Chapter 2
Origins of Hyrule

Perception… How people perceive one another is everything. Do you understand why I did not tell you before? I didn't want any readers to think differently of me due to any status that I have. I just wanted to be known as Link for all those people who know me. But the truth had to come out. For the sake of this story. And so let all know that I, Link, am the God of Heroes.
A blast of applause flooded my ears as a burst of elation and shock filled my body. God of Heroes? I never expected such a high rank. I wasn't especially powerful or anything; just normal powers. Nothing that was out of the ordinary. I wondered why I had been chosen for something like this. On a whim, I scanned the crowd for the three goddesses and spotted Farore, Nayru, and Din clapping along with everyone else. Then, to my sudden surprise, Farore gave me a single, sly wink. Did she have something to do with this? I immediately made the connection between her element of Courage and my element of Heroes and couldn't help but wonder if I'd be working with her later on in my life. I'd have to ask her later. I couldn't think about this anymore, because Torvanos was now calling another name out.

I hurriedly stepped down from the stage as he announced, "Twilazor, please come to the stage." As I strode down the aisle, a strange being stood and brushed roughly past me. Twilazor glanced at me coldly with his steely orange eyes and twisted his black cloak around his dark blue body. I shivered involuntarily and sat hurriedly down in my chair. I peered up—suddenly nervous—at Twilazor, who marched confidently up to the stage, as if expecting something. I automatically guessed that he would be assigned some position having to do with darkness or shadows. No, his black cloak, creepy eyes, and dark skin had nothing to do with it. Yes, that was sarcasm.

"Twilazor, you are God of Twilight. Congratulations!" A twisted grin of pride flashed across the god's face for a brief moment and then vanished, hidden once more into the shadow of his cloak. Then, after what seemed to be forever, Twilazor at last stepped down from the stage. Still, no one clapped, as if they feared his newfound power.

Then, another name was announced. Torvanos cleared his throat and called out, "Zayrin." No one stood for a brief moment, and then a thin male figure stood slowly, dressed in drab gray clothes. Slowly, he ambled casually up to the stage as if this was merely another day of his life, though the excited glint in his eyes showed otherwise. Ah yes, Zayrin. You may not know this, but this god is the older brother of the three goddesses. He was born several years before his sisters, but his powers developed much more slowly. I guess he was sort of overshadowed by them, in a sense.

Torvanos glanced briefly at the scroll which lay open in front of him. "Hmm… Oh dear," he mumbled upon reading Zayrin's assignment. Then, he slowly turned back toward his son, who tapped his foot impatiently. At last, the God of Balance decided to speak. "Uh, Zayrin, you are the God of Trickery. Ahem… Congratulations?" I noticed then that Torvanos seemed quite unsure of whether to be proud or fearful.

"Trickey? Like, pranks and stuff?" Zayrin's eyes brightened with glee. "Alright, pretty sweet! Look out, here comes the God of Trickery!" With that, the god leapt off the stage and ran down the aisle, amidst scattered and tentative clapping. Torvanos gave an inaudible sigh of concern and turned back to his scroll.

The ceremony continued much longer after that, but most of the gods were assigned lowly and extremely specific jobs, such as the God of Candles or the ever-so embarrassing God of Cow Manure(1). And I really don't want to cover everything, especially not, ahem, that. After all, I am not the God of Patience, am I? Besides, only Khanlya, Twilazor, and Zayrin would have any great impact on the history of Hyrule.

Let me skip ahead a little bit, to the party after the ceremony. That's right, gods can have parties too; mortals aren't the only one who enjoy having a good time. But that isn't the important thing. The important thing is that this party was where the concept of a world called "Hyrule" was created. The crowd slowly dispersed and the hundreds of gods streamed toward the Palace of Heaven, which is basically the central government building. Today, though, it was borrowed for the purpose of congratulating and celebrating the new gods in the universe. I followed with the crowd, my head turned up in awe at the palace and its enormous dome that loomed over the city. From the dome, the rest of the palace spread out into a flat disc shape, though it was still likely thirty stories high. In other words, this is the likely the biggest building in the universe.

