The Adventure of Link

Chapter Four: The Legend of Zelda

Impa had not been exaggerating; the heavy door into the north wing did not open until Queen Zelda placed her hand upon it, and now they entered an ancient looking place. Built and decorated exactly like the rest of the North Palace, the floor and furnishing were coated with heavy dust that caused them to leave footprints as they moved down the corridor. The wall-mounted torches looked empty and unusable, but there was plenty of sunlight coming in through the stained-glass windows, allowing the small group to see when they reached a large, open chamber.

At the center of this chamber, illuminated by a large, domed skylight, was a huge kind of alter that resembled a stacked, three-level pyramid. A carved staircase provided access to each level, and at the very top was a small bed where a woman with blonde hair was laid out. She was not dead, however, instead appearing to be asleep while her chest moved slightly up and down with gentle breaths. Unlike the rest of this place, neither she nor the bed was covered in dust, and Link couldn't help gasping once he got a good look at her face.

"That's her!" He exclaimed, pointing at the sleeping woman. "The other Zelda that I saw in my dream!"

"Link, this is Princess Zelda… my ancestor." The Queen explained. "For as long as anyone can remember, she has been sleeping in this very spot, and my father said that it was because of a curse. Apparently, my great-great-grandfather tried to use both Triforces to wake her up, just before the Triforce of Power was hidden away… but nothing worked."

"Bring me the Triforce of Wisdom." The red pyramid ordered. "The old woman remembers more of the story than you do, anyhow."

It was true that Impa knew more about the old legends of Hyrule than the Queen did, so while Zelda and Façade returned to the altar's second level to open the Triforce of Wisdom's hiding place, the old woman began to recount what had been told to her about the sleeping Zelda… the original Zelda. She had indeed been cursed by powerful magic that put her to sleep, but this had been done hundreds of years in the past.

"The very first King of Hyrule once controlled both Triforces." Impa explained. "He used them to unite the land and bring peace to the people, but in his heart he knew that no one person should command such power. He split them apart, and when he died, his son inherited one of them, while his daughter, Zelda, received the second."

Apparently the Prince was a greedy man, and he along with a powerful magician who was his ally, attempted to force the Princess into handing over her Triforce. Zelda knew that this was exactly why their father had separated them, so she refused, only to be cursed with eternal sleep by the magician. Stricken with grief over what he had allowed to happen, and his mind no longer clouded by greed, the Prince banished the magician, and placed the Princess there on the altar in the hopes that she would one day awaken.

"The Prince had learned his lesson, and went on to be a great King." The old woman continued. "And he ordered that from now on every daughter of the royal family would be given the name Zelda, so that no one would ever forget what happened to his sister."

"And we were there to witness this." The Triforce of Wisdom spoke in a soft, female voice. "Your rendition leaves out, however, that there were once not only two Triforce parts, but three."

The shimmering green pyramid added to Impa's tale that while the first King of Hyrule did break apart the Triforce and give Power and Wisdom to his children, he had hidden away the yellow Triforce of Courage. It was this third piece that the Prince so desperately sought, and without the location that the King had only disclosed to his daughter, it had remained lost. A last part of the curse, however, said that when someone with a genuinely good character, one who had conquered a great evil and not been corrupted by his own strength, they would be marked as the one who would reunite the Triforce as a whole, and break the curse on Zelda.

It seemed that the mark on the Lord Sheriff's hand was the indicator of the one chosen for this undertaking, and as great of an honor as something like this was, everyone was being really vague as to what this chosen person was actually supposed to do. No one in the room, not even the two Triforces knew where the missing one was, nor did any of them know what kind of conditions had to be met in order to reach it. So Link's next question was that if he really was some kind of chosen hero, then what was he supposed to do?

"I believe that I can answer that?" Another woman's voice said, making all of them stop what they were doing. "The Triforce of Courage is hidden inside the Great Palace in the Valley of Death, but first you'll have to prove yourself worthy."

All turning toward the sound of this new voice, what they saw was a shadowy figure whose features were covered by a dark gray hood and cape. When the hood was removed, however, Link couldn't help but gasp when he saw the long black hair and beautiful face of the woman underneath. Still, everyone knew that this was an area of the palace that was forbidden to all but those with permission from the royal family, so while most of the group was surprised to see her there, Impa became angry.

