is there an actual Demon King, with mind and will, living inside him and waiting to break out? Or is it merely a power he possesses that he cannot control and thus renders him feral?"

"We... do not know."

Zelda sighed. She rubbed her forehead and felt a headache coming on. "Then you have only given me more questions than answers."

"These questions are for him to ponder, not you."

"On the contrary, it is these very questions that may decide whether I spare him into a life he does not want or give him what he really wants: death. I spoke with Lord Dragmire, and he may very well take his own life if it is given to him."

"These things are for him to ponder because he will decide his own fate. He will not be dictated by you or anyone else. There is hope for him yet. We raised him, and we saw only hatred in him. We fostered his power, and admittedly, we are angry with Qin and fed his anger. We failed him. We failed to see he did not possess his own will nor mind. We failed to see he was driven from within and was at war with himself.

"It was when he went to an event with the Fae, when he was baptized in the waters of the Fae Grove, that his mind became his own for the first time. It does not matter whether he is the Demon King given form, or the child possessed by the demon king. He is capable of deciding his loyalties, his will, and it is his choice whether to give in to something beyond him or to fight it. But alas, we did not come here to debate philosophy or Divine's gift of choice. We are here to offer something the Mitagi cannot refuse."

Zelda blinked in surprise. "What would that be?"

The twin priestesses bowed simultaneously. "As the ones who summoned him or gave him over to possession, we offer our lives and the agreement that Harken Dragmire is to share our fate, should he be captured."