DISCLAIMER:
While this story is mine, all the characters and places within are the
property of Nintendo.
RATING: This chapter has a rating of MA15+. It has extreme violence, and supernatural themes
AUTHORS NOTES: This is my second Zelda story. And my first complete one. I'm really really happy with this one. Think it's one of my best stories. Anyway, read it and tell me what you think. You can email me at RevengeoftheLurch@hotmail.com
SUMMARY Naten meets up with Zink and Lelda, his grandkids and goes off to fight evil. On the way, he meets a beautiful woman with wonderful eyes who can beat him with a sword, is smarter than Zelda and has more magic than Gannon. But isn't a Mary Sue, honest. ;)
Seriously? Summarizing it would spoil it. Read it for yourself.
THE BEGINNING
The full moon shone over the edge of the lost woods, painting the tree's silver with the light. Patches of silver grass swayed back and forth in the breeze as some of the moonlight made it's way through the canopy. The track winding through the tree's had as little light on it as the grass. The gnarled old trees, the grass, the track. The gentle clip clop of the horses hooves, the occasional soft neigh. The occasional jingle of metal on metal. all these things Naten had seen before, but set in silver and black by the moonlight, the whole scene seemed magical. He looked around in wonder as his mother hurried him along beside him. He didn't understand why his mother had told him they were going on a picnic in the middle of the night, or why they required so many bodyguards, but he was too excited to care. His eyes were wide as once familiar images turned surreal in the moonlight. It seemed as though any minute some mystical creature from the legends his nurse told him would walk out from behind a tree. His nurse bent over to say something softly in his mother's ear, and they nodded and quickened their horses pace to a canter. He looked at his nurse beside him, and up at his mother behind him. They didn't look happy. They had said it was a special picnic, but they didn't look very happy at all. They kept looking nervously at the shadows, and behind them. They even looked scared. Naten frowned. "Nurse? Mummy? What's wrong?" He said, worried. His nurse looked at him, a worried expression upon her face. "Hush Naten." She smiled nervously. "We're going for a picnic. Just be a good boy, and be quiet till we get there." Naten looked at her, uncertain. "Are you scared because of the dark?" His nurse looked at his mother for a second, exchanging a look he couldn't understand. Then she laughed nervously at him and nodded. Naten stuck out his chest. "I'm here to protect you. Don't be scared." His nurse laughed at his words, and patted him on the head. Once more, he started looking around him in wonder. Unnoticed, the two woman's faces once more regained their worried expressions.
It was half an hour later, and Naten was getting tired. He had been woken up in the middle of the night for this ride, and his energy had worn out. He watched the forest pass by through half closed eye's as he leaned against his mother. The gentle clip clop of hooves against the ground lulling him into a half stupor. The silver tree's passing by one after the other. Naten watched them pass, thinking of them. That tree, the one with the hollow was interesting. The hollow looked like something lived in it. It passed. He searched for another interesting tree.
That tree over there had a nest in it. A sparrow nest. He knew because his nurse had shown him what a sparrow nest looked like. He liked his nurse. She knew a lot about woods. The tree passed. He looked again. That tree over there. It had a girl sitting in it. She seemed about Natens age. Naten watched through half lidded eye's as the horses slowly made their way past the tree. The girl looked back. She seemed sad. They traveled past the tree. Naten looked for another.
Leyak looked at Naten as he slowly fell asleep in his mother's arms, and smiled, despite everything. She had been chosen as his guardian when she was only fifteen, and had looked after Naten since he had been born. He was like a son to her. The son she never had the chance to have. It was an honor to be selected as the nurse for Kakariko's heir, but she had often thought there had been some mistake. She had always secretly thought that she was far too young to be taking care of a child, let alone make it her living. She had thought the Dream of Seeing she sometimes had were not reason for her to be a good nurse. She had never seen how the Dream of Seeing could help her be a better nurse in the least. Never until tonight, anyway.
Barely had her head hit the pillow before the dreaming had started. In her minds eye, she could see an ocean of darkness to the west, in the dry hilly country held by the western savages. A patch of darkness had separated itself from the ocean, and sped across the land towards Kakariko village. The darkness was led by a single sick purple point, which radiated power. Once it arrived at Kakariko, the darkness spread through the town. Into every house. And as each house was entered, the occupants died. The darkness killed them. Once the townsmen were destroyed, the darkness surrounded the lords manor. Then the purple thing entered the manor seeking to destroy them, only to find it empty. And the darkness left the town at great speed. At this point, Leyak had awoken. It had all the feel of a Dream of Seeing, and for once, she had had no doubts. For some reason beyond her knowledge, the Lady had not doubted her when Leyak had told her. Had not even questioned her. She had just ordered some servants to pack a few supplies and ready their horses, and set off within an hour. Leyak was still having trouble believing it. She had not asked the Lady why. One did not question ones boss. Before they had left, the Lady had sent a messenger to her husband in Lon Lon fort. Leyak had a feeling it would do no good however. The Dream of Seeing was never wrong. And in it, she had seen the castle fall.
The forest around her made her nervous. She disliked traveling so close to the Lost Woods. She had heard rumors that all who entered the Lost Woods never returned. She had heard tales of dead men walking. Of trails which disappeared behind you, and of tree's which fed off your blood. All these were rumors, she knew. But in the silvery light of the moon, anything seemed possible. And no one ever traveled far into the woods. Strange monsters were the least of her worries, she thought, looking nervously around. She hadn't been sure if they had evaded the darkness in her dream. If it hadn't found them in the castle, it would be searching... She went back to scanning the shadows for enemies, her fear tightly under control. Until one of the shadows moved, that is.
She barely had time for a warning before their band was assaulted. Shadowy figures came in from all sides, thrusting long spears into the horse's sides. The night erupted in the sound of the horse's screams. Half the horses dropped, slick black blood erupting from their wounds. The shadows fell back as the horses rolled, and crushed their riders. More of the bodyguards dropped. With the gloom created by the moon and the trees, all she could make out of the attackers were moving shapes, and the occasional flash of a body as it moved through a moonbeam. She reached into her bag, but felt her horse shudder under her, before it collapsed with an almost human shriek of pain. Years of experience on a horse took over, and she rolled expertly off, grunting as she felt something thud into the side of her. She compensated for the blow, and landed on her feet. She closed her eyes and flung the Deku nut she had grabbed blindly in front of her. There was a deafening boom, and a flash so bright it hurt her eyes even with them shut. Her attackers dropped their swords, and clenched their eyes or ears and in pain. The few bodyguards remaining had also been stunned however. Leyak used their distraction to turn around and see how her charge was going. She turned, and saw one of the attackers standing over the Lady, and time seemed to slow.
She saw the Ladys horse, lying on the ground, frothy black blood bubbling out of its mouth as it tried desperately to breath. The Lady, hunched protectively over her son. A flash of moonlight hit the attacker, and Leyak recognized the woman as one of the western savages. With a curved rapier in one hand, the woman was smiling in anticipation. She bent forward and pulling the Lady to her feet by her hair. Leyak could see everything clearly. The moonbeam was now focusing on the Lady. The whole scene was like one of the wall hangings she saw hanging on some of the walls. Just silver and black. The tip of the sword being placed against the back of the Lady's throat was silver. She could see half the savages face. The shadows cast by her features pure black. She could see the Lady, for once in her life not composed, but with silver tears welling in the corners of her eyes, and looking at Leyak with a wordless plea. And Leyak just stood there. A moment past. The woman smiled again. A lone tear ran down the Lady's cheek. And then the western woman slid her sword through the Lady's neck. If time had seemed to slow before, it seemed to almost stop now. Sounds became muted, and all disappeared but the scene before her. A awful bubbling sound as the Lady tried to breath. A stream of black making it's way down from where the sword came through the Ladys neck. The black slick shine on the savages sword as she pulled it free. The Lady falling forward, hands moving to the bloody wound in her neck, and gurgling as the blood ran into her lungs. Naten lying huddled in the path of the falling queen. And a little girl watching from the trees. The girl seemed to sense Leyaks eye's on her, and turned to stare at her. The woman attacker turned her face towards Naten, Leyak transferred her attention to the attacker again, and with a sudden rush, time returned to normal. Leyak's sword was out before she had thought about it, carving the attacker in two. The shriek of one of their own in pain seemed to draw the attention of the half blinded attackers, and they rushed towards her, waving their swords clumsily. While Leyak was a competent swordsman, there was only so much she could do. Taking on a group of these devil woman and surviving wasn't one of them. Another Deku nut blinded them again, and she grabbed Naten from beneath his dead mother and started running through the woods before they recovered. Dodging round trees, tripping over raised roots and running into low branches, the two fled from the butchers. They heard sounds of pursuit, but they quickly faded. They didn't dare to stop though. They were quite soon out of breath, but they continued, deeper and deeper into the woods, seeking the sanctuary of the darkness within.
