A/N: This is the first part of this story; it is called: THE AWAKENING OF THE HERO


"What do you think?" asked Fado, one of the soldiers of the Royal Guard.

"No idea" replied Nador, his fellow soldier.

They were posted on one of the watchtowers of Hyrule Castle, peering at the horizon during night shift. Something had caught their attention and they were now looking in the direction of the Forsaken Wastelands. Fado had thought at first that it was just a wisp of a cloud, but now he was sure that it was no regular cloud. He had shown it to Nador, and he also thought that something was definitely going on in the Wastelands.

They were now adding this to the long list of strange things that had been going on lately: people suffering of sudden anxiety or depression; riots in Kakariko Village; the Zora Queen's sudden death, leaving young Prince Rido being barely more than a tadpole, hence unable to rule; now a dark cloud stirring in the Barrens… Fado thought that it was about time they started to think that these were not isolated events.

Nador was thinking the same thing, and he was about to suggest sending a note to the Captain of the Royal Guard when there was a sudden flash in the distance, a vortex of energy rising from the Barrens and into the dark cloud, which grew larger and larger, until it covered almost the entire visible part of the Wastelands.

"What… was… that…?" stuttered Nador.

Fado was speechless, his jaw unable to move in order to articulate a single word. Maybe Nador wasn't able to see it, maybe he was daydreaming, but he could see it: the dark horse galloping across Hyrule Field, a horse that was carrying a single rider, clad in a mantle of fire…


Princess Zelda woke up startled. She sat up, threw the silk blankets away from her and hugged her knees still shaking. She closed her eyes, trying to fight away the memory of the dream, but it only came more vivid. She opened her eyes and noticed, due to the blurriness of her sight, that she had been crying. She looked at the window and saw that it was already past dawn, so she was officially 18 now.

She got out of bed and walked barefoot to her washroom. The morning sunlight illuminated the marble walls and reflected around the room giving it a warm look, but it still wasn't enough to overcome the weight that she felt on her. She rinsed her face with some water and looked at herself in the mirror, only to see her 'just-got-out-of-bed' expression mixed with a 'scared-to-death' look staring back at her.

She kept staring at her reflection, examining her features which were now those of a woman, and grabbed a silver brush from a basket and began working on her golden hair. She brushed and brushed, like trying to also brush away the dream, but it was still vivid as if it had actually happened. She then tossed the brush into the basket, collapsed into the floor and began crying, finally giving in to the memory of the horrific dream she had had:

She was standing in the middle of the Castle's Courtyard; the gate in front of her was open. She could see Hyrule through it, like if there was no town or barriers in front of it. People were happy, Hylian life going as usual. She sensed joy as she saw children running to their parents, laughing, chasing at the cuccos around and playing with their siblings.

She also saw the Forest of Faron, thriving with life and full of sweet scented blossoms, and she felt their essence in the wind; the Gorons, the Mountain People, partying around with joy for their new harvest of rock sirloins, and she laughed like a little child at their silly games. Even the shy people of the rivers, the Zoras, rejoiced with the upcoming season of fish coming from the lands beyond the edge of the world.

She saw then something stirring far away, where the Sacred World gets to an end and the Forsaken Wastelands begin. A shadow was moving in the west, a mantle of Darkness stretched from the Barrens' core. She saw fear, where there had been hope; she felt grief, when laughter had prevailed; there was death, where there had been life; now was dark, what once had been light.

From the Darkness came a horse, a horse so black that she barely saw it in this new dark. She saw it dashing through the ashes of the once thriving field and then, as a rider, she saw a ghost. But it was no mere ghost, or a Poe from a graveyard of old, but a fiery wraith that devoured life with the fire of its robes.

She tried to scream, but she couldn't speak; she wanted to run, but she couldn't move; she started to cry, like she never had laughed; but there was a light, and she finally managed to run, and so she ran into the light, and ran into a new hope.

