Author's Note: Greetings and welcome to my second story: The Legend of Zelda: Birth of Evil's Bane. The inspiration for this story came from the concept art that was released for the new Zelda Wii game that I'm sure all of you have heard. Anyway allow me to give some background for this story. It takes place in the same Hyrule as Ocarina of Time, however it is not a prequel, it's its own seperate story. It takes place about 100 years before Ocarina of Time. For anyone wondering when War of Realms will be updated, don't worry it will be updated within the week.

The Legend of Zelda: Birth of Evil's Bane

Chapter 1: A Day of Surprises

The sun rose over Hyrule bringing with it the dawn of a new day. Its rays slowly crept through the windows of the room of a boy and ran across his face, awakening him. The boy opened his eyes and let out a sigh, it was time to get up and start the day. He took his time getting out of bed as he still wanted to sleep. The boy stretched his arms above his head and walked over to his open window. Looking out into the depths of the town the boy could not help but notice what a beautiful day it was today. There was not a cloud in the bright blue sky to be seen so there was no reason to believe that rain would be any problem today. The sun had risen up directly behind the castle to the west of the boy's house creating a dazzling effect of bright light mixed with shadows that made the castle and all its grounds look almost dream-like.

"It's days like this where I wish I didn't have to work," Link sighed as he felt a breath of wind blow against his face that felt cool and refreshing, only strengthening Link's desire not go to work.

However there was no choice in the matter, Link had to go to work. At 18 years of age, Link needed money to make a living. After all, food, drink and supplies don't pay for themselves. This was the harsh truth that Link had faced when he purchased his own place; he was all alone and had to live on his own. He had been living in this house for a couple of months now and was still getting used to being on his own. His mother had died shortly after giving birth to him so he was brought up mostly by his father. Shortly after he bought this house his father died as well, leaving him with no family in this world. Sometimes Link stayed up at night thinking about the man who single-handedly raised him as a child and taught him everything he knew about everything. The funeral was a few weeks ago and Link could still picture every detail about it in his head. From looking at his father's body in the coffin to listening to people he knew talk about him to staying behind after everybody had left and crying at his grave, it was a very sad day indeed.

Link didn't have time to keep up his reflecting as he still had to get to his job. Shortly after Link had moved into this house along the streets of Castle Town, he had gotten a job at the Happy Mask Shop. The job paid pretty well and there was not a lot of work to be done. Most of the time, Link was just asked to deliver masks for people or pick up shipments of masks that came in. Inbetween these tasks, he was free to roam around the town, as long as he came back when his boss needed him. Also the Happy Mask Salesman was a pretty entertaining guy to be around so Link enjoyed being in his company.

Link moved away from the window and walked over to his closet to pull out his clothes. The clothes he normally wore consisted of a green tunic and cap, a white long sleeve undershirt, a chainmail to go over the undershirt, brown gloves that extended down across his forearm that had holes for his fingers to slip through, pale-whitish pants and brown boots. Once Link was fully clothed, he walked across his mostly stone room to the other side where there were steps leading down to the first floor of the house. This part of the house consisted of a couch, a table and the kitchen. Link bypassed these objects and headed for the door.

When Link arrived outside, he was met with a gentle breeze, bright sunlight and a very reasonable temperature. Link groaned inside and started the trek to the Happy Mask Shop. The house Link lived in was on the very edge of the town in back of everything. It was along a road that extended for about two blocks. There were paths to the town square on the left and right side. With Link's house being closer to the right side path, Link started walking in that direction. No sooner had he began walking when he was stopped by a familiar voice.

"Hey Link, wait up!" called the voice. Turning around Link saw that it was his friend Recht. Link had met Recht when the two of them were still in school. He was also saving up money for his own place but for now, he lived with his parents. Recht was about the same height as Link with short brown hair in contrast with Link's long blond hair that went down past his ears. In stark contrast with Link's bright blue eyes, Recht's eyes were a dark chocolate brown color. He was much tanner than Link however did not have the muscle that Link did. The two of them together were about as different as two people could be.

"Off to work in the morning buddy? Why don't you let me tag along with you as I'm going the same way?" asked Recht. Recht had a job helping to run the town shooting gallery. Now that the both of them had jobs, they didn't see each other as much as they would have liked but they still saw each other almost everyday, if only for a few minutes before the two of them went to their respective jobs.