An hour later, and Leyak was exhausted. They were now moving at a snails pace, slowly inching their way forwards. Here, the trees grew thicker, and blocked out almost all the sunlight. Leyak had slowed her pace to almost a crawl, her eyes unable to see in the little light passing through the canopy high above. There was no grass, only leaf litter, and the gnarled roots of trees. There were luminous fungi everywhere, but none provided enough to see by. Everything was almost pitched black, except for the glowing blobs of fungi. Occasionally balls of light would fly past her as some glowing insect did whatever it was insects do. Leyak was past thinking about it. She had bruised her knees constantly from tripping over tree roots, and had discovered she was bleeding badly from a wound in her side she had no memory of getting. Naten was following her, crying softly. He also sported bruises from tripping over multiple times. But he hadn't once complained. He had just suffered silently.
Leyak stumbled again, and cursed. She would have stopped long ago, but every time she did, she thought she heard something. The rest of the time, the forest was deathly quiet, but every time she stopped, she sensed something moving. She wasn't even sure if it was the attackers anymore. Sometimes it had seemed to be in front of them. Sometimes to the side. Leyak was sure that if it was the attackers, they would have finished her off a long time ago. She was also sure the western woman couldn't have been able to keep up with her. But whatever it was, Leyak was sure its intentions were no better than the attackers. So she kept moving. Kept stumbling forwards. Kept walking. As exhaustion slowly took, awareness faded. It became a matter of just taking one step after another. Holding onto Naten. Waiting for him to stand again when he stumbled. Taking another step. And another. Slower now, Leyak kept moving.
The young girl watched as the Sheikah woman stumbled again. The wound in her side had been bleeding a lot more in the last half hour, and the young girl doubted the woman would be able to rise again. Yet despite the pain, despite the exhaustion, the Sheikah woman slowly made her way back to her feet, leaning against a tree for support, Instead of continuing on though, this time the woman didn't leave the support of the tree. She just stood there for a minute, blood running down her legs, expression set in a mask of determination. She just stood there, before slowly falling back to her knees, then collapsing onto her back. The young girl sighed in satisfaction. The boy stood next to her, his own eyes dull with exhaustion. He just stared at his collapsed guardian for a second, before laying down next to her, and almost instantly drifting off to sleep, grateful that the long walk is over, and he can finally rest. The young girl watched as the Sheikah lays there, her lifeblood slowly seeping into the forest floor. Returning nurturance to the soils. The young girl watched as her skin slowly pales, and her breathing slows. The young girl watched from the shadow of a tree, and waits for the Sheikah woman to die. And the young girl smiled.
Naten woke slowly. He felt like he was waking from a nightmare. All around him was quiet. He couldn't here anything. He opened his eyes, slowly, and saw mist. There was a thick mist everywhere. And in the mist, there were glowing insects flying around. Some of the bigger insects were the size of a small bird, and had a trail of smaller insects copying their every move. Naten turned his head to follow one in wonder, and the insects scattered. Sighing, he looked through the mist, trying to see what else there was. All he saw were trees. Nothing but trees. Huge trees. He couldn't even see any leaves, unless you counted the ones on the ground. He couldn't even see the ground for all the leaves. He looked up. All the leaves were at the top. In the canopy. And it was so far away. It seemed as though he was in a huge building, surrounded by wooden pillars to hold the roof up. He looked around slowly. All the trunks seemed very old. They all had moss growing on one side of them. And they all had really big roots. And a lot of strange things growing on the sides of them. And there really wasn't any ground anywhere. it was all dead leaves. He looked around. And his eye's came to rest on his nurse. She was lying there. So very still. And she was covered in dried blood. Naten got up slowly, and walked over to her. "Nurse?" he said to her still form. "Nurse? Wake up." But she didn't move. He fell to his knee's, and hugged her fearfully. A few tears leaked from his clenched eyes. He stayed there, hugging his nurse, tears soaking into her clothing until he started feeling better. Then a slight scuffle made him look up. There, leaning against a tree not five metres from him stood a girl about his age. Not the one from last night. This one had hair down to her waist. It was golden, Naten noticed. Like his. The girl was just staring at him in wide eyed wonder, hands held behind her back and rocking back and forth on her heels. She was wearing a green tunic. "Hey mister, what are you doing?" Naten just looked at her. She looked back. "Nurse died" he said finally, eye's still red from crying. "She was my nurse and I loved her and she always took care of me and... and..." tears started running down his face, and he started sobbing. The girl looked on for a second, and said "Why are you crying?" The sobbing boy didn't answer. The girl looked on, perplexed. Then shrugging her shoulders, she turned and walked back into the forest.
An hour later, and increasing demands from his stomach pulled Naten back to reality. He slowly got to his feet, and dried his tears, and looked around for the girl from earlier. But she was long gone. So he slowly started walking, looking for berries, or nuts, or anything else in the forest he could eat. Half a hour later, and he still hadn't found anything. He couldn't even tell if he was wandering in circles. All the tree's looked alike. All there was were the tree roots, with the strange growing things on them, the tree trunks, the leaves far above, and the dead ones beneath his feet. The whole forest was starting to creep him out. It wasn't just the total silence. He kept feeling like something was following him. But every time he turned around, nothing was there. And he thought he had heard someone giggling several times too. But every time he'd run towards the sound, it had stopped.
He heard it again. A childish giggle, off in the distance. Ignoring it this time, he continued on, trying to keep a straight line this time. He heard another giggle off to his left this time, and kept going. And then he heard one a few metres in front of him, and a boy stepped out from behind a tree, and looked at him. "You shouldn't have come here" He said gravely. Naten looked at him. "I'm hungry. Can you help me please?" He heard a giggle from behind him this time. The boy in front of him just looked at him. "You shouldn't be here." And he stepped behind the tree again. Naten ran after him. "Wait." He ran around the tree. But there was no one there. The boy was gone. Naten growled angrily to himself, and continued walking. He heard another giggle close by, but ignored it angrily. They'd made a fool of him, and he wasn't going to let them do it again. He just looked at the ground in front of him, and continued walking angrily. The giggling slowly died down, then stopped completely, leaving him to walk in silence again. Until he saw the girl from before standing in front of her holding out some large fruit for him. He walked up to her, and she put the fruit down and backed away, watching him with amusement in her eyes. "Thank you" he said, before picking up the fruit and biting greedily into it. Whatever the fruit was, it was sweet and juicy. Juice ran down his chin as he slowly devoured it. All the while, the girl just stood there, seeming to find some hidden amusement in watching him eat it. Once he had finished, he dropped the large seed to the ground, and wiped his sticky fingers and mouth on his shirt. The girl smiled at him, and ran into the forest. Naten chased her. "Wait." The girl ran for some time, keeping just far enough ahead for Naten to have to run to keep up. Occasionally she'd duck behind a tree and disappear, and Naten would run to the spot and start searching around. But then the girl would appear behind another tree, giggle, and run off again. After twenty minutes of this, Naten thought he could hear something at the edge of his ability to hear. Something besides the girls creepy giggles, and besides his own labored breathing. He continued following the girl, and it became more apparent. Just on the edge of his hearing, he could hear someone playing music on some sort of wind instrument. He continued following the girl until he was close enough to make out the direction, then started walking towards the sounds of the piping. The girl continued running for a bit, before realizing her pursuer was no longer following her. Naten ignored her, and followed the tune. It seemed to ring through the forest without fading in the slightest. He had followed the music for five minutes, and he seemed to be coming to a clearing in front of him. He was almost out of the tree's when the girl stepped in front of him with a curious expression on her face. "How did you come here?" She asked. "How did you find the sacred grove?" Naten looked puzzled. "Sacred grove? I was just following the music." The girl's expression widened in surprise. "You can hear the music?" she asked, disbelief in her voice. Then, to herself quietly "I better tell Sarah." She stepped behind a tree trunk. "Wait!" Naten shouted, and ran around the tree after her. But she was gone. Naten shrugged, and continued into the clearing.
