Happy birthday to me.
Midnight, May 9th. Technically, it's my birthday. Funny, I never would've expected to spend my 17th birthday running for my life. At least Sylvia was with me. That was all I had hoped for. And I got it, I suppose. But this isn't how I imagined it.
My name is Demetrius. I am a zora warrior. But what good is a warrior who can't even protect his love? Let alone his kingdom. It was 3 years ago. 3 years, me and my fellow zora have suffered. 3 years since Ganondorf took control of Hyrule. The bastard drove this world right into the ground in just 3 short years.
Allow me to count the disasters Ganon's reign has brought. The deku scrubs? Extinct. Their reanimated corpses form the backbone of Ganon's evil army. New species, dangerous new creatures, have started popping up all over the place. The deku babas Have grown in size and aggression. Wolfoes are mutating and moving to places you never would've expected them before. Castle town was overthrown. It was the first thing Ganon did. The only residents left are ganon and his undead army.
And to top it all off, the prejudice. The humans are convinced that it was the goron's and zora's religious heresy that caused Ganon to acquire that damn triforce. I know it's not true. It seems like I'm the only one who knows the truth. I was there in castle town when it happened. That kid in green went up to the temple of time, and never came out. Then Ganon waltzed right in and took the triforce. It's HIS fault that man came into power, not ours! It's all the damn forest kid's fault! But they'll never realise! They're already blinded by religion and anger. They've started raiding our offshore villages. Stealing and murdering whatever they can. They think they're giving us what we "deserve"! They think they're correcting a mistake of the goddesses!
And that's why I fight. I joined the zora army so that I could protect my family and beloved, Sylvia. But after only the first month of my combat training, my entire blood family was murdered by the raiders. Sylvia is all I have left, and I plan not to make the same mistake twice. I trained to protect at one point, but now, I train for vengeance. If that "hero" in green ever shows his face again, I want to be able to take him on. I will personally end his life. And then, I'll move onto Ganon himself! I'm going to kill Ganondorf, even if it takes my entire lifetime!
Now here I am, on my 17th birthday, huddling under the wreckage of a destroyed building, Sylvia in my arms, my dagger in it's sheath at my waist. I would probably take on one or two of those humans, but their sheer numbers would leave me dead before I could slit even one of their throats. All I could do was run, and I hated myself for it, but Sylvia and I were still alive. And that's all that mattered to me right now.
The smell of smoke and sounds of screaming were everywhere around us. They weren't interested in pillaging this time. They came to kill and maim, and they were doing a damn good job at it. Corpses, mostly zora, some human, littered the ground. Houses burned and crumbled. Mothers screamed as their children were snatched out of their arms and carried away by horse riders. Sylvia and I were stashed away behind a raid-old pile of rubble. Out of sight, but not out of reach. We would be in sight soon, though, both of us knew that. I darted from pile to pile, remaining out of sight and growing further and further out of reach. Sylvia wasn't nearly as fast as I was, but she managed to lay low and keep up with me. Soon, we would be home free. Soon, we could flee to safety. But, wait, where will we be safe? Kakariko is a human village. If we went to the gorons on Death Mountain, we would still be in the danger zone. Was anywhere truly safe anymore? Were all possible havens for us zora destroyed crushed under Ganon's fist?
No! I couldn't think like that. Not right now. Right now, I had to escape. Then I could think of somewhere Sylvia and I could go. Go and be safe. Go and be happy. Pile after pile, would the remains of the village ever end? I knew this village like the back of my fin, but my mind was too clouded with other thoughts to think straight. Left! Right! Duck! Wait, and let Sylvia catch up. We were almost there. Soon, we would just have to run. Almost there. And then, we would find sanctuary. But what about the rest of the zoras? Would Sylvia and I end up Adam and Eve? Or will others manage to escape with their lives? Best not to think about it yet. As I said, just focus on moving forward.
Finally, we made it. The fence we had helped construct in a feeble attempt to keep the humans out. They had no problem breaking it down. Now, I had to climb it. I would have little problem with it, but I was worried for Sylvia. She was always somewhat frail, and even more after the raids began. I leaped up and found my footholds, before slowly making my way up. Once I reached the top, I turned around and let down my arm for Sylvia to grab. I pulled with all my might to try and get her up. Soon, we were both sitting on top of the fence. Looking down, we saw grass. Something we were, for a while, afraid of, as it marked human territory. We at one point only felt safe on the sand of the zora beaches. We exchanged looks, and without words, we both jumped down at the same time. I regained my bearings, but before I could think, the worst case scenario suddenly became reality.
A human war party was making it's way around the perimeter of the fence. Looking to get some of the action in the raid, obviously. Sylvia and I took off the opposite direction, but just then, I heard cries from behind me and the sound of horses galloping. They had spotted us! I grabbed Sylvia's arm again and darted even faster around the fence. The sound of galloping was slowly getting louder, and my legs were getting tired. I couldn't run for much longer. I was just about to break away from the perimeter of the village, before another war party came into view around the corner! They had expected us, and were waiting for us with lances and swords raised. Nowhere left to run! We came to a sudden halt, Sylvia let out a gasp. The crowd behind us stopped and raised their weapons. This is it, I thought. End of the road. Sylvia and I were as good as dead. My promise to her that we would be safe, broken. We were going to die here, at this very spot. The burly man leading the party in front of us eyed us carefully, appraising our fighting ability, and judging if whether or not he could kill us. "Well, well. Two traitors to the goddesses have managed to escape." His group chuckled. I clenched a fist around my dagger's handle. I was tempted to go right at him, and take the head off of this one war party.
"We WERE finished with this raid you know... But since you were nice enough to come back after you ran, I think we can give you the gift of death, can't we boys?" Both groups let out sounds of agreement. Sylvia huddled closer to me, as if she thought she'd be safer. "So it's settled. Let's have at em', men!" Suddenly, they were upon us. This was a hopeless fight. Sylvia ducked down and I shielded her with my own body, while try to make at least one mark on one of the raiders. Swords slashed and spears stabbed. The pain was intense. I could hardly tell if the screaming I was hearing was my own, Sylvia's, or one of the warmonger's. The pain was too intense. I was starting to black out. I was about to welcome death, at least I would be able to see my family again. But then, I suddenly felt something like I had never felt before. It was funny, I had already been cut multiple times, but I felt more powerful then ever. I let my rage flow. My anger at Ganondorf, my anger at the humans, my anger at the so-called "hero", and my anger at the world. I just let everything happen.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!"
The brightest flash of light I had ever seen or felt. Yes, I felt this light. It was coming from me, and I FELT light. For a split second, everything stopped, and then, emptiness...
A/N: Okay, WOW. One chapter in, and I'm already loving writing like this. This is probably the longest piece of writing I've ever written so far. An another note, I feel kind of evil for this cliffhanger. But, I really enjoyed writing this, and I can't wait to get started on chapter 2. Until then, stick around!