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Chapter 4: Introductions and Legends


On his rear, Link scuttled away from the creature speaking to him.

Seeming to sense the boy's discomfort, the Owl chuckled, "Worry not, child, I will not eat you. Those clothes would leave a bad taste in my mouth."

Link wondered if he was still dreaming. The creature was decidedly not Rito—wrong build, and too many feathers. And yet it spoke to him. He began to arrive at a horrible conclusion: He had finally cracked. Acia had told him his active imagination would begin to actually warp his perception of reality, and here was the proof right in front of him.

As it was now apparently his imagination that had begun to antagonize him, he knew the solution: pretend that the Owl was not there.

Ignoring the newcomer, Link ran up to the edge of the cliff. It was the high cliff overlooking the Lanayru Balcony hotel, with the forest lying between the hotel and the cliff. The drop was some two hundred feet.

"I do not recommend jumping." The owl suggested.

Link, still ignoring him, peered further over the edge, kneeling down as if preparing to swing his legs down onto the cliff face.

"Did you hear me, young man?" The Owl repeated, this time louder, "Do not attempt it!"

Not even looking away from his imminent descent, the boy spoke his mind, "I don't talk to hallucinations." he replied matter-of-factly.

The owl blinked, but not necessarily out of surprise or offense, "What?"

Link finally stood up and looked the newcomer in the eyes, "You are a talking owl. You are not actually real. You're a figment of my imagination."

The enourmous bird let out a laugh. It was a baritone chortle evoking the image of a well-worn wiseman, "If I do not exist, would you care to explain how you were brought up to this cliff in less than a minute?"

Link crossed his arms, already uncomfortable with the question, "Okay, I'm dreaming." he said after a moment's thought.

The enormous bird turned its head slowly in the trademark motion of even normal owls, "Just as you wish your encounter last night was also a dream."

The observation left Link speechless. He had about settled that the oppressive experience in the forest was no dream. Now that he thought of it, this left the idea of a talking owl, if he was indeed real, quite tame in comparison.

The owl stepped closer, jarring Link out of his musings. Only inches from his face, the owl studied his face intently, "You have seen it, have you not?" He asked, his voice growing more serious than before, "That brazen shadow that won't yield to any normal light. And those beasts."

At the mention of the word beasts, Link's eyes widened as he looked back at the hotel, some few hundred feet away. If the beast was still there, Acia and the others—yes, including Shad—would still be in danger. Again he dashed up to the cliff, "I have to get back down there!" he demanded, as if the owl could do anything to intervene.

The owl made a gentle wave with his wing, "That beast will leave your home alone, for now."

"Then get me down there!" Link demanded again, turning to the stranger.

Again, Link was met with the owl's studious face, "I thought I was only a dream."

Link fumbled with his lips, figuring out the words to save face, "A ghost, then!" he finally said.

"Very well," the owl chuckled, "I'm a ghost, then. But why insist on going back to where you once were?"

Almost hysterical, Link sprang to his feet, "So I can tell Acia that I'm okay!"

The boy tore the pointed cap from his head, violently shaking it in front of the owl's face, "And also so I can get out of this stupid thing!"

"Hmph," the owl grunted, "I said the beast will leave your family alone for the moment. I did not say permanently."

Link was silent. He was beginning to guess the owl's argument.

The large bird pointed down at the building with his wing, "If I bring you back down there to continue your life, that life will only continue under the fear of that monster returning, this time with more hideous comrades."

The boy was silent still. He let his gaze sink to the grass. The owl was right. As brave as he was in that moment, he was also stupid. If he could have been easily overpowered by the atrocity he attempted to stare down, it returning with reinforcements would be worse. Given an actual weapon, he might be able to kill it, but an entire crowd at once? Trying to ensure the safety of the others would be inconsequential.

In this manner, he pondered for a moment how entities that sparked unusual courage could be just as dangerous as entities that induced a paralyzing terror.

"Which brings me to why I'm here." The owl furled a wing inward, gesturing to his own face, "Creatures call me Kaepora Gaebora. I'm looking for a way to get these monsters out of this kingdom." he nodded at the youth, "And I would like your help."

"My help?" Link put a hand on his chest, "You just made it clear I can't do anything to hurt those things!"

"But you can ride me to Castle Town, can't you?"

The boy gave a nervous grin, "Yeah, no thanks. I decided you're a ghost and I'm sticking with it."

"You'll walk, then? With the path down from this cliff, it'll take several hours."

Again, Link was quiet. He was a bellboy, so he was used to a good deal of walking. However, this still meant leaving Acia and the others defenseless. He had realized he would hardly make a difference, but he still wanted to be there for whatever happened. Still, he didn't like it but Kaepora was taking the right path in cutting off the dark beasts at the source.