She saw that light came from a boy, a boy so young that was barely a man; his robes were green as if made from the forest and its face was godlike, as if crafted from Nayru's hands. She ran towards the boy and he stretched out a hand, so she took it while he raised a Sacred Blade into the sky. She smiled in hope but it was vain, as the wraith came forth and engulfed them in flames.

Zelda saw the boy, his face growing dark, his eyes glowed red as the Dead Mountain's heart. Oh, young boy, oh handsome god. He fell into the darkness as Zelda, from him, started to break apart. She began to feel desperate, she started to cry, but the heavens then opened, and again there was light.

She saw the sun, shining in the sky; she saw she was surrounded by a halo of light. She thought for a moment, and touched the boy's arm; his skin was on fire… but then she woke up.

A knock on the door brought her back to her senses. She now thought that this may have been no dream, as something stirred inside of her. She heard the knock again and she stood up and opened; Viacka, one of her maids, came into her room with a reverence, a silver tray in her hands holding a cup of tea made out of Faron Leaves, 4 pieces of toasted bread and a slice of Faron goat-cheese.

"Good morning, my lady" she said in a courteous manner.

"Good morning, Viacka" replied Zelda, managing a smile. "Thank you."

"My pleas…" began Viacka raising her eyes and stopping cold when finally catching a glimpse of Zelda's disastrous look.

"Sorry" said Zelda, "bad dream, that's all."

"No need to apologize, my lady" said Viacka with another bow while blushing. "Pardon me for my rudeness."

"Nonsense" said Zelda, lifting Viacka's face with her hand and smiling at her. "It's ok, Viacka. Would you please help me clean up the mess of my face?" she asked kindly.

"Yes, my lady" replied Viacka and she turned to the washroom. When she returned, she stood up behind Zelda's chair and began combing. "My lady?" she asked shyly.

"Yes, Viacka?" replied Zelda while sipping her tea.

"Happy Birthday" said Viacka.

"Thank you Viacka" replied Zelda while smiling.

An hour later she had bathed and dressed, and she finally resembled the Princess Zelda that everybody knew. Viacka exited the room and Zelda climbed down the stairs after her, but after a few steps she felt the back of her hand prickling. She removed one of her silk gloves and saw it: a golden triangle of light, glowing on the back of her right hand.


The Forest of Faron was once believed to be the source of all life on Hyrule. It was full of rich fruits, strange but nearly magical creatures and it also housed a tribe of people, who claimed to be descendants of the forest itself, and whose Mayor kept close friendship with the King of Hyrule.

The people from the tribe of Faron dedicated their whole lives to growing and caring for the life of the forest. They only built their houses in natural clearings (surely created by the Goddesses for them) using dirt and rocks; melted ores to smith their tools; harvested animals for their milk and wool and grew plants for their own feeding. Peace was their only law, and life was their only real joy. It was in these woods that lived a young boy named Link.

Link's mother had died about a year ago and his father worked at the town's shop all day long, so Link had had to find something useful for him to do for his town, as every man in Faron was supposed to. He had just turned 18 a few days ago and now he was working as the smith's apprentice.

Mr. Regol had been the smith of the village since years before Link had been born. All tools that were being used for farming, shearing, building, and so on had been crafted by him. Link remembered that he had once forged, for Link's 10th birthday, a small iron shield and given it to him for present. He told him that it was every man's duty to keep his people safe, as not everyone in Hyrule would be from Faron.

Link hadn't seen the meaning of these words until they had had to fight of a pack of wolves that had entered the forest, no more than 6 months ago. Link didn't know how he did it, he explained later to his raging father, but he had simply lunged for a large knife (usually used to chop pumpkins and melons) and grabbed his small shield. He came out of the house and slammed the shield into the head of the one he knew to be the alpha of the pack, and then sliced through the air barely touching the wolf's skin. Somehow, the wolf began to recoil, all of them did, and then they ran into the forest never to be seen again.

