Link opened his eyes as the light slowly faded away and the room appeared around them. He was surprised to see their location: The Temple of Time. Link looked around the crystal white stone room. Nothing had changed in seven year. Near a large stone pillar stood a stand with three shiny stones on it. Those stones, which Link remembered collected all to much. He swung around to look at his companions.
"Zelda, w-"
He was taken by surprise when the Princess before him wavered and then fell, but Link was quick to catch her. He slowly lowered her near the ground into a sitting position with his hand on her back to support her. Sheik and Impa were now kneeling, Sheik beside Link and Impa on her empty side.
"This w-was the best place to go in our current situation. I know that Rauru will protect this place from any 'Shadows' as that man calls them. Please, allow me to stand."
Link nodded and slowly helped her stand up. She sighed, and then walked towards the spiritual stones, leaving the other three to watch. She stood on the plush red carpet, looking at them.
"O spiritual stones… such stories you would tell if you had the lungs to speak. Earth, of a deceased father's love still staying with his heroic son… Fire, of a friendship gained by a death-defying deed… And of Water, a love given to one person that may never be felt by the other…" Zelda paused, then reached to her side, pulling out the blue ocarina. "Please, O Goddesses, hear us in our time of need!"
She brought the ocarina to her lips, and out came a sweet prolonged tune. There was a sudden rumbling noise, and the pillar before the stones began to rise. It stopped as it reached the top, revealing the inside that was lit by a number of windows under the rising sun. In the middle of the rather large room stood a platform and on the platform was a stand on which a gleaming sword stood on. Link grimaced, The Master Sword.
Zelda sighed, and turned. Her face still shone that she was sickened and tired, but the Temple seemed to have made her a bit more active.
"Link, please go retrieve your sword."
Link sighed. "Zelda, you know what I promised myself. I can't-"
"Hush." Zelda requested, holding two fingers up to her lips. "Link, Hyrule is in need of the sword and the hero who wields it. Link, I ask of you. No, I beg of you as the representative of the Kingdom of Hyrule; Take the master sword as you rightfully should."
Link sighed in distress, looking at the woman who was now bowing before him. He scratched the back of his head. "Alright. I don't like it, but if you insist."
He sighed, then began walking toward the risen platform. He began walking up the stairs and then into the room. He shivered. The last time he was in here was when she…
He shook his head and began to approach the platform the sword rested on. He turned, and was surprised to see Impa, Zelda, and Sheik all standing behind him in the doorway. He sighed, and then nodded. He turned and began walking up the platforms until reaching the center where the sword rested. He swallowed hard, then reached forward, taking hold with his good hand. Suddenly, a jolt went though his body and the world around him went dark. Still searching with opened eyes, Link looked around. He attempted to pull his hand away, but failed. Then, a yellow hexagon appeared on the ground in front of him. It shone a light yellow color, and a robed figure rose. Link eyes widened.
"Rauru…" he murmured. The old man arched an eyebrow.
"Link, my boy. It has been sometime. Or in some eyes no time at all. Though in truth, we never met." He said, a slight smile behind his deep moustache. "You wish to take the Sword? May I ask why? Your sevententh year has already passed, my son."
" I know… but Zelda wanted me to. See, there's this man named Demetrius and-"
"Demetrius?! Do not tell me he escaped!"
"You… know him, sir?" Link asked. Rauru sighed.
"All too well. When I lived in the human world as a child, he was one of the inhabitants of my village. Though he was unlike any other child. He almost never went outside and was facinated by the human spirit. Constantly he held experiments to test it, all at a young age of about 9. His parents worried, and the children teased him to no end. I was one of them. But it was not because he was different. I knew in my heart his mind was clouded by a dark spirit. Then, at one point he became so angery with the other children, he claimed he would prove to us that he was right. Then, right in front of me, I saw the dark spirit come out. I was barely able to to hide, but he killed almost of of the people in the village, his parents included. After the castastroph, I spotted him alone. He appeared to be crying for his deed. But then I relized it wasn't tears on his face, it was an evil wicked smile. He had been laughing. Just then I relized that there wasn't evil clouding his judgement, he was the evil."
Rauru sighed. "Quickly, I ran to the current sages of that time. I told them of his evil doing, and they agreed to stop him. Only I would have to bring him to their sacred grove. I agreed, and I spent almost 22 years searching for him. Finally, I found him. He had grown into a handsome man who seemed surprised yet ecstatic to see me. I brought him to the sages, where I saw his true evil come out. Luckily, the older sages were able to contain him and trap him in a glass mirror. He cursed my name and all the sages, but he was gone. Beileieveng it to be safe, I lived for many more years unti becoming the sage you see before you."