Plus, if he went back, he would have to face Shad again.

Finally, he looked Kaepora in the eye and nodded, "Okay, I'll go with you. But I'm not flying." he added with a single finger to emphasize the point.

An area of cheek feathers tightened around one of the sides of Kaepora's face. It was the best half-smile he could manage, given his beak. "If you insist."

Link only took the first few steps of this journey when he stopped again, "What if we run into those monsters on the way there?"

Kaepora nodded, "I was waiting for you to ask that."

Without warning, Kaepora stretched his wings and thrust into the air at breakneck speed. The same immense wind that ended the black creature returned, nearly knocking Link off his feet. When it died down, the boy looked around. Kaepora had vanished. He looked in every direction possible, even looking down the cliff, trying to discern where the owl had sped off to.

After nearly five minutes of this confusion, he was knocked down by what must have been an explosion behind him, accompanied by a brief shower of dirt hitting his backside. After recollecting himself, he stood up and turned to see what caused the disturbance.

Embedded in the dirt, just like in the hotel, was a sword. This one was much more humble-looking, and seemed the right size for Link. The cross-guard, if it could be called such, was a circle of wood, spiraling from the center into a single two-pronged wing-like protrusion with the points rounded off to give it a softer demeanor. The wood itself seemed some shades lighter than Kaepora's feathers.

Link held his breath without noticing, cautiously stepping towards the blade, his hand inching closer to it.

"Mr...Owl?" He asked, unsure of the conclusion forming in his mind, "Kaepora?"

A laugh behind him made him jump. Kaepora landed some feet away, still chuckling.

"Did you think that I had turned into that sword?" he asked, giving that same semblance of a smile, "Such a thing is not unheard of, but one body is enough for me."

Link turned back to look at the sword, "What is it?" he asked, trying to hide the excitement already beginning to bubble up inside him.

Kaepora gave a single, contented grunt, like a father pleased with his son's enjoyment of a new toy, "That will be explained in due time."

Link drew the wooden sword out of the scabbard still attached to his back. It dawned on him that while being somehow whisked away to the plateau, the sword had found its way back into the scabbard. Giving it little thought, he let the dull weapon tumble down into the forest below. A stupid grin plastered on his face as he put his hands on the handle. When a strange symbol emerged on his hand, the smile fell.

He felt that same ethereal heat from just moments before the wall-like creature had overtaken him. He recognized it as one of the symbols associated with the Royal Family, but not even Shad could tell him what it meant. It was three triangles stacked into a pyramid shape, forming an upside-down triangle in the center. Two of these shapes glowed a faint yellow, but the bottom right triangle glowed significantly brighter. The symbol turned brighter as Link pulled on the handle of the sword, then fading altogether once the blade was freed from the soil. The boy wasn't even sure if he had done so out of his own volition.

"As will that." Kaepora continued, this time much more solemn.

Link wordlessly sheathed the sword in his scabbard. It made the familiar sound of metal sliding on metal, but given the unnerving mark dormant in his hand, the boy felt not even a hint of his prior giddiness.

In the same silence, he and Kaepora started their long journey to Castle Town. Rather, Link walked and Kaepora flew ahead to scout the area.


In the course of their travels—up to the point where this author deems it suitable to return to them—Proper introductions had been made, and both travelers made regular use of his companion's name. The boy, though wary of his new acquaintance, seemed quite adjusted to his new reality. That being that the owl was still a ghost. On that notion, Link dismissed any premise of a compromise. Kaepora did not attempt to disprove him. Rather, he found it quite amusing.

Any traveler—though there were only a few—to wordlessly cross paths with them had seen the duo approach, and watched them fade into the destiny, leaving the traveler with the decision to whether doubt the boy's sanity because of his being near such a dangerous-looking creature, or his own sanity because of his seeing a bird of such a size.

Also during the course of this journey, Link took the occasional liberty of unsheathing the newest addition to his arsenal, if only to feel its weight, and twirl it around his hand. The disturbance in his mind from the triangular mark began to fade. Though it never actually occurred, if the youth had ever undertaken these drills in the absence of his fellow traveler, the performance might have subconsciously grown into more theatrical maneuvers, attempting facsimiles of history-changing thrusts through a tyrant's heart.

Presently, the drills came to an end, and Kaepora invited the boy to rest on a low rock. Castle Town was now only a couple miles away, an island entered by a long bridge over the sea. Surrounding Hyrule Castle were the walls and town; bragging constructions all of a defiant white, with all the piety of unending limestone cliff-sides.*

The leather of his shoes resisted the grasp, but Link attempted to rub his feet regardless. He looked at Kaepora, "It's funny that I'm just now asking this, but what exactly are we going to Castle Town for?"

