The Legend of Zelda: A Clash of Ages
By: Ninmast
Chapter 1: Dreams
It was dark. It was so dark. There was fire. The girl was only barely aware of the heat. It wasn't after her, she knew. It would continue to engulf the wood in its midst, but, as long as she stood in the middle of the stone road, it would be unable to reach her. There were other things that frightened her - the dangers that weren't restricted by what they could eat. She could hear them now - the heavy slap of scaled feet, the shouts of pig - men. They were coming for her. She knew this just as she knew about the flames.
The sounds got louder. She turned away from the sounds and began to run. She ran with all of her strength. But it wasn't enough. She could hear them getting closer. They would be on top of her at any moment. She dashed around the corner, but in her rush to put distance between her and her pursuers, her legs became entangled in her long gown, and she fell to the cold, stone ground, out of breath and exhausted.
As she sat on her knees, panting, her eyes fell on two brown boots. As she lifted her head, her eyes took in the white breeches, the brown belt, the green tunic, and the white shirt. Then her eyes met his. His eyes were a deep, rich blue. They flickered defiantly in the firelight, as if all of the darkness in the world couldn't touch him. His thick, dark blonde hair sprouted freely out from under his green hat. When he looked at her, he smiled a perfect, white smile.
Suddenly, her heart was filled with joy. This boy would protect her. He would make all of the darkness go away, and everything would be okay again. All of a sudden, the boy's eyes went dark. The change was so sudden that it scared her. The boy's mouth moved as he drew a sword from the sheath strapped to his back, but she couldn't hear him. All she could hear was the deafening sound of her pursuers. They were just coming around the corner.
As if in slow motion, she saw him pull back his sword, getting ready to strike. She froze in fear. He was going to stab, and it was going to come right at her head. She felt herself yell at him, asking him what he was doing, begging him to stop. But he couldn't hear her any better than she could hear him, or he didn't care. The sword came slicing through the air skillfully and neatly, the firelight gleaming off of its sides. She shut her eyes, and covered her head, as if the blow was going to come from above, rather than from in front of her. As the final seconds passed, the only thing that could be heard over the fire and the monsters' shouts was a girl's blood - curdling scream.
* * *
Andi jerked up in bed, her strawberry - blonde hair flying up in front of her sweat-streaked face. "It was a dream," she told herself, not very convincingly. The shouts still echoed in her head, she could still feel the heat of the fire, and she could still see that sword coming at her head. Her throat felt raw. She realized that she must have been screaming her head off in her sleep. Something moved at the foot of her bed. The thought suddenly occurred to her that it wasn't a dream. There was a pig- man at the foot of the bed, and soon it was going to pop over the top, jump on top of her, wrap its grimy hands around her neck, and tear her head off, all the while, breathing its nauseating breath in her face. Every muscle in her body tensed, awaiting the certain attack that would end her life. There was the click of a switch as the light came on overhead, and, over by the light switch, stood Paul, her roommate. In a rush, memories came flowing back, reminding her of where she was.
"Are you okay," Paul asked her, his face full of concern.
"Yeah," she sighed as she relaxed. "Yeah, Paul. I'm fine. It was just a nightmare."
"You wanna talk about it," he asked, sitting down on his bed, the one across from her. "It might make you feel better."
Andi considered the suggestion for an instant, then the memory of it all came back to her, and she shuddered. She shook her head. "No, I don't think I want to drag it all up just yet."
"Okay," he shrugged as he stood up, "suit yourself. I'm going to go ahead and get ready for that convention."
"This early," she asked, surprised. "I thought it didn't start until, like, eight, or something."
Paul smiled widely, showing his white teeth as he flicked a lock of brown hair off of his forehead. He walked over to the window and, without a word, pulled the window shade. Sunlight flowed in through the window as the sun rose over the horizon.
"Huh?" Andi sat up straight as a board. Sunlight already? How could that be? It had been so dark.. She pulled her mind away from those thoughts. "What time is it?"
"About six o'clock. I want to leave early, otherwise there will be a line a mile long."
