Chapter 24, Rebirth.

Chamber of sages.

Link opened his eyes and the first thing that he noticed was that he was back in the Chamber of sages where he had meet and spoken to Rauru.

The second thing that Link noticed was that the pain in his side was gone, Link reached down and felt that the wound that Phantom ganon had given him was gone, likely healed by the magic of the sages.

"Link" said a familiar voice, Link turned around and saw Saria standing on the green symbol, "Saria" said Link as he ran up to hug her, only for his hands to pass straight through her as if she wasn't there.

Saria had a look of sadness on her face, "Link, I'm sorry, I should have stayed in the village, I should have waited for you to return" she said, "No I'm sorry, I should never have opened the door to the Sacred realm, this is all my fault" said Link.

"Link this isn't your fault, you had no way of knowing what would happen" said Saria reassuringly although it didn't seem to make Link feel any better.

"But Saria, that monster, he killed you" said Link it was painful for him to say these words, Saria fought back a sob, "I now, but that doesn't mean that I can't help you" she said, "What do you mean" asked Link.

"That monster only destroyed my body, but my spirit still lives on, and now that you've destroyed that monster I can help you by fulfilling my role as the Sage of forest" explained Saria.

Link smiled knowing that his oldest friend was now going to help him stop Ganondorf, "Maybe when this is all over things can finally go back to the way they was" he said hopefully.

A look of pure sadness appeared on Saria's face, "I'd love for that to happen, but there's just one problem" said Saria as tears fell from her eyes.

"Without my body I can never return to the living world again, I have to remain here, forever" said Saria, Link felt like his heart had just stopped, "Saria surely there's something we can do" he said.

"I'm sorry Link, but it seems that our fate it to live in different worlds" said Saria, "But its ok, because I'll always be with you in spirit" she said as she tried to fight back her own tears rather unsuccessfully.

A bright light consumed Link and he felt himself being taken from the Chamber of sages, Link didn't what to go yet, this might be the last time that he would ever see Saria, but there was nothing he could do.

"Link, I will always be your friend" came Saria's voice as Link disappeared.

Kokiri forest.

When Link woke up he saw that he was standing before what was left of the Great deku tree, during the past seven years the Great deku tree had rotten and fallen apart, he was now a mere shell of his once great self.

Link was unable to look at the Great deku tree, it only reminded him of how he had failed to save him, "Hey, what's that" said Navi, Link looked back at the tree and noticed that there appeared to be something at its base trying to break out of the ground.

Link approached this strange thing and just as he did it burst out of the ground knocking him back, Link quickly recovered and saw that there was a small tree before him that bore a great resemblance to the Great deku tree.

"Thank you Link, you've saved the forest" said the young tree, "What, who are you" asked a confused Link, "I'm the Deku tree sprout, the child of the Great deku tree" said the little tree.

"Now that Saria has taken her place as the Sage of forest I can finally grow and protect the forest just as my father once did" said the Deku sprout, "Wait, so you're the new Deku tree" asked Navi, "That's right and one day I'll be just as big as my father was" said the Deku sprout with a hint of pride in his voice.

"So what now, Saria was the only one who was keeping the Kokiri together, will they be ok now that she's gone" asked Link still saddened by what had happened, "Don't worry, the Kokiri will be safe, my magic should already be driving all of the monsters out of the forest" said the Deku sprout.

Link felt like he should stay and ask the Deku sprout some more question, however after everything that had happened he just wanted to be alone for a while, "I should be going now, we still have four more sages to find" said Link.

Link turned to leave, "Good luck Hero of time, I believe that you will save Hyrule" said the Deku sprout as Link left and headed back to Kokiri village.

The Deku sprout was right, all of the Deku babas around Kokiri village was already withering and dying, and Link could already tell that the air had a much warmer and purer feel to it, the Kokiri had noticed the change as well and they was already exiting their home to investigate.

Link knew that it was time for him to leave, he didn't belong here, he wasn't a Kokiri and he never was, plus Link already knew that no one here was going to recognise him anyway, Link began to walk through the village and towards the exit.

"Hey mister" said a familiar voice, Link stopped and turned to see Mido running up to him, "Your leaving aren't you" asked Mido, "Yes, there are places where I need to be" answered Link.

"Mister, would you please do me a favour" asked Mido, "What is it" asked Link a little curious, "While you're out there, if you ever see a Kokiri boy named Link, would you please tell him that I'm sorry about the way that I treated him all those years ago" said Mido.

Link was amazed, he never would have thought that Mido would ever apologise for anything, but then the last seven years had clearly been hard for the Kokiri and Mido had clearly changed from the cocky arrogant bully that he once was.

"Sure, I'll tell him" said Link, "Thank you" said a very grateful Mido as he ran off to help the other Kokiri to clean up the village.

Link took one last look at the village that had been his home as a child, then he left the forest for what he believed may be the last time.

Forest temple.

Deep in the Forest temple in the same room where Link had battled Phantom ganon a dark portal opened and the real Ganondorf appeared.

Ganondorf looked around the room, he had watched the battle through the eyes of his phantom and he was impressed that Link had been able to defeat his servant.

However this wasn't what had caught Ganondorf's interest, during the battle he had felt a great power coming from the boy, a power that was very familiar to him, a power that he desired, he had sensed the Triforce of courage in the boy.

Ganondorf walked over to where his phantom had once stood, but now all that remained of his creation was his spear, "What a worthless creature that ghost was, he was hardly worth me creating him" thought Ganondorf.

Ganondorf retrieved his phantom's spear and then turned to leave, but it was at this point that something on the floor caught his eye, Ganondorf got closer and realised that the thing that he had seen was blood, it was Link's blood.

"Interesting, perhaps that ghost was not as useless as I thought" thought Ganondorf as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small glass vial.

Ganondorf collected some of the blood and smiled, "With this, I may be able to accelerate my plans" he thought as he disappeared into the dark portal.