Altruistic Deicide
Act I: The Unsundering
Chapter 1: The Ocarina of Time
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Of the Goddesses there were three: powerful Din, wise Nayru, and courageous Farore. It was Din who took the small seed of the universe and blossomed it into the far reaches of infinity, thus sculpting the heavens and the earths. It was Nayru who governed and restrained this power with the laws of time, nature, and magic. It was Farore who breathed into the still void and produced life. Upon completing all these things, the Goddesses departed from these realms into the realm beyond, but not before leaving a physical avatar of their divine power: the Triforce. Placed in the eternity of the Sacred Realm, the Triforce kept all things the Goddesses wrought in balance. Thus was creation. Thus shall ever be creation.
-Book of Mudora, New Terminian Edition
Book I, Chapter I, Verses 10-17
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"After centuries of searching, it's finally been found. Go ahead…take it…If you're right, I will never have existed anyway, right?"
"That is the plan."
"Then there's just one thing I need to know…why you?"
"Because—even a villain can become a hero."
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The voice rumbled from the very black pits of the universe.
"Curse you…Zelda! Curse you…Sages! CURSE YOU LINK! Someday…when this seal is broken…that is when I will exterminate your descendants!"
And then, with one final maddening scream, the voice dissipated. Only white light remained. All existence paused as Ganondorf Dragmire faded into oblivion; and for the third time, the universe held its collective breath as lost friends sundered by destiny reunited one last time.
Link, the Hero of Time and the Chosen Hero of the Goddesses, inhaled sharply as he tried to obtain some semblance of footing in the serenity of the Sacred Realm. His attempts failed since he appeared to be standing on, quite literally, nothing. Perhaps he was planted on some sort of ether concealed evading detection by the naked eye, it could be that the Goddesses had granted him the power to fly or levitate, or perhaps this moment, indeed, the last seven years, was all just an idle dream; a product of the overactive imagination of a very impetuous Kokiri child.
Then suddenly, all misgivings and doubt cleared his troubled mind—collectively purged as his eyes met hers. Less than a few feet away, despite the blatant absurdity of the ethereal setting, stood Zelda—the Princess of Destiny. Such a title was, on the day of Ganondorf Dragmire's defeat, strangely apt.
But, Ganondorf, the war, or even destiny didn't matter now. The only fact in the cosmos that mattered to Link right here, right now, was that at long last—after seemingly an eternity of wondering and searching—his Zelda had finally been found. He stretched a smile from one pointed ear to another as he approached her.
He gazed into her melancholic, violet eyes; those same eyes he had first seen in a small, anxious girl nearly seven years ago. Or was that merely a few days ago? A year? An eternity? He could no longer be sure—an inevitable consequence of near constant time travel. However, despite the colossal changes that had now altered the land, the people, even the very cosmos he thought he knew, he now stared into the very same eyes that had moved him seven years ago; his one constant in what had proven to be a very inconstant world.
Zelda, briefly, matched his smile, but gloom tugged at the corners of her mouth as her lips flattened. She stood straight and rigid with all the regal bearing that was expected of the Crown Princess of Hyrule—she almost looked serene. However, fingers twitching in folded hands betrayed her growing crescendo of dread.
She spoke, her tone both sentimental and formal. "Thank you Link. Thanks to you Ganondorf has been sealed inside the Dark Realm. Thus, peace will once again reign in this world—if only for a time."
Link smiled playfully at her. "Hey, I did have a little help." His smile dissipated as he realized that this was an inappropriate venue for good natured teasing.
Zelda's eyes grew heavy and slumped earthward. "All the tragedy that has befallen Hyrule was my doing… I was so young. I could not comprehend the consequences of trying to control the Sacred Realm." Her eyes met Link's, regret burning into her every expression. "…I dragged you into it too."
Link rested a calloused hand on her arm and gave a small squeeze, "But it wasn't your fault. You did it to save Hyrule, to save everybody. You couldn't have predicted any of this! It's thanks to you we're alive." Link gave his most empathetic smile, "Forget about the past. Hyrule still needs to be rebuilt, and I can help."
