Chapter 2 Awakening
The young Sheikah was waiting impatiently in the hall of the temple, his eyes glued to the door behind which Impa had disappeared. He stood motionless when she came back, followed by a smaller, seemingly fragile beauty. He politely knelt down but the princess ordered him to get back on his feet immediately.
Despite her young age, she seemed very grown-up and determined and Sheik wondered where she took her strength from.
"You know why I called you, Sheik. The time has come; the hero has awakened. I want you to be his guidance through the harsh time he will have to face. You have to teach him everything he needs to know but do not speak a word of what needs to be untold, no matter how many times he will ask for it. Do you understand me?"
The young man nodded and the princess' face became softer when she continued.
"I know I'm expecting a lot of you...of both of you, but it is absolutely necessary that he awakens the sages. I know I can only trust you..."
Her sparkling blue eyes met the Sheikah's red ones and she knew she didn't need to carry on for he had understood quite well what she was expecting of him.
He silently bowed to her once again and turned on his heels to leave the secret refuge, where Impa had brought the princess in order to hide her from Ganondorf. It was a sacred temple in the mountains and Sheik slightly shivered when he stepped out into the snow. The sky was cloudless and the air absolutely clear; there was not a single sign of Ganondorf's destructive aura in this area.
He slowly started walking down the winding and uneven path and pulled the cloth, that covered his nose and mouth, tighter when the icy wind hit him in the face. His hands were already red from the cold and his feet struggled to keep the balance on the slippery surface. The way up to the temple had been a hard one but the way down was even more dangerous. It took him more than an hour to get out of the inaccessible area and he slightly cursed himself for overestimating himself. If he didn't make it in time to the sacred cathedral he'd miss the hero and this was something he needed to avoid at any cost.
He sped up and eventually managed to reach the holy temple just in time to hear voices when he walked through the door that separated the main hall from the pedestal of time. They didn't come from inside the building, they rather seemed to linger in the air like the monotonous chant of praying monks. Hiding in the shadows, he waited.
The ceiling suddenly opened as Rauru, the sage of light, sent the hero, he had kept in the sacred chamber for seven years, back to Hyrule. A glistening beam of blue light elucidated the room for a second causing the Sheikah to cover his eyes with the back of his hand until his vision had cleared again. And there he stood, the hero who was supposed to fight against evil and save Hyrule. A mere boy in green clothes with a fairy and a somewhat helpless expression on his face. As the Sheikah stepped forward, an almost inaudible movement, the hero suddenly stopped and, pulling out the sword of its sheath, turned to face him. "Who are you?" he hissed.
"I've been waiting for you, hero of time. My name is Sheik, I am one of the last survivors of my folk, the Sheikah. As I see you standing there with the legendary Master Sword in your hand, you do recall an image of a hero." Suppressing the mocking tone in his voice, he added: "If you believe the legend, you have no choice. You must awaken the five sages in order to restore peace to Hyrule. You are the Chosen One, Link."
There was a moment of tension before Link put back his sword and his facial features softened.
"How do I awaken them?" he finally asked.
"One in a deep forest. One on a high mountain. One under a vast lake. One within the house of the dead. And one inside a goddess of the sand. The first sage is waiting for you in the forest temple. It is a girl I am sure you know. Link, meet me at the sacred forest meadow in the depths of the lost woods. I believe you have already been there."
Leaving the hero no time for questions, he threw a deku nut onto the floor and disappeared.