Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the Legend of Zelda series.
Author's Note: I don't have much to say here, except to urge you to read the preface in the prologue if you skipped over it. It explains a lot, though I'll try to make things more clear as the story progresses. Oh, and Sprite is the name of the fairy in the short LOZ cartoon that was on in the '80's. Her only purpose seemed to be to whine and insist that Link was hers. She makes Navi seem like a saint. Also, I'd intended for this chapter to be longer, but this was the best I could do with my busy schedule. Sorry.
THE HERO REBORN
Chapter One
Secrets
He slept very little that night, and when he finally gave up and climbed out of bed, the first thing he did was go to the mirror hung on the wall. He examined himself carefully; there was no change in the dark brown hair that hung around his face in thick strands, or in the dark eyes. His features were still the coarse peasant's features he'd grown up with. What had he been expecting? To think that he had become that blond other during the night was foolishness. Still, he was going through many changes, and not just because tomorrow - no, he realized when he checked the hour, today - was his sixteenth birthday.
Link highly doubted that most people had the mark of the Triforce appear on their hands when they turned sixteen. Its appearance had surprised Zelda, and something about it alarmed Impa, though the old woman hid her reaction well.
He spent the rest of the night pondering its meaning on the balcony, his eyes on the starry sky, watching as it slowly brightened into dawn. It was officially his birthday, and while once he would have eagerly looked forward to it, now it disturbed him. He hoped he could just get through it quickly and quietly. But he was soon to discover that was not to be.
Link staggered downstairs to the kitchen of Hyrule Castle, where he usually had a quick breakfast. Princess Zelda was already there, sitting at a small wooden table with Impa, their heads close as they spoke. Although the princess was supposed to eat in the Great Hall, attended by a multitude of servants, Zelda preferred the cozy kitchen atmosphere to the empty Hall. Especially when her father the king was gone, as he often was. Now that Zelda was old enough to look after the kingdom, the king of Hyrule often left to attend to distant matters.
When she spotted him, Zelda gave a guilty start and pulled away from Impa. She smiled and waved as if there was nothing wrong. Link eyed them suspiciously for a moment, then dismissed it as one of the castle servants set out a plate for Link across from Impa and Zelda.
"Good morning, Link!" Zelda said brightly. A little too brightly, really. Now Link knew she was up to something. But he was too tired to care, at the moment. And the hot food in front of him was just too tempting to ignore.
"G'mornin'," he mumbled as he began to stuff his face. Impa rolled her eyes at his lack of manners, but kept quiet. The old woman had long ago learned that the young hero just couldn't seem to grasp the concept of etiquette.
"How are you today?" Zelda continued. Link just gave a noncommittal grunt. "Are you ready for a busy day?" Grunt. Zelda frowned, perplexed. "Are you all right, Link?" He grunted again. "Are you even paying attention to me?" He didn't even make a sound this time, just stared at his food as if it were the most fascinating thing in the world. Zelda scowled. Was he ignoring her? "Would you like me to kiss you now, Link?" she asked sweetly. When he still didn't respond, Zelda knew there was something wrong. Ignoring her or not, Link never failed to rise to the bait.
"What's the matter, boy?" Impa asked, her scratchy voice breaking into Link's thoughts. He started, uncomfortably aware that they were both staring at him.
"Dreams," Link said, shrugging his shoulders. "That's all."
Zelda rolled her eyes. "You're this distracted over a dream? What woman were you dreaming about now? Or don't I want to know?"
"It wasn't like that," Link said defensively, a slight blush rising to his cheeks. He'd made the mistake of telling Zelda about one of those dreams once. "It's... no, it's nothing. Forget I mentioned it."
"If it disturbs you that much, perhaps it would do you well to talk about it," Impa said. Her sharp gaze was upon him, and Link flinched under it. He suddenly noticed that though her face was wrinkled with age, her eyes still had the brightness and clarity of youth.
"The dream didn't make any sense," Link said in a rush. "Just... images, mostly. I was walking down a hallway with mirrors, then I was pulled into one, and saw a lot of strange images. Like a small green-haired girl, and a muscular, bearded giant. There was an exotic woman with a prominent nose, and a hard faced warrior woman. And some sort of fish girl, too."
"All those women," Zelda scoffed. "No wonder you didn't sleep very well."
