Centuries have passed since the Hero of Time became legend. He may have passed, but Hyrule survived, though it has changed drastically. Let me tell you about Hyrule.
The old traditions of naming royal baby girls Zelda was lost with the fall of the monarchy, as was the tradition of naming blonde-haired, blue-eyed boys Link. Castle City is the capital of Hyrule, a bustling metropolis. Lon Lon Ranch has been commercialized; you can't walk into a supermarket without finding a few gallons of Lon Lon Milk. Kakariko Village has been completely rebuilt. Not even the house of the Great Impa still stands. Death Mountain has become a strip-mine, where people mine for rock sirloin, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires. Zora's Domain still stands strong, but the Zora's River has since dried up. Hyrule Field is crisscrossed with roads and highways. Kokiri Forest has been fenced off and turned into a reserve. The Gerudo Desert is now home to a booming oil industry, run mostly by Gerudos. Lake Hylia is also commercialized, and you can't see two feet down, for all the pollution. All the temples have been opened to the public, with the exceptions being the Forest Temple and the inside of The Great Deku Tree. And Hyrule is no longer racially-divided. The different races intermingle freely, and live wherever they please.
There hasn't been a crisis that called for a Hero in centuries, because modern-day law enforcement stops any world-conquering wannabes. The Hero of Time has probably been watching silently as the centuries passed, waiting for someone to call for help.
Kideki's POV
My name is Kideki. I'm a junior at Castle City Memorial High, home of the Castle City Wizards. Woo. I'm not exactly one of the populars, but I manage. Today happened to be a very special day in our school:
A field trip. I despise field trips, because all we ever do is walk around some boring place that used to be important, like a temple or somewhere deemed "educational." Usually I ended up getting sick from my allergies, or got stuck doing a group project.
Today's field trip was taking us to a different area in Hyrule completely. We were going to be taking a bus all the way to Kakariko Village, where we would be touring a graveyard and ancient Sheikah temple, called the Shadow Temple. They told us that we could download Lens of Truth apps for our phones, which would help us through some optical illusions. We all piled into the bus, setting a course for boredom. A pretty girl with blonde hair, Hope, glared at me.
"Um, excuse me? Just what do you think you're doing in my seat, douchebag?" I turned bright red as I stood up and allowed her to have my seat, while I moved to the back to sit with the darker crowd. I received all sorts of weird looks, especially from members of the new Gerudo club, which studied ancient Gerudo history. I sat in a seat next to a racial exchange student, Mikiel. He was visiting our school from Zora's Domain. He put down his water bottle and smiled at me.
"Hey, Kideki." I forced a small smile and held my breath as best I could. It was hard to sit next to someone who smelled like sunscreen and tuna.
When we finally arrived in Kakariko, I was overjoyed. I practically ran off the bus, and looked around. The buildings here were small, not like the skyscrapers of Castle City. It was a small rural town with a small chicken farm, and was known for their advances in medicine, mostly from Oldag Pharmaceutical. We all formed two lines and began the short walk through the town to the graveyard, which had been partially carved out of the stone wall surrounding Hyrule. We passed several interesting places, such as an herbalist shop, run by a man with long red hair, who yelled to us that his recipes had been around for millenia. Shopowners called out to us, trying to get us to buy their wares. One woman came very close to me and held a mask to me. She claimed it was called the Mask of Truth, and would allow me to read minds. When we finally reached the graveyard, I breathed a sigh of relief. The graveyard was quiet, and smelled of fresh earth. We walked to the very back, where a cement stairway led to a cave opening. In front of the cave opening was a weathered stone platform, with a triforce on it, and the symbol of Shadow. Our teacher stopped to tell us about the legend of the Seven Sages, and how each temple supposedly contained a mystical medallion.
