The dancing after the graduation was going well into the night. Link and Zee walked together hand in hand until they found a quiet part of the boar where they were still outside. They had kissed during the sunset, and it seemed to last from when the sky was amber with sunlight until it was filled with stars. They looked down into the water watching it ripple against the boat, and the moon's reflection a little further away.
He released her hand, instead holding around her back hoping that time would just stop for a while. He gazed at the water which seemed that the water didn't even move. Zee seemed to notice it too and thought how perfect everything looked, as if everything was snapped in a picture. They kissed again in the perfectly still night.
After the kiss she moved a standing between Link and the light from the moon. Her whole body seemed to glow, and her skin looked as if she was changed into an angel right in front of him. Her dress looked really amazing in the night light. It had a mix of pink and yellow colors and was strapless. For more formal occasions it could be made into a long gown or for something casual she could make it more into a nice skirt. She hated those long gowns so as soon as she got out of the ballroom she had it changed into the skirt.
Sarah came running to where they were. She looked flushed and panicked, while yelling for Zee. She got to where the two of them were catching her breath for a few moments, and finally said, "Zee-zee, some scary man wants to see you. I don't know why, he didn't even say anything but I know he wants you for some reason.
Zee gave a look of shock as she turned from Sarah to Link. Zee had always had nightmares of a few different large men, most of them using some form or supernatural powers using her to destroy much the peace in the world. Even worse, some of them where she is watching them fight Link, a fight which she has never been able to sleep long enough to know the end of. The only clear memory of those dreams was a strange birth mark on the back of her hand.
She knelt down to Sarah's level so that she could calm down and explain what happened. "I don't know who it is, but he came from nowhere, and everyone except me and him stopped moving. It was like all the people were just statues, not even real." Sarah sighed in relief noticing that Link and Zee were still moving. Then, she continued talking, "It was so weird, he didn't say that he wanted you. He didn't really say anything at all, but I knew it was you he wanted. I could just tell." She stopped talking looking and pointing at the water. "It's not moving at all, look"
"But that's imposs__" Link was cut short by Zee who guided his glance to the motionless water they had just kissed to. She got up to her feet still holding Sarah's hand. She gave a quiet look back to Link and it was like all her thoughts went to him in that look.
They could almost always tell what the other was thinking just by looking at each other alone. Sometimes when their eyes met an entire monologue of thoughts would go back and forth between them. It was a perfect unspoken connection, almost telepathy. Her look at that moment wasn't exactly telling him not to worry, but that she was putting together a last minute plan. Instantly her thoughts came rushing into his head, "The man from my nightmares? You didn't freeze so he obviously needs you too, so stay hidden as I approach him," and just as quickly as her thoughts showed up, they trailed off to nothingness.
Her thoughts never just vanish like that. It was almost as if she was blocking him from replying, because they both knew he wouldn't let her go to him alone. She walks off from Link before he can stop her, and he is just left quite a few steps behind. Before going to follow her, he turns around and tells a still frightened, "I know you're gonna follow me, so don't get too close and stay very quite."
He follows Zee back out of the night sky through the archway and glass doors leading into a fairly well lit hallway. He sees her turn the corner that will lead to the entrance for the main dining room, and fallows as stealthily as he can once he hears her footsteps stop and no creaking of the large double doors. Knowing she must still be in that area he puts his back to the wall hiding as close to the edge as possible. Unable to see anything, he strains his ears as much as possible for any continuing sound. Only moments later Zee's voice is heard along with another. The voice as far as Link can tell is very aged and quiet, and yet powerful.
Across from Zee, in the middle of the hallway with his back to the double doors, a man was standing in a large black cloak. His deep hood draped down to his nose, and his lips were covered by a metallic mask, making his face look more like that of a lizard. His sleeves ran down his hands and tapered at the ends. Between the tapered bits of cloth his large fingertips were covered in black gloves, but still visible. The fabric of the cloak acted to absorb the light of a room while the gloves were much smoother and seemed to reflect some of it. The long cloak went down to the point where it could not be seen where the material stopped and his shadow began. His mere presence seemed to dim the lights and make the entire room a few degrees colder.
"Princess," He elongated the, "ss," sound just slightly. The cold voice echoed through the mask becoming slightly metallic, "My master would like an audience."
"I see," she replied, her voice didn't tremble at all trying to show no fear to the figure towering across from her, "then he should have come here himself."
"No dear princess, you must come with me, and__" He cut himself short and leaned his head back on his neck taking a breath as if he could sense someone else in the room.
