Fortune Favors the Courageous

Chapter 25: Destiny

destiny
n. the hidden power believed to control what will happen in the future; fate
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Mr. Hero!" a tiny Korok voice cried.

"And The Princess!" added another. "They came after all! Makar really did find help!"

One by one, the wooden cherubs revealed themselves to Link and Zelda, their promised saviors. Some were skinny, others stout. Leaves in shades from vermillion to veridian, shapes like on a nursery mobile.

"Ya-ha-ha!" they cheered.

Makar twirled to the Hylians. "This way! And don't touch this icky stuff!" Using that enchanted propeller-like leaf, Makar hovered above the malice and moved forward.

Zelda pressed herself into her knight. "Link..."

The Koroks had summoned Link here to help, but neither he nor Zelda could do anything about malice that swallowed their home.

"I know," he whispered back. "We'll figure something out."

They were led to what looked like an empty plateau, a stone dais of some sorts. But it was stained in magenta, only just enough stone exposed for Link and Zelda to stand side by side before the biggest tree either of them had ever seen.

"Oh Great Deku Tree, I've brought help!" Makar cried.

In the pause that followed, Zelda thought maybe the forest spirits communicated in a language of primeval lumber, one Hylians were not versed in. But then Makar whipped back towards the dumbfounded duo.

"You see?" he wailed in that childlike desperation. "The Great Deku Tree won't even answer us anymore! Please do something about the monsters in his tummy!"

"Monsters?" Zelda echoed.

"In his... tummy?" Link added, nonplussed.

Makar floated to a large gap between the gigantic spiraling roots. "In here!" he called, remaining outside as Link and Zelda ducked through the threshold. "Good luck!"

Although dim with only the minimal light filtering in through the roots, Zelda awed at the hollow inside of the Great Deku Tree. The space was wider than the chambermaids' quarters and so tall that the—ceiling?—disappeared in darkness. The roots continued wrapping inside the trunk, heading in both directions like a spiral staircase. Oddly, there were occasional outcroppings of wood like footholds, almost as if this place had been carved and fashioned into a home for Koroks. Maybe it had been. Is this what Oakin was envisioning when he suggested Link live in the trees?

Strangest of all, there wasn't a single drop of malice in sight. Link took another cautious step, pulling out the fairy for a whisper of portable light when suddenly a new root sprouted violently at their feet. It grew rapidly, tall as he was, blooming with a venus flytrap like mouth that snapped at their faces.

A startled curse dropped from Link's mouth, the fairy dropped from his fingers, and he somehow pulled his sword before the plant could bite either of them, jaws chomping down on the metal of his blade instead. Link ripped the weapon free and slashed at the monster's stemmy neck, severing the hungry head so that both halves withered into plumes of malice.

Zelda picked up the fairy, glass jar thankfully unscathed, and held it low for its gentle illumination.

"What was th—"

Another violent plant rooted at Zelda's feet, and before it could manifest a snapping head, Link slashed clean through the stem, a blotch of malice hitting his cheek before dissolving into vapor. He didn't so much as flinch.