Author's note: Sorry for this update to the first chapter. I changed some things in the story on Google Docs that I thought that I changed here. Chapter one is as of now, up to date.

Disclaimer: I do not have copyright of The Legend of Zelda or Spyro the Dragon.

Chapter 1: The Young Rancher

It was a quiet day in the Faron Woods. A young family of Dragonflies had recently immigrated from Skylands, a world that is accessed through many portals scattered throughout Hyrule. It consisted of two dragonflies and an egg that was really close to hatching. On their way home from gathering food, the young couple ran into a ransacked campsite. Tents were on fire and people lying dead on the ground.

As they past by a tent, they heard something breathing. The two entered and found a young woman that was severely injured. Her breath was heavy and blood soaking her clothes. The pair flew toward the woman in worry.

"Miss," the male dragonfly asked, "are you alright?" His voice obviously startled her. She looked around wondering who spoke.

"It's too late for me," she replied. "Just save my nephew." The woman then pointed toward a bundle of cloth that lay beside her. When the dragonflies examined it more closely, they discovered a newborn baby boy.

"What's his name," asked the female dragonfly.

"His name is Link Spyro Avalon," the woman wheezed. After saying that, the woman passed away.

"What should we do, Nina," the male Dragonfly asked his wife.

"We better raise him as our own son, Flash," was the reply.

"But we don't know what a human child would need to make it to adulthood."

"There's a village to the south," Nina persisted. "Maybe the inhabitants will help us."

"That might work," Flash admitted. "But what would they think when they see us come into their village?"

"I don't know," she replied. "But we have to try."

So the pair of dragonflies took the child home. At the moment they arrived, their egg hatched. The hatchling was named Sparx. Since their home was too small to accommodate the young Link, they chose to move to an abandoned house that was on the outskirts of the nearest village, of which turned out to be Ordon Village, outside of the political boundaries of Hyrule.

Years passed by and the brothers grew. Link in particular discovered that he had the ability to turn into a purple dragon at the age of seven.

The first time he transformed, the daughter of Ordon's mayor saw what he turned into and screamed in terror. Link ran and hid in the Faron Woods, believing that he was a monster.

I'm a monster, he thought as he motioned his now beastlike hand to slit his own throat. Ilia wouldn't want to talk to me ever again...

"You're not a monster," a feminine voice called. "You are one of us."

Link looked in every direction. "Who's there?!"

"An old friend," the voice responded. "Look up."

Link looked into the treetops to see an enormous black dragoness laying on a very thick branch.

"What is your name, young drake?" the dragon asked.

"L-Link," he answered.

"Your full name," the dragoness amended.

Link swallowed hard. "Link Spyro Avalon," he stated.

The dragoness smiled and jumped down from her branch. "You might want to come with me," she stated. "My queen would like to talk to you."

Link was taken aback. "Why?"

"You'll see," the dragoness replied. "Do you know how to fly?"

Link shook his head.

"Then I'll carry you." The dragoness picked him up in her talons before spreading her wings and taking to the air, soaring deeper into the forest.

The sensations of flying through the air felt breathtaking to Link. Before long, they were approaching an enormous pavilion in the treetops, built on the branches of a circle of tall, overlapping trees. It had a roof made of strange translucent leaves, constructed atop twisted wooden columns instead of walls so the pavilion was open to the air but sheltered from the rain.

The dragoness set Link down onto the clawmarked wooden floor before landing beside him. Link's gaze swept over the interior of the pavilion in awe, which was almost empty. Two rocks that held scrolls stood by a dais that was a few inches higher than the rest of the platform. Sitting upon it was a green dragoness.

"Queen Glory," Link's companion stated, bowing respectfully.

"What is it now, Moonwatcher?" Queen Glory asked. "Did you have another vision?"

Moonwatcher shook her head. "No, Your Highness," she replied. "I found this dragonet hiding in the shrubbery outside of Ordon Village."

The queen glanced at Link in curiosity, small rose pink swirls appearing on her scales after a few seconds.

"Is he who I think he is?" Queen Glory asked.

"Most likely," Moonwatcher answered.

Queen Glory smiled. "Young one, may I ask for your name?"

Link swallowed in nervousness. "Link Spyro Avalon, Your Highness."

At the mention of his middle name, the queen's smile faltered slightly, worry crossing her face momentarily. "You must be the child those dragonflies at Ordon are raising, correct?"

Link nodded. "Yes ma'am."

"How about using your middle name for the form you are currently in?" the dragon asked.

"That is a good idea, your excellency," Link replied.

At that point onward, Link stopped using his middle name for his Hylian form and used it for only his dragon form. He also attended Jade Mountain Academy. At the age of fourteen, Link was offered a position of being a ranch hand at Ordon Ranch. The pay was decent and the hours were good. He learned how to use a sword from Rusl, the local Blacksmith.

A few days after his seventeenth birthday, he was relaxing at Faron Spring with Rusl and his noble steed Epona. Every once in awhile, monkeys would swing by.

"Link," Rusl asked, "you've never been to Hyrule, have you?"

"No, Rusl, I haven't," Link replied half heartedly. "But Sparx has been to the Kokiri Village that resides in the Lost Woods. Why are you asking me this?"

"I'm asking you because Mayor Bo has asked me to deliver gifts to Hyrule Castle in a few days," Rusl stated. "But I would like you to do it in my place."

"That would be great," he replied. After that was said, they started to pack up to return to the village. As they were packing up, someone tapped Link's shoulder. He turned around and saw a Kokiri standing there. Two fairies were hovering beside her.

"Excuse me," she asked, "are you related to the Hero of Time?"

"I don't know," Link answered. "I never knew my real father. What's your name by the way?"

