Ocarina and Wind Sage of Time

Hello everybody! After a two year hiatus, I am very pleased to announce that I am back! And boy, did this chapter take a while to write out, I just recently started university and I've been busy with that and catching up with everything I've missed in the last two years… Apologises for this taking so long to upload!

I was very sad to hear that my friend and beta reader, RedNemi, passed away last year… She will be missed, both as a motivation for me to write and also in helping me to improve the quality of my writing.

I am excited to announce, that this chapter is the longest chapter I have ever written! After this chapter, we only have two more chapters until the end of part 1! But for now, please enjoy the newest chapter of, Ocarina and Wind Sage of Time!

Chapter 12: Why Did It Happen Like This?

"How could you do this?"

"We trusted you!"

Voices of outrage echoed through the air. The smile slipped off of my face as my allies shouted at me for my 'betrayal'.

Honestly, all I'm doing is getting closer to the enemy... Well, at least it makes my deception more believable…

Ganondorf's laughter suddenly stopped.

"You ask how she could do this, but isn't it obvious? My power it too great for you and she realised that and has chosen to join me. Surrender, and I will be merciful unto you as I will be to her."

Silence for a brief moment. And then…

"I will never surrender to someone like you." Link spoke with conviction. "I will fight and always keep fighting. And if I die, so be it."

"You've got guts to stand up to me, kid," Ganondorf chuckled. "But what can you do? Even your precious Wind Sage knows fighting is futile!"

"I'm not a coward like her," Link stated.

Ouch.

I looked up and flicked my hair out of the way so I could finally see what was going on. Link stood opposite Ganondorf, with his sword and shield ready. Ganondorf was to my side and stood there casually, probably amused by Link's bravado.

"Well then…" Ganondorf said. "How would you like the opportunity to prove yourself, my new servant?"

His hand came down and patted me on the head, like a dog being petted by his master.

Oh screw it, I'm attacking him now!

It took me about one second to build up the necessary magic within my body, and another second to release it through my pores in a burst of wind. Ganondorf obviously felt I was doing something and tried to jump away, but he wasn't fast enough.

I watched as he was lifted off the ground from my attack and shattered the courtyard window as he flew straight through it and crashed into something inside the castle.

I got up off the ground where I was kneeling and shuddered, wiping my hair with my hands as if to get rid of the memory of the evil touch.

Looking across the courtyard, I saw Link and Zelda looking pretty dumbfounded and Impa looking wary.

"What?" I asked. "It's a lot easier to hit him when he lets down his guard like that."

They didn't say anything. Link looked angry and Zelda looked like she was about to cry, although that might have been related to watching her dad suddenly die a few minutes ago…

"Well what are you waiting for?" I barked suddenly. "We have to get out here quickly!"

"Yes Princess, your life is in danger here." Impa agreed.

"Very well." Zelda said. "Let us proceed, with haste, to the stables."

Unfortunately, that was made more difficult by the sudden appearance of two Stalfos at the entrance to the garden. They leered at me, I being the closest one to them.

"Leaving so soon, Princess?" Ganondorf called out from inside the castle. "I'm disappointed. Have I not been a good enough host? Or is it that a spoilt, little brat such as yourself can't appreciate the amount of effort I've gone through to prepare this event?"

Okay, he seems to be busy with his monologue, hopefully we can escape while he's distracted…

I concentrated and formed some wind arrows to appear behind the Stalfos'. I aimed and let them fly.

They both howled in pain.

They spun around to locate what was attacking them from behind. As they were confused at finding nothing, I rushed forward, hitting one with in the back with both of my palms. It disintegrated on contact with a scream of agony as the wind from my hands destroyed it.

The other one spun back around in surprise. It swung it's sword at me and I gasped as it was narrowly deflected from a quick wind barrier. I ducked under the returning horizontal swing and stepped forward, planting my feet and delivering another double palm strike.

The Stalfos managed to raise it's shield in time to block my attack, but the sheer force sent it straight into the stone wall behind it, where it shattered apart into bone and ash.

"I expected more from you Wind Sage," Ganondorf called out. "You are not nearly as powerful as I thought you might be… And I thought you might be a threat to my plans… Ha!"

