Welcome to Messenger of Light and Shadow - My Zelda fanfic.

A few very important notes to start.

- This is a complete original fanfic (kinda contradictory?). It's like a new Zelda installment. Except not nearly as good. And in story form. It focuses more on the story aspects, than the gamey, second person things. Although I do love the occasional? dungeons.

- Everyone except for Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, and the Smash Bros. Characters (the second major part is a Smash Bros. crossover. Sort of.) are OCs.

-I have a bad tendancy to write long chapters. All the original chapters have been chopped up to 3000 - 5000 words apiece for appeal. That's why there are so many chapters.

-I killed the non- OCs personalities, and I know it. But it's a fanfic, so what the heck.

-Not much in the way of pairings here, save a few OCxOC couples. At least not in the beginning. It focuses more on advanture than relationships (because I'm a complete nerd.)

-Stupid Notepad killed a lot of my editing. There may be quotation marks missing in places, or paragraphs cut off in the wrong place... I'm not using a .txt file again.

It's probably not what you're looking for when you think of fanfiction, but I hope you'll give my work a try.

~Chapter 1~

Part 1

Length: ~7000 words

Setting:
ATUREA VILLAGE
TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 253 TWILIGHT ERA
4:23 AM

To the far northeast of Hyrule Castle, near the barren hills surrounding Death Mountain lay a small village by the name of Aturea. Aturea was a village of warriors, well hidden by a circle of high and steep cliffs. The way to to get into the village was a small tunnel through the wall of cliffs. The entrance to the tunnel lay on the Bridge Path.

The land was altogether not very fertile, and the ground was covered in a short, light green grass, the streets marked by by stripes of dirt. Occasional trees grew near the houses of some of the residents, but these trees were mostly from other parts of the kingdom. They never grew to great heights, but were nontheless healthy. Some crops could be grown in Aturea, but the villagers usually went out to Castle Town to trade for other food from Ordon, the forest, and Demirsi.

Today was a very important day for the residents of Aturea Village. Especially for one of the village boys, Link, who was about to turn sixteen that day. Sixteen was the age that the villagers considered one to be an adult, and true warrior. And Link was the most promising of them all.

On this day, Link was awoken by the two younger village boys, Mike and Maurene, who had been anticipating this day all week.

"Hey Link, wake up!" Maurene shouted to him standing at his bedside.

As a reply, Link picked up a nearby pillow, and swung it, attempting to hit Maurene. Instead, since the boy was too short, he ended up smacking Mike instead.

"Go away, it's not even dawn."

"But come on! Now that we've woken you, you can at least get ready for today. It's not like you're going back to sleep," Mike pointed out.

A good point, which wasn't so good. Link hardly ever got any sleep; he could stay awake for days on end. As a result, he valued whatever sleep he got. So, the one day of the year that master Lumuro ever let him go to bed early and sleep in late, had to be the day the two overeager village boys got him up before the sun. Oh well, such was life.

He opened his eyes and sat up. Mike and Maurene had moved over to the foot of his bed in the event that they were threatened by the pillow again. They were grinning, and when they noticed that Link was up, they gave excited yells and high fived each other. They had likely been plotting this for quite some time, but Link was much too nice to say anything about it.

"Come, we already made you breakfast. Hurry up and eat," Mike said. 'Then afterwards, we can spar!"

So that was their real goal. Mike and Maurene totally idolized Link, and Mike was constantly pestering him to spar with him. However, because of the four-year age difference, and Link's natural talent, Link always won these, which usually made Mike even more enthusiastic. After each loss, not only did Mike think that Link was cooler, but is hardened his resolve to train hard and someday beat him. Maurene thought that Link was awesome, but he also looked up to his own master, Jaryd, Link's older brother by adoption.

"What's all this racket?" demanded Jaryd, walking sleepily into Link's room. He was a slightly irritable person, who, Link felt, liked everyone in the village except him. Jaryd didn't like to show it, and tried his best to treat his brother well ,but there always seemed to be an underlying resentment in the way Jaryd talked to and looked at him.

"We got him up!" chanted Maurene happily, running over and poking his master. Seeing Maurene, Jaryd instantly cheered up.

"Good job, Maurene!" he encouraged, and the boy grinned and ran out of the room. Jaryd followed.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Mike urged. "We got Cecyllia up too. She's waiting in the kitchen now, so hurry up!"

Cecyllia was Jaryd's mother, and who had originally adopted Link when his parents died in the epidemic fifteen years before. Link was only one at the time.

The village of Aturea was founded over a hundred years ago when there was a controversy in Castle Town. A group of people began to train their children in the ways of combat, so that they could protect Hyrule from the forces of evil like the heroes of legend. (As the soldiers of Hyrule were well known for cowardice.)

