The Legend of Zelda:
The Links of Time

Prologue

Spectacle Rock, Dark World
1675 A.D. (After Deluge) …

Link dropped to his hands and knees. The Master Sword clattered on the granite a foot away. In the distance, a man fell to his back, panting.

The man, his face contorted by the dark power of black magic, gazed over at the boy with a cold stare. "I killed your family," he bellowed in a breathless tone. "I killed your family, Arn and Medilia. I imprisoned Queen Seline of Catalia."

Link looked over at him with a smirk. Sweat dripped from the boy's face. He sat up then rubbed a light smear of blood from a scrape on his elbow. "And now they're avenged. Go ahead, old man – gloat with your dying breath. It's all you know how to do."

"I, Mandrag Ganon, will outlive the legends about me. I've conquered Hyrule, Holodrum, Labrynna and more. I sent Skyloft crashing into the ocean, which created a tsunami that devastated and flooded Hyrule for ages. And when they said the gods flooded the land with rain, they had no idea that was also my doing. I drowned that miserable kingdom. I am beyond your comprehension. I have summoned the soul of Ghiranim when I was still mortal, when I was still prancing about this miserable little world as Ganondorf Dragmire."

Link afforded Ganon with another tired smirk. "And now look at you, laid out flat on your backside, an arrow jutting from your chest. Brag all you want."

Ganon reached up and pulled a heavy silver arrow from his torso. It clattered on the rock surface. "And you, boy, in your little red tunic, parading about, and waving your little white sword with the little blue handle. Do you know how many times you've tried to stop me? How many…versions of you? Do you know how many of your ancestors have tried to stop me? How many times you've tried to kill me off 'for good' since even before the Great Flood? Yes, that's right… This all began long before the Deluge happened. And it will continue right down the line of your descendants. I will never truly be gone forever."

Link rose to his feet, picked up his sword and rubbed his forehead with the backside of his other hand. "You speak bold words for a man who looks like a pig and just had his insides brought to the light of day. For a man nearly cleft in twain. You speak bold words for a man imprisoned here in the sacred realm. A man who cannot lead his own battle in the light world, so he has mindless creatures doing it for him… I've broken your spine with that final blow. All you can do is talk and flail your arms, now."

Ganon panted softly, lying on his side. "Aye. You've severed my spine. I cannot feel my legs. My back is broken. But I will heal. I made my wish on the Triforce when I came here so long ago, a thousand years before the Great Flood. And do you know what I've done with all this time? I learned about the world before Hylians, before Hylia."

Link sneered. "Before Hylia, there was Din, Nayru and Fa-…"

"The three Goddesses were not what you think, fool!" Ganon eased up onto an elbow, unable to feel anything below the waist. "The mythology wasn't completely wrong, but all the details are wrong."

"You have such hubris on your death bed. I pity you." Link approached him and nudged him with his boot.

Ganon reached up and touched Link's power glove. "Have you ever wondered where this technology came from? A cloak that makes you invisible? The Staff of Byrna, that makes you invulnerable to attack; a pendant that allows you to freeze or explode everything around you. These…Power Gloves that allow you to pick up heavy objects with ease…"

Link jerked his hand back and glared at the dying man. "They were invented by the ancients, everyone knows that."

Ganon dropped onto his back again. He knew his time was nearly over. "There's a reason I've healed and returned, again and again. I possess technology invented by the ancients. In time, I will be whole again. And you, or most likely your descendant, will come for me all over again. It's a never-ending cycle, boy. But do you know what's different?"

Link offered no retort. He simply leered at his long-time nemesis.

A devious, yet pain-filled smirk tugged at the corner of Ganon's pig-like maw. "Link, my boy…I found a collection of information on the old world. It took place long, long before the Great Deluge. There was a catastrophic event called a 'World War.' So great, it made the Great Cataclysm seem tame. It was a war so great that it was the war that ended the world of the Ancient Ones. A war where people fought and bickered with one another, and in the end, killed each other in numbers unfathomable to even the most colorful of imaginations. Entire groups of people were killed – world wide genocide.

"All their life-saving technology, and it couldn't save them from themselves," Ganon continued. "Instead, their technology enabled them. And it will enable me. I will heal, and you will sleep for eternity in a bubble designed by these long-dead scientists."

"You talk too much."