I looked over to see Ganondorf standing at the broken window, his hands clasped together and straining with unseen magic. As he slowly moved them apart I watched as a dark, foul energy formed.

Suddenly, it shot out and split into three black, oily balls that danced around each other before slamming down into the three dead corpses that lay in the courtyard.

I watched in horror as the broken, bloodied bodies started convulsing. Bits of flesh that had scattered across the grass and flowers were attracted back to where they belonged and bone fragments carved their way back into their original place.

Just when the regeneration finished and I thought it was over, they each began shaking anew and blood erupted from them in great fountains, staining everyone and everything close by, except from me as I quickly put up a quick barrier to avoid the spray hitting me.

I retched as the smell of gore hit me like a sledgehammer. I wasn't the only one. Link and Impa were soaked in liquid crimson, Impa having shielded Zelda from the worst of it. Zelda was busy throwing up and adding her own splash of colour to the painted scene as well.

Link stood ready to fight, although he had his mouth held tightly closed and looked pretty pale.

"Zelda? Darling?"

I was startled from my observations as the King of Hyrule stood up off of the ground with his head restored. The two soldiers also got up, looking to be in perfect health, although they both had parts of their armour that was missing from where it had been destroyed.

Zelda's head shot up from where she'd been bent over, looking at the king in amazement.

"Father?" She questioned in disbelief.

"It is I, Princess," the king replied, holding out his arms.

Zelda let out a sob and launched herself at her dad, only to be impeded as Impa grabbed her and stopped her from going any further.

"Impa, what are you doing?" Zelda cried out.

"Yes Impa, what are you doing?" The king repeated, glaring at the Skeikah.

"I'm sorry Princess Zelda, but I swore an oath to protect you," Impa said. "Therefore, I cannot let you go to him."

"Impa, I command you to move aside and let my daughter do as she wishes," the king ordered.

"You are dead," Impa stated. "You have no command over me, the rights of the kingdom have automatically passed onto your daughter as heir to the throne. You are merely an illusion, a puppet of the evil one."

"Don't listen to her, my daughter!" The king cried out, lowering his arms. "She seeks to turn you against me! It's me! I can think and act for myself!"

Zelda twisted and turned to look to Impa for support. Impa smiled softly and nodded at her.

"I'm sorry father," Zelda said with a sigh, turning back to face him. "I watched you die and saw the evil spell that brought you back. You cannot expect me to risk myself in such a way."

"I see. How… Disappointing." The king drawled, as the two guards moved to stand by him.

"Boy. Girl." Impa said, looking at Link and then me. "Can you escape this place by yourselves?"

Link nodded, and I just shrugged.

"Very well. If you've done what I think you have, boy, then you know where to meet us," Impa continued.

"And how do you think you're going to escape?" Ganondorf smirked.

In response, Impa pulled out a deku nut. Ganondorf lost his smirk and quickly shot a ball of magic at her, hoping to stop her.

He was too slow and Impa threw down what she held. A flash of light burst out and obscured my vision with its sudden intensity. I heard Ganondorf curse and the shattering of glass as I hastily blinked to reobtain my vision.

"Reanimations! Deal with the brats!" Ganondorf shouted.

When I could finally see well enough to actually make out my surroundings, I realised that another window was now broken and that Impa, Zelda and Ganondorf were gone.

Impa probably went through that window with Zelda and Ganondorf chased after the two of them…

That just left Link and I with the king and his two guards.

Should be easy enough…

The sky was still orange and twilight, but darkness was slowly creeping in. It wouldn't be too long until the sun finished setting and we wouldn't be able to see too well.

"Link, we need to finish this quickly before night falls completely…" I muttered. "You take the king down and I'll fight the guards."

He didn't give any outward acknowledgement, but the king and the guards split up and started moving towards us. Link moved to intercept the king, while I positioned myself in front of my two opponents.

The pair of guards slowly inched forward, their spears ready. I stood still, knees bent and muscles tense.

Okay, first priority is to disarm both of them so I can feel a lot safer than I currently do…

The left one suddenly thrust forward; I sidestepped to the left, in the direction away from the other enemy so he'd be less able to attack me around his companion, and slapped the shaft of the weapon with a magic palm thrust, hoping the sudden force would make him lose hold of the spear.

