Disclaimer: I do not own the characters who originate from the Legend of Zelda games by Nintendo, the others are mine!
Chapter 2
Eighteen years have passed since the massacre upon the Hylian people. Liberty has been completely abolished by Ganondorf's laws and oppression, and the people are living in constant fear of either being killed or simply starving to death. Nearly all towns are being surveiled by Gerudo forces, except for a few ones within either the deep woods of Kokiri or the high peaks of Death Mountain.
Almost noone knows what really happened that day eighteen years ago, and the people have been told that the Royal Family, who had ruled at that time, were corrupt and that they brought disaster upon themselves, and that the Gerudo had come to set things right. The members of the Royal Family had been announced dead, leaving no heir to the throne.
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The gentle warmth of the sun was cascading down upon the small village of Giram, and the people were starting to wake up. The village was one of the last free towns in the country, due to its location deep within the woods. Although they weren't attacked by Gerudo or other warriors loyal to the crown, they still had their fair deal of beasts and other creatures from within the woods to deal with. Therefore the inhabitants, mostly the boys, were trained in combat from a young age, training them to become skilled with mainly the sword and the shield. They did not seek war, but war sought them…
Link had woken up early an, as usual, he went straight to the training field to get some morning exercise by practicing on either wooden dummies or sparring with other youths. He had just turned eighteen, and had officially been acclaimed a man, but instead of celebrating it, which mostly stood for drinking and fooling around with the ladies, he kept up his training, hoping to grow stronger.
"Hey, Link!"
He turned around to be greeted by the familiar face of his childhood friend, Saria, who curiously still looked like a teen-year-old despite her age of seventeen. She was always bugged about her appearance.
"Hey, Saria, what're you up to?", Link replied, yawning sleepily.
"Oh, don't tell me you've forgotten that we're supposed to go see the Forest Temple today! You promised, you know! You big meanie!", she pouted.
"Allright, allright, no problem. Geez, calm down!" He shook his head defeated.
"Come on, lets go already! You're always so slow!" She started running.
Link sighed and ran after her until she stopped at the bridge leading out of the village, where she waited for him to catch up. They then went on through the woods, keeping a sharp eye open for trouble, while talking about everyday things.
After about an hour, they stood in front of the Forest Temple, a stone structure which was told to have been built a long time ago by some ancient race who worshiped the forest.
Saria started jumping in excitement but her happy face quickly turned to disappointment as she laid her eyes on a sign up front; "Entrance Forbidden".
"What's the big deal?" She stomped her foot several times in dismay."We came here for nothing? Well I'm not going back!" And with that, she started climbing in.
"Woah, woah! What're you doing?" Link asked with a confused look.
Saria looked over her shoulder and gave him a mischievous smile. "Oh, nothing!"
Link sighed once more and started climbing after her. No matter what rules there were, he wasn't going to abandon a friend in the middle of the forest.
They went through the long stone corridors, careful not to stumble upon a rock or branch sticking out of the ground. After a while, they came upon the main chamber; a large room with pedestals spread throughout it and a large stone door adorned with ancient symbols from a language almost noone could decipher, but people said that only one chosen by the Gods could open it. Well, to Link, they were all superstitious nuts to believe such tales. Chosen by the Gods, yeah right! Still, it seemed like he recognized this place, call it déja vu, that he had seen this before, which he obviously hadn't, because he has never been here before!
"Wow, this place is amazing!" came Saria's voice. She went up to the small pedestal in the middle of the room. It had a small frame with the weird language written on it with ornament encircling the words. "What do you think it says?"
"How would I know? Meh, I don't even care!" he replied sourly. He went up and stood beside her, inspecting the words with sudden interest. He didn't know where it came from, but words suddenly formed in his mind as he looked at the writings. Now this was becoming really weird!
"Chosen children, one free, the other held imprisoned. Should both be free, hope will be found. Should both be captive, hope will be abolished." He whispered.
Saria looked at him, shocked. "How the hell did you read that??"
"I wish I knew…" he answered quietly."Wait, there's more over there." He walked up to another pedestal with more writings on its surface.
"Chosen children, doomed to conflict, doomed to face their brother, doomed to feel the burden of the world upon their shoulders." He frowned at those words.
"Who are those children, anyway? Oh, maybe it's us!" She squealed with sudden interest.
Link just shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous. These things are just myths, and anyway, I don't seen one of us imprisoned, hmm?"
He turned his head towards the large door, eyes inspecting the rather large symbols engraved upon its smooth surface. "Chosen child, step forth".
Unconsciously, he started walking towards it, as if drawn by some invisible force, until he stood inches away from the door. He stretched his arm forth to touch it, and the second his palm pressed against the surface, a large rumbling caused the whole room to convulse, as if there was an earthquake. His eyes widened in surprise as the door started opening. He stared shocked at it until it was quiet once again. Saria stepped up beside him, her gaze never leaving his.
"How in HELL did you do that?!" she practically yelled at her friend, who just stood there as if he hadn't heard her. He just started walking forward without a single word in her direction. Frustrated, she ran after him.
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"My lord! The scouts have news for you!"
The man turned around, eyes fixed on the messenger. Cold, black eyes scanning the expression of the young boy in front of him.
"What is it?" he replied with no interest whatsoever.
"They have found an illegal village in the woods, my lord. They have not been paying any taxes or fees from where they are."
The man frowned. Not paying taxes was the same as treason to him….and treason carried penalty of death. He had to show the people his power to scare them into submission. He formed an evil smile at the corner of his mouth, he always enjoyed "setting people straight".
"How many inhabitants, and are they armed?" he asked the messenger without showing any emotion.
"About three hundred, my lord, and yes, they do seem to carry weapons."
The man snarled, carrying weapons was also a crime. He had to settle this immediately. The last thing he needed was a rebellion.
"Send out two batallions along with the scouts to the village, and secure the place.
"What about the people there, sire?"
The man thought for a minute, then, grinning, he replied;
"Spare noone!"
"And the women and children?" the messenger asked with uncertainty.
The man glared at the messenger with anger in his eyes.
"I said, spare noone!" he yelled, causing the messenger to wimper and scurry away to carry out his orders.
When he was alone again, he chuckled quietly to himself. "I needed some entertainment." He eyed the country from his window, all the time grinning to himself. "Poor people, they will never see it coming." He said coldy, and erupted into a thunderous laughter that echoed from the walls in the entire castle.