Dementia p.2
SHE was a thin girl, young and innocent, when she was told the story of what lie hidden in the castle gardens. She had always pestered her father about the forbidden garden—it was the only place in the castle she couldn't go. Her curiosity with it only grew with each day she was told to stay away from that area of the castle.
But it was on her twelfth birthday he sat her upon his knee. His great beard and large belly provided a soft area she could lean against and relax upon. He would run his fingers through her hair momentarily before flicking the tips of her ears, making them twitch, and her giggle.
After their usual ritual, Zelda had sat herself back against his great belly and fidgeted with her necklace, which she usually kept hidden beneath her clothing. It was unbefitting of a princess, as it was a roughly shaped blue stone, on a simple cloth string. But she adored it and wore it always. It was her luck charm, she felt.
"Zelda," her father began, his voice vibrating through him and into her. She made a small noise to show she was listening to him. "I have a story for you. A new one. About the Hero of Twilight." This intrigued her. She hadn't heard of this, and it had been years since her father had told her a new story. She briefly remembered the one of the Hero of Time.
"Long ago, the chosen hero was turned into a beast…" he continued, weaving the story intricately. Zelda closed her eyes and listened, feeling sympathy for her ancestor, the Hero, and the mysterious Twilight Princess.
She'd never heard any of this before.
When his story was finished, her erratic thoughts dwelled upon the mirror that had shattered and its abilities. It separated two worlds. So another world lie beyond the one she resided in. What was it like? Who resided there? Were there other races besides the Twili? Could she contact them somehow?
"There is another world besides ours?" she gasped.
Her father sighed, correcting her, "That was centuries ago. But the story goes on. After the Twilight incident the Goddesses of ancient descended upon Hyrule. They deemed it vulnerable in its large, unbalanced state. Although the mirror was broken, their aim was to protect Hyrule and keep it pure. So they split the land into three dimensions, and the land of Twilight was the fourth. Farore claimed one dimension, and she plucked the most courageous beings of each race and placed them within what is referred to as Farora. Din took hold of another, and dubbed it Dinian. Nayru was given the last, and she populated it with the wise. We, my dear, live in Nayran."
She processed this slowly. He had given her less details this time, and it was hard for her to piece together her thoughts. And yet it made sense, the Goddesses' stress over the Twilight creeping into Hyrule again. They each took a section of Hyrule and watched over it. But did that mean that Farore and Din cared not about those residing within Nayru's world?
"Should we…should we worship differently?" she asked hesitantly. Previously, she had thought they were all united. The Triforce itself stood for the power of three becoming one, after all. But now, had the other gods abandoned them?
"No," her father answered with a chuckle. "No, Din and Farore still watch over us and provide for us the same. Our land is simply named after Nayru because among us is the one gifted with her wisdom."
"Gifted with her wisdom?" she parroted curiously.
A twinkle sparked in the old king's eye, and he smiled warmly. "Somewhere in this vast land, an unknowing citizen holds the Triforce of Wisdom."
"Wow…" she whispered, nodding appreciatively. To think that a mere Hylian—or possibly human, goron, zora, gerudo, or any other race—could truly hold the Triforce of Wisdom. An honor from the Goddesses themselves. How wonderful.
"And this," her father continued, "is the reason the Forbidden Garden is forbidden."
"It is?" she asked dubiously.
"Our worlds of four—the three dimensions and the twilight—they are separated by a neutral plane. Two portals to this neutral plane reside in our world—one lays in the garden, and the other is yet undiscovered."
She gasped in delight. The gateway to these other worlds lie here, in her castle. Though she couldn't be near it, let alone see it or use it, she still felt honored to be in the castle built around it. But before she could get carried away in her sly plans to somehow get to it, she remembered the tale of the mirror of twilight.
"What of the shattered mirror? I thought it was a key of sorts."
"The goddesses repaired the mirror and created three others," her father explained, patting her head with an affectionate smile. "But these mirrors serve a new purpose, and require four blessed objects to be activated."
"What is their new purpose?"
"Within the neutral plane lays the ancient Sacred Realm; in which is the Temple of Time, where the Master Sword is hidden. The mirrors can be activated, and collectively can be used as a doorway to the Sacred Realm."
She nodded, yawning, the exhaustion she had been previously hiding finally rising to the surface. The birthday bustle throughout the castle had effectively tired out the princess, and no matter how much she resisted, her eyelids began to droop without the interest of the legends to keep her awake.
Her father prodded her off his lap and stood. "You're tired, my dear. Go to sleep."
She wordlessly made her way to her chambers, only to have strange dreams of different dimensions all throughout the night.
Three years passed quietly, peacefully, and Zelda had all but forgotten the portal. She had grown in that time from a child filled with wonder to a beautiful young woman with never ending curiosity. Her desire to learn drove her to spend much time at the library, and when she was not studying or writing, she attended archery lessons with a knight her father had assigned to teach her.