But alas, my hope was in vain. His grip was tight enough that he didn't lose. Instead, he spun with the force of my attack, slicing through the other guard's hip.

There was no shower of blood and the second guard didn't say anything. In fact, they hadn't said a word the whole time and the king stopped talking after Ganondorf left.

After my attempted disarm, guard no. 1 was left wide open; I stepped close and delivered another palm strike, this one to his chest, which launched him through the air and into a wall.

One down…

The other one came forward and swung his spear vertically. I put up a quick barrier and watched the sharp spearhead slide past my face. This time I grabbed the spear and tried to simply pull it away from him.

However, the guard was simply too strong and not off balance enough and pulled me towards him instead.

I let myself fly forward, still holding onto the spear shaft, and planted my feet in his stomach, releasing wind from my feet in a similar attack to my palm strike.

I flew away from the guard and put up a barrier to cocoon me as I flew towards the stone wall. My opponent wasn't so lucky. He smashing into the wall opposite with the full force of my attack.

And with that, I win. It seemed a little easy though, did I really become that skilled in combat so suddenly?

I got up off the grassy floor to see Link walking towards me, the king lying face down behind him.

"It almost seemed like he was moving in slow motion…" Link muttered to me.

Oh… Maybe I'm not stronger, but they're just really weak…

Then I noticed the king started to twitch. Then the guards started to as well. Suddenly, they were back on their feet, looking to be in perfect health.

What the…? We defeated them! They should be dead! Again!

"They're still regenerating!" A high pitched voice shrieked in my ear. "Normal attacks don't seem to work very well!"

Gee, thanks captain obvious…

"Undead are usually weak to sunlight and fire!" Navi continued. "Try those Link!"

Link stood still in thought for a moment. I kept a careful eye on the approaching undead trio.

Does Link have the Sun's Song, or Din's Fire? We should've stopped by the Great Fairy on the way here…

Link suddenly turned to me.

"Can you hold them off by yourself for about a minute?"

"Yeah, I can do that. Why?" I asked.

"Thanks. Be right back." And with that he ran and entered the castle through a broken window.

Great. Don't tell me anything, just run off and leave me…

The king was only a meter away, with the two guards shuffling towards me from further away. Only one of the guards still had his weapon, the other had obviously lost it and not bothered to pick it up.

The king suddenly lunged at me, but ended up diving right past me and onto the floor as I deflected him with a barrier of wind.

The two guards gradually approached. I backed away, making use of what space I had. I went all the way to the entrance to the small enclosed garden before stopping, not wanting to leave and stop Link from being able to find me.

I waited for them to be close before making my move. When they were both in range I smacked them across the garden with the first attack I had unlocked, that really had no name but I'd sometimes call it 'wind burst'.

After I had sent them away from me with my violent, outpouring dome of wind, I noticed Link returning from the inside of the castle, carrying in his hands a deku stick that was burning.

Oh, that was his idea… Although… Why didn't he just find a torch inside the castle and bring that? It would've lasted a lot longer…

The guards were sprawled on the floor and started getting back up when Link arrived. He immediately stabbed the one with the spear, with his burning stick.

An unholy scream filled the air. Link continued to press the flames against the undead guard until he suddenly dissolved into dust.

The other guard reached out for Link, but Link simply slipped past and attacked from behind. The guard screamed and spun around in a rage, flailing and trying knock away the burning wood.

The deku stick was quickly getting shorter and so Link close enough that he got hit across face, which knocked him to the floor.

The undead guard jumped onto him, grabbing Link by the throat and started to strangle him.

Seeing this, I stepped forward to help, but was hindered by the king being in my way. I didn't have time to think, so I just activated my magic barrier and ran past him, who fell over again as he tried to grab me.

As it was, Link didn't even need my help. He still had a hold on the small, burning deku stick, so he thrust it at the guard. As the guard howled he released his hold on Link's throat and Link grateful sucked in some air. The guard tried to get away from the fire, but Link wrapped his legs around him and prevented him long enough that he exploded into dust.

He sat up as I reached him, coughing and spluttering, rubbing his neck with one hand and throwing the remains of the deku stick away with the other.

Hopefully he didn't inhale any of that dust, because that would be nasty if he did…

Link got to his feet and sighed when he saw the king still alive.

"I'll go and get another one…" He muttered.

