2: A Journey Begins

Zeal descended the steps of the Temple of Time, the sun beating down on his face as it hung low in the western sky. Reaching the bottom and stepping onto the cobblestone walkway, he threw his arms out and stretched his entire body. Ten years without movement, just as one could surmise, had left his muscles incredibly tense.

"Ahh." He sighed, dropping his arms to his sides and making his way down the second set of steps leading into the Market square. As he stepped into the open area, his jaw dropped. He stared at the buildings around him; some of them were nearly three times as tall as he remembered. An inn had been added as a third floor above the Bombchu Bowling alley, which had already been in a two story building; he saw the building that held the Treasure Box Shop, which had already been the tallest in town, now had another floor that held a restaurant: The Royal Hyrulean Grill. Some food certainly sounded good right about now. Hylian stew with a giant glass of Lon Lon Milk -

"Whoa! Oops!" Zeal was ripped from his pleasant thoughts as he fought to maintain his balance, stumbling sideways, finally regaining his footing. There was a loud clanging behind him, and he turned to see a Hylian soldier, fully clad in armor, clearly struggling to carry a load of weapons. The soldier's feet moved this way and that, legs shaky as he inefficiently attempted to carry a bunch of swords. Zeal guessed there could be 10 of these short swords in the soldier's arms.

"I'm sorry, stranger!" the soldier shouted, the visor on his helm pulled down to cover his face. Zeal chuckled when he heard the voice this time; this soldier was just a boy, a young teenager.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Zeal responded, brushing himself off, "let me help you with that."

"It is my duty alone to deliver these swords to the captain! I'm grateful for your offer, but I can't accept assistance," the boy replied, clearly out of breath by the end of the sentence. Zeal stepped toward him, grabbing five swords out of the mess of a bundle in his arms.

"I insist."

"If the captain sees that I have allowed a civilian to assist me in this task, surely I'll never become a knight." The boy's complaint sounded only half hearted, as he clearly appreciated the help. "Follow me." Zeal walked with the young soldier, whose armor made a soft metal-on-metal sound each time he stepped.

"What's your name, kid?" Zeal asked, as they headed north out of the Market square and onto the dirt path leading to Hyrule Castle.

"I'm Tachi!" the boy said proudly. "I'm the youngest soldier in Hyrule."

Zeal grinned. "You've got a lot of ambition. I'm sure you'll be a knight in no time."

Tachi laughed. "Thank you. It's hard work, you know. But I know that it will all pay off when I finally get promoted. I'm going to make my mom proud! What about you?" he stopped momentarily, grunting as he adjusted the load of swords. "What's your name?"

"I'm Zeal."

"Nice to meet ya, Zeal," Tachi said happily. "The way you were admiring the town … You're new around here, aren't you?"

Zeal smirked. "You know ... yeah, you could say that. Been awhile since I've been here."

The two approached the metal gate that barred further passage to Hyrule Castle.

"Well," Tachi said, "this is where I'm meeting my captain. He should be here anytime."

"I won't stick around. Don't want you to get in any trouble." Zeal set the swords on the ground, and Tachi added his and pulled them together into a neat stack. His hands finally free, the boy lifted his visor to reveal dark hair and bright blue eyes.

"Thank you so much, Zeal." Tachi stuck out his hand, and Zeal shook it firmly. "That restaurant that you saw, The Royal Hyrulean Grill? My mom owns the place, and I help her when I'm off duty. Stop by sometime, she cooks a mean Tektite steak. It'll be on the house!"

Zeal smiled. "Thank you. That truly means a lot. I wish you the best of luck in your future as a Hylian Knight." He turned and walked back toward town, the sunlight fading to nothing but an orange glow in the purple sky.

Back in the Market square, Zeal knew that he needed to set out for Kokiri Forest soon; if curfew was the same as it was 10 years ago, the drawbridge would be going up anytime now.

A glint out of the corner of his eye, orange from the setting sun, caught his attention, and he looked over to where he had noticed it.

"No way!" Zeal smiled. He jogged over to the steps leading up to the Temple of Time, and there, as if falling right into his hands, was a short sword that Tachi had accidentally left behind from his giant pile of them. He picked it up, unsheathing it, and he raised his eyebrows and whistled at the sight of the blade; it was razor sharp and clean as a mirror. He considered, for a moment, returning the blade to Tachi. "Nah. I'm sure they won't miss it." He loaded the sword onto his back and glanced down at his clothes: dark greaves and a simple black shirt. He had never been much for armor; he was always more of an "offense is the best defense" kind of guy, but he wasn't sure how confident he could be in his swordplay, having not wielded a blade in a decade.

