Chapter 2

Different

Not much is known about Hyrule's past. After the Humans enslaved it's inhabitants about five-hundred years ago, many of the records of Hyrule's past beyond that point were destroyed. Not a single slave currently alive knew of Hyrule's true history.

However, there exists a single document that features a first-hand account of Hyrule before the Humans appeared. It also details what led to the enslavement of the Hyrulean people as it happened.

Unfortunately, though, the book was lost sixteen years ago, and all those who have ever read it, are deceased.

Linkle glanced upwards, towards the cloudy heavens.

Heaven...if one existed, it had certainly turned its back on her kind.

"Get back to work!"

Linkle jolted at the pained scream of a child the row behind her, her fingers rushing to plant the bundle of seeds in her hands.

One would never believe how much Linkle's outlook on things changed within the last twenty-four hours. She thought of her conversation with her mother the previous night for hours.

"Sometimes people treat you differently because you look different from them."

How difficult must it have been for her mother? Linkle has only experienced this misery for one day. Her mother must have experienced it for so much longer...

After work, Linkle and her brother found one another, and set off on their way home without a word.

The thick cloud layer above greatly diminished the light of day, resulting in the world around the siblings to take on a gloomy look and feel. It was the perfect match for how Linkle saw the wor-

She paused. Near the base of a tree she was walking by stood a bunch of small flowers, surrounded by some mud puddles; residue of the rain shower two nights ago. The flowers were small, yes...but the shade of white its petals boasted was mesmerizing.

That's it! This flower would be just the thing that would brighten her mother's day!

Linkle jogged over to the tree for a closer look, when another girl, who looked to be her age, appeared from around its thick trunk. The dress she wore was almost as lovely as the flowers it stole Linkle's attention from.

Linkle gasped, "What's that your wearing?" she asked, "It's beautiful!"

Linkle tore her gaze away from the dress, and froze at what she saw next.

Round ears.

The girl paused as she saw who had spoken to her.

"It's pretty isn't it?" she agreed, "I'd give it to you, but not even this can make up for those ugly ears!"

Linkle flinched as the words pierced her heart. A smirk spread across the girl's face, seeing that her insult had its intended effect.

Linkle's head lowered.

Oh, right. The flowers.

As Linkle crouched to pick one, the girl eased closer to her, her hands raised in preparation to shove Linkle into the nearby mud puddle.

After picking the flower, Linkle rose and went on her way, just as the girl thrust her arms. She lost balance, and fell forward, into the puddle of mud.

Linkle jumped, started at the sound of the girl landing into the mud.

"Are you okay?!" she asked as she rushed to the girl's side.

The girl rolled onto her rear, and surveyed her now muddy dress with wide eyes. She began to sob.

"JUST GO!" she shouted at Linkle.

Without a word, Linkle obliged, and dashed away, flower in hand.

"Where were you?" Link asked his sister when she arrived home.

Linkle painted, "I was picking this flower for Mom! She's gonna love it!"

Link watched his sister give her first smile since yesterday morning. After what she's been through over the last day, she still thought so quickly to do something for someone else? And smile while doing it?

He turned away. He couldn't understand that girl if he tried.

Hours later...

"Mom!"

Linkle jumped up to her feet, as soon as she saw her mother, who was shocked at her daughter's demeanor.

"I got you this flower, Mom! Isn't it pretty?!"

"It is, dear." her mother said with a smile, "Thank you."

She lowered herself and took Linkle into her arms. The girl snuggled into the embrace with a content smile, truly feeling like she improved her mother's day.

"That one!"

Link, Linkle, and their mother turned to the entrance to see a small girl in a muddy white dress, pointing at Linkle.

With her was was Philip, and two other Human men.

"That's the ugly Elf who pushed me into the mud puddle!"

Philip approached Linkle, and shoved her mother out of the way.

"Do you know who this is?" he asked, pointing at the girl.

Linkle looked up at him, fear and uncertainty widening her eyes.

"N-...No..."

"This is Isabelle..." he said with a hint of a growl in his voice.

"...my daughter. My only daughter. And you pushed her into a puddle?"

"B-...But I didn't-"

Philip's fist slammed into the side of the girl's face. The second she hit the ground, he pulled her upward by her matted locks.

"YOU PUSHED MY DAUGHTER INTO A PUDDLE?!"

Tears of pain and fear rolled down Linkle's cheeks as her wide eyes glanced upward at the enraged man in front of her.

"I didn't do anything!" she sobbed.

Philip turned and flung Linkle towards his two workers. No sooner was he out the shed.