"Be quick, the other are waiting for us," I reminded him.

He gave me a look, but didn't say anything as he climbed back into the castle.

The last rays of sunlight disappeared, leaving the garden illuminated only by soft moonlight. I strolled along the outskirts, enjoying the cool evening air as I tried to ignore the king pitifully stumbling after me, and also the nauseating smell.

Link came back soon enough. With the deku stick being as long as it was, Link easily burned the king from behind as I distracted the enemy.

The king spun around with a howl and then Link just made use of the reach of his weapon to keep out of reach of the shambling monster, as he repeatedly prodded it with the burning stick, until eventually the undead king died with a scream of anguish.

Uncertainty plagued my thoughts as we swiftly left the castle.

Why is so much different? How can I use my knowledge when everything is changing so much? What else might go wrong? Are we even going to be getting the Ocarina of Time and the Master Sword anymore?

Along the way we found a couple of dead guardsmen, but the area was surprisingly desolate for a guarded castle.

"Where is everyone?" Link wondered aloud.

I didn't reply. I didn't know.

We sound found the answer to his question. It was obvious from the amount of smoke trailing up under the dim, silver moonlight and also with the bright orange flickering in the distance, we knew that the marketplace was on fire.

As we hurried onwards we were greeted with a horrific scene. Dead bodies littered the dark streets between broken and burning homes.

""This is horrible…" Link whispered, his body shaking with emotion. He clenched his fists together and ran down the streets.

"Hey!" I called out after him. He didn't listen, of course, so I rushed after him.

I followed him into the centre of the town, where we found that there were some people still alive. Guardsmen and other townsman that could fight were engaged against a host of stalfos' and moblins.

A guard noticed us and came running over.

"Kids! You need to escape!"

"We can help fight," Link grimly stated, taking out his sword and shield.

"Uh…" The guard stumbled, perhaps noticing that Link was covered head to toe in blood.

Dammit Link! What if you get yourself killed?

"Are you sure fighting is wise, Link?" I tentatively asked.

He glared at me and scoffed, before turning and running towards the fight.

Right… Of course he wouldn't want to just meet up with Zelda and Impa and get the Master Sword so I can skip 7 years into the future… Of course not…

I sighed.

"We'll help you," I told the guard before heading after Link.

Well the faster this battle is over, the faster I can be on my way… So I guess I'll help out a little…

I analysed the battlefield before me. There were stalfos' scattered around engaging anyone close by to them. But the real threat seemed to be the moblins, since the giant creatures were a lot harder to kill and could deal a lot of damage.

There were four moblins that I could see. I noticed one charging at a group of soldiers who were already busy trying to fight off a couple of stalfos.

One of the fighters noticed the approaching moblin and cried out a warning to his fellow men, before being cut down by the enemy he was engaged with.

Some of them turned around and prepared to try and stop the charging behemoth, even though the chances were slim and they were probably about to die.

I concentrated and formed a few arrows above the guards that flew at the moblin. It skidded to a halt in front of the Hylians, spinning its big spear to deflect the sudden attack. While it was distracted, I created one more arrow behind it and watched it fly into the moblin's back.

It roared and spun around to see what was attacking it. A brave guard rushed in and cut through the back of its left leg, bringing it onto a knee. Seeing this, the rest of the soldiers cried out in triumph and charged in as well.

The moblin didn't die without a fight though. He backhanded one guard that stabbed him and tried to keep his enemies at bay with large sweeping motions from his large weapon.

They didn't falter though; they crept in like little mice, pricking the moblin with their sharp spears before retreating back out of reach. The injuries soon added up and the giant collapsed completely.

Three left.

I ignored the now cheering group of guards as I searched out my next target. I saw one that had a solider impaled on the end of its spear. It then flicked the unfortunate guy off and bellowed in sick humour as the body collided with another guard.

Maybe if I impale an arrow into its head…? I wonder how thick its skull is…

I took the opportunity of its mirth to aim carefully and conjure a wind arrow behind it and aimed it at its head. I watched in glee as it penetrated into the back of its skull, only to be disappointed when it only roared in pain and anger, and was still very much alive.

It turned around to look for who had attacked it; luckily I wasn't in that direction, but I quickly made another arrow and let it fly again towards the back of its head.