Rauru gritted his teeth. "Now he has escaped! Link, you must use the Master Sword to do what the sages should've done, destroy that evil man. I give you my permission as well as my power of light. Use that light to destroy he who loves darkness so. But be warned, Hero of Time. With that man, not everything can be as it appears"
"But Rauru-" Link said but Rauru faded away and Link opened his eyes to find himself laying on the ground, with Impa, Sheik and Zelda looking down at him.
"What… what happened?" Link asked, sitting up and rubbing his forehead.
"You reached for the Sword but then collapsed. We all came over here, and you opened your eyes like nothing happened." Sheik said as he held out a hand and helped Link to stand.
"Rauru spoke to you, didn't he?" Impa said. Link nodded. "I assumed as much."
"He told me that Demetrius was always evil, even when he was young." Link said. He looked at the sword, determined. "I will weild my blade to destroy him."
The Hero walked forward, taking the handle. A wave of happiness came over him for having it in his grip. Putting both hands on it, he lifted it. It was heavier then he remebered. Pulling harder still and letting out a loud yell, the blade was forced out. A wave of light seemed to erupt from around him. Sheik, letting out a yell of pain, covered his eyes with an arm. It was drowned in the loud explosion. Finally, the smoke cleared and Link stood in the middle of the room, master sword in one hand, his steel shield in the other. He looked admiringly at the blade, swinging it in mid-air. Impa smiled, then walked forward.
"Impa, Rauru said that Demetrius actual was put into the mirror by the past sages. But… he also said that we should destroy him to stop him."
Impa paused, then nodded. "Then you will have to retrive the shards of the mirror. We should be able to weaken him with the master sword, then I will summon the other sages and we will reseal the mirror. Then, at his weakest moment, you must destroy the mirror, Link."
She shifted on the spot. "Sadly, I do not know exactly where I sent the shards. I suggest that we go across Hyrule ourselves to find them. Yet… I can not leave Zelda without care, and she is far to weak for travling. Link, you'll have to do it alone."
"I will go with him." Sheik suddenly said as he walked over to stand next to Link. Impa arched a eyebrow. Sheik contiued. "I do not know why, but I feel as though I am responsible for his relaese. I want to help, no matter the cost."
Impa sighed. "Very well. The t-" Impa was intruppted by a sudden rumbling. She looked back in anger. "Everyone out!"
The group quickly followed her orders, Zelda using Impa for support in the front, then Link and Sheik taking the rear. They entered the main room, and ran down the stairs and towards the entrince, but a large black hound gaurded their path. They stopped with a jolt, and swung around as a sound laughter echoed though out the room. In front of them stood Dark. He was between them and the Spiritual Stones. On ether side were the other two hellhounds, all three growling viciously.
Dark laughed. "Aw, how cute! Fairy Boy found a sword to play with!"
"What are you doing in this sacred place?! You should know your powers of darkness are gone here!" Impa yelled.
"Yeah, mine are… but that doesn't mean these mutts can't still rip you to shreads!" He let out a loud laugh.
"You… control the dogs…? How?" Sheik asked.
"Ah, you know… Demetrius let me borrow them for a while. The man is actually very genroius… kind of drolls on a lot though…"
"Impa… get Zelda out of here." Link muttered. "We'll distract them."
Impa blinked, put reached into her pocket and pulled something out. "May you live long, O Hero of Time."
With a twist of her wrist, a flash of light surrounded them. Link flinched at the flash, but sighed in relief to see the two were gone. Dark Link let out a loud, prolonged, irritated sigh as he rolled his eyes.
"Oh no, the princess got away. What ever will I do?" he said sarcasticly. "Well, whatever. I didn't come for the princess you green-capped idiot."
Link snarled, his stance arrgesive as he stared at his dark-haired mirror image. Sheik stood behind the hero with his back to him. He held his dagger in his hand, dangrously glared at the hounds, dareing them to get closer.
"Frankly, I don't even know what you wish to accomplish, Fairy Boy." Dark said as he put his arms behind head in a relaxed position. He yawned. "After all, not even that little excuse for a sword could hurt them. They're a different darkness then your used to. I highly doubt this old age 'light' this place is full of can stop it."
"You who dares to mock this holy place, be gone, followers of the dark…""Rauru?!" Link yelled as a giant sphere of light appeared above them. It imploded on itself, filling the room. Dark and the dogs' howls of pain could be heard as something grabbed the neck of Link's tunic.
Link slowly opened his eyes only to shut them again. A bright light shone straight down at him from the center of the sky. He again opened his eyes, this time prepared with his hand shading his face. He then saw it was the sun that was above him. Around him he could hear the faint songs of birds. He sat up, looking around to see he sat in the middle of a largely wooden forest. He attempted to stand, but something tugged the back of his shirt. He looked over his shoulder to see Sheik lying with his side on the ground. He held the back of Link's tunic in a death grip, but was obviously sleeping.