"Sure. Being with a friend always makes the walk more enjoyable. I normally just look at the scenery," answered Link. The two of them started walking at a leisurely pace, neither one of them in a big hurry to work just yet.

"So Link did you submit your name for Knight training yet?" asked Recht.

"Are you kidding? That was the first thing I did yesterday," answered Link enthusiastically. Yesterday had been the first day that townsfolk had been allowed to sign up for Knight training. Every year, the Hyrulean Army had knight training. The people of Castle Town are allowed to enroll into a three month camp to see who among them were cut out to be a knight. The army only took about five or six people a year so it was very competitive. Although Link was content with his job at the Happy Mask Shop, it was his dream to become a knight. He had held this dream ever since he was a kid. The thought of adventure had always excited him and he couldn't wait to put his skills to the test. The only catch was that you had to be 18 to join. Link had missed the cutoff by about three weeks so he wasn't allowed to join. However now that he was 18, he was finally eligible. Link had wanted to practice training with a sword and shield however it turns out that only knights are allowed to purchase swords and shields from the shop. This made Link want to become a knight even more.

"Well good luck, I'll be pulling for you," said Recht as the two of them rounded the corner and headed into Castle Town Square. The square consisted of buildings on either side of a fountain that was in the very middle of the stone road. There were people walking around going about their business as always as well as people with outdoor shops hoping to make a sale.

"Well this is where we part I guess. The shooting gallery is straight ahead and I know that the Happy Mask Shop is towards the path that leads to Hyrule Castle," said Recht. Link said his good-bye to Recht and continued walking towards the Happy Mask Shop. After a short walk across the middle of the square, Link was in front of the shop. The Happy Mask Shop was a one story building with no windows that was painted yellow with a picture of a happy person face with the message "Happy Mask Shop: Spreading Joy Through Masks". Link walked to the door and opened it.

He was greeted with the familiar setting of the Happy Mask Shop. The walls were a wooden brown color and they were lined with shelves upon shelves of masks. Each mask was different, there was the Keaton Mask which looked like a yellow mouse, there was the Skull Mask which looked like a black skull with red eyes and there was the Stone Mask which looked like a badly carven rock face and these were only three examples of the variety of masks that could be found in the shop. These masks all had special abilities which attracted many people to purchase them. For example the Stone Mask made the user invisible to all. The Bremen Mask allowed the user to have animals follow them as if in a parade.

At the far end of the room was the counter where everyone paid for the masks. Behind it stood the Happy Mask Salesman. He was a short old man with thick glasses that he wore along his nose. He had gray hair and was bald at the top of his head. He was rather hard of hearing sometimes which forced Link to yell at him for him to be heard from time to time. Strangely, he had never found out the man's name and he had been working for him for about two months. The man had a strange obsession for masks which had caused him to open up the shop. He seemed to think that everyone shared his love of masks. As it turns out, there is a reasonable market for masks in the town so the shop never was slow on business. When Link opened the door, the man looked up and smiled.

"Ah, Link. Come in, I have a delivery for you," greeted the man. Link closed the door behind him and walked towards the desk.

"These masks just came in to be delivered. Take these to the shooting gallery and deliver them to a Mr. Kasaki," ordered the man. Link nodded and took the masks and examined which ones they were. They were the Bomb Mask, Bunny Hood and All Night Mask. Link kept them in his right hand and exited the shop. When he was back in Castle Town Square, Link took a left and walked past the two shops to where the shooting gallery was. Link was happy that he was heading there as he could talk to Recht. When he reached the shooting gallery he stopped to look at the shop. The shop was about the same size as the Happy Mask Shop. It was made of stone that was painted purple and had a sign that said "Shooting Gallery; Try Your Luck with Arrows!" Link opened the door and saw that Recht was talking to a man that he assumed was Mr. Kasaki. He was a tall, thin man that had a goatee and his long black hair was tied back into a ponytail. They were standing in front of the shooting gallery which consisted of wooden cuccos which moved across a conveyor belt. A bow and arrows lay next to the conveyor belt being held up by the wall. Recht and Mr. Kasaki halted their conversation and looked over towards Link as he walked in carrying the masks. Link smiled at Recht as he walked over to Mr. Kasaki and Recht smiled back.