Unfortunately, I misjudged the angle and this arrow was on course to miss, except, the moblin turned back around just at the right moment for the arrow to fly into its left eye.

It roared in agony and rage again. It swept its spear around itself, trying to hit whatever was hurting it, maybe thinking that its attacker was invisible or something similar.

Maybe its sense of balance was off after losing an eye, or maybe it was simply trying to spin around too fast; whatever the reason, the moblin lost its balance and fell to the ground.

I created one last arrow to finish it off, but sighed when it impacted the floor next to its head.

As it started to get back up a nearby guard saw the fallen creature and ran over. He stabbed the moblin through the back of its head as it was rising, and then had to abandon his weapon and dive out of the way as it collapsed backwards.

Two down, two to go.

I then had to duck as a stalfos came out of nowhere and tried to decapitate me. I stepped forward, trying to hit it with my palm, but it jumped out of reach.

I stood still as it circled me, watching and waiting for it to make a move. It stalked forward and danced back out of reach. I remained alert, my body ready to react.

Suddenly, it leaped towards me and its sword flashed towards my head. My magic interacted with the air, forming a protective dome of swirling wind around me.

The sword hit the powerful wind and was pulled along by its invisible current. The attack went past me and the stalfos was left vulnerable.

I deactivated the barrier and stepped forward, my palm striking and connecting with the bony chest of my enemy, hitting it with the forceful wind energy that I pushed from my hand.

The stalfos went flying through the air, and also through the weakened wall of a burning building as well.

Now then, where are those other moblins?

I saw one, loosely surrounded by a small number of soldiers and I also saw Link in the group as well.

I'm watching you Link! You better not die!

Link charged forward and then threw himself out of the way as the moblin turned to attack him.

Other guards charged in, but likewise had to dodge. One of them wasn't fast enough and was caught by the spearhead as it swung through the air. It caught his leg, ripping through a chunk of flesh, and brought him down onto the ground.

I formed an arrow above the moblin and made it fly vertically downward. It shot into the top of its hard skull, causing it to howl and look up into the night sky.

The three guards still standing all charge in and started stabbing at it. Link also ran in, but to the fallen guard and seemed to be conversing with him.

The moblin roared as the hylians brought its attention back to them with their attacks. It stabbed forward and impaled a soldier with its spear.

I was about to carry on with my missile attack, but I noticed Link was up to something. He had moved a little distance away and was suddenly running towards the moblin's back.

The fallen guard was in Links way, pushing off the ground with his hands and knees. I suddenly realised that Link had planned this and must have been what he was talking about with the injured man.

Link jumped onto the guards back; I saw the guard bounce, trying to give Link extra height as Link jumped again and stabbed into the moblin from behind.

It bellowed loudly and reached around trying to remove Link, from where he was hanging onto his sword, lodged into the monster's back. The giant swung itself back and forth, left and right, trying to dislodge the sharp pain it was feeling. Unfortunately for it, this caused the Kokiri Sword to saw through more of its flesh, until eventually Link's feet touched the ground once again and the moblin collapsed with a deep cut going all the way down its back.

One more…

Suddenly I heard people shouting warnings and at the same time I heard the last moblin giving a battle cry. I spun around, only to see it was charging. At me.

Oh great.

Having only a moment to react, I flooded wind out from pores and pushed it outward, unleashing an avalanche of invisible force towards the charging enemy.

My attack struck the monster, causing the moblin to stumble and be pushed back a step.

Wow. That did nothing, all of that magic and all it did was stop its charge…

I quickly followed up on my previous attack, putting wind through my feet and jumping forward. Left flatfooted, I shot past its feeble attempts to hit me out of the air and hit it in the cheek with a double magic palm strike.

With a crack, its head spun around 180 degrees; it stumbled backwards and fell to the ground.

Suddenly, a cry went out and was echoed by other voices.

As I landed I looked around to see all of the soldiers and surviving townsfolk were celebrating and cheering, waving their weapons in the air.

The battle was won.

"Let's go report back to the king of our success!"

Success? You call this success? A town burned to the ground and all of the inhabitants dead or gone?

But the guards all cheered and started walking towards the castle.

I sighed.

I should probably stop them so they don't all get killed by Ganondorf…

"Stop!" I reluctantly called out.

