VOLUME ONE - THE LEGEND OF ZELDA

Ch. 4

The Visitation

Link turns in a wide circle, his eyes large at the wonder of the scenery around him. Ancient stone walls reach high into the air, with the surrounding forest reaching even higher. There is no stone ceiling however, only the canopy of the trees, with occasional breaks that allow shafts of light to beam through. That seems strange to Link for some reason, the daylight, but he dismisses it quickly. There is only a patchwork of stone left on the ground, much of it replaced by grass and dirt. Link's eyes fall upon an even stranger sight than the crumbling stone walls amongst the trees. Through a partial archway of stone he can see something gleaming in the distance.

A closer inspection he finds the gleaming to be a sword jutting upwards from a carved block of stone. The sword in itself is a magnificent sight to behold, even more so than the strangeness of the area. The handle of the sword is dark leather bound with what appears to be tiny gold wire. The pommel is a solid piece cast in the shape of the Triforce and the crossbar appears as if wings, wings cast in gold. And there is a Triforce mark etched into the surface of the mirror like blade. "What is this place?" he murmurs aloud.

"An ancient place of power," a woman's voice answers him, and he is startled to find a young woman with golden blonde hair crossing the grass towards him. Only, she is walking from a place where there is on opening, and Link knows she was not here upon his entering. "Someday, you will have to truly come here."

"Who are you?" Link asks, his right hand automatically reaching for his sword, Farore's Wind, at his side.

"Please, Link, stay your hand. I am a friend," her melodious voice and brilliant blue eyes have an almost mesmerizing affect on him, not to mention he feels a strange familiarity with her.

Link holds from drawing his sword, letting his arms drop back to rest at his sides. "I feel as if I should know you."

"In a way, you do," she answers, and her smile lights up her face, and seems to brighten the forest in a way no sunlight streaming in could. "I've watched you and your dreams for some time now."

"My dreams," Link replies, curious. His eyes widen with sudden realization, "My dream last night, it was you. You asked me to help you."

"I did Link," she answers. "There is a great evil creeping over the land Link."

"Is this a dream, like last night?" Link asks, his voice unsure.

"No," she says. "Your dreams are…difficult to get into. That is why I appeared as nothing more than a misty apparition last night."

"Then where are we?" Link asks. "This can't be real."

"It is. And yet, at the same time it isn't," she answers. "And as I said it isn't a dream, yet in a way it is."

"That makes no sense," Link says, walking in a slow circle around the sword.

"I does if you understand about the Five Realms," she explains. "There is the realm we live in, the Living Realm. There is the Spirit Realm, the Dark Realm, the Sacred Realm, and the place you and I are at this moment, the Unseen Realm. Or, as some might call it, the Realm of Dreams, though that isn't very accurate. This place is not a dream, nor is it of dreams. Yet, the only way to reach the Unseen Realm is through our dreams, to push on to what is beyond them, the Unseen."

"So we're no longer in our own world?" Link asks.

"In a way," she answers. "Our bodies remain in the Living Realm. But our essence, our spirits are here in the Unseen Realm. This Realm lies closer to our own than any of the others."

"How did I get here?" Link asks her. "I don't know anything about pushing to what is beyond."

"You are beginning down the path you were meant to take. Becoming the man you are meant to be," she explains. "Your power is beginning to reveal itself."

"Power," Link says, thinking the word over carefully. "I don't have any power."

"Don't you," she says rather coyly. "Normal Hylians can't reach this place. True there are a few born with a natural talent to get here, but they are quite rare. No, only a mage could reach the Unseen Realm with any real success."

"A mage," Link laughs, though in truth he doesn't feel any real humor about the statement. "I've never worked any magic in my life."

"Yet it is a part of you, whether you want it or not," she tells him. "It is in your blood, and quite soon it will begin to manifest itself more and more."

"So that is why Impa is here," Link muses. "She's going to take me to be trained by the mages."

"She will not," she says, stepping close to Link, her eyes gazing into his. "You must not listen to the good things people will tell you of Archmage Aganhim, Link. He is the chief mage of Hyrule, and many believe him to be a hero in his own right. But that is far from the truth. He is an evil and power hungry man. And the reason why I am trapped here."

"What do you mean trapped here?"

