A Hero's Destiny

Chapter 2

Link silently crept along the dark passageway, after having dealt with the additional hordes of monsters who were more than willing to fight, but after seeing Link in action many had chosen to flee. That made things much easier. At the moment Link was wishing that he'd been better prepared for what could come next. In his haste to arrive, he'd neglected to pack a bow, arrows, or even food rations, let alone medical supplies. He had only a couple of small bruises and cuts so he guessed that any medicine would do little good. Anyway, It's not like his injuries were serious.

It's now or never, he solemnly thought to himself. With his back pressed against a slimy cavern wall, Link edged his way towards a large room, lit up only by torches. He peered around the corner, and was surprised at what he saw. Princess Zelda was chained to the wall by her arms in what looked like two very painful rusty clasps. Two Moblins, who Link supposed were standing guard, stood nearby and directly in front of Zelda was some sort of Pig-faced creature, which Link guessed was their leader, Ganon. Link silently unsheathed his sword and lay in wait, listening in on the conversation going on.

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"Now Princess, my patience is not infinite you know, and if you do not comply then my methods of persuasion may just turn a little bit more...sinister." Ganon growled, in a low tone of voice.

"I'll never give you the Triforce, Ganon. I will never allow you take over my country, my world," the princess spoke, her voice tinged with distaste.

"Zelda, Zelda, Zelda...you disappoint me. How is it, that you fail to see the truth of your predicament? No one knows you're gone, I made sure of that, kidnapping you right in the middle of the night. It will be many long hours before anyone realizes that you aren't just sleeping in, and months before anyone will be able discover who has taken you and to where. Time, my dear, is purely at my disposal. Give it up, you stupid little girl, or else your inevitable death will be slow and painful!" the wizard chided.

"Your idle threats don't scare me wizard! Hyrule has the best knights in the entire world! It won't be long before they realize where I am and they come to kill you! Besides...you can't kill me because then you'll never know the true location of the Triforce," lied Zelda.

In fact, even Zelda did not know the whereabouts of the WHOLE Triforce. She embodied the Triforce of Wisdom inside her body, but the actual artifact was housed in the most fortified building in Hyrule, that being North Castle. This was where the royal family of Hyrule and many others lived. The Triforce of Wisdom's location was so secret that only a select few knew of it, Zelda being one of them. However, both the Triforce of Power, and the Triforce of Courage were missing, presumed to be lost for the last 500 years. A great war had overtaken Hyrule and it's surrounding countries around the 4990th year of the Goddesses. It had lasted for almost 25 years until a peaceful treaty had been reached. It was during this tumultuous time that the castle had been ransacked and the Triforce's of Courage and Power been lost.

But Pig-face doesn't seem to know this, Zelda smugly thought.

"Your biggest flaw, silly Princess, is not your inane stubbourness, but your underestimation of my abilities and power. If could sneak into your well protected castle, and kidnap you, then what makes you believe that after I torture and kill you I won't be able to find the hidden Triforce?" Ganon calmly replied.

"Yeah, but..." the princess began, "But nothing, you have five minutes to decide. Either you give me the location of the Triforce and I kill you quickly, or I come back and do so somewhat...slower," Ganon interrupted, before clicking his fingers and disappearing from the room in a puff of smoke.

Zelda knew that she would never voluntarily give up the location of the Triforce. She was too strong willed and stubborn, after all. But the thought of being tortured truly scared Zelda, and she didn't know how much she could withhold under the pain of it all. As these thoughts coursed through her mind, she could have sworn she saw a flash of green at the opposite entrance to the prison room. She immediately dismissed the notion, thinking that either her mind was playing tricks on her, or that it was just another one of Ganon's numerous monsters.

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Ganon was sitting down in a rather uncomfortable looking chair and he looked to be in deep thought.

How long had I been stuck in that blasted void? Zelda doesn't seem to know who I am, and that wretched hero is no where to be found, Ganon pondered.