Zelda's entire form seemed to quaver as droplets began to pool at the corners of glistening eyes. Abruptly, she shook her head forcefully. "No Link. Now it is time for me to make up for my mistakes…"
Alarm inexplicably consumed Link as his stomach instantly contorted into tight knots.
"You must lay the Master Sword to rest and close the Door of Time. However, by doing this, the road between our times…will be…" Zelda seemed to make a profound effort to say the final word, "…closed."
For possibly the first time in his entire life, the Hero of Courage was afraid.
"Closed! Princess…" he paused, "Zelda, I can't go back. I didn't become a hero so that I could go adventuring or save a kingdom. I did it to save the people I care about. I did it for…" With great effort, Link forced out the word stubbornly lodged in his tightening throat, "…you."
Shimmering streams of water now freely streaked down Zelda's paling cheeks. "Link, give the ocarina to me…" She said, gesturing to the indigo Ocarina of Time, the magical time-defying instrument that had set in motion all the events leading up to the present moment. "As a Sage, I can return you to your original time with it."
It took his collective effort to force his arm to hold aloft the small flute-like instrument, the instrument which had heralded the beginning of his adventure—and now would cause its end. Zelda reached a gloved hand to clasp the Ocarina. Her hand lingered in Link's as she cast tear-filed eyes to the cuts and scars snaking down Link's exposed fingers—the fingers of a war veteran.
"Zelda, please! I can't go back. I may not have grown up the way most children do, but I am no longer a child!" Link all but begged, "I belong here! You know how I fe…" the awkward sounding words trailed off in a voice unwilling or unable to utter them."
Zelda once more shook her head mournfully, "Our times have now diverged, and Ganondorf yet lives in your world. If you do not warn my father about his intentions, then your Hyrule shall be doomed to share the same fate as this one. Thus history in your time shall repeat itself. So you see…we can neither escape nor grieve our destinies. It is as it must be…" She lifted her eyes to meet his, "For this time, at least, peace has returned to Hyrule… It is time for us to say…goodbye…"
And so Zelda uttered the word his heart had dreaded. Link stood mute, his mouth contorting over words that evaded him, trying to make a last desperate attempt to utter that which could not be said.
As time awaited their inevitable verdict, the Chosen Hero and the Sage of Time shared only their silence and the last few moments of a bond that was about to end; forever.
Zelda squeezed his hand once as she slid her hand from his and brought the ocarina to her lips. Link thought he heard her sniffle. "Now go home, Link. Regain your lost time! Home…where you are supposed to be… The way you are supposed to be…" She breathed deep, and exhaled into the ocarina—the melodies of her haunting lullaby the only sound in this cosmos.
Link gasped as his entire form was suddenly encapsulated in shimmering blue light, lifting him to both another place and another time.
Completing her song, she fixed Link with one last intense gaze. "Thank you, Link…g-goodbye…"
Link helplessly stretched an arm out towards her form as he inched further and further away until the endless skies of the Sacred Realm morphed into the cold, stiff tile of the Temple of Time. Standing at the pedestal where he had so long ago removed the Master Sword, he moved forward to return it, before all at once faltering.
His legs had crumpled in surprise as a much smaller and much lighter Link tried to walk. The world was now gigantic once again.
Sliding the sword into the pedestal ended the adventure of the Hero of Time doomed to live life as neither a boy nor man.
He set off into a familiar, and yet utterly alien, world.
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Author's Note: Act I is mostly background information detailing what happened between The Ocarina of Time and the events of the Imprisoning War. Because it's a bit slow, I considered excising it entirely, but decided to include it for character development that would be awkward to tack on later. What do you guys think? Because I usually write comedy and not drama, I would really like a beta-reader to collaborate with who has 1) a solid grasp of timeline issues in the Legend of Zelda, 2) command of the English language, and 3) an eye for character development and dialogue. If you think you qualify, or know somebody who does, please, please, PLEASE send me a private message. Other than that, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and don't forget to review.
Disclaimer: I usually never put them in stories since they have absolutely no real legal effect and generally muck up your title page. However, I have broken my own rule in order to disclaim that this chapter uses dialogue taken in whole or in part from the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Thus, of the many problems this story no doubt has/will have, plagiarism is not one of them.