She glances up at the tree canopy to the sky beyond. "I'm sorry Link, but I must go. He's coming. He cannot find you here. He must not know of you yet."

"Wait," Link says, grabbing her hand. When he does there is a strange sensation between the two, but it is quickly gone. "At least tell me your name."

Her eyes gaze into this, their faces only inches apart. "I am Zelda Tetranalia Hyrulean," she says quietly, and then she fades away.

X X X

Link's eyes open groggily to darkness, and it is a few moments before he realizes it's still perhaps an hour before first light. "Oh for Din's sake," he mutters slightly irritated, rubbing his eyes. "She couldn't have let me sleep for another hour."

Link freezes in the middle of sitting up, realizing what it was he just said and whom he had been speaking to only moments ago. Zelda Tetranalia Hyrulean, the Princess of Hyrule and the King's only daughter and heir. The very same princess who is supposed to be trapped in some sort of cursed sleep for eternity, until the Hero rises to wake her. "Maybe it was just a dream," he murmurs, but instantly knows what he experienced had been real. "Maybe her body is cursed to sleep, but her spirit somehow found the Unseen Realm and is trapped there. Until the Hero comes along," he thinks to himself.

With a grumble Link rises to his feet and looks about their small camp, wishing that he could have a few more hours of sleep. Everyone else except for Toman is still asleep, and he is quietly busying himself around the camp. The fire from last night is still burning, and Toman already has something warning over it, tea most likely. With a yawn Link stretches his arms out wide, his mind flashing back to the previous evening and their flight from Ordon. Toman had quickly set about collecting horses for the group. Meanwhile Impa began directing them on what to pack and where to meet. Nearly a half hour later Link had found himself sitting atop Epona, looking back as the lights of Ordon dwindled in the distance. Leaving Ordon had been easier than Link thought. With much of the remaining villagers gathered on the Village Square, tending the dead, sneaking away was fairly easy.

Link silently walks over to the fire, and Toman offers him a steaming cup. Link accepts gratefully and sips at the tea. "So how far are we from Faron?"

"Three days," Toman answers, "more or less. We'll reach the Old Forest by midday. We'll turn west from there and skirt the edge of the forest until we reach the Faron Road. Then it's just a matter of following the road into town."

"And then we'll board a ship?" Link asks.

"We'll decide that when we reach the town," Toman explains "But I'd lean towards yes. We need to reach the city of Hylia as quickly as we can. Sailing north on the Hylian River will allow us to do that. We'll be able to sail right into the city's harbor."

Link nods and sits down on a log opposite Toman on the other side of the fire. Silence falls over them for a short time Link occasionally sipping on his tea and staring at the fire, and Toman continuing his busy work. "This is all because of me, isn't it?" Link asks eventually, and Toman raises his eyes to look at Link. "I know Impa said all three of us are important, but this mark on my hand. The moblin attack, even the strange dreams I've been having."

"What dreams Link?" Impa asks quietly, stepping to the fire so silently that neither heard her approach.

"Link looks up at Impa from his place at the fire and studies her serene face for a moment. "The night before I dreamt I was in some kind of stone cavern, with what looked like a large sealed well in the middle of the room. A voice said that only the life of the living would open the well. And just now I woke up from, well, she said it wasn't really a dream."

"She who?" Impa asks.

"Princess Zelda," Link answers, and a strange quiet comes over Impa and Toman. "She said we were in the Unseen Realm. Her spirit was trapped there when she was cursed."

"I always wondered," Impa says after awhile. "Flashes of her and images in my dreams. But I could never be sure."

"We should make haste to reach Hylia as soon as possible," Toman says.

"You're right," Impa agrees. "I must speak with Rauru as soon as possible. Rouse the others from their blankets, we're leaving."

X X X

The journey Toman said would take them three days actually only took two. The Guardian set a hard pace, leaving before first light each morning and stopping well after dark, with only a short break in the day for a quick meal. They had to alternate between riding their horses and leading them. With pace they were moving, they could have easily run the horses to death.

At nearly midnight that second night they reached the outskirts of the small city, a town really, of Faron. "It's a lot bigger than Ordon," Ilia observes.

"Which means a lot more to do," Zech responds, absently rubbing his hands together.

"And you'll have no time for any of it," Impa says. "We'll leave aboard the first ship we can find in the morning."