Usual Disclaimer, not owning anything except the characters I create, namely the primary antagonists, the crew and whoever my mind creates.
Beware, Malon Link pairing. This is not necessary, I've just put it there for it seems ideal to me.
Enjoy, if you can.
Baron von Scarf.
Antithesis
It is written in some dark book in the forgotten corners of an ancient archive of Hyrule of the time before the goddesses came. A period when chaos ruled and time seemed not to exist. As there were 3 goddesses to bring order, there were 3 entities ruling over the senselessness, and they served as the most direct counters to the golden ones. Dins power countered by weakness; Farores courage opposed by cowardice and Nayrus wisdom rivalled by ignorance. We do not speak of the individuals representing these counterforces, but it is known that they were forever sealed in a dark and hellish otherworld, so long as the great pivot, the Triforce, maintained its balance. What would happen otherwise was summed up in this text:
If thou hast split the triforce, listen well.
Thou must keep to the piece that thou represents,
For if thou shows traits against it,
Then the end will come.
The Brothers three shall rise from below,
They will break down what was built,
They will kill that which lived,
And undo the strongest of bonds.
The Great Beast shall rip down mountains,
And part the earth with his stride.
The strongest of men will be as infants before him,
For nothing mortal can harm him.
The Great Raptor shall decieve the wisest,
Convince brothers they are enemies.
Even the watchful mother can lose child to him,
Blinded by the ignorance he sows.
The Great Serpent shall terrify the boldest,
And undo the disciplined with a look.
He knows the fears of all he sees,
Fears made real in eternal nightmare.
If thou wishes to stop the three,
And return peace and order,
Thou must have the goddesses favour,
And acknowledge that thou will die.
Ganondorf paced the blackened paths of the evil realm. For 7 years now, he had been imprisoned. 7 ironic years, to remind him of how he had it all once, before it was taken away. At least he still had the triforce of power, so he could shape this realm at his pleasing to varying degrees. What survived of his servants, a mass of stalfos foot soldiers to name a few, marched around consistently, picking fights with other species (this time the lizalfos), only to stop when the former King of evil turned his malicious gaze upon them.
'My lord, this lizalfos scum took my left arm from me.' one particular stalfos complained
'He cut my tail yesterday.' The lizard retorted.
Ganondorf sighs. He knew the real problem. These creatures were thirsty for bloodshed. Ever since that cursed hero and the sages sealed us down here, the supply of innocents to slaughter had run dry.
'Oh very well. Tear each other apart. What do I care?'
The skeletal warrior grinned whilst the lizard cackled as they raised their dark blades.
As the carnage began, Ganondorf allowed himself a slight chuckle. They couldn't die in this realm, but their pointless spats provided a source of amusement for the former king.
However, the amusement ceased when a black claw descended from the skies and snatched Ganondorf from where he stood.
'Uh. What just happened?' a confused Stalfos asked whilst scratching his skull.
'I dunno... keep fighting?'
'Yea!'
Temple of Time
'Gagh!' Ganondorf yelled as the bodiless claw flung him to the cold stone floor of the Temple of Time.
Wait... The Temple of Time? He was back in Hyrule? At last! Now he can use his power to take over again. Only, where was his power?
'Looking for this?' a demonic voice that shook the very walls of the building spoke from behind him.
Turning round, Ganondorf saw something that even he could never have imagined. A tall, hulking demon-like creature stood before him. It's skin was blacker than the night and slick like oil. The sheer power it seemed to possess was formidable indeed. But, it's most chilling aspect was that it seemed to sap at Ganondorfs strength, making him little more than an infant before this behemoth. It's left claw held something golden... The Triforce of Power.
'Foolish mortal, toying with that you could not even hope to comprehend. Clinging to your ideals of 'order', your feeble light, your decadent mortality. Know me as Ra'sen, the avatar of weakness, that which you in particular have sought to avoid.' the creature spoke again, it's words cold with malice.
'W-what is it that you want?' even Ganondorf could not help but tremble slightly.
