Carcass of the Saint.


It was burning and burning and burning.

The Master Sword flew into Link, striking him in the chest and pushing him into the wall. Link struggled as much as he could, trying his best to get the sword out of his body before it crushed his chest.

His Triforce began to glow with a golden light that made everything else seem to vanish until all Link saw was the endless gold of the Triforce of Courage, and all he felt was pain caused by the Master Sword that had run itself through his chest, keeping him trapped, here... at the end.


Something was wrong. Link got out of bed, glad that he had gone to sleep with his tunic still on. As he had throughout his journey.

Something was definitely wrong.

It was still night but inside his house Link moved around as if it was still filled with the light of day. He got the Master sword that was placed on the side of his bed and placed it within its sheath. Strapping it onto his back as he made his way to his door, opening it as quietly as he could and slowly wandered out of his house.

Whispers, there were whispers. Link ducked down, closed his door and glanced around. He squinted his eyes, trying his best to see what was happening through the blackness of night but failing.

He saw a flash of silver and immediately slid down his ladder as silently as he could, hoping to catch the intruder by surprise, to check if the village was in danger. The person seemed not to notice.

Now that he was closer Link managed to recognise the person in the dim moonlight and sighed lightly in relief. It was Ilia, still carrying the sword that he had given her earlier.

She was near Epona, slowly trying to get the horse to wake up, Link walked forward quietly, hoping to catch her by surprise and attempt to find out what she was doing with Epona at this time of night.

"I'm sorry Link" he heard her say as he drew closer, making sure not to make a single sound as he crept in the shadows at the base of his house. "But I can't tell my dad."

She had gotten Epona up and began to lead her out as Link quickly hid on the opposite side of the large horse. Wondering what he should do to confront the young girl. Primarily because following an attractive young girl from a safe distance in the middle of night would, to an outside viewer appear to be a less than honourable career choice for the young hero. But now that he was here, he couldn't exactly pop up and have her running to town and to tell her sumo wrestling father about how he snuck up on her in the middle of the night.

Swoosh.

Thud.

A flaming arrow flew past the young girl, scratching her forehead in a line of red blood as she screamed "AAAAA" in absolute terror.

Epona whinnied, kicking up her legs and rushing foreword as another arrow flew out of the shadows missing the horse. Ilia screamed "Epona!" in a vain attempt to force the horse to return and help her escape from this sudden attack.

Link who had ducked in an instinctual reaction to the sound of the arrows suddenly realised the Ilia was right in front of him and in danger. He leapt up grabbing the girl from behind and covering her mouth with an arm to get her to shut up whilst the other one wrapped around her waist as he forced himself sideways onto the ground, bringing her down with him.

She screamed, assuming that he was the dark assailant that had come to steal her young innocence, and bit the boy's hand. He gasped as his grip on the girl was released. She rolled out of his grasp as he clutched his hand in pain and frustration, hoping that the wound wasn't too serious.

She fumbled with the sword that Link had given her, eventually raising it up to her attacker and slamming it into his head.

"OW!" whined Link's familiar voice as Ilia stopped in surprise, her mind immediately assuming that this was all some ill timed prank. She squinted her eyes into the darkness to see that it was indeed the young swordsman, and realised that he wasn't seriously hurt by her attack, not realising that she had hit him with the flat end of the sword as opposed to the pointy bit that he had advised her to use earlier in the day.

"LINK!" she screamed like a banshee, letting the boy know just how angry she was at him for scaring her like that.

He shushed her frantically, hoping the assailant who had launched the arrows would not make out their position once more.

"Huh?" she asked the boy, as he shushed her again and motioned for her to get down onto the ground. Ilia began to feel light headed as the blood slowly came out of her body, but managed to follow Link's orders, realising that he wouldn't pull a prank like that.

In the distance they heard Epona let loose what could only be described as a horses scream, as Link realised that no more arrows had struck them after his horse had disappeared. He ran without looking back at Ilia, hoping that he could save his friends life from whatever it was that had attacked her.

Ilia sat down on the ground, as her head slowly became lighter, and the night slowly grew darker the further Link ran away. She placed a hand on her head in an attempt to steady her nerves but felt something warm and wet. Ilia moved her hand down, and in the pale moonlight noticed the sight of her own blood, and upon seeing the red liquid promptly fainted.


Link ran as fast as he could across the bridge into Faron woods where the sound of Epona seemed to drag him.

Further and further through the woods he ran, in and out of dark caves which he had to try his best to pass through despite the absolute darkness, whilst dodging the vermin that he would occasionally cross.