Link ignored her. "There was a man with burning eyes... and the Triforce, all three pieces of it. And the Master Sword was involved somehow." He rubbed his face wearily. "I think the past is just coming back to haunt me, is all. After all I've done, I'm bound to have some bad dreams, right?" Link's voice was weak, and his smile thin.
Impa's face had turned expressionless, and Zelda was suddenly thoughtful. "It does sound like you're being haunted by your experiences," she said finally. "Or... maybe it's a message or something." She took his left hand in hers, a touch she wouldn't have dared in an ordinary situation. "The Triforce is clearer," she said with a frown, examining the back of his hand. "Maybe... maybe you're going to find it," she said at last.
"The Triforce of Courage has been lost for centuries, thought to have been carried to the grave of its last wielder," Impa said abruptly. "I wonder why it chooses to show itself now."
Silence descended as the implications of Impa's statement settled over them. Could there be a new threat coming to Hyrule? They'd only just rid themselves of the last!
"So," Zelda said suddenly, her voice sounding over-loud. "Were you planning anything for today, Link?" He sighed, grateful for the change of subject.
"Well, it is my - " he began.
"Because moblins have been sighted outside of town," Zelda continued as if she hadn't heard of him. "They're making the townsfolk nervous. If you aren't busy..."
"I'll take care of them," Link said, resigned. It wasn't what he wanted to do on his birthday. Then again, neither was brooding about a dream that probably meant nothing at all, or worrying over a threat that may not even exist. He got to his feet. "In fact, I'll do that now and get it over with." He glanced down at his unfinished breakfast. "I'm not that hungry, anyway. Just tell me where to go, Princess, and I'll be off."
Zelda told him, and he departed for his room to collect his gear. When she was certain he was out of earshot, she turned to Impa. "As soon as he's gone, we'll get the party organized," she smiled. Then she caught sight of the expression on Impa's face. "What's wrong?"
The old woman shook her head. "Nothing," she said, her voice betraying no emotion. "You go ahead and organize the surprise party; I need to take care of something, first." Her expression still grim, Impa left the table without waiting to be excused. Zelda watched her, puzzled, then shook her head. She had been planning this surprise party for months; she wouldn't let her guardian's upsetting behavior ruin her plans!
* * *
Impa swept down the halls with a swift stride that would have surprised anyone who encountered her. She may have been old, more ancient than most suspected, but she had lost none of her race's speed. Damn it, boy, what's going on with you? Her thoughts were focused entirely upon the young hero and his disturbing words. Fortunately, her feet knew the way to her destination, and she could concentrate on Link's dream.
A small, green-haired girl, he'd said. Saria, the Sage of Forest. A muscular, bearded giant: The Goron Sage of Fire… An exotic woman with a prominent nose… Nabooru, Sage of Spirit… The fish girl, Ruto, the Sage of Water… And a hard faced warrior woman; herself in earlier times, the Sage of Shadow. Link was dreaming of the Sages, now referred to as the Seven Wise Men, despite the fact that few of them were men, much less Hylian. The Triforce… The Master Sword… Line was dreaming of a time long past, a time when another hero had sealed away the thief Ganondorf for centuries.
Impa paused at what looked like a solid stone wall and, after a quick glance down the silent hall, she pulled down the unlit brazier. There was a low rumbling, and the rocky wall slid to the side. Impa steeped into the shadowed passage, activating the mechanism that closed the door behind her.
The stairway was dark, but she found her way up by touch. As she neared the top, her way brightened as she neared the chamber that was her destination.
The massive room had once been a solar, an upper floor room where the ladies of the castle could entertain themselves and bask in the sun. But the room had been ordered sealed to everyone except the one chosen to watch over the occupants, the marvelous windows had been glassed in with dark-stained glass, and the furnishings had succumbed to ruin. Only Impa of the near-immortal race of Sheikahs could recall what the room had looked like in its glory days, when the one laid out on the dais in the room's center had still laughed and loved and lived.
Princess Zelda. Not the girl who used the name now, the latest in a long line of princesses who wore her name, but the first. The woman who had wielded the Triforce of Wisdom and banished Ganondorf from their realm for what they'd thought was forever.
Her current state was tragically ironic. After surviving Ganondorf's dark magic and saving her kingdom, a stray spell in a misguided feud had caught her, putting her into a coma from which no one could awake her. She lay, alive and yet not, here in this room for centuries.