"You're joking, right?"
"Nope," he answered as he picked up a couple of packages off of a chair on his way to the bathroom.
Andi laid back against her headboard and smiled. She couldn't believe that a video game could have that kind of an audience. How could millions of people be so engrossed with a game that they would spend all day listening to people tell all about it? She, herself, couldn't seem to enjoy video games that much. A simple game of Solitaire could pass the time just as easily for her. Then there were people like Paul whose lives revolved around games. "Okay," she told herself, "that's not completely fair. He doesn't drool over every game he sees. Just this one." Although she couldn't decide if that was better, or worse. It wasn't like he was a nerd, or anything. He was very athletic, good looking, and intelligent, if you could overlook his little habit of being tactless.
She was still following this train of thought when someone came out of the bathroom. Her eyes fell on the green outfit as her mouth fell open. At first, nothing came out. Then, suddenly, she screamed. He rushed to her, but she backed away, falling out of her bed. "You!" she screamed. "No, you were just a dream! No, you can't be here!" He grabbed her, trying to keep her from thrashing, but she only struggled harder. "No! Leave me alone!" He shook her hard, and she stopped struggling, stunned. She started to cry. "Please, please, don't kill me."
"Andi," he said. She continued to cry, repeating her plea over and over. "Andi, stop. Andi, stop, it's me! Andi, it's me, Paul!" He ripped the hat off of his head and threw it across the room, showing his brown hair. "Andi, see? It's only me!"
She stopped, then looked at him again. It was him. She found herself staring into his blue eyes, but suddenly they reminded her of that boy in the dream, and she moved her gaze back to his hair. She reached up and ruffled it with a free hand.
"Are you sure you're okay," Paul asked again, getting off of her and helping her up.
"I saw a boy dressed just like that in my dream." She sat down on her bed, hugging herself as she tried to get a grip on herself. "The shirt, the breeches, the boots, the hat, everything. The only difference was that he was blonde." Thinking about it brought back the images from the nightmare, and she looked at Paul to try to draw some reassurance. His face, however, looked just as troubled as she felt.
He went over to his bed and picked up a poster and showed her part of it. "Is this him?"
She looked at the picture he showed her. It showed a teenage boy in green holding a sword and shield, looking as if he was ready to take on the world. From the way he was holding it, she was able to read the title above the boy's head. It read, "The Legend of Zelda." She nodded when she first saw the picture, and had opened her mouth to affirm the gesture, but, when she saw the title, she closed it again. That was the name of the game that Paul was always playing. She never watched him play, but he was always talking about it. Instead of answering him, she said, "This is what you're going to the convention for, isn't it?"
He rolled the poster up and sat down. "Yep. My question is, why are you seeing Link when you've never even seen the game?"
That was what was troubling her, too. "Link, that's the boy on the poster?"
He nodded. "Maybe you should tell me about your dream after all."
She told him all of it. She told him about the darkness, and the fire, and the stone road. She told him about the sound of the pig-men, and her tripping over a long dress, and seeing a boy that she knew could save her. She told him about the relief she felt in seeing him, then the horror she felt when she saw him change. She told him about the glimmer of the sword in the firelight as it cut through the air toward her head. When she was finished, she curled up into a ball and shook.
When she had regained enough control over herself, he said, "You said that he used a sword. Was this it?" He reached back and pulled the one that was in the sheath. Andi had expected to see a plastic one, but the one he pulled out was real, and the light glimmered off of its polished sides in a way that wanted to make her run, to jump out of the window screaming. He saw her jump, and slowly laid the sword down on the table between them. "I'll take that as a, 'yes.' Don't worry, it won't hurt you. You're safe."
Andi closed her eyes and cupped her face in her hands. "I know, Paul. If it had just been a dream, and ended there, I would be over it. But too many things have happened, too many weird coincidences. I don't know what to think anymore. First, seeing you come out dressed up like that boy, then you having that sword. Where did you get that accursed thing, anyway?"
