Night had fallen. All was unusually quiet, however. The usual ceaseless chirping symphony of nighttime insects was nowhere to be found.
Dee sat down to eat her usual meal of boiled vegetables. She shivered. There was a slight chill in the air. It cut easily through the thin, worn fabric of her dress. She got up to get a shawl to wear over her ragged clothing, which had obviously seen better days. And it had. The dress had belonged to her mother in the days before the Warning.
Most of Hyrule had not noticed the warning. Dee's family had, however. They lived close to the earth, out in the forest near Hyrule. Here there had not been much to distract them from the Warning. There was also the possibility that the Warning had been less severe for the rest of Hyrule.
The warning had come to them in the form of a cruel earthquake. It happened when she was out deeper in the woods, picking berries. She remembered it distinctly. The trees and ground moved as if some immense hand had come and shaken Hyrule fiercely. Dee had been 14 at the time of the warning. She returned from her hike in the woods in a panic, not knowing what had happened. What she found at home was far worse, however. Their house, which her father had built s lovingly years before her birth, had collapsed, trapping and crushing her entire family inside.
At first, the shock had been too much for her. The disaster did not fully click with her, and it did not occur to her to cry. She dug through the wreckage, taking all that she felt would be of use, such as the dress she wore today, and moved into the shed, which remained standing through the earthquake. She lived in the shed to this day. Why she did not move into town was quite simple. She had never been there, and feared what she may face if she ever ventured there. So Dee lived here, alone, with no outside contact, for the past two years.
She got the shawl and resumed her meal. A sudden gust of wind blasted her door open. The wind blew forcefully into her home, and it took a great deal of effort just to get to the door to close it. Just before she got the door closed, she caught a glimpse of he outside. There she saw one of the most bizarre sights encountered in her short lifetime : despite the incredible force the wind had on her and the door, the trees and grass outside were deadly still.
The unsettling sight caused her to slam the door closed quickly and get back to dinner. By now her food was freezing. She wasn't hungry anymore anyway. Dee poured the soup back into the soup pot and lit another candle before heading to her book corner.
She loved her books. They were one of the most important things that she had dug from the corpse of her house. They reminded her of her brother, whom had always enjoyed the volumes of legends her father had collected. She could still recall the nights that were spent by the fire, listening to her mother read aloud tales of the heroes of long ago, of the first Link, the Hero of Time. The and her brother would always beg for one more tale before going to bed. Mother would always laugh, and more often than not, would read an other story to them.
Dee had always loved mother's laugh. It was so warm, and full of life. But that was the past. Best to let the past stay behind.
She sighed and opened the pages of her favorite story. The pages in this part of the book were dog-eared from years of reading and re-reading. Dee settled back in the warm glow of the candle and fell into her favorite tale, the one that told of the creation of Hyrule. The people of Hyrule had long since stopped believing in the three goddesses, but the legend was still quite popular today.
The comfortable story covered and calmed her. She read of the beautiful goddesses that made Hyrule what it is. Din, who sculpted the earth and made the mountains and plains. Nayru, who poured the waters of the sky onto the ground so that it might sustain life. Farore, who created the people and creatures that walked the land. The three, who proceeded to exit this domain of their own creation, leaving behind a relic holding incredible amounts of power, the sacred triforce.
Dee turned the page to the next tale of adventure. A knock at the door startled her. She scrambled to her feet and went to open it. She figured that it was a branch, blowing against the doorframe. What she found there was a bit more than a branch, however.
A sheikah stood in her doorway. Until now, she had only her imagination and a few crude drawings from books to rely on when picturing the sheikah. She had doubted that they even existed. Sheikah were the stuff of fairy tales and legends, not the people crowding your doorway.
" Excuse me?"
The sheikah said nothing, but pushed by her and sat at her table. Dee followed, taking the other chair.
The sheikah finally spoke. " Are you ready?"
" Pardon?" Dee replied, confused.
" You must be ready for anything. The warning… I know you felt the warning…"
" Yes. What does it mean?"
" It was the shudder of Ganondorf, as he awoke once more."
" But he can not…"
" It is true. For the past three years he has been gaining power, secretly, slowly. You may not know this, but Hyrule is in a state of chaos. Ganondorf has captured Link's spirit and has imprisoned it in the Dark Realm. All of Hyrule is frightened."
" How does this involve me?"
" Your awakening is near. The powers that be have chosen you, Unity…"
" How did you know that?"
" That is your name, is it not? Though you prefer " Dee", it is merely an abbreviated form of Unity."
" But how did you find that out? I live alone, no outside contact."
" You simply need to read one of your books." The sheikah walked to her stack of books. He lifted the one she had been reading only minutes before. He thumbed through the pages before finding the place and reading aloud. " A warning shall come, followed by Ganondorf rising once again.. One shall rise who has triumphed before, and will bring unity to all of Hyrule."
" What does that have to do with me?" Dee was still surprised by the fact that this was all in her book, the one that she had pored over so many times before.
" The one who has triumphed is Link. You are Unity, and his capture shall bring you to save all of Hyrule."
" You lie. And you aren't supposed to take this literally anyway."
" That is what the scholars have spoken. It shall be taken as true."
Dee thought about this for a moment. " Why has Link not called upon Princess Zelda? She has aided him in the past, and being a princess…"
" She is princess no more," the sheikah snapped. He then seemed embarrassed at his sudden loss of composure. Pausing a moment, he continued. " That is an other problem. She has become Queen Zelda. Ganondorf has murdered the king of Hyrule."
" There is no other then?"
" None but you. No others possess the strength and courage that you will need to complete this journey."
" How do you figure?"
" You have lived alone, with little food or supplies for more than three years. You have seen your family die. You have pressed on through this all. Yes, I feel that you are well adjusted to this journey."
Dee went silent. Then this was very real, and very frightening. " So I am to be the one that saves Hyrule?"
" You have been chosen, that is correct."
She thought a moment before replying, in a whisper, " What must I do?"