They stopped walking. They also stopped cheering, looking back at me puzzled as they started muttering among themselves.

"I have some bad news," I said. I paused, collecting my thoughts and wondering how they were going to take this.

"The king is… Dead."

Silence. Complete and utter nothingness of sound. I could feel the tension building with every second that it lasted, until a burning building suddenly creaked and collapsed.

And then it was broken, as everyone shouted out exclamations of outrage, of horror, of sadness and sorrow.

"Impossible!"

"That can't be true! It can't be!"

"How could this have happened?"

"Who would do something like this?"

"What about Princess Zelda? Where is the princess?"

"Isn't that girl a criminal?"

"What are we going to do with the king dead?"

"Yes, she is a criminal!"

"Are we still employed as soldiers of the kingdom?"

"I bet she was the one who killed the king!"

"Yes, it must've been her!"

I should've just not said anything at all…

I sighed as I watched the group of soldiers, turned 'mob' bicker and throw comments off of one another, until suddenly I was the cause of all of their problems.

I began looking around, making note of the direction in which I could escape town, since obviously they were going to try something at any moment, knowing my bad luck.

"Let's execute her!"

Ah, there we go. Time to leave, I think…

Just as they were about to come forward to lay their hand upon me, and I was about to take off running, the unexpected happened.

"It wasn't her!" Link's voice rang out.

The guards all stopped talking and I stood still, deciding to wait around a little longer, though my muscles were still tense and ready to run.

"And who are you, kid?" One of them asked.

"My name is Link and I was there when the king died," Link said.

"So what happened?"

"Tell us what happened!"

Link started his story, explaining how we were sneaking into the castle because Princess Zelda wanted us to.

"Why would the princess want to see a little boy like you?"

"Yeah! And why would you help a criminal to sneak into the castle?"

Two tough questions to answer were fired off one after another. In response, Link pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to the first guard that spoke.

"This is Link." The guard read aloud. "He is on a mission under my orders to save Hyrule. Signed, Princess Zelda."

Immediately, most of them burst into laughter, some of them fully bent over and clutching their sides in a comical fashion, while others merely chuckled at the absurd note.

"I was going back to report," Link carried on, ignoring the laughter.

"Okay, okay," the guard said, handing back the piece of paper, trying hard to stop laughing. "So why are you with her?"

"I don't know." Link replied. "Zelda said that she was the Wind Sage and sent her to help me."

"Kid, do you even know that this girl is a wanted criminal?"

"Yes, I watched as the king arrested her."

"And it was Princess Zelda that broke me out of the castle dungeons!" I jumped into the conversation. "And since she is the heir to the throne and doesn't see me as a criminal for being me, I'd say that should speak volumes in itself!"

The guards started to grumble among themselves, until one of them spoke up,

"But we can't just take your word for it. You're the criminal!"

"Actually, Zelda did mention her plans to get her out of the dungeons and send her after me." Link mentioned.

"And where is the princess now, so we can collaborate her story?"

"Yeah! Where is she?"

"Tell us where she is!"

"Maybe!" I shouted to get everyone's attention, before continuing in a normal volume. "We should let Link finish his story."

They finally stopped shouting over each other. Link carried on his story, explaining that the king had walked in on them meeting with Zelda, before suddenly being killed by Ganondorf.

"Ah! I knew he was scum!"

"Where is he? I'll kill him!"

By the goddesses, this is annoying…

I watched as they once again started to throw comments out, shouting over one another until they were all in a frenzy about killing Ganondorf.

If Zelda and Impa are waiting for us at the Temple of Time, they must be getting pretty impatient…

I sighed, yet again, before taking a deep breath. How many times was I going to have to go their attention?

"Quiet!" I screamed at them, holding out the word until they all stopped speaking. "Look! I think we can all agree that we all want Ganondorf dead. Not let Link finish telling what happened!"

Some of them had the decency to look abashed, but finally they all stopped talking and Link was able to carry on.

He explained how Ganondorf brought back the king and his guards as undead, Impa escaped with Zelda and Ganondorf left to chase after them while we stayed behind and killed the undead creatures. We then made our way to the town, noticing the lack of guards along the way.

