Hero of Our Time

by The Empty Lord

In the modern world, the heroes of Hyrule fight to prevent monsters from hurting modern society. In the process, they struggle to adapt to the new technology and lifestyle of the new millenium. Though they have succeeded in protecting us for many years, things take a turn for the worse when an evil shadow returns to the world... ON HOLD UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

1. Ancient Hyrule

A/N: This story is AU. It doesn't follow the Zelda timeline closely, and it is not based off of any particular game. However, all of the characters appear in either Ocarina of Time or Skyward Sword. There may be spoilers, but probably not anything major or too specific. Updates will come… whenever I can make them come. I have more than this typed up already and the entire story already in my head, so I'm aiming for weekly updates, but that might not happen. The story won't be terribly long, but it certainly isn't short. A slightly educated guess says 50k words, finished in late August. We will see.

When people start a story with the words 'once upon a time', it suggests a tale of heroes, princesses, fairies, and evil warlocks. It brings to mind a time where knights did battle with vile monsters to save their medieval kingdoms and distressed princesses. Most of all, it suggests a time full of magic and wizardry. This is why 'once upon a time' is perfectly applicable to the tale of Ancient Hyrule.

Once upon a time, Ancient Hyrule was the largest kingdom upon the face of the earth. Founded and governed by the ageless and wise Princess Zelda, Hyrule stood proud as the kingdom chosen by the goddesses. Containing forests, seas, desert, mountains, and great, grassy plains, it was much vaster than any other domain of the time period. It included a diverse range of species not limited to humans; Hyrule was governed by the elf-like Hylian and housed creatures as diverse as the rock eating Gorons, the fish-like Zoras, the seductive desert Gerudos, and the childish Kokiri, spirits of the forest. Hyrule grew and grew until it was the envy of its neighbors. One of these jealous neighbors, the evil sorcerer Ganondorf, led an attack on Hyrule. In the confusion of battle, the Evil King seized an artifact of the gods for himself. With this artifact, the Triforce of Power, Ganondorf besieged Hyrule with his army of monsters for decades. Not even the powerful sages or the Princess herself could defeat the Evil King.

In the many instances that it seemed Hyrule was destined to fall, a young man would come forth seemingly from thin air. This Hero ofTime, Link, stood against insurmountable odds and took possession of the Sword of Evil's Bane. The hero would plunge through enemy armies and strongholds time and time again to do battle with the Evil King. Each time, the Evil King ended up retreating, but with each battle, Link weakened him more and more. During one of their most spectacular fights, Link stabbed Ganondorf directly between the eyes and drove him to his knees. Despite this tremendous blow, Ganon was nowhere close to dead and attempted to rise once more. It was then that the six sages of Hyrule and Princess Zelda banished Ganondorf into the rift between dimensions and locked the gate with a spell that was designed to last forever.

Free of the madness of the Evil King, Hyrule once more began to grow rapidly. It consumed the neighboring kingdoms of Termina and Gerudon and started to conquer islands in the nearby Great Sea. The demon army, now led by the demon Ghirahim, lacked the strength, numbers, and powerful leadership that it had during Ganon's reign and was easily kept away by the hero Link and his sidekick Groose. With expansion and peace front and center, Hyrule began to enter another golden age.

However, Hyrule was no longer the kingdom chosen by the goddesses. Magic started dying out at an expedited rate and all species save for humans began to go extinct. The humans realized that they were now the vast majority and staged a rebellion to create an all human government. As the army prepared to fight the rebellion, the Princess received words from the goddesses and abdicated the throne. In return, the Princess and what remained of the old government would work with the new human government to prevent the rise of the monster army for as long as it threatened the new country.

Thousands of years passed from the fall of Ancient Hyrule, and the government in charge of what was once the kingdom changed multiple times. In the time of our story, it is now the government of the United States of America that presides over what was once the kingdom chosen by the gods. Most of the people living in it believed that the stories of the ancient kingdom were exaggerated and that magic and monsters never really existed. However, a secret department of the government still exists; known to high level government agents as the Department of Monster Defense, it is run by Princess Zelda and the six sages. Along with the assistance of on call members Link and Groose, the department works to prevent monsters and magical artifacts from being discovered and magically alter the memories of any who have witnessed more than the should have. Since the beginning, Zelda and her allies have succeeded in this task, but this time things begin to unravel. The deterioration of the relationship of Link and Zelda, along with the diminishing numbers of workers in the department has begun to make things uncomfortable at best. This is a story of the return of a dark shadow and perhaps the fall of the world… this is story of the Hero of Our Time.

A/N: Reviews make the author happy! Flame if you want, though I do prefer constructive criticism; it allows me know this has been read!