If you compared the palace to the temple from before… Well, let's just say that the temple is completely dwarfed by the magnificence of the palace, with its extravagant designs and all. Hundreds of different gods stormed through the grand golden doors that loomed fifty feet overheard. Inside, the ballroom stretched a massive five hundred feet into the distance. Lining the walls were a series of the most amazing, flawless diamonds you'd ever see, enfolded in a series of gold and silver designs. Above, a seemingly random angular pattern rippled across the domed ceiling, tracing intriguing gold lines among the silver background. My first visit to the Palace of Heaven, and I was not disappointed by its splendor.

Within, black tables—not just any tables, but those forged from a near indestructible metal called Drakonium(2)—were arranged in several rows and all were covered in all sorts of exotic foods—a feast fit for a god. I glanced around at the food and nearly gagged from the rush of smells and sights. So this was food that mortal kings ate. The first thing that caught my eye was the enormous—thing—in the center of the room. Some sort of pig-creature, but it wasn't the normal farm raised animals. I believe it was a specially bred giant boar from the world Nyruba(3). At least that's what the God of Cooks would say about it whenever I asked him. Between me and all of you… it was a hideous creature that stretched to a massive thirty feet long. So, that was the main course.

Then I noticed the masses of vegetable dishes. The items that stood out the most included elongated mushrooms of incredible length, a strange root that twisted around itself into an immense knot, and fried potatoes sliced into thin pillars—I believe they are called "fries(4)". I turned away from those fat-filled potatoes, though. Even though gods don't have any need to actually consume food, the thought of eating such… unhealthy food sickened me. Other disgusting mortal foods filled the room, so I quickly searched for a more ordinary food. I snatched up a familiar creature—a lobster—and set about disintegrating its external shell. As I nibbled up the crustacean's succulent meat, I realized that no one else ate such commonplace dishes as I did. Perhaps it comes to show that even as a god myself, I feel closer to the run of the mill mortals than gods.

As I wandered around the party, occasionally another god or goddess would formally congratulate me. This was actually a bit of blur to me, because it really wasn't all that important. The only one I really remember talking to was Bruguini, the God of Cooks. He takes the appearance of a portly and perpetually grinning man in a chef's apron. He said congrats and gave me a (painful) pat on the back, but immediately went off and asked me if I enjoyed the food, especially concerning himself with the fact that he had spotted Zayrin, the new God of Trickery wandering around the kitchen. Immediately, I disintegrated the lobster I was eating with a burst of fire from my hand. Who knew what Zayrin had put in the food?

Then, I finally caught sight of Din, Nayru, and Farore, talking with the most important guests. So, these guys are basically the most powerful gods in the universe that rule over the huge things. Among them, I caught sight of the Dormades, the Death God, showering his son, Twilazor, with all sorts of praise. The God of Twilight sulked besides his father's menacing figure, obviously embarrassed. Next to him, his mother, the Goddess of Night, stood quietly with a thin smile of pride on her lips. Torvanos and his daughters all seemed to be trying to pay attention to what Dormades was saying, but failing miserably. Off to the side, Khanlya's mother, the lovely Goddess of Earth, was engaged in a heated discussion with Sprotosia, the God of Water. From the looks of things, it seemed as if he was trying to explain his distaste of Khanlya's position over sand. Typical(5).

Anyway, I glanced back over to Torvanos, who seemed to be anxiously scanning the crowd as if searching for someone. Suddenly, he seemed to spot me and his eyes widened. "Ah, if it isn't our young God of Heroes," called out the God of Balance, probably hoping to dodge out of Dormades' droning speech. "I'd like you to meet our guests. Link, this is—" He gestured to Dormades, but was abruptly interrupted.

"Link!" cried out an excitable voice. "Congratulations!" Before I knew what hit me, a green blur grabbed me in a friendly hug. I quickly rolled out of Farore's grasp and turned to her beautiful grinning face and her joyful eyes.