"The king received a message that the town was being attacked by monsters and sent most of us down to deal with it," one of them commented.

Hmm… Must've been just as we got to Zelda. Maybe that's why he came to check up on her?"

"Well, thanks for all your help, kids!" A guard shouted out to us, before addressing his fellow guardsmen. "Now let's go hunt down Ganondorf!"

"YEAH!" They all cheered as they marched away, towards the drawbridge.

Okay, seriously! It doesn't matter if I'm a criminal or not, but what group of idiots would not bother going back to their own castle to check on their liege because of something two children told them!?

"Whatever…" I muttered to myself, glad that they were finally gone. "Let's head to the Temple of Time, Link."

We navigated our way across town, over broken beams and ash filled streets. The Temple of Time was one of the few buildings still standing and the only building to remain untouched by the devastation and desecration of the town.

The huge doors lay open and inviting. We walked in. No one else was there.

"Zelda?" Link called out, his voice echoing across the large room.

There was no reply. We explored to see if there was anything to be found, maybe a clue or a sign that Impa and Zelda had been here.

Behind the altar was a piece of paper and a blue ocarina.

The Ocarina of Time? So they were here…

Link picked up the paper.

"Dear Link," he read aloud. "Sorry we can't stay, Impa wants to move on before Ganondorf finds us. This is the Ocarina of Time, it is a sacred relic and royal heirloom. I have been protecting it from Ganondorf, but now I leave it in your hands as we soon try to lead Ganondorf away.

The ocarina, along with the three spiritual stones, are the keys to unlock the Door of Time, inside of the Temple of Time, where you are right now. Arrange the stones on the altar and play the Song of Time with the ocarina.

The Song of Time is: A,D,F,A,D,F,A,C,B,G,F,G,A,D,C,E,D.

All of our hopes rest upon you.

Princess Zelda."

Link pulled another piece of paper from under the first and kept reading.

"Wind Sage, I looked up some of the books we have in the library on you. I found one that had a prophecy that I didn't know before. It says,

'And she shall come in the time of the great evil, and wo unto the nations and races of Hyrule! Evil will come and raze the land, which she cannot stop! But she will fight against evil and fight against good, and save them from the Great Calamity! She in not of Hyrule's seed and has one goal in mind, she'll unexpectedly save them, all by the goddesses' design.'

I don't know what exactly is going to happen in the future, and I don't like some of the things that you are prophesied to do, but you are apparently going to save us from a 'great calamity', so I'll put my trust in you, for now. Just, don't pretend to betray us again, please, regardless of reasons.

Princess Zelda."

Link finished reading and then started practising the Song of Time, leaving me to my thoughts.

I really don't want to do what the goddesses want of me, I hate being here away from my family, friends and home, alone in a world that just want to kill or use me.

But what can I do?

If only there was a way for me to get home…

Link finished practising and placed the three spiritual stones on the altar.

And wow, he learns fast.

He brought the ocarina to his lips and began to blow, his fingers stopping and unstopping the holes of the instrument to perform the Song of Time. As he finished playing, the Door of Time began to shake and tremble. With dramatic slowness it rose, revealing the room behind.

I followed Link up the stairs to the open doorway. We could both see the Master Sword embedded into the pedestal within.

How was it that Ganondorf reached the sacred realm again? I think it's possible to get there after Link draws the Master Sword…

Navi started saying something, but I tuned her out, having just thought of something.

Of course! Why didn't I think of it before? The Triforce! All I need to do is touch the Triforce and I can do whatever I want!

I could go home…

Hope began to blossom within me. I could go home. I could escape. I could force the goddeses to do what I wanted, turn the tables on them and bend their will to mine, for once.

My thoughts were interrupted however, by the deep laugh of someone behind me.

"Well, well!" Ganondorf laughed. "I thought that you brats might lead me to the princess, but I never imagined that you would do all of my work for me!"

I spun around in surprise, having completely omitted the idea of Ganondorf showing up. He was at the entranceway, standing there casually.

All I need is Link to pull out the Master Sword and then it'll be a race between Ganondorf and me to see who can reach the Triforce first… And I think the odds favour me, being closer…

"Link, I think we'll need that legendary blade in order to beat him," I said.

"We can beat him without it," he replied.

Oh, for the love of…

"Actually, I agree with her, Link," Navi piped up.