He smiled at her description. "We had a lot of woods behind our house, and when I was little, I used to go exploring in them a lot. Well, one day, I went deeper into the forest than I ever had before, and I found this weird grove of trees. It was like they arced together in a kind of doorway, or something. Or so it seemed to a ten-year-old boy. I went through it, and the tops of the trees came together so tightly that it cut the light out completely. I probably should have turned back, and I was so afraid of the dark that I almost did, but my curiosity got the best of me, and I kept on going. I don't know how long I walked, but when I reached the other end, I saw something that I will never forget. The tunnel opened into a large room. There is really no other way to describe it. The forest had grown together so tightly that it formed a wall as solid as any made of stone. It went up as far as I could see, and at the top, it opened up to let a single beam of sunlight in. That light came down and lit up a single slab of stone, the only one in the entire place. The rest of the area was grass, but it wasn't the stiff, sharp stuff that you see everywhere else. It was soft, like walking on feathers. The stone had something written on it, but it had to be ages old. It should have been worn away. Even then, I realized that it wasn't normal, that the whole place was impossible, but that even made it more enchanting. I tried to read it, but most of it was in a different language, or something. It looked like a bunch of lines to me. There were two words that I could read, though. 'Paul Joseph.' Me. My name was on that stone. Whatever that place was, it was made for me. Then I saw what was at the foot of the stone. A sword laid there, with the purple hilt facing the stone, and the silver blade pointing down. Wrapped around the hilt was a necklace with a red jewel in it. It took all that I had in me to drag that sword back to my house. I hid it under my bed to keep my parents from seeing it, but every chance I got, I pulled it out and stared at it. Eventually, when I got strong enough, I practiced with it, sometimes for hours on end until my arms felt like they would fall off. There were times when I didn't even want to do it. I guess it was just habit by that point, but it just felt like the right thing to do, like it was what I was supposed to do." He pointed to the sword that now laid on the table and finished, "This is that sword."
"Wow," Andi said, awestruck. "What a story! But whatever happened to that necklace?"
"Oh, that," he smiled as he pulled a chain out from under his shirt. "I've kept it with me. I've worn it ever since I found it. I guess it's sort of like my good luck charm." He pulled the chain out the rest of the way to reveal a smooth, round ruby about an inch in diameter.
Andi leaned closer to the jewel, her eyes growing wide. She had never seen a jewel that big. She stared at it, watching how it caught the light and held it within itself, seeming to glow on its own with a red light. "It's beautiful," she sighed. "Is it real?"
She almost cried as he put it back under his shirt. "I don't know," he replied. "I guess I never wanted to find out. I don't even want to think about how I would feel if I found out it was fake. Nothing so beautiful could be made by the clumsy hands of man, anyway, could it?"
Andi sat back and smiled. "No, I guess not." Then, as another thought occurred to her, she said, "Do you still practice with that sword?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "More and more each day. It's gotten to the point where it doesn't feel normal without it in my hand. My arm just feels too light, or something." Then he stood up. "But, hey, no sense in dwelling on these things," he said as he resheathed the sword and turned to go. "The convention awaits!"
"Uh, hey, Paul?"
He turned around to face her. "Yeah?"
She looked down and started fiddling with her nails. "Do you think that I could go with you? I mean, so much weird stuff has been happening this morning, I kinda don't want to be alone. Do you mind, I mean, is it okay, or," she looked up at him beseechingly, "can I stick with you, today?"
He smiled, a big, white, comforting smile. "Sure, no problem." Then an idea struck him. "Hey, it might help you get your mind off of things if you participate, too."
She looked at him questioningly. "How would I do that? I don't even know the first thing about the game."
"Oh, that's okay. I actually had something else in mind. You see, there's this costume contest at three. Whoever has the best costume wins. The only problem is it's for groups. There has to be at least two people."
Andi held up her hand. "Paul, if you're wanting me to wear a costume, why don't you just say so? I don't have a problem with it, as long as I don't have to wear something that makes me look stupid as I'm driving down the street."
Paul smiled again. "Oh, I don't think you'll have to worry about that. In fact, I think you might like it. You wouldn't mind dressing up like a princess, would you?"
