Chapter I
Link jerked up suddenly. Another nightmare…
But this one was different. All his previous ones had something to do with Ganon or Majora. But this one…
He supposed it might have something to do with Ganon, because he had been a Gerudo. Link shrugged and sat up.
He glanced down and noticed…
He was wearing a blue-white tunic.
Horrified, he pulled it away from his chest and looked under.
A yellow dragon was imprinted there.
Link immediately gathered his small amount of belongings he had used for his makeshift campsite and put them in Epona's saddlebags. Then he played Saria's Song. He needed to confer with the Sages.
"Saria? Can you hear me?"
"Yes, Link, what's the matter?"
He described, quickly, what had happened. Ruto thought that it had all really happened, while Impa was convinced it was a vision. The other Sages agreed with one or the other.
Meanwhile, Link started feeling strange. Something was happening on his chest.
He cradled the ocarina between his shoulder and ear, then looked down.
His chest was growing golden scales!
Link started to shout in surprise, but found he couldn't. The scales had reached his neck, and apparently affected internal organs as well.
What came out was a half-roar, half-growl. Saria called his name, but he couldn't respond.
The changes mutated his entire body. Even though his neck changed quickly, his head was the last thing to go.
He stared down the whole time, watching his body get bigger and change. His clothes ripped as his body expanded. After he fell forward on all fours, he could see the underside of wings that sprouted from his shoulder blades.
What's going on?!
His head, finally, changed.
Vision improved, but scent was almost gone. He could hear a mouse scuffling underground a hundred feet away.
Link tried to talk into his ocarina again, but it didn't work. Another growl-roar.
Against his will, his new wings flapped and he flew.
Why can't I control myself?
Link found himself soaring, all possessions left behind, towards the Gerudo valley.
In a matter of seconds, he was over the Desert Colossus, going past the Spirit Temple. He soared until he reached another, larger and more elaborate, building.
His wings stopped flapping for a second, and he soared in through a large hole in the roof of the building.
This building was very fancy inside, with all kinds of ornaments hanging about. Link found himself on a marble floor.
"Hello. And what can you do for me today?"
Saria reached out. Mentally, not physically.
"He's alive." Saria concluded, opening her eyes. "Alive, but different."
"Different in what way?"
"I can't tell, but I sense Ganon…"
Link felt himself regain total control, just for a second.
Then someone brainwashed him.
The masked figure slowly poured the liquids together, resulting in a black ripple in the air a few feet away.
A figure made its way out, slowly.
The figure had red hair, and a greenish tint to its brown skin. His body was covered in an armor-like shell. He had a reddish-orange emblem on his forehead, and five more on his chest.
Ganondorf was back.
Ganondorf strode quickly through the hall. He came to the cell in a few minutes.
A golden dragon was standing there, about four feet tall and six feet long.
"He has been brainwashed?" Ganondorf demanded. He knew the answer already.
"Yes, master," his servant confirmed. "Link no longer exists. Only the dragon. His name is Rith, as you ordered."
"Good. He can fly and breath fire?" The servant nodded. Ganondorf commanded, "Rith. Burn the castle and market to the ground."
Rith nodded and took off.
The mask was there, in its display case, all but forgotten.
By most people.
But not to her. No, she hadn't forgotten. She never would.
The Odentian glanced around nervously. After a second, her hands flashed through the case and back out, mask in them. Grasping the mask close to her, she ran out the door.
Cornered!
She flung her body to the right, avoiding the arrows. Then she leapt onto the nearby wall.
Her assailant was sure she would fall, so he shot an arrow directly beneath her.
Bad guess.
The front of each of her boots gave way to the newly sprouted claws, which sunk into the rough wood. She scrambled up to the roof of the shabby building and jumped.
It looked like she would fall, but she floated lightly through the air. Her assailant just gaped as she laughed.
Rith saw the teenage girl floating through the air, holding some kind of mask. From above, he could see a sort of bluish-green aura. He inwardly shrugged. She wasn't resisting, so why bother?
He opened his mouth, and flaming fury erupted. The massive fireball engulfed the market, leaving only burning remnants in seconds. Rith could hear bombs and bombchu exploding in the background.
People ran, screaming, toward the castle. Rith melted their place of refuge in a matter of seconds. He left the place a smoldering ruin.
The Odentian girl watched as the dragon destroyed the town. She shrugged. Well, he was just helping her do her holy job. If the infidels controlled him, she would just kill him too.
Surai landed gently on the ground, in the middle of the place those infidels called the Lost Woods.
She slipped on the ancient mask, its holiness changing her forever.
The mask, unlike with the infidels, transfigured her body into the most holy of all creatures—the griffin.
She felt the wonder of the reshaping, her imperfect body being discarded for the most holy of all.
She was a burning whitish-gold—literally. Her feathers, when she wanted, burst into flames. An infidel had painted the mask's purples and oranges on, those colors of the devil. The horrid paint had also changed the mask's form when it felt the need to battle.
As the holy process completed, Surai knew she was no longer Surai. She was Majora.
The Chamber of Sages was practically exploding.
Everyone had a different opinion, and a different solution, and everyone tried to convince each other they were right.
Finally, Rauru brought them to order.
"QUIET!"
Everyone shut up and looked at him.
"First, Saria. What do you have to say?"
"Uh, nothing."
The others, though, did have opinions. They found a solution.
Hasoer led his troops in. Twenty of the finest Odentian warriors. Himself.
And Majora.
He had been very, very surprised that Majora had chosen Surai. He expected her to be rejected.
But even more, he expected loyalty!
He had told her to bring the mask to him, not to wear it! Because of her—her treachery, he was barely accepted as leader anymore!
But, that didn't matter. In the heat of combat, his warriors would turn to instinct. And instinct said to trust him.
He gave the signal.
The invasion began.