The first thing he noticed was it was no ordinary clearing. Naten hadn't noticed it much, but he had slowly been going downhill. The clearing took up an entire valley, as far as he could make out through the mist. And ahead of him were two walls. Like very small castle walls. With a gate between them. And floating clearly from the other end of the valley was the melody which had drawn him to the clearing in the first place. Naten walked up to the gate, trying to find some way past. The walls were very old, and so was the gate. They were at least a metre thick, and made from crumbling plaster. The walls had moss and small vines growing on it, and the gate looked rusted shut. On the other side of the gate there was another wall, making a corridor. Naten peered through the bars, and could just make out the corridor turning in the distance. Naten reached out to try and shake the gate, but it wouldn't budge. The gate might have been old, but it was still as solid as the earth beneath him, and he couldn't move it in the slightest.
He tried looking around the clearing for some other way past the gate, and started following the walls towards the woods, seeing how far the walls went. He'd just about reached the tree's when he felt a subtle change in the air. He stopped for a few seconds, trying to work out what it was that was different, before realizing the melody had changed. It was barely noticeable, but now there was something different. Some new element. Or perhaps some old part of it had stopped. Whatever it was, it was somehow different now. He turned around, towards where the sound was coming from, and the gate was gone. Completely gone, as though it had never been. Somehow, it no longer bothered Naten. He just accepted it. Too many strange things had happened that day for a disappearing gate to bother him. So without as much as a cursory glance at the place the gate should have been, the boy walked past the gateway, into the corridor and towards the music.
He found the corridors twisting this way and that. Above the walls, he could make out the tops of the tree's, but that was all. It was still eerily quiet, except for the soft sound of the piping. The mist was still quite thick, even though it was the middle of the day now, and glowing insects seemed to be attracted to this place. Whenever he stood still, he thought he could feel something watching him. And once, when he had turned around, the corridor he had just left was nothing more than a crumbling, vine-covered wall. The whole place gave him the creeps. Even more than the forest had. But he was hungry, and the music had something compelling about it, which made him continue to walk towards it. And the corridors he followed always led towards it, never away. Soon, he came to a wider corridor, which was actually paved. It had much thicker and higher walls, and led up the side of a hill with a series of steps.
The piping sound was coming from directly ahead. Naten walked up the steps slowly, till he reached the top of them, and looked around. Even shell shocked, exhausted and hungry as he was, he still couldn't help being a little awed at what he saw. He was in an enormous courtyard, in front of a huge castle. Even though it had all the features of a castle, it somehow reminded him of the cathedral of ages he visited every time they travelled to Hyrule town. But this one was much larger. And was falling to pieces, he noticed. Much of the walls had collapsed, and there was no roof. The entire castle was covered in vines, and there were tree's growing alongside, and even in the castle. The entrance was on the second story, with stairs leading to it. But the stairs had long ago collapsed. The courtyard had several massive tree's in it, along with a few decomposing branches lying on the ground. The walls of the courtyard provided a lot of shade, and the walls and logs and trees were covered in moss. There was also a lot of ferns growing by the base of the walls.
And the courtyard is was where the piping was coming from. The music was all pervading, and yet not deafening. The ever present glowing bug things seemed to dance through the air in time to it. Everything seemed to move with the music, its flow gently controlling everything around it. He looked around the courtyard for the source, and found nothing. He followed his ears, and came in front of one of the fallen trees. He could still see nothing though. He stopped looking, and sat down in something resembling despair. Ever since he had heard the music, he was sure the person making it would help him. But now he couldn't even find them. It was just one more mystery. He just stared at the log in misery, slowly letting the music wash over him. And as the music washed over him, he felt his misery slowly fade. After a while, the melody itself grew quieter and quieter, until Naten could no longer here it. It didn't feel like the melody had ended so much as become too quiet for him to here it. Naten looked up, and watched the place the piping had come from with disinterest. Although he looked like he was standing peacefully just looking at the log, he barely even saw it. All the days events were finally catching up with him. The disappearing girls. His wandering through the forest. The attack in the middle of the night. His mother's death. Tears started welling up in his eyes.
He was lost in the middle of the forest, and he was hungry, and there was no one there to help him, and. Naten quietly sat down, and pulled his knees into his chest, becoming a tight little ball of miserly. And... His mother was dead. Tears started rolling down his cheeks. And his Nurse. He started rocking back and forward. His mother. His Nurse. Dead. A image of his mother collapsing to the ground, blood pouring from the wound in her throat, the Gerudo woman standing over her with a bloodied sword. Dead. Naten sat there, rocking back and forth with tears running down his cheek, as he tried to deal with his grief.
Naten barely heard the piping start again. He noticed it was a different melody this time. Very soft and sweet. But he was paying more attention to how he was feeling than to the music. Regardless, he felt the music sooth him, washing over him in waves and relax him. The gentle bittersweet song reminding him of all the good times he had spend with his mother and nurse, and stopping him from dwelling on her death. All the picnics they had been on. The fencing lessons his nurse had taught him. The small sword his parents had presented him on his tenth birthday. Gradually, his grief eased, and was replaced by sadness, and at the same time happiness for all the good times he'd had. Lulled by the music, Naten drifted off to sleep.
Hours later, Naten was woken by the play of sunlight across his face. He stretched, and yawned, and slowly looked around. With the realization that he wasn't in his bed came the memories of the day and the previous night. But where before the memories of the nights attack had left him grief stricken, now he felt like it had happened a lifetime ago. The death of his nurse and mother saddened him, but nothing more. As he looked around the broken down courtyard, he noticed the music had stopped again. Something about the log caught his eye, and he walked over to it to have a closer look. There was just something about it which didn't look right.
He walked around it, staring at it from every angle, trying to work out what about it seemed wrong. Until he realized that part of the log seemed to resemble a girl holding a wind instrument to her mouth. And the more he looked, the more it resembled one. The ferns growing out the top looked like her hair. That moss could be the tunic she was wearing. And that knothole could be the eyes. And then the knot hole blinked, and the figure moved, and Naten saw the girl sitting in front of him, watching him calmly with the wind instrument in her hands.
Naten looked at her curiously. The girl was wearing a green cotton tunic, and had dark green hair. Not having ever seen someone with green hair, Naten stared. Her hair was cut to just below the ears. And when she suddenly smiled at Naten, he noticed she was quite pretty.
"Hello Naten" the strange girl said. "Do you feel better now??" Naten looked at her with curiosity. "How did you do that? And how do you know my name?"
