-- DISCLAIMER --
... I don't own Zelda, Nintendo does. Just thought I'd clear up all that inevitable confusion.
-- PROLOGUE --
"People die everyday. It's a fact of life. But this, this isn't the way it was meant to happen. People don't just drop like flies like this. Of course there have been mass deaths before - wars, plagues, fires – but this ... this ... What is this! What in Nayru's name is going on! Why do I lay here dying, sores covering my body while you ... you lay there dying, paled and withering. And Jorge, nearly bed-ridden himself, suffers from white, foaming rashes. And every other bloody person in the entire kingdom has different, bloody, unconnected disease slowly killing them too. Oh, Lillith, what am I to do? What's happening to my kingdom? If only it were a single plague. If only it made sense. And what of our daughter? Though words cannot express how happy I am for her health, I fear for her future. What future could she possibly have?"
"thugh ... thugh gu-esses ... whhill lughg agph ... agph ... agpher hhhuuurrr ... murmur ... mutter ... slur ... stutter ... moan ... groan ... mumble ... squeak..."
"Oh Lillith, try not to speak my love. I'm sorry for keeping you up with my babbling. All this you already know. Try to get some sleep my love. Try to get some sleep."
-- CHAPTER 1: Far Too Much To Ask Of A Boy --
There he stands, shovel in hand. He wipes the sweat from his brow, and bends back down. Oh how his back aches, and his arms, they are so heavy. He begins to shovel the loose dirt back into the hole he just dug. He finishes up his 12th hole of the day – one for each year he has lived. This is far too much to ask of a boy.
Link dragged the heavy tombstone over to the grave and propped it up on the mound he had just made. Here Lies Granny Smith: With a heart of gold she took in an orphan and raised him as her own. Similarly she was like a mother to all here in Koriki. Farore rest her soul.
He knew Granny Smith well. He was best friends with Draiden, the orphan child that Granny Smith took in. Draiden was found one day crawling out of the forest that lined the northern side of their town, Koriki, named after the Elven village that once lived deep in this same forest... or so the legend goes. Granny Smith, widowed, already had her hands full with six daughters of her own. She adopted Draiden as the son she never had. The two boys were roughly the same age and quickly became friends.
As the years past all six of Granny Smith's daughter's left for the Hyrule City to find a suitable husband to marry, and Granny Smith was left with just Draiden. This was probably a good thing because she had her hands more full with that one boy then she ever did with all six of her daughters. As hard as she tried she could never keep Draiden from going off by himself into the forest. She was constantly sending search parties into the forest to find him when he didn't return home before dark. Nobody ever found him; he came home when he was good and ready.
When Draiden wasn't off in the forest by himself Link had spent much of his boyhood at the Smith house. Link stared at the tombstone. It's engraving couldn't have been more accurate ... Granny Smith was like a mother to all who met her. She was especially important to him because he had never known his real mother. She fell ill and died before he reached the age of two. It was just him and his dad ... who was now becoming weaker and sicker by the day, constantly falling short of breath, walking to the store and brining back groceries had become a chore. It was his father's year to take care of the grave digging and he was in no shape to do so. He quickly fell behind in the sudden onslaught of burials, which is why Link had offered to do it himself.
"Is that... her..." A voice choked behind him.
"... yes..." Link didn't have to turn around, he recognized the voice of his best friend. His eyes were moist as he tried to hold back tears. He had just buried the only mother he ever knew. What if his father was next? He couldn't bear to think about it. His head dropped and he stared at the back of his left hand. Three outlined triangles formed as such to create a bigger triangle shown back at him with a dim glowing golden light, the bottom left filled in.
Blasted Triforce! Link thought. Why do you do this to me! He was born with the mark of the Triforce and has borne it since. He grew up to stories told by his father about the legend of the Triforce. He didn't know much about it, but he knew that his dad believed that was why he was still healthy. As crazy as it sounds, Link just wanted to suffer with everyone else. Being healthy when everyone else was dieing made him feel guilty. His mind raced between Granny Smith... death... the Triforce... and finally to his father. He cupped his face with his hands. He could no longer hold the tears back.
Draiden remained hidden in the shadows of the forest. Stifled heaves echoed out from the trees.
"Where have you been Junior?! -cough- When you came home for -cough-cough- for dinner four hours ago you said you were only -cough- onl -cough- only going back to do one more. -cough-cough- I was just about to go out looking for you! -cough-cough-cough-" The voice wasn't mad, just worried.
Link looked up, dried tears stained his eyes. "I buried Granny today..."
"Oh, Link, -cough- I'm so -cough- so sorry. I know how much she meant to you. -cough-cough- She meant a lot to all of us. She was -cough- she was a great woman."
-cough-
"... Daddy..."
"Yes?"
-cough-cough-
"... Daddy... promise... promise you'll never leave me ..."
A sad look spread across Link's father's face. He had definitely been thinking about that a lot lately. He fully intended to fight death till he had nothing left... and then some, but he was scared. Nearly 1/4 of Koriki's population - just under 100 now - have died in the past two month, most of them in the later half. There were only two people healthy in the entire town: Draiden, of whom, ever since he crawled out of the forest 10 years ago, it was obvious he was different, and, bless the goddesses, his own son. He knew Link was favored by the Goddesses ever since he saw the mark of the Triforce on the back of his baby's hand. He had once borne the Triforce, before his son was born, but over the nine months after Link's conception the mark slowly faded away till, on the day of Link's birth, it was completely gone. He knew this would happen though; it happened to his father...and his father's father. The heritage could be traced all the way back to the Great Sir Link I, Hero of Time. Several generations after Sir Link I, Koriki Village was founded. Ever since the ancestry has lived in Koriki, every first child, a boy bearing the mark of the Triforce, was named Link, in honor of the Hero of Time and in pride for their heritage.
"... Daddy..."
"Huh?"
"Promise?"
"Promise -cough- promise what? -cough-cough-"
Link frowned. He'd been having to repeat the conversation of just minutes ago to his father a lot lately. It pained him to see his father like this. "Promise you'll never leave me."
A sad look spread across Link Sr.'s face for a second time. This had been on his mind a lot lately. With all the illnesses and deaths that had happened over the past month he knew his chances of making it much longer were slim. And though he had no right making a promise he had no guarantee of keeping, he couldn't bear to disappoint his son.
Link Sr. tried to smile, though it wasn't very convincing
"I promise."
Apparently it was enough for Link Jr., he ran over and embraced his father, hugging him tight around the stomach. And, falling asleep, that's how they stayed till morning.
--WRAP UP--
Woah! How'd that happen. I honestly had no intentions going into this story to make it so depressing. I meant to get a lot further along than I actually did, this is supposed to be more of an action/adventure after all. Hopefully it wasn't too slow. I promise it will pick up soon. Well ... I think ... actually, no promises. I'll just write the story as I go. I have the basic plot line mapped out I swear. Anyway, now that the first chapter is over you know what that means ... review! Yeah! ... please?
Oh yeah, before anybody corrects me ... I know it's supposed to be Kokiri. I spelled it Koriki on purpose ... sorta the same deal as the "Triumph Forks" in Wind Waker ... now ... on to the reviews! Heh, well, if not, thanks for at least making it this far.