Lightning flashed, illuminating the sky. Thunder soon followed, rolling across the clouds; strong enough for vibrations to be felt on the ground. A window pane rattelled, causing Cora's eyes to flip open. Cora was asleep in her bed; she wished she could say 'soundly'. It was another sleepless night of tossing and turning, frequently waking up, and being plagued with dozens of dreams. She sighed; she loved the sound of rain pelting her window. The hum it created was soothing and usually lulled her to sleep. She wished she could enjoy it tonight. She flipped over, her eyes caught a glimpse of red numbers: 1:15. Swell.. She closed her eyes, willing herself to sleep.
It didn't take long for her to dream. She was a vivid dreamer, often feeling what happened in her dreams.
She was wandering in a forest. She was calm and at peace, leisurely picking her way along a soft grassy path. At that thought, she looked down. She was barefoot; the grass felt cool on her feet. Her eyes searched for the clouds but to no avail. The trees were tall and dense. As she walked, she stepped on several twigs and pine needles, but she didn't worry. She felt no desire to be careful. Some branches blocked her path ahead. She pushed them out of her way and wedged her way between them, entering a clearing. She was no longer alone.
A beautiful lady stood on the other side. She had on beautiful red garments; the word 'robes' came into mind. They reminded her of roman togas with a mix of modern day elegance. The lady had flaming red hair and her whole body possessed a golden glow. Cora was in awe. The women was beautiful and she felt the urge to sit before her and stare. The women appeared to be looking for something. She craned her neck to see through the trees, walking the edge of the clearing. Suddenly, her head snapped to Cora. With inhuman speeds, she was quickly within inches of Cora's face. Cora gasped and took a step back, startled. Her eyes were a deep golden color, with flecs of the rainbow.
"I've found you," she spoke. Her voice resonated. It was strong, powerful, commanding her attention. It reminded Cora of an announcer over an intercom system. The women's hand extended towards her, intending to touch her cheek, but before it could Cora's eyes snapped open once again, at the sound of the radio.
She looked over; 7:00. She couldn't believe she had actually stayed asleep for more than a few minutes. She slapped her hand on top of her alarm clock, searching for the button. After fumbling for a few moments, she successfully turned off the radio. She sat up in bed and stretched. She ran her hand through her short tousled hair; what a strange dream. She didn't think too much of it, though. She hopped out of bed and started getting ready for the day.
A few hours later, she was walking down the street with her best friend, Whitney. Cora always had a good time when she was with Whitney; they had been friends since they were kids.
As they passed by a lady on the street, Whitney turned to her and said, "Can you believe she's wearing white pants and a black thong? Like, seriously. How can they not know that you can see it?"
Cora laughed. "I think that's the plan; they want you to see it."
Whitney grimaced and shook her head. Cora looked up at the building they were passing; the color of the bricks had caught her eye. They were mostly gray with a few white ones scattered through out. The sign read "The Hidden Din; Antiques and Collectibles". Cora and Whitney loved to look at antiques. They often found some awesome jewlelry.
Cora nudged Whitney. "Hey, lets check this place out."
Whitney looked at the building and smiled. "Awesome eye."
The entered the building; they were immediatly met with the smell that often comes with old books and dusty drapes. Whitney looked to Cora, wrinkling her nose. They split up and began to pick through the items. The place had the usual stuff; old chairs, paintings, mason jars, that sort of thing. As Cora shifted some items on a table, she saw a glint of gold. "Hey, Whitney, I think I found something." Cora assumed it was a gold piece to a necklace, perhaps even a pocket watch. Whitney came up to Cora, and immediatly saw what had caught Cora's eye. Whitney reached out to grab it, and at the same time, Cora reached out to remove the cloth that was covering part of it. Their fingers brushed the piece at the same time.
There was a blinding flash of gold causing Cora to immediatly close her eyes and try to shield them from the light. She felt a strong gust of wind and the sensation that she was falling; she screamed. Her first thought was that the floor had given out or something, but she never felt the ground beneath her. She still couldn't open her eyes because it was so bright. What had happened to Whitney? Was she falling too? Before Cora could call out to her she felt her body crashing through water. Her momentum slowed as she sank into the water, she opened her eyes and began to kick towards the surface. As she broke the water, she immediatly looked about for Whitney. Seconds later, Whitney's head broke the surface, her dark hair plasterd to her head. Her and Cora shared a look of confusion and terror. What had just happened?
"Come on, lets get to shore," Cora stated as she began to swim past Whitney. As they neared the beach, Cora's toes were met with soft sand. That was odd, Cora thought. What had happened to her shoes? They walked onto the beach and looked around.
"Are you ok?" Whitney looked over Cora.
Cora nodded. "Just a little shaken. You?"
"Yeah, I guess so. Where are we?" Whitney questioned. She did a quick 180.