"Are you Mr. Kasaki?" asked Link.

"Yes I am. What can I do for you today?" answered Mr. Kasaki.

"I work at the Happy Mask Shop. I have your ordered Bomb Mask, All Night Mask and Bunny Hood," said Link holding out the masks. Mr. Kasaki looked at Link with more focus and smiled.

"Ah so you do. Could you place them on the desk next to the conveyor belt?" asked Mr. Kasaki.

"Certainly," answered Link and he carried the masks all over to the desk. He put them on the desk as he was told and turned to leave. He made it to the door when Mr. Kasaki called him back.

"Hold on a minute. Let me give you a tip," said Mr. Kasaki. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver rupee. He then placed it in Link's hands. Link looked wide-eyed at the treasure, almost shaking his head in disbelief.

"Th-Thank you sir!" mumbled a very grateful Link.

"Don't mention it. Recht here has mentioned how hard you work at that Happy Mask Shop and I thought that you could use a reward. I bet that old coot that owns the place barely pays you enough anyway. Now let me put these in the other room," said Mr. Kasaki. He walked away from Recht and Link to put the masks away in his back room. Link, still in awe at the rupee, quickly stashed it in his pocket as if afraid it would vanish if he held onto it for too long. He then looked at Recht. He was in just as much shock as Link was.

"Did he really just give you a silver rupee as a tip?" asked Recht incredulously. Link nodded his head. "Wow, I wish he'd give me a silver rupee."

"Well, I have to go. Otherwise my boss will wonder where I've been," said Link trying to recover from the shock. Recht said good-bye and Link left the shooting gallery. He then headed back to the Happy Mask Shop. He still needed his pay from his boss. Maybe he'd get lucky and his boss would give him a raise too? No, he mustn't get greedy. He opened up the door to the shop and went towards the counter. His boss looked to be deep in thought so Link had to get his attention.

"Um, boss? I delivered the masks that you made me deliver," said Link trying to get his attention. His boss came out of his reverie and looked at Link.

"Oh it's you Link. You say you delivered my masks? Good job. Here's your pay," said Link's boss as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out three purple rupees and gave them to Link. Link who had just gotten over the shock of being given a silver rupee went back into shock at the sight of those purple rupees. Normally his pay was twenty rupees for every mask that he sold. This was a pleasant surprise.

"B-Boss? You've given me three purple rupees. I normally only get red rupees," said Link. He didn't want to do it but he felt he must.

"It appears I did. Keep them anyway, you could use them," said Link's boss with a neutral expression.

"Thank you sir," said Link as he bowed.

"Don't mention it. You know Link, you've done a great job around here. So I think it's time I let you look at my most precious possession. It's a mask that's one of a kind," said Link's boss. He then hid behind the counter and emerged from it holding a black box. He then walked out from behind the counter right in front of Link. When he got to Link, he opened the box. What Link saw was the weirdest mask he had ever seen. It was in the shape of a heart with two yellow spikes on its top and eight spikes on its bottom. There were two bright red and yellow eyes with green pupils. It had lots of strange purple and red markings all over it the most notable being triangle-like shapes that were above the eyes. It made Link uncomfortable just from looking at it.

"It's called Majora's Mask. It's a mask that was worshiped by an ancient tribe. I don't know anything about the tribe but they're long gone now. Supposedly it is the remains of a deity named Majora. I found this mask dug in the ground while exploring the desert to the east. I wanted to see if the rumors were true," explained Link's boss.

"What rumors?" asked an interested Link.

"The rumors about what happens to people who wander into the desert unarmed. People say that they never come back. It's spooky so I decided to check it out. Nothing happened to me; however that might be because I didn't go in that far. Also this mask took my attention away. I learned about it by asking traveling merchants about it and they told me what they knew."

"It sure is an interesting mask," commented Link.

"Why don't you try it on?" asked Link's boss. Link wasn't sure but he figured that he should do what his boss says. He took the mask out of the box and put it on.

