Chapter 1, Altering Perception

Laughter and screams of enjoyment echoed around the deathly quiet rooms in Hyrule palace. Zelda and her newest friend, Felix, ran throughout the endless corridors. His thick, chubby hands snatched at her hair. "Tag, you're it!" He taunted as he scurried away on his thick, stubs for legs. He looked back over his shoulder to see the skinny princess barreling down on him. He stuck his tongue out at her, and promptly fell flat on his face.

Zelda stopped abruptly at his fallen form and helped him up with a compassionate gaze. "Sorry." she apologized as she looked him over, making sure he was un-bruised.

Felix waved her worried, nurturing words and looks away and leaned against the wall casually. "I'm fine, Zelda."

Zelda nodded and leaned against the wall next to him, their small bodies looking like nothing more than ants in the grand, dusty, stone halls. She sank down, sliding along the wall until her bottom sat firmly on the ground. She patted the stone floor next to her with thin, refined hands.

Felix followed her lead, sat down, and put his stubby hand over hers. "I'm so glad I could come to visit today."

Zelda smiled and nodded quietly, keeping her hand under his. "I'm glad too. It's been a while since we've seen each-other. How old are you now, anyway?"

"Nine, you?"

"Eight…" she paused and wiggled her toes inside her tight, pink shoes. "Only two more years…"

"Of freedom?" Felix added softly.

"Yeah, freedom, you could call it that. I don't know what's worse, being betrothed to some fat old pig I'll never love, or being trapped in this palace, unable to do anything I want to do."

"You can play! What else do you want?" Felix asked, awed that someone could want something other than the run of an entire palace.

"It's different for you. You're a boy, you get to go to school and you get to have a job. You get to have adventures… But what do my sisters and I get?"

Felix shrugged, allowing Zelda to continue on her rant.

"A life of marriage, a life of hypocrisy, and a life of living hell! If you wanted to do something you could, but us women are expected to live our lives content with getting a husband we could never love. I want to learn, I want to see the world…" Her face was raised to the ceiling, her eyes sparkled with the light of unrealized dreams. Her face fell and the smile faded from her lips. "But that is not a woman's world."

Felix said nothing, knowing that everything she said was true. "What do you want to learn?"

Zelda grew silent and stared at the floor. "A lot of things. I really would love to learn about magic. My attendant, Impa, is a Sheikah, and she's shown me a few things. Why should I stop there? She says I have a great talent for learning it."

"Magic is a dangerous profession, or so my father says."

"What does your father know about magicians?" Zelda scoffed. "I'm not talking about the cheap parlor magicians that entertain the women of the courts day-in and day-out, or entertain the kings of the worl. I'm talking about real magic."

Felix shook his head. "Well, I don't think you'll ever find anyone who would teach 'daddy's little girl' magic."

Zelda smiled mischievously and moved her hand up his arm and into his curly red hair. She brought his head in front of hers so that their noses nearly touched. Her silver eyes shone with the light of someone who was ready to take destiny into her own hands. "I just have to grab the opportunity, expect the unexpected, and all of that other stuff we read about in books."

"I thought you weren't allowed to read."

Zelda winked and pushed him away from her, "Tag! You're it!"

The golden haired princess ran away from Felix with a speed that he could not keep up with. She scurried through corners, intersections, and empty hallways without a moment's hesitation. Like a caged bird seeking its way out, she fluttered through the secret passages. Her hair trailed behind her like the tail of a golden phoenix. The wind forced itself into her lungs and she closed her eyes as she guided herself instinctually around corners. Out of her many menial activities, running was her favorite. She rounded a sharp corner that led out into the courtyard, glancing behind her to catch sight of Felix rounding the bend. Suddenly, her frantic run stopped as she slammed into the back of a mysterious stranger.

Time stopped the moment she touched the stranger. The breath caught in her lungs, unable to move. Her eyes widened, unable to blink, her mouth gasped for air that couldn't be taken in. She no longer saw the stranger, or anything of reality for that matter. Around her she saw nothing but fire and the charred remains of its victims. Ash and smoke clouded the air and burned her throat and eyes like the fire they came from. Her arms convulsed and she crouched down, unable to stop the awful vision. Her hands covered her golden hair as she began to rock back and forth on her heels. Her eyes gazed between her folded arms and saw the ruins of a castle…Her castle.

As abruptly as the vision had come, it dissipated. She regained control of her eyes and limbs. Blinking, she realized not a second had passed; the vision had indeed frozen time.

The man who triggered the vision turned around to face the small, timid princess. His skin glowed with an ashen, almost dead look. His thin, sharp features studied her with a look of anger and bemusement. His red eyes glittered from under his long black hair. Sharp teeth glinted from between his thin smiling lips. His velvet tunic was draped over his slim body casually, as if he could care less

"What do we have here, Vaati?" The man asked, laughing quietly as he beckoned to another long haired stranger. His voice grated against the air as if it came from the very depths of the earth.

While the first man had a grey color about him, the second had a flare of purple in his skin and infused in his long, flowing hair. He looked nicer, and much less intimidating than the first. Tattooed on his bare, soft arms were symbols that she recognized as Sheikah symbols. He bent down so his soft, almost cherubic face gazed into hers. "I think we have a princess." He answered softly. His index finger supported her trembling chin in a sinister way. His black eyes glittered with a hidden power that hovered just underneath his surface.

"I-I'm" she stuttered, blinking and looking at her shoes, still feeling the effects of the vision.

Vaati raised his other fingers and weaved patterns around her eyes. Her eyes flicked up for a few measly seconds to see that his fingertips were faintly glowing white. He smiled sympathetically at her as he rose up to stand on his feet. His clothes were flowing purple, red, and blue robes that fell down to his sandaled feet. His belt glittered in the sunlight with woven gold. A single ruby, in the shape of an eye hung from his neck. "You're tired." He stated with his strange voice that sounded like silk sliding over crystal. The two men cast each other meaningful glances filled with curiosity.

Zelda's eyes squinted in confusion, her vision started to blur around the very edges. They caused her vision, and they knew! "What's happen-" she began to ask.

The grey man held up a skinny, skeletal finger and shook it warningly. "You better go off and get some rest, princess. Don't concern yourself with matters out of your control."

Without warning, Felix's arms closed around Zelda's unsteady torso. "I'm sorry, sirs. We were being foolish with our running about. Forgive us." he apologized, dragging Zelda away from the two men. She willingly let Felix drag her away, her vision started to darken.

"What were you thinking?" Felix asked her unbelievingly under his breath. "Those two are the 'real magicians' you so adore. They eat little girls like you for breakfast!"

The last thing Zelda saw before blacking out completely was the grey man's red eyes, they winked at her knowingly. "Don't say a word" they seemed to say.