Writing As: Ramses

Dark Link: Prologue

"I'll walk where I please, thank you very much. "Alissen tossed her head back, her matted hair flipping like a whip. Dolen stood plenty of feet back, his hands over his nose, and shot her an angry glare.

"Ugh. How can you just walk through that stuff, girl? It's... it's disgusting!" He stamped his foot--on the grass, where the filth wouldn't touch his new boots.

"Oh! It is, is it?" She said, a sly grin crossing her face. "Well, I think," she said, and began to roll around in the sticky mess, twigs and mud and dead bugs getting caught in the fibers of her dress, clinging to her skin, entering her mouth, "it's fun."

"Oh my god! Alissen! Stop that!"

"Go back to mommie's cottage!"

The two children shot back and forth, one angry and disgusted, the other delighting in the damage she was causing. The polluted remains of Lake hylia were just below, and allisen was actually rolling around in the waste from the butcher house that stood atop the rim, next to the flow of water from gerudo valley. She found the stench intoxicating, and breathed it in, only getting slightly high. Meanwhile, Dolen stomped off, muttering under his breath about sick habits and such.

A little while later, Dolen found himself far along the edge of lake hylia. His sister far away, in place and in mind, and instead his immediate surroundings were the weedy sludge of the lake, of which he kept his distance, of course. Dolen sat along a small peak, overlooking the lake. Over there, the bank to the far left and across the lake, that was where he and his father would fish. They would sit patiently along the edges of the lake, Dolen would listen to the stories of the desert from his father--his father was a trader--and of the three goddesses that created the earth and all the creatures in it.

Dolen picked up a rock, flung it into the lake. "Hmph. Liar." he said, before looking down to see a scuff of mud on his new boots. "Oh no!" He hopped around on the grass, scraping the junk off on the grass, and then realizing there was mud on his pants and shirt as well. He lost his balance and rolled down the hill, falling into the toxic waste dump that was known as lake hylia. "Ugh... I hate this place." He muttered, wiping the sting from his eyes, but as he did, he noticed something.

From where he was in the lake, he was right under the bridge that led to the center island, but not quite under it, and he could see the third island off to the left. But the water looked different somehow in the center. Darker. And redder, it seemed. Dolen walked along the bottom, coming up sometimes for air, until his hair was sticky and matted, and his eyes did sting. And then it hit him.

Feathers. grime-covered feathers littered the center of the lake. There was something there. Dolen shook. He extended his hand into the water. A gaint bird-like creature lay, it's pink swollen flesh molting into the water, as blood and puss oozed out of its skin. Dolen was walking on it, it was the island, it was... it was dead. And imprinted onto it's forehead was the mark, the mark that made it a guardian of hyrule.

The people called him Link, and Link he was. He walked through the twisting maze of Hyrule castle town, his head slumped forward and his hands buried underneath a long green cloak. He possessed a steady gate, walked as one who knew where he was going, and it was to the heart of power.

The city streets were littered with the common filth this time of day, shameless orphans that were unsuitable for work, due to their limbs being ripped off in one of the mills. The older urchins watched from the alleyways, just watching, thinking they should maybe let this one go after a glimpse of the hilt of his sword. A couple of prostitutes rounded the corner. Their nipples perked up just at the sight of someone of status, and the young man wasn't too bad, either.

"Evening, traveler. Want to have some fun?" They said, almost in unison and in the perky, lovely voices that only the best of prostitutes have. Link kept silent, watching them from beneath his hood. He turned slightly as he passed them by. Then, in an instant, flicked a red rupee in their direction. It landed in the muddy gutter.

"Buy yourself a face." Was all he said. It was enough--he was already at the inner castle wall.

Two guards, resplendent in their armor, stood side by side at the inner city gate. They had thick, coarse beards, and equally thick and coarse voices, and as link approched they did not speak, but only watched him with world-weary eyes.