With a snap of his fingers he instantly transported a Daria to his present location. The Daria just stood there looking like he had been hit upside the head.

"Wut is it yer lordship?" the Daria stammered, thoroughly afraid.

"Tell me the year as it stands and I shall not vaporize you this moment!" Ganon screeched.

"Eet is da year 5532, and, uh...pleez don't hurt me," the Daria meekly ventured.

"Ah! Be gone!" Ganon remarked before clicking his fingers and transporting the Daria into the middle of a Hyrulean army encampment. Serves the little beast right, Ganon thought.

Doing the math in his head, Ganon figured that he had been stuck in the eternal void for almost a thousand years. It had been 100 decades. It had been 10 centuries. It had been 1 millenium. How he had hated the time he spent in that horrible place. The void consisted of nothing...absolutely nothing, but an endless white landscape where time and space seemed to merge into one, crawling by incredibly slowly. But now he was out. A momentary rift in the void had released Ganon, the prince of darkness, and now he could finally resume his quest for the Triforce. The past millenium had been so painful to bear without his...HIS...Triforce of power. Of course, Wisdom and Courage were also rightfully his property, or so he liked to think.

I could have been ruling the entire world for the last thousand years! He thought angrily. If it weren't for the despicable princess and her hero, Link. But that was a thousand years ago, he rationalized. He had only been free for about a day now, but the first thing he had done was set out to kidnap Royalty. Much to his surprise, he had been able to kidnap Zelda, and because of this he believed that he had only been stuck in the void for a couple of years, a decade at the most. But things seemed so different. The Hyruleans, their architecture...it all seemed so much more...advanced.

But, Ganon deduced, this Zelda, despite looking and acting exactly like the Zelda I so hatefully remember, does not seem to know who I am. So maybe that moronic little Daria spoke the truth. It's been a thousand years. And the only difference, is that this time there is no wretched hero to save Zelda. No one can stop me now!

Easing himself up, Ganon snapped out of the deep thought he was in and remembered the ultimatum he had given Zelda. Smiling, he sat up and prepared to visit the princess.

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As Link prepared to ambush the moblin guards, his vision suddenly went blurry, his temples burning intensely. Another telepathic message burst into his mind.

"Please...save me...send help...anyone..." the voice trailed off.

And as quickly as it had began, the message had ended. Link eased up and leaned against the wall for a moment, thinking.

This time the pain was a lot less then before...but why? Shrugging off the momentary lapse, Link began to form a ball of magic upon the tip off his blade. He sent the ball flying into the corner of the room. Dumbly, the two Moblins looked at each other blankly, before walking over to the corner where the magic had hit, intensely studying the dark recess of the wall. Link quickly leapt from the shadows of the hallway, sinking his sword into one Moblins back, resulting in a loud howl from the dog-faced beast. Angered, the second Moblin turned round and let out his own vicious howl. Link swung his sword towards the beast's head, but surprisingly, the fat monster dodged the blow.

"Hah! Looks like I em too fast fer you, little man! Ha Ha Ha," the moblin taunted.

Zelda, who had been lost in thought, was now fully aware of the fight going on in front of her. Who is this guy? She thought, trying to place him as someone she seen before. But more importantly, she reasoned, he could get me out of here!

"Too fast eh..." Link replied, gritting his teeth as he was forced to defend himself from a lunging spear.

"Are you too fast for this?" Link questioned, as a ball of magical energy formed at the tip of his sword.

"I don't think so," Link finished, releasing the magical energy and letting it fly into the Moblin's chest. The beast let out a howl of pain as it was sent reeling into a nearby wall, knocking some rocks loose and leaving the Moblin buried. Smiling to himself, Link turned to the princess and gave her a small smile.

"Just give me a sec, your highness and I'll be right there...I'm here to save you," the hero valiantly stated.