Another group rose that decided, for unknown reasons, that they didn't like this. The began to persecute thsoe who were training their youth. The justification was that magic, evil, and heroes, did not, do not, and will never exist, and that they were wasting their time when they should be contributing to the town. However, the population of warriors was so small, that it would hardly make an impact on the life of the town, so there were obviously other motives.

Eventually, the warrior group grew tired of how they were being treated, and so they left Castle Town. They travelled to the north, and intending to go to Kakariko Village (the East Gate was being heavily guarded), they began to head east across the plain of Lanayru and through the Bridge Path.

About halfway to Kakariko, not long after they crossed the border into Eldin province, they found a small opening in the cliff wall. Curious, they entered it, followed a short tunnel, and discovered and ancient abandoned village.

They decided to settle there, and they renamed the village "Aturea." They rebuilt the abandoned houses, started crops, planted grass, and continued on with what they 'd been doing.

Only about fifteen years ago, an illness had swept through Aturea, killing much of the people. Among the dead were Link's parents. Now, the once prosperous village was reduced to five children and nine adults; fourteenpeople.

It was a tradition that all boys (and girls, but they had a choice. Most didn't care to) get an adult (sixteen years or older) to have them be his or her master and train him or her. Usually, boys started no younger than four, and no older than six.

Another important rule was that every boy had to have a master, but no man could have more than one apprentice.

Of the adults in the village, four were men.

First was Mikoto, Maurene's grandfather, and the previous chief. He was old, btu still looked strong and healthy. He was wise, and very well respected. He had been the current chief's, Lumuro's, master.

Lumuro was Link's master. Lumuro was the strongest warrior in the village, making him the chief. He lived with his wife, Tammera, often known as Tamm, and his eight year old daughter, Laura.

Then there was Shinrin, Mike's master. Shinrin was the second best in the village, only to Lumuro, but it was widely believed that Link had passed him up. Only today would they find out. Shinirin was married to a woman named Yuka, but had no children.

The last man was Jaryd. He was two years Link's elder, and neither had a girlfriend nor was worried about it. He was fourth in strength, a fact that greatly bugged him, competitive as he was. He insisted that it came as a result of being the youngest and most inexperienced. Jaryd had especially looked forward to this day, as he belived that Link would end up below him. After all, the times that Link beat him, he was going easy.

The other three adults were Maurene's mother, Takita, Cecyllia, and Martica, Mike and his twin sister, Iyumi's mother.

Link rolled out of bed, and followed Mike down the staris and to the table where his and Cecyllia's prepared breakfast lay. Jaryd and Maurene were nowhere in sight. Maybe they had gone to practice.

"Morning, Link," greeting Cecyllia, slowly eating her breakfast. "Big day, huh?"

"Yeah," was all Link replied, then he sat down and quickly ate. After he finished, he went outside, and Mike followed him.

"Can we spar now?" asked Mike.

"Wait a bit. I want to ask Shinrin a few questions first," Link replied.

Mike groaned impatiently.

It was very cool outside. There was a slight breeze. The sky was a navy blue, and the stars could still be seen, but there was a slight glow to the east.

Link, followed by Mike, walked out into the main street. There were only three streets in main Aturea; the main street, the silver side street which separated Link's house from Maurene's, and the gold side street which separated the Dojo house property from the chief's. There was a watch tower slightly south of Lumuro's house, on the far west side, opposite the village entrance. This was were Shinrin was.

Link's house was the closest to the gate. It was the furthest southeast. The property boundaries were the main road to the north and the silver road to the west. Across the main road lived Shinrin and Yuka. Across the Silver Road was a group of three houses. Martica, Mike, and Iyumi's house was the closest to the main road. In back of them, connected by a narrow second floor pathway lived Takita and Maurene, and one the other side of them was Mikoto's house where he lived alone.

The two boys walked along the street lined with the two story wooden houses and arrived at the watchtower.

Link climbed the tower, leaving behind Mike and Maurene on the ground below. He took Shinrin completely by surprise upon reaching the top.

"Link!" he exclaimed, turning around. "What are you doing up so early?"

"He," Link said, pointing down to Mike, "woke me up. Mike wanted to spar with me before the celebrations began. Maurene assisted him."

Shinrin chuckled slightly. "Ah well. You know Mike. You have no idea how much Mike wants to beat you if only once."

"Actually, if this incident counts for anything, I probably do," Link said. "Anyway, I wanted to ask you about that cloud that's been hovering over the castle for the past few weeks. Anything new?"

Shinrin became more serious. "Come see for yourself," he sighed.

Link walked over to the side of the platform, and looked west. It was a bit difficult to see the contrast between the dark ominous cloud and the early morning sky, especially facing west, but it was definately there. And darker.

"Though from our angle I can't tell for sure, I think that the cloud has been spreading southwest over the past few days. It certainly isn't going away. I'm seriously beginning to wonder whether this is the doing of evil," Shinrin explained.

Link and Mike sparred several times between then and dawn, the results being the usual; Link totally whipping Mike.