The strange girl looked at him. "I can't tell you that yet. I'm sorry that all this has happened to you. But some things cannot be prevented..." She seemed to loose track of where she was for a second, looked past him at the crumbling courtyard wall behind him. "And some things." The strange girl stared into space for a few more seconds, before bringing herself back to the present and smiling cheerfully at Naten. "Anyway, I'm Sarah. Nice to finally meet you." A bit nonplussed, Naten stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you Sarah. I'm Naten." Sarah looked at his hand curiously, before picking up a pack at her feet that Naten had failed to notice. "We have to go now." She said, turning towards the steps exiting the courtyard. "Go where?" The strange girl hopped off her log, and picked up a backpack lying at her feet. "To the Deku tree." She started walking towards the stairs leading down out of the courtyard. Naten made no move to follow, so she looked over her shoulder at him and smiled reassuringly at him. "Follow me. I'll answer your questions when we get there." Then she turned back, and started down the stairs. Naten hesitated for a minute, then followed her down the stairs and back into the maze below. It wasn't like he had anywhere else to go.
Once more, the walls were in different places, and they followed a path leading straight out of the valley. Sarah seemed to be quite familiar with the area, and kept stopping and talking to the glowing bugs which flew around. Occasionally, they would chirp back, and she seemed to understand what they were saying. Once they had left the gateway, Sarah pulled out her instrument and played a short melody, and when Naten turned around the gate was once more blocking the way. Curious, he turned to look at it again, but Sarah was already about to enter the forest so he ran after her to catch up.
Sarah waited till he had reached her, and spoke. "Stay close to me Naten, or you'll get lost". And with that, she walked into the forest. Naten shrugged his shoulders and followed. Soon they were once more walking between the massive trunks, the gloom of the Forrest now not so spooky to Naten now he had someone looking after him..
Pretty soon, Naten noticed they were entering another valley. He heard the sound of water bubbling, and they crossed over a small creek, the crystal clear water bubbling and flowing over white sand and water worn rocks. Naten bent over and washed the now-dried juice from his face. The water was ice cold. Sarah just smiled and waited for him to finish.
They continued, following the creek until it reached a cliff overlooking another clearing. Below them, the creek plunged over the cliff before landing in a pool a good distance below them and winding it's way through the clearing. Naten could make out a series of very fat tree's growing apart from each other in the clearing. They looked a lot like giant half buried carrots. They had a huge trunk, followed by a comparatively tiny collection of branches sprouting from the top. As Naten watched, he noticed a small figure dressed in green walk out of one. He looked closer, and realized the figure had walked out of a doorway cut into the side of it. Sarah laughed at his expression of astonishment. "The tree's are our homes." She stated. And started making her way down the cliff. Naten stared at the village of trees for a few more seconds, then followed her.
Sarah led Naten through the clearing. Naten followed, staring in amazement at the trees. Each had doorways cut into them, with curtains hanging over them. A lot of the tree's had a pattern of stripes and dots painted onto them. As he followed Sarah, the people who lived in the trees came out to stare at him. They were all children. And they all wore green. And they all just stared at him. He stared back, just as curious as them. He recognized one of them as the girl who had led him through the Forrest.
Finally Sarah led him out of the clearing, and the children went back to whatever they were doing. He followed, stumbling a little as he continued to look over his shoulder at the village of trees. He followed Sarah as she led him on a narrow path that winded its way through what looked like a dense hedge. It was nothing like the hedges that had lined his garden. This one looked like it had been left to grow wild centuries ago. In a lot of the places, the hedge grew over the top of the path, creating a eairy tunnel effect, with only filtered sunlight making it through. Finally though, they came out of the hedge into another clearing. Sarah ran forward with a delighted laugh, and Naten looked in amazement. In front of him was the biggest tree he had ever seen. The tree's in the Forrest had been big, and had been taller, but this one was Huge. It would take him at least a minute to walk around. The chapel of ages would have easily fit under its canopy. As he slowly entered the clearing, he could feel the tree's presence. As he and Sarah made their way to the trunk, he began to feel like he felt like when he was in church. Slightly in awe of powers he could almost feel, and somewhat humbled. He followed Sarah the final few metres, and copied her as she leaned against it.
At first all he could feel was the rough bark. Then the presence he could feel before intensified. He almost felt like it was flowing through him. The feeling made him feel exhilarated, as though he had been riding his horse for the first time. He looked at Sarah, who had her eyes closed and seemed to be hugging the tree. As he leaned against the tree, he began to here words. Very deep and slow they were. And only in his head.
'I have been waiting for you Naten.' Naten somehow wasn't surprised. He was too lost in awe. 'So the prophecy has come true.' Naten at first said nothing, but a small frown crossed his forehead. 'Prophesy? What...?' '... There shall be a Boy with two mothers. Death will come for him and his family, but the Boy will be given sanctuary in the Forrest of lost children. The boy will live as a lost child until the world's greatest need...' Naten felt like the voice was quoting from something. And that there was much more being left unsaid. 'I'm to remain here?' Naten would have been nervous, but the presence the tree was giving off made such a feeling impossible. 'Yes Naten. As one of the forests lost children. But there are things we need to change before you can be one of us. You will need to submit to the forests magic. I cannot change you into one of us unless you wish it. Is this your will?' Naten looked down. He thought about the children he'd seen. Mysterious. Ducking in and out of trees. The whole Forrest was their playground. But... They didn't seem to have any concept of death. There seemed to be a lot they were completely unaware of. If he were changed, would he stop being...? The tree seemed to read his thoughts. 'Even after I change you, you will still be you. I will change the outer layers of you only. What makes up your essence will remain unchanged.' Naten was reassured. 'And what exactly will you change?' 'Your memories. No one with memories outside the Forrest can stay here. They mark you as an outsider. Once all that marks you from being outside the Forrest is gone, you can become one with us. You will be fully accepted by the Forrest, and it's magic.' 'All that marks me...' 'Like your memories. Your clothes. Even your name. All the children in the Forrest have gone through this. They all now have Forrest names. Do you accept?' Naten thought about it. The children scared him a little. And becoming one of them scared him a little more, despite the tree's reassurances. But it was the only choice to be made, besides leave the Forrest for the mercy of the barbarians that had killed his mother. 'Ok' He thought. And he began to hear music again. He looked at Sarah, but she wasn't playing. The music seemed to come from the tree itself. And as the music played, the presence he had felt before started moving. Traveling through him. And working little magic's, changing him everywhere. It made him feel... strange. He felt his body rebel against it but fought his instinct, and let the music and the magic continue its work. His sight grew dim and he became dizzy as the magic worked in his head. He almost fell over, but sat down first. Soon enough the magic was done.
The boy looked around. He could remember getting here. He could remember traveling through the Forrest with Sara. But that was all. And all of a sudden, the Forrest seemed more alive. He could see which plants were the healthiest. He could hear the song coming from the tree, even though it currently wasn't in a form he could hear. And he could feel the magic in the song now. Feel it as the song coursing out into the forrest. He remembered feeling it before, but only just. Now he could practically taste it. He looked around, and noticed Sarah looking at him. He looked down, and noticed the foreign clothes he was wearing. They just felt wrong. Uncomfortable, itchy and restraining. He tugged and pulled and got out of them, leaving them discarded on the ground. Sarah fished though her backpack and threw him a old but clean tunic, made from rough cotton. He dressed. He turned to Sarah, and looked at her inquisitively. Then when she did nothing, turned to re-enter the village.
'Boy...' The boy turned to the tree. The Deku Tree he now realized. 'Yes?' 'You still need a name.' 'But I have a..' He could remember knowing his name, but he couldn't remember it now. The boy thought. 'Yes. I need a name.' 'As time passes, All shall know of you.' Spoke the Great Deku Tree. 'And they shall know of you as Link'
Link turned, and entered the village.
End chapter one
AUTHORS NOTES
This is pretty much a prelude to Ocarina of Time. I was trying to write some more of my Zelda series, but I was having trouble with writing Ruto cause I hadn't yet set out her character. So I did so. What makes her tick. Her life, her feelings, how she's treated and all that. And then I started to do that for Link. Only, to do it for him, I had to describe the Kokiri first. At which point I got inspired to write this. At some stage I'll continue, and write the whole of the Ocarina of Time.