Link could feel the eyes of this man, piercing through the walls where he was crouched eves dropping. He felt his body being lifted into the air by some unseen force. It wasn't painful, but he was moved in a most uncomfortable manner and dropped on the floor behind Zee.
The man continues, "Ah, so the hero is here too, my master will be very pleased by this turn of events."
Zee turned to see Link picking himself up off the floor and turned back uttering, "Zant."
"So your dreams and shadow remembers me, princess. Does this mean you will accompany me willingly to greet my master?"
She shook her head quickly at him in response and puts her hand out helping Link to stand strait up with her.
"She's not going anywhere with you!" Link replies for her.
"You do not know yet what either my master or I am capable of, princess." Neither his tone nor demeanor changed. At that moment he simply vanished into a shadow, then nothing. His voice then echoed through the hall way so it was impossible to know its origin, "You soon will, I promise."
Both Link and Zee turned around to see him standing near the wall behind them, rising out of the shadows. "Such a sweet little girl this one is," he says lifting his cloak that was draped to the floor uncovering Sarah, now frozen in fear.
Before Link could even consider any sort of action, he was overcome with rage, running full sprint at Zant. He pulled his left arm back, balling his hand into a tight fist. He thrust it forward aiming right for the chest, but when his punch made contact with Zant; Link felt an electric current running through his entire body. Next thing he knew, his back was hitting the wall and he fell to the ground. Zant simply stood there unflinching.
Still holding Sarah by her shoulder, he gave a long look at Link as who was sliding down the wall to the floor. "Impressive punch and left handed too. Indeed, you are the hero of legend. Yet, you lack even the strength to face me. This world you wish to live in has made you weak. Still, with a punch like that, you have some potential." he looks down to Sarah and back up to Link, "And now I know what will drive you to fight. Fortunately for you my master wishes you to be alive and become your true self. Therefore, your only punishment for attacking me today will be the sensation you already felt."
Link, still gasping for air, forces his body back to his feet. With what little strength he has left another charge is made at Zant. This time Zant makes a simple hand gesture while Link is still feet away. Link gets instantly held from his feet being held in the air completely immobilized.
Sarah, finally no longer frozen in terror starts struggling to break free of Zant's grip but to no avail. She screams at the top of her lungs, "Let go of my brother!" She even attempts to kick back at Zant's legs, but this just causes him to hold her still even further away.
"Silence child!" Zant's voice rises slightly for the first time, "My master said nothing of sparing your life!" Zant lowers his voice back to its original level, "However, I'm sure my master would prefer live bait for his hero, especially seeing how this one fuels him so."
Zee managed to keep her composure through this struggle takes two steps towards Zant and spoke in a tone that made her places as Zant's equal, or even as his superior, "Who is your master? And what does he want with me? …With any of us?"
"Princess__" Zant says almost consolingly but is instantly cut off by Zee.
"And why the hell are you calling me princess!?" she says showing slight irritation. Link could tell a lot more than anyone how annoyed she was. In the four years he had known her, she had never once used profanity.
Zant allowed her to finish but as soon as she was done, he continued as if she wasn't even speaking "__what position do you think you're in? You cannot demand answers from me of any kind!" After that Zant's voice lightened ever so slightly, "However I will show you the last two of those questions, and as for my master. Regardless of accompanying me of your own free will or not, you will meet my master soon enough."
Zant mad another hand gesture. This time instead of Link it was towards Zee. Her right hand was being pulled into the air as if from a string, and shortly after her whole body followed. She was a puppet now with all stings broken except for her right hand.
"Look close boy hero," Zant's turns quickly towards Link his eyes still hidden inside of it. "This is what the Princess of Hyrule has kept hidden from everyone, even herself. It's her royal birthright, and what's more it may very well be the last you ever see of her."
Link, who was still unable to move or even speak, had to watch Zee dangle helplessly from her own right hand, only feet away from him. She shuddered and cringed a little as a small glow started emanating from that hand. The faint noises in pain got worse and quickly turned into screams as a golden triangle was etched into the back of her hand. Tears came slow down the side of her face and turned into streams. The design looked as though it was burned or tattooed onto her skin, and yet also seemed to have been there her whole life.
Zant dropped his arm letting her fall to the floor. She collapsed and balled up caressing her one hand with the other.
Link, now filled with more rage than ever seeing the pain Zant inflicted on her, let out a bellowing scream at Zant and freed himself from that magical grip. Zant was too surprised by Link's sudden burst of strength to set up any sort of magical defense, but he still had another trick up his sleeve. Link ran at that shadowy figure again ready for anything he tries.