"Don't worry about me, worry about him!" Zelda screamed, in an attempt to warn Link of the now unburied Moblins next attack. But Link was a split second too slow and the beasts spear became embedded in Link's left arm. Link grimaced in pain but quickly removed his shield from his back, using it to hit the Moblin in the face. With a second to himself, Link yanked the spear out of his arm and threw it aside, fresh pain ripping through his now bloody left arm.

"Aww, does eet hurt, hero?" the Moblin sneered, laughing to himself.

Link frantically looked around the dark prison in search of his sword which he dropped when the spear had become embedded in his arm. He could not see it. The Moblin let out a bellowing laugh and advanced upon Link, ready for unarmed combat.

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Zelda knew that her would-be savior, no matter how strong, agile, or skilled, could never best the huge Moblin in hand to hand combat and so she had to do something. Not only because this warrior was her only chance of escape, but also because she felt some eerily strange connection to the man. Channeling her magical powers and combining them with her Triforce of Wisdom's, she sent a flaming sphere from her now cupped hands flying into the Moblin's back, igniting the beast gruesomely. Dodging the flaming mass, Link once again scanned to dank room for any sight of his sword. Suddenly, the sight of glistening steel caught his eye and he rushed over to where his trusty sword lay.

"You know, you're lucky I'm merciful," Link remarked to the Moblin.

"Or else I would've just let you burn," he finished, picking up the sword and putting the Moblin out of its misery with a decisive stab.

Link turned around and faced the Princess. There she sat, it a tattered and dirty nightgown, chained to the dirty wall. Link quickly rushed over to her side and removed a small dagger from his belt, attempting to free the Princess from her constraints. Even though he had seen her before in much more glamorous apparel, he thought that she was looking stunningly beautiful, despite the current situation. Her long blond hair flowed down onto her back, somehow still impeccably shimmery.

"Who are you?" Zelda questioned, looking deep into the eyes of her savior.

"Well, I'm your hero, my name's L..." but before Link could fully reply, but Zelda cut him off with a piercing scream. To Link's surprise, and horror, the pig-like beast he had seen earlier stood in the entrance to the prison, a look of pure evil on his ugly face.

"How the...how could it be! You had to have died...you just had to have. IT'S BEEN A THOUSAND YEARS! Won't you ever stop ruining my plans? I may be immortal, but YOU CAN'T BE IMMORTAL!" Ganon screeched.

Dropping the knife, Link unsheathed his sword and rolled to his left all the while drawing his shield.

"Now listen...uh, Ganon? You still have a chance to let the Princess go, and turn yourself in. We don't have to fight, you could just...whoa...hold on a sec...a thousand years? Immortal? What in Hyrule are you talking about?" Link questioned.

"Like I'd give you the pleasure of knowing!" Ganon spat back.

"All you need to know is that you have interfered in my plans long enough, Link of Hyrule!" the sorcerer explained.

"What the? How do you know my name? Tell me! TELL ME! How do you know my name?" Link screamed.

"Oh shut up hero, you'll be dead soon enough so it will be no matter of consequence to you. Today I shall kill you, and never again will you bother me!" Ganon exclaimed.

Bring it on, Snout face...bring it on, Link thought to himself. However, Link was thoroughly confused at all of the recent revelations. How was it that this beast knows my name, and seemingly knows me? Link felt a strange connection to both Zelda and Ganon, almost like a sense of déjà vu, a sense of having been in this situation before.

Zelda too, was beginning to feel waves of recollection flow through her. It was at this exact moment that everything started to fall into place. 7 days ago, Zelda had dreamt of a faceless man in green fighting with another faceless man in red. In the dream she had only been a spectator, like what she was now. She hadn't been able to move in the dream, and she now understood exactly why that was. The chains. She couldn't move because she was chained to a wall in the dream...exactly as she was now.

Oh my goddesses, she thought, if the first part of the dream has come true...then the second part will too! She had to unchain herself and quick, if Link was to live to be 18.

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Please read and review, this is the first fic i've ever written and i'm wondering if it's any good and if I should continue. Thanks.