Chronicles 1: The one where he really wants to be somewhere else

Gannon was a very easy-going man. He had always been calm and tried his best in a world that seemed to be set against him.

And wasn't that ironic seeing as his name was actually an Irish one with the meaning fair?

Still, even as a young boy he had endured and had done his best to be good. He was a good friend, a good classmate, and a good grandson.

And then, suddenly he was an adult and had to find his own path in life, seeing as though he was smart, he was not as smart as his friends were. And he was also not rich, so he didn't have their chances at all.

Thus one day he had decided to pack up and travel the world, see and learn things he had never known and maybe help some people. His only guide had been his trusty journal in which he had written all of his childhood's dreams and goals.

And then he'd lost it.

He'd searched the stupid desert where he had been at that time twice over and didn't find it. All of his notes were gone.

And instead he had found a pretty black and silver journal.

And that was when Gannon realized that maybe it was on the time to stop chasing childhood dreams and follow a new and better path. He would always be good, of course, still.

And so he lightened a new cigarette with a lighter he had purchased recently, because the ones he had packed before starting his journey had mysteriously vanished from his pack just when he had said his friends goodbye, and began writing.

He smiled fondly as he remembered the lighter-thief's particular determination to convert him into a non-smoker. Well, he could smoke and still be good, also it calmed him very much.

And so he had started his journal once more until it was filled with little thought all over, ranging from "I want to be able to improve the world" to "People should understand me and accept me for who I am." Because wasn't that the problem, people seeing him and just assuming things?

And once he had come halfway with filling the pages, he finally decided to return home. Just in time it seemed, seeing as one of his friends, the lighter-thief, to be exact, had a big examen exactly that morning.

Ready to surprise them and to cheer on them in person and not just through a phone, Gannon hadn't even hesitated to run right back out after giving his grandmothers quick kisses and hugs.

And as luck would have had it, he caught just the bus in which the pipsqueak had seated themself.

"They had really come a long way", Gannon thought proudly, as he watched them going once more over their studying material, before chuckling when he saw the student slowly drifting off. They were truly a sleepy head, after all.

Grinning he seated himself next to them, ready to wake them so they didn't miss their stop once it arrived. That would be a nice surprise, wouldn't it?

Snickering, he had pulled his journal out and started doodling in it. Before he was aware of it he realized that his thoughts were drifting. They drifted off to his other friend who Gannon especially wanted to meet again.

"I really wish I was somewhere else right now" he thought and wrote. Because he truly did want to be somewhere else. Surrounded by both his best friends in the gaming room would be the most preferable. He still had a few Super Smash Bros rematches to win after all.

And then suddenly there was screaming, and Gannon felt terribly dizzy as he was catapulted through a rainbow of dark colors.

And then he was suddenly in the middle of a dark forest. Every bone in his body seemed to hurt and the world was spinning. And then, when the world was focused again, there was a dark man with him.

A dark man, as in not dark-skinned like Gannon was but as in "having taken a bath in black paint", was there and he was grinning with sharp white teeth as he had the guts to page through Gannon's journal. "What a nice journal you've got there" he commented calmly, as if he was talking about the weather and not about how he had invaded Gannon's privacy.

Pure rage and sudden hate seemed to engulf Gannon's body in an intensity he had never known, and he only registered that he had moved when his fist had connected with the stranger's chin.

The man let out a surprised sound and Gannon used the moment to get his journal back into his possession. Like a newborn baby he carefully cradled it while the stranger rubbed his chin cackled. Gannon did not like the crazed look in the being's red eyes, not all.

And then the person suddenly was gone, like he had suddenly slipped into the Shadows to hide.

A shiver of fear went down Gannon's spine - because how weird was that – before gently browsing through his past thoughts, only find some of them cruelly ripped out. Horrified Gannon counted the damage and found that one page of his private thoughts had been abducted and nine of the blank pages.

That mastard.

A near inhuman growl broke out of his throat and Gannon was shocked by the unknown intensity of it. But then he focused his thoughts again and once more anger surged through him, intoxicating and motivating like a drug.

He was going to hunt that creep down and get his pages back and his revenge.

That man had no idea with whom he had messed.

But first Gannon would have to find a way out of the forest and figure out where the duck he was.

And so he stashed away his journal in his travel bag, which he luckily hadn't left at home and

started a very tiring journey.

And what was up with this forest? He never had heard of any of the beings he had encountered there, ever. It was almost fantastic, if not for the fact that it tried to kill him around every corner.

He wasn't sure when he finally managed to stumble out of the vast monster-infested something that was the forest, but once he finally managed, he was tired, hurting, hungry and thirsty. But he trudged on, always step for step, while playing with his gun that had just successfully saved his life more times than he wanted to count.