"Bring that little bitch and follow me!" he ordered.

Linkle turned and looked at her mother. "Mom!" she called as she reached for her in vain, "Mom!"

Linkle's mother watched, frozen as her daughter was taken away from her. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to say. One of the few things in the world that brought her joy was being dragged away, crying and calling for her all the while. And she was powerless to do anything about it.

Link watched with a scowl on his face.

He knew what this was. He knew exactly what this was. There was no way someone like Linkle would so much as place her hands on another person, let alone shove them into a puddle. As far as he knew the girl probably tripped and blamed it on his sister. He wouldn't put anything past her kind.

Those Humans...they were all the same.

Sick, hateful, and disgusting creatures... All of them.

That night, the trouble sobs of Link's mother kept him awake. Whenever he would look at her, she'd be curled into herself as sat against a wall, her face hidden by her knees, and her hands grasping at her hair as she sobbed loudly.

The other slaves would hate it when another slave would make too much noise during the nighttime.

But in this case however, they opted to allow the crying woman to grieve. Because at some point in their lives, most of them experienced a situation nearly the same, if not worse than hers.

Linkle was taken to Philip's home, where she was bound to a fence post in his backyard by a pair of chained handcuffs used on her ankle. She was never told what would happen to her, nor did she know when they would let her her leave. The night was cold, yet she had no one to keep her warm. As the hours dragged on, she curled into herself for warmth, and lied down on her side.

It was then when her ears twitched at the sound of an opening door.

Moments later, a man in a suit, and a woman in an elegant dress appeared from inside the house. Linkle couldn't tell what shade of white it was through the dark of night.

"So this is her?" the man said to the woman as they approached, "Our boy would make minced meat out of this one."

Linkle watched as the two shared a laugh of agreement before the man continued.

"You deserve everything that's coming to you." he said, "Philip is a very respected member of our community. For you to do something like that to his daughter is beyond comprehension, I didn't even think you people would stoop to that level."

"But I didn't do anything to her!" Linkle said.

"So you're telling me our preacher would raise his daughter to lie? You're making me sicker by the second. But that's okay. You'll learn tomorrow morning."

The man turned and head toward the backdoor to Philip's house. Before the woman joined her, she leaned forward and spit on Linkle.

"I didn't do anything..." Linkle muttered to herself. "Why aren't they listening?"

Then she remembered.

"Sometimes people treat you differently because you look different from them."

"Was it because I have long ears?"

Linkle rubbed at her ears. What was it about them that made the Humans hate her so? Their ears aside, no one would be able to tell her kind apart from the Humans.

Linkle would ponder this question until she finally went to sleep on the cold ground.

Linkle was awoken by the dumping of water on her face. She gasped, inadvertently drawing water into her airway. As she coughed, she was yanked to her feet by one of Philip's workers, having been freed of the cuffs before she was woken up.

Linkle was taken to the front of Philip's house, where there was a crowd of Humans already waiting for her in a near circle formation.

And in the crowd, Linkle could see her mother and brother.

One of Philip's workers turned to Linkle's mother, and said,

"If you turn away, your son will be next."

"Mom?" Linkle called in vain.

Not even a second later, the girl was shoved roughly from behind, and fell forward into her hands and knees before a foot was planted onto her back, forcing her onto her stomach.

As Philip held his slave down, he went on a long-winded speech about his daughter, Isabelle, and how Linkle wronged her with her with her act of "violence" and "aggression".

He finally released her.

"Remove her tunic and tie her to the pole." he instructed.

Linkle felt her tunic pulled off in one swift motion, leaving only her undergarments. A second shoved her towards a thick wooden pole with his foot, and a third grabbed her by the wrists, pulled her arms around the pole, and tied them to it by rope.

Her back faced away from the pole as she looked frantically over her shoulder, and spotted the long whip in Philip's hands.

"Mom!" she called as tears welled up, "Mom, help me!"

The CRACK! sound the whip made after a test swing made her jolt.

"Mom!" she called again, sobbing, "Help me! Don't let him hit me, Mom! Please!"

Wasting no time, Philip stepped forward and lashed Linkle's bare back with the whip.

CRACK!

The shrill scream the girl let out was life a knife through her mother's heart.

"MOM!" she called again, and again.

Watching this, Link was reminded of the several times he was beaten this way himself. He would never forget the very first time he experienced this.

"Daddy!" Isabelle called.

Philip paused, "Yes, dear?" he panted.

"Let me whip her!" she said as she held out her hands as if expecting a present.

"Of course. Here."