Rondel, Link's father, had been interrupted then in his lecture when Mr. Regol had taken Link's arm and raised his hand into the air while the rest of the village cheered and applauded. This incident had made Link extremely hero-like to little children and very interesting for young girls (and the fact that he had grown to be very handsome was a plus to this). Every boy in the village talked about him like if he had come out of an old legend, one of those told by the elders when they were by the fire on the eve of harvest season.

Link was tending the furnace of the smith's shop, trying not to burn his hands for the 6th time, when the doorbell chimed and Tara, his best friend and the only girl that didn't giggle in his presence, came in smiling.

"Hi there, Link" she said cheerfully.

"Good morning, Tara… ouch!" replied Link, rapidly yanking his hand and dipping it in cold water. "Damn, not again."

"Don't worry" said Tara, trying hard not to laugh. "You'll get the hang of it… eventually."

Tara had been friends with Link since childhood. She was only 1 year younger than him, and he had always cared for her and protected her. His mother had thought that maybe she would bear Link's children one day, but they had never seen each other with feelings other than strong friendship.

"Can I help you?" asked Link, pretending to be offended.

"My mother has asked me to bring her kitchen knife" she replied, like if nothing had happened. "It's lost its edge and she needs it to get sharpened."

"No problem" he said, and took a set of flint stones out of the drawer. "Hey, is your father taking you to the festival today?"

"Oh, yeah, right" replied Tara, suddenly remembering, "Princess Zelda's 18th birthday is today" she said, not much excited about it. "I think so; he needs someone to keep him awake" they both laughed. "It's about a four hour trip by cart to get to Hyrule Castle Town."

"That's true" agreed Link. He unconsciously began scratching the back of his hand and then resumed sharpening the knives. "I think Mr. Regol is going. You know the king ordered him to craft a sword? He doesn't allow me to see it, but it's made out of silver and steel. The King will hold out a tournament and give it to the winner."

"Do I feel like you are wishing to go?" asked Tara.

"Nah, just a bunch of noisy people anyways" he places both knives on the counter. "Here you go. Good as new."

Tara grabbed the knife and sheathed it. Then, she leaned forward and gave Link a small peck on the cheek.

"Thanks Link! I'll see you later, right? Lunch at my house?" she said from the door.

"'Wouldn't miss it! I love your mom's cooking!" said Link.

"Well, actually I'll do the cooking today" she said winking an eye cheerfully.

"Oh..." said Link. "I think I remembered… I'M JOKING!" he said laughing at Tara's expression. "More the reason to go" he winked an eye back at her.

She smiled and waved at him while exiting.


It had been a few hours since Tara had come. Link was in the store room of the smith's shop when he felt like if being watched. He turned around and found out in surprise that he wasn't in the store room anymore; actually, he wasn't even in the forest. He looked around and saw a vast green field around him. It was dark, but he thought he saw someone walking towards him.

Link blinked trying to accustom his sight to the dark and saw that the person walking towards him was a young man, about his age, clad in some sort of green tunic. Somehow, he felt like he knew the man, but he couldn't really recall who he was. He began walking towards him and he saw that the young man had an elegant and ornamented sword in his hand and an equally elegant shield in the other.

Link tried to call him, but he kept walking in his direction without stopping. Then, he heard a blast behind him, and caught the heavy sound of hoofs. He turned around and saw a demonic horse, black as coal and with glowing eyes, its rider engulfed in flames, galloping towards him.

Between him and the horse, he saw a young woman, her golden hair perfectly braided and her face peaceful and beautiful. She was clad in elegant clothes, too elegant actually, and had the Seal of the Royal Family emblazoned in the ornaments of her dress.

"Awaken, oh Hero… thy Time has come" she spoke in a soft and solemn voice.

He turned around to warn the young man but he was already there, less than 10 inches away from him. He saw his face, and saw his own.

He stumbled and fell back and realized that he was still in the store room. He was sweating and hyperventilating, shaken by the vivid memory of his… what, hallucination? The room was dark, as he had tripped and hence knocked over the candle that he had set on a table. He felt his right hand prickle and lifted it to the level of his eyes: a golden triangle of light was shining in his hand.