Chapter 1 – A Normal Life Turned into a Disaster

"Magic and fairy tales aren't real," is what most people say… That they never existed, that they use it to merely entertain the children. Some stick to this belief, while others end up following everybody else in denying its existence.

I am one of those who stuck to it.

Magic has always fascinated me as a child. I always looked up magic spells on the Internet, and tried it out myself, only to find that they were fraud. Nevertheless, I never ceased to believe in this.

Perhaps it was because of what Father told me. He said that my great grandfather was "supposedly" a great magician. He even owned a book full of spells written in Latin! It's too bad that it was given to one of my grandfathers, possibly his son, in a far country. His son died years later and never gave it to anyone, but rather stored it in an unknown location.

My great grandfather knew a ton of those ancient spells, but used it only as a last resort for defense; once, he used a camouflage spell to hide from the Japanese during a huge war. That was the only spell that Father knew that he used; all the other ones that he used were kept secret for some reason. After my great grandfather's death, it came under the possession of my grandfather. Father was able to borrow it from him, and tried one that would allow him to speak to animals. Unfortunately, it failed… As for his siblings, it never even crossed their minds that magic existed.

Father told me this story simply to make me happy as a child, as do other parents. Later on as a growing pre-teen, he, along with Mother, my brother, and sister, tried to persuade me that it didn't exist. I refused to listen to them. It fascinated me greatly, and even now at the age of fifteen I still think magic is real.

All I do to satisfy my parents is pretend to not be interested in it anymore.

In reality, I still search for proof behind their backs. But all my futile attempts have been leading me to think of the possibility that it is a sham. Perhaps it really is time to grow up…

~ : ~ : ~

I opened my eyes from my sleep. Everything was dark. I scanned the area, and found nothing. Even the floor was just… nothing! And yet somehow I stood. I seriously had a fear of the dark, but something here told me that I shouldn't be.

Why?

Horror movies and suspenseful games always scared the crap out of me, and I hated walking around the house when there's not enough light. So, why was I not feeling any fear now? What made this moment any different? Before I could think about this any longer, something caught my eye up above.

Three lights flew overhead, each owning a different color. One to the left was a clear blue color, while the one to the right was a bright green. And there was one in the center; a fiery red hue.

The red one flew past me first. As it passed, earth seemed to appear out of the void. Soon, I found myself standing on a red, rocky floor. It was like a barren wasteland, and had no plants or form of life whatsoever other than myself.

Next, the blue one came. Almost as though my thoughts were being answered, plants and greenery grew on the earth. So did the sky. Other than that, I was the only human standing here.

Finally, the green light flew above me. Next thing I knew, there was a huge crowd of people around me, and in a town, too! There were plenty of sounds and business going on: kids ran around and played, grown passers-by walked around shopping, and shop owners were busily advertising their goods to anybody who happened to pass their store.

The creation that just happened before me looked so familiar...

Suddenly, all the noise and movement of the newly-made citizens stopped. Everything turned silent as they froze in place. Great, this was getting even more confusing by the second.

The three lights came towards me. I felt the need to move away, but couldn't. It was like I was forced to be frozen in place along with the others, except that I was the only one who saw them. Everybody else either looked away or showed no sign of even seeing them. I tested out my movement; alright, I raised my elbow, so at least I'm able to move certain body parts. I lowered it, and tried to move my legs next. They stayed in their place. So I'm able to control everything else except my legs, and I can't move away. Well, that's just frickin' great!

As the colored lights came closer, I began to recognize their features.

Din, Nayru, and Farore from the Legend of Zelda games?!

Yup, I'm definitely dreaming… I admit it; I'm obsessed with this series of games! So this explains why I'm dreaming about this. What I just saw earlier was the creation of the world and Hyrule!

The three, beautiful goddesses took one look at me and began whispering something to each other. They only stood a few feet away from me, and yet their voices were inaudible. Sheesh, what the heck is going on?!

Well, I do look out of place. Everyone around me was wearing formal, yet strange attire that fit in to the Legend of Zelda timeline. On the other hand, I was wearing a huge short sleeved white shirt that went down past my bottom, and I had light blue pants that had thin red, blue, and white stripes on it. Yeah, I stood out in my pajamas.

After watching them speaking silently, the woman in the center, Din, walked towards me. Her ruby-red eyes watched my own dark brown eyes. All I could do was stare back.

She took my right hand, and traced something on it. Her grip and fingers were delicate, but I found it strange that she would be doing something like this. Soon enough, the top of my right hand glowed brightly. What was that?

Well…

The Triforce.

The triangle above the other two looked more defined as it illuminated my hand. Though most would think that this was an honor to have such a power, I just looked at it in a bored fashion.