By: Ninmast
Chapter 1: Dreams
It was dark. It was so dark. There was fire. The girl was only barely aware of the heat. It wasn't after her, she knew. It would continue to engulf the wood in its midst, but, as long as she stood in the middle of the stone road, it would be unable to reach her. There were other things that frightened her - the dangers that weren't restricted by what they could eat. She could hear them now - the heavy slap of scaled feet, the shouts of pig - men. They were coming for her. She knew this just as she knew about the flames.
The sounds got louder. She turned away from the sounds and began to run. She ran with all of her strength. But it wasn't enough. She could hear them getting closer. They would be on top of her at any moment. She dashed around the corner, but in her rush to put distance between her and her pursuers, her legs became entangled in her long gown, and she fell to the cold, stone ground, out of breath and exhausted.
As she sat on her knees, panting, her eyes fell on two brown boots. As she lifted her head, her eyes took in the white breeches, the brown belt, the green tunic, and the white shirt. Then her eyes met his. His eyes were a deep, rich blue. They flickered defiantly in the firelight, as if all of the darkness in the world couldn't touch him. His thick, dark blonde hair sprouted freely out from under his green hat. When he looked at her, he smiled a perfect, white smile.
Suddenly, her heart was filled with joy. This boy would protect her. He would make all of the darkness go away, and everything would be okay again. All of a sudden, the boy's eyes went dark. The change was so sudden that it scared her. The boy's mouth moved as he drew a sword from the sheath strapped to his back, but she couldn't hear him. All she could hear was the deafening sound of her pursuers. They were just coming around the corner.
As if in slow motion, she saw him pull back his sword, getting ready to strike. She froze in fear. He was going to stab, and it was going to come right at her head. She felt herself yell at him, asking him what he was doing, begging him to stop. But he couldn't hear her any better than she could hear him, or he didn't care. The sword came slicing through the air skillfully and neatly, the firelight gleaming off of its sides. She shut her eyes, and covered her head, as if the blow was going to come from above, rather than from in front of her. As the final seconds passed, the only thing that could be heard over the fire and the monsters' shouts was a girl's blood - curdling scream.
* * *
Andi jerked up in bed, her strawberry - blonde hair flying up in front of her sweat-streaked face. "It was a dream," she told herself, not very convincingly. The shouts still echoed in her head, she could still feel the heat of the fire, and she could still see that sword coming at her head. Her throat felt raw. She realized that she must have been screaming her head off in her sleep. Something moved at the foot of her bed. The thought suddenly occurred to her that it wasn't a dream. There was a pig- man at the foot of the bed, and soon it was going to pop over the top, jump on top of her, wrap its grimy hands around her neck, and tear her head off, all the while, breathing its nauseating breath in her face. Every muscle in her body tensed, awaiting the certain attack that would end her life. There was the click of a switch as the light came on overhead, and, over by the light switch, stood Paul, her roommate. In a rush, memories came flowing back, reminding her of where she was.
"Are you okay," Paul asked her, his face full of concern.
"Yeah," she sighed as she relaxed. "Yeah, Paul. I'm fine. It was just a nightmare."
"You wanna talk about it," he asked, sitting down on his bed, the one across from her. "It might make you feel better."
Andi considered the suggestion for an instant, then the memory of it all came back to her, and she shuddered. She shook her head. "No, I don't think I want to drag it all up just yet."
"Okay," he shrugged as he stood up, "suit yourself. I'm going to go ahead and get ready for that convention."
"This early," she asked, surprised. "I thought it didn't start until, like, eight, or something."
Paul smiled widely, showing his white teeth as he flicked a lock of brown hair off of his forehead. He walked over to the window and, without a word, pulled the window shade. Sunlight flowed in through the window as the sun rose over the horizon.
"Huh?" Andi sat up straight as a board. Sunlight already? How could that be? It had been so dark.. She pulled her mind away from those thoughts. "What time is it?"
"About six o'clock. I want to leave early, otherwise there will be a line a mile long."
"You're joking, right?"
