The Legend of Zelda
Genesis Unfolds
--note: this is probably set sometime after Zelda II, but it could be set anywhere in the centuries after The Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. I just thought that there had to be something more connecting all the Zeldas and Links than Ganon gunning for their descendants (who happened to be named Zelda and Link) in the course of his attempts for Hyrule.
--note 2: If there is anything horribly, horribly wrong with this story, in terms of any basic continuity or facts that were actually set down by Nintendo, please email me. No "This Never Could Have Happened!" or "You Suck!" messages please. In other words, flames will be used to light the digital equivalent of cannons right back at you. Well, not really, but I wanted to use that Homeric simile.
^_^Night in Hyrule. Not always a time of peace in this land, but on this night, the Goddesses of Old have other things planned.
***
"It is time, my siblings'"
"Yes. To each our counterparts... We must proceed."
"Let it be done."
****
Link had been sleeping fitfully for a few hours. A tingling feeling seemed to envelop him, body and soul. The tingling felt almost like a whisper, telling him something momentous was about to happen. Suddenly, his eyes sprang open, and he jumped from his pallet.
...Only to disappear, in a flash of light.
****
Zelda had been sitting in her chambers for hours after nightfall. The embrace of sleep managed to elude her just as it fought Link. There was something about that night...
The night seemed too still.
Not the foreboding stillness as if the animals sensed evil, but as if Hyrule itself was holding its breath, waiting for something. Not even the wind stirred. Sensing something, she turned around, but all she saw was washed out in a bright burst of light.
And the curtain fluttered in the empty room, as Hyrule exhaled.
****
Ganon was, as he always was, planning, thinking, and strategizing a way to rule Hyrule again. The seal to his recently-made prison would be broken soon enough... His continued machinations using his tenuous connection to Hyrule proper were making sure of that, and time was of no consequence to one Immortal. Yet that same connection also kept him constantly aware of the essences of those that put him in that prison. Two souls whose light shined like a painful beacon in his dark confinement.
"Blast it!" He yelled in frustration, as he sent a blast of his remaining power through a wall, and nearly through one of the conjured lackeys that served his whims. He muttered to himself. "Am I condemned to always be annoyed by those accursed bloodlines? Shall the names of Zelda and Link be constantly connected to mine? I am the King of Evil! Hyrule is mine by right of power! They are nothing next to me!"
He felt a slightly sad and disapproving sensation settle upon him, one not his own. He had seconds to ponder that before he too, vanished in an explosion of brilliance.
****
Zelda and Link appeared side by side, garbed in their "adventure" clothes, with their weapons at their sides. Looking around, they couldn't see the walls, if there were any enclosing them. Thus, the room felt both cavernous and enclosing as their perceptions changed, trying to deal with the situation. All they could make out, besides the polished white marble surface on which they stood, was the other bathed by a soft light from above.
"What happened?" Zelda asked, her voice still slightly tremulous as she tried to assess the environment.
"I'm not sure, but I assume we'll find out soon enough." Link answered, mustering as much confidence into his voice as he could.
From the shadows outside the light, they heard a short, barking laugh. "Well, well. It seems that two of Hyrule's most beloved citizens are frightened!" said a familiar voice.
"Ganon!" both Link and Zelda exclaimed, instantly recognizing the villain. Zelda blinked and did a double take. Ganon's form seemed to shift from the familiar and horrible pig-like beast to a tall, tanned man with an equally horrible expression on his face. As Zelda shook her head to clear it, Link questioned his enemy. "What have you done this time?!"
"Why nothing, my dear hero and lady. I'm merely an innocent bystander. Although I may not be considered so innocent after what I'm about to do to you!"
"There's nothing innocent about you! I'll stop you here and now!" Link said, drawing his sword and leaping at Ganon, as Zelda, brushing aside her previous discomfort, slung an arrow on her bow and loosed it at the darkly transfigured being.
"Hold." A calm, melodious voice said, seeming to come from everywhere.
Link froze in the air, in mid swing, his eyes full of surprise. The bolt of magic Ganon was about to throw died in his hands. Zelda's arrow stopped in the air, and vanished in a rain of sparks.
Three figures, identical in features, appeared, in a ring surrounding the frozen contenders. With a wave of a hand, the one that spoke turned Link around in mid air, gently placing him at his previous place beside Zelda. Zelda slowly put away her bow, and Ganon reluctantly put down his hands, glaring at everyone in impotent fury.
Link slowly gazed at the new arrivals. They were three beautiful women, radiating power. They were identical, though one radiated a sapphire power, another a fiery glow, and the last a jade green aura. All three were clothed in the same brilliant silver, although one in a gown, one in a simple tunic, and one in armor.
Zelda found her voice first. "Who are you? Where are we? Did you bring us here?"
The one in a tunic answered, "Do you not know, Princess? Can you not sense it?"
Zelda's eyes widened. "Yes... There's something familiar about you..."
"What?!" Ganon shouted. "Explain yourself or I'll destroy you all!"
The armored one, shaking her head, answered in a quiet voice, "Very well, we'll tell you."
"We are the Gods of Old, the Three, the creators of Hyrule," said the gowned goddess, the melodious voice. "I am Naryu, the God of Wisdom."
"I am Farore, the God of Courage" the simply-dressed one answered.
"I am Din, the God of Power." finished the armored one.
Link gave a start. He immediately fell to one knee with head bowed. Zelda did the same, while Ganon looked on in contempt.
"Please rise, Hero and Princess." said Farore, and her tone gave each title a sense of highest praise. "We are touched by your honor, but it is not necessary. We know already of your devotion to Hyrule, and in honoring Hyrule, you honor us."
