-Ruins of Joket, Western Qin-

-Ghiradrim-

Ghiradrim stood under the alien sun of Din and looked out over the plains of the battlefield. Behind him was fire and flame. Before him were monsters fighting forces of Qin. He hummed in amusement.

"The Qin are faring better than I expected."

"Is that a problem?" His companion asked.

Beside Ghirradrim stood his, well he wanted to say 'friend', but they were not friends. What were they? Comrades? Pratners? No, all of that would imply equality and they were the furthest thing from equals. The huma Satakarta stood beside him shaking like a leaf in part fear, part anticipation, and all nerves. Rather he was a mortal to whom Ghiradrim made a deal with for mutual benefit. Satakarta would get what he needed, but Ghiradrim would benefit from it all the more. Did that make Satakarta a customer? Not really, Ghiradrim was in control. Satakarta had sold his soul to the devil, so to speak. When Ghiradrim was done with him he would toss him aside.

Slave. Ghirradrim stood beside his slave.

Ghirradrim looked to his slave and smiled with many teeth, "Yes. It is a problem, but not a dire one. Problems such as this merely demands a hint of blood on my part." Ghirradrim extended his hand, his spiderly fingers reaching towards his slave. "Your knife, if you will?"

"I think you mean 'effort', not blood, right?" Satakarta passed his master the knife. He gulped, seemingly afraid of what he would do with said knife.

Ghirradrim applied the knife to his open palm, "No. I mean blood." He cut his hand. He relished in the pain briefly, but focused on its purpose. Black blood drizzled from the open wound and fell from his hand. Clenching his fist, he dug his sharp fingers into the wound to bleed it until his hand was pouring black blood without end.

The blood fell to the ground, but did not sink into it. The ground crumbled, collected, sizzled, and grew on impact with the blood. It expanded, it collected, and it grew. It drew itself up. Eyes opened on its surface, and it bellowed its rage. Hundreds of twilight grew from the ground, soon to be thousands.

Not yet satisfied, Ghirradrim pointed his bleeding hand towards the bodies of the fallen spider monster and released a small arrow of blood. As soon as the blood made contact with the body, the body started to desolve and more Twilight arose from its corpse, screaming their birth pains and hunger against a reality utterly alien to them.

With nothing but a thought, Ghirradrim directed all to fight.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a horn. Casting his eyes west, Ghirradrim smiled. At the helm of a small army was a man with flaming hair.

"About time," Ghiradrim turned to his slave. "You know to do."

-Ganondorf Dragmire-

Ganon and his hunting party crossed the plains of Qin where it bordered with Majora and onward to his holding of Joket. The walled city was lit with flame and smoke billowed skyward in great dark towers. In the distance on a hill stood an army with Qin flags. The Qin stood in defensive formations with hastily made wooden-fortifications. The occassional Fae stood in their ranks as towering men of wood and stone.

All around the Qin army and the ruins of Joket were massive beasts and legions of smaller Twilight beasts. The beasts poked in at the men's defenses for prey and weakness before scurrying back out of reach of their spears, or hunted straglers on the country side the Qin could not save. Teams of Qin horsemen rode the plains fighting the beasts as best they could, but were sent scurrying away more often than not against the beasts superior strength and thick hides.

"How can this be?!" Ganon's second gasped at the sight. "We held these beasts imprisoned in the masks!"

"I do not know how, but the beasts have escaped their prisons," Ganon replied. The situation troubled him deeply. There were far more of the beasts than he had been told. Some of them he had personally bested before and after his youthful awakening. The Majora were ascended from a bloodline of monster hunters going back hundreds of years, even further back than the fall of Hyrule. They were jailors of the feral, tamers of the monsters, masters of the wilds and mountains, and everything they had built up was crashing down around them. While most countries might sacrifice hundreds or thousands to killing a monster, the Majora lost few lives in removing them permanently. Or, up till now, what seemed permanent.

Kuroko Dragmire had been imprisoned in a mask, but now was free. These beasts were imprisoned but were now free. How many more were free that were once imprisoned? What of the men and women who, over the generations, had been punished via execution and exile into a mask?

Ganon turned to another and ordered, "Return to Majora! Warn Nabooru! Tell her to gather the fighting men and march on the temple!"

"The temple?"

"Yes, tell her the mask's prison has been broken! With how many we have executed over the generations into the masks, just how many criminals and angry men have taken home in our temple?! How many have infilitrated our home wanting revenge after having been asleep for a hundred years?"

The Majoran paled as realization set in. He immediately turned his steed aside and turned back to relay Ganondorf's message to their home.

Ganondorf turned to the other side and faced his second, "Take command of the hunting party and enter into the Qin ranks. Do not put on the masks! We are not here to turn into monsters of our own to fight, but here to protect and secure the Dragmire to our home. Ask the Qin to transfer the Dragmire to us, and when the time is safe, together we shall escort them."

"Yes, Lord Ganon!" His second yelled.