And then, finally, just as the sun started to set, he spotted a huge stonewall in front of him. New hope surged through him and he quickly ran along it, until he finally saw a wooden bridge that led to the only visible gate. Happily he jogged to it until, just as he was about to reach it, it was drawn up, thus effectively sealing Gannon off.

"What the actual duck…" Gannon muttered, dread settling into his stomach as he stood there, alone who knows where in the dark of the night.

And then suddenly a skeleton-like, bipedal creature burst through the ground next to him.

Gannon couldn't help the shriek that escaped him, before he quickly made himself scarce. But where to? These things were everywhere, and Gannon felt like he had been catapulted into a bad fantasy horror novel.

Then his searching eyes found their salvation in form of a small settlement on top of a hill, surrounded by high walls. Without thinking twice Gannon quickly made his way there as fast as his feet could carry him.

There he found that this apparently was a ranch. Well, it was better then nothing. Seeing as knocking on the locked doors of both house and opposite barn, didn't result in answers, for it was already late, Gannon resigned himself to find shelter somewhere where he wouldn't be too intruding, seeing as here at least there weren't any of these skeleton monsters.

Surely whoever owned this place would understand this poor traveler's misfortune and be lenient to understand why he slept there. Gannon at least hoped so.

And so when he found a shed which wasn't locked, he went inside and used the stray that laid there to get some rest. He'd chase after that a*shole in the morning.

…

In the morning he woke to a pitchfork pointed at his throat and a very angry redhead holding it and knew instantly that he was ducked.

"Who are you?" the woman asked, and Gannon wondered how such a simple question could sound so threatening. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm simply a mere traveler and I search for the one that stole something precious from me" Gannon explained, as calmly as he could while trying to do his best to ignore the pitchfork dangerously close to spiking up his throat. "When night came, the gate closed and to escape the monsters that roam the fields at night I searched for shelter here. When I asked at the door and no one answered I hoped for kindness and understanding and thus took it upon myself to find some."

The pitchfork didn't lower. "Are you Gerudo?" the woman asked, eyes narrowed.

What the actual heck? What was this, Legend of Zelda?

"I'm human" Gannon said, annoyed. "And I don't see how that plays a role here."

And when he looked at the woman closer and saw her pointed ears, he realized with dread, that it might as well be.

"It does, because you match the description of a man that my husband told me to be aware of" the redhead answered coldly with narrowed eyes. "So what is your name?"

"If this is Legend of Zelda, then I am done for" Gannon realized absent mindedly. And then he said with all the honesty he possessed: "I'm Gan(a small bubble escaped his lips to his surprise)on Dragmire."

Instantly the pitchfork was pressing into him and Gannon would be surprised if it didn't draw blood: "YOU!"

"Wohoho, wait!"

"Tell me one good reason why I should let you live and not kill you like the scum of earth you are!"

"Cause there's a mistake! I swear! It's Gan(another bubble)on Dragmire, not Ganon Dragmire!"

"I do not see the difference!"

"There's one, I swear! I dunno why I can't say it, but it's two n, it really is! I'm not that guy you think I am! I'm not a bad guy! I'm good, I'm good!"

"Ganon Dragmire - like that videogame villain?" the first kid sneered. The second added: "You even look that part. Where did you let your -dorf?" "And you really think we would, let you join in in our games?" the third kid mocked. "How can you be so stupid to think we would let a bad guy play with us good guys?"

"But I'm good" Gannon cried out, in tears, when the first hit connected with him. "I'm Gannon, not Ganon. I'm good, I swear."

"I'm good, I'm good, I'm good…" Gannon mumbled, shaking and curled together, desperate to escape the memories. And then, suddenly someone was hugging him and shushing him: "Sht…Shtt…everything's good. You're good. The people who tormented you are not here. You're safe."

Blinking the tears from his eyes, Gannon realized the awkward position he was in and quickly freed himself under the now kind eyes from the hug. The woman now kneeling in front of him smiled gently before speaking: "I'm sorry my inquiries brought that past trauma back up. I didn't intend to do so, I promise. Would you like to talk?"

"No…no, I don't want to. I'm sorry you had to see that. It's been years since this last happened. I thought I would have been over it by now, but it seems like I wasn't completely. I should be better than though, I am an adult after all…" Gannon stuttered as he slowly edged away from the redhead.

The woman smiled saddened: "Traumas do not care whether you're an adult or a child, they will strike whenever they please. No one is ever truly over them. Do not be ashamed of them."

Then she stood up and brushed the hay off of her clothes: "Where are my manners? Come, I'll make you a breakfast. I heard your stomach growl like a bear. We can talk some more there, Gan(a bubble)on."

She turned from him and Gannon carefully got up on shaking legs and watched as she opened the shed's door.

"I'm Malon, by the way" she then added, turning back to him.

"Oh sh*t" realized Gannon right then and there. "This really is Legend of Zelda."