RATING: This chapter has a rating of MA15+. It has extreme violence, and supernatural themes
AUTHORS NOTES: This is my second Zelda story. And my first complete one. I'm really really happy with this one. Think it's one of my best stories. Anyway, read it and tell me what you think. You can email me at RevengeoftheLurch@hotmail.com
SUMMARY Naten meets up with Zink and Lelda, his grandkids and goes off to fight evil. On the way, he meets a beautiful woman with wonderful eyes who can beat him with a sword, is smarter than Zelda and has more magic than Gannon. But isn't a Mary Sue, honest. ;)
Seriously? Summarizing it would spoil it. Read it for yourself.
THE BEGINNING
The full moon shone over the edge of the lost woods, painting the tree's silver with the light. Patches of silver grass swayed back and forth in the breeze as some of the moonlight made it's way through the canopy. The track winding through the tree's had as little light on it as the grass. The gnarled old trees, the grass, the track. The gentle clip clop of the horses hooves, the occasional soft neigh. The occasional jingle of metal on metal. all these things Naten had seen before, but set in silver and black by the moonlight, the whole scene seemed magical. He looked around in wonder as his mother hurried him along beside him. He didn't understand why his mother had told him they were going on a picnic in the middle of the night, or why they required so many bodyguards, but he was too excited to care. His eyes were wide as once familiar images turned surreal in the moonlight. It seemed as though any minute some mystical creature from the legends his nurse told him would walk out from behind a tree. His nurse bent over to say something softly in his mother's ear, and they nodded and quickened their horses pace to a canter. He looked at his nurse beside him, and up at his mother behind him. They didn't look happy. They had said it was a special picnic, but they didn't look very happy at all. They kept looking nervously at the shadows, and behind them. They even looked scared. Naten frowned. "Nurse? Mummy? What's wrong?" He said, worried. His nurse looked at him, a worried expression upon her face. "Hush Naten." She smiled nervously. "We're going for a picnic. Just be a good boy, and be quiet till we get there." Naten looked at her, uncertain. "Are you scared because of the dark?" His nurse looked at his mother for a second, exchanging a look he couldn't understand. Then she laughed nervously at him and nodded. Naten stuck out his chest. "I'm here to protect you. Don't be scared." His nurse laughed at his words, and patted him on the head. Once more, he started looking around him in wonder. Unnoticed, the two woman's faces once more regained their worried expressions.
It was half an hour later, and Naten was getting tired. He had been woken up in the middle of the night for this ride, and his energy had worn out. He watched the forest pass by through half closed eye's as he leaned against his mother. The gentle clip clop of hooves against the ground lulling him into a half stupor. The silver tree's passing by one after the other. Naten watched them pass, thinking of them. That tree, the one with the hollow was interesting. The hollow looked like something lived in it. It passed. He searched for another interesting tree.
That tree over there had a nest in it. A sparrow nest. He knew because his nurse had shown him what a sparrow nest looked like. He liked his nurse. She knew a lot about woods. The tree passed. He looked again. That tree over there. It had a girl sitting in it. She seemed about Natens age. Naten watched through half lidded eye's as the horses slowly made their way past the tree. The girl looked back. She seemed sad. They traveled past the tree. Naten looked for another.
Leyak looked at Naten as he slowly fell asleep in his mother's arms, and smiled, despite everything. She had been chosen as his guardian when she was only fifteen, and had looked after Naten since he had been born. He was like a son to her. The son she never had the chance to have. It was an honor to be selected as the nurse for Kakariko's heir, but she had often thought there had been some mistake. She had always secretly thought that she was far too young to be taking care of a child, let alone make it her living. She had thought the Dream of Seeing she sometimes had were not reason for her to be a good nurse. She had never seen how the Dream of Seeing could help her be a better nurse in the least. Never until tonight, anyway.
Barely had her head hit the pillow before the dreaming had started. In her minds eye, she could see an ocean of darkness to the west, in the dry hilly country held by the western savages. A patch of darkness had separated itself from the ocean, and sped across the land towards Kakariko village. The darkness was led by a single sick purple point, which radiated power. Once it arrived at Kakariko, the darkness spread through the town. Into every house. And as each house was entered, the occupants died. The darkness killed them. Once the townsmen were destroyed, the darkness surrounded the lords manor. Then the purple thing entered the manor seeking to destroy them, only to find it empty. And the darkness left the town at great speed. At this point, Leyak had awoken. It had all the feel of a Dream of Seeing, and for once, she had had no doubts. For some reason beyond her knowledge, the Lady had not doubted her when Leyak had told her. Had not even questioned her. She had just ordered some servants to pack a few supplies and ready their horses, and set off within an hour. Leyak was still having trouble believing it. She had not asked the Lady why. One did not question ones boss. Before they had left, the Lady had sent a messenger to her husband in Lon Lon fort. Leyak had a feeling it would do no good however. The Dream of Seeing was never wrong. And in it, she had seen the castle fall.
The forest around her made her nervous. She disliked traveling so close to the Lost Woods. She had heard rumors that all who entered the Lost Woods never returned. She had heard tales of dead men walking. Of trails which disappeared behind you, and of tree's which fed off your blood. All these were rumors, she knew. But in the silvery light of the moon, anything seemed possible. And no one ever traveled far into the woods. Strange monsters were the least of her worries, she thought, looking nervously around. She hadn't been sure if they had evaded the darkness in her dream. If it hadn't found them in the castle, it would be searching... She went back to scanning the shadows for enemies, her fear tightly under control. Until one of the shadows moved, that is.
She barely had time for a warning before their band was assaulted. Shadowy figures came in from all sides, thrusting long spears into the horse's sides. The night erupted in the sound of the horse's screams. Half the horses dropped, slick black blood erupting from their wounds. The shadows fell back as the horses rolled, and crushed their riders. More of the bodyguards dropped. With the gloom created by the moon and the trees, all she could make out of the attackers were moving shapes, and the occasional flash of a body as it moved through a moonbeam. She reached into her bag, but felt her horse shudder under her, before it collapsed with an almost human shriek of pain. Years of experience on a horse took over, and she rolled expertly off, grunting as she felt something thud into the side of her. She compensated for the blow, and landed on her feet. She closed her eyes and flung the Deku nut she had grabbed blindly in front of her. There was a deafening boom, and a flash so bright it hurt her eyes even with them shut. Her attackers dropped their swords, and clenched their eyes or ears and in pain. The few bodyguards remaining had also been stunned however. Leyak used their distraction to turn around and see how her charge was going. She turned, and saw one of the attackers standing over the Lady, and time seemed to slow.
She saw the Ladys horse, lying on the ground, frothy black blood bubbling out of its mouth as it tried desperately to breath. The Lady, hunched protectively over her son. A flash of moonlight hit the attacker, and Leyak recognized the woman as one of the western savages. With a curved rapier in one hand, the woman was smiling in anticipation. She bent forward and pulling the Lady to her feet by her hair. Leyak could see everything clearly. The moonbeam was now focusing on the Lady. The whole scene was like one of the wall hangings she saw hanging on some of the walls. Just silver and black. The tip of the sword being placed against the back of the Lady's throat was silver. She could see half the savages face. The shadows cast by her features pure black. She could see the Lady, for once in her life not composed, but with silver tears welling in the corners of her eyes, and looking at Leyak with a wordless plea. And Leyak just stood there. A moment past. The woman smiled again. A lone tear ran down the Lady's cheek. And then the western woman slid her sword through the Lady's neck. If time had seemed to slow before, it seemed to almost stop now. Sounds became muted, and all disappeared but the scene before her. A awful bubbling sound as the Lady tried to breath. A stream of black making it's way down from where the sword came through the Ladys neck. The black slick shine on the savages sword as she pulled it free. The Lady falling forward, hands moving to the bloody wound in her neck, and gurgling as the blood ran into her lungs. Naten lying huddled in the path of the falling queen. And a little girl watching from the trees. The girl seemed to sense Leyaks eye's on her, and turned to stare at her. The woman attacker turned her face towards Naten, Leyak transferred her attention to the attacker again, and with a sudden rush, time returned to normal. Leyak's sword was out before she had thought about it, carving the attacker in two. The shriek of one of their own in pain seemed to draw the attention of the half blinded attackers, and they rushed towards her, waving their swords clumsily. While Leyak was a competent swordsman, there was only so much she could do. Taking on a group of these devil woman and surviving wasn't one of them. Another Deku nut blinded them again, and she grabbed Naten from beneath his dead mother and started running through the woods before they recovered. Dodging round trees, tripping over raised roots and running into low branches, the two fled from the butchers. They heard sounds of pursuit, but they quickly faded. They didn't dare to stop though. They were quite soon out of breath, but they continued, deeper and deeper into the woods, seeking the sanctuary of the darkness within.