Really, this is only a dream, right? So there's no reason to be amazed or anything. I looked up to the goddesses again to ask something, but Din was slowly extending her hand towards me, so I silenced myself. The tips of her fingers briefly touched where my heart is located, and slowly pulled away. As her hand retreated, a glowing stream of light followed immediately, and soon formed a round shape.

It looked like a lavender orb in dark purple flames. Wow, my favorite colors! Coincidence? She looked down at me again with her gentle gaze.

"Child," she said, "Do you know what this is?" Her voice sounded so angelic. I never thought that she would sound anything like this! Stupid game creators made everybody mute…

I shook my head. Din smiled.

"This is your soul." I only stared again, not looking surprised one bit. Her gentle expression wavered for a moment, but continued as she held my "soul" close to her. "This is a very kind soul, indeed. Very pure... You seem to be a good human, but beware of what may lurk inside it."

I looked at her with a puzzled expression. Din only held out the purple sphere towards me to see for myself. In the center of it was a smaller orb, but it glowed a menacing yellow color.

I had no idea what it was, but it sent chills up my spine. She held it out further to me. I took it slowly in my hands as though she commanded me to. As my fingertips touched the orb, I felt something more powerful within it, a type of feeling that I couldn't take and that I thought I would never feel in my life. But then why would it be in my soul? As an unseen power began to run through my veins, the top triangle of the Triforce on my right hand began to shine furiously as a reaction. Fear was taking over me as a different emotion seemed to overcome all others in the yellow ball.

What was this feeling?

Bloodlust…?

~ : ~ : ~

A musical tune rang through a certain room in a large house. A tired groan could be heard from the bottom bunk within the room as the tune was silenced. It awoke me with a start. What a weird dream…

"Theresa…" a voice underneath me called, "Your turn to go first…" I shifted on the bed.

"Miimme fife mimuts…" I replied sleepily.

"What?"

"Miimme…fife…mimuts…"

"What?!"

I flew the covers away from my face.

"Gimme five minutes!" I repeated for the third time, my eyes clenched shut in both anger and exhaustion. I opened my eyes for a moment, and one of them twitched in annoyance. Feeling my fatigue return, I prepared to return to sleep.

"No! C'mon, ya gotta go now!" the voice insisted. Ugh, my brother just never gives up, does he? I groaned in complaint, but he only repeated my name with a stricter tone. I groaned again and stretched, throwing the rest of the blanket off my body. I'm in a cranky, sleepy mood and I don't feel like dealing with an annoying sixteen-year old. Sure, he's the older brother that has authority over me, but sometimes, I just can't stand him!

I lazily complied and went down the small ladder from the top bunk as silently as I could. Translation: I only listened to my brother because I don't want Dad barging in on us, and the small, old ladder creaked under my weight while Brother complained about the noise.

I took my good-for-nothing, cheap cell phone from its charger before leaving, switched on the lights, and exited towards the bathroom, grinning to myself at more of Brother's grumbles.

My siblings and I always have to take a shower before school, according to my parents. So, Brother and I decided that on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I would shower first. Wednesdays and Fridays would be his turn. And as for Mondays, we would rotate every week. It was his way of being "equal."

I put on a disgusted face as I looked over to the door to my younger sister's room. At first, we shared that room together, but since the school that I attend is only a couple miles away from my brother's, we had to sleep in the same room to keep from disturbing Sis. Moreover, the school is a few cities away from our house, so we have to wake up early anyway. What time is it, exactly? 5:00 a.m.! No growing teenager should be put through this!

And Sis attends a school that's only five minutes away, so she's able to sleep longer than me and Brother. Lucky…

I opened the door to find my uniform, shoes, and undergarments lying over the counter already. It's a forced habit that I have to prepare the night before so that I don't wake up Sis this early.

The shower water was nice and warm against my cold skin. It was in the month of November, which is in winter season so of course I'd put it in that temperature. Maybe I'll take all the hot water to get back at my brother... After showering as fast as I could, I put on my clothes and walked over to Brother's room again.

"Oi! Your turn." I said. He grunted in reply and didn't get up. I didn't feel like wasting my time nagging him to get up, so I dragged myself drowsily downstairs to get some cereal. Ugh, this is gonna be another boring day of school. Well, on the bright side, I'll get to hang out with my other videogame/anime-addicted friends!

"Tessa!" a stern, womanly voice called. I looked up from my textbook and homework. Tessa was a nickname used only for my parents that just seems strange when my siblings or friends call me that. So I only allow Mom, Dad, and other older relatives to use this nickname. Besides, it was the only nickname that they could think of from my real name, Theresa.

"Yeah, Mom?"

"Can you please finish clearing the table?" I sighed. Damn, I didn't get out of that one. I tried to avoid chores by using homework as an excuse. What's more, it'll help me get done faster! And the teachers aren't getting any more merciful as the school year progresses. They've pretty much been burying all the students with homework.

"Hang on!" That was always the phrase that my siblings and I use to stall. I smirked at how many times that worked! Looking down at my homework again, I was about to write the date when it slipped my mind.