"Sheik… Sheik, get up! Let go of me already!" Link muttered as he reached behind his head and attempted to pry his fingers off. Suddenly a hand hit his mouth and he was forced to the ground. He looked up in surprise to see Sheik held him down.
"Quiet already. We are not alone." He whispered. Link looked at him in surprise before gazing around their empty surroundings. Link gazed around until his eye met a bush that fluttered outside of the wind. Link and Sheik froze at seeing the subtle movement. After a moment that was broken only by the sounds of sparrows, the bush moved again. Suddenly, after a sound thud Sheik flopped over. Link gasped as he looked at his companion, something or someone had knocked the boy out. Link reached for Sheik, about to attempt to wake him.
"Hey Grown-up! Why are you in Kokiri clothes, huh?"
Link stopped and gazed around. He recognized the voice, but from who?
"If you tell me who you are, I'll tell you who I am!" Link yelled back. He paused for a moment, when suddenly he felt something hard hit where his head met his neck. He slumped over just as he saw the bush part leaves and a short, orange haired boy coated in freckles with clothes identical to Link's emerge from it. A small fairy floated next him, congratulating him. He had a huge smirk on his face. "M…Mido…" Link murmured as the world blacked out.
"Wow Mido, you're so cool!"
"Yeah, well you know. I found trespassers in the forest, so I figured I should bring 'em to the village. It's better then them turning to Stalfos or something. I figured the Deku Tree Sprout could tell us what to do."
"Amazing! Your so awesome Mido!"
"And so nice, even to strangers!"
"Boy, wait 'till Saria hears! She'll be so surprised!"
"Oh! You're right… Hopefully she'll be back soon."
"S…Saria?" Link mumbled as he opened his eyes. He looked around him to see the shocked faces of children upon seeing him wake. All of them put nostalgic memories trough his mind, except for a small, dirty-blond haired girl who curiously gazed over a blond Kokiri, Fido's, shoulder. Each other them had a small glowing fairy floated near them. He attempted to stand, but he was tied to weighted down object. He glanced back to see that Sheik was tied to him with tight darkened roots. The Sheikah's head was a bit lolled to the side.
"Sheik!" Lin yelled as he struggled to free himself. He suddenly was struck across the head with a blunt object. Link let out a cry of pain as he now saw Mido held a long Deku stick in his hand.
"Stop struggling! We are the children of the forest, the Kokiri!" Mido yelled. Instantly, the children began yelling words at him, causing him to smirk at their admiration.
"Oh be quiet, Mido. I know who you are." Link said softly. The Children froze and looked at the boy. Mido puffed out his chest.
"How do you know my name, Mister?!" he yelled angrily.
Link smirked. "That's not all I know. Your fairy's name is Lade; you have a birth mark on your wrist that somewhat looks like a skutulla from one angle; you are afraid of bathing because you think the Zora will eat you, y-"
"Shut up!" Mido yelled as he once again stuck Link on the head. Link flinched, gritting his teeth at the blow. After recovering, Link smiled and continued.
"You think that green makes your hips look big; a while ago you stole the Kokiri sword from the secret grove, but you put it back after you learned Saria hated fighting; need anymore?"
Mido paused, and then began laughing. "Like I care that you know a few things. You probably learned them all from gossip stones!" Again, he hit Link with the stick, hitting him in the cheek. Link was stricken back, and flinched away. "You're pretty full of yourself for someone in your position, aren't you?"
Suddenly Link felt the roots around him fall. He looked up to see Sheik had freed himself with a blade he held in his hand. Instantly, the young children backed away from the two freed men.
"Sheik! When did you wake up?" Link asked, still in his sitting position on the ground.
"Just as soon as the two of you started bickering like the children you refuse to let go of." Sheik murmured. "Link, where is the sword?"
Link paused, then panicky looked around. He had not realized his blade had gone missing. His ears perked up as he heard a small, all too familiar voice.
"L...Link?"
Link and Sheik looked up at the group of children. All of them stared at the newest with widened eyes. She had an enormous smile across her lips. She began to shake Mido's shoulder.
"Mido!!! It's… it's him! I… I can remember him!" she said happily.
"No… don't listen to him… he's lying Navi, he's a grown-up…. Link is gone…" Mido whispered, trying to calm her. Link's eyes widened.
"Navi…?" he said quietly. The girl's bright blue eyes shone happily as she turned to him. A smile slowly crept its way on to Link's face. The girl took off in a bolt towards him and the two long lost friends embraced each other.