Chapter 26: Hyrule, Seven Years After
Meanwhile, as Link and Navi walked out of the Temple of Time and into the dreary and depressing environment of the world seven years after he pulled the sword from the Pedestal of Time after running from Maiku after he put on that mask outside the town walls. The entire market was in ruins, a shadow of its former prosperity. The bodies of the civilians killed were still exactly where they were from seven years before, their bodies badly burned and still gave off the feeling of a great evil. Some were condemned to a damned exsistance of being Redeads for the rest of the days that their bodies can with stand.
Link could only guess that Maiku had been the cause of this death in the market and he didn't even want to think about what else he had done over the years. Even as he pulled the Master Sword which he now had sheathed behind a Hylian Shield he had found when he was exploring Kakariko Village's Graveyard; he had been telekinetically contacted by Ganondorf.
What if Maiku joined Ganondorf? He thought to himself, What if... I have to face him? How strong will he be? I know he was holding back from killing me back then... like if he knew that I would be of some use...
"Link?" Navi said, startling him as he was making his way through the ruins of the market, "What's on your mind?"
"I'm just trying to peice together things... you know, because of the seven years progressed." Link replied
"Oh yeah. Well, according to what Sheik said... we have to go to Kakariko Village to get something that would help you enter the Forest Temple."
"Right." He began to run out of the market square but stopped. finding that a hole had formed in the middle of the pathway, "Well, since I'm older... I can probably jump it... here goes!" He took a few steps back and performed a running jump clear over the hole. "Well that was easier than it looked. Now, onto Kakariko Village!" He continued his run out of the market and into Hyrule Field.
He didn't even bother to try and see what was around him on the field, he only kept his focus ahead and ran towards Kakariko Village.
* * *
"Damn it Maiku!" Ganondorf yelled at Maiku as he slammed him against the wall with one hand, "Why didn't you take care of him like I ordered you to?!"
"Because Ganondorf..." Maiku replied calmly, "You need him alive..."
"What?"
"You heard me..." he put one hand on Ganondorf's and pushed it away, slipping away from the wall, "You need him to stay alive for now.... If I killed him in the Temple of Time, you wouldn't be able to get his piece of the Triforce..."
".... I guess you are right..."
"Of course..." he began to walk out of Ganondorf's chamber on the top floor of the tower that is in the exact place that Hyrule Castle used to be, "I will wander around Hyrule for a while, if you don't mind..."
"You're visiting Zora's Domain again?"
He glanced back over his shoulder, "Why should you care?" he continued to walk out but Ganondorf stopped him again.
"You visit that place too much."
"As I said before... why should you care? I don't see you going to Gerudo's Fortress in your freetime..."
"Exactly."
"I just need time to think about how I should delay Link... maybe something in the Forest Temple...."
"You are the one in charge of the temples."
"Yeah, because I know what will happen. And I must plan correctly or else it will be way too easy for that damn Hylian."
"I thought he was a Kokiri?"
"... You really don't know much about the races of Hyrule... do you, Ganondorf?"
"What did you just say?"
"The Kokiri are... like never dying children... they never age.... the little bastards are ageless. If Link had aged, that means he is not a Kokiri. He is a Hylian... destined for great things." he turned to face Ganondorf, "Some time ago, before the King of Hyrule unified this country, there was a fierce war in the world. One day, to escape from the fires of the war, a Hylian mother and her baby boy entered the forbidden Kokiri Forest which rested in the center of the Lost Woods. The mother was gravely injured... Her only choice was to entrust the child to the Deku Tree, the guardian spirit of the forest. The Deku Tree could sense that this was a child of destiny, whose fate would affect the entire world, so he took him into the forest. After the mother passed away, the baby was raised as a Kokiri." He sighed, "But before I let him get too close I'll find some kind of way to seriously delay him."
"Maiku."
"What?"
"Why do you hate him so much?"
"He delayed me of my goal seven years in the past... that's all I will say... I will not mention anything of my past before then..." He turned around again and walked away, stopping at the doorway, "By the way... I know where Zelda is... or rather who she is. I will tell you later..." He stepped out.
* * *
"Ugh!" Link grunted as he began to push a tombstone forward, "It's heavier than it looks."
"Well," Navi replied, "It is a stone block."
"You have a point there..."
"According to that man, the ghost of Dampé has something... I bet it's the object that Sheik said that we need to enter the Forest Temple."
He finally managed to push the tombstone away, revealing a hole. "It's pretty deep..."
"C'mon, don't be such a wimp!"
"Navi..."
"Yes..?"
"Shut up..." he dropped into the hole, into Dampé's tomb