Zant snapped into physical action and held Sarah out in front of himself. She was now placed directly between Link and Zant making her into a human shield.
Without missing a step, Link jumped high into the air lifting his legs tucking them behind him over his sister's head. He pulled his fist back while in mid air almost sure to hit this time.
Zant reached deep into his cloak with the extra second he gained from using Sarah as a shield and drew a long thin claymore style sword from its sheath. In a blinding fast swing, the side of Zant's sword connected with Link's forearm that was rushing to Zant's face. Not even a second later, Zant's other fist hit Link's right leg causing him to rotate falling sideways still in the air. Link saw Zant's body spin with the cloak only slightly behind and take one more thrust with the claymore.
Link woke up seconds later to the simultaneous screams of both Zee and Sarah. He was gasping and struggling to breathe again. His head was throbbing, but he could feel no other immediate pain. He couldn't force himself back up to his feet this time. He was lying on his back against the wall with both Zee and Sarah directly over him, their tears falling from their eyes onto his face. Zee got very close to him so he could feel her breathing on him, and the warmth of her body against his. She kissed his forehead pressing her hand on his right side. As he noticed her hand there the pain sensations started coming back to him from right under where her hand was. It must have been Zant's blade that pierced him there. All the pain was now suddenly rushing back to him as he saw the blood staining his shirt surrounding her hand.
"Please come and save me some day. I'll wait for you," she whispered to Link's ear and kissed his cheek with one last tear drop where her lips just touched. She stood up with a new sense of determination and stood facing Zant. Her hand was opened so that the back of it was facing Zant so he could see the three triangles, "Your princess will accompany you to see your master, but you must spare the hero."
"Spare the hero?" he asked, his hood turning back and forth between her and him, "My dear sweet princess, make no mistake in my actions. I have no intention of letting the hero die here. All of my master's careful planning would be ruined." As he said that, his hand was lifted into the air. Something small and bright red in the shape of a heart drifted out from inside his sleeve and it slowly floated towards Link's body. As contact was made, it was absorbed into him, and his whole body was surrounded with white light. His wound instantly closed up and healed as if it had never even existed, and his strength had completely returned. He was still completely incapable of any movement.
Zant sheathed his sword and his shadow started spreading from his feet, expanding on the floor. It completely covered the floor running up the walls and on the furniture turning everything it touched completely black. The shadow made its way across the ceiling finally covering the chandelier and a thick blanket of darkness filled the entire room. Link's senses were worthless now. He could not see, hear or even feel anything.
Link's sense of time was even lost now. Seconds, maybe even minutes later, the chandelier light on the ceiling slowly sparked and flickered back to life. Light was restored to the entire room, but Zant, Zee, and Sarah were all completely gone. There was no trace or sign of them left behind at all. Link had no clue what so ever to go on. He looked down to his side showing only a small faint scar from that sword. There was no blood, not even on his clothing, and yet there was a smooth tear in the fabric.
Faint noises were in Links ears, intensified by the fact that they were not there for a long time and yet should have been. One was of the ships engines pushing the yacht through the water, and the other was the constant lull of the waves themselves.
"If the water had started again, then time should be unfrozen too," he thought to himself. Seconds later he stood back up with no effort at all, and he pushed through both doors into the dining room. There was a bustle and simple conversations at every table. Everyone was talking just as if nothing at all had happened. To everyone else it was like nothing did. He took a long sweeping glance around the room and his finally met with his mother's. She seemed to be the only person in the room that was showing any concern at all in her face. He saw some of his friends on another side of the room, all talking about unimportant stuff that would seem to matter a lot more to him only twenty minutes ago.
His eyes ran quickly back to his mother who had the unmistakable appearance of someone who had just lost something important like her set of keys. He moved quickly to her, sitting down in a pulled out chair still winded from what just happened in the hall. He felt more like he just finished a marathon instead of walking into a dining room.
"Link dear," she said slightly worried, "Have you seen Sarah? She was sitting right where you are not more than a minute ago and then she just vanished in thin air, like magic or something." She looked at him still breathing heavy and noticeably jumpy, "My god, Link, you look like you just had one of those reality is stranger than fiction moments."
She had no idea how right she was. "Sarah!... Zee!..." he manages to say their names between breaths. "Taken, Zant has__" but his voice tapered off and stopped. There was no way in his mind that she could have known what happened, or would have even believed it. Magic and shadow demons were all way too farfetched. He would be going straight from the yacht to the nut house if he indulged her further.
