<center>~An "everything went to h*ck because people stopped posting" AU~</center>

A hooded figure sat saddled up to his horse several hundred feet down the road, away from the castle and its surrounding town. He did not move, save for the occasional adjustments in his balance to keep himself atop his shifting horse. He merely stared at the ruinous Castle Town - or rather, what remained of it - in ponderous silence.

He rarely came this close to the city; the enemy gobs and mobs usually kept the rare outsiders away from the city walls. Today, though, as he passed by he was overcome by the urge to stop and really look at the remains of the once glorious town, and from the shadows of his hood, his eyes roamed the entirety of the scene laid out before him.

The town had been all but completely demolished; what had not been destroyed in the final stages of that horrible siege had later been torn apart so the lumber could be used as the building blocks for fortification, or housing more suitable to the fierce, primal enemy troops. Smoke arose from various points in the overrun town, hinting at fires lit by the gobs in question. It was high noon, they were no doubt preparing some sort of ghastly meals for themselves. He tried not to think about what those meals consisted of. The city walls were only somewhat intact - during the siege the enemy horde had managed to collapse a large portion of it - but scaffolding here and there suggested that the occupants were busy re-building the walls, gods know what for. Whatever resistance to the occupation had existed was long crushed. Few able-bodied peoples had survived, and they were now scattered like leaves in the wind, too broken or terrified to put up any sort of fight against the occupying hordes.

And then there was the Castle itself.

The man had heard tales of ancient stories, where evil sorcerers would conquer great strongholds and release terrible magic upon them. One such story involved a wind mage so consumed with power that he forsook his own fleshly form and adopted that of a terrible eye, only to be cast down by the four-fold hero. Such stories usually detailed that the sorcerer in question used deep and dark magics to transform the strongholds into a sort of sinister lair. Legends even spoke of Ganondorf the Great, in his prime, laying siege to Hyrule Castle and turning it into his own personal floating fortress.
He had never considered these stories to be true; in his mind, they were merely myths and stories told to wide-eyed lads to inspire courage or other such foolhardy notions. He had certainly never seen any Hero of Time or the like show up to help out his people, especially not in their time of greatest need.
But the sight that lay before him made him question whether or not those old tales really were just tales.

The Castle was overgrown with thick, thorny, purple vines - the exact sort of thing you'd hear about in the legends - and the very stones of the castle had acquired a dark, sinister hue unlike the bright gray of their former lives. Raging fires burned in the corner parapets, which were now elevated high above their normal stature, like giant clawing fingers groping at the sky. Tall towers and twisting hallways linked the entire castle together, like a large terrible stone web. At the center of it all was the great hall, underneath the Triforce Chamber. The Triforce Chamber - once the holding place of the source of greatest hope and power in the cause of good, now in the hands of the most vile creatures to walk the earth. The Chamber itself was shrouded in dark, menacing clouds, telltale flashes of light illuminating them every few minutes. An aura of dark energy seemed to emanate from the chamber; a powerful dark magic that the man had never seen before in his life.

Whoever designed the layout of this fortress had certainly done their homework. Just looking at it was enough to inspire fear and awe into any who dared venture within eyesight of the Castle Town, not to mention the creatures that now filled the streets of the city. Some were just run-of-the-mill moblins or bokoblins, but there were other creatures some only whispered of. Powerful, looming creatures that children have nightmares about. Things that would make a Darknut look like a small rodent.

And thus, the peoples of Hyrule had all fled in terror from this brewing evil, never again to amass themselves under the banner of light. Looking back, it was almost unbelievable how it all happened. Everything had been seeming to go so well - Ghoma had been defeated, and the forces of Hyrule were quickly advancing on the southern territories, headed by a group of mercenaries styling themselves as heroes-for-hire; amazingly strong individuals harkening back to the glory of The Hero himself.

Then it all went awry.

Just as the forces of Hyrule were massing in the south for the final push into enemy territory, the unthinkable happened. The heroic mercenaries began to disappear. Some mysteriously in the night, likely by magic, and others simply deserted the cause. Great names � Sovelis, Alpha, and Kasei, among others, all immensely powerful allies in this time of war � simply vanished. As these prominent heroes disappeared, others decided they would be fighting a losing battle, and just left. One by one, they slowly trickled away, as if pulled by invisible strings. It seemed like they suddenly lost the will to fight, leaving the honor-bound knights of Hyrule alone to fight the final battle, far from home and with critically low morale. Looking back on it now, it was obvious that some sort of sorcery was involved. Powerful sorcery that could alter the very minds and motivations of these great warriors. It should have been obvious, right from the start, that this was all planned.
They say hindsight is 20/20. That could not be more true.