"You don't speak enough," snapped Ganon. "You never asked for help. You and those before you…always seem to fight me alone. That is your downfall, boy. I may be trapped here in this realm for now, but I am immortal. And I am patient. And one day, when the time is ready and the veil between worlds becomes thinner… I will cross over and claim it. But you and your ilk will not be there to stop me."

"Of course we will. We'll always be there to stop you. Whether it is me, or my future son, we will always be there to stop you."

Ganon smirked and withdrew a strange gray metal box from his robe. It had a faded look, with lettering along the side that Link did not recognize. "You see this, boy? See these letters? This is the writing of the ancients. They lived before Hylians. Their ears were not pointed. Their civilization was so immense that they had hundreds upon hundreds of variants of language. These letters are all that's left of them."

Link tightened his grip on his sword. "What does it do? Drop the box, now."

"Oh, Link, let me answer your question. It does…this." He thumbed square buttons set into the top of the box. Faded, dirt-encrusted circles illuminated the top of the box.

A forcefield surrounded Link. He cried out in surprise. His sword couldn't penetrate the energy field.

The bubble lifted him high above the granite surface where they had battled. He could see streaks of gold laced throughout the flat surface where the portal caused the granite of the light world to intermingle with the gold of the sacred realm.

Ganon eased up onto an elbow again and offered a devious smile. "With you in stasis and that sword missing along with you… you cannot harm me. And you cannot procreate, so your progeny will never be born. I've won, Link. It is over. And all the creatures will come together. Creatures that were created by the evil air made by the Final Great War of the ancients…mutated into freaks like me…these creatures call me their leader. We will work together to destroy the Light World dimension, and show your realm one final catastrophic war to end all wars.

"No!"

"You see, Link, I have unearthed the greatest weapon of the ancients. It will destroy everything. A single blast will wipe Hyrule off the map. And the creatures of the nearby lands will turn into sickly freaks that look as twisted as me."

"You are insane!"

"This weapon…you can't even begin to understand its destructive capability. That is true power, not created by me, or by this Dark World…but by the ancients that came before Din, Farore, and the other so-called gods and goddesses. In fact, they were not gods at all."

"And now you speak sacrilege?! You will be doomed for your heresy alone!"

Ganon replied with a hoarse laugh. "Din was never the goddess of fire, you ignorant child! 'She' was a bomb that wiped a section of the world clean, then performed something technologically magical beyond all our comprehension. Her task was something called 'terraforming.' These gods created our world from a husk…that much is true. But it was never a being. It was simply the name given to technology by the ancients who created it."

Link sheathed his sword and balled up his fists. "Do whatever you will. You will be stopped. Zelda is just as capable as I am, and wields magic that…"

"WRONG, Link! I am the one who found the secret information left behind by the ancient ones! Can you begin to understand what a 'nano-robot' is? The seemingly-magical ability they could grant their user?! No! The reason I've wanted to capture Zelda and her descendants is simple. The technology to operate the final weapon, which I have recently unearthed, is controlled by something found in her blood, passed on to the Royal Family females – mechanical beings smaller than our eye can see. These beings are passed down in her bloodline, and are bound to her. And they grant her technologically assisted abilities that seem magical in nature. And it is these beings, smaller than the Minish People, that grants her the ability to activate this weapon. And that is why I search her out and seek to imprison her generation after generation! But it wasn't until now that I understood just how important her role is in my plan to end your world."

"She is hidden away from you, Ganon. You'll never find her in the Light World!"

Ganon's second wind began to fade. His voice grew husky again. "Just because I cannot find her does not mean I won't find her in the future. With you out of the way… it's only a matter of time." He thumbed the buttons on the metallic unit, mashing down the crusty keys, brittle from age.

A holographic emitter built into the front of the controller displayed a warning message, which hovered above the unit. It displayed lettering that neither man understood. "Mm, the technology of the Ancient Ones never ceases to amaze me."

"My father's brother will avenge…" The field incandesced with energy. Link exclaimed with a cry of worry then disappeared all together.

Ganon chortled, speaking to nobody in particular. "Smith?! Ha. Your father's uncle will die old and alone, just as the ancestor of Smith died, weary and fat in a dark hallway. Yes, I remember; it happened when first I was revived by Agahnim before the Great Flood. I've learned that history, much like a river, tends to repeat itself like a cycle of rain. It's only a matter of time before Hyrule drowns in sorrow again. You'll see." Ganon rolled over and began to pull himself along the ground, grimacing from pain. "With you in stasis, boy, you cannot die but you also cannot be brought back to life. You will simply cease to exist until I deem necessary. And now to find the deepest, darkest pit and throw you into it forever."