An hour later, and Leyak was exhausted. They were now moving at a snails pace, slowly inching their way forwards. Here, the trees grew thicker, and blocked out almost all the sunlight. Leyak had slowed her pace to almost a crawl, her eyes unable to see in the little light passing through the canopy high above. There was no grass, only leaf litter, and the gnarled roots of trees. There were luminous fungi everywhere, but none provided enough to see by. Everything was almost pitched black, except for the glowing blobs of fungi. Occasionally balls of light would fly past her as some glowing insect did whatever it was insects do. Leyak was past thinking about it. She had bruised her knees constantly from tripping over tree roots, and had discovered she was bleeding badly from a wound in her side she had no memory of getting. Naten was following her, crying softly. He also sported bruises from tripping over multiple times. But he hadn't once complained. He had just suffered silently.
Leyak stumbled again, and cursed. She would have stopped long ago, but every time she did, she thought she heard something. The rest of the time, the forest was deathly quiet, but every time she stopped, she sensed something moving. She wasn't even sure if it was the attackers anymore. Sometimes it had seemed to be in front of them. Sometimes to the side. Leyak was sure that if it was the attackers, they would have finished her off a long time ago. She was also sure the western woman couldn't have been able to keep up with her. But whatever it was, Leyak was sure its intentions were no better than the attackers. So she kept moving. Kept stumbling forwards. Kept walking. As exhaustion slowly took, awareness faded. It became a matter of just taking one step after another. Holding onto Naten. Waiting for him to stand again when he stumbled. Taking another step. And another. Slower now, Leyak kept moving.
The young girl watched as the Sheikah woman stumbled again. The wound in her side had been bleeding a lot more in the last half hour, and the young girl doubted the woman would be able to rise again. Yet despite the pain, despite the exhaustion, the Sheikah woman slowly made her way back to her feet, leaning against a tree for support, Instead of continuing on though, this time the woman didn't leave the support of the tree. She just stood there for a minute, blood running down her legs, expression set in a mask of determination. She just stood there, before slowly falling back to her knees, then collapsing onto her back. The young girl sighed in satisfaction. The boy stood next to her, his own eyes dull with exhaustion. He just stared at his collapsed guardian for a second, before laying down next to her, and almost instantly drifting off to sleep, grateful that the long walk is over, and he can finally rest. The young girl watched as the Sheikah lays there, her lifeblood slowly seeping into the forest floor. Returning nurturance to the soils. The young girl watched as her skin slowly pales, and her breathing slows. The young girl watched from the shadow of a tree, and waits for the Sheikah woman to die. And the young girl smiled.
Naten woke slowly. He felt like he was waking from a nightmare. All around him was quiet. He couldn't here anything. He opened his eyes, slowly, and saw mist. There was a thick mist everywhere. And in the mist, there were glowing insects flying around. Some of the bigger insects were the size of a small bird, and had a trail of smaller insects copying their every move. Naten turned his head to follow one in wonder, and the insects scattered. Sighing, he looked through the mist, trying to see what else there was. All he saw were trees. Nothing but trees. Huge trees. He couldn't even see any leaves, unless you counted the ones on the ground. He couldn't even see the ground for all the leaves. He looked up. All the leaves were at the top. In the canopy. And it was so far away. It seemed as though he was in a huge building, surrounded by wooden pillars to hold the roof up. He looked around slowly. All the trunks seemed very old. They all had moss growing on one side of them. And they all had really big roots. And a lot of strange things growing on the sides of them. And there really wasn't any ground anywhere. it was all dead leaves. He looked around. And his eye's came to rest on his nurse. She was lying there. So very still. And she was covered in dried blood. Naten got up slowly, and walked over to her. "Nurse?" he said to her still form. "Nurse? Wake up." But she didn't move. He fell to his knee's, and hugged her fearfully. A few tears leaked from his clenched eyes. He stayed there, hugging his nurse, tears soaking into her clothing until he started feeling better. Then a slight scuffle made him look up. There, leaning against a tree not five metres from him stood a girl about his age. Not the one from last night. This one had hair down to her waist. It was golden, Naten noticed. Like his. The girl was just staring at him in wide eyed wonder, hands held behind her back and rocking back and forth on her heels. She was wearing a green tunic. "Hey mister, what are you doing?" Naten just looked at her. She looked back. "Nurse died" he said finally, eye's still red from crying. "She was my nurse and I loved her and she always took care of me and... and..." tears started running down his face, and he started sobbing. The girl looked on for a second, and said "Why are you crying?" The sobbing boy didn't answer. The girl looked on, perplexed. Then shrugging her shoulders, she turned and walked back into the forest.
An hour later, and increasing demands from his stomach pulled Naten back to reality. He slowly got to his feet, and dried his tears, and looked around for the girl from earlier. But she was long gone. So he slowly started walking, looking for berries, or nuts, or anything else in the forest he could eat. Half a hour later, and he still hadn't found anything. He couldn't even tell if he was wandering in circles. All the tree's looked alike. All there was were the tree roots, with the strange growing things on them, the tree trunks, the leaves far above, and the dead ones beneath his feet. The whole forest was starting to creep him out. It wasn't just the total silence. He kept feeling like something was following him. But every time he turned around, nothing was there. And he thought he had heard someone giggling several times too. But every time he'd run towards the sound, it had stopped.
He heard it again. A childish giggle, off in the distance. Ignoring it this time, he continued on, trying to keep a straight line this time. He heard another giggle off to his left this time, and kept going. And then he heard one a few metres in front of him, and a boy stepped out from behind a tree, and looked at him. "You shouldn't have come here" He said gravely. Naten looked at him. "I'm hungry. Can you help me please?" He heard a giggle from behind him this time. The boy in front of him just looked at him. "You shouldn't be here." And he stepped behind the tree again. Naten ran after him. "Wait." He ran around the tree. But there was no one there. The boy was gone. Naten growled angrily to himself, and continued walking. He heard another giggle close by, but ignored it angrily. They'd made a fool of him, and he wasn't going to let them do it again. He just looked at the ground in front of him, and continued walking angrily. The giggling slowly died down, then stopped completely, leaving him to walk in silence again. Until he saw the girl from before standing in front of her holding out some large fruit for him. He walked up to her, and she put the fruit down and backed away, watching him with amusement in her eyes. "Thank you" he said, before picking up the fruit and biting greedily into it. Whatever the fruit was, it was sweet and juicy. Juice ran down his chin as he slowly devoured it. All the while, the girl just stood there, seeming to find some hidden amusement in watching him eat it. Once he had finished, he dropped the large seed to the ground, and wiped his sticky fingers and mouth on his shirt. The girl smiled at him, and ran into the forest. Naten chased her. "Wait." The girl ran for some time, keeping just far enough ahead for Naten to have to run to keep up. Occasionally she'd duck behind a tree and disappear, and Naten would run to the spot and start searching around. But then the girl would appear behind another tree, giggle, and run off again. After twenty minutes of this, Naten thought he could hear something at the edge of his ability to hear. Something besides the girls creepy giggles, and besides his own labored breathing. He continued following the girl, and it became more apparent. Just on the edge of his hearing, he could hear someone playing music on some sort of wind instrument. He continued following the girl until he was close enough to make out the direction, then started walking towards the sounds of the piping. The girl continued running for a bit, before realizing her pursuer was no longer following her. Naten ignored her, and followed the tune. It seemed to ring through the forest without fading in the slightest. He had followed the music for five minutes, and he seemed to be coming to a clearing in front of him. He was almost out of the tree's when the girl stepped in front of him with a curious expression on her face. "How did you come here?" She asked. "How did you find the sacred grove?" Naten looked puzzled. "Sacred grove? I was just following the music." The girl's expression widened in surprise. "You can hear the music?" she asked, disbelief in her voice. Then, to herself quietly "I better tell Sarah." She stepped behind a tree trunk. "Wait!" Naten shouted, and ran around the tree after her. But she was gone. Naten shrugged, and continued into the clearing.
