The years had been many, each one longer than the last. It was difficult to grasp a concept of time while trapped among the monsters of the affectionately named Dark World. This world that Ganon became imprisoned to was not without its benefits, but the goddesses had tricked him. Instead of ruling the world, he ruled an abomination created by his evil heart. This Dark World was not enough, but how could it be? When Ganondorf wished to rule the world, he had meant all of it. While he was trapped within the Sacred Realm, the rest of Hyrule lie just beyond his reach, still thriving and prospering, but haunted by his evil. His power was increasing, the greedy men who sought the golden power bent their knee to him, and soon he would have a proper army with which to retaliate.
After months of swooning the King of Hyrule, the day of reckoning was upon them. The Gerudo had their specific orders. Dora had created their designated routes during her frequent trips to visit the king and the princess of Hyrule with Ganondorf. She envisioned her Gerudo thieves and warriors breaching the castle as a completely unified and invisible force. While the Gerudo king casually walked to greet the King of Hyrule as any other day, Dora was tasked with securing the Ocarina of Time, Princess Zelda, and her attendant, Impa, without alerting the guards.
Every minute detail ran smoothly, except Impa was a highly skilled Sheikah warrior, and she detected the Gerudo in Zelda's chambers just as they charged to take their victim. Instead of sticking around to fight fifty Gerudo warriors, Impa used her shadow tribe skills to rescue Princess Zelda, and narrowly escaped Dora's thirsty blade. Impa's state of alarm caused her stealth to falter, and Dora heard Impa's feet scamper across the roof outside the balcony. The Gerudo general barked orders to her units to remain in the castle and finish annihilating the Hylian knights, while she pursued the princess.
Dora could see the path Impa traveled, and determined her destination, so she used a more direct route. She leapt from the balcony railing, and darted along the spine of the roof top. Her swift speed and agility made dodging arrows the guards shot at her a simple task. At the edge of the roof, three stories high, she leapt into the air like a graceful bird ready to take flight. With one gentle spin to slow her descent, she landed on the ground, and bounded back into a sprint. As she closed the distance on Impa and the princess, they leapt into the saddle of a trimmed, white palace horse, and galloped away at full speed.
Dora relentlessly chased the horse as fast as she could manage. They raced toward Hyrule Village, but it was impossible to catch up without another horse. There were none in sight to commandeer, and by the time she located one, the princess would have escaped. She slowed to a stop and kicked the dirt in frustration.
"Dora!"
She spun wildly at hearing Ganondorf angrily shout her name. He charged toward her, on horseback, with his arm outstretched. She reached just in time to snatch his arm as he galloped by. He gripped her arm as she lifted from the ground, and with his guidance, she swung and landed behind Ganondorf in the saddle of his black stallion.
"How did she escape?" he growled, displeased. "How could you allow that to happen?"
Dora sneered. "Trust me, it won't happen again."
"If there is one thing I trust about you, it's your ruthlessness."
She struggled to fight a blush at his compliment, but there was a more dire matter on their hands. "Are these people suicidal?" she shouted. After speeding through the market square where most Hylians had screamed and lunged to avoid being trampled, they quickly approached a line of brave villagers. They locked their arms to create a blockade across the road that led to the fields, and gave their princess more time to flee.
Dora peered around Ganondorf at the human wall. She smirked when he kicked his horse to gallop faster. She was only left wandering for a moment if he would flatten them all, before they leapt over the Hylians standing stubbornly in their way. The stallion landed with a heavy thud and they bounded over the drawbridge. As they passed into the green, rich fields of rolling grass, Ganondorf yanked the reins and the horse came to an abrupt stop. Dora held on tight to his waist when the horse reared back in frustration. She looked around the King of Gerudo to see what made him stop, and realized the field was already empty. "I'll assemble a team and locate her immediately," Dora promised, angry at herself. "I will correct this failure, my lord."
Their gazes fell upon an adolescent donned in a green tunic, who stared fearfully at the pair on the giant black horse with a fiery red mane.
"Is that the kid from the courtyard?" she whispered. The boy unsheathed his sword and shield. "Isn't that cute? He thinks he can fight you," Dora teased.
" You have courage, boy," the Gerudo king mocked. "Do you know who I am?" He laughed and arrogantly added, "I am the great Ganondorf, and soon I will rule this world!" Dark energy gathered into an orb against the palm of his hand, which he aimed directly at the boy.
"Kill him," Dora whispered, thriving on the evil magic that exuded from her king. "He and that princess were obviously conspiring against you. If you don't kill him now, he might become a threat."
Ganondorf glared at the boy's blue eyes and found a familiar righteous gleam. The reverberation of the ever sounding call for Hylia's hero ached in his mind. Images of the hero of the past, a man he had never met, flashed before his eyes. The fire of rage and vengeance boiled through his veins. Was this the will of Demise?
The boy rushed forward to attack, his sword held high and ready to strike.
"Die, hero of Hyrule," Ganondorf yelled. The orb of powerful dark magic exploded from the Gerudo king's hand and impacted with the boy in mid-air.
The boy screamed and was thrown back to the ground, where he collided and his limp body rolled across the dirt.
Dora borrowed the stirrup from Ganondorf's foot to dismount the stallion. She approached the boy's body quickly to confirm he was not breathing, and had no pulse. "How unfortunate," she said sympathetically, and swept his blonde bangs away from his eyes. "He was pretty cute." Like any basic thief, she removed his bag of belongings from around his body and searched for anything valuable. Her breath caught in her lungs.
"What is it?" Ganondorf asked impatiently when she gasped.
From the bag she produced an emerald, a ruby, and a sapphire stone. Dora was so thrilled she grinned. "He had the Spiritual Stones. Ganondorf, this boy was going to open the Sacred Realm! But, what about the Ocarina?"
"That stupid girl," he exclaimed with wicked laughter. "She entrusted this weak kid with an important task and practically handed victory to me! We will return to the castle and force any remaining survivors to tell us where the Ocarina of Time is hidden," he ordered, and turned his horse to Hyrule Castle.
Dora closed the bag and hung it over her shoulder. She rushed to catch up to Ganondorf, but was distracted by an unusual, shiny object floating on top of the moat. She slowed upon reaching the drawbridge, and stood at the edge to investigate. The gentle waves guided the blue item toward her, and in a panic she dropped the bag on the bridge and laid on her stomach. The smell of the moat was nauseating. She choked and gagged, but slid herself as far off the edge as she could without falling. The ocarina was still out of reach.
Ganondorf's boots beat against the drawbridge and stopped beside her. "Have you gone mad?" he asked, worried for the sanity of his best warrior. He followed her arm to the object that lie beyond her fingertips, and scowled. "The Ocarina of Time. Zelda must have tried to throw it for her hero and missed. How unfortunate it landed in this filthy water."
"Help me," Dora growled.
"Why not take a swim?" he remarked arrogantly, and shoved her into the moat with his boot.
She closed her eyes and mouth, even pushed air out her nose, until her head came above the water. Ganondorf laughed cruelly all the while she screamed obscenities from the bottom of her lungs. "How could you do that to me? I will never forgive you for this!"
With the ocarina secured, he reached down and easily lifted her from the water. She fell on her hands and knees, gasping for fresh air. The stench stuck to her skin made her stomach lurch violently, and she vomited over the side of the drawbridge.
Ganondorf chuckled until she was able to contain her stomach, and he mounted the stallion. "Now, we are equipped to access the Sacred Realm. Meet me at the Temple of Time," he ordered, and galloped away.