X

Chapter -1-
A Link to the Future

Spectacle Rock Observatory

Daruna (Autumn) 1, 2050 A.D. (After Deluge)

There was a hiss. Everything felt…weird. There was mind numbing cold, but muffled like holding a snowball through a wet mitten. The darkness faded into light and the world slid into focus. A dome of glass eased open on a metal track. It opened more than half way then became stuck with a soft grunt of metal against metal. The glass bent, rather than broke.

He swallowed then winced from the dryness. He felt something brush his lips. The object, whatever it was, was held by another person. He felt wetness against his lips and his instincts took hold.

Link brought his hands up, captured a cup that was held against his mouth and tilted his head back. The water tasted fresh, delicious, as though having just come from a cool spring.

"Slow down, don't drown yourself, young man." The voice belonged to someone else, but it wasn't his native language. No…it was a language he'd learned from one of Princess Zelda's tutors…a language he'd learned later in his life. He recognized and understood it, but it took a moment before his foggy mind concluded its origin.

"Easy now. There's more water; no need to guzzle it like that."

The language of the ancient Hylians. Link finished the glass then blinked a few times to help moisten his eyes, dry from disuse. He cleared his throat but said nothing.

"You're the first being to ever awaken from suspended animation. Seems this stasis chamber was programmed to do it the right way. Might have been the nutrient bath solution that was used to keep you whole. It had some sort of bio-organic anti-freeze properties that preserved your tissue, and more importantly, your brain."

Link afforded the man with a look of confusion, not able to comprehend the terminology.

"Congratulations on being the first man to ever survive being frozen at two hundred degrees below zero, Celsius."

Link spoke but his voice sounded gruff and weary. "What is Celsius?"

"Oh! Well that dates you to…at least the Middle Ages. And thank Hylia that you speak our language. We had a translator here just in case. Anyways, I guess you should know that the year is twenty-fifty A.D. After Deluge, of course – what year was it when you were put into stasis. Are you… Are you from before the Great Flood?"

Another voice in the background chimed in, sounding irritated. "Bagu, look at his clothing and gear. I told you he's from the Middle Ages. That's plain to see."

Link pursed his lips together then cleared his throat again. "The last year I remember was 1675. I…know nothing of this pod that has apparently kept me whole after all these years. I would have thought I'd traveled back in time, though. Not forward. The language you speak… it hasn't been used since centuries before the Great Flood of Hyrule. You'll have to speak slowly. I only learned enough to get by, and to read ancient signs and to read the maps of the underworld dungeons."

"You speak it quite well," said Bagu.

"I can hear meaning in thoughts. Some of the wisemen and some of the members of the Royal Family can speak to me this way. Having the ability allows me to understand what people say to me. Understanding helps me speak back what is said to me."

Bagu paused then looked back at his female assistant. "Telepathic? Have you ever heard of such a thing documented?"

"Yeah right," she sneered. "Well, I'll give you one thing…he does look like that historian kid whose book you bought. LJ Kasuto, right?"

"Yes." Bagu turned back to Link and asked, "What's your name, young man?"

"Link of Calatia. Son of Arn and Medilia."

"A very popular name for males in the Middle Ages. Still is, really. In fact, I knew a Link in college." Bagu helped Link out from the aged stasis chamber. "Remarkable that the ancient ones made this with its own sustainable power. It's lasted since before recorded time that we know of. Oh, and look at this! You have the Triforce on your left hand! Now that is most fascinating."

Link frowned. "The Triforce… I've come to learn something before I was placed in my long sleep… The Triforce was not an object of the gods, but rather, it was technology of the ancient ones."

The woman snorted. "I could have told you that. But Bagu, here, is all about religion. He's here to prove it's true by means of science." She approached Link and offered her hand to him. "Ruto. Doctor Ruto Rauru."

Bagu frowned and offered Link a nod. "Bagu Tantari, like the desert, PhD."

"PhD?" asked Link. "I'm unfamiliar with that title.