During the pause, Linkle cracked her eyes, and looked at her mother, the one person who was always there when she needed her.

Why was she standing there?

Why was she letting this happen?

CRACK!

She screamed again.

"STOP!" she shouted, "STOP, PLEASE!"

The lashing continued for another five minutes. By now, anyone who had been keeping count had either lost it, or lost interest.

"I'M SORRY!" Linkle finally shouted, "I'M SORRY!"

Isabelle stopped the lashing and looked at her father.

"I'm done!" she announced proudly.

"Are you sure?" Philip asked.

"M-hm!"

He glanced at a worker, "Get the bucket."

He glanced at another worker, "Untie her."

The second Linkle hit the ground, her mother rushed to her side. "My baby..." she whispered as she desperately embraced her daughter.

Philip walked over to the two.

"Let her go."

Linkle's mother froze upon hearing the command. She glanced up at him, hoping desperately that she had misheard.

"Don't make me repeat myself." he told her.

Before she could even consider the command, Philip spoke again.

"No. Better yet... Give her to me."

Her head lowered, Linkle's mother rose to her feet.

"Mom?" Linkle voice trembled as she felt herself being pulled up, "Mom, no... MOM!"

She grabbed onto her mother's wrists, "MOM, PLEASE! DON'T!

Philip pulled her towards him by her hair, turned, and tossed her back onto the first ground beneath.

"Dump it on her!"

Two workers then dumped a large bucket full of mud, trash, and pulp made from rotten food on top of her.

Philip lowered herself beside her, "Your punishment isn't over yet. You deserve to be embarrassed the same way my daughter was."

"That's right!" Isabelle added, "Now get up and oink for me, like a pig!"

Linkle moved to stand when she was shoved back down to the ground by Isabelle.

"No, stupid!" she exclaimed, "On your hands and knees!"

She watched as Linkle moved to obey her command, when an idea crept into her mind.

"Wait!"

Linkle winced in pain as Isabelle cleared the gunk of her back as best she could...

...the climbed on top of her.

She laughed, "You certainly look like a pig too! Especially with those long ears! Now walk!"

Linkle struggled under both the added weight and the added pain in her back, as she crawled like she was told to do.

"Now say 'oink'!"

Linkle paused.

"I said say 'oink'!" Isabelle repeated. She reached over and slapped the muddied girl in the face as an added exclamation to her command.

"...Oink..." Linkle barely squeaked.

"Now keep walking!"

Link watched on, his fists trembling, and his mouth agape in disbelief at was he was seeing. Were these people really that sick to stand and watch this?!

"Now go to your ugly mom!"

As tears fell from her eyes to moisten the dirt below, Linkle obeyed yet another horrific command.

"Now say oink!"

"Oink..."

Isabelle yanked at Linkle's mother.

"Pet her."

The woman's eyes widened as she stared at nothing in particular.

"Do it." Philip ordered, "Or I'll make you beat her next."

Linkle's mother rose a trembling hand, and aided in her daughter public embarrassment. She lowered her head and broke into tears.

This humiliation would continue. Linkle was ordered to go around to several Humans in the audience, and act like a pig. The Humans would react by petting her, and even hitting her, belittling her as they did so for her supposed crime.

Soon, after what felt like hours, the punishment ceased, and the crowd began to disperse.

Isabelle rose off of Linkle's back and kicked her to the ground before she and her father went on their way.

Linkle and her mother worked that day, and said nothing to one another through the following night. Link couldn't possibly recall a time when his mother and sister were this quiet around one another. The silence would linger through the following morning, and into the workday.

Linkle had been placed with Link again, the two being given the job of trimming a section of Philip's large crop field.

He would glance over at his sister from time to time, until the two were eventually separated mid-job.

Link knew the day would come when the life they lived would finally break his sister. But he'd never imagined it would happen like this.

"HEY!"

Link and his surrounding co-workers paused, and turned to the direction of one of Philip's workers rushing toward Linkle. The man snatched her scythe from her the second he approached her, then kicked the to the ground.

"What do you think you're doing?!" he shouted.

"What's going on?" asked another worker as he and a second jogged toward the developing situation.

"This little bitch just tried to cut her ear off!"

Link watched on in shock. His sister rose and sat on her calves, her head lowered as the Humans above her began a discussion on what to do next.

"Come on." a worker directed as he slapped Linkle over the head.

As instructed, the girl rose to her feet, and left with two workers.

"What're you all looking at?!" the third shouted, "Get back to work!"

Link wouldn't see his sister again until much later, even after their mother had returned. The girl had a bruise around her left eye.