The first thing he noticed was it was no ordinary clearing. Naten hadn't noticed it much, but he had slowly been going downhill. The clearing took up an entire valley, as far as he could make out through the mist. And ahead of him were two walls. Like very small castle walls. With a gate between them. And floating clearly from the other end of the valley was the melody which had drawn him to the clearing in the first place. Naten walked up to the gate, trying to find some way past. The walls were very old, and so was the gate. They were at least a metre thick, and made from crumbling plaster. The walls had moss and small vines growing on it, and the gate looked rusted shut. On the other side of the gate there was another wall, making a corridor. Naten peered through the bars, and could just make out the corridor turning in the distance. Naten reached out to try and shake the gate, but it wouldn't budge. The gate might have been old, but it was still as solid as the earth beneath him, and he couldn't move it in the slightest.
He tried looking around the clearing for some other way past the gate, and started following the walls towards the woods, seeing how far the walls went. He'd just about reached the tree's when he felt a subtle change in the air. He stopped for a few seconds, trying to work out what it was that was different, before realizing the melody had changed. It was barely noticeable, but now there was something different. Some new element. Or perhaps some old part of it had stopped. Whatever it was, it was somehow different now. He turned around, towards where the sound was coming from, and the gate was gone. Completely gone, as though it had never been. Somehow, it no longer bothered Naten. He just accepted it. Too many strange things had happened that day for a disappearing gate to bother him. So without as much as a cursory glance at the place the gate should have been, the boy walked past the gateway, into the corridor and towards the music.
He found the corridors twisting this way and that. Above the walls, he could make out the tops of the tree's, but that was all. It was still eerily quiet, except for the soft sound of the piping. The mist was still quite thick, even though it was the middle of the day now, and glowing insects seemed to be attracted to this place. Whenever he stood still, he thought he could feel something watching him. And once, when he had turned around, the corridor he had just left was nothing more than a crumbling, vine-covered wall. The whole place gave him the creeps. Even more than the forest had. But he was hungry, and the music had something compelling about it, which made him continue to walk towards it. And the corridors he followed always led towards it, never away. Soon, he came to a wider corridor, which was actually paved. It had much thicker and higher walls, and led up the side of a hill with a series of steps.
The piping sound was coming from directly ahead. Naten walked up the steps slowly, till he reached the top of them, and looked around. Even shell shocked, exhausted and hungry as he was, he still couldn't help being a little awed at what he saw. He was in an enormous courtyard, in front of a huge castle. Even though it had all the features of a castle, it somehow reminded him of the cathedral of ages he visited every time they travelled to Hyrule town. But this one was much larger. And was falling to pieces, he noticed. Much of the walls had collapsed, and there was no roof. The entire castle was covered in vines, and there were tree's growing alongside, and even in the castle. The entrance was on the second story, with stairs leading to it. But the stairs had long ago collapsed. The courtyard had several massive tree's in it, along with a few decomposing branches lying on the ground. The walls of the courtyard provided a lot of shade, and the walls and logs and trees were covered in moss. There was also a lot of ferns growing by the base of the walls.
And the courtyard is was where the piping was coming from. The music was all pervading, and yet not deafening. The ever present glowing bug things seemed to dance through the air in time to it. Everything seemed to move with the music, its flow gently controlling everything around it. He looked around the courtyard for the source, and found nothing. He followed his ears, and came in front of one of the fallen trees. He could still see nothing though. He stopped looking, and sat down in something resembling despair. Ever since he had heard the music, he was sure the person making it would help him. But now he couldn't even find them. It was just one more mystery. He just stared at the log in misery, slowly letting the music wash over him. And as the music washed over him, he felt his misery slowly fade. After a while, the melody itself grew quieter and quieter, until Naten could no longer here it. It didn't feel like the melody had ended so much as become too quiet for him to here it. Naten looked up, and watched the place the piping had come from with disinterest. Although he looked like he was standing peacefully just looking at the log, he barely even saw it. All the days events were finally catching up with him. The disappearing girls. His wandering through the forest. The attack in the middle of the night. His mother's death. Tears started welling up in his eyes.
He was lost in the middle of the forest, and he was hungry, and there was no one there to help him, and. Naten quietly sat down, and pulled his knees into his chest, becoming a tight little ball of miserly. And... His mother was dead. Tears started rolling down his cheeks. And his Nurse. He started rocking back and forward. His mother. His Nurse. Dead. A image of his mother collapsing to the ground, blood pouring from the wound in her throat, the Gerudo woman standing over her with a bloodied sword. Dead. Naten sat there, rocking back and forth with tears running down his cheek, as he tried to deal with his grief.
Naten barely heard the piping start again. He noticed it was a different melody this time. Very soft and sweet. But he was paying more attention to how he was feeling than to the music. Regardless, he felt the music sooth him, washing over him in waves and relax him. The gentle bittersweet song reminding him of all the good times he had spend with his mother and nurse, and stopping him from dwelling on her death. All the picnics they had been on. The fencing lessons his nurse had taught him. The small sword his parents had presented him on his tenth birthday. Gradually, his grief eased, and was replaced by sadness, and at the same time happiness for all the good times he'd had. Lulled by the music, Naten drifted off to sleep.
Hours later, Naten was woken by the play of sunlight across his face. He stretched, and yawned, and slowly looked around. With the realization that he wasn't in his bed came the memories of the day and the previous night. But where before the memories of the nights attack had left him grief stricken, now he felt like it had happened a lifetime ago. The death of his nurse and mother saddened him, but nothing more. As he looked around the broken down courtyard, he noticed the music had stopped again. Something about the log caught his eye, and he walked over to it to have a closer look. There was just something about it which didn't look right.
He walked around it, staring at it from every angle, trying to work out what about it seemed wrong. Until he realized that part of the log seemed to resemble a girl holding a wind instrument to her mouth. And the more he looked, the more it resembled one. The ferns growing out the top looked like her hair. That moss could be the tunic she was wearing. And that knothole could be the eyes. And then the knot hole blinked, and the figure moved, and Naten saw the girl sitting in front of him, watching him calmly with the wind instrument in her hands.
Naten looked at her curiously. The girl was wearing a green cotton tunic, and had dark green hair. Not having ever seen someone with green hair, Naten stared. Her hair was cut to just below the ears. And when she suddenly smiled at Naten, he noticed she was quite pretty.
"Hello Naten" the strange girl said. "Do you feel better now??" Naten looked at her with curiosity. "How did you do that? And how do you know my name?"