"Hey, what's the date today?" I asked to no one in particular. Pretty much anyone can answer that for me.

"Tuesday, November 10th!" Sis's voice replied from the kitchen. I raised my eyebrows in a surprised appearance; thankfully, no one was in the living room to see it anyway.

"Tomorrow's the day, huh?" I thought. Being the fairy tale lover that I am, I saw my first shooting star last year. I thought that I would never get to see one until way later on in my life, but it looks like I got lucky.

That night, I stared out a window that had a beautiful view of the sky. It was a calm night, until a thin, light blue line shot quickly through the dark blue heavens! I was amazed, and I quickly made a wish. I was bored, and of course, back then, I was really, really obsessed with Legend of Zelda, especially with one of their newest games, "Twilight Princess."

So, guess what? I wished that on November 11th next year, I will teleport to Hyrule, have an adventure, and meet the love of my life.

"Tessa." Mother called. I ignored her. Of course, thinking about it now made my stomach twist around inside me. All that came into my mind was the flaws and mistakes that could possibly happen.

"Tessa…"

When I said that I would teleport to Hyrule, what if it's not in the same timeline as "Twilight Princess?!" And, what if my adventure kills me? I've seen what monsters are in the game, what if I see them in real life. How would I defend myself then?! I can't die this young!

"Tessa!"

And, and when I said "meet the love of my life," I meant Link. What if it's not him? But he's so cool! Who else would out-cool him anyway?! And I might be rushing my love life; I'm only fifteen, dammit!

"TESSA!"

"AH! Yes, Mom! I'm getting to the table!!" I ran up to the dining table and cleared all the leftover food, condiments, and drinks and stored them in the refrigerator. Mom gets really scary when she gets mad; all the more motivated I am to work faster!

~ : ~ : ~

I finished all my chores the next night sadly. My parents looked concerned for me but I told them that it was nothing.

But that was what was wrong. Nothing happened! Nothing suspicious, nothing dangerous, not even strange dreams came last night! I blankly watched my open textbook, like I was waiting for it to do my homework automatically or something. Will my wish come true? Or is magic really fake?

"Tessa!" Mother chimed. My grip on my pencil tightened. I didn't feel like being bothered now, but she's Mom, so I gotta deal with it. I looked up.

"Yeah?" I asked softly.

"Can you take out the trash tonight? Your brother's washing the dishes." Oh yeah, taking out the trash was one of his "automatic" chores. But tonight was his turn to wash, so he's not able to do it.

A quiet sigh escaped my lips. Why can't he just do it afterwards? Oh well, going outside is a great way to be alone. Yeah, I'm scared of the dark, but right now it didn't seem to matter. I would've been okay with anything as long as I get a moment to be by myself.

I silently tied the trash bag together so that nothing would fall out, and carried it to the front door and stepped out into the night.

I opened a gate on the opposite side of the house, threw the bag into a large black bin, and closed the gate with a loud, echoing clank! I began my walk back towards the house, until I stopped mid-way.

The sky was dark, yet lighted by the multiple stars above. I looked up. There was no moon since it was in its Last Quarter phase; the stars hung alone tonight.

I wanted to cry, yet no tears came out. I wanted to hug someone, but people would think I'm pathetic. They'd probably think, "Who would pout about something as simple as a wish not coming true?"

Well, I'm that girl.

I truly thought that it would happen… All these years of believing, of not giving up, only to be proven false… I looked away from the sky and to the ground. As I thought before: Perhaps it really is time to grow up.

My walk continued. However, as soon as I made two steps, the ground shook softly. It wasn't enough to make me fall, but I lost balance momentarily and caught myself. The tiny earthquake continued for only a couple of seconds, and then ceased.

"Hm…" I said to myself. Strange, and seriously weird. But, I'd better go check on Sis; she's absolutely terrified of earthquakes, no matter how small.

Yet, it began again as soon as I lifted my foot, and this time, it was stronger! Now, I fell on my bottom. I heard screams and objects falling within my house. Damn, I gotta get up there! But a crack that appeared a few feet away from me seemed to protest, like it heard my thoughts.

I tried to stand, but instead, I continued to fall on my butt. More cracks came in random places. How long is this quake?!

Conversely, time didn't seem to be on my side tonight, and didn't allow me a moment longer to think. The next thing I knew, the ground fell beneath me in pieces.

I watched, wide-eyed, as the hole I fell from started to become farther and farther until it was just a tiny speck. I was falling, yet no scream came out.

All I fell through was darkness rather than more earth and dirt. It was just a bottomless void, similar to my dream two nights ago except that nothing held me up. After a few seconds, my eyelids felt heavier, and sleep threatened to come. I succumbed, closing my eyes. The only thing that I felt before that was wind blowing against me during my descent.

Did my wish come true?