'How amusing, you still do not understand it. But, I shall enlighten you, for ignorance is my brothers domain. The triforce is a balance on the three things that would maintain order in this realm. What happens to a balance if it is unbalanced?'
'It... falls?'
'Precisely. Hyrule is destined to fall now. Chaos shall reign once more. The Destroyer, that which undoes all, will surface and will rip these lands asunder.'
'If that is true, then... where are the other two?' Ganondorf felt slightly bolder now. Perhaps he had found a flaw in this plan that he could exploit.
'Oh, they are waiting their calls. Like I was drawn out by power showing weakness, they will come from their respective pairings. Ignorance from wisdom, cowardice from courage. It is a simple enough thing to execute.'
'What happens to those who face their appropriate counterforce?' Ganondorf was now curious.
'Oh, the Hero of Time and the Princess of Destiny? Well, that depends. My brother of cowardice will probably want to claim the heros soul. The princess will probably have her mind broken. Hehe...'
'What about me?'
'Hm? Oh, I still have a use for you. You are the perfect instrument to help draw out ignorance from the princess.' The demon grinned, showing an array of steely teeth coated with thick saliva.
'What if I refuse?'
'You have no choice in the matter. You disobey or fail, then I shall destroy you. You obey and succeed, then you are rewarded. That should be incentive enough for you to cooperate. Come.'
A swirling vortex of dark energies surrounded the two, and the Temple of Time dissolved from view. Ganondorf had no choice but to comply with Ra'sen, even though letting these creatures plans come to fruition would spell the end of everything, and he'd have nothing to conquer. If he refused, they'd kill him and continue with the plan anyway. Though the very thought of it seemed unpleasent, Ganondorf had to acknowledge that he would need to be alive to help that cursed Hero of Time with this new threat.
Meanwhile, a ship to the far south of Hyrule traversed the vast ocean separating the many lands from each other. The ship was 'The Jolly Zora', a privateer vessel in the employ of Hyrule. It was on the desk of this ship, a certain young man stood. His hair dull blond, his eyes blue like the sky. This was Link, the Hero of Time. Recently though, he had found employ on this ship to escape the unwanted attention, and start a different life as a privateer. This had been going on for 2 years and, although he enjoyed things this way, there were still some aspects of his old life he missed. He still had most of his equipment, he was wearing his Zora tunic right now and had his longshot on hand. But Epona, the forest, the ranch, Malon... he couldn't bring them, and he missed them all.
'Now, come on boy, stop moping!' The ships captain bellowed jovially, even though he was a few feet from Link. The captain, one Javon Skunder, was a tallish, portly old man with a thick, long beard and a crab on his left shoulder. Dressed in typical ship captains clothing and smoking a pipe, he looked quite formidable, but was a kind soul.
'I just miss home, captain.' said Link, flatly.
'Well, just 2 more days voyage, and we'll be back at Dokera Port. Who knows, maybe this time you'll find a lovely lady to keep you on the land, harr harr.'
'Maybe...'
A splash of water indicated the return of one of the ships resident Zoras, Neko. Unlike conventional Zoras, Neko was deep blue in colour, thus blending with the ocean quite well. His other major difference was the array of spines on his back. He also wore a pair of red shorts.
'What did ye see, Neko?' The captain enquired.
'Well, there's a storm on it's way from the North west and the pirates we liberated that treasure from have friends coming in from the East.' Neko sounded almost bored.
'Is that it?' A Gerudo, by the name Miyana, had joined the conversation.
'Well, there is the giant Octorok a bit further North, but I think Link put us on good terms with him.' said Neko, grinning at Link, who was still absent mindedly staring out to sea.
'What is up with him? He's been in his own little world for months now.' Miyana shot a look of concerned puzzlement at Link.
'Arr, he's ok. He wants to get back home.' Captain Javon still as gleeful as ever. 'Best get the rest of the crew up here, we need to decide on our course.'