"What happened?!" asked her mother.

"They moved me to the restaurant. The owner hit me because I wasn't moving fast enough."

The restaurant Linkle was referring to was an eating establishment in the village just a little ways away from Philip's land. The man in the suit who came to see Linkle in Philip's backyard was the village's mayor.

Silence ensued, until after the slaves had finished their share of the slop they were given.

"I saw you at Philip's house." Linkle's mother told her, "Why were you moved to the restaurant?"

Silence...

"She tried to cut off her ear." Link told his mother.

Linkle froze.

"You did what?!"

Linkle lowered to head in guilt.

"Just part of it..." she admitted.

Her mother stared in shock, "But why?"

"Well-...you said the Humans treated us differently, and-..."

She sobbed.

"I don't wanna be different anymore!" she said as she broke into tears, "I hate being like this!"

Linkle's mother took her daughter into her arms. She had no idea what to say to any of this.

The next day was, again, silent. The sun shone brilliantly in the sky, and mockingly promised a lovely day the those it shone on.

Link and his family were now entirely separated. Though, at this point, it made no difference if they were together or not. The life they lived had finally beaten them all down almost beyond repair. It would take more than just each other's company to fix that.

The silence continued well into the night. Not a sound was made aside from idle chatter amongst some of the slaves.

"There you are!"

Linkle's head rose for the first time that night to see Isabelle standing near the open entryway to the shed, accompanied by Philip.

"I saw you at the restaurant in the village, so I thought I'd pay a visit. You remember me right? Oink, oink?"

Linkle lowered her head again, mentally preparing herself for more insults.

"Well don't be rude! C'mere!"

Linkle looked up at the girl, confused.

"I said come on." she repeated sternly, "Stand in front of me."

The girl obliged. She stared at the wooden floor between them as she awaited her next command.

"You know," Isabelle began, "my feelings are still pretty hurt from when you pushed me into that mud puddle."

Silence...

"I think you owe me an apology."

"But I already apologized." Linkle forced herself to say.

"Then apologize again!" Isabelle shouted, "And this time I want you to do it on your hands and knees, and at my feet."

Link watched on with a grimace on his face as Linkle followed her command.

"I'm sorry." she said.

Isabelle put her foot on Linkle's back and giggled.

"This is fun, Daddy!"

"Hey!"

Everyone in the shed turned their attention toward Link who was now on his feet with his fists balled.

"Leave her alone!"

Isabelle frowned, "Mind your own business, you ugly Elf!"

She turned her attention back to Linkle, "Now kiss my feet."

No sooner than anyone can respond, Link rushed at Isabelle, cocked his arm back...

...and punched the girl in the face, as hard as he could.

Time seemed to slow to a near standstill as the force from the blow sent Isabelle onto her bottom. The sound of her hitting the floor shattered the stunned silence.

Isabelle sobbed twice, before she broke into tears.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Philip rushed into the shed, and swung a fist of his own at Link, knocking him to the floor.

"NO!" his mother shouted as he continued to pound away at her son. She rushed forth and grabbed his arm, only to be punched herself. The second she hit the ground, she was back up, blood running from her nose down to her chin.

"STOP!" she screamed at him.

Philip turned, and landed a blow on her stomach, knocking the wind out of her.

"MOM!" Linkle screamed.

By now, Link was back to his feet, but was met with another fist that knocked him back down to the ground. Link covered his head as the fists rained down, when Philip answered by kicking him in the stomach.

Linkle was now crying openly, along with Isabelle.

Philip picked Link up by his tunic, and slammed him against the wooden floor. He picked him back up, and then flung him into a wall. The second Link rebounded, he was met with a punch that broke his nose. Philip lifted him by his tunic, and dragged him to the exit.

"Isabelle," he said, "let's go."

"NO!" Link's mother screamed, "He's just a boy! Don't hurt him! NO!"

"YOU!" Philip shouted at Linkle, "Follow me."

Linkle's mother quickly wrapped her arms around her.

"No!" she yelled, "You already punished her!"

Philip dropped Link, and rushed over to his mother. She turned her back to him, hoping desperately to protect her daughter from more punishment.

Philip yanked at her hair from behind, the used his other hand to grab at her throat.

"Let go, you bitch!"

He snatched Linkle from her mother's arms, and flung her toward the door to the shed.

Linkle heard her mother cry and beg desperately for her children as Philip and Isabelle left the shed. He picked Link back up by his shirt as he writhed in pain on the ground just a few feet away.

"Let's go!" he ordered her.

To be Continued!