A ray of warm sunlight shone through the window, bringing the change of daybreak to room. It swept across a few cubbyholes, a backpack, and finally a smooth wooden bed fitted neatly into a wall. Upon this bed slept a young man of no great distinction. His left hand was tensed above his left hip, where a sheath for a weapon might have once belonged. His right arm was thrown across his chest, and gripped a faded green hat. The light falling on his eyelids caused a distinct reaction, as one could tell by the fact that he now promptly fell out of his bed.
Looking around wearily, he yawned and stood up. He looked out the window at the sun, and then stopped, for the first time on this particular day remembering he was just a man. "just a man," he thought, looking at his pack, remembering the purpose of today's journey. He splashed some water on his face from a bottle at the foot of his bed, put on a thing green cloak, picked up his pack, and looked around his cabin one more time. There was nothing left worth taking, and so he walked out the door into the forest.
Walking quietly to the bridge that marked the edge of the Lost Woods, he climbed up the rope ladder he had made last year, and exited the forest. He knew his way to Karaiko Town well, and this first leg of his journey was little more than an afternoon walk. No Owls graced the air today, and even in the old days the undead feared the sun, high in the sky as it was now. There were no enemies to combat, and no friends to aid, and no foolish travelers to placate.
The town gates were open, and there was no guard at the gate. The man barely glanced about as he walked up to the left, past the old gates and into the new caverns built as an expansion of the town. Once inside the mountain cavern, the largest of the new buildings, the inn, was immediately on the left, and to it he went. Once on the inside, he saw he was the only robed figure there. "Good," he thought. "The Others have not arrived early." He moved to a table in the corner of the room, and kept his back to the walls. He could afford to wait.
A few hours passed, and he listened again to what was going on in Hyrule, to the talk and chatter. By all acounts, things were as well as could be hoped. The Town was expanding, and the kingdom itself seemed peaceful. There was even talk of leaving the gates open at night, to welcome those that came to town. There were actually people farming again, and not just around the lake. The king was repairing the roads that hadn't been worked on since time out of mind, and even the weather seemed to be staying nice of late. In fact, the only thing of ill-repute that had happenned lately was the death of the fisherman living off lake Hylia. The young man listened closely as he heard how the man had been prepared, as it was in fact the way in which men prepare fish. The only clue at the incident was a small rock of the type found just up the trail to the mountain, in Dodongo's Cavern.
The man in the corner called for a Hot chocolate, and watched as a small figure in another green robe came in and sat across from him. "This is not a business for those chances you take,<">, he said. Both were quiet as the innkeeper delivered drinks. "On the contrary," said a new voice, startling them both, "This business is only about chances. With what we do, we risk much."
The speaker was apparent as soon as she began speaking, but where she had come from was anybody's guess. She seemed almost to fade into being, in a tunic that seemed to strangely resemble the bench on which she was seated. A Zora, she had not come dressed in blue. "Unusual causes breed oddities the way unusual curses breed skuluta, " she said. " My new outfit is the least of the chaos we breed, but it may be an instrument of our purpose. "
"That business must wait for our last companion, A Goron. He seems to roll all the days of his life, so if you see a large rock coming down the mountain, it's probably him. Mido, the fisherman?" The young man gave a penetrating glare to the Kokiri. At first Mido kept a straight face, but then his lips broke into a thin smile. " And what is that if not what we are about? It will bring fear into the Hearts of these Hylians. They die like the sparks that come from the fire, but the sparks spread the fire too large, too quickly. The death of the fisherman but a little while before his time, what of it? Only the Zora would have motive to display his entrails like that, but no Zora could get to death mountain, to get that 'Evidence' I planted. It will make the Hylians fear the Zora, and perhaps fear again the shadow of this mountain they now have the arrogance to settle. It will cause the Gorons to fear the Zora, believing that they have at last discovered a way to survive the fiery environment of the mountain, and it will cause the Zora to mistrust all outsiders, knowing, correctly, that they have been framed. "
The woman sitting next to Mido turned to him, <">My people already have mistrust of outsiders. They are great isolationists, barring entry to their realm from land dwellers with their magics, and lesser, more mundane means. Do not forget that for many years they have guarded the source of the Great Zora watershed, and that in all that time it has fallen only once, to the Gerudo. They would not be easily overcome in battle, and goading them as you are doing may not be wise. What we seek to accomplish, we must accomplish with stealth."
