The spiral stairway was illuminated by torches along the way. The flame on each of them cast shadows all along, making Link nervous as every shadow seemed to him to be an enemy lurking in the dark. Laila was no help at all, as she thought it was the best moment to hide again in Link's hat. After several minutes, he arrived at the top of the stairs and found a wooden door with no lock. He pressed his ear against the door but couldn't hear anything on the other side, so he pushed it slightly open and peeked into the corridor.

"There's nobody around" he said, and pushed the door fully open.

"Link, you should try to find a map of the castle before you venture any further" said Laila, coming out of his hat. "You can get lost and caught if you wander around without knowing where you're going."

"You're right" agreed Link.

He walked through the corridor as slowly as he could, checking the signs on each door looking for a place where he could find something useful. Finally, he saw a sign that read 'Archives' and he pushed the old door open.

It was a large circular room full of bookshelves and tables covered in layers of dust. He took one of the torches that hung in the corridor outside and used it to ignite some of the ones inside the room. Walking around, he found several books with scripts and lots of useless information. He tried opening several chests but most of them were full of torn pieces of parchment and old books.

"What's this?" he asked, after opening a small chest and pulling out a small leather bag full of black pellets. The bag had a strange emblem on it, like an eye with three spikes on top.

"It's the old emblem of the Shiekah" explained Laila. "If I'm not mistaken, you will find flash pellets inside. The Shiekah used them to stun, blind or disorient enemies."

"These may be handy" said Link, storing the bag in his waist pouch.

"Link, over here!" exclaimed Laila, fluttering to a desk nearby.

Link walked towards her and saw an old map lying on top of the desk. He raised it and removed the dust cover, realizing it was a detailed map of the Castle.

"Excellent, now y can move on to find the Princess" he said.

They exited the room and Link closed the door as silently as possible.

"Hey!" yelled a voice, "Stay where you are!"

Link turned around and saw a guard running at him. He unsheathed his sword and lifted his shield just in time to block the strike from the guard's steel.

"Link, you mustn't hurt him! Remember that he is under Garoth's control!" yelled Laila.

Link parried another strike and side-jumped to avoid the guard's sword thrust. With one swift move, he grabbed the guard's sword-wielding arm and applied force into it, forcing him to release his weapon. The guard stumbled into the floor and Link pointed at him with his sword.

"Where can I find the Princess" asked Link in a demanding way.

"I don't know" said the guard.

"You're lying" said Link, and the guard spat at his feet. "Ok, let's have it your way".

After knocking the guard unconscious and locking him in a small room, Link kept going through another set of stairs.

"According to the map" he said, "these stairs will take us to a large corridor. We should follow the corridor and go through a ladder into the eastern wing of the Castle."

When Link reached the top of the stairs and opened the door, he had to jump back as an arrow flew next to his head and stuck itself into the door.

"What the hell!?" he yelled, and he grabbed his shield and sword as another arrow hit the door.

"Bulbin archer ahead!" yelled Laila.

"Like I hadn't realized already from the smell" said Link, and he lifted the shield deflecting another projectile.

The creature drew out a dagger from its waist and charged at him, but he managed to parry the attack and stab it, spilling blood all over the floor.

"Why was there a bulbin inside the castle?" asked Laila.

"I'm quite sure they are friends with Garoth" guessed Link.

"Stay on guard, Link. Bulbins may not be the only surprise in store" said the fairy, and she hid again in his hat.

Link cleaned his sword with a piece of cloth from the bulbin's cape and examined the bow, which had fallen under the creature's body.

"Damn it… it's broken. It might have been helpful."

He continued his way through the corridor and found a wooden ladder that led up through a trapdoor. He climbed and raised the trapdoor a bit, just enough to peek at the room above: besides from a few empty benches, the room seemed to be mostly empty. Apparently, the room above was some sort of gallery, as it was decorated with many paintings.

He approached the only door in the room and opened it, accessing a curve corridor. He kept walking, feeling uneasy about the emptiness of the corridors. It seemed to be like every inhabitant of Hyrule Castle had either disappeared or was being controlled by Garoth. He heard then some voices ahead and quickly hid behind a statue, leaning forward just enough to get a glimpse of what was going on.

"Trying to play hero, eh, young lady?" said the voice of a guard. He was dragging a young girl by the arm, dressed as a maid of the Castle. Another guard was leading the way with a set of keys in his hand; it was Captain Leonis.

"Let me go! Let me go!" yelled the maid.

"If you are so eager to see your mistress then we should probably lock you in with her" said Captain Leonis.

Link raised his sword and shield ready to rescue the girl, and in that moment she made eye contact with him and her face went blank. Something in her expression told him that he should probably better hide again, so he returned behind the statue and waited until they had gone into another corridor.

