The Land Beyond
One morning in the forest of Hyrule, a young boy name Link discovered that his fairy friend, Navi, had gone missing. He set out on his horse Epona to go and find her.
He rode Epona deeper and deeper into the woods. Half the day passed by before he reached a dark, shadowy edge of forest that he had never seen before.
Epona wanted to turn back, as she feared the ill look of the trees. Link spied a wooden sign pointing into a huge hollow log that read: TERMINA.
Link urged his horse on, telling her they had looked everywhere else for Navi already. He petted her mane and told her not to worry. At the same time he held onto the sword at his side, in case of danger. Epona obeyed him, and walked past the sign into the tunnel of the log.
On the other side of the tunnel, they searched around in the dark woods until night fell. By that time, they both were tired, and needed a place to rest. They found a pond that reflected the Moon up above, and slept there soundly underneath a tree.
A black owl wearing a frightening colored mask had been watching the boy and his horse from the treetops. "They are not welcome in my world," she hooted. Despite her appearance, she was no mere animal. She swooped down and flapped her wings over them, exposing them to a dark force.
The next morning, Link awoke, only to find that his horse was nowhere to be seen. Standing up, he called Epona's name, but his call went unanswered. He walked over to the edge of the nearby pond to get a better view of his surroundings. When he looked down at his reflection in the water, he held his head in fright. He had been turned into a Deku Scrub!
Link cried out in terror. He was small, feeble, and longer had his sword or the shield he had carried with him on his back. If a beast from these woods attacked him, he thought, he wouldn't be able to defend himself!
He had to do something, so he ran across the woods as fast as his stubby legs would go. He didn't have a map, and he began to worry that he would be lost in this weird forest forever. He needed to find someone – anyone – who could give him some answers and some peace of mind.
A small cliff dipped along Link's path, and Link tried to grab a hanging vine so he could climb down safely. But the vine was slippery, and he could not grip it firmly enough. He fell down on top of a mushroom, and as he sat up, an angry yellow fairy appeared.
"What do you think you're doing?!" the fairy demanded of Link, batting her wings. "I was taking a nap under this mushroom, but then you smushed it, and me too!"
Link stood and apologized to her over and over. Eventually she calmed down and explained that she had exhausted herself trying to find someone who was dear to her.
"My brother…" she said, "whose name is Tael, got lost many days ago. I've been searching for him all over this Deku Forest. He really is hard to keep track of."
Link asked the fairy her name. "Oh, right!" she said, with pride in her voice. "I'm Tatl!"
Though she didn't seem the least bit interested in him, Link told her his name and where he came from, and whom he himself was looking for. Tatl was baffled by his words.
"Link? Epona? Navi? What is 'Hyrule'?" Tatl asked in an annoyed tone. "You're a Deku Scrub, aren't you? You must have gotten separated from the Deku Scrub tribe at the other end of the forest. No wonder you look so sad…" She gazed into his gloomy eyes.
"C'mon, I can take you to the tribe," she continued as Link watched her flutter above, "but only on the condition that you help me find my brother, Tael. How about it? Sound like a deal?"
Link couldn't say no to her terms. He was willing to help anyone if it meant finding his way around this bizarre place. He followed Tatl along a twisted path to the Deku Scrub tribe of which she spoke. And that's how his adventure in the land of Termina began.