"Say that name again," Katie's face on the other hand changed instantly from a simple mild worry to almost fearful at what Link had just said.
"Zant?" Link replied quickly.
She had almost dropped the coffee she was sipping from at the time. She said out loud what she was thinking not intending for Link to hear, "Zant, than he must be nearby too."
"He!? Who's nearby!?"
Her thought continued despite Link's interruption, "No, that can't be right. Zant must be just under his orders. He is probably still too weak to come here on his own right now."
Link stood up gently putting his hands on his mother's shoulders, "Mom who are you talking about!? Is it Zant's master!?" Link shook his head really fast, "Who cares about that!? How do I save Zee and Sarah!?"
She seemed to have gathered her thoughts together and looked directly at her son, "Sit down Link."
"But Mom!" he was very irritated by what just happened and by the fact that his mother scared him by thinking out loud then was so calm.
"Link, Please. This will be the last time I see you for a very long time. She said as her deep blue eyes met his. There was more desperation and sadness in her voice than Link was used to hearing. He instantly let his body fall into that same chair again. The few people that were watching looked away happily engaged in their own conversations.
"I knew this day would come," she said to him just over a whisper. "I should have told you about it years ago, but I didn't think you would be ready, or believe for that matter, something like this. I hope you can forgive an overprotective mother."
"Don't worry about that now, Mom. Something more important is happening. Who is Zant?" he asked her slowly realizing that maybe he wasn't really crazy at all.
"He," she pauses only for a couple seconds trying to think of the best words to describe him, "is something of a shadow. His actual race is a Twili, and they are beings who live in the slight unbalance between the world of light and darkness. Long ago he was banished from the kingdom of twilight and now holds his allegiance to someone much more powerful."
"What does he want with Zee? He kept calling her a princess, and me a hero." Link looking to his mother with every question hoping she had all the answers. "He said that Sarah was only bait to bring out the true hero."
"Zee is the princess of legend?" Katie mind instantly starts processing what Link has just said and she continues, "Maybe she's a descendant of the princess. If that's true and you are the chosen hero, then you two are fated to be together. It makes perfect since you two have clicked ever since you have met." She shakes her head looking down, "Why didn't I see it before."
"What about his master?" Link asks the next question.
"He is a man from the desert who desires in the west of his homeland nothing more than power and conquest. He was always greedy for more even when he forcefully attempted to acquire the ultimate power of their world. His lust for power turned out to be his own undoing, and he ended up with only one of the 3 pieces of it. This evil being is now only known as Ganon. His full name is lost to the pages of their history.
Link shuddered at that name. It was as though and evil entity he had always known was waiting for him by that name. He wouldn't wait any longer, and had to stop avoiding the main issue. Two of the people he cared about most in his life were gone without a trace and he needs to be able to do something. "How do I save Zee and Sarah?"
"Come outside with me, Link. I'll show you what to do," she answered and they both got up and quietly walked out the double doors then the glass doors and archway where they met the warm summer sea air. The last time Link smelled the salt in the breeze was when he kissed Zee.
Standing next to a lifeboat near the bow of the yacht she pointed to a seemingly deserted island, and said, "Go there. I'll never forget that place. I can't say for sure what you'll see there, it's been sixteen years since I set foot on that island. There's a town on the near side of it. A woman named Impa lives there. She should be able to help you. You have to find her"
Link looked at the small land mass on the horizon. Rising strait out of the water was a dormant looking volcano, and everything at the base of it was jungle and cliffs. He turned quickly to her, "Mom, look at that place. Nothing's there, even if there was a civilization at one point it's completely abandoned by now.
"That island is the last remnants of the once great Kingdom of Hyrule. Being so close to it is probably how Zant found you two, but it would have happened eventually regardless." She looks down to Link and smiles, "You don't know that island like I do. It only looks dead from the outside. If you're not from that world then it's just a decaying piece of rock, but if you are from it as soon as you get close enough, you will see for yourself. You must go quickly before the boat passes it by."
"How do I get there?" He leaned over the railing, "It's still way too far to swim."
She gave him one last long hug then hit the small engine mounted lifeboat they were both standing next to while talking. He climbed into it quickly after the farewell hug and she lowered him into the water.
As it hit with a light splash he pulled away turning the power on and slowly glided on the water away towards the island. In the distance she notices the boat completely vanish from sight knowing that he just entered the world of Hyrule. It was a world that he was destined to be a part of, a world she longed to return to some day. She closed her eyes and knew it was the first steps of his long adventure.
