Chapter 1

A young boy breathed lightly as he lifted the weighted training sword and shield and once again attacked the wooden training dummy set up in his backyard. The child was only ten years old and he was already shaping up to be the one of the next great swordsman of Hyrule. Sliding into his starting stance, the first light of dawn just starting to show over the horizon, the boy took a deep breath before he began his onslaught.

He started with a traditional overhand strike, and followed with a side cut. The next attack was a backhanded strike that led to another overhand. The boy then used a thrust followed by an overhead backhand and finished with an immediate backhanded side cut. The boy backed up a few steps before he leapt high in the air and brought his training sword down on the dummy. There was a loud snap as the wooden training sword broke in half like a twig, while the dummy's arm was cleaved off.

"Not bad, boy." A gruff voice called. The child turned to see his grandfather Calvin, tall and proud as ever, walking over to him.

"Thank you Grandpa," the boy said with a proud smile. His grandfather raised an eyebrow at him, "I'm sorry, thank you sir."

The boy's grandfather glanced around the yard like he was looking for something. "Sevr where's your brother?" When Sevr didn't answer his grandfather grabbed him by his shoulders and stared straight his eyes. "Sevr, where is Link?"

At that moment another young boy came sprinting out of the house, pulling on a green tunic. Both Sevr and Calvin watched as Link tripped over himself trying to pull his boots on. By the time Link reached them Calvin was impatiently tapping his foot with his arms crossed while Sevr tried to hide his disgust at his brother's tardiness.

"Sorry I'm late." Link breathed, trying to catch his breath. He opened his mouth again but Calvin held up his hand.

"No excuses. Just grab your training gear and get ready. Sevr, grab a replacement sword."

"Yes sir." The twins replied simultaneously before running off. As Calvin watched them go, he praised the goddesses that Link had golden blonde hair and bright blue eyes while Sevr had ebony black hair and deep brown eyes, that in a certain light seemed to have a hue of red to them. If not for that he'd have to rely on the clothes the boys wore to tell them apart. Link favored green clothes where Sevr wore almost exclusively black. Then Calvin remembered something else that differentiated the two. On the back of Link's left hand was a birthmark in the shape of the sacred Triforce, while Sevr lacked such a mark.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Link asked Sevr as he searched for his training equipment.

Sevr scoffed as he leaned against the wall, his replacement sword resting on his shoulder, "I spent like five minutes trying to get your lazy butt out of bed. Maybe you should try going to bed on time instead of staying up all night doing Farore knows what."

"I told you, I was studying maps." Link yelled defensively, pulling his sword out from under a large pile of rubbish.

"A bunch crudely drawn, interlocking lines on a crumpled piece of paper isn't a map. It barely counts as a grid." countered Sevr with a roll of his eyes.

Link stuck his tongue out at his brother as he bent over to grab his shield. "They're not just lines, they're the only known maps of the dungeons and caverns through out Hyrule." Sevr scoffed as he and his brother made their way back to their grandfather.

"Why would you need to know anything about Hyrule's caverns?" Sevr asked.

Link puffed out his chest and stated boldly, "Because after I grow up I'm going to explore them all."

Sevr had to catch himself before he laughed loud enough to be heard from Lon Lon Ranch, "You better not tell Grandfather that. You know how dead set he is on both of us becoming knights."

Calvin was so set on the twins joining the Hylian Knights that he moved them from their house in Hyrule Castle Town to their summer home out in the country so they wouldn't be distracted by the hustle and bustle of city life. Their summer home was an acres worth of land located near the edge of Kokiri Forest. The home itself was a quaint little log cabin with five rooms total, a kitchen, a den that served as the living room and dining room, and two bedrooms, one for Calvin and another for Link and Sevr. Built around the cabin was a full obstacle that Calvin had the twins run at least once a week, and would rearrange every other week. There was also a dueling ring built so the twins could spar.

"I can still be a knight." Link stated, "I'll just be out exploring while you're stuck in the castle." The twins bickered the rest of the way, and then quickly silenced themselves once they were in earshot of Calvin. Their grandfather eyed them briefly before he gestured to the dueling ring.

"What is the duty of the Hylian Knights?" Calvin asked as the twins moved to the center of the ring.

Their response was automatic as they assumed their beginning stances, "To serve the Royal Family and safeguard the Kingdom of Hyrule."

Calvin nodded once at the boy's answer, "And how are you going to ensure that you give the Royal Family and Hyrule the best you're able to give?"

Both Link and Sevr smiled as they answered simultaneously, "Train hard to be the best."

"Then make it so." Calvin stated signaling the twins to begin. With broad smiles across their faces the twins began their favorite hobby… beating the hell out of each other.