Ganon broke ranks from the hunting party. The Majora army rode toward the Qin army on horse and wolf, moved around the monsters, and entered the conflict enough as to regroup with their allies. Ganon rode alone on his horse and surveyed the situation. It was dire, but it was salvagable. He unsheathed one of his broadswords into his hand and spurred his horse on towards the Qin horsemen to aid them.

The Qin horsemen fled from a giant wolf. It had the corruption of Twilight infested in its flesh, spotting it in scales and puncturing its skin in great thorns and swelling boils. Its mouth gaped sickeningly wide with many teeth and emitted an ominous bluish glow from its throat and tongue. The wolf had its eyes set on the Qin prey. Ganon rode up beside it, and with a burst of power, shot up Twilight tentacles from the ground to grab its feet. The wolf tumbled forward into its face. Ganon leaped up from his horse, landed on the beast, and drove his sword deep into its head. As soon as he dealt the blow, he tumbled off and onto the ground, as the beast spasmed and continued to slide across the ground from its sudden fall.

Ganon took a moment to breath and stood. He took in the smell of blood, and hissed out smoke and fire. He felt his eyes burning in the smoke, blood, and power stemming from his veins. His heartbeat filled his ears and the taste of blood filled his mouth and nostrils. His twilight mark pulsed, aching to be released. His Divine mark also pulsed, comfortably warm on his skin and letting him know another Marked Champion was near. From the particular triangle to glow, it was Link.

Ganon smirked. Good. If the pup was here, this battle would be easier, and more fun. It was always more fun sharing such trumphs with one who understands.

The Qin horsemen turned back around and met with him. They gave brief thanks for the timely rescue and offered to escort him to the camp. Ganon smiled predatorily, adjusted his grip on his broadsword, and replied he didn't need help. He was right where he wanted to be.

He was damned by his bloodline and it seemed no matter what he did, Din would not answer. No amount of effort saved him and no amount of devotion brought him answers. He was stuck between the damning of his fate and the silence of his goddess and the inability to change anything. All of his power was for nothing, so he did the one thing left to him. He fought.

Ganon had a lot of rage to let out.

-Link-

Link busied himself with going where Matsubi needed him while Soli stayed in camp discussing strategy with Matsubi. When Matsubi needed him on the front lines of the infantrymen fighting the massive herd of Twilight, he was there. When Matsubi needed him riding and trying to contend with the larger beasts, he was there. Link was not a tactitian. He could see the flow of battle and movements and saw in his mind's eye where the center point of clashes would occur around him, but he lacked the large-scale picture of the battlefield or bird's eye view afforded to tactitians.

Link threw himself into the fray of Twilight beasts assaulting the shield line of the Qin formation. He activated his mark for a second and in that moment swung his spear wide, cutting down multiple beasts before they had time to blink. Blood sprayed in every direction with each swing of his glaive. The beasts were not even trying to defend themselves! They were merely throwing their bodies at him and the Qin shield line. The Qin did not break rank to join him, so Link fled back into their formation before he got surrounded and overwhelmed. Link breathed out. The spear of Naryu was heavy and utilizing his Gift was taxing. He had practiced it more and more so he might not be exhausted, but a full day of constant movement and fighting was tiring. Sweat fell from his brow and his muscles ached to relax if only for a moment.

A whistle blew. Immediately the second line of Qin stepped forward in sync with the front line of Qin stepping backwards. One line of shield bearers swapped with the other and a new row of spears pierced into the mass of Twilight. The Twilight fled back a short distance and hissed at them.

"Thanks for the assist, kid," an officer commented. He sat on his butt, took his helmet off, and wiped sweat off his face. "It is not easy to swap the shield line out with the constant pressure."

Link nodded, panting.

"Its inhuman how persistent they are. Its like pushing back water."

"Might be 'cause they ain't human." Link figured.

"True, dat."

The group took a moment to breath and recover some energy. The heat of the sun pounded on them and cooked them in their armor. The soldiers further back passed forward jars of water the soldiers further up gulped down or dunked their heads in.

"Damn, just how many of these things are there?" The officer wondered. He looked out in the distance. "More just keep pouring in from that fortress."

"We'll figure something out. Matsubi and Soli are smart."

A cheer rippled out from the men around them and Link followed their gaze to find hundreds of Twilight beasts thrown high into the air and explosions of fire rippling out through the beast's ranks. A man rode through the gap of beasts. His skin and armor were black as night and fire cascaded off his shoulders, his blades, and erupted from his hands in every direction. It was as if an avatar of fire and power had appeared before them.

Link's hand pulsed with a familiar heartbeat and he grinned widely. Finding a horse, quickly, he raced out of the Qin camp to meet up with his friend.

"Hey, dick!" Link called as he neared.

Ganondorf turned in his seat enough to see the younger man nearing. Ganondorf grinned.

"It is good to see you, pup. Why is it everywhere there is trouble, you are inevitably there?"

"I'm just where I need to be, it seems." Link rode up beside him.