"My name is Saria," the Kokiri replied. "What's yours?"

"I'm Link Avalon, assistant ranch hand of Ordon," Link answered as he finished securing firewood onto Epona. "Nice time meeting you, Saria."

At that moment, Link and Rusl headed back to Ordon Village. When they reached Link's home, they put the firewood on the wood pile outside the house. While they were working, Rusl's son Colin came for a visit. Link and Rusl soon finished. Rusl escorted Colin home while Link entered his home.

"Hey, Sparx," Link called for his brother, "I'm home." But Sparx didn't come. Perhaps he's daydreaming about Navi again, he thought. Just then, he heard Fado, head rancher of Ordon yelling from outside.

"Link," Fado yelled. "The goats haven't been listening to me lately!" Link, then turned around and back out the door.

"You know Fado," Link stated, "you can climb the ladder and knock on the door. On the other hand, I'm willing to help." He climbed down the ladder to where he left Epona, but she had vanished.

"Ilia," Link exclaimed in annoyance. "Why do you have an obsession with my horse?" He then headed for Ordon Spring.

When he entered the spring, he found his horse and Ilia, the daughter of Mayor Bo. Link had known for a while that she had a crush on him.

"Link," Ilia said, knowing that Link knew that she had taken Epona. "I washed Epona for you."

"Ilia," Link replied, "I do thank you for being this generous, but next time, would you please ask first?"

"I'll remember that," Ilia answered. After talking to Ilia, Link and Epona helped Fado with getting the goats back into the barn.

Two days later, Link and Fado were finishing up with work early because Link was going to leave for Castle Town for the delivery. When he left the ranch, he saw that Bo and Ilia were waiting for him in front of their house. He dismounted Epona.

"Today's the day," the mayor stated.

"Yes," Link replied, "it is." While the men were talking, Ilia was petting Epona. She soon found a minor bruise on the equine's front leg.

"You hurt Epona!" she accused Link.

"It's only a bruise," Link replied, taken aback by the outburst.

"Ilia," Mayor Bo stated. "Obviously Link didn't intentionally harm-"

"FATHER," Ilia criticized her father, "you are the MAYOR." She then took Epona by the reins and walked away.

"This is bad," her father exclaimed. "Now the tribute to the Royal Family will never be delivered."ll

"Don't worry," Link replied, "I'll get Epona back." He then headed straight for the spring.

When he got there, the gates were closed.

"There's another way in," Colin stated. The little boy guided Link to a crawl space big enough for him.

"Thanks for the help Colin," Link said gratefully. He crawled through and found Ilia talking to Epona and Sparx.

"Ilia," he said; startling her.

"Link," she replied; obviously startled. "Epona is going to be fine. Just make sure you get back safely."

Suddenly, the gates to the spring were broken down by two enormous boars. The riders were bulblins and bokoblins. One bokoblin hit Link over the head with a club while another shot Ilia with an arrow.

When Link returned to consciousness, he saw that Colin, Ilia, and Epona were gone, along with the monsters.

"Sparx," Link said. "Go tell everyone that the children and Ilia have been abducted by monsters. I'm going after them." With that said, Link charged across the bridge to the Faron Woods. Soon after crossing the bridge, he stopped at a barrier that reached into the sky, preventing him from advancing. It was patterned with red markings. Suddenly, an enormous hand grabbed Link and pulled him through.

The glowing darkness bolted into his eyes painfully. He was not used to such a splattered spectrum of light, semi-shadowed and quite luminous in its brighter areas. Yet perhaps his focus hazed due to the hand gripping his neck. He gasped for air and struggled as the long sticky fingers throttled him unknowingly during its inspection. The face, or at least what Link thought resembled the face, came closer to his as if to peer into his eyes, yet there were none that mirrored Link's reflection. Its hair was made of long black tentacles that hung down from the back of its crest-like head.

Link raised a hand to the beast's fingers, attempting to pry the coils from his neck, and as he did so, his hand began to burn with new life as it had done so just days ago. A piercing light shone from it for a fraction of an instant, and the dark hand released him, the creature's waddling scamper carrying it away in an eyeblink.

Link fell hard to the ground, yet relieved that the monster had freed him. He choked in new air, and with it, his life restored. He looked around, noticing similarities of this woodland to that of Faron. It looked so much like Ordon's forested neighbor, only a new haze threading its life. He then realized ... he was in Faron.

But this darkness…. Why- how- What is this? he thought.

He pushed himself up to search for the source of the spell over Faron, but a thunderous pain seared his hind legs, an agony that spread like fire in a thicket up his spine to span out to the rest of his nerves. Link caught himself, lying there unable to move from the festering pain. He felt his heart throb in a rhythmic beating as the mark on his hand simultaneously pulsated and burned, both of which deepened his anguish. His breath caught in grunts as tears glued his eyes shut and his brow furrowed. His chest pounded and the feeling pushed a deep, painful sigh from his taut lips. He faltered, his hands barely holding him up. The pain filtered from the nerves in his appendages to his very bones. A crackling within forced another stream of pained grunts from him, as he felt his legs breaking under an invisible pressure. His muscles involuntarily jerked this way and that trying to find some comfort. It was as if a boulder had suddenly landed on him, slowly rolling over him, reshaping his body in a grotesque fashion.

The throbbing continued and intensified as his jaw bones stretched and cracked. Unable to acknowledge what was happening and unable to bear the suffering any longer, he cried out in a raucous shriek and fell into stillness.

The symbol upon his hand faded … as if it had never marked him.

Out of sight and high upon a rocky ledge, a small imp looked on as the creature that had first yanked Link into the shadows dragged him away….