Cora stared. To her left she could see what looked like the giant opening to a cave, she thought she could maybe see light shining through the other end. To her right was a rocky cliff. The stone was dark black and looked wet, several areas covered with moss. A dirt path jutted out of it, suggesting another side to the cliffs . She looked back to the water. It was a deep blue with small waves continuously rising and crashing into the shore. Not too far in the distance was a giant metal ship. It looked to be rusty, or perhaps made of copper. Cora couldn't tell. Something about the place felt very familiar to Cora, but she didn't know why. She shifted her eyes to the sky. How had they gotten here? The sound of voices brought her gaze back down. There was a small boat heading for them. Cora looked to Whitney.
"I have no idea where we are. How did we even get here? This... is crazy," she stated.
Whitney eyed the boat coming towards shore. "Who do you think they are? Are... are we in danger?"
Cora shrugged. "I don't know... maybe they can help us? They've already seen us, and if we ran, where would we run to?" At that thought, Cora took another look around the beach. She didn't see an answer.
Whitney nodded. Cora examined Whitney; she was scared. Her shoulder length dark brown hair hung about her in wet strands. Her pale skin was covered in goose bumps from the water; Cora couldn't tell if thats why she trembled or if it was fear. Whitney's brown eyes met Cora's gaze, they searched for answers. Cora gave her a reassuring smile and stepped closer to Whitney. What was going on? Thoughts of magic and time travel entered Cora's mind. Hadn't they always discussed how awesome it would be to have magical powers or live in different world? Briefly, Cora's mind flickered to God and the strange idea of a granted wish. She shook her head, clearing the nonsense from her mind.
The shouting was suddenly very loud. Cora furrowed her brow; they were speaking a different language. She examined the people in the boat; they were all men and they were wearing mideval-looking armor. It was a bright silver metal that gleamed in the sunlight. Between the plates of armor she could see dark grey chain meal. She was suprised the boat could stay afloat from all the weight of the armor they were wearing. Cora thought she saw a red emblem on the chest plate but the sun was reflecting off of it so bad, she couldn't tell. The men pushed the boat up onto the sand and jumped out. They all had spears in their hands, and they swiftly pointed them at Cora and Whitney. They exchanged terrified looks.
"Wait! We don't mean any harm!" Cora cried out.
This only fueled the men to shout more aggresively. They circled around Cora and Whitney. Whitney grabbed for Cora's hand, gripping it in her own, their bodies side by side. Two of the men came up behind them, rope in hands.
"Wait a minute, we come in peace!" Cora shouted. Mentally she scoffed at herself. 'We come in peace'? Come on Cora, its not like were aliens. Or, are we? The two men forced Cora and Whitney to their knees, prying them apart, and tying their hands behind their back.
"Cora, what's going on? What are we going to do?" Whitney nervously looked to the men surrounding them.
Cora shook her head. "I don't know." She wish she did.
One of them shoved Cora roughly in the back, and she assumed that meant no more talking. One of the men, who seemed to be the one in charge, gave the others orders. They formed two lines of men on either side of Cora and Whitney, and pulled them to their feet. They began escorting them towards the path that cut through the rocky bluff. Cora heard one of the men speak two words she understood; Guerdo spies. Cora furrowed her brow. Spies? Guerdo? Where were they? And why could she understand those words? Cora's mind began to spin as she looked around her surroundings once more. Guerdo. .. the only refrence she had to that word was a video game series she loved. She looked to one of the guards and strained to see what was on his breast place. She gasped. It was a crest she was too familiar with. It was a bird; two large wings opened up, encircling a triforce. Cora's mind raced. Was she really seeing this? Her mind couldn't believe it.
"Whitney... I think we're in... Hyrule."
Whitney gave her a strange look. "What?"
A guard shoved Cora and said something. Cora looked at Whitney, and then looked to one of the guards breast plates. Whitney followed her gaze. After a few moments she looked back to Cora, her eyes widened and her mouthed dropped open. Cora simply gave her a nod.
They followed the path through the rocky bluff. The guards would occassionally shove Cora and Whitney for no reason. One of the times, this caused Cora to fall and hit her knee on the edge of a rock. She yelled out in pain. Whitney instinctively lunged for her, resulting in a guard catching her by her hair and holding her back; Whitney let out an agonised yell. The guy who seemed to be in charge turned to Cora and let out a boisterous laugh. It was an awful feeling, almost like when you hit your elbow. She squeezed her eyes shut and lightly rubbed her knee. She looked to Whitney and tried to give a reassuring smile. A guard roughly pulled her up and pushed her forward. She limped slightly because the pain hadn't completely gone away. She gave the guards a dirty look.
At the end of the path was a crude wooden carriage surrounded by several horses. Instead of a cloth top it had a flat wooden one, and the back of the wagon had a wooden door, with iron bars running vertically through it. Cora stared. They were prisoners. Though, she should of assumed that after their hands had been tied behind their backs. Cora glanced to Whitney. A guard opened the door allowing the two girls to step into the wagon. There was a wooden bench that ran along either side of the wagon. Cora and Whitney sat across from each other. The guards mounted horses and the wagon moved with a sudden lurch forward.