Instantaneously, the Mask stuck to Link's face. Almost at once he heard a voice that sounded like a rattle-snake say "You're now my slave. Kill the man. Kill the man. KILL THE MAN!" The voice that said this was the most evil voice that Link had ever heard. In tune with the mask's wishes, Link all of a sudden had an intense desire to kill the man standing in front of him. He started walking towards the man when he fell to his knees. He had to fight this mask. The mask made a wailing sound that Link couldn't bear. It was trying to gain control over Link and it was draining all of his energy from his body. He tried to tug the mask off of his face but it wouldn't budge. Link could tell that if he didn't get the mask off soon, he never would. Using every ounce of strength he had left, he gave one last mighty tug and the mask came off. In the instant before he got the mask off he heard the voice laughing the most evil laugh he could imagine. Link dropped the mask to the ground and backed away from it, still on his knees.

"What happened?" asked Link's boss, his face full of concern. Link apparently was the only one who heard the voice. His boss was looking at the mask which was now motionless as if nothing had ever happened.

"You have to get rid of that mask. It's evil. Please promise me you'll get rid of that mask. If you don't, I quit," said Link who was panting, gasping for breath.

"Ok, ok. You have my word," answered a clearly shell-shocked Link's boss. He scooped the mask off the floor and put it back in the box. "I'll get rid of it tonight. You look shaken. Why don't you take the rest of the day off?"

"Thank you sir," said Link, trying to regain his composure. He rose to his feet. After a couple of minutes standing in the same spot and breathing heavily with his eyes closed, Link felt calm and walked out the door after saying good-bye to his boss.

Link had exited the store when he laid eyes on a girl that was sitting by the fountain in the middle of the town square. She had brown hair and shining blue eyes. She wore a golden diadem atop her head complete with a sapphire in the middle. Her dress was white with a purple bodice at the top. On her dress was the Royal Family symbol with a golden scale of sorts above it. She wore golden shoulder plates and white gloves that extended all the way past her elbows to where the shoulder plates were, leaving no skin to be observed. It was Princess Zelda, the King of Hyrule's daughter.

Suddenly Link didn't feel tired anymore but he started to get a little nervous. He'd had a crush on Princess Zelda for a while and he got always got a little nervous when he was around her. He thought that she was the most beautiful girl that he'd ever seen. However Link knew that he had no chance with her. She was royalty and he was a simple boy with a simple salesman job. The two of them didn't really know each other that well either. Zelda knew who Link was and she said hi whenever she saw him but he really wouldn't consider them friends. They were more like acquaintances.

Link held in his breath and walked over to where Zelda was sitting. She looked so peaceful that he thought it would be a crime to disturb her but he didn't mind being a criminal right now. Once he was next to her he took a deep but inaudible breath and with his heart beating a mile a minute, made the first move.

"Hello Princess Zelda. What brings you here to castle town square?" asked Link. Zelda turned around and looked at him. She then smiled a smile that almost made Link's knees give way.

"Link, how many times do I have to tell you? You don't have to call me Princess Zelda. Just Zelda is fine," said Zelda gently.

"Sorry," Link muttered blushing.

"It's ok. Don't feel upset, everybody calls me Princess Zelda. Anyway I thought that I'd come here to relax by the fountain because the water makes me feel calm," answered Zelda.

"Oh. I'm sorry I disturbed your peace," said Link, hanging his head a little bit. He was doing a lot more apologizing than he had planned.

"Don't be. It's always nice to talk to a familiar face. Anyway, I have to get going. Father's arranged a royal lunch and he'll be upset if I'm late. Bye Link," said Zelda. She got up and walked a few steps then stopped and turned around.

"Link, you know that tomorrow is the annual knighting of the knights? It's when the knights who survived Knight Camp officially become knights. You should come and watch," suggested Zelda.

"I'll be there," Link answered quickly. He didn't mention that he had been to every single knighting ceremony since he was twelve. Zelda smiled and then turned around and began her walk back to Hyrule Castle.

As Link started walking back to his house, he reflected on his feelings for Princess Zelda. He supposed that it started ever since he started watching the knighting ceremonies. The ceremonies took place on the lawn in front of the castle. The king would stand before the knights and with his sword would tap them on the head, thus making them official Hyrulean knights. Standing next to the king was his daughter, Zelda. She was the same age as Link and he had always thought that she was cute but it really wasn't until he was about fifteen where he really started liking her.

Link suddenly realized that he had a problem. He has to work tomorrow. He had never encountered this problem before as he never had a job during the knighting ceremonies.

"Oh well. Missing a day of work is worth it for getting another chance to see Zelda."