Link's Story
Chapter 5
Author's Note: It has been a long time since I have added a chapter to this particular series. It may have been a month or even two now. Well, I've been meaning to do it and I had a little spare time. I think I may have a direction for this now and I'll say it may end up being a bit more than just a summary to the Ocarina of Time. Let's just hope I don't run low on inspiration or free time... - Robin Wright
I had deduced that Saria might know who was the forest sage. She knew everything, as far as I was concerned. Yet when she hadn't been at her house or anywhere in Kokiri Forest, I knew there was only one place to look. I headed for the Sacred Forest meadow. The Lost Woods were a whole lot more confusing than I had remembered. Over the past seven years they had grown wilder than before. Since the Kokiri were trapped in their homes due to the threat of monsters, most of the undergrowth hadn't been trimmed back. I made my way through the woods in the dark. Around me I could hear the sounds of crows and other things. The child inside of me began to grow frightened. I whistled to ease my fear. I didn't help much though...
Navi hovered over my head, her light pulsating and guiding us through the dark. Through the twists and turns we went, searching for the meadow I had visited those short seven years ago. Finally, we came to a clearing and I breathed a sigh of relief. My leg was throbbing and I could feel the bandage growing damp. I needed to rest. Sleep was creeping up on my eyes and I knew the only way to slow my leg from seeping blood would be to stop moving. I looked around the clearing. Nothing seemed to be amiss. There was a locked gate before me, but I figured I would look that over in the morning. No sense going on at such a late hour, anyway.
I took off my shield, dropping it on the ground with a clank. I took off my chest strap with compartments for all sorts of weapons. Deku nuts, bombs, a hookshot... That landed on the grass with a dull thud. I stretched. The only thing left on me was my sword. I was about to dispose of that weight, too, when I heard a noise. I turned. It had come from behind me. I heard it again. It sounded like, sniffing? The sound in question was coming from a bush in a corner of the clearing. I slowly stepped over to check it out.
As I bent over, squinting in the dark, a white wolfos leapt out and tackled me. It howled and bared saliva dripping fangs. It bit me on the forearm and I stabbed at its spine with my sword, which I had, thank Nayru, not dropped. The wolfos shrieked in pain and dodged off of me. I pursued it around the clearing and finally cornered it. It took a few swipes at me with its claws and succeeded in tearing the left sleeve on my tunic. Luckily, wolfos aren't the brightest creatures in creation and I stabbed it through the heart when it threw its head back to howl. The wolfos fell at my feet in a bloody mess and faded away. There was a creaking behind me. The gate in the clearing was lowering itself.
I stood there panting and thinking. I was nearly made a meal of by that slobbering forest beast and I was on edge, to make an immense understatement. How in the world was I going to get any sleep at such a rate? It was maddening. Knowing that my nerves and now much too acute sense of hearing would keep me up the rest of the night, I hiked up my gear and went further into the woods.
The gate that had opened led to a series of long, twisted paths through dense foliage and vines. I hacked at all of the growth with my sword as I went along, afraid that I may run into another vicious creature. My forearm was bleeding moderately and I had tied my long hat around it, for lack of anything else. I made a mental note to myself that I should include emergency medical supplies next time I prepared for a trek. Then it hit me that I didn't do any of the planning in the first place. Why was I out in the middle of dark, overgrown woods in the first place? Why was I risking my ass for a bunch of short, malicious forest dwellers who had robbed me of my most effective form of communication? Should I want to help the very souls that had spat upon me and what I held dear? They were as happy about me leaving as they would have been about a skunk! Was that what I was to them? A skunk?! The anger in my gut boiled.
I went further and further into my bitter pity party. The green became increasingly dense as I advanced to... somewhere and I hacked at it with heated zeal. If I couldn't chop someone in half, then I would take it out on the plant life. Many things from the past were coming up inside of me, almost choking me in the rush. I could feel tears welling in my eyes, I was so enraged about everything. Why was I on the quest in the first place? Because someone told me that I was supposed to be on it. Why did I have no home to claim? Because someone told me I would be better off leaving. At that very moment, I knew Malon was probably dragging Ingo to the house, trying to make up an excuse for the next morning, fearing she would be beaten again. Why wasn't I there to help her? She told me to leave. I was noticing a pattern, suddenly.
I felt so angry at that moment that I screamed and slashed my sword about recklessly, caring not what I may hit, what I may damage. My blade clanged off of a rock, I didn't care. My fist scraped past a tree, skinning my knuckles. I hollered and continued to swing. I went on in such a manner for maybe three or five minutes and stopped, out of breath. I still felt rage, but I had expelled the majority of it. I panted, listening to nothing but my deep throated breaths as my sword hung there, waiting till I decided to bring it to life again.
A bit more calm, I reasoned with myself. I had seen what had become of the town in Hyrule. I had seen the conditions at the ranch. Even the Kokiri were afraid of what was out there. So afraid they had put doors on their houses. Hyrule was not right. Evil pervaded every corner, whether evident in the dark clouds overhead or the flowers wilting inconspicuously in a normally sunny corner. It was all tied together. Somehow, someone had decided that I was the ultimate solution to it all. One man, well, one boy who looked like a man, the answer to all of Hyrule's sorrows. In a way, I felt like some sort of a scape goat. Was life playing a big joke on me or did I actually have the potential to be some sort of a great hero, a chance to justify my existence? Shaking my head, I moved on through the dark.
Navi was strangely quiet. In fact, she hadn't said anything in quite a long time. She had flown out of my hat when I tied it around my arm. Where had she gone to? I reached up to scratch my head and found her nestled in my hair. I guess even faeries need sleep every now and then. I was bitterly exhausted. My arm was bleeding, my leg was bleeding; I was going to faint if I didn't get some rest. As I walked on, the aggression faded and I felt more fatigued than I had before. I prayed that the meadow was near by and that Saria was there as well.
As I went on, one thought bombarded my mind. It was Malon. Of course I was thinking about other things as well, but she was at the forefront of my consciousness. I had just left her there. Left her standing, bawling her eyes out in that pasture. All because I was such a coward. All due to the fact that I couldn't stand up to a woman. I had been afraid of her hating me forever. But since when did I trade in morals for good will? She already hated me, right? What did I have to lose? I resolved that I would go back in the morning. It wasn't right to leave her there alone. I didn't want her to be beaten any further. It weighed on me too much. I regarded her too deeply in my heart. No, I wouldn't give in, not for the mere cause of saving face. It would be better that she hate me worse than anything in the world and be safe, rather than just perturbed and soon dead.
My sword hit something hard. I stopped and sheathed it. Vines clung to a wall of some sort. I pulled them back and looked hard through the dark at what I had discovered. It was a pillar. Again, I pulled out my sword and chopped at the vines hanging next to the pillar. Before me was a heavily overgrown passage. I cut back the plants, moving upward. It was a stone staircase. After working my way through for about a half an hour, I pushed through the last bunch of leaves. I was in a large opening. A wide tree stump sat empty underneath what was left of a broken staircase. I had found the Sacred Forest Meadow. But Saria was no where to be seen...