Contemplating it for a moment, he finally decided to simply set off as is. After all, Stalchildren would be no problem to fight off, and whatever else might have made the field its home in the last 10 years would simply be good practice for him to get used to wielding a sword again.

Zeal walked through town, meeting passers by with a quick, "Hi," or "Hello," occasionally an, "Excuse me," and finally made it to the drawbridge.

"Heading out, are we?" Zeal was a bit surprised; he hadn't even seen the guard sitting by the door of the storage room to his left.

"Um, yeah. I've got to get somewhere," Zeal replied, purposely with a sense of urgency in his voice.

"At this time of night? Well, let's hope you're competent with that sword on your back. Heh heh," The guard spoke with a sarcastic tone. "Young man, the fields are not even safe during the day for a lone traveler, let alone at night. If I were you, I'd stay at the inn. Get a good night's sleep and set off at dawn. What on earth are you doing that is so important that it can't wait until morning?"

Zeal raised an eyebrow. "Looking for a Princess. What's it to you, anyway? Look, I appreciate you looking out for me and all, but I can manage. Thanks." Zeal turned and walked toward the drawbridge.

The soldier laughed rudely. "Wah ha hah! Right. A Princess. Good luck with that, Mr. Hero." Shaking his head, Zeal crossed the drawbridge and walked onto the grass of Hyrule Field. He scanned the horizon and saw nothing. He knew, however, that the Stalchildren would rise anytime, and he drew his sword.

Just then, a creaking sound was heard behind him, and the castle drawbridge loudly began to lift. Zeal saw the torches on either side of it being lit by guards up on the castle walls.

"Be careful out there!" One shouted, and Zeal gave him a quick wave. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach, knowing that there was no getting back into the safety of the castle for the night. Determined, he faced south, sword in hand, and began jogging toward Kokiri Forest.

As the minutes passed, Zeal began to feel a bit more at ease; he took in the scenery, and he noticed trees that he remembered from 10 years ago, now twice their size. He noticed flowers in bloom, and shrubbery that glinted with a vibrant green in the moonlight. Along with the beauty, however, he saw fallen trees; he saw burnt ground, marks of fire that had blackened the earth recently. Zeal realized, in fact, that there was a burnt smell in the air; this fire must have been started recently.

With a sickening, almost slurping sound, Zeal saw 2 Stalchildren rise out of the ground in front of him. He slowed his pace from a jog to a quick walk and gripped his sword tightly with both hands. The creatures, skeletons with pieces of flesh hanging from their bones, their eyes glowing an evil blood-red, hobbled toward him.

"Heh. Come on!" Zeal shouted, and without giving them a chance to attack, he swung his sword at the Stalchild to the right of him, dealing a crushing blow across its ribs, feeling the creature disintegrate against his sword. He gritted his teeth and gracefully stepped to the left, bringing his sword through the space in front of him as fluidly as if he were simply pulling a ribbon through the air. Connecting with the neck of the other Stalchild, his blade carved its path through, and with the same momentum, Zeal brought the sword up, spun it in his right hand, and sheathed it. The second Stalchild crumbled to the ground, and Zeal stuck out his chest.

"Yeah! 10 years without a blade, and I've still got it!" He shouted to the sky with pride. Grinning, he continued to jog toward Kokiri Forest.

A couple of hours had passed now; he knew that he was at the halfway point between the castle and the forest. To his left, he could still see the stairs that led up to Kakariko Village, though from his perspective, they had almost disappeared behind the chunk of land that rose over the small brook nearby. He continued on, choosing to save his blade in case he encountered a stronger enemy; the Stalchildren weren't worth dulling the sword, and he had no means of sharpening it. As Stalchildren rose out of the ground, 2 or 3 at a time, he simply laughed and ran past them.

Zeal could see the hollow, dead trees on either side, that led to the tunnel entrance to Kokiri Forest. He stopped suddenly, an aroma filling his nostrils. Something… something was cooking. He crouched down and squinted, staring at the hollow. He could make out a faint orange color dancing on the rock walls. Holding his breath, he focused on trying to hear something. He could make out human voices. 2, possibly more. With the hollow still a good quarter of a mile ahead, he jogged toward it.

Coming up on the hollow entrance, Zeal could hear the voices clearly now, and the smell of flame roasted meat was incredibly tantalizing. He entered the hollow, crouching down, silently moving past the dead trees. He could hear that the 2 people were just around the corner, right in front of the Kokiri Forest tunnel.

