The boy ran.
He ran, and he ran, even though he could barely make out the ground in front of him, tugged along in a still half asleep state by his mother's weakening grip. The only light was the pale sliver of moonlight casting into the field, and the blaze of orange behind him.
As they reached the top of a hill, his mother slowed to look back, then to look this way and that. One hand gripped his wrist with all the strength she could muster. The other she had kept wrapped around her waist.
In the distance, he heard howling, the only sound cutting through the night, besides his and his mother's ragged breathing. His mother's grip tightened, and she began to run again.
He wanted to call out to her, to ask what was wrong, where they were going, but the words caught in his throat. He breathed heavily, his legs feeling like jelly. He stumbled blindly behind his mother. Though very little was visible, he could just barely make out the lining of treetops standing out against the star filled sky.
You must never venture near the forest alone, his father had told him many times before. It is not safe, filled with monsters, and besides that… He wondered where his father was now.
His foot caught on something in the darkness, and he stumbled. His mother did not stop, despite his cry of pain as his ankle twisted unnaturally. Then his mother tripped, stumbling to the ground without being able to catch herself, her child falling over behind her.
The boy rolled to the side and took a moment to catch his breath, then pushed himself to his knees, finally awake. Only then did he turn back to see the fire. In the distance, smoke rose into the air, and flames licked high into the sky. Was that… home? The night had been a blur. He remembered being awoken to his mom's scream. There was a shout afterwards, and then… he couldn't remember, then they were running through the town, running through the fields. He turned back to look at his mother.
She did not rise. Her breathing was ragged, and she didn't look directly at him at first.
Distant howling sounded once again, and his mother's head snapped up. Weakly, she tried to push herself up, but fell. The boy whimpered.
"Mom? Momma, what's going on?" He asked.
"Listen to me very carefully," the mother started in a cracked, hushed whisper, raising a hand towards her child. "Li.. Listen. You have to run without me."
The boy's gaze clouded in confusion. He leaned slightly back. His mother's hand found his shoulder.
"Run into the forest. Find the great spirit there. You must beg him to let you stay until it's safe to return. Do you understand?"
He shook his head. "N-no, no I don't understand. Momma, what's going on? I don't understand!"
His mother lowered her gaze. "Home is not safe anymore, my child. Find the forest spirit, find the forest children. Live."
"Bu-t mom, what-what about-" He was silenced by his mom's finger at his lips
There was a moment of silence, and his mother moved her shaking hand to cup her child's face one last time. "Be courageous, my son, and the goddesses will protect you. I know you can do it, my little hero."
Howling sounded again, closer. His mother removed her hand. "Now run, go!"
Her hand fell. He shuddered, then forced himself to stand and continue to run in the darkness.
So, first off, I can not begin to say how excited I am to publish this project! It's going to be the biggest writing project I've ever attempted (my previous longest story was about 25k words, and I've already almost surpassed that with my draft in only a tiny fraction of the story). I hope to update it weekly on Sundays.
So now for some quick notes about the story itself:
Yes this is going to diverge some from the story of Ocarina of Time. Some characters are going to get more development than they do in the original game, and the order of some events will be different, as well as how some of them play out. Some things within the story itself may not follow established canon to the exact, whether it be because I forgot something, or chose to change it for the sake of the story. Please feel free to point out glaring plot holes or flaws, but also please bear with me, and remember that this is a labor of love. Most of the plot is pretty well hammered out, but I still have a lot to write, so who knows how things could shift around in the end? Tentatively, I'm looking at 34 chapters, but again, that is subject to change.
With all that said, I hope you enjoy The Heart of a Hero!