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Legend of Zelda: The Sands of Time
Genre: Fantasy/Time-Travel
Pairing: Link/Ganondorf
Summary: After centuries of turmoil, Time has decided to send its hero back to where everything began, in a desperate attempt to end the cycle of chaos. In a land of sun and sand, Link meets a Gerudo prince and must fight the will to destroy him.
"Time passes, people move... Like a river's flow, it never ends... A childish mind will turn to noble ambition... Young love will become deep affection... The clear water's surface reflects growth..." [Sheik]
Prologue:
The Unnatural Darc
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It was the unnatural darc that awoke Link from his lingering daze. He had unknowingly fallen asleep during his long trek through the forest. Sitting up straight in his saddle, Link observed his person and realized his unsettling queasiness was caused by something external rather than internal. Link hadn't eaten for days—or was it weeks? The blond's fickle grasp on time was barely tangible after several tiring rides through the Lost Woods—or what he thought were the Lost Woods, and as the days swayed with the subtle rock of Epona's saddle, Link had lost himself to the endless trance of oddly-shaped trees. Whether he was any closer to home, was about as distinguishable as the dull formation of this forest.
Today, however, there was something particularly different about the atmosphere that morning. The sun didn't rise or set within the woods, and the only way Link guessed it was morning, was because he had slept in his saddle prior. The blond gazed out into the black shade ofdarcsurrounding his horse, and himself—realizing he was staring at something he hadn't witnessed in ages: Nightfall.
For a moment, Link let the deep shadows caress his form before he eased Epona to a halt and dismounted the filly. The Hylian was almost spellbound by the darkness, he had forgotten about its delightful shade of twilight.
Twilight…
Link considered that word. During his journey through the harrow forest mist, the hero had slipped in-and-out of daydreams relating to a world swallowed in shadow; a world called The Twilight.
Link took a moment to wonder if his subconscious mind had somehow bled into reality—or what he perceived to be reality—after his fateful battle against Majora's Mask. It was the Lost Woods that had brought him to the condemned town of Termina, and through his 3-day journey of horror and uncertainty, Link finally had broken free from the time-elapsed Hell the Skull Kid had imprisoned him within. Leaving the green-hooded hero wondering what was real, and what was fantasy.
Link shivered from the recollection. Sometimes, he could still hear the callous-cackling laughter of the Skull Kid, as he drifted through the forest. It was those moments when physical exhaustion mixed with wavering memories, that the dreams would come. Dreams of deep oceans and island villages—of darc land and desert prisons. Sometimes, the dreams would barely resemble scribbled drawings—other times vivid paintings of color and surrealism, drawing Link in as if he was there, within that world, fighting it's evil.
It was within these dreams, that link learned of the Twili, and their mighty race that was once a part of Hyrule. Link didn't want to believe what he saw during those dreams, but between the wake of darc and vision, Link found himself living out those fantasies; battling against the Twilight, against the Vaati, and against Ganon.
Even in nightmares Link could not escape the golden-eyed gaze of his greatest enemy, and until now those dreams had been little more than that: illusions, created by fragmented memories and the whirling Magick of the Lost Wood. However, as Link looked on into the darc, he was left wondering if the Twili were to blame.
Link felt the cold touch of Epona's muzzle on his cheek, and looked over his shoulder to see her deep dark eyes staring back at him in concern.
"It's okay, girl." Link said, half-heartily stroking her blaze.
But it wasn't "okay." In fact, Link was barely containing his own anxiety. The anxiety that someone, or something, meant them harm. The blonde haired hero examined the forest from where he stood, expecting creatures to jump from the darc and render his flesh with sinister claws. Memories of walking skeletons, pulsating corpses, and oozing slime assailed his resolve, and Link drew his sword in defense from their invisible attacks.
Time passed, trapped in a silent purgatory of electric suspense, but the blue-eyed swordsman held his position. Link's ears pricked as sounds of glee and merriment danced across the wood. Closing his eyes, Link could see the Skull Kid's crooked smile, and the hollow stare of the villain's mask.
Link shook himself free of those delusions. That evil was behind him like so many other victories. In truth, Link trusted the Happy Mask Salesman to keep that particular evil at bay. Whatever new Hell this was, the Hero was firm in his resolution, that it was not because of his misstep in trusting a cataclysmic horror in the hands of a nomadic merchant. No, it couldn't have been.
Epona whinnied. Link turned around to see the darc slowly ebbing away at the last shred of light between them and infinite void. Link cursed under his breath and lunged wildly at the nothing, desperately trying to keep the growing blackness from touching Epona. The darc had taken on an ethereal look to it now, and Link could swear he saw faces within it's black void. Epona must have seen them too; her shrill cry—his only warning before she raced off into the distance in thundering panic.
"Epona!" Link cried, sheathing his sword and jumping into the darc after her.
Following the sound of hoof beats, Link ran deep within the shadows. The darc felt warm to the touch, it's humidity causing a cold sweat to break out on his brow. He called out his horse's name, but the filly kept to her frightened gait. The blond forced himself upside the beast, grabbing onto her saddle and desperately urging her to halt.
The sudden action spooked the horse. Link saw the hind legs raise just before the glint of her hoofs met his face—dodging within seconds of the fatal blow.
"Dammit, Epona!"
Link lost his footing and deathly grasped onto the saddle, as he was helplessly dragged behind the galloping beats of her feathered hocks. Link heard that same gleeful laughter, and half-expected the Skull Kid to be perched on his filly's back, riding them both toward oblivion.
As the hero was dragged through the darc, he heard the sweet melody of Saria's song, and those same dreams assailed him again.