Impa had shown her to Link, who had been saddened by the girl's condition, but had no knowledge of how to revive her. Impa had hoped that, with his strange acquisition of ancient knowledge that seemed to have come with the Triforce of Courage's awakening, he may have had ideas how to arouse her.
She hadn't shown him the other occupant, the one who lay behind the faded red tapestry that divided the room. The one who had also been caught in the spell when he'd tried to defend his princess.
Impa parted the heavy red drape, stepping to the dais on the other side. Like Zelda, this figure was caught in the same state of undeath. It's strange… They're so much alike… She stood over the youth lying before her. Blond, with a hint of red to his hair, tall and well proportioned, his face with finer features than most Hylians had these days, there was little in his physical appearance except his style of dress to compare to the boy that Impa knew. Yet they could almost be the same man. Link… Ironic that the youth who had fought back the warped and twisted Ganon who had emerged centuries later had born the same name as the hero who had originally sealed him away.
But now Impa began to wonder: Was it a coincidence, after all? Link was the heir to the Triforce of Courage, and with that came knowledge from the age when the Hero of Time had lived. And the dreams… Were they memories? If anyone had previously suggested to Impa that their current hero could be this Link reborn, she would have laughed. Now… now she wasn't so certain.
"Poor boy," she murmured softly as she thought of the one heading off to fight non-existent moblins on his sixteenth birthday. "You have quite a legacy to live up to." But why was this happening now? He'd defeated Ganon twice before without help from the Triforce. Why did it appear now? What new threat was looming? "I hope you're up to it," she murmured.
* * *
Link really didn't feel up to fighting moblins right now. He was weary from his sleepless night, and the normally sedate horse he rode sensed his inattention and tried to get away with mischief.
"Stop it, Strider," he said sternly as the dark bay gelding once again swerved from their path to go after an attractive clump of weeds. Link yanked the reins, drawing the stubborn horse's head away from its intended snack. Strider snorted and plodded reluctantly forward, its slow pace taking him nowhere fast.
Link sighed. He couldn't even get a horse to obey him today… "Happy birthday to me," he muttered sullenly. It wasn't the horse's fault, really. He just wasn't an accomplished enough rider to get his mount to do what he needed even when he was at his most attentive. Link was a peasant in a world where horses were a rarity. He'd only just learned to ride less than a year ago, and still had a long way to go.
"If you hurry up, we can get back to the castle and your dinner much faster, you know."
Strider seemed unimpressed by this. The horse continued its plodding pace, and Link sighed. Maybe the beast's in on Zelda's conspiracy… Her excuse to get him out of the castle had sounded a little contrived, and Link wondered what she was planning. Did it have something to do with his birthday? For a brief moment, he forgot his woes and thought it over. Maybe, he thought with a grin, he'd finally get that kiss he deserved…
Strider abruptly stopped dead, and Link nearly fell off the saddle. "If this is about clover," he began. But something about the horse's attentive posture stopped him. Strider's wide, dark eyes rolled wildly, and his ears were pinned back. Warily scanning the forest around him, Link grabbed his short Magic Sword, focusing its energies so he'd be ready to fire off a burst of offensive magic. Perhaps there are moblins out here after all…
But it didn't feel right, somehow… Moblins had difficulty hiding, and Link had always been able to sense their presence. Here, Link felt nothing except a vague unease that there was something seriously wrong…
Why didn't I bring Sprite? he wondered angrily. The fairy had wanted to remain at the castle, probably to help Zelda with her nefarious plot, though she would have come at his insistence. Link hadn't thought he'd need her. She would have been able to scout out the woods for him.
A soft whistling noise was Link's only warning, followed by a sharp pain in his chest. He turned in its direction, firing off the magic blast instinctively. He heard a cry as he hit the target, but he didn't get the opportunity to investigate.
There was an arrow imbedded in his chest, the visible part of the shaft coated with an amber liquid. Blood welled from the wound, and he lifted his arm to pull the arrow free and to heal the… But his limbs felt unnaturally heavy, and a numbness spread through his body. He couldn't reach the arrow. It's poisoned! he realized with horror as he slid off the saddle and fell heavily to the ground. He couldn't move, couldn't even twitch his body as dark shapes crowded into his vision and cries of triumph filled his ears. He could do nothing as the world around him slowly faded to black.
To Be Continued…