"Hold." The guard on the right. He held out the palm of his hand, well gloved and leathered, in a quick, curt motion. Link did as he was told, and reached his hands up to pull down the hood on his cloak, revealing a pale face and dirty blonde hair, as well as sea blue eyes. "Papers?" The left guard held out his hand, and spoke in a gruff voice.

"Sorry. I do not have papers." was all that link said as he shuffled his arms under the cloth of his cloak. "Don't worry. I have this." he said, and reached into a large pouch that hung by his side. He pulled out a severed head.

"Holy--!" The two guards jumped back, their hands on the hilts of their swords, but link held up his hands, motioning them to peace. The two of them looked at each other, sizing up at a moments glance whether they should listen or kill. The answer was kill.

The first guard slid his sword out of it's scabbard and swung down. Link stepped aside, stabbed the man under his armpit. The second came in from the side, swinging his sword lengthwise. Link stepped close and, pulling his sword out, cracked the man's head with the hilt of his sword.

Things were not going well, though, as the altercation atracted the attention of some guards going down a patrol route. Soon the street turned into a brawl, with shouts of "kill you!" and "get off!" filling the air. The urchins looked on in awe, as the young blonde one slashed and jabbed his way through the mass of guards, until he killed six men and stood hunched over, his hands dangling from his sides, his tattered cloak splattered with blood.

Three men were left, the cowards, no doubt. Link seethed for air, his body heaving up and down as he breathed, and the three guards glanced for one to the other, each hoping the other would go first.

"Damn you." Link winced; he had suffered a flesh wound on his right leg. Worse, it was in a pointless fight that could have been avoided. He slid his glance over to the severed head; why hadn't it worked? The old hermit up on death mountain, he had given link the necessary powders and magics. But either way, this was not good. Then Link felt a crack on the back of his skull, and everything went dark.

The hylian warrior, Link, awoke to the sound of a man's voice:

"You should have just sent for me, you know. Getting into a fight with those idiots, reckless." Still groggy, link moved his head. He was laying in a bed, but the matress was not made of straw, as it would have been in an inn. It was quite comfortable, actually. He was in a small bedroom, lit from the outside by a stone window; a bitter cold wind blew in from the window. He must be up high. Then he saw the desk, and the man seated upon it; he was right where he needed to be.

"You'll find the new captain of the guards to be well trained, Link. He spent some time with warriors in the east. Honestly, boy, why did you do it?" The king's cousin spoke. Jacobin was one of the most powerful men in the hyrulean states, he had connections, which was why Link was waking up in a bed instead of a dank dungeon cellar.

"..." Link picked himself up and placed his legs firmly on the stone floor. Then, getting up, walked up to the window and felt the cold air sting his eyes. "I was careless."

"Indeed you were. Link, you saved the Kingdom from that Ganondorf fellow when you were just a mere child. And admirable feat, if I do say so myself, but you still can't just walk into the inner city gates anymore. The kingdom is advancing rapidly into a modern age. Have you heard of the new textile mills we've set up by the waterflow outside of zora's domain?" Jacobin said all this as he pulled out a sheet of parchment and began to write, but he expected Link's response nonetheless. And yet, Link looked out of the window to the great expanse of the land. He could see the borders of Hyrule Capital, and the great stretches of the desert off to the southwest.

"..." Link looked out to the east, past zora's domain to the tip of death mountain in the distance. Surveying the land, he could tell; Hyrule was industrializing. The people were using machines to do quickly what took them long. And Zora's Domain was at the center of it all, with the ever flowing water source that kept the machines running. "Hyrule is rotting."

He turned back to Jacobin, "You wish me to go to zora's domain?" Jacobin nodded in the affirmative.

"We have not had word from the zoras in months. Our envoys have not returned. You are to find out what has happened there. Things might get dangerous, so I've readed a comrade to join you."

"Who?" Jacobin was hunched over, furiously writing something on that parchment. Once finished, however, he handed it to Link.

"Why, the captain of the guards, of course." Link winced.