"Hello Farore," I greeted, out of breath. I suddenly remembered that I had a rather important question for her. "Listen, I need to—"

"Farore, really," scolded Torvanos, interrupting my question. "You need to learn to be respectful to our guests. Link, this is…" He turned me away from Farore and quickly introduced me to all the important gods. Dormades nodded curtly at me, Sprotosia gave me a friendly but firm handshake, and Gaiyana—the Goddess of Earth—gave me a warm and pleasant smile. I already knew who many of these gods were, but I had never before met them in person. Then it was all over, and Torvanos began to speak to me.

He said, "Come, Link, I wish to have a discussion with you. As a new up-and-coming god, I believe you need to learn the basic steps of being a god…" As he trailed off into the duties and responsibilities of a god and began to walk me off elsewhere, I glanced back at Farore, who gave me a sheepish grin. I sighed; I'd have to ask my question later on when I didn't have to speak with the big-shot gods.

I wasn't ever really good with social events, but it would be rude to dodge out of a conversation with the head of the gods, even if it was boring. Still, that conversation was rather important, as I learned many new things. He mentioned how to effectively listen to the prayers of the mortals and respond to them. I supposed that I'd be receiving these messages mostly from the heroes who go off to fight evil monsters and what not. After Torvanos finished, he told me sincerely, "I believe you will do well out there, Link." I realized then that I hadn't really thought much yet about actually doing things as a god. I need some time to think, so I decided to take a little breather on one of the many balconies lining the building.

I glanced out at the beautiful and perfect white buildings of the gods. All my life, this was where I had been. But now, it was my turn to go out into the universe and do something on my own. The enormous realization stunned me and I wondered, what could I possibly do out there? The God of Heroes… Just like Torvanos said, one day I might be a god that heroes across the universe would look up to and thank. The idea seemed almost laughable at the time, but yet could easily happen in the future.

"Good evening, Link! How are you doing?" asked a voice. Farore's voice. My thoughts flew back to the last time I had truly been able to speak with her. I guess that Farore was the sister that I knew the best, even though I had only met her several times. She was almost royalty in the Society of Heaven, so I was rarely able to speak to her or her sisters. Still, the three goddesses were long-time friends of mine, for at least five thousand years.. "I hope Father didn't bother you too much," added Farore. "He's always like that with the new gods."

"Hello, Farore," I said, without a glance behind me. "How'd you get away from all your adoring fans? I didn't even get to say a single word to you."

Farore frowned. "That… was a joke? It was, right?"

"Of course it was, Farore," assured Nayru, approaching calmly. She glanced at me with those twinkling blue eyes of hers and said, "Link, you did… quite well today. I hope to perhaps work with you in the future?"

"I thought… Aren't I gonna be working with you, Farore? After all, you are the Goddess of Courage and…"

"Yes, I'm the Goddess of Courage and you are the God of Heroes." Farore watched the sky thoughtfully, as if puzzling over something. "Of course!" she cried. "If you wish to do so, you can work with me on my new project." New project? Little did I know how utterly enormous this project of theirs would become. How much it would alter the fragile fate of our brittle little universe.

"Your project?" cut in Din suddenly, striding in from behind us, a wide smile on her face. "It appears as if the project has suddenly turned into your endeavor, rather than ours. Well, Farore?" Maybe if Farore had done it by herself, things wouldn't happen the way they did. The participation of her sisters would lead Hyrule down a darker path than intended.

"Oops, sorry. Our project, of course," amended Farore with a grin.

"What is this project that you are beginning?" I asked curiously.

"It's a creation project! What did you think, Link? Well, first of all," explained Farore, "we'd need a Creation License(6)." Ah, now I saw exactly what this project was. The sisters were preparing to create a world of their own, now that they had official positions in the universe. Only with positions could the gods attempt to create a world of their own.