At first, they had wanted to teach her everything—swordsmanship, archery, defense tactics—but she was not graceful with blades or shields. She could, however, aim an arrow. And so she devoted her time to honing that skill to its finest point.
As time passed she was allowed more duty as Nayran's princess. First it was simple things—she was allowed to stay for meetings and councils with the king. But slowly, she was given the opportunity to vote, and then to speak her mind on the various subjects raised. Finally she attended every meeting and sat alongside her father, and was given just as much power over decisions as he. She helped balance her sporadic, imaginative father with her wise and steady hand.
It was this supposed knowledge that stunned her when she heard of the siege. Wouldn't she have heard of unrest in the meetings? Surely. Was there something her father wasn't telling her? Surely not. He omitted nothing now that she was fifteen, nearly an adult, nearly Nayran's new queen.
Word of the attack was sudden. Guards, previously having milled about the castle with nothing to do, ran to and fro between stations, readying themselves for the rumored army. The king and Zelda stayed seated on their thrones, waiting to see if it was all true.
It didn't take long to find out. Horrible creatures burst through the doors of the palace, snorting and growling and hissing. They had black armor, stained with the blood of her citizens, and Zelda gasped, knowing she had never seen something so horrific. Their eyes fell immediately upon the thrones, and her. Their snouts pulled into crooked smiles, but they did not move forward.
A man with tanned, greenish-brown skin stepped forward. What little, fiery hair he had blew about him as he strode in front of the army, a smirk she could only describe as evil seated upon his face. His crooked nose wrinkled in a sneer, and she felt tears trying to break through her calm façade. It was royal family tradition to keep calm even when faced with death, and her stony face matched her father's.
"What is it that you want?" the king asked calmly. Zelda vaguely noticed three guards on her right, inching closer.
The man's eyes flicked to her own for a moment. His smile widened. "The throne. The princess. Everything."
"I refuse," the king replied.
"Then I shall take it."
The army surged forward with those words, and her father's composure broke. "Zelda, run!" As if on cue, the guards sheathed themselves around her, and she obeyed her father, not looking back as sounds of chaos erupted in the hall behind her. She ran through a nearby door.
Hooves followed her, and she whimpered as they grew louder. She couldn't run very fast, not in this dress or these shoes. In a last minute decision, she pumped her legs harder and ran down the hall, taking a sharp left into a nearly hidden alcove that led to her room.
She made it, having thrown off the monsters—for now. Her heart thumped in her chest, and her breathing was heavy, but she paused against the door to think. She needed to find somewhere to hide—somewhere to go that the monsters didn't know of and couldn't find.
It popped into her head almost immediately.
She grabbed heel-less shoes and slipped them on. She didn't have time to take much, but she grabbed another dress and a cloak, wrapping boots into them before going into her closet.
An empty wardrobe sat far in the back. She headed straight for it, opening the door, stepping in, and closing it behind her. The secret tunnel through the castle was illuminated by torches. She ran forward, following the snaking paths to a fork. She knew these halls like the back of her hand, and her feet took her where she needed to go.
She emerged in the library, and ran down the hall, ducking into another alcove when a group of monsters came her way. After they had passed, she ran ahead to a nearby guard station.
Inside, there were various weapons, a round table with dirtied plates strewn across it, and two trunks in the farthest corner of the room. She ran to one of the trunks first, but inside was a pile of heavy chainmail in varying sizes, which would not suit her at all. The other trunk, however, held the lighter armor. She looked for the smallest one, but could only find an average sized green tunic. In it was thin chainmail, and she also found the matching hat, boots, and belt. She then grabbed a nearby bow, sword, shield, and full quiver. She hadn't the slightest idea or want to use the blade, but she grabbed it nonetheless. It could possibly be a gag weapon.
She gasped, breaking from her thoughts and stuffing it all into her pack at the sound of approaching hooves. She slipped out the room and ran as hard as she could to her destination, sighing in relief as the hooves faded. She looked up, smiling only briefly at the entrance to the forbidden garden.
The door was locked. She had no key. She looked desperately through the window, watching the grass and flowers in hopes of an idea. Minutes passed and Zelda's innovative mind stayed horribly blank.
The hooves grew louder in the distance.
Suddenly, like a blessing from the goddesses themselves, she knew what she needed to do.
The window smashed around her gloved fist, and she closed her eyes as glass fell around her. She pushed shards out of her way before shimmying through the hole she had created. The grass was soft as she fell onto it.
Before her lie a pond, a large tree, and simple flowers. This garden was not nearly as grand as the others throughout the castle, but she knew what lie hidden here. She just needed to find it.
She ventured toward the tree on instinct, and saw its shimmering form almost immediately.
It was a simple disc-shaped object, swirling a golden cream color. It rippled as she touched it, cold as ice. She could hear the grunts of creatures in the hall just outside.
Without thinking twice, she sucked in a breath, closed her eyes, and catapulted herself through the opening.