The strange girl looked at him. "I can't tell you that yet. I'm sorry that all this has happened to you. But some things cannot be prevented..." She seemed to loose track of where she was for a second, looked past him at the crumbling courtyard wall behind him. "And some things." The strange girl stared into space for a few more seconds, before bringing herself back to the present and smiling cheerfully at Naten. "Anyway, I'm Sarah. Nice to finally meet you." A bit nonplussed, Naten stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you Sarah. I'm Naten." Sarah looked at his hand curiously, before picking up a pack at her feet that Naten had failed to notice. "We have to go now." She said, turning towards the steps exiting the courtyard. "Go where?" The strange girl hopped off her log, and picked up a backpack lying at her feet. "To the Deku tree." She started walking towards the stairs leading down out of the courtyard. Naten made no move to follow, so she looked over her shoulder at him and smiled reassuringly at him. "Follow me. I'll answer your questions when we get there." Then she turned back, and started down the stairs. Naten hesitated for a minute, then followed her down the stairs and back into the maze below. It wasn't like he had anywhere else to go.
Once more, the walls were in different places, and they followed a path leading straight out of the valley. Sarah seemed to be quite familiar with the area, and kept stopping and talking to the glowing bugs which flew around. Occasionally, they would chirp back, and she seemed to understand what they were saying. Once they had left the gateway, Sarah pulled out her instrument and played a short melody, and when Naten turned around the gate was once more blocking the way. Curious, he turned to look at it again, but Sarah was already about to enter the forest so he ran after her to catch up.
Sarah waited till he had reached her, and spoke. "Stay close to me Naten, or you'll get lost". And with that, she walked into the forest. Naten shrugged his shoulders and followed. Soon they were once more walking between the massive trunks, the gloom of the Forrest now not so spooky to Naten now he had someone looking after him..
Pretty soon, Naten noticed they were entering another valley. He heard the sound of water bubbling, and they crossed over a small creek, the crystal clear water bubbling and flowing over white sand and water worn rocks. Naten bent over and washed the now-dried juice from his face. The water was ice cold. Sarah just smiled and waited for him to finish.
They continued, following the creek until it reached a cliff overlooking another clearing. Below them, the creek plunged over the cliff before landing in a pool a good distance below them and winding it's way through the clearing. Naten could make out a series of very fat tree's growing apart from each other in the clearing. They looked a lot like giant half buried carrots. They had a huge trunk, followed by a comparatively tiny collection of branches sprouting from the top. As Naten watched, he noticed a small figure dressed in green walk out of one. He looked closer, and realized the figure had walked out of a doorway cut into the side of it. Sarah laughed at his expression of astonishment. "The tree's are our homes." She stated. And started making her way down the cliff. Naten stared at the village of trees for a few more seconds, then followed her.
Sarah led Naten through the clearing. Naten followed, staring in amazement at the trees. Each had doorways cut into them, with curtains hanging over them. A lot of the tree's had a pattern of stripes and dots painted onto them. As he followed Sarah, the people who lived in the trees came out to stare at him. They were all children. And they all wore green. And they all just stared at him. He stared back, just as curious as them. He recognized one of them as the girl who had led him through the Forrest.
Finally Sarah led him out of the clearing, and the children went back to whatever they were doing. He followed, stumbling a little as he continued to look over his shoulder at the village of trees. He followed Sarah as she led him on a narrow path that winded its way through what looked like a dense hedge. It was nothing like the hedges that had lined his garden. This one looked like it had been left to grow wild centuries ago. In a lot of the places, the hedge grew over the top of the path, creating a eairy tunnel effect, with only filtered sunlight making it through. Finally though, they came out of the hedge into another clearing. Sarah ran forward with a delighted laugh, and Naten looked in amazement. In front of him was the biggest tree he had ever seen. The tree's in the Forrest had been big, and had been taller, but this one was Huge. It would take him at least a minute to walk around. The chapel of ages would have easily fit under its canopy. As he slowly entered the clearing, he could feel the tree's presence. As he and Sarah made their way to the trunk, he began to feel like he felt like when he was in church. Slightly in awe of powers he could almost feel, and somewhat humbled. He followed Sarah the final few metres, and copied her as she leaned against it.
At first all he could feel was the rough bark. Then the presence he could feel before intensified. He almost felt like it was flowing through him. The feeling made him feel exhilarated, as though he had been riding his horse for the first time. He looked at Sarah, who had her eyes closed and seemed to be hugging the tree. As he leaned against the tree, he began to here words. Very deep and slow they were. And only in his head.
'I have been waiting for you Naten.' Naten somehow wasn't surprised. He was too lost in awe. 'So the prophecy has come true.' Naten at first said nothing, but a small frown crossed his forehead. 'Prophesy? What...?' '... There shall be a Boy with two mothers. Death will come for him and his family, but the Boy will be given sanctuary in the Forrest of lost children. The boy will live as a lost child until the world's greatest need...' Naten felt like the voice was quoting from something. And that there was much more being left unsaid. 'I'm to remain here?' Naten would have been nervous, but the presence the tree was giving off made such a feeling impossible. 'Yes Naten. As one of the forests lost children. But there are things we need to change before you can be one of us. You will need to submit to the forests magic. I cannot change you into one of us unless you wish it. Is this your will?' Naten looked down. He thought about the children he'd seen. Mysterious. Ducking in and out of trees. The whole Forrest was their playground. But... They didn't seem to have any concept of death. There seemed to be a lot they were completely unaware of. If he were changed, would he stop being...? The tree seemed to read his thoughts. 'Even after I change you, you will still be you. I will change the outer layers of you only. What makes up your essence will remain unchanged.' Naten was reassured. 'And what exactly will you change?' 'Your memories. No one with memories outside the Forrest can stay here. They mark you as an outsider. Once all that marks you from being outside the Forrest is gone, you can become one with us. You will be fully accepted by the Forrest, and it's magic.' 'All that marks me...' 'Like your memories. Your clothes. Even your name. All the children in the Forrest have gone through this. They all now have Forrest names. Do you accept?' Naten thought about it. The children scared him a little. And becoming one of them scared him a little more, despite the tree's reassurances. But it was the only choice to be made, besides leave the Forrest for the mercy of the barbarians that had killed his mother. 'Ok' He thought. And he began to hear music again. He looked at Sarah, but she wasn't playing. The music seemed to come from the tree itself. And as the music played, the presence he had felt before started moving. Traveling through him. And working little magic's, changing him everywhere. It made him feel... strange. He felt his body rebel against it but fought his instinct, and let the music and the magic continue its work. His sight grew dim and he became dizzy as the magic worked in his head. He almost fell over, but sat down first. Soon enough the magic was done.
The boy looked around. He could remember getting here. He could remember traveling through the Forrest with Sara. But that was all. And all of a sudden, the Forrest seemed more alive. He could see which plants were the healthiest. He could hear the song coming from the tree, even though it currently wasn't in a form he could hear. And he could feel the magic in the song now. Feel it as the song coursing out into the forrest. He remembered feeling it before, but only just. Now he could practically taste it. He looked around, and noticed Sarah looking at him. He looked down, and noticed the foreign clothes he was wearing. They just felt wrong. Uncomfortable, itchy and restraining. He tugged and pulled and got out of them, leaving them discarded on the ground. Sarah fished though her backpack and threw him a old but clean tunic, made from rough cotton. He dressed. He turned to Sarah, and looked at her inquisitively. Then when she did nothing, turned to re-enter the village.
'Boy...' The boy turned to the tree. The Deku Tree he now realized. 'Yes?' 'You still need a name.' 'But I have a..' He could remember knowing his name, but he couldn't remember it now. The boy thought. 'Yes. I need a name.' 'As time passes, All shall know of you.' Spoke the Great Deku Tree. 'And they shall know of you as Link'
Link turned, and entered the village.
End chapter one
AUTHORS NOTES
This is pretty much a prelude to Ocarina of Time. I was trying to write some more of my Zelda series, but I was having trouble with writing Ruto cause I hadn't yet set out her character. So I did so. What makes her tick. Her life, her feelings, how she's treated and all that. And then I started to do that for Link. Only, to do it for him, I had to describe the Kokiri first. At which point I got inspired to write this. At some stage I'll continue, and write the whole of the Ocarina of Time.
