I had originally started on this one a few years ago for another site, but haven't had time for it. This takes place a few months after the events of OOT, and Hyrule is threatened by another evil sorcerer, and yet again its up to Link to save the day. Old friends, new friends, and a lot of twists and turns along the way. Will Link come out of this one victorious, or will he meet his match when he becomes entangled in the struggle of a mysterious kingdom that vanished long ago.


The Lost Kingdom

Chapter 1

It is a very nice day, Link thought, as he walked through the castle market. Indeed it was too: the sun was out, the only few clouds in the sky were big, white, and fluffy, the birds were singing cheerily, and it was warm out. It had only been a month now since Link had defeated Ganondorf and returned to a slightly altered version of home. Not much had changed but still there was a difference. As far as Link had found out so far, after the older Zelda had sent him back, was that he picked up right were he had gone to meet Zelda for the fist time, so yes the old Deku Tree was dead, but the Deku Sprout was there in his place, Ganondorf was no were to be found, almost as if he never existed, and it seemed like the no one knew about his entire adventure as the Hero of Time. Oh yes, he tried to tell the kokiri about it but they only laughed at him, Saria didn't but Link felt that was because she was trying to be a good friend that way, and it wasn't that Zelda believed it, it was the most impossible thing she had ever heard, but she felt something, what she didn't know, that told her something was true in his words, Malon thought he was strange but people also thought she was for having such a close connection to animals, so it didn't bother her much.

He was now just aimlessly wandering around trying to put things together to explain what had happened to him, but the lovely day kept diverting him off course. Link knew the market as well as the back as his hand, and pretty much knew all the villagers by face if not by name. So it caught him off guard when he seen a strange looking man wandering around the market as well. He was a little taller than the average person, with dark, untidy, long hair, his cloak was beaten, worn, and muddy, so were his tall boots, but the thing that Link didn't like about him the most was the man's eyes, they were stone grey. He really wasn't doing any thing but walk around, looking lost, but not stopping to ask directions. He finally headed down the path to the castle. That would explain it, a lot of outsiders came to the castle on business and other errands, but Link decided to follow him anyway.

Link stopped at the corner and watched as the strange man was denied admittance to the castle grounds. As the man turned around, rejected, Link quickly climbed up the vines to the flat area to hide. He watched as the man walked around the corner and down the path a bit and stopped. Link quickly ducked out of site as the man started to look over his shoulder. Link didn't see it but as the man walked away, he smiled.

After the man disappeared into the crowd in the market, Link decided to climb down. He now needed to get to Saria's for dinner, which is what they usually did. He would have to ask the guards tomorrow what the man wanted, but that was tomorrow, food is what mattered right now.

Saria was over at the stove making some mushroom soup for supper. She usually cooked and Link would come in from his latest "adventure" and tell her all about it, that's the way it went but it didn't matter to her she enjoyed the time with Link, and she was sure he enjoyed the time with her since Mido made life such a pain for him, making the other kokiri ostracize him at times. She didn't really believe Link went forward in time and came back, but that one day a great change did come over him. Although that was not on her mind right now, right now all that mattered was cooking supper for Link and herself. It was a routine for them every night: Saria would cook, Link would come in and tell about his latest "adventure" while they ate. It never got old because Link just couldn't keep his nose out of anything.

Then came the familiar sound of Link's boots as he was coming in the door and sat down. "I'm about done with supper here, Link," she said turning. "So what happened to you today?"

"Well, actually not a whole lot happened today," Saria about dropped the spoon in the soup, Link not nose around? "Although, there was this one guy that I had suspicions of him," ah there was the Link she knew, "I think it was his eyes, yeah, probably his eyes. Those stone grey eyes that would leave Ganondorf cold…" as he said this he was in a trance like state.

"Uh, Link are you ok?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," he said, coming out of the trance. "Its just this guy I seen in the castle market, looked like he just walk a real long distance."

"Let me guess: dirty, worn cloak?"

"Yeah."

"Tall boots the same way?"

"Yeah!"

"Dark, messy, long hair?"

"Yeah! How'd you know?"

"He came through a couple minuets ago."

"What!"

"He went into the Deku Sprout's grove. Mido tried to stop him but the guy just ignored him…" there was a scrape of a chair and Saria was only quick enough to see the tip of Link's hat disappear around the corner. "Maybe I should have waited to tell him after supper," she said to herself.

Link ran toward the grove, jumping the platforms in the little pond along the way, and came to a halt in front of Mido, who felt it was his sole duty to protect the Deku Sprout's grove. "What do you want, Link? There is already some weirdo in there, the Deku sprout can only handle so much weird at a time," Mido started, but that was all Link needed to hear. If that guy was in there he was going to find out why. Link shoved is way past Mido nearly knocking him down. "Hey! Watch it! Get back here, I'm not done griping at you yet!" Mido yelled at Link.

As he ran down the path many thoughts kept flashing thru Link's mind such as; Who is this guy, Where did he come from, What does he want with the Deku Sprout, and I sure hope he isn't anything like Ganondorf. He rounded the corner and saw the stranger sitting in front of the Deku Sprout, holding in his lap what looked like a sword. Link stood at the entrance of the grove staring at the man.

The stranger, seeming to sense Link, looked over his shoulder and smiled. "You're the little kid who followed me at the market this morning, aren't you?" speechless Link could only nod, that caused the man to friendly chuckle. "Don't worry I wont bite. Come, I see you have questions, I will answer them to the best of my capability." Seeing the man was kind, Link walked over and sat down next to him. Being this close Link could see the man was holding a katana in his lap, which seemed to have some kind of ancient runes engraved in the handle. "Fire away, I'm all ears," said the stranger, smiling.

Link looked at this stranger's ears and seen that they were in fact small and round. "Your not all ears, you hardly have ears at all."

That made the man laugh, "Well, maybe not compared to yours, but it's a figure of speech. Anyway, go ahead with your questions."

"Ok," Link inhaled deeply and said, "who are you, where do you come from, why did you want to see the Deku Sprout, why are you dressed so, why do you have that sword, what does it say on the handle, and why didn't the guard let you through at the castle gates?" Link asked very quickly and using only one breath.

The man at first looked shocked and then burst out laughing, confusing Link. Seeing his quizzical look the stranger tried to suppress his laughter and said, "Sorry, curious one aren't you? I can answer those all with a little story, but it may take a while. Do you have enough time?" Link nodded. "Good I can tell you right here…"


Ooh what a way to end a chapter, eh? Who is this man, and what is his story? All is told in the next chapter!