Chapter 01: The Princess of Time

The legend… the kingdom… the hero… the dark king… and the Tri-Force… for many generations this cycle has repeated as was wished by the dark king. The Hero of Time, Link, was given back his childhood after completing his mission to stop Ganondorf. He stopped Majhora's Moon from destroying the land. Years went by, and at last he returned to Hyrule as a man. He was welcome by many people who'd heard of his heroic exploits, but none more so than Princess Zelda.

He entered the audience hall and kneeled to Zelda as she sat on the throne. A lot had changed in the time since he departed. She could see the battle hardened appearance he wore. Accompanying his tunic was a set of chainmail worn beneath it, compared to when he saved her and only wore the tunic and silver trousers. She asked him to stand, and she walked to him. She touched his face, felt his chest, and kissed him prompting her entire council to squeak in shock dropping their staffs.

"I will not have another, for you see, I have already pledged my heart to someone." Zelda announced as she turned to them.

So a grand celebration was thrown as Link and Zelda were engaged. The two quite enjoyed the festivities and danced together in the square with the citizens. There wasn't a soul whose heart wasn't stirred by the sound of Link's ocarina. All but one, that is…

In the shadows, a small figure wearing a cloak stood. Piercing amber eyes looked from the dark of the hood, glaring at Link and Zelda as they danced and made merry with the citizens. The figure walked from the dark making a B Line for the two. Drawing a dagger the figure lunged at Link, who just barely dodged after realizing what was going on.

The figure lunged again and he easily disarmed the figure making their hood fall back revealing they were a young Gerudo with upper back length orange hair put in a ponytail. Beneath the cloak she wore a rather fancy outfit for a normal Gerudo. She pulled another knife and Zelda grabbed her wrist and restrained her.

"What on earth are you doing?!" Zelda demanded, and she tried to wrench her arm free but lacked the strength to do so.

"You all revere a murderer! You'll pay! You'll all pay!" the young Gerudo cursed, and finally got free escaping into the alleyways of the city.

Zelda had the guards search the city for her, but they couldn't find her. Link decided to visit the Gerudo tribe to ask about the young Gerudo who attempted to assassinate him. He met with Nabooru and learned that she was Ganondorf's daughter, Ganina, possibly the one thing he ever cared about more than the Tri-Force. She shared his views of the world, and even desired to rule it after her father was too old and continue his dark tyrannical ways.

Nabooru had attempted numerous times to change her, for fear of the past repeating yet again. She absolutely loathed Link as the murderer of her father. Desperately she sought revenge against him, and didn't care what underhanded means she would have to go to in order to accomplish it. Link took her warning about Ganina seriously, and returned to Hyrule Castle to tell Zelda. She felt a dark omen, but nevertheless the arrangements for their wedding continued as planned.

The wedding arrived, and it went without a hitch. It was almost unnerving how nothing had happened at all. The coronation, and even months after that had nothing happen at Ganina's hands. They couldn't dismiss her as a threat, but at the same time it couldn't interfere with day to day duties as king and queen.

A good five years passed, and joy was spread through the kingdom. Link rode Epona's back like the wind to the castle from his usual patrol around town. He didn't even dismount upon reaching the castle heading for the fourth floor, much to the dismay of the maids at the mud Epona was tracking with her hooves. There he finally dismounted and entered a bed chamber where Zelda lay in bed looking tired as she sweat. He could hear the crying of an infant, and saw a maid bring a crying baby girl wrapped in a pink blanket to Zelda. The infant calmed down as she stroked her head gently smiling at her.

Link sighed relieved and sat by her smiling at the newborn princess. The maid kneeled to them, as did the other servants in the room.

"Her name… will be Luka." Zelda announced softly trying not to disturb the now sleeping newborn.

A grand celebration was held honoring the birth of Princess Luka. The joy of the kingdom would only continue for another two months. Ganina returned and attacked Hyrule Castletown with a horde of Stalfos. She now wore battle armor similar to Ganondorf's and wielded a dark, sinister-looking sword.

"You will die, murderer…" Ganina cursed at Link, and the two began to duel.

To Link surprise she showed significant sword prowess, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. He managed to knock Ganina sliding to a wall. She appeared worn out, and as he approached her a grin came to her face as she pulled out a peculiar black and red lyre. She began to play a song causing the ground beneath their feet to begin shaking violently. Link looked at her and saw her grin as she continued to play and stood up to dance. He tried to reach her but the ground started falling apart from the shaking. Eventually black roots began to rise from the cracks and start lashing at Link.

Link made his way to her despite his injuries and swung at her, but his swings were too predictable due to the shaking. In the middle of her song she kicked her sword to her hand and ran Link through. Her blade exited through his back, and she began to laugh as the roots ran rampant through the Castletown and soon through the landscape. Sinister creatures began to crawl out of the cracks and aid the Stalfos army. Zelda wept as Link fell to his knees, and then Ganina took his head.

She called to the young Sheikai, Auron, and had him take Luka from the kingdom. If anyone had to escape Hyrule alive, it had to be Luka. Auron took Epona and rode from the town as fast as he could make her go. He looked back, and saw the destruction that continued on. It steeled his resolve to get Luka out of the kingdom. Through the night he rode until they at last came to the Eldin kingdom south of Hyrule. They didn't stop until they reached Gazora Bay, the furthest they could possibly get from the border. There, Auron would raise Luka peacefully far away from the chaos that had claimed Hyrule, the center of the four kingdoms and their homeland.

Auron taught Luka to walk, how to talk, and the basic needs of any living person. Luka proved to be quite the athlete, even from the tiny age of three years old. For rupees Auron worked at Gazora Beach as a life guard, and Luka couldn't help accidentally drawing Auron from his post from time to time because she got curious about a creature. The biggest mini heart attack she's given him was when she tried to wake up a Gazora on the shore of the beach.

For those who don't know what a Gazora is, it is a close cousin of the Zora. They live in the deep ocean and are carnivorous toward about anything that tastes good. With night vision, the ability to change their scale color like a chameleon, and the kick power to give them short bursts of extreme speed, they are the apex predator of the Eldin Ocean. They always hunt in packs and are known for their matriarchal way of life with each group commanded by an Alpha Female, although all bow and obey the Omega Female, or as she's commonly referred to – "The Matriarch of the Sea". It's only been ten years since the Gazora's began to share their culture with "land tribes" as they call them and began allowing them to freely swim in their waters provided they don't pollute them.

As time went by, Auron was sure to keep Luka's birthplace a secret from her. He could see the dark clouds over Hyrule in the far distance. There was no way they could go back, and he knew that if Luka knew of her heritage she would foolishly try to take it back. He'd lost hope of returning, because if Link couldn't beat Ganina… who could?

End Chapter 01