"Excuse me..." The teacher whipped around. Behind him, there was a girl wearing bandages from her neck to her knees, and a weird poncho. Her mouth and nose were covered by a blue cloth, her eyes covered by a white, gauzy looking fabric. The only thing visible was her snow white hair. Several girls screamed. The teacher glared at them, then smiled at the girl.
"Well. You must be Riziah, the gravekeeper." He turned to face us as the girl stood there. "Students, this is Riziah. She takes care of this graveyard, and the Shadow Temple. She'll be giving us a tour today. Everyone say hello." there was an awkward chorus of hello's and whatever's, and Riziah removed her veil. Several people gasped.
Her eyes were RED. Red as the blood flowing through my veins. This was no Hylian. All Hylians had blue eyes. She gave us all a condescending look.
"Welcome, students of Castle City. My name is Riziah. I am a member of a nearly extinct race, the Sheikah." Several kids started whispering to each other. Everyone had heard of the Sheikah. They were a race almost as old as the Hylians. They existed to protect the ancient royal family, and usually it was a Sheikah that was the Sage of Shadow. "I'm glad to have the opportunity to show you this piece of my culture's history. Please listen to my instructions, and do not touch anything unless you are instructed to." She turned around and started walking down into the cave. As soon as we all collected ourselves, we followed her into the unknown.
We first came to a room with a raised pedestal and a circle of unlit torches.
"I apologize. I have not had a chance to open the entrance today. Please step back and allow me to open it." We all stepped back, afraid of what horrifying ritual could open a temple of shadows. Riziah pulled a small red crystal out of her pocket and threw it at the ground. It exploded in flames, and most of the kids screamed. Hope grabbed my shirt and buried her face in my chest. There was no way the Sheikah survived that.
And yet, there she was, smirking at us.
"Sorry. I forgot most people haven't seen magic as powerful as Din's Fire." I shook and gently pushed Hope away. A young girl with bright blue hair spoke up, after blowing a huge bubble in her gum.
"Din's Fire? Isn't that like...what the Hero used? Like, he got it from some fairy?" Riziah nodded, slowly turning the crystal over in her hands.
"Yes. This was the crystal used by the Hero of Time, given to him by the Fairy of Power. After Hyrule was saved, he left the crystals to the Royal Family. When the Royal Family was dissolved, the crystals were given as reparations to the Sheikah, along with the three Spiritual Stones. But, just between you and me, the Spiritual Stones have been given back to their respective owners." I raised my hand, curious. She raised her eyebrows at me.
"Yes?" I looked at my feet.
"Well, um...what about the six Medallions?" Riziah nodded, and gestured to the area around her.
"They have been dissolved. If Hyrule ever again enters a time of need, the Six Sages will be called to the temples, where they will discover their powers, and then, they will form a medallion." Hoping to impress her, I stepped a little closer.
"Well, then, are you the Sage of Shadow?" She looked taken aback.
"I would love to have the honor, but I am the wrong age. The last Sage of Shadow was the Great Impa, who was thirty-seven when she was called here. She is long dead, but for a long time her house stood as a landmark in this village." I frowned. She seemed to know quite a bit about Hyrulian history. Maybe she was a Sage, and didn't want us to be aftaid. We followed her through the dark, dank dungeon, full of old skeletons and monster corpses. We reached a room with a hole in it, and she pointed to a small staircase.
"One at a time please, be careful, it's slippery." We all followed her, single-file, until we reached a large room with a seemingly bottomless pit, and two platforms that could be compared to large bongos. There was a huge skeleton, with a strange body and two skeleton hands.
"This is the corpse of Bongo Bongo, who held the temple under his grasp. He was slain by the Hero himself. You can see in the skull here, where he dealt the final blow." I stepped up to the rope fence, and looked at the head of the monster, where there was a hole about the width of a sword. I nodded in respect of the Hero's skills. The teacher practically hid behind Riziah, and waved us all away.
"Well, um...if you could all follow me, we'll be going to the graveyard to view the graves of some important people in Hyrulian h-history."