An obviously rotund individual entered at that moment, and they waved him over. He sat opposite princess Ruto, wearing the brown robe of a monk, but he laid out his hands upon the table, and they were clearly made of stone as no monk should be. " I received your message. If we truly wish to accomplish this thing, we must have power. The last to try this had the support of hundreds from the moment of his birth, great magics to command, and years to grow his armies and master his magics. If we do this thing, we must know one another's reasons, for betrayal by any would mean the death of this before it begins."
" If you wish my reasons, " the princess began, " This was enough for me. He asked me to. " She pointed to the man in the corner. " But for what reason would a Goron do this thing? Your people are at peace, you eat well and see the great fires, and you have not these illogical tendencies that we who are not made of stone do have. Why are you here, Goron?"
" I am an old stone today. For twelve hundred thirty years this winter, I have existed as a stone, when I was born from the new fires of Death Mountain. In my youth I harvested bombs, and sought out the newest of stones, those nearest to the place of my birth. For a long time then I rolled, in the hope of finding older and older rocks. But after a time, you have seen so much, but none of it is ever new anymore. Even when the Gerudo came, and changed the land, it was only a transparent thing, a thing of lights and shadows, of tricks and little magics. I would wish, just once before I die, to see a great change come about the land, to see my home truly change, to witness the end of Death mountain, to witness its rebirth or its destruction. For these things I will stand by you, Hylian. For these things I will betray my people, for truly, they to need change."
Mido's gaze drifted back to the Hylian's, studying the lines underneath the green cowl. "I once thought you were the epitome of everything I hated. That was a very short time ago. Now I know you to be something different. You don't belong with the Kokiri. You don't belong with the Hylians either, though. When the Gerudo took over, it was bad for the whole land. When you defeated him, you restored the land, but on the way, you destroyed much of the land that was warped to serve him. I do not fault you for this; it was necessary. You did what you had to. These Hylians: they do what is easy, with little concern for what is right. The Kings new roads encroach nearly to the lost woods themselves, the seat of forest magic. In his court, there is talk of extending the roads into the woods and right to the temple. These new farms of theirs- they take away room needed for creatures that live in this world. The new Great Deku tree knows of your plan, and approves of it. He sees the need of what you must do. Whether you do it for adventure or for his purpose, still it must be done. He is young, but he has the gift of foresight. He sees the next century of a time of blood, a time for a cleansing. Gannondorf was a legend- an old thing, trying to take power - a universal lust, using the old ways. He tried to match power for power, and in that he failed, in the end, because you used skill, cunning, and courage. We here are the future- a coming together to wipe out the old ways forever, to bring about a new beginning. We must together bring a new harmony to the land and her peoples, even if in doing so we destroy them. "
Ruto looked back across the table at the Hylian man. "What of Zelda?" She asked. " She has the triforces of wisom and power. Will she not try to stop us? " He looked up to her, a look of pain on his face as he spoke. " I will take care of Zelda. She is the future of hyrule, the only true hero left to us, now that I... now that we choose to start this. There will be strife for a time, there will be rubble, but in the end, someone will have to unite the people. It cannot be one of us- we see the needs of the land, a leader must see the needs of the people. I shall invoke a temporal schism- she will be locked away, outside of time, until she is needed. She did something similar to me once, out of desperation. I do not know if I act out of hope or out of fear, but I must act. Mido, get the spiritual stone from the Deku tree. Ruto, get the spiritual stone from your father. Goron, get the spiritual stone from its platform. Let no one be seen. We must act quickly. In three days, bring the stones to the temple of time."
End of Chapter 1