I stared at the woman in front of me. Her eyes bore into my soul. I snorted and started to brush past her.

"Look, lady," I grunted, "I'm not in the mood to play your games."

She looked at me hurt, then grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. Her blue eyes were shockingly full of command.

"You shall not call me lady, you shall call me princess. If you do not heed my words, then die along with the rest of us."

I coughed as suddenly I saw past her disguise.

"Zelda? Why would you want to see me? Look, I'm just an ordinary seventeen year old looking for peace. I'm leaving Hyrule, forever."

"Link you can't go!"

I rolled my eyes, "Why can't I go? Oh ya, the whole thing about Hyrule needing me. Look princess, life in Hyrule has been tough, that is why I'm leaving. Why should I stay and 'protect' it like you say I am supposed to?"

The fight soon became a staring contest, finally I crumbled and shoved past her.

"Link, no!" Zelda cried, reaching out, "Link, please, Hyrule needs you."

I shook my head and turned around, "Prove it."

Zelda stood up straight and took the stance of authority. I waited her answer. She didn't say anything but pulled out an ocarina and started to play. The song cut into my being, cut into my thoughts, mind and soul. I had heard it before, somewhere.

---

I was standing up above the earth, staring sadly into Zelda's eyes. She put her hand out and I gently placed the ocarina in it. She lifted it to her lips, whispering, "I'm sorry," then began to play. It was the song of time.

---

The same song was being played now, and I choked at the memory. There was something strange, something odd about the whole thing. Zelda lowered the ocarina and looked at me, her eyes pleading.

"Link, that is why we need you."

I swallowed a lump in my throat and blinked once, "That song...I've heard it before. You, you played it for me."

Zelda nodded sadly, "It was the only way. You have to understand."

Confused I raised my eyebrows at her, but she only turned around and walked back to her horse. Mounting it, she turned and fled back to Hyrule castle.

"Zelda!" I called after her. She didn't respond. Frustrated I bit my lip and mounted Epona, my own horse from Malon. I pushed her into a canter and rode back after the princess. I stopped at the drawbridge and looked on into town. Shaking my head I turned Epona and headed to the right, crossing the bridge and found my way to Kakariko Village. Dismounting, I patted Epona and let her go, then headed up the steps.

"Link! Oh, Link! Do you still have the cuckoo? I can't find it."

I rolled my eyes as I encountered Anni, her hands covering her mouth. She seemed near tears as she explained about her lost cuckoo. I smiled gently and walked over to a box. I picked it up and a cuckoo fell from the bottom. Anni squealed in delight. I placed the box back down beside the house and entered it. I smiled at the woman cooking there.

"Ah, Link, I though you left."

I picked up a piece of bread and popped it in my mouth chewing thoughtfully. When I swallowed I nodded, "I was going to Mina, until I ran into the...this girl." I said, realizing my mistake before I said it.

Minna wagged her eyebrows at me and grinned, leaning on the table, "Was she pretty?"

I grinned, "Ya, pretty. You could say that."

Minna frowned, "You'll never find a girl if you say that." She watched me take a bite out of an apple and shook her head as I dropped it and fumbled with it in mid-air. "And you will never keep a girl with that performance."

Finally, having caught the apple, I glared at her, but she already had her back turned and was stirring soup for supper. Shaking my head I left the house and went to the graveyard, hoping to talk to Dampe again. Seeing no one, I pulled his tombstone back and jumped in the hole. His spirit floated in front of me, holding up a lantern. He seemed less...lively...than ever before and motioned me to follow, hoping to get me to beat my best score. I grinned as he moved through the doors and continued after him.

I stumbled as a flame hit me, and gripped my arm. It seemed as if he was trying to hit me. Gritting my teeth, I continued after the spirit, barely making it to the end. I rolled as the door began to close and watched the spirit. He smiled his half full of teeth smile.

"Link, I want you to take what is in the treasure chest. I seem...I seem to be....."

I watched in horror as he suddenly disappeared, the lantern falling to the ground. That to disappeared.

"Dampe?" I called, "Dampe!"