It was about this time that the rest of the village began to wake up. Everybody was very excited as an event like this hadn't occured for two years. The last was Jaryd's coming of age. It had indeed been exciting, but for some reason, everybody expected Link's to be better.

Link had gone over the general schedule with Lumuro. At dawn, he would have his final lesson which would last a couple of hours. The village would prepare a party during that time. Then, Link wouold have to fight each of the men in the village, beginning with the lowest ranking, and then going until he lost or could go no longer. If he beat the strongest, the chief, then he would become chief.

There would be feasting and presents, and when all of this was finished, he'd depart on a week-long journey to Kakariko Village. It was just a simple trip to travel and meet outside people, for the residents of Aturea traditionally never left the village except on missions, and the children didn't leave at all. Link was looking forward to the adventure, even if it be a short one.

In Hyrule, dawn usually came around six o' clock AM, and dusk around six PM, no matter the season. It was now about eleven in the morning; five hours after dawn. In that time, the remainder of the village had eaten breakfast. Lumuro's last lesson lasted from seven to nine. Link had been given some time to cool down, and then started the battles.

It was now time for the highly anticipated showdown between him and Lumuro.

First was Jaryd. Jaryd was somewhat easy, but had more strength than speed. Dodging his attacks where relatively easy, but when Jaryd hit, it was painful. When Link won, Jaryd tried and failed to smile, saying that he must have gone easy, for after all, there was no way his younger brother could have beaten him.

Link had almost effortlessly beaten Mikoto. It was probably only because his skills had faded with his age. Mikoto had certainly put up much more of a challenge than Mike ever had. However, Mike still had very much to learn.

Shinrin was far more challenging than Mikoto. It took a very long time, but eventually, Link emerged victorious.
Now, it was time to fight the top man of the village and his master, amd they were going all out, as had never happened before. Only once, in the entire history of the village, had a sixteen year old ever beat the chief.

However, most of the village believed that Link had a lot of natural talent in combat, unlike many of the past residents. Almost everybody thought that Link would be the next chief, and soon.

The two drew their swords. When Martica gave the command, Link ran up to Lumuro. He did a vertical swing, but Lumuro blocked it, and threw him back.

And so the battle went on. Swinging, blocking, dodging, missing etc. It continued somewhat repetitively for over an hour, but the villagers couldn't miss a second of it. Especially Mike.

At last, the wining strike was delivered when Lumuro swung at an opening in Link's defenses. As an act of desperation, Link unleashed a a spin attack at the last second, parrying Lumuro's sword, and as a stroke of luck, Link's blade ended up against Lumuro's neck. All in one swing. There was a short silence, where everybody stood frozen.

Then, Lumuro said, surprised, but pleased, "Well done, Link, it seems you have bested me at last."
The entire village cheered. Link and Lumuro sheathed their swords, and joined in on the happiness. It was a little after midday, so the village would be having a feast before Link left for Kakariko.

The feast didn't take long to set up, as Martica, Yuka, Tammera, Takita, and Iyumi had been preparing it while Link was having his last lesson with Lumuro. They dragged a giant table into the dojo, which was already decorated, and Martica and Iyumi set out all of the food.

Link sat on the end nearest the door. Normally, his master would sit on his right, but as his master was also the chief (or the previous one) he instead sat on the opposite end. Mike sat on Link's left, and Maurene on his right. On Mike's left sat his sister, Iyumi. On Iyumi's left was their mother, Martica, Jaryd, then Takita, and finally Mikoto. On Maurene's right sat Laura, followed by Tamm, Cecyllia, Yuka, and then Shinrin.

"Whoa, Link, that ending move was so cool!" declared Mike, attempting to begin a conversation. He grabbed his bowl and began dumping ramen into it.**

"I agree," stated Lumuro, much to everyone's surprise. "Where ever did you learn a move like that? I sure didn't teach you."

"It was from one of your old books," explained Link. "When you aren't looking, I often look through the books in your library on old battle tactics and sword moves. I had originally decided to master this particular one, as I found that it's very useful for cutting grass."

Everybody stared at him.

"Why would you care about cutting grass?" Laura asked.

Martica was the one to answer. "You never know what you might find in tall grass. Many people drop loose change. I told Link that long ago, and I'm pleased that he remembered."

When Martica was a child, she enjoyed spending her free time searching for things many other people couldn't find. She knew many hiding places in the village as well as secret rupee staches, and she was most likely crawling through the grass for whatever reason when she found some money on the ground. She often shared her knowledge with the village children, especially with Mike and Iyumi.

"Ah, I had always wondered where you had gotten all that money from. Now I know," Shinrin said.

"Not that it matters much around here anymore. We don't have much in the way of stores, and we rarely leave town," old man Mikoto pointed out.

"But hey! They're pretty looking!" Iyumi said. Everybody laughed.