"You!?" The old woman yelled, leaning on her walking stick as she moved down the stairs toward the stranger. "You! It is you! You killed my son!"

Moving faster than even the Queen had ever seen her go, Impa pulled her walking stick apart, revealing the hidden blade within as she reached the bottom of the alter. She slashed at the stranger, who simply avoided it by stepping backwards, but the old woman continued to stab at her, and repeating the accusations of this woman having killed her son. With as old as Impa was, it was unlikely that the strange would have even been born when her son was alive, but that didn't stop her from trying once again to…

"Hada." The stranger said calmly, raising up her arm.

She brought the back of her hand across the old woman's face just as white energy was surrounding it, and the result was Impa being literally thrown across the room. She flew into some old curtains when she hit the wall on the other side of the chamber, knocking them off their hanger, so that they completely covered her body after she crashed to the floor. In reaction to this, Link drew his silver sword, now rushing down toward the stranger, and even though Façade wasn't armed, he ran down as well.

"Hielo." The dark haired woman said, pointing her finger.

A swirl of blueish energy formed at the tip of her finger, before blasting outward into a cone of frozen energy… not aimed at the two men, but at the floor. The elaborate tiles became coated with ice and frost, spreading out across a large area just as Link and Façade reached the floor, causing both of them to slip and lose their footing. The sword flew from his grasp as the Lord Sheriff fell onto his back, sliding to a stop at the stranger's feet just as she picked up his fallen sword.

"Do not move." She ordered, touching the tip of the blade to his throat. "Now, should I just run you through… or are you ready to talk sensibly?"

From where he was lying, it seemed that Link had no choice but to cooperate, but while he and the King had been getting defeated by this woman's magic, Queen Zelda had rushed over to where her elderly servant had fallen. Calling her name as she searched through the heavy curtains, Zelda was shocked when she didn't find the old woman, but instead a tiny, winged fairy lying at the bottom. Carefully scooping up the fairy in her hands, she started to wake up, blinking several times and then opening her eyes… before letting out a startled scream.

"Oh no, Queen Zelda!" The tiny fairy exclaimed. "That witch! That harpy! She's turned you into a giant!"

The stranger chuckled a bit, watching as the little fairy discovered that it was she who had been changed, and not Zelda. The formerly old woman was in shock at first, but then she realized how young her hands looked… as well as the rest of her. The wings were a little hard to get used to, as was the fact that was now about the size of the Queen's hand, but other than having been transformed into a fairy, Impa was pretty much unharmed.

"See, there is no need to be so hostile." The stranger continued, moving the blade from Link's neck. "Now, as I was saying, like everyone else who has been chosen over the years, you are going to have to prove yourself worthy. There are a series of challenges that you must face, and only by conquering all of them will you be able to pass through the barrier over the Great Palace."

"Wait a second, what do you mean, like everyone else chosen?" The Lord Sheriff asked, taking her hand to help him up when she offered it. "And how would you know so much about the curse in the first place?"

"I'll tell you how she knows!" Impa growled angrily, trying to keep her footing while standing on Zelda's hand. "Because she's a monster! She's nothing but a foul witch, and she lured my son to his death!"

And there was the last part of the legend of Zelda and her curse… Ganondorf had not been the first great evil to befall Hyrule, and as Link had done, others had saved the Kingdom as well. The most recent was a guard who had single-handedly saved a very young Prince Harkinian, and defeated the warlord who wanted to seize the throne. The young guard was also Impa's son, and his heroism left him marked in the same way that the Lord Sheriff had been.

He had accepted the quest, and rushed off to meet the challenges and prove his worth, but alas, the challenges were too great, and he was killed. There had been others before him as well, several in fact, and each had come up wanting, leaving the Triforce of Courage hidden, and Princess Zelda locked in her eternal slumber until another hero proved that he was worthy enough to try.

"Your son chose to take the quest." The dark haired woman replied coldly. "Just as this one has the choice now… my name is Sing… and I'm the magician who put the curse on her in the first place."