Seven years had passed, and much was changed.
He was hardly prepared to face the desolation that had once been the bustling and prosperous Market Town, or the fiery halo that now crowned the home of the Gorons; even cheerful Kakariko had lost its charm, for it had become an apathetic host to refugees who had given up hope of better times. The hollow shrill of the wind that swept across the Field was an echo of the misery that had befallen his homeland, driving home the dread he felt each time some new corruption was revealed.
Still, Link had not been able to believe that the forest, the ancient and immutable haven of the Kokiri, so full of life-magic and mystery, had been touched by the decay, until he saw it with his own eyes.
He ran on the unmarked path that would take him through the Lost Woods to a secret place, sacred to the goddesses and to his heart. It was the treasured place of a dear friend he had not seen since long before the darkness fell over Hyrule; he needed to see her one more time, to know she was safe before he continued on his quest. Caution guarded his pace, however, for though he would have liked to sprint at full speed, he had no desire to cross one of the massive, boar-faced Moblins which now stalked through the woods, ready to gore anything that moved with their spears. The thought of such twisted creatures invading the peaceful realm of Kokiri Forest turned his stomach.
On every side the trees stretched out their veiling net of limbs and leaves; the sunlight that seeped through was, by the time it reached the forest floor, little more than a golden-green ambience glittering with particles of earth and more than a little magic. His boots jogged lightly over thick moss and rich dark loam that absorbed the sound of his footsteps. He knew how to move so as to make the least possible disturbance in the forest, and the Moblins crashing and stomping through the underbrush were not overly difficult to avoid. But he was glad that none of them had strayed close to the little Kokiri Village nestled on the border of the Lost Woods.
The death of the Great Deku Tree seven years ago had been more than enough to upset the delicate balance of life in the forest; this most recent wave of corruption in the form of monsters would likely destroy it, if left unchecked.
He clenched his teeth in anger. Somehow, he would find a way to restore this sylvan sanctuary.
There was only one way to enter the Sacred Forest Meadow, which was largely surrounded by cliffs and impassibly thick brush: a narrow gap in the trees allowed one to reach an opening in
the cliffs that was about ten yards long and just wide enough for two men to stand shoulder-to-shoulder within. It had always seemed to Link as though the forest wanted to protect its precious heart from outside impurities by making this area so difficult to access. Now, as he stood before the opening in the cliffs, he had to reconsider how effective such protection could truly be.
An immense Moblin towered over his path midway through the cliffs, wielding a club that was at least as big as Link, if not bigger. The monster's broad shoulders reached from one cliff wall to the other, and the muscles that were visible through its thick hair and armor were formidable.
When it caught sight of Link, it let out an angry snarl and raised its club high. Link would have moved out of the way, but he noticed that despite its apparent eagerness to crush him, the Moblin didn't seem able to move much: the point where it stood was perhaps slightly more narrow than the rest of the passage through the cliffs, and it had somehow gotten itself stuck in place, unable to move forward or lift its massive upper arms above its shoulders . . .
Then the club pounded the earth with such force that it left a visible dent in the ground.
For a brief moment Link considered drawing his sword, but observing the incredible weight and reach of his foe's weapon, he knew there was no way he would be able to trade blows with the beast before he was smashed to a pulp. He would have to find a way to slip inside the club's reach if he hoped to get past the Moblin.
The club was lifted again in his enemy's powerful grip, and Link quickly devised a simple strategy. Having noted the precise point where the end of the weapon closest to him touched the ground, he dashed forward just beyond that point, then danced back again as the Moblin brought down its arms once more, and was nearly knocked off-balance as the enormous weight came crashing down mere inches from his boots. He regained composure quickly and, with no time to consider his next move more carefully, he leaped atop the broad wooden club and began to scramble along its length with as much speed as he could muster.
The Moblin bellowed with rage but the unexpected weight prevented it from lifting the club as easily as it had before, so it shook the wooden beam from side to side in an effort to dislodge the Hylian. Link managed to hold on for a while with all four limbs and almost reached the end of the club, until a particularly violent shake slammed him into a cliff and he dropped to the ground, dazed.
Its weapon freed, the Moblin brought up the club again, intending to finish the foolish Hylian. But Link had landed too far inside of the weapon for a strike to effectively hit him at that angle, and the Moblin's futile tactic bought him enough time to recover from his fall and maneuver even closer to his enemy—too close for the Moblin to reach him on the ground, trapped as it was with its shoulders jammed so that it could not bend over.
Realizing this, the Moblin switched its approach and lifted a spiked boot in an attempt to stomp its opponent. Link was forced to roll aside, and again as the second boot came up, and could not avoid being clipped on the shoulder by a steel boot tip. He winced in pain then ignored the bruise as he finally saw an opening: the Moblin in its continuing effort to stomp him had lifted its leg too high, and Link seized the opportunity to roll beneath the raised foot, coming up safely behind the Moblin.
The fight was over.
The Master Sword came free of its scabbard with a comforting whisper of metal. Link wasted no time in plunging the blade into the great Moblin's back repeatedly until at last with a terrible groan its head fell and its limbs sagged, and its labored breath came to a halt.
Then Link turned to face the Sacred Forest Meadow, hoping against hope that no new corruption awaited him there.
Empty.
That was the only way to describe it. There were no monsters inhabiting the meadow that Link could find, no sorcerous traps waiting to ensnare him. There was simply nothing.
Nothing, where before had been the most vibrant concentration of life-energy in the forest, and that Link had ever known.
Saria was gone. Not just from the meadow, where she had spent much of her time communing with the forest. Somehow—he wasn't sure how he knew it—somehow, she had vanished from Hyrule itself.
He had to believe that she was still alive; the alternative was too dark to contemplate.
He paused in front of the tree stump where he had found her sitting, seven years ago. That was the last time he had seen her, spoken with her face-to-face. She had taught him a song on the ocarina he had received from her as a gift on the day he left the Kokiri Forest for the first time. He had assumed that she composed the song on her own, but whenever he played it, no matter where he was, the notes seemed to evoke the very spirit of the forest in a way that went far deeper than nostalgia: it was as if every sound of the forest, every rustling of leaves, every birdsong, every thrum of every insect that scurried through the growth, was somehow contained in those notes. Perhaps it was the magic of the ocarina that created such a powerful sensation; but he didn't think the instrument's power could be summoned by just any combination of notes; there had to something in the song itself. . . .
He brought the ocarina to his lips, and began to play.
Behind him, leaning in a shadowed section of the cliff wall which surrounded the meadow, Sheik watched respectfully as the young Hylian came to terms with the disappearance of his closest childhood friend. Soon enough it would be time to reveal the full extent of the contamination that the forest had suffered, and the warrior would be faced with his first true challenge under the Evil King's regime.
The melody that Saria had composed rang sweetly in the air, and while it lasted the Sacred Forest Meadow seemed to grow just a little brighter. But always there was an undercurrent of despair, the oppressive veil that covered not only the forest but all of Hyrule, a result of Ganondorf's unholy grip on the land. Hope lived on in those ocarina notes, but there was a long way to go before it had any chance of being fulfilled, a journey that would forever decide the fates of all it touched.
Sheik sighed and stepped forward into the sunlight. The first task in that journey was at hand.