Prologue

The Young Slave and the Slave Traders

He was a young boy, at the age of seven, with large red eyes and a patch of black hair. It was because of his strange and dark appearance that he was sold into slavery. The market where he had come from, Hyrule Market, had always discriminated him and his parents, claiming he was a demon. Finally, his parents had had enough of it, killed themselves, and, as stated in their will, sold him away to become a slave in Labryinna. This was exactly five days ago.

The young boy, with a small top engulfed in his tiny hands, walked along the dirt roads next to the three women who he was sold to. He stared at the top in his hands, remembering the good times he had with it, especially when his parents were alive and they would play with him. He quickly looked away from it, wiping the tears from his face and trying to erase those memories. His parents were dead now and he had to forget about them.

The small boy looked up to one of the women, Meiko, who was walking beside him. She was the youngest of the three he was staying with and also the kindest. Sometimes she would let him end his chores early just so he would make it in time to eat dinner. Meiko looked down at him and smiled and said, "We just need to cross the border, we'll be safe once we do."

The young boy smiled back.

Meiko nodded and turned towards her older sister, Aki, "We must find a place for the child," she said, "It's took dangerous to have him lingering around with us. What if we run in Gerudos?"

"We're not gonna run into any Gerudos," Aki said. She was also the type to look on the brighter side. She turned to the third woman, who was the two girl's mother, who's name was Sakuru, "Am I right?"

Sakuru stopped walking, and so did Meiko, Aki, and the young boy. She slowly reached down to her belt, where a long sword stood strapped to it. She had initially brought the sword on the trip just in case they had happened to run into Gerudos.

"First we cross the border," she said, taking her hand off the sword, "Then we'll know we'll all be safe. We can find a place for him there. Once he's safe, we can worry about ourselves."

They started walking again. The young boy trailed behind the three woman, again looking at his top. He heard a sickening CLUNK comming from ahead of him. But before he could look at what made the noise, a spray of warm liquid splashed on his cheek. He wiped it off with his hand and looked at the liquid. And even in the dark of the night, he still could tell what it was. It was blood.

He looked ahead of him. There were five Gerudos standing there: one of them had her spear right through Aki's skull. He could hear Aki whimpering as the Gerudo twisted the spear and then yanked on it hard to pull it out. She fell straight to the floor, bleeding at her head where she was stabbed.

"Save...Darivian..." was her last words. She was talking about the young boy.

Sakuru reached down for her sword, but she reached for it a little too late, for another Gerudo, this one with a long katana, took the honor of stabbing the katana right in the middle of her chest. She had stabbed Sakuru so hard, the young boy named Darivian could see the tip comming out of her back.

Sakuru collapsed on the ground, the katana still in her chest, eyes wide, as she watched two Gerudos approached Darivian and Meiko, "Please...don't hurt them!" she whimpered.

"Be quiet!" said the Gerudo who had stabbed her and she pressed down on the katana a bit more, killing Sakuru.

Darivian's eyes went from sorrow, to surprise, to rage. Within a quick flash on the eye, he ran over to Sakuru, grabbing the sword from her belt and held it up, pointing it at the Gerudos, who merely laughed at the boy's courage, even though they knew that they couldn't be beaten by such a young boy.

"Darivian, stop!" Meiko said and he ran to him, grabbing the sword from his hands and then trapping him in an embrace to protect him, "Darivian," she whispered into his ear, "You must listen to me. Your life has not been chosen for you so you must live. Apparently our fates have been decided tonight, but you cannot."

She gasped as one of the Gerudos grabbed her by her hair, ripping her away from Darivian. She closed her eyes, said a silent prayer quickly, and then let out a scream as the Gerudo took a small knife and jammed it into the back of her neck. She choked a little and then expired, blood spilling out of her mouth.

Meiko was thrown to the ground right beside Darivian, who stood there in shock. He looked up at the approaching Gerudos, their weapons drawn. For some reason he did not run. He couldn't. He knew he was going to die, there was no way out of it, he was surrounded.

There was footsteps approaching and the five Gerudos turned around to see who was comming. It was a man. He was quite tall, with long black hair tied behind his neck and a katana strapped to his side.

"Who are you?" said one of the Gerudos.

The man smiled, "You won't be alive long enough so it is useless to know my name," he walked up to the Gerudos and within the blink of an eye, he slashed through their bodies before they could even raise their weapons. All five of them died.

Darivian could no longer speak. He was a loss at words.

"You may hate these murderers," said the man as he took out a cloth and wiped the blood off from it. He placed it back in his scabbard, "But that will not bring your family back. Take it as a blessing that I walked down this road tonight. And let your survival be your family's memorial."

Darivian closed his eyes to hold back tears, "This wasn't my family. They were slave traders. I was sold to them after my parents died."

"And their names were?"

"Sakuru, Aki, and...Meiko..." he opened his eyes, "They only new me for a couple of days but they protected me like I was their own."

"Hmmmm..." the man kneeled down to one of the Gerudos, then turned to look back at Darivian, "Down the road is a cemetary. Dig up eight graves for these people. And then I want you to carry these bodies to the graves and bury them."

Darivian quickly did as he was told and ran down to the cemetary to start digging.

Darivian covered the last bit of dirt to the last grave. He was finshed, and it had taken him three long hours. The man walked up from behind him.

"You were unable to save the women who took care of you," he said, "But your tiny hands carried their bodies. Yes, they were heavy, but you were able to do it. In time, you wil see that their memories of them are far heavier than their bodies. And carrying those bodies will make you even stronger. But this will only happen if you are properly trained."

"Properly trained?" Darivian asked.

The man's mouth curved upwards and gave the impression that he has smiling, "My name is Orca Matsui. Learn the name of your new master."

"Master?"

"Now tell me your name."

"Darivian..." he said.

Matsui lost his smile, "A child's name. Too soft for a swordsman. From this day on, you are Link."

Darivian, now known as Link, repeated his new name softly too himself.

Matsui started to walk, motioning Link to follow, "I have found myself a pupil. Consider yourself fortunate."