Yes! Go Navi! I love you!

"… Fine…" Link muttered.

"I'll hold him off," I told him.

"Hah!" Ganondorf smirked. "What can you do? Your powers have yet to grow or mature to the point where you could threaten me."

"You weren't saying that when I sent you through that window earlier," I taunted, Link finally turning and running towards the Master Sword.

Ganondorf's expression turned murderous as I reminded him of his moment of humiliation at my hands. He jumped into the air and fired a dark ball of magic at me with incredible speed.

But it didn't matter because I had defensive magic that worked especially well against projectiles. My trusted barrier of wind sprung up around me, and the attack hit my gaseous cocoon.

The first sign that anything was wrong was when it didn't immediately go flying past me. The second sign was a split second later when I felt my control over my magic falter.

How powerful is his magic!?

I watch in disbelief as his spell literally grinded its way through my magic, until my control shattered and it hit me. Then it exploded into energy and force, making me fly across the room. I gasped out a glob of blood before my scream could echo out.

Suddenly, I froze in mid-air, as a light erupted out around me. It felt like my body was lighter, like it was… Drifting… Away…

I thought I could hear Ganondorf laughing… I thought I saw a flash of golden light… I thought I saw the Triforce itself…

And then, with a sigh, my consciousness fled, my body slumbered and for a time, I thought no more…

… Ganondorf… Triforce… Ganondorf… Triforce…

"Wake up!"

… Evil laughter… Golden light… Darkness… Light…

"Sophie, wake up!" A voice screamed through the abyss.

With a jerk, my mind reconnected with my body and my eyes shot open.

An unfamiliar figure was leaning over me; she looked like a young adult, with short red hair. She looked a little bit like a Gerudo actually…

Ganondorf!

I powered up my magic to blast her away, but suddenly she was jumping away at a fast speed.

"Now, now," the stranger spoke. "It's not nice to attack friends."

I glanced around my surroundings and realised that I was still in the Temple of Time. Link, in his adult form, was standing by the pedestal and talking with Shiek.

I must've gone forward in time…

"Who are you?" I asked as I got to my feet, turning my attention back to the unknown woman.

Woah, that feels weird…

I was taller than before and had an unfamiliar weight on my chest, which made me feel like I was about to fall over at any moment.

"I'm you," she told me.

"Huh?" I asked, not really paying attention, having my concentration stolen by my 'new' body.

I'm still wearing the same green tunic, except it's been magically enlarged… It must be beginning to smell… I mean, I haven't washed it since I got it and I've been in prison, inside a giant fish, I also might have been wearing it for the last seven years… Yep, it needs a wash. Unless… Somebody got me new clothes and changed me while I was unconscious… Hopefully, that's the case…

"I said; I'm you, from the future."

I blinked, not sure if I heard her right, even though she'd said it twice now.

"You're kidding right?" I laughed, waiting for her to laugh as well. I mean, she didn't even look like me! She had short, red hair!

"I'm serious," she said with a straight face.

Wow, she is serious. But whoever she is, she's also an imposter, a fake and most likely working with Ganondorf. I don't know why Shiek and Link simply let her by, but I can find out later…

I created a few wind arrows and let them fly at her. The woman stood still, almost uncaring.

Then I felt it, the air changed and in an instant it was blowing clockwise in a complete dome around her.

That's my wind barrier magic!

The arrows all flew past her, flying into the invisible current and being dragged out of their original course by a few degrees.

Suddenly, she was charging at me, a quarterstaff held in her hands. Frantically, I fired off a couple more arrows. She didn't even both with magic, choosing to simple keep running and dodge right between them. As she got close I pulled out my trusted ace, pushing out a burst of wind around me.

The same instance I did that, a wave of wind poured out towards me, overwhelming my pitifully small attack and crashing into me. I flew into the wall with a gasp of pain and felt a follow up blob of wind hit me and spread out across my body.

I looked down to see orange coloured wind sticking to me. I tried to get away from the wall, but found myself stuck as the wind kept me trapped to it.

"So, do you believe me now?" The woman asked, walking over. She planted her quarterstaff into the ground and leaned forward a little.

She gave me a smile that seemed so familiar.

"I really am you. My name is Sophie Lockwood."