Part I – A King is Born
Chapter I – Dark Premonitions
Just as the sands of time shift and change, so too did the sands of the desert. Dunes the form of waves and the wind that swept them every which way mimicked what a sea might've looked like. Faya had no idea what a sea looked like. She'd lived in the desert with her people, the Gerudo, for all her life. All she knew was that it had something to do with water. More water than she had ever seen in her life and the most she had seen was the rushing stream that ran deep in the canyon that divided the desert and her people's main settlement from the fields. Faya could definitely use some water right now. She was running full sprint through the desert toward the mountain range that separated her people from the raging desert sands. She had just been to the Sand Goddesses temple and had received a vision of the future. A child was to be born today to the Gerudo. But this was no ordinary child.
The infant was to be a boy.
The Gerudo were a tribe of only women and they were seen as the most beautiful women in the land. However, because their tribe consisted of only women, they were forced to mate with men from their rival tribe in the north. And with each pregnancy came another little girl for the tribe. Only every 100 years did a Gerudo birth a male child and that child was to be the new king of the Gerudo. They have only had 3 kings in their existence as a tribe and each did great things to expand and strengthen the Gerudo. Faya's vision, however, was troubling and foretold of dark fates surrounding the child. Recounting the vision only made Faya's feet move faster, kicking up sand and disturbing the slumbering dunes.
Faya ran straight through the mountain pass that cut through the peaks of the caldera that housed their tribe. When she came to their settlement she was met with an unfamiliar sight. The compound was the same as it always was with a few structures on the outside of the mountain, seemingly fused to the rocky exterior. But there was nobody around. The guards had left their posts, the stables were unattended, and even the archers perch atop the cliff to the south had been abandoned. Faya dove straight into the compound's main entrance and when she came to a specific jail cell, she punched a nearby brick. The brick gave and a loud click signified that the hidden door next to the button was open. Faya pushed the fake bricks out of the way and rushed her way deeper into the compound. It wasn't long until she found where everybody was. The wide hallway that was carved into the stone of the mountain was filled with chattering women all crowded around a single doorway where agonizing screams could be faintly heard over the loud voices of all the people. Faya was out of breath and energy when she came to the crowd and so grabbed the first women she got to and used them as support for her failing legs. The woman was Nyx, a guard from the entrance gates. She was shocked and yelped in surprise when Faya grabbed her but was even more surprised to see Faya almost dead from exhaustion and struggling to keep herself up.
"Faya!" Nyx shouted, "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the temple completing your duties."
Faya took a moment to catch her breath and take a swig of water from her sister's full canteen.
"Has Rila gone into labor yet?"
"Yes actually, she has been for almost three days now. The child must be loved by the goddess if she wants to keep her so long."
"Not she. He" Faya dove into the crowd of sisters toward the birthing chambers leaving Nyx gasping in disbelief.
The Birthing chamber was ornate with rugs and pillows strewn all over the floor and beautiful carvings etched into the stone walls. Beds lined the far wall, eight in total, and each had leg stands to ease the birthing process. The entrance wall had towels, robes, and ceremonial shawls neatly folded in tall piles ready for use. The entire scene would've been rather tranquil if not for Rila's laborious cries of pain that had been echoing through the compound for three whole days. The women who had been caring for her and the first ones to lend a hand all tried to ease her pain, but to no avail. No apothecaries, ointments, nor alcohol could help to numb, dull, or block the pain so they were all preying to the sand goddess to ease Rila's suffering. Faya had to squeeze and push her way through all of the women who crowded the agonizing woman but when she broke through the final line she yelled "Rila!"
At the sound of her name, Rila instantly collapsed onto the bed. Her arms flopped to her sides and her head fell upon the pillow that waited below and her body relaxed as the convulsions ended. This startled the women caring for her but they calmed when they saw the slow and labored rise and fall of tired Rila's chest.
"Please," she gasped through breaths of gratitude, "whoever has ebbed my pain, let me see you. For goddess' sake at least let me know your name."
"Rila!" Faya trotted over to where she lay, "Rila, it's me Faya."
"Faya? But you… you're supposed to be…"
"At the spirit temple performing duties, I know. But Rila, I had a vision."
"Not that it isn't a welcome respite Faya, but what vision is so important as to interrupt a sister in labor?"
"Rila, the vision was about your child."
"My child?" Rila's eyes went wide with fear and worry, "Is she cursed? Is she fated with death?" Rila paused for a moment, on the brink of tears, "Will my child even draw breath?"
"Rila calm. Your child lives." Rila sighed with relief, "And it will be a boy."
"A boy…" Rila repeated Faya's words, "But… Then that means…"
With the revelation came a new wave of convulsions and Rila's stretched stomach began to move. After much pushing, screaming, and help from the others, all fell silent as the cry of a baby could be heard under the birthing shawl that covered Rila's lower half. The maidens quickly cleaned off the baby, wrapped it in an orange tinted towel, and lowered him into the mothers waiting arms.
"Oh how I have labored for you my child." Rila said through a tight grin. The baby in her arms was unmistakably a boy. Aside from the obvious features that made him a boy, his chin was much more prominent than the girls that were usually born and his hands, though fat and wrinkly had a grip like iron.