As soon as the heroes - or the large majority of them - were gone, it happened.
Magic-induced quakes began striking the surrounding countryside, causing gaping fissures to appear in the ground, like giant hungry maws of the earth itself. It seemed that Ghoma had been busy in the decades it took for humanity to gather up the courage to slay her. She had been digging a huge network of tunnels underneath practically the entirety of South Hyrule, waiting for the right moment to collapse them. A moment where the entire strength of the Hylian forces were gathered in one place, far from their base of operations, away from the crown, and away from the golden power therein.
Creatures of every kind and creed crawled out of the cracks in the earth, (set off no doubt with explosive magic, as Ghoma had been slain) and they quickly surrounded and overpowered the forces of good, with only a few survivors who fled the battle This left the populated areas of Hyrule largely defenseless. It was only a matter of time before the final stronghold fell.
Ruto and Rauru were the first to go, as the forces of evil moved in on Hyrule Caslte in a pincer-like formation from both sides. The Rangers, without the leading of their Archer-Commander Leth, made their last stand in Rauru, while the courageous Saber met his end defending Ruto. Parapa and the North Forest were just as quickly secured, as refugees and soldiers from all across the continent fled to the last standing shelter - the Castle Town itself - building up to what would surely be the greatest, bloodiest battle in recorded history.

The Last Siege began by surrounding the town, forcing all who lived inside to remain so. No one got in or out of the castle for months on end. As the supplies within the city began to dwindle, the forces outside remained healthy and fed by supply trains coming in from the south. It was infuriating. The enemy did nothing but sit outside and keep anyone from leaving. It was a cold, cruel form of warfare. Then one day, when the people were on the verge of starvation, they launched their attack.
They had not remained idle during the siege. True, they had not attacked, but their time was not wasted. They had been constructing huge machines of war - trebuchets and catapults and large battering rams and siege towers - they were ready for their final, devastating strike. And strike they did. The battle raged on for days, as sorcerers on both sides expended all manner of magical assistance to keep either side from gaining too much of an advantage. But the long months without fresh supplies had taken their toll. Eventually, the Hylian Wizards expended the energy required to feed their protection spells, and the volley of boulders soon reduced the castle walls to piles of rubble. The advancing onslaught of enemy forces proved too much for the weary warriors of Hyrule, and even the powerful Nogare, last surving member of the adventurers, eventually fell. As the Dark Army made its way closer to the Castle itself, something desperate happened.

The Royal Family touched the golden Triforce.

It was a risky move, as anyone with even the slightest taint of motivation or heart will throw the entire process into a chaotic mess, but they were somehow successful. With the power of the whole Triforce at his side, the King cut a clean swath straight through the heart of the enemy army - all by himself. Left and right, the power of the gods made itself imminently clear to all who witnessed it. As the King disposed of entire battalions of the Dark Army with mere swipes of his hand, dark greed began gnawing at his mind. This kind of power proved too much to be handled by a mere man, and it was his downfall. He was quickly overcome by the thoughts of what he could do with such godlike power - and his mind became unbalanced. The Triforce split into three pieces, The King keeping the Triforce of Power, and the Triforce of Courage bonded to the daring young captain of the Dark Army, an enigmatic man whose rise to power remains a mystery to this day. The Triforce of Wisdom was lost, and no one knows who it has entrusted itself to.

The resulting showdown between the Triforce of Power and the Triforce of Courage devastated the city and ultimately ended with The King's downfall. The Captain then gained the Triforce of Power as well, and was then able to sweep aside the remaining resistance with ease, quickly establishing himself as ruler of the land and putting the power of the Triforce under the scrutiny of his master sorcerers. The subjugation of the rest of the lands of Hyrule was swift and merciless. Cities fell, entire villages were slaughtered, and the remaining free peoples of Hyrule were driven into hiding. A state of chaotic rule ensued and the Dark Power has watched over the land ever since.

Whispers say that they've managed to even resurrect Ganon himself with the power they've amassed, but it's impossible to say for sure. Everyone steers clear of the Castle now.

The man's thoughts were disturbed as he realized his hand was resting on the pommel of his sword; his whole body tensed as if ready for combat. He shrugged, and loosened himself up. Even thinking of the dark history put him into a foul mood. He decided it would be best to not linger any longer; it was a surprise that his presence was not already noticed. With a quiet "giddap", he sped his horse on into a gallop, away from the ruins of history and towards the tiny, hidden hut in the woods that he called home.

From atop a wall within the ruined castle, a single soul watched woefully as Leth- not the one he knew, but an older more experienced man, galloped away. Dogura had listened in on every thought- and in doing so, absorbed every emotion.

The look on Leth's face... Thought the samurai.

The man lowered his head, and closed his eyes. He'd seen those eyes before.

Memories of the siege on the castle flooded his mind- images plagued him of those eyes. He had been ordered by Ganon to lead the strike on North Castle Town. It didn't bother him so much at first; he never much liked the fat and greedy people that plagued the town's streets. But he didn't expect to find himself crossing steel with people who were once his allies. The forces he found himself against were pitiful. It was clear that while Ganon was amassing his army, the King had not been doing the same.

Dogura stared skyward. Why hadn't the Goddesses stopped him? He was praying throughout the battle that the Goddesses would appear and strike him down. His own power had caused him boredom with nearly every battle. None could stand against him, and it made for a life without fear- without danger- without excitement.

He watched Leth disappear in the distance. Before disappearing from the top of the watchtower, he sent the man a message.

I'm sorry, my friend.