Prologue

From the perspective of Gandor of the Desert

It's almost dusk. I've been walking for 2 days now without rest. If I walk through the night I can make it to a small town by dawn and have somewhere to sleep. That should work. They won't be able to find me there.

Another fucking 12 hours of walking…. Won't it look suspicious if I check into an Inn so early in the morning and sleep all day? What if they report strange activity there…. Word would reach the King of my whereabouts.

Alright I guess I won't sleep until I'm in Hyrule… that's 4 more days….. Can I really walk 4 more days without sleep or food? I have to…. I have to if I want to reach Hyrule! I can be free there!

I'm lucky I know this desert so well or I'd have been lost before I made it to the first town. I'll be pretty happy once I never have to return to this desert again. Hard to believe…. I'm about to start a completely new life! In Hyrule!

Chapter 1

The Unraveling

Link jolted upright from his bed. He looked out the window and saw the sky was still dark. He panted as he recalled what he had just seen.

A small farming community out in the woods. The folks there were much taller than those of his village. In his dream, Link stood at the top of a hill and watched the villagers go about their business. He could have been standing there for a few minutes, or maybe all day, Link had no idea. The people worked diligently without break, even the children. Link opened his eyes as he returned to reality.

This site was odd to Link, as he had grown up in a very secluded forest with a very different culture.

Link lived among the Kokiri, a tribe of inhabitants who would appear as just children. No Kokiri had ever left the forest in Link's life time, and it was common belief that anyone who leaves the forest will die.

But why would he leave? His life was of comfort and play. Currency did not exist; a mild form of barter system was used, mostly exchanging of favours. Link had no biological family, although he had grown up with several brothers and sisters. He always had his cohort looking out for him. He never had to work a day in his life. The only time he had to put in any labour was once a week when he worked with Mido to collect beans and other raw foods, and cook them to feed the tribe. This was part of a rotation system amongst the tribe where groups of Kokiri were responsible for providing a meal once a week, minimizing work.

All in all, Link's life was pretty casual. His day usually consisted of playing games with his friends, exploring the confines of the forest, climbing trees, and practising with his slingshot. He felt very at home in the forest, yet somehow distant from his brethren. He was starting to notice some unusual differences between him and the rest of the Kokiri. It was not very often a Kokiri grew to be taller than 4 and a half feet, and that tended to be the older folks, the growth rate of a Kokiri being quite slow. Link was only 16 years of age, quite young by most Kokiri standards, but he was bordering on 5 and a half feet. While Link also possessed pointed ears, his were angled sharply as opposed to how the Kokiri were.

None of Link's friends had ever questioned his physical alterations. None had known Link's mother, but whenever he asked they just said it wasn't that uncommon to be that tall. He still had his doubts of course. It was normal to not have met one's mother in the forest, being as a female will die giving birth. No Kokiri had ever met their own mother, but it surprised Link that not one person could say they knew Link's mother during life. The house built in the tree that he had inherited was supposedly his father's, whom Link had also never met. The only explanation of Link's residence in the Kokiri forest was that he was found in an empty house on the outskirts of the village, abandoned. Many told him that after his mother died, his father left the forest. No one could tell him why or who either of his parents were.

Link went to lay back down, hoping he could get some sleep before dawn. His dream had troubled him, but there was nobody he could talk to about it. He had been having dreams like that lately. None of them made any sense, but he felt that something was different. He was just not sure what it was. He rolled over and in time fell asleep. He hadn't noticed that he was being watched.