Chapter one.
The Picori Festival.
A long long time ago...
When the world was on the verge of being swallowed by shadow...
The tiny Picori appeared from the sky, bringing the hero of men a sword and a golden light.
With wisdom and courage, the hero drove out the darkness.
When peace had been restored, the people enshrined the blade with care.
I stirred to noises downstairs. Yawning, I thought back to the night before; I had been up until the early hours helping my father work, and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow; exhausted from over-exertion. Master Smith is really my grandfather, but I had lived with him for the past fourteen years, so I had got used to calling him my father.
He called up to me, and I groaned, stretching as I rolled out of bed. Slouching downstairs I heard a familiar voice from the workshop, but struggled to place it through the sleep haze that surrounded me. Probably one of father's associates. I peered around the corner, not wanting to disturb them when I saw Princess Zelda standing there talking to my dad. She turned and smiled, her eyes tracing over my mussed hair as I stood there awkwardly in the doorway.
"Hey Link." My father said, approaching us from behind his workbench. "Princess Zelda is here. She'd like to know if you'd join her at the festival."
The festival! No wonder my father had been working so much these last few weeks. The Picori festival was held up in Hyrule town, and everyone wanted new weapons to show off with.
"Yeah, Link. Come on! Let's check out the festival together!" Zelda smiled, bouncing from foot to foot as she waited for my response. "Master Smith already gave me permission to take you!"
"Yes, after all the festival only comes once a year. Go on, have fun." My father grinned, raising his eyebrows as if challenging me to argue. "And while you're there, you can do me a favour. I just finished making this sword for the minister at Hyrule Castle. I'd like you to deliver it to him."
I knew there was a catch. At the rate my father was working, I knew he wouldn't let me have fun while there was work to be done. Still, if he was giving me a chance to get out of some work then of course I wasn't going to decline. I held my hand out for the sword and he handed it to me with great care. I knew immediately that I could not lose this sword under any means.
"This is the blade that will be presented to the winner of the competition." He continued, looking at me with great intensity as he explained the dangers that lied between here and Hyrule Town. "Don't lost it. And while the two of you may be childhood friends, remember; Zelda is the princess of Hyrule. You watch over her. Don't let anything bad happen to her." I was about to reassure him that everything would be okay, but Zelda cut me off,
"Master Smith, quit worrying!" She laughed flippantly, "We'll be perfectly safe. Come on Link! Let's go check out the festival!" She smiled, and ran off to the front room, bouncing as she ran. I went to follow her, but instead rooted around in my fathers chest. I brought out 20 Rupees; enough to cover the costs of the festival hopefully. I left through the front door, flattening my hair as with my palm as I closed the door. Sunlight shone down on me, and I squinted around, searching for Princess Zelda. "Link! Over here!" I heard Zelda shout. She was around the side of the house past our wood pile. I jogged around to greet her, and she giggled, spinning on the spot
The air was thick with humidity, just as it always was in summer. The trees bristled in the small breeze, and a gorgeous flowery smell wafted in from some place or another. I reached Zelda and she laughed, throwing her arms in the air "Link! Hurry! Let's go!" She cried, laughing as she half skipped, half ran up the road. She stopped again a little ways up, and turned around, beckoning me forward. I laughed under my breath, and continued to jog up to her. "Over here!" She called excitedly, "Come on! Hurry up!" She waved her arms in the air and ran off again. I didn't quite understand why she wanted to go to the festival so much, but I hurried after her again. She stopped outside the entrance to Hyrule Town, and she smiled breathlessly. "Well, here we are!" She smiled happily, looking at me expectantly, "The town of Hyrule." We paused for a moment, before she turned and skipped up into the town.