"Nope," he answered as he picked up a couple of packages off of a chair on his way to the bathroom.
Andi laid back against her headboard and smiled. She couldn't believe that a video game could have that kind of an audience. How could millions of people be so engrossed with a game that they would spend all day listening to people tell all about it? She, herself, couldn't seem to enjoy video games that much. A simple game of Solitaire could pass the time just as easily for her. Then there were people like Paul whose lives revolved around games. "Okay," she told herself, "that's not completely fair. He doesn't drool over every game he sees. Just this one." Although she couldn't decide if that was better, or worse. It wasn't like he was a nerd, or anything. He was very athletic, good looking, and intelligent, if you could overlook his little habit of being tactless.
She was still following this train of thought when someone came out of the bathroom. Her eyes fell on the green outfit as her mouth fell open. At first, nothing came out. Then, suddenly, she screamed. He rushed to her, but she backed away, falling out of her bed. "You!" she screamed. "No, you were just a dream! No, you can't be here!" He grabbed her, trying to keep her from thrashing, but she only struggled harder. "No! Leave me alone!" He shook her hard, and she stopped struggling, stunned. She started to cry. "Please, please, don't kill me."
"Andi," he said. She continued to cry, repeating her plea over and over. "Andi, stop. Andi, stop, it's me! Andi, it's me, Paul!" He ripped the hat off of his head and threw it across the room, showing his brown hair. "Andi, see? It's only me!"
She stopped, then looked at him again. It was him. She found herself staring into his blue eyes, but suddenly they reminded her of that boy in the dream, and she moved her gaze back to his hair. She reached up and ruffled it with a free hand.
"Are you sure you're okay," Paul asked again, getting off of her and helping her up.
"I saw a boy dressed just like that in my dream." She sat down on her bed, hugging herself as she tried to get a grip on herself. "The shirt, the breeches, the boots, the hat, everything. The only difference was that he was blonde." Thinking about it brought back the images from the nightmare, and she looked at Paul to try to draw some reassurance. His face, however, looked just as troubled as she felt.
He went over to his bed and picked up a poster and showed her part of it. "Is this him?"
She looked at the picture he showed her. It showed a teenage boy in green holding a sword and shield, looking as if he was ready to take on the world. From the way he was holding it, she was able to read the title above the boy's head. It read, "The Legend of Zelda." She nodded when she first saw the picture, and had opened her mouth to affirm the gesture, but, when she saw the title, she closed it again. That was the name of the game that Paul was always playing. She never watched him play, but he was always talking about it. Instead of answering him, she said, "This is what you're going to the convention for, isn't it?"
He rolled the poster up and sat down. "Yep. My question is, why are you seeing Link when you've never even seen the game?"
That was what was troubling her, too. "Link, that's the boy on the poster?"
He nodded. "Maybe you should tell me about your dream after all."
She told him all of it. She told him about the darkness, and the fire, and the stone road. She told him about the sound of the pig-men, and her tripping over a long dress, and seeing a boy that she knew could save her. She told him about the relief she felt in seeing him, then the horror she felt when she saw him change. She told him about the glimmer of the sword in the firelight as it cut through the air toward her head. When she was finished, she curled up into a ball and shook.
When she had regained enough control over herself, he said, "You said that he used a sword. Was this it?" He reached back and pulled the one that was in the sheath. Andi had expected to see a plastic one, but the one he pulled out was real, and the light glimmered off of its polished sides in a way that wanted to make her run, to jump out of the window screaming. He saw her jump, and slowly laid the sword down on the table between them. "I'll take that as a, 'yes.' Don't worry, it won't hurt you. You're safe."
Andi closed her eyes and cupped her face in her hands. "I know, Paul. If it had just been a dream, and ended there, I would be over it. But too many things have happened, too many weird coincidences. I don't know what to think anymore. First, seeing you come out dressed up like that boy, then you having that sword. Where did you get that accursed thing, anyway?"