Eventually the sounds of Epona's hooves in the distance died down, and Link was left cold, in some remote patch of woods in the middle of nowhere as dawn began to break filling what little could be seen of the sky with pastel blues and radiant oranges.

As the rush of the chase died down Link gathered his thoughts and wondered which way he should go to save his trusted horse. He looked around as the realisation dawned on him that he had become hopelessly lost in the woods that he had always been told to avoid at all costs, as stories of people who would get lost and turned into twisted beasts began to penetrate his mind.

The longer Link stood still the more he began to think and wonder why anyone would pull of a night time raid to steal a horse, whilst at the same time trying to kill the horse, he asked himself of what purpose it would serve? All that happened was that he was now lost in the woods and away from the village.

Crap.

Link froze, wondering if he should go to Epona (who was likely dead if the lack of sounds was anything to go by), or to the village that needed him, where he could get the attackers, and if Epona was still alive persuade them with his pointy sword to tell him where she was.

His heart wanted him to go and find his horse. He resolved that it would be wiser to go to the village.

But as he began to move a 'POP' came rang through the desolate wood as the Skull Kid dropped down from the sky and began to giggle, playing his trumpet to call around thirty of his puppets to block off the young boys escape out of the woods.

"You've been very naughty." the child like creature chided, as Link held tightly onto the grip of the Master sword, his body slowly growing warmer as a result.

The Skull Kids grin grew into a menacing smile as he sang "Naughty, naughty, little boy" In his scratchy voice whilst bobbing up and down in mid air, as if he was dancing to a tune that only he could hear.

"Lost in the lost woods. Playing with funny magic. The slaves are coming for you. You bad little puppy. BAD BAD PUPPY!" the creature cackled, rising higher and higher up into the air as the puppets that surrounded Link slowly began to draw closer and closer, ready to snuff him out like the flame of a candle whose use had become irrelevant now that the night had gone. "bad puppy" the Skull kid giggled as the puppets drew closer, "Bad Puppy." He shrieked as Link grip grew tighter and the wooden creatures prepared to strike the young boy "BAD PUPPY!"

"YAH!" Link yelled as he unleashed his sword and performed the great spin, shattering half of the puppets, and sending a further ten reeling backwards. Like a grasshopper he leapt and pressed his attack, shattering five of the puppets in a single stroke and destroying the last ten with three more.

"Aww." The Skull Kid pouted in disappointment. "It's no fun if I don't win." He said as he drew closer to Link who slashed out wildly when the creature was close enough. It giggled as Link glared up at the creature that was stopping him from saving his home. "Well I lost, but don't worry, I can take you to your horsey."

Link gasped in surprise as the edges of his vision slowly grew blurry from the heat that was being generated within his body. The Skull Kid flew off into the distance singing, "The slaves will come, the slaves will come, the slaves will come to get you" as Link chased after it, with a mind too blurry to comprehend what the insane puppet was singing about.


He reached a sight that would have been familiar to him had his mind not been as clouded as it was, the Sacred Grove. It was silent as the hero walked through, the triangles of his Triforce glowing an intense gold as he moved towards the pedestal, his body moving under the influence of some foreign force as all thought of the Skull Kid and Epona who waited behind himbegan to dissipate the closer he was to the pedestal of the Master Sword. He picked up the sword, his face a mask of grim determination as he stood ready in front of the pedestal. He lifted the sword, and with a defiant scream plunged it into the ground as a Golden light enveloped him.


In Castle Town a glass on a shelf in Telma's bar fell of unexpectedly and shattered onto the ground. In the Zora River a pebble that was lodged into the base of the river for years became loose and began to role with the eternal currents. Death Mountain roared as the Gorons curled up to protect themselves from the fire that rained down from the sky. In Ordon village the wooden sword that Talo played with snapped in two. In Zelda's Castle a piping hot cup of tea that the princess was drinking suddenly became ice cold.

The Princess still holding he cup sighed, "Something has gone terribly wrong." But as she went to get a new cup of tea couldn't understand what it was exactly that had gone wrong, nor comprehending why she had what she said such things to herself.


Shorter chapter this time. I actually wrote the first few chapters this about a year back and decided it needed a release, in case someone happened to enjoy it.

I'll release the other chapters in time, and whilst I know it isn't the best of quality I'll need some hint that this is read to prompt any continuation beyond the next two chapters. This isn't one of those in need 'x' reviews thing (or at least I'm trying to make sure that it isn't), but there's very little point releasing a piece if no one's gonna read.