Ruto grinned. "It means he's considered a scholar by his peers. Things must be very confusing for you right now. I'll make it simple. There was a war about a hundred and fifty years ago. One of technology, that rivals what most people think of when you consider the Great Cataclysm – the splitting of the Triforce, a thousand years before the Great Flood."

"Sounds horrible."

"After our war, with libraries burned to the ground and our civilization on the brink of extinction, archeologists uncovered antediluvian tomes that gave us information on everything from how to read and write, all the way to how to create modern technology. We're not sure how old it is, but it was written in one of many languages used by the ancients. And we learned how to build computers, weapons that are designed to keep peace, and…" she trailed off and frowned empathetically. "Mm, I'm sorry if I'm rushing along, Link. Things must be much different than what you're used to."

"I'll adapt. Please, continue."

"Well…some countries have adapted a handful of languages used by the Ancient Ones. But what we're speaking right now is the most popularly accepted language around the globe."

"Ah." Link licked his lips. "I… To me, this language is considered 'Old Hylian.' It hasn't been spoken for over a thousand years before the Great Flood. How did you come to learn it?"

"It was included in some of the tomes that were unearthed about a hundred and forty years ago, a decade after our grand war. We were just starting to rebuild and were eager to follow an instruction manual, something provided by the tomes unearthed by archeologists at the time." Ruto paused then suddenly changed topic. "What is the sword in your gear?"

"We called it the Master Sword."

Bagu's eyes widened. He turned to Dr. Rauru and whispered, "If he is who he is suggesting…this discovery will make both our careers."

Ruto rubbed her chin then asked, "Link, what was your mission with that sword?"

"Did you also see the arrows crafted of silver? With the sword and the arrows, I fought Ganon. I'm a little out of it right now but…I have to admit, I'm glad I didn't wake up to find that he's taken over the world. I assume you defeated him for good, a hundred and fifty years ago?"

Ruto shook her head and ran her hands back through her hair. "Sweetheart, Ganon is a myth. Supposedly banished to the Dark World of Gold forever ago. There's no real proof he existed, other than seeing his name on old texts unearthed by archeologists in the last fifty years or so. Sorry, I just don't believe in the so-called devil."

"I never said Ganon was the devil. But I can see how some would come to that conclusion. But I assure you he existed. Let us hope he doesn't, anymore."

"Until I see proof or meet him in person, I don't believe Ganon existed. I think he was a fairytale metaphor to scare kids from misbehaving."

Bagu laughed softly, delight in his tone. "Yes, but nobody thought Link The Hero existed either. And here he is. And this may very well prove that my beliefs are founded after all! And telepathic to boot? What number am I thinking of Link?" Bagu grew quiet and thought of the word in his mind.

"I…um…I don't have a deep connection to you, so it's not easy to directly connect to you but…thirty-seven?"

"Dear God. It's real," Bagu whispered. "You really are Link, The Great Hero of the People."

Link frowned in a somewhat bashful way. "I…so if your people consider Ganon as an ancient myth…what was the base of your war a century-and-a-half ago?"

"Greed," said Dr. Rauru, folding her arms. "Greed, land, people having a difference of opinion. Things must have been simpler in your time. You perceived an evil, you unified against it, and you came together peacefully as a civilization. Must have been amazing. Well…either way – welcome to the Spectacle Rock observatory and research facility at the edge of Hyrule, Link."

"Do…you still have a monarch?"

"Yes," Bagu cut in. "King of Hyrule, Gustaf the Eighth, Queen Tetra, and their daughter, Zelda Daltus Princess of Hyrule, are the monarchs of this province. But unlike your time, we now have a parliamentary group that helps as a congressionalist format for legislative purposes. We call the group the Hyrule Diet. It may be a strange name for you, but that is what we call our elected lawmakers."

"I see. What of this gentleman that you said looks like me in appearance?"

"Link Josiah Kasuto. He goes by the name LJ. He isn't he right now; he's obtaining his security clearance from the city. Gustaf the Eighth and Zelda Daltus, Princess of Hyrule, are on their way here. People, like LJ, need to be vetted by a government investigative agency. When it's determined that they pass a background check, they are allowed in the presence of the Royal Family. The young man is a pseudo-historian on technology of the ancients, although he does have a legitimate degree in history of the Middle Ages – a period that is largely misunderstood due to how little information survived the war we told you about."

