The beginning
I appeared in front of a forest and stood on nothing but black air. The great sky was gone. I kept my eyes on the forest for there was nothing else to look at, and for one other reason. In the middle of the forest towered a great big monster.
Covered in black scales, the monster roared. I was terrified, but surprised that the monster didn't move anywhere. The monster roared again. I decided it was time to leave this big mass of black horror. I turned to face a giant, purple bird. I screamed, and fell out of my bed.
I fell on the hard wooden floor with a thump, one foot and one hand still in my bed, and sleepily looked around my room. My eyes settled on the purple bird from my room in my nightmare. It was Zelda's loftwing. The bird's head was sticking through the window into my room. She cocked her head, and spat a letter from her mouth straight onto my face. Then she left.
I got up, still half asleep, and rubbed the back of my neck. I picked up the letter and read
Hello sleepyhead! I knew that you were going to sleep in today, so this letter will probably be your alarm clock this morning. Did I guess right?
Rise and shine! Today's the big wing ceremony! You promised to meet me before the ceremony at the statue of the goddess. Don't disappoint me!
Zelda
I smiled. Yep, today's the wing ceremony and (unfortunately) I did promise Zelda I'd meet her before it. (why the heck did I do that? Oh, I forgot. I love Zelda and would do anything for her.)
I ran outside of the academy, and into the light.
"Hey Link!" Someone called from above. It was instructor Horwell.
"Yea?" I called back
"Nice to see you up early today!"
"Ah, I was going to sleep in, until Zelda's loftwing had to bust in and wake me!"
"Ha ha. Think you could help me up here? I need your climbing skills!"
"Sure!"
I climbed to the top of some little ledge, and took a big leap from the ledge to the raised area where instructor Horwell stood.
"Thank you" he said "I'm taking care of the headmaster's remlit, Mia, but she seems to have run off in that direction." He said, pointing. "Think you could..."
"Of course instructor Horwell" I said, taking off in that direction, jumping and climbing when necessary. I came back holding the little creature in my arms. Then I ran off to the statue of the goddess.
Oh youth,
Guided by the servant of the goddess,
Unite earth and sky,
Bring light to the land
Zelda's beautiful voice sang along with the harp she played. when she finished, she looked up at me. Her big blue eyes glinted in the sunlight. She wore a pink dress, with some sort of a cloth draped around her shoulders.
"Hello Link." She said. "Was I right about the letter?" I made a little pouting face in response, and she laughed. "I thought so." I smiled. I love her laugh. I love everything about her. And all of Skyloft knows it.
"I was picked to play the role of the goddess for this year's ceremony." "Really? That's wonderful!" I told her. "Mm hm." She said. "And look at these clothes! I picked the colors myself. So how do I look?" "Great!" I answered. Zelda giggled. "I always liked them too, but it's good to know that someone agrees. How about this harp?" She said, holding out the harp that she was playing when I got here. "It's called the goddess harp." I smiled. "I wanted you to be the first to see me like this, that's why I made you promise you'd come this morning." I laughed "That seems very reasonable."
I told her
Zelda looked out into the distance, off the edge of Skyloft. "Is something wrong?" I asked
"It's just that... This voice keeps on..." She sighed and looked at me, smiling. "There's something I read in some of father's old texts. Something called 'the surface'. It lays beneath the cloud barrier. Do you think that there is such thing?" "Uh..." I said. There is a possibility of "the surface," but none of us would know about it. We live on a floating island. Several yards above the clouds, in fact. No one has gone below the cloud barrier because our loftwings would not go below it. But maybe...
Zelda sighed. Then she looked behind her to find headmaster Gaepora walking up to her.
"Oh" said Zelda "Hello father."
"Hello Zelda." Said Gaepora. "Hello Link. Nice to see you up and early this morning. You ready for the big race today?" He said to me.
"Yes, about that," said Zelda. I looked at her, and took a step back.
"I don't know if he can do it father!" Zelda blurted out. I stepped back again, and closed my eyes. She must have noticed that I haven't been doing much with my loftwing lately.
"Link hasn't been flying his loftwing very much!" Zelda continued
Bingo I thought
"And when he does, he just seems to be lazily gliding, probably even daydreaming!
You got that right I thought
"I don't know what that boy is thinking, but it surely isn't going to get him any victory at the race." Said Zelda
"Nonsense!" Said Gaepora. I opened my eyes. "He will do just fine! You see, him and his bird are connected. They were meant for each other. When you two were kids, it was time to pick out your loftwing. The bird that came to Link was a crimson loftwing, one so rare that we were sure it has vanished from the line. Link got on it, and flew off without any further instruction." I looked up to the sky. I could feel the wind in my face from that first flight. Then I frowned. Where was my loftwing?
"And to describe your jealousy that day," Gaepora continued. He laughed. "This is no matter to laugh about father! This race only happens once a year!" said Zelda. "Calm down child. He'll do fine!"
Zelda stood there for a second, thinking. Then she faced me, and bounded over. "Hey Link! You better fly your heart out today, so get in a little practice for me, okay? Come on!" She said gripping my hand and dragging me to the edge of Skyloft. "You'll thank me later!"
Now on the edge of Skyloft, I stood there trying to look Zelda in the eye, but she kept on switching between my left and my right. Finally she stopped.
"Zelda, what are you doing! I can't sense my bird out there!" "Oh yea, you can't "sense" your bird out there? We'll see about that!" She said. With that, she pushed me directly off of the island. I screamed as I fell, which I didn't do often. I flipped onto my back.
"Okay Link!" said Zelda. "See if you can call your loftwing!"
I whistled and looked around. My loftwing did not come.
I could see Gaepora and Zelda looking after me. Zelda suddenly got a look of fear upon her face. "Hold on Link! I'm coming!" She screamed, jumping off of Skyloft. She whistled for her bird, and suddenly the loftwing that woke me this morning flew under her. Zelda grabbed on top her bird, and dove after me. I found myself in the talons of the bird, then back on Skyloft. I sat there, panting.
Zelda was petting her bird, which was laying on the ground. "I'm sorry friend." Said Zelda. "I didn't mean to push you too hard. You didn't sprain your wing, did you?"
"This is very unusual, Link." Said Gaepora. "I have never seen this before. A loftwing not answering a master's call? Something must have happened to your bird."
"Link, I'm sorry for pushing you." Zelda turned to face me. "I should have listened to you." "Don't worry about it." I replied.
"You should probably go talk to instructor Horwell, see if he'll be willing to cancel the race for a while while you try to find your bird." Gaepora told me. "But father," said Zelda, "If he goes and asks him, he'll just come to you to talk about it." Gaepora laughed. "As usual, you make a very fine point. Very well, tell instructor Horwell that I have summoned him about the race." "Okay." I said, sprinting off.