Chapter One

-The Mark-

It was the dawn of a new day.

I put my gear on as I usually do, and I prepared to make my daily rounds like always.

Being the only mailman of a whole city has its advantages, such as not having to split the rupees, but being so busy starts to wear away at you.

My grandfather always told me the exiting stories of the job as a child. Never anything boring was said when it came to being a mailman. Stories of lost love and the adventures of a strangely dressed boy wearing clashing green and a pointy hat. I always loved my grandfather's stories, and that is what led me to be the only mailman in Clock Town; Gods, maybe the only mailman in Termina.

As I said, I made my rounds like always, delivering letters, packages and money orders around town. Every now and then I would need to leave the city to drop something off at the Zora's Domain, then when break time comes around I would relax at the Milk Bar in East Clock Town. The day was completely as planned until it was time to go back to work. Just like everyday, I leave the Milk Bar, pass by the abandoned house in West Clock Town and enter the post office.

I came to the front desk to meet Imani, the beautiful and charming daughter of Romani, who was the former owner of Romani Ranch. The Ranch was closed due to the Milk Bar switching suppliers to a newer ranch up the road owned by the greedy Gorman brothers. When The Ranch closed, It forced Imani to work here with me as a front desk woman, she loved her job, but today there was something amiss in her usually captivating stare.

There was one last package on the desk waiting for me, and she seemed worried about it. The way her shaky hands slid the package towards me, I thought she was gonna have a breakdown. I asked in the most assuring way possible.

"Good evening Imani, is everything okay?"

She just looked at me in horror. Then glanced down at the package.

There was a marking there that I didn't notice before, right where the return address would be.

"I hope I can find the place then!" I mumbled.

I glanced over to see where I was supposed to deliver the package.

"Great." I said "Southern Swamp."

The package was large, but light for its size. I fit the odd box into my sack and headed towards the door.

"Wait."

Imani's voice was startling. Like nothing I have heard her say before.

"Please be careful Quill." She had a tear in her eye. "Be safe and make haste."

Her concern for me was just as heartwarming as it was disturbing.

"Godspeed." she whispered as I walked out the door.

I closed the door behind me, only slightly worried about the journey ahead of me.

Imani usually over reacted a lot, but never was it over nothing.

I examined the package once more, and the marking on it. It was shaped like a heart, but it wasn't like any heart I have ever seen before.

The longer I looked at the shape, the more my mind began to race and wonder about the possibilities of what could be inside.

Although it was illegal for me to open the box and see, it never hurt to wonder.

I held the box up to my ear and gave it one good shake. I listened for anything that could give me a good idea of what was in the box.

I pressed the box closer.

I heard something odd inside, but the shake did not cause it. Almost like a whisper. A whisper in a tongue I have never heard before. I pressed the box so close I thought it was going to break against me. My mind was racing.

'Is it alive?' I thought to myself.

"HEY MISTER!"

A young nasally voice startled me to the point I almost dropped my delivery. I looked around to see what would've caused my stomach to sink like it did.

Glancing down, I saw a young boy. He was wearing a bandanna on his head, and was clutching a red rupee in his hand. Almost like his life depended on it.

"Hello good sir! May I help you?" I said kindly to the young boy.

I recognized him as one of the Bombers, a small group of friends that would play in North Clock Town. It was a traditional 'gang' that the children of clock town have managed to keep going for about twenty years.

"The man in tha house over there has given me a red rupee if I tell you to come meet him".

He pointed frantically behind him to a dark house that I thought was always empty, then sprinted off before I could ask anything else.

The thought of someone living in that horrifying building made me shutter

Slowly walking up to the house and knocking on the door, scared for my life, I turned around out of fear and almost made a quick escape before I heard a faint and tired voice say:

"Please... Please come in."

I turned around to see an odd man at the door. He smiled at me and said

"It's about the package".

A new and serious tone seemed to fall over the conversation at the mention of the package. I followed him inside.