'Aye aye, cap'n.' Neko mock saluted and went down to the crews quarters.
Within 10 minutes, the entire crew was in a line on deck. As well as Link, Miyana and Neko, there was another Zora named Teya (Nekos fiance), a pair of pyromaniac Gorons named Serek and Dobek, a Shiekah by the name of Hilum, 3 Hylian brothers, all named Sterko by their forgetful mother and a Deku Scrub named Phyme who had developed an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder over cleanliness.
'Right them.' Jovan made himself heard. 'Today we have a choice. Either we head North west and face a storm, North east and face pirates, or straight North and face both. what's it to be?'
'Ah storms... natures great cleaner of the dirty air.' Phyme sighed.
'Bring on the pirates!' roared the 2 Gorons.
'It would be wiser, and quicker, to engage the pirates on their own. The storm is blowing towards us, which would slow us down considerably.' Hilum spoke softly.
'Even though we'd risk the cargo?' asked one of the Sterkos
'It'd be no less at risk if we faced the storm.' replied Miyana.
'But all the blood and splinters... it's filthy!' moaned Phyme.
'It can be cleaned. Besides, a nice scrap would make this voyage less boring.' said Neko, dismissively.
'What do you think, Link?' Javon asked the former hero, breaking him out of yet another trance.
'Hm? Oh... err... Pirates would be better. Quicker to dispatch.' Link came back to earth with a crash.
'Ok. Pirates it be. Hilum, to the crows next. Gorons, to the guns! Neko, take the helm! Sterkos, set the sails! Phyme, scrub the decks! Miyana, you have command, I'm having a rest.' Javon barked his orders before stooping off to his cabin.
'Aye aye!' the crew chorused as they rushed to their duties.
'Oh goody! Cleaning!' enthused Phyme, who was positively skipping.
Link was once again looking out to sea, wistfully thinking of his past and the comforts of his homeland. Why did he throw it all away?
'What's bothering you, Link?'
Miyana stood over him, looking authoritative but concerned.
'Oh... nothing much.' Link lied.
'I may be many things, my friend, but I'm certainly not stupid. Something is bothering you and I think it's best you tell me what.' Miyana was not to be put off
'There's nothing wrong.' Link protested, but he knew she could see right through that.
'It's obvious there is. Now, come on. I'm your friend, you can tell me anything.
Link sighed. She was right, of course. Of all the people on this ship, he could trust her the most to be helpful yet discreet. He looked back along the ship, at Neko and Teya, who were half steering the ship, half embracing each other as lovers are wont to do. Miyana turned to see what he was looking at and immediately realised one of the problems.
'You're pining for someone special back home, aren't you?'
'...yes' Link replied in a defeated manner.
'No need to be ashamed. Who's the special girl then?'
'Malon...' Link murmered.
'I'm sorry, who?'
'Malon, from Lon Lon Ranch.' This time she heard him.
'Well, quite a choice there. A hero and a farm girl. Such a sweet pairing...' Miyana smiled at the images that appeared.
'She'll never have me though. I ran from her and everything. I left her behind. All because I had to be selfish and stupid and decide I didn't want the attention that comes with being a hero.'
'Hmm... Does she know where you are?'
'Yes, she was the only one I told. She as good as begged me to stay on the ranch instead though.'
'Sounds to me like she's fond of you as well.'
'Maybe back then...'
'Well, you're still moping, and you're a simple man of sea at the moment. Similarly, she's a simple lady of the land. Odds are she's just waiting for the day you return.'
'You think?'
'Well, you've got everything going for you. Handsome, strong, courageous, pure of heart... easily her knight in shining armour. Besides, even if it doesn't go so well, you have us, the crew, your friends to help you through.'
'Thanks Mi, you're a great friend.' Link smiled slightly before hugging the Gerudo.
'Anytime Link.' Miyana grinned back. 'It's nearly Sun down, and we should expect pirates tomorrow morning. Let's get this ship ready.'
'Aye aye.' Link replied, saluting, before running off to help the Gorons.