Link and Zelda stood, their heads held high at such approval. Ganon snorted. "What is this all about? If you truly are the Old Ones, which I don't necessarily believe, what is your purpose in grabbing us from our places?" He grinned wickedly, as the situation set in. "But I thank you for freeing me from that infernal prison much sooner than I planned. I shall reward you after I claim what is rightfully mine!"
"We are the creators of the Triforce. Your rewards mean nothing to us, Ganon. The Triforce is a part of us." Naryu paused, and Farore continued. "And thus, you are a part of us as well."
"What do you mean?" Link asked.
Din spoke. "Since Ganon used the Triforce, all that time ago, he has been irrevocably bound to the Triforce of Power, the only aspect of the Triforce he ever used. Through a self-imposed vow, we cannot directly interfere with Hyrule, our creation. The clay has been fired, and our hands are to touch it no more."
"However, we have seen the need for a counterpoint to Ganon's corruption of the Triforce of Power. That counter is you two, Link and Zelda." Farore explained. "Though we are barred by our own will from changing the course of events directly, you may find that Hyrule is open to suggestion from its mothers." She smiled. "And that influence has brought you two to your status."
"Us? We're not special. We're not immortal, like Ganon. We only try to do what's right for Hyrule. That's all." Zelda said.
"You do not give yourself enough credit, Princess. Ganon's immortality is from his bind with the Triforce of Power. That is not within the power that we have given you."
"What power?"
"Why, the other Triforces. Link, you are the vessel of the Triforce of Courage. Zelda, you are, as you always will be, the keeper of the Triforce of Wisdom. Whenever Ganon, and in turn, the Triforce of Power, becomes too out of control in Hyrule, you two will be there."
"But Ganon has appeared before we were even born! Our ancestors, our namesakes, managed to seal him up before us. We can't be the ones that became the 'vessel' or 'keeper' if Ganon become bonded with the Triforce before we were around!"
"Are you certain?"
"Well, of course!" Link said, but Zelda had grown quiet.
"Wait, Link... I keep getting flashes of battles with Ganon. Ones we never fought... but you are always with me, Link." Zelda said, furrowing her brow. "And I remember a name... Ganon, no... Ganondorf... Ganondorf Dragmire!"
Ganon's eyes widened, startled. "Ganondorf Dragmire is dead! There is only Ganon, the king of Evil now! Where did you hear that name?!"
Din ignored him, and spoke. "You are remembering your previous battles. Ages ago, you two were brought together in battle with Ganon. Ever since then, you two are linked."
Naryu broke in, and said with a stately grin "Please pardon the pun."
Link looked slightly surprised. "My levity is unexpected, Hero of Time? After all, humor is just a facet of wisdom..."
Din gave a slightly more serious smile, and continued. "Your souls and beings are bound together, your destinies intertwined, your hearts, one. You have been incarnated other times before this life. Through this linking, "soulmates," if you will, you have again and again been born, lived a life, and died, always together, always "Link" and "Zelda", though in different forms."
The two paused, letting this sink in. "Why? Why not choose different people to combat Ganon?"
"Because, you two are the ultimate incarnations of our powers."
"Link, you are the embodiment of Courage. Zelda, you are the ideal of wisdom. Just as Ganon is the ultimate example of the corruption of power, you two are the personifications of the glory of wisdom and courage."
"You are the Three archetypes of the Triforce. Always linked. Power, Wisdom, And Courage always present, by fate or by necessity. One caveat, however. Each incarnation is new matter. As such, though the souls remember, the flesh does not. Each life needs to rediscover and rejoin the game. As time immortal dulls Ganon's memory of previous battles, the rebirth allows the new bodies of Zelda and Link to develop their own persons."
Ganon harrumphed. "Isn't this little storytelling interfering with your vow? Don't you all have to destroy yourselves now or something?"
The Goddesses ignored the sneer in the question. "It is a rare time when Balance has been reached in Hyrule and the Triforce, when the power of the Triforce is no longer fractured and inseparable from the land."
At that Naryu smiled. "And we never vowed not to lay hands on the Triforce again."
"Go now, the Three of Hyrule. You shall remember all, now. And the lives previous will come back to you in time."
"There wasn't that much differences between your lives, anyway. It comes with being the paragons of virtue."
Din continued on as if uninterrupted. "May this experience help you in the quest for balance, the dance that connects you three throughout the history of Hyrule."
Zelda, Link, and Ganon disappeared, Zelda and Link back to Zelda's palace, to be together and think of what they learned. Ganon, back to his imprisonment, to plan and seek a way to use this newfound knowledge.
Farore smiled. "And what a dance it will be..."
And with that, the three faded, returning from whence they came.
Concluding notes: I think this was my first fic, and I wrote this a loooong time ago. Before I got the Ocarina of Time, even, and I got _that_ on the day it came out. The first version was rather bad, and more than a bit melodramatic. I updated it a little about a year and a half ago, to factor in some developments from the Ocarina of Time. This is the result of a fairly massive rewrite that I did in the last few days. I think it's much better now. Maybe not the best thing I've written, but I like it. You can probably tell which lines I kept from the original version. They probably sound really cheesy and overdramatic. ^_^
Also, when I first wrote this story, I meant it as a one shot. I would write nothing continuing it, and just leave that to the writers of the next Zelda games (not that they would read this, translated or not.) But now, after the latest revision, I think I can squeeze another few stories out of this. Maybe one dealing with Ganon's attitude on Ganondorf that I sorta threw into this. I also assume the Sages (mystical beings that they are) are still around, so a nice reunion fic would be cool. Well, I'll probably write them, but only if you R&R, or send C&C, or whatever (^_^), will tell if I post the stories or not.