We left the temple, and Riziah led us to a small plot, where there were two large monuments, one with a statue.
"These are the graves of two very important people, possibly the most important ever. These are the graves of Princess Zelda, and The Hero of Time. Princess Zelda wished to be buried next to him instead of being placed in the family mausoleum. Please examine the statue. It was said that this statue was made in perfect likeness of the Hero. Note the childlike face, the tunic, and the sword he holds. You probably know the origins of all these things, and you will be quizzed on them upon your return, or so I was told." Everyone groaned, except me. I approached the monuments, staring at the statue. Someone pointed out what everyone was thinking.
"He looks just like Kideki!" Everyone's stares turned to me, and my mouth fell open. They were right. I had known something was off about the statue, but couldn't quite put my finger on it. The statue was definitely of me, which was a little freaky. Riziah's eyes went wide, and she grabbed my arm painfully tight. Her small hands were quite feminine, though I wouldn't dream of telling her so.
"You...what is your name?" I gaped at her. Why, oh, why...did I always get singled out?
"Um...my name is Kideki..." She rolled her eyes like I had asked who Zelda was.
"I mean your LAST name, idiot." I blushed and looked at the ground.
"F-Forrester..." Her eyes went wider than the Hylia Lakebed. She approached the teacher and began talking quickly, gesturing wildly. The teacher looked like he was about to scream.
"K-Kideki, if you would please go with Riziah for a moment. Everyone else, come with me, it's lunch time." I looked at the Sheikah, confused. Her eyes looked panicked.
"Please, come with me, if you would." I looked at her as she walked away. What's with the sudden respect? She brought me into the village, and brought me over to a run-down looking building, where she pulled out a key.
"Where are we going? I don't think-" She glared at me.
"Please do not ask questions now. I will answer all in just a moment." We walked into the building, which was empty except for a small circle of stones. I watched as she climbed down a ladder.
"...Well? Are you coming or aren't you?" I turned red and scrambled down, accidently smacking into her when we reached the bottom. It was dark and dank, and I could hear water hitting the ground somewhere.
"Please, be at ease. We are in the Bottom of the Well. This well was built to house a small dungeon, used in ancient times, beyond even the Hero's age. Please follow me." I followed her deeper into the cave, where there were tremendous piles of bones, and a small waterway. We eventually made it to a large wooden door, with a large lock. She unlocked the door, and stood in front of me. I raised my eyebrow, curious.
"Be careful. I'm not sure what we will find in here, but whatever it is, it will not be pretty." She opened the door carefully, removing a large hunting knife from its sheath on her hip. I peered around her, the stench of death hitting me in the face. She sighed and put her knife away.
"U-um...Riziah, what was down here?" She glanced at the ground, where there was a nearly unrecognizable corpse.
"Here was where we held the last original Sheikah survivor...Impaz...I suppose her soul was too strong to become a ReDead, but...If she is dead..." She shook her head in frustration. "We have no time. We must make haste to the ruins of Hyrule Castle." My jaw dropped. This girl was absolutely off her rocker. I slowly began backing up, feeling for the door behind me. Riziah extended a hand to me.
"W-wait! Please, you don't understand!" I turned and ran, as fast as I could, out of the well, climbing the ladder two rungs at a time. When I reached the surface, I put the cover back on the well.
"I hope...that keeps her in there...a while..." I put my hands on my knees, unable to catch my breath. I began to panic. If I didn't get out of here soon, I was going to have an asthma attack. I took a deep breath and bolted out of the building, straight down to the parking lot where the bus was. Everyone was loaded on, and the teacher was taking roll. I tapped him on the shoulder.
"S-sir..." He turned around, eyes wide.
"Oh! Kideki, we weren't expecting you back for a while! Please, have a seat!" I sat down, creeped out by his happiness. All the students gave me strange looks, more than usual. I frowned. What did they all know that I didn't? I pulled my hood over my golden-blonde hair, and went to sleep.