"Then," continued Farore, "we can finally get started with our blueprints for this world. Oh, this is going to be so much fun, won't Nayru? Our world will be full of original concepts that no one else thought of yet! We'll make the best world the universe has ever seen!" Best? Or worst? Hyrule would become a wonderful world, with a tragic and dark history. Can one really say whether this land is a land of good or evil? I… don't have an answer to that.

"It is notoriously difficult to stray from the world creation formula(7) set so long ago," reasoned Nayru. "We must conform to it, Farore. Besides, Father will insist we stick with it." Perhaps Nayru was right that the formula should be followed. Perhaps it was the three goddesses' meddling that had changed the course of history.

"What? Of course we can stray from it," argued Din. "We have enough power to create a world however we like. No one's going to tell us what to do, least of all Father!" Torvanos—was he a tad too lenient in allowing his daughters to continue their experimentation? That answer… I do not have one, even today.

But I do know what did happen. At the time that I am writing this, I have decided that I cannot dwell on what could have been, or should have been. It is best… to strive to improve the future and record what happen in the past, to prevent repeat mistakes.

"I agree, Din. Originality is what we're going for, right? Link?" Farore turned to me inquiringly. "Do you wish to aid us in our project?" My answer to the question ultimately changed the history of the Hyrule and the universe as well. If I hadn't said yes, then… the universe would be extremely different than it is today. That's how important this conversation was: nearing "destiny" on my importance scale.

"Of course I'll help," I replied. Why not? I'd be working under Farore anyway and this would be the perfect chance to get started in the universe as a god.

Farore clapped her eyes excitedly. "Then it's decided! You can help us with our new world… starting with a name!"

"What?" I was pleasantly surprised at the opportunity Farore was offering me. This would be what the inhabitants of the land would be calling their home for thousands of years! "Are you sure?" I asked tentatively. "It's your project; your world! I can't just…" I let the sentence go unfinished and looked to Farore for an answer. She nodded silently, followed suit by her sisters. I cast my mind out to search for the right combination of letters that would create the perfect name. Something… strong, yet not overbearing. Something simple. Suddenly, the letters clicked in my mind and I said, "How about… the land of Hyrule?"

(1)Ah yes, the God of Cow Manure. The guy was pretty sad already, but his appointment as that basically cemented his position as the weakest god that ever existed. Still, you never know. He could rise up and destroy a world or two with his vaults of cow poop.

(2)Drakonium comes from a world called Dranore, which is controlled mostly by dragons. The God of Forges was the first to discover Drakonium, which is the only material in the universe to be harder than dragonscales.

(3)Nyruba. Never been there. From what I've heard, it has an incredibly diverse ecosystem and billions (literally) of animal and plant species. I believe it was the God of Life's first project. Of course, with so many kinds of plants and animals, Nyruba becomes an easy source of food for the gods, since no one notices a missing giant boar or two.

(4)From a world called Earth, I believe. I do not know which god created that world, but I do know that that planet has the least healthy food in the universe. Seriously. Have you SEEN the grease dripping off their items in those "fast-food" restaurants? Horrible.

(5)The Goddess of Earth and the God of Water have had a millenia-long argument over the pros and cons of land and water. Whenever aiding in the creation of a world, there have always been fights over whether there would be more land or more water on the planet's surface. In fact, there was once a war between the two of them where they actually summoned creatures that fought each other for dominance of the world. The only thing they succeeded in was creating an incredibly diverse landscape.

(6)A Creation License allows the god who owns it to create a world and privately own all parts of that world. It's basically a permit. The world of gods is much like the world of mortals in that you need permission for many things. The god who first aided humans in evolving beyond their simple ape-like nature learned that the hard way. Still, the gods did warm up to them eventually.

(7)The creation formula forbids gods from actually entering the realm where their world exists. They must influence the movement of particles in that universe from the Society of Heaven. Those particles would eventually form into a world, which they could try to shape. Attempting to enter the other realm to directly shape a world requires vast amounts of energy that might have unknown consequences. And that would be exactly what the goddesses would do. They directly broke the creation formula. Still, there were several factors that were entirely not their fault. I'll get to that later.