"Laila, I need your help" said Link. "Can you follow them and see where they go? Then come back and help me mark the way on the map."

"Sure, ask the poor little fairy to do the exploring. Al right, I'll go" she replied in frustration and fluttered away after the guards.

Link leaned against the wall and heard a sudden click, as he felt that the floor beneath him opened and he fell into the dark pit below.


Laila saw Captain Leonis and the other guard tossing the maid into a room. She was sure she had caught a glimpse of Princess Zelda walking towards the girl before the door was closed. "There you are, Princess" she thought, and flew back to where she had left Link waiting for her. She was surprised, not to mention annoyed, when she found out that Link was nowhere to be seen.

"Where can he be now?" asked Laila, angrily. She then decided that maybe something had happened to him and went out in his search.


Link got up in pain. He looked up and saw that the trapdoor had already closed again. His head hurt where he had hit it when he fell and he was having problems trying to get his eyes accustomed to the darkness. He had to blink several times before he was able to see further than the tip of his nose. The room where he was seemed like an underground cave with a spring of water in the middle of it and a stone plate in front of the water. Closer inspection revealed that the plate had the Emblem of the Royal Family of Hyrule carved on it with thin golden lines.

Before he knew what he was doing, he removed his gauntlet and the triangle in his hand began to glow. He shone the light into the plate and the emblem began to shine. Link suddenly began to feel relaxed, like if some soothing wind blew around the cavern. He could have sworn that a soft melody was filling the space around him and that a voice called him from the depths of the spring, which had begun to sparkle.

"You carry a heavy burden, oh, Hero of Time" said the voice.

Link saw in surprise how light beams erupted from the water like a halo of glorious light, and a beautiful young woman, with long, green hair, wearing no clothing save for a small cloth tied around her waist as a skirt and her breasts barely covered by the lengths of her hair, slowly emerged from the water as if floating. Link had never seen such beauty before, and he was beginning to think he was hallucinating when he saw the wings unfold behind the woman's back.

"Greetings, Hero. I've been expecting you. I'm the Queen of all Fairies" she said in a majestic, yet soft and soothing voice. "It has been so many ages since your ancestor came to me and I aided him in his quest to save Hyrule. I have long since slept, but now I have felt the Darkness covering the world once more."

"I need to find the Princess" said Link, finally able to speak.

"Yes, you do, but you won't be able to do so in your current state. Even if you managed to get the Princess, you will never be able to get out of the Castle without facing the Emissary, and you can't defeat him… yet."

"What should I do, then?" asked Link again.

"The Emissary has sent his demons into the temples of Hyrule, but only three of them are of most importance: The Forest Temple, in the Faron Forest; The Water Sanctuary, in Lake Hylia; and The Fortress of Doom, in the middle of The Barrens. Once you destroy the evil that lurks on each of them, you will finally be able to return here. But beware, Hero, as you must not let the evil on the temples consume you."

"I won't… I promise I'll return."

"I will send you back into the Castle, but first, take this with you" said the Queen of all Fairies, and she closed her eyes and raised her arms to Link.

He felt how light engulfed him and, suddenly, a small jewel appeared floating in front of him. It seemed to be a simple transparent diamond. He reached out a hand and held it, getting the feeling of holding a soft warm stone.

"This is the Heart of Light" explained the Fairy. "It will recover its glow once you have defeated the demons on each temple. Farewell, Link. The hope of all Hyrule rests on you."

Before Link could say anything else, light engulfed him again and he felt his feet leaving the floor. He then appeared in the middle of the atrium of the Castle. Laila was fluttering out of a corridor and, despite the fact that he couldn't see her face he could sense she was angry.

"Where the hell were you?" she asked in annoyance.

"I'll explain on the way. We must get out of the Castle" he said.

"Excellent! I'll lead you to… wait, what?" she asked perplexed. "We go through a lot to get in, yu send me on a dangerous mission to find the Princess, then you disappear without a word and now you say we must leave?"

"I told you, I'll explain on the way" repeated Link. "I found the Queen of all Fairies."

"I don't care if…! WHAT!? Let's go! Tell me everything!" she said.

They returned as fast as they could into the dungeons and exited the Castle the way they had entered. Along the way Link explained the mission that the Queen of all Fairies had given him.

"I think I know where to start: we should first visit Forest Temple, in Faron Forest" he pointed in the direction of the woods and then sprinted on his way.


This is the first part. I need to know what you think about the story so far. I'm trying to write it as game-like as possible. Also let me know what you think about the characters and maybe ideas for the bosses. R&R!