That night both Link and Sevr went to bed with a couple of new bruises. Link's were mostly caused by Sevr taking advantage of his brother's lack of attention, and Sevr's bruises were the result of Link taking advantage of his impatience.

"Could you ease up on your swings Sevr?" Link asked tenderly nursing his bruised arm, "I think you almost broke my arm."

"I wouldn't have to ease up if you would pay attention." Sevr countered, sitting on the edge of his bed. "Now shut up and go to bed when you're supposed to for once."

Link stuck his tongue out at his brother before he sat at his desk and started his nightly routine of pouring over his dungeon maps. For the next few hours Link would keep Sevr awake with the constant shuffling of his maps. After being roused from his slumber for the third time Sevr finally shot out of his bed and thumped Link on the back of his head as hard as he could.

"What was that for?" Link whispered so he didn't wake Calvin up. Sevr glared furiously at Link, the faint candlelight giving his brown eyes a reddish hue.

"Oh now you're worried about being quiet!" Sevr hissed through his teeth while snatching the piece of paper Link was holding and waving it in front of his face. "You're keeping me up with all your stupid doodles!"

"I told you they're maps Sevr," Link argued, reaching for the piece Sevr had snatched. "Now give that back." But Sevr held on to the paper. Link stared curiously at Sevr as his brother seemed to be inspecting his map. "Something up?"

Sevr quickly shook his head and glanced at his brother. "No nothing." He said handing Link the map back, "Just try to keep it down please." Link watched confused as Sevr silently crawled back into his bed and fell asleep. Link looked back down at the map piece Sevr grabbed. It was one of the more detailed pieces, depicting a single large chamber filled with water. In the very center of the chamber was a small island with a dead withered tree. Shrugging it off Link placed the paper on the table and continued looking over his maps.

"Princess Zelda!" a young woman called as he sprinted through the halls of Hyrule Castle. The castle attendants quickly pressed themselves against the walls as a blur of silver hair rushed past them. The young woman raced through the many corridors of the castle, her lithe body nimbly moving around, over, or between obstacles with ease. "Princess Zelda where the heck are you?"

Meanwhile out in the castle garden, a young girl of about twelve quickly poked her out of some bushes, a mischievous smile on her small face. She quietly giggled as she retreated back into the bushes as the castle gardeners walked past, chatting about whatever it was gardener's talked about. Once they passed she poked her head out again, a couple of small branches tangled in her smooth blonde hair.

"Impa will never find me here." Zelda giggled as she started to pick the branches out of her hair.

"And why exactly would she need to find you?"

Shocked, Zelda spun around and found herself staring at a pair of armored knees. Her once mischievous smile was gone, replaced by a worried grimace. Slowly she looked up into the cold eyes of High General Braig, leader of the Hylian army.

"G-g-good morning, General Braig." Zelda stuttered nervously. "How are you feeling today?"

Braig opened his mouth to reply when Impa slid to a stop in front of him. "There you are Princess. I finally…"

"Impa!" Zelda shouted interrupting her guardian, "You found me! Now it's my turn to find you!" Zelda's sky blue eyes quickly darted back and forth from Impa to Braig, desperately trying to inform Impa of the general's presence. Impa stared confused at the princess until Braig loudly cleared his throat.

"Oh hello Braig." Impa blurted out, spinning on the balls of her feet. Nervously fidgeting with her medium length ponytail, Impa decided to play off of what Zelda had started. "Just playing some hide and seek with the Princess." Impa turned to Zelda, "Now you have to go into the library and count to one hundred, then try and find me."

"Okay Impa." Zelda stated crawling out of the bush and rushing out of the garden.

Once she was gone Impa turned back to Braig. The large High General's mere presence was intimidating. His broad frame was nothing but hard muscle, his velvet tunic looked ready to rip if he flexed his muscles for longer than half a second. His brown hair was cut military short. His chiseled face bore the scars of many battles, most prominent among them was a long, slender scar that ran from his right temple, under his eye, across the bridge of his nose and ended at the edge of his left cheek that he'd gained in the war with the Gerudo's years ago. In Impa's opinion the whole package made the man look like walking death.

Braig just glared at her, contempt plainly visible on his face. Impa was well aware of the fact that Braig held no love for her people the Sheikah. In his eyes they were shady, untrustworthy, and all around dishonorable. It didn't help that the King of Hyrule used them as his personal assassins.

"I should probably go hide before Zelda comes looking for me." Impa stated excusing herself. Braig watched her go before turning away and walked towards the throne room for his meeting with the King.

Dark Link is given the name Sevr (Sev-er).