He smiled at her description. "We had a lot of woods behind our house, and when I was little, I used to go exploring in them a lot. Well, one day, I went deeper into the forest than I ever had before, and I found this weird grove of trees. It was like they arced together in a kind of doorway, or something. Or so it seemed to a ten-year-old boy. I went through it, and the tops of the trees came together so tightly that it cut the light out completely. I probably should have turned back, and I was so afraid of the dark that I almost did, but my curiosity got the best of me, and I kept on going. I don't know how long I walked, but when I reached the other end, I saw something that I will never forget. The tunnel opened into a large room. There is really no other way to describe it. The forest had grown together so tightly that it formed a wall as solid as any made of stone. It went up as far as I could see, and at the top, it opened up to let a single beam of sunlight in. That light came down and lit up a single slab of stone, the only one in the entire place. The rest of the area was grass, but it wasn't the stiff, sharp stuff that you see everywhere else. It was soft, like walking on feathers. The stone had something written on it, but it had to be ages old. It should have been worn away. Even then, I realized that it wasn't normal, that the whole place was impossible, but that even made it more enchanting. I tried to read it, but most of it was in a different language, or something. It looked like a bunch of lines to me. There were two words that I could read, though. 'Paul Joseph.' Me. My name was on that stone. Whatever that place was, it was made for me. Then I saw what was at the foot of the stone. A sword laid there, with the purple hilt facing the stone, and the silver blade pointing down. Wrapped around the hilt was a necklace with a red jewel in it. It took all that I had in me to drag that sword back to my house. I hid it under my bed to keep my parents from seeing it, but every chance I got, I pulled it out and stared at it. Eventually, when I got strong enough, I practiced with it, sometimes for hours on end until my arms felt like they would fall off. There were times when I didn't even want to do it. I guess it was just habit by that point, but it just felt like the right thing to do, like it was what I was supposed to do." He pointed to the sword that now laid on the table and finished, "This is that sword."
"Wow," Andi said, awestruck. "What a story! But whatever happened to that necklace?"
"Oh, that," he smiled as he pulled a chain out from under his shirt. "I've kept it with me. I've worn it ever since I found it. I guess it's sort of like my good luck charm." He pulled the chain out the rest of the way to reveal a smooth, round ruby about an inch in diameter.
Andi leaned closer to the jewel, her eyes growing wide. She had never seen a jewel that big. She stared at it, watching how it caught the light and held it within itself, seeming to glow on its own with a red light. "It's beautiful," she sighed. "Is it real?"
She almost cried as he put it back under his shirt. "I don't know," he replied. "I guess I never wanted to find out. I don't even want to think about how I would feel if I found out it was fake. Nothing so beautiful could be made by the clumsy hands of man, anyway, could it?"
Andi sat back and smiled. "No, I guess not." Then, as another thought occurred to her, she said, "Do you still practice with that sword?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "More and more each day. It's gotten to the point where it doesn't feel normal without it in my hand. My arm just feels too light, or something." Then he stood up. "But, hey, no sense in dwelling on these things," he said as he resheathed the sword and turned to go. "The convention awaits!"
"Uh, hey, Paul?"
He turned around to face her. "Yeah?"
She looked down and started fiddling with her nails. "Do you think that I could go with you? I mean, so much weird stuff has been happening this morning, I kinda don't want to be alone. Do you mind, I mean, is it okay, or," she looked up at him beseechingly, "can I stick with you, today?"
He smiled, a big, white, comforting smile. "Sure, no problem." Then an idea struck him. "Hey, it might help you get your mind off of things if you participate, too."
She looked at him questioningly. "How would I do that? I don't even know the first thing about the game."
"Oh, that's okay. I actually had something else in mind. You see, there's this costume contest at three. Whoever has the best costume wins. The only problem is it's for groups. There has to be at least two people."
Andi held up her hand. "Paul, if you're wanting me to wear a costume, why don't you just say so? I don't have a problem with it, as long as I don't have to wear something that makes me look stupid as I'm driving down the street."
Paul smiled again. "Oh, I don't think you'll have to worry about that. In fact, I think you might like it. You wouldn't mind dressing up like a princess, would you?"