"Ah. Does…he have a mark on his hand?"

Bagu rubbed his chin then shrugged. "I'm not sure. I've never met him. I own his book, but…that's all."

"I see. What will I do until your guests arrive?"

"You'll relax, Link. I'll have Ruto give you a tour of the facility. I have some phone calls to make and some colleagues to…"

"He wants to brag to his peers," Dr. Rauru said with a smirk. "Come with me, Link. You must be feeling rather achy at this point. I think moving around will be good for your body. Walk with me."

X

X

A/N: Howdy, and welcome to my latest fanfiction. I've decided to write this story on-and-off as a way to take a breather from my original story series. I'm in the middle of re-writing the first trilogy for the third time, and I need to re-write the second act into trilogy format soon. Over all, I'm eight stories deep into this monster… and it can get VERY overwhelming.

So, to keep writing (which I enjoy) but to keep from getting fried out, I wanted to dabble with something Sci-Fa (Science-Fiction / Fantasy).

Zelda seemed like a good idea after being asked by people on FaceBook to write something dark and deep for the Zelda Franchise.

Anyway, if you want to read the drafts of my original work, go to FanFictionNet's sister site, FictionPress dot Com. It's the same pen-name, "Kit-Karamak" with a hyphen. You can even use your FanFictionNet account to sign in on FictionPressCom and leave reviews and all that jazz.

Okay, so yeah… I typically write more cliffhangers to keep the excitement level higher, but… this is the prologue. No sense in having Link wake up to the world exploding. Why would scientists even concern themselves with archeological digs if the world were blowing up all around, right? Instead, I wanted to create a sense of calm and serenity. Have Link relax and feel like everything is okay.

The world can go 'splodies soon enough. Just wanna introduce some themes and some characters first. As you may have noticed, I chose names and last names based on towns in Zelda2, and from other characters in the Zelda franchises. I've introduced themes of "science vs religion," and "fantasy vs technology" and "hero cycle" and "existentialism vs fate," where Bagu believes that God, or possibly that the goddesses micromanage the lives of the Hylians, because they have a plan for everything.

Conversely, Ruto wants to prove him wrong.

And, finally, I have to say that deus ex machine is, sometimes, overused in literature. So instead of having the "underwhelming character with the unimportant plot device that saves the universe," bit… I decided to give Ganon nukes. All he has to do is capture Zelda…AGAIN…to arm them. Shouldn't be too hard, right? Then he just has to figure out how the bio-interface works. And arm them. And run the other direction.

But he's sealed in the Sacred Realm, and doesn't have Zelda's Bio-imprint to activate it, just yet.

But this should explain why Zelda is so important, right? I mean… the series is SUPPOSED to be "The LEGEND…Of…ZELDA" But you never hear much about her being all that important.

Oh, sure, you gotta rescue her. But why is the legend about Zelda? So in this story… Zelda gets LEGIT serious importance to make the title feel like it's more than a joke. And Zelda gets to be the key to everything, as the name of the franchise implies. yAy

I've already introduced one of the main characters. The other, of course, is LJ, the male descendant of Link's Uncle, who did, in fact, find love, have children… and lay low, HA Ganon! That'll teach you to make assumptions about Link's uncle being a loser bachelor!

ALSO! I think I'm going to have Zelda take a more proactive role in this story. In OoT, she gets an alterego (as also seen in Super Smash Brothers melee), and fights hard. So it seems to me that in this day and age of female protagonists, it would be more fun to show her kicking asses while chewing bubblegum. Don't worry, she's not going to be a Mary Sue character. If pricked, she'll bleed. And I'll give her emotions. Just because she's a rich monarch doesn't mean she can't have her feelings hurt, or have her heart yearn for something, right? I try to make my characters realistic as best I'm able. Anyways.

OKAY… Chapter 2 and 3 are already finished. I'll post all three updates today because today is the day that WindWakerHD is available for Wii-U for digital download. Enjoy!

AND REMEMBER, I haven't "gone out of my way to ignore canon." We're just far enough in the future that modern scholars don't know what's real and what's lore anymore. Every character has his or her own theories as to what they think they know about the history of the world. Nobody really knows for sure; I'm NOT trying to CHANGE anything… I promise. :D

-K

PS: You can also look me up on FB. FacebookDOTcomFWDSLASHkitkaramak

Thanks!