I searched the room, and my eyes locked onto the treasure chest. I openend it and leaned in, retrieving a hook-shot. I stuck it in the magical bag hanging from my belt and ran out into the top of the windmill. I jumped off the ledge and rolled, making my way out the door before the musician could yell at me. I jumped over the railing, and landed softly. Standing up I made my way down the stairs and across the small grass field. I took the next steps two at a time, threading my way to the gate. The soldier saluted me as I ran by.

I dodged my way up the ever climbing hill and stopped for breath at the flag pole. I held onto it for a second.

"Link."

I jumped at the voice and looked up spotting Darunia watching me gravely, "Shight, don't sneak up on someone like that."

Darunia didn't smile, "Link, you are needed. It is a good thing I found you."

I still stood there panting softly, when Darunia lifted his arms. A bright light surrounded me and soon I found myself in an open space. Seven pairs of eyes upon me. I blinked, recognizing each of them as friends I had made, except one. He looked familuar, yet I couldn't place my finger on where I had seen him before.

"Uh...guys...where are we?"

The man I didn't know stepped forth, "We are the sages, I am Rauru. This is the realm of the sages. Link, Heroe of Time, you are needed."

My eyes narrowed as I thought of Zelda and our little 'chat', "So I've been told. What exactly is going on? I was just talking to Dampe," At the look Impa gave me I smiled sheepishly, "In his grave. He...has disappeared."

Ruto nodded and stepped forward as the other backed up, "The dead, the spirits, the poes, have all been taken. Where, we don't know."

I opened my mouth to say something, then stopped and raised my eyebrows. I started chewing on my bottom lip, not liking the direction of the conversation. Soon, Saria stepped forward.

"The evil forces are growing stronger Link. The woods have been acting strange. There seem to be monster popping up, seemingly searching for something."

I blinked, "Searching for what?"

Impa harshly broke in, "A book. Seven years ago, a light erupted in the woods."

Saria nodded and continued, seeming as how she had been closest to the action, "I was sitting on the stump in front of the forest temple, when a light blinded me. It disappeared, but there, rising into the sky was a girl." She shifted nervously, "I saw Delilah, as she was swept away into hiding. She must be at the gerudo palace."

Nabooru, the gerudo broke in, "I heard of an orphan girl coming to our hide-out. Since she was of Gerudo heritage I let her stay, though I had only looked at her once. That brief moment, I realized that indeed she was Delilah. I ordered her to always be watched and that if she broke a rule, that she be killed."

Wow, I thought, 'Such a harsh reality'. Yet one question was nagging at my mind, "Who /is/ Delilah?"

The sages looked at each other and finally a voice beside me spoke. It was Ruto again. She spoke softly.

"Delilah was Ganondorf's sister. His younger sister. When we sealed Ganondorf away, Delilah was enraged. Afraid she would try to release him, we sealed her in a book and hid it away in the woods. No-one was to open it, or she would escape. No-one was supposed to know of the hiding place. Only the person who opened the book can seal her back in it. Link, we need you to find who holds the book."

As Ruto was talking, I was shifting nervously. When she finished, all eyes were on me. I bit my lip and clapped my hands together, "Job done. Bye."

I turned around only to meet more eyes. Saria looked at me in her childish way, "Link," she said softly, "You didn't open it did you?"

Her voice seemed to be pleading yet I was caught guilty. Clearing my throat I sighed, "As you said, no-one was supposed to know of the book. I didn't know." My own blue eyes looked into those of the sages. Only Impa stared back at me. Darunia finally spoke.

"Then Link, you must go on this journey to trap Delilah back into the book. She has powerful allies, and has become a good sorceress herself."

I bit my lip again and looked at Darunia. Blinking I nodded, "How do I do it then?"

Rauru, the one I had just met, spoke loudly. I turned to him and he watched me warily, "To get rid of any magician's power, you must get them to say their name backwards. To trap her in the book agian, you must read the first paragraph on the first page. It is in old tongue. Do not say the words before she is magicless, or she will destroy it."

I nodded slowly, repeating the instructions. Saria smiled, "The rest of the sages have agreed, you shall have help. Perhaps you will remember her," Her face sombered, "You will meet Zelda in the Temple of Time, she will instruct you more."

I groaned inwardly but nodded with a slight smile, "I understand."

There was a flash of light, and I found myself standing in the Temple of Time.