The tale had been told many times over. A boy with tremendous courage, chosen by fate to save the land of Hyrule from dark forces. The fight between the hero of time and the evil, mystical king.

The slight clang of sand thrown against metal by the wind was the only audible sound besides that of a man sobbing. The wasteland was barren, a desert littered with thousand year old ruins, columns carved with intricate, though worn down, patterns, broken walls and staircases leading nowhere. Amongst the debris stood a small circle of five figures, towering over the thin, bloodied, weeping body of a man. The sand around the man was speckled with his blood. Raising his head, the red liquid still dripping from his incessantly grinning mouth, the man looked up at those around him through squinted eyes. The metallic armour that three of them wore gleamed under the bright sun, causing the man to squint even further, closing his eyes just as the ironclad fist of the most heavily armoured of the five connected with his face, sending him rolling over himself with another spurt of blood. With what strength he had left, the man pulled a key from his pocket and weakly tossed it along the sand so it came to rest by their feet.

Almost immediately, one of the figures turned away, his red robe flowing around him. All that could be seen of his face were his grey eyes. The fact that his skin was a peculiar light shade of purple was largely hidden by the decorative fabric he was draped in. He walked over to the now unconscious man's bag. The large sack was covered in masks and on top of it was a chest. Picking the chest up, the man returned to the others. Several of them promptly fell in line beside him and they simultaneously got to their knees before the one dressed in thick black armour. His red hair was decorated by an exotic, thin gold crown, his skin was dark and his eyes shone down at the chest with a foreboding satisfaction. Placing the key in the chest, the man known by legend as Ganondorf opened it to reveal a mask.


"I don't wanna be Zelda anymore guys!" Came the cry of a young boy in a skirt tied to a tree.

"Colin you're breaking character! You're the one who wanted to play with us!" Another boy shouted back, his purple hair waving about as he engaged his friend in a battle of wooden swords. They fought in a small, grassy clearing by the edge of the forest and Ordon village, with a slight smirk on his face the child yelled out as he swooped his weapon forwards, "Link, there is no way you can defeat me!"

The two swords connected as Link parried the blow. Both boys came closer together, straining to push each others swords away as Link, the boy dressed in a green tunic muttered, "You might have the Triforce of power, Ganondorf, but with Farore by my side I can accomplish anything!" His blonde fringe swayed under his large green hat as he finally forced his opponents' sword aside and swung his blade at his friend.

The other boy flinched, though he managed to catch the wooden sword in his hand inches from his chest. Looking at Link with some surprise the boy quickly tapped Link in the side of the head with his toy blade whilst yelling out, "Ganondorf can't be harmed by a mere toy!"

"Ow," Link mumbled as he stepped back, rubbing the sore spot on his head where the handmade weapon had hit him, "No fair Kafei, that hurt."

"Oh, I'm sorry Link," Kafei laughed as he lowered his weapon, "I didn't realize the wielder of the 'Tri-force of Courage' was such a wuss, I barely touched you." Taking a seat on a fallen tree, Kafei sighed wearily and stared up at the clouds above as they passed across the blue sky, "Why'd your parents name you after the Hero of Time anyways?"

Link shrugged as he took a seat next to his friend, "I don't know, Grandma said it was because they expected me to do some great things or something like that."

"Living in this excuse for a town? Not likely, we need to live in the city, become soldiers and fight evil for real." Kafei spoke passionately, his eyes still fixated on the sky, "We could meet the King and Princess Zelda, explore all of Hyrule and fight Gannondorf and other bad guys if we were soldiers."

Link stared at Kafei and grinned, "Sure, someday we'll do it, when we're old enough."

"Promise?" The purple haired boy turned to Link.

"Promise." Link said as he got off the log and picked up his sword, "Until then, do you want to practice?" Kafei grabbed his sword and stood opposite Link in the clearing.

"C-Can you guys let me go now please?" Came a whimper from the tree where Colin was tied up, "I need to use the bathroom!"

"Not until Link rescues you!" Kafei yelled out though he kept his eyes on his green clothed friend, "Ready?"

"Ready."