IT WAS a creature larger than any Link had ever seen. It was some kind of gigantic worm, but it had thick plated skin, bleached white and grey.

Link barely kept himself from uttering a nasty curse. That thing... that thing was monstrous.

It had burst out of the ground, and now arced in the air in front of the sun, then made a massive crash as it landed back down on the ground. He heard dozens of trees snapping, and saw birds fleeing in all directions.

They were still running through the jungle when it finally burst out above them in full view. It had two carapace jaws, each one as big as the hull of a small boat. They barely got out of the way before it spiked down, sticking it's jaws into the ground. It then didn't bother getting itself out, but burrowing down into the earth.

"Makar!" Link shouted with heavy breath, "can... can you... lift one of us...?

"Maybe Tetra," he said, "if she is light."

Tetra took his wooden hand, and they took off. He appeared to struggle with her weight, and they weren't able to move much faster or very high off the ground.

Medli on the other hand Link knew to be stronger in flying.

"Medli," Link said.

"Of course," she responded, picking him up, and flying him above the trees.

"I need you to get me near that creature," he said. "Fly me over it when it bursts - "

The ground thundered again, and fractured as the creature rocketed up into the air.

"Drop me now!" Link yelled.

As he fell, the plated serpent flew up in the air past him. With the master sword drawn, Link thrust it into the creature's side. The carapace shell surround it would not give, and with the sword caught in one of the gaps between, Link was suddenly wrenched up along with the monster.

The creature curved downwards as soon as he landed, and he barely was able to hold on. Link had made some foolish decisions in his life, but this was probably one of the worst.

The creature snaked through the broken forest, racing for the others. Link nearly pulled out the master sword, but as he began doing so, he realized he'd lose his grip.

He saw ahead of the creature that Medli had grabbed up Tetra from Makar. They banked in the air, and Tetra tried to get a shot off on the creature. A cloud of white smoke puffed in the air as her pistol fired, but the monster made no reaction.

This was not the helmaroc, as formidable as that had been. For all the helmaroc's size, it had a soft exterior. This creature though -

Link's thought was interrupted as he felt the entire creature rumble. It had begun burrowing under ground again.

He waited until the last moment he could, yanked out his sword, and jumped before he was plowed into the ground.

Medli and Tetra circled above him.

"It's no use!" Tetra said, "we're just going to have to make a run for it!"

Link ran, but he knew that Ganondorf was controlling the monster. Link knew that there was no way they could easily escape. But he couldn't think of anything he could do. When he'd fought monsters like this in the past, he'd been able to crush them, or outwit them.

This creature on the other hand barely even felt like a creature, it felt more like an unstoppable, unthinking force.

In the midst of their flight towards the King of Red Lions, the ground quaked, and the creature burst out, but only slightly. It left a gigantic trough in its path. Water began to soak up in it, creating a vast swath of mud.

"Link!" Tetra called to him as Medli flew over the trench.

"I'll be fine! Just get to the boat!"

He didn't hear what Tetra said next. It sounded angry and filled with cursing.

Link ran along the trench. He had not idea what he was doing. The monster seemed to be circling him, trapping him.

Makar was flying back to Link.

"Link!" I don't know if I can carry you across that whole trench!"

"We don't have any other opt -"

The monster burst out again, and this time, Link saw it from the front up close. Those gigantic cavernous jaws were lined with spines. It was almost skull like, the spines resembling teeth, flush when the jaw carapace.

Link jumped out of the way, and ducked, as it arced overhead, then dove back into the ground. He breathed deeply and heavily as he knelt on a wet patch of moss. He looked down at the master sword in his hand.

He had worked so hard to be worthy of it, and restore it, and in its first actual fight, it was completely ineffective.

Link looked down at the triforce emblem at the base of the blade. It was supposed to symbolize courage, but he was allowing fear to reign his emotions and decisions. He squeezed out a tear as he fought not to give up. He was better than this. The goddesses would protect him. He would continue to fight. They would provide a...

That wasn't just an engraving of the triforce of courage.

It was a small, golden triangle.

Link pressed his fingers against the edges of it. He tried to pull it out. He pressed it against his hand.

He was being mistaken. His mind was going in circles because he was so anxious. This couldn't be the triforce. It was too small.

The plated worm rumbled from the ground once again. Link grabbed the shield off his back. He had not idea what good it would do. It was just a simple wooden shield.

With three golden triangles on the front.

Link flipped the master sword, and planted it against the triforce design on his shield.

There was an explosion of light.

For a moment, it felt like time was moving impossibly slow. It felt rather than flowing like water, that it was viscous syrup.

Link was filled with energy. It was something... impossible to compare to anything else. It was a good feeling. The way you couldn't describe perfectly the feeling of warm sunshine on your back. The way you couldn't describe how it felt to laugh with family and friends.

It was the feeling one got from a hard days work, a hard battle one. A feeling of resilience. Of growth. Of joy. Of life.

Of courage.

Link didn't need to look to feel the burning fire of the triforce emblem on his hand. As the gigantic carapace creature burst from the ground, he jumped towards it, and into its opened maw.

He struck the master sword through a dry tongue, and pinned it to the ceiling of its mouth, stabbing straight up through there as well.

A bellowing groan of pain came from the creature, and it soon halted along the ground. Link grabbed one of the toothy jaw spines from where he hung, and yanked out his blade.

It screamed again, and then Link stabbed it again. Then he carefully swung on the spine, and landed down on the ground.

Medli dropped Tetra down in front of him, and Makar settled down too.

For a moment, all Link did was breathe heavily. When he finally had the mental capacity to look up at them, he saw absolute shock on their faces.

Link stood up straight, and then, still breathing hard, glanced back behind him at the dying monster.

"Ganondorf... better... not have any more of these..."