My eyes widened when I saw the town; never before had so much festivity been put into a festival, and it looked astounding. Bows had been put on the bell stand, and banners surrounded the stalls, drawing you in. Balloons clung onto plant pots, floating in the air like... well, like balloons. Stalls were set up in center of the square, and shops had been closed for the day. Zelda stopped and turned to me, grinning wildly "Here we are, Link! Doesn't it look fun?" She asked me, but before I could answer she clapped and almost squealed "Come on! Let's look around!" She ran off at full pelt towards a stall surrounded by children. An old man was stood at the stall also, telling a story. The children looked up to him in admiration, clinging to his every word. Zelda turned as I approached, and grabbed my arm, "Link, there's a storyteller here! We should stop and listen to-" She stopped, looking behind her. Something had caught her attention. "Oh! I wonder what's over there..." She glanced back at me, dropped my arm and dashed off towards the bell stand. I followed her, staying true to what father had told me. I would not let anything happen to her. I promised myself that, and I was going to stick to my word. She had ran up to an old man standing by the bell tower. She turn to me almost ecstatic "So the Picori ARE real!" She exclaimed, grinning like a maniac, "My father always told me they were." Zelda said very matter-of-factly as if she was showing off a new dress or something. I was about to ask her more about it, but she was off again, running across to a man standing outside his shop, her pink gown flapping behind her. I walked up behind her, smiling at an odd woman's eccentric dress. Zelda turned to me like she just remembered something. "Say, wasn't there going to be a sword-fighting tournament at the castle?" She asked, eyebrows arched. She was so cute when she did that. I shook those thoughts out of my head as Zelda continued "I wonder who won this year..." She said, looking off into the distance with hazy eyes before something else caught her eye. She smiled, and ran to a stall with a rather large woman ringing a bell. Three green boxes sat in front of her, all with the lids closed. As I got there, she announced with a loud voice "We have a winner!" and she rung her bell for the entire town to hear. "Oh, my!" She said, looking down at Zelda and me, "Princess Zelda! You won the grand prize in our drawing? Wow!" The woman smiled, obviously waiting to tell everyone that Princess Zelda won in her prize draw. I rolled my eyes as the woman went on, "You get your choice of any of these wonderful prizes. What will it be?"
The woman opened up each of the green boxes in turn, revealing a glittering heart-shaped stone, that caught the sunlight and reflected it right into my eyes. It truly was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. In the second box was a magnificent ruby-red gem the size of my head. Through it I could see Zelda's inquisitive face, but she looked nowhere near as awe-struck as me. I guess she saw that kind of thing all the time at home. Then in the third box was a teeny-tiny shield. Zelda's face lit up, and she glanced at me before looking back to the stall vendor.
"So, which one you like?" said the vendor, looking between me and the princess. "Let me guess..." The woman went on, "The jewel? Oh, but the heart stone is very cute too. Chose whichever one you like!" She finished, smiling down at us sweetly. I gazed at the gem, enthralled by how the light reflected off it.
Much to my surprise, Zelda did not pick up the gem as I thought she would, but instead cocked her head at the teeny-tiny shield. "The shield is so adorable!" She said in a sing-song voice, "I think I'll take it." Zelda smiled to herself, and went to pick up the shield. The vendor took a step back, "What!? Why? Why would you want that ugly thing!?" She exclaimed, obviously forgetting just who Zelda was. "What about the heart stone?" She went on, "It's cute!" She almost thrust the stone into Zelda's hands, but Zelda was already hugging the shield to her chest defiantly. The vendor went on trying to convince Zelda of the other two prizes, but Zelda simply shook her head, and said "Nope. I want the shield. Can I have it?"
"What a strange princess you are." Said the vendor, eyebrows furrowed over her little piggy eyes. "Well, OK. You can take it."
"Here!" Zelda said turning to me, "I want to give you a present!" She grinning widely, and pushed the shield at me. "Doesn't this shield suit you perfectly Link?" She laughed airily, bounced from toe to toe. I accepted the present and looked it over. It was light brown in colour with a golden pattern on the front. It was a little embarrassing carrying a shield so small, but I went through with it anyway, and chuckled for a while as Zelda told me how great I looked. "Now if anything happens, you can protect me with that shield!" She smiled, grabbing my hand and pulling me up towards the main castle. "Come on!" She said, "We need to take Master Smith's sword up to the castle. Let's go Link!" She said, stopping for a second and gesturing for me to take the lead. I started walking up to the castle, and she followed behind me, looking around at the decorations that had been put up around Hyrule. She didn't make a move to drop my hand, which was nice, but as we neared the castle, she slowly started to speed up. The castle itself was grand and gleaming, banners waving in the air from the top-most turrets. Balloons floating mildly in the air, knocking together in multicoloured bunches. Zelda giggled as she looked around but something was off. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something was most definitely wrong about Hyrule castle today. I just wished I knew what it was.
So that is the first chapter. As you can see it needs a lot of editing (contact me if you want to Beta), but please let me know if this was a good idea, or if I should give it up as a lost cause. I don't know what compelled me to write it, but please don't go easy on me. Let me know if you want to keep reading, or not. Thank you ~ZombiesWillThrive