Ganondorf glanced around briefly. He pointed toward the pair of giant ogres that were giving the Qin riders trouble. "Want to take on something more your own size?"

Link narrowed his eyes at him, "Is that a short joke?"

-Moments later-

"Ready?" Ganondorf asked. He had a hand tightly wrapped in Link's collar.

Link strapped his spear behind his back and nodded. "Yep. Do it!" To emphasis his readiness, Link extended his hands forward. His horse was side by side with Ganon's horse, and they were nearing the giants from behind. "Literally yeet me!"

"No idea what you just said, but I'm doing it." Ganondorf grunted.

The moment their horses passed by from behind, Ganondorf pulled Link up and threw him into the air. The giants had long and dense cords of hair, and Link found himself thrown into the midst of them. Grabbing onto them like vines, he held on even as the hair wrapped itself around him.

Link popped his head out of the mass of hair and gave a thumbs up to Ganon as the dark skinned man stayed near. Ganon nodded and kicked his horse into moving. Link took hold of the giant's hair and climbed his way up. When he was ontop of the giant's head, he peered down at him from above. The two giants were confused. The first noticed something was on him, an the second one looked at him confused.

"Hey, I think you got one of them bugs on ya!"

"Well get it off!"

The giant punched his comrad in the head, trying to hit Link. Link managed to fall onto the shoulder and avoid the gargantuan fist. Link pulled out his spear and yelled, "Hey ugly!"

"Hey, I think the bug is talking to ya!" The other giant said.

The first giant looked at his shoulder to see what the noise was. Link threw his spear, piercing the giant's left eye. The giant screamed in pain and flung itself around. Link struggled to stay on, and with a few time-skips to practice, jumped onto the spear hanging out of the giant's face, spun up and around for momentum, leaped off, slashed a short sword across the other eye of the giant, and landed on his opposite shoulder.

"Nailed it," Link smirked.

At this time, Ganon was staying out of the way as the giant stomped around, but swept in and cut the giant's ankle. With no eyes to steady his vision, and his foundation pulled out from under him, the giant clumsily fell onto its face. The giant fell towards Ganon. Coating his hand in fire, Ganon shot his fist forward and sent a pillar of flame exploding into the giant's face. The giant fell to the ground, dead.

"Hey, Dick! My spear is under that!" Link barked from where he landed.

Ganon clicked his tongue and surveyed the body. It had fallen onto its face, and Link's spear had been in said face. "You would be correct."

"Hey," The other giant whispered in shock.

Link argued, "Well why'd you do that?! I can't get it out now!"

"Sounds like a 'you' problem."

"Hey!"

"Oh no! You buried the spear Ouki gave me under a ton of fat and brains! You're helping me get it out!"

"With what?!" Ganon demanded. Link looked at Ganon's swords. "My swords are not shovels!"

"I don't have anything to use! What am I going to do, use my bare hands and burrow my way through?!"

"I am not using my swords for such things unless you take them from me!"

"I can arrange that!"

"HEY!" The giant yelled, increasingly annoyed at being ignored. He charged at them both. "You kill bo! I kill you!"

Ganon and Link both looked at the giant, equally annoyed. "YOU'RE IN THE WAY!" They both yelled.

-One dead giant later-

Now sufficiently covered in blood, Ganondorf tossed one of his broadswords to Link. Link caught it in both of his hands. To Ganon's surprise, he didn't drop it. The kid had grown strong enough to wield it.

"Here, follow me on this," Ganondorf ordered. He approached the first giant's neck and cut down into it. He motioned to Link, and his friend did the same on the other side. Slowly the two beheaded the giant. With the problem being only his head, the two were able to roll the giant's head onto its side enough for Link to pull the spear out. To their amazement, the eyeball plucked itself out with the spear.

"Shit. That's just disgusting," Link sighed. Ganondorf chuckled.

Link tried to pry the eyeball out of his spear, but Ganon stopped him, "Wait, wait. Pup, I have an idea."

-One idea later-

"That is two giants down." Matsubi smiled in satisfaction. He knocked the pieces off the table. They clattered across the floor of the tent. "There are not many monsters left. Between the Fae, Majora, and Qin, these things didn't seem to come prepared. Your hunting party was a great boon." He nodded politely to the Majora hunting leader. The man nodded in turn, accepting the offered respect.

"What worries me is how they came to be."

"Sir, someone requests entry." A guard said from outside.

"Let 'em in," Matsubi said quickly. "I can understand that, my friend. I don't know what kind of prisons you have that they escaped from, but this does not bode well. If we can expect more of these things in the west, we will have to station more forces here and-"

"Sir, I need you to come out and accept them in." The guard said from outside.

Matsubi sighed. He put up a finger to request for a moment. He stepped to the tent door and opened it-

a giant eyeball looked back at him.

Matsubi screamed and fell back. Half of the people, including Soli, inside the tent screamed. Everyone outside laughed. Link laughed until he cried and fell to his knees, begging for air. Ganon just smirked, holding the spear the eyeball was plunged into.