"Oi! Speaking o' which, did ya 'ear tha' a couple o' the others saw her?" one man lazily spoke, sloppily chewing food between words. Zeal hugged the corner of the wall, his heart pounding. Come on, calm down. Maybe they're not bandits, he thought, though he knew that they most likely were.

"Saw who?" the other replied. Zeal noticed that he sounded a bit more intelligent than the first.

"Tha Princess, ya idiot!" the first man gruffly shouted. Zeal's eyes widened and he listened intently. "She was makin' 'er way to Death Mountain. They tried to get 'er, but she hurried into Kakariko an' the guards drove our boys away. Shame, too. She's a pretty one." Zeal plucked up the courage to peek around the corner, and he got a good look at the 2 men: the loud one was huge, about the size of a bear. The quiet one was definitely smaller, probably just a bit taller than Zeal. They both wore the breastplates of Hylian knights; their leggings were pure black in color and didn't look very thick, and their helms were fashioned from Stalfos skulls. Though they looked slightly menacing, Zeal didn't feel that they were too much of a threat. They were sitting across from each other at their fire, and he was at a 90 degree angle from them; if they were to look this way, they would certainly see his head sticking out past the wall of rock.

"Maybe if the boss would hire more competent men like us, she would have been caught there and then. Had that been you and me, she would be dead, and we wouldn't have to be sitting here." The smaller bandit took a bite of roasted bird meat.

"'Ey! You know tha' it would be against the boss's orders to kill 'er!" the large bandit yelled, seemingly incredulous that the other would suggest such an idea. Zeal had heard enough. He stood and walked around the corner. Although he was extremely nervous, he walked quickly toward the small bandit.

"Well, well, what have we here?" the short bandit stood, dropping his piece of roasted bird to the ground. "A little Hylian out for a walk-" Zeal rushed him, quickly forcing the bandit up against the rock wall and pinning him there across the chest with his forearm.

"What do you know about where the Princess is?" Zeal spoke calmly to the man, not allowing his anger to show. The man was clearly shocked, and he let out a surprised laugh.

"Get a load of this guy!" he said, struggling against Zeal's grip. The large bandit stood and began coming toward them. Zeal drew his sword and pointed it at him.

"Don't do it. I'm willing to let you both live. You tell me what I need to know, and we go our separate ways. Tell me." He pushed his arm tighter against the bandit, moving it up to his neck as the man began to choke. The large bandit walked back toward the fire, and Zeal saw him pick up a spear that had been laying on the ground. He came at Zeal, running toward him. The bandit had called his bluff.

Zeal released his hold on the smaller bandit and, while the 2 were near him, away from their fire and the tunnel, he made a break for it. Sprinting with all his might, he entered the tunnel. He heard a loud crack, and he felt the air of something flying past his ear. It grazed his cheek as he ran, and he saw as it flew in front of him that it was the spearhead. The bandit, in one last attempt to land an attack, must have missed with a spear throw and hit the wall of the tunnel, breaking off the spearhead. Thanking the Goddesses that he wasn't hit by the weapon, Zeal sprinted across the little bridge and through the second tunnel, finally arriving in Kokiri Forest.

The tunnel opened up into a clearing, and in the darkness, Zeal could see the little forest fireflies flitting about. He sheathed his sword and bent down, resting his hands on his knees, a sharp pain in his side, trying to catch his breath. He was not used to this. He had been scared. He found it hard to believe, and he felt… meek. The word in his head sounded ridiculous. He had lost faith in his own abilities as a warrior. Something needed to change, and he vowed to train, to get used to battling like before.

Brushing off the feeling of disappointment with himself, he saw that the sun's rays were beginning to pierce the thick veil of night. He was exhausted. 10 years of sleep, and I'm tired already? He attempted to smile at his own sarcasm, which promptly turned into a wince. Walking was not easy; he felt as though he had to force his body forward.

Zeal made it to the small pond at the far side of the forest. He couldn't do this right now, he wouldn't make it to the Great Deku Tree Sprout without rest. Glancing around, holding his side, trying to stifle the stabbing pain, he lumbered forward and into a house to his right.

Stumbling in, Zeal noticed a green-haired Kokiri girl, sitting at a small desk across from the entrance. She was looking into a mirror, seemingly getting ready for the day. He paid her no mind as he plopped himself down on the bed nearby. Startled from the noise, the girl turned.

"Hey!" she shouted and stood from the desk, walking over to the edge of the bed. "You can't just barge in and use somebody's bed without permission! Hey, Mister! Are you listening to me?!"

But Zeal was already fast asleep.