"Faya," she had finally said after a long stare at her child, "send for the seer. I want this vision interpreted."
"I am already here." A frail voice spoke from a corner of the room. The seer, or Allmother as the Gerudo called her, was an old woman at the ripe age of 60 with short greying hair and pounds of ornamental jewelry on her wrists and around her neck that clinked noisily when she walked. She was dressed in a large patterned poncho that covered her body down past her knees. She slowly stood and shuffled her way to Rila's side where she sat once more on a chair that waited for her.
"Allmother," Rila was surprised that the old woman had been sitting in the same room the entire time and that she had not noticed, "Are you always where you are needed before it is known?"
"I may be old my child, but I am not unobservant. This child has been in delivery for over three days. If this is not divine intervention, I don't know what is."
"Faya has had a vision, Allmother." Rila began, "Will you interpret it? I do still fear for my child."
"I will try my daughter. I will try. Faya, what vision have you received from the goddess?"
"First I saw the child and the boy it was to be." Faya recounted, "But then I saw a man. Terrible in size and ornate with Gerudo armor. His hands were stained with the blood of many and he wore the gaze of a demon that pierced through my soul. He walked with an army of shadows behind him and darkness engulfed the sky above him. The final vision was that of three triangles of gold floating together into a pyramid and a man laughing as they came together."
The Allmother sat still at the side of the bed, eyes closed and hand rubbing her wrinkled chin. The old woman seemed deep in thought, almost consulting with the goddess herself. Then she opened her eyes but had them focused on some faraway place. A place between the goddess and reality. A place where the answers lie.
"Your child will be a fierce and powerful leader that will leave his mark on the land and on the annals of time. However, darkness will follow him like the debts of a family. Horrible things will befall the boy, things that none would wish on any mortal man. As for these triangles of gold… I can only glean that they are the source of this darkness that trails behind your child."
"Allmother you…" Rila spoke in an incredulous tone, "you don't believe any of that, do you? A child cannot have such a cursed fate."
"I believe that the goddess does not lie my child," her eyes came back to focus on Rila and the child in her arms, "But I also believe that nothing is written in stone just yet. Given the right motivation and under the right guidance and mentoring you might find that these premonitions may never come to pass. Precautions can and will be set to prevent this future from plaguing your child."
The room was silent in wake of the Allmother's words until Faya spoke up, "So Rila, what is your childs name?"
At this the room and hallway broke into a cacophonous blast of laughing and talking and even some arguments over the simple question.
"I was actually thinking of a simple name like…"
"THE CHLD'S NAME!" Although the Allmother was old she still commanded her voice with an authoritarian boom that hushed every sound in the room within the first syllable.
"The child's name will be…"
"Ganondorf."
Gasps and whispers made the air heavy with discontent and misunderstanding.
"B-but..." Rila stuttered, "But Allmother. Isn't it our way for the mother to choose the name of her own child? And that name… it is a cursed name. It is bad enough that my child's fate is cursed. I will not have his name cursed as well."
For a moment the entire room and even those standing in the hallway fell deathly silent in anticipation. The Allmother was wise and her wisdom was mostly unquestioned, and when it was there was no voice to it.
"It is true," the Allmother smiled, "that the name means 'one of a cursed fate' and it is also true that the boys fate is cursed. But do you forget our laws Rila? If our land produces surplus, do we not share with the other tribes? If a child harms another, does that child not receive punishment befitting the transgression? If one of our kind is slain, do we not seek equal justice from those who have wronged us? Our society is built on a balance where the same material levels the scales. And we will deal with this vision in the same manner. For with a cursed fate, a cursed name will balance the scales. They will oppose each other. In a sense, they will cancel each other out."
The room was suffocated with silence and time itself seemed to stop in wait for a decision to be made.
"But," the Allmother broke the silence like a boulder through a house, "it is also law that a mother name her own. Thus, my child Rila, is your choice. What is your child's name?"
People started to shift about as the expectation took a physical toll on the waiting bystanders. Rila took a long look at the small innocent child that had fallen asleep in her arms. Surely her child would not be the center of such ill fortune. But Rila could not dismiss the signs and the council of her people.
When Rila had finally made a decision, she rose to her feet with the child and walked out of the room and exited the entire compound. The desert sun was behind the protective mountains and the beginning stars signifying the approach of the twilight shone in the sky. The people filed out of the housing and mobbed the mid-section between Rila and the compound. After a while with her back turned to her sisters she turned around just in time to catch the Allmother slowly shuffle into the open with her wooden cane in hand. When all eyes were on her she took a deep breath and lifted the baby high above her head with both hands.
"Behold! The next king of the Gerudo!"
In a wave of heads, the Gerudo women all dropped to their knees and bowed their heads from front to back. Only the Allmother, her bones too old to kneel, simply bowed her head as she leaned against the wooden cane.
"He shall be given the respect and privileges due to any ranking individual of the Gerudo and any insubordination will be dealt with according to our laws. He will lead our people with dignity and respect and our enemies will tremble at his gaze. Sisters, watch over my child. Guide him, teach him, and train him so that when he is capable, he will lead our race to glory. With the goddess as my witness and with the Allmother's blessing, I name thee…"
"Ganondorf. King of the Gerudo!"