"We are to infiltrate the castle proper." Kaepora answered.

When he decided, after a short silence, that the owl was quite serious, Link stood from the rock and retraced his last few steps, "And this marks the end of our acquaintance."

"Don't you think the Royal Family should be warned of these living shadows?" Kaepora proposed.

"I'm sure someone's told them already." The said back.

Kaepora raised one of his dominating eyebrows, "And on the random chance they haven't, then we shall be the first. The problem is that the guards won't just let a mere child in, especially when he starts bellowing about black beasts with shields for heads, and going by your reactions they'll be even less likely to listen to a talking owl." The owl made a gesture with his wings, "Thus, infiltration is our only hope."

Defeated by the owl's logic, Link resumed his journey. He was undoubtedly fired for this. Perhaps he could travel deeper into the Lanayru region and ask Vozali to accept him as an apprentice pyrotechnician. It would be a welcome change; his only responsibility would be counting his fingers following every mishap with the gunpowder.

These were Link's thoughts as he walked into Kaepora's outstretched wing. After sputtering out loose feathers, he realized his companion was looking in a specific direction. Following his gaze, he realized that those wise eyes had settled on the Dawn Sentinels, some twenty feet away.

Along the cliff, looking out over the ocean, were four, grounded stone heads which were little more than moss-covered mounds with round, blank eyes, and spires arranged along the hypothetical line between the Sentinel's "face" and the back its head down which more spires descended like rocky spines. There were four in total, with each separated by no less than ninety feet. The Sentinels themselves were roughly ten feet in height, rendering the spires at roughly three feet in length.

"What is it?" Link asked, prompted by Kaepora's silence.

Kaepora let down his wing, looking over his shoulder at the youth, "Do you know the story behind these structures?"

The boy blinked, "Of course I do. Don't you?"

"Sadly, no."

"I don't believe you."

Kaepora shrugged, "The only legends I ever hear are those told by squirrels and robins. I'd very much like to hear a Hylian legend, for a change."

Link pointed to their destination, "But what about the castle?"

Kaepora cocked his head casually, "Can't be more than five minutes, can it? If you must, the abridged version will do."

Wordlessly, the boy looked to the Sentinels. He seemed to know that, although if insistent they would continue their trek, Kaepora would perhaps be somewhat disappointed by his declination to humor him.

As the owl said, he concluded that five minutes could hardly hurt anything.

Link went into his memory. Long ago, he had heard Shad's rendition of the tale. As flawed as Shad was, his talent at telling stories, while quite subtle, was something worth noting.

Conceptualizing the basics of the tale in his mind, the boy began the story...


That we call it Landing Night is not the product of chance. The explorers found this land in such a darkness that they may as well have been blind.

The darkness was a curtain. An impenetrable barrier that the explorers struggled to pass. Too long they suffered in this endless night. Finally, from where the shadows were its most latent with waking nightmares, the unseen evils attacked. To these atrocities, the blades and bullets of the explorers were but grains of dust.

Scoring little to no victory, the explorers found their necks in the claws of the unseen enemy.

But as the shadows grew tangible in this age, so too did the Dawn.

Like their namesake, they rose. With all they needed to challenge the blindness of even the Moon and the Stars, the Dawn Sentinels stood tall, defeating the brazen shadows.

Thus was our ancestor's first encounter with the Spirits of Good, and the Dawn Sentinels, their physical bodies used for waging war.

Alas, these warriors, bodies solid with soul and radiance, were weary after the battle and began to fade. All that remains are the sculptures made in their honor, watching as the Sentinels themselves must be. Memorial and Sentinel alike wait for their vigor to return, so that they can again challenge whoever threatens the Dawn.


"It's...just a story." The boy finished. He had made this observation, but now noticed some strangeness with his companion.

Kaepora had furled a wing over his beak, and Link could see the familiar tremors of mirth. The owl was struggling to contain a laugh.

"What's so funny?" The boy asked, rather upset at this subversion of the climax. By chance, he looked down at his feet and saw why Kaepora had become so amused. As a result, his face turned red by several shades.

Without even knowing, he had dramatized his tale by climbing up the nearest sculpture meant to resemble the Sentinels. He now stood at the very top, leaning from the top-most spire like a melodramatic hero leaning over the seas from the ratlines** of a ship.

Eager to escape the absurd image this evoked, the boy clambered back down the mound of stone and continued toward Castle Town, "We have a Castle to infiltrate." he mumbled.

Out of politeness, Kaepora continued attempting to tame his stifled humor.


*This incarnation of Hyrule Castle is directly inspired by the Mont Saint-Michel castle in France.

**Ropes arranged in a ladder-like pattern for climbing up the masts of a ship.