Worlds Torn
By Love_Hina_Fan

Chapter 2

The throne was dark, the shades were drawn, and the king brooded in silence. A resounding bang was heard from the two large iron doors across the hall. The king looked up at the two guards stationed near the door, 'They'd only dare bother me if it were the dispatcher.' He though has he nodded to the guards, who opened the doors. The man that stumbled in looked haggard exhausted, wounds on almost every part of his body, and a large tunicate around his left arm.

"Sire, I have the dispatches from the posts near the outer realms of the Lost Woods, The moblins have overrun and are now a two weeks march from Hyrule field. They're numbering in the thousands, and are accompanied by lizolfos, dinfolos, and a consortium of other nasty creatures. They don't seem to have much interest in Korkiri Forest, more likely the fairy children's deity keeps them safe from Ganon's evil forces. There is also rumored to be a counsel of Wizrobes in their ranks."

"Oh the Goddesses." The King gasped. "Wizrobes? They were supposed to be extinct."

"I know sire, but most of the creatures Ganon has sent through the void were also supposed to be extinct."

"That bastard. what are our options? Is the High Guard ready to be deployed to defend the castle and the outlying market?" The High Guard was Hyrule's most formidable fighting force, trained from an early age in the art of killing, after the seven years war, Hyrule became more alert of the fact that a threat was always possible, and you always had to be prepared.

"Yes sire, with your word they can be deployed right now."

"Not right now. if they are seen on the streets, the public will go into a frenzy."

"Maybe. Maybe sire, we need to think about an evacuation ."

The king slammed his fist down on the arm of his thrown. "Nonsense! Utter nonsense! The Hylian people will NOT abandon the city; they are perfectly safe within these walls! Don't' you even dare to presume to tell me what to do, boy!"

"My most sincerest apologies, m'lord."

The king just stared; trying to think of the next action he should take. Just then there was another knock on the iron doors. The banging sent a wave of pain through his already aching skull.

"I don't care WHO you are, leave immediately or I'll have you thrown in the dungeon!"

But whoever was behind those doors wasn't about to leave, slowly the doors began to creak open under the pressure of some unseen force. The King was furious, who was this? How dare they invade his thrown room, what did they want? He waved his arms, telling the guards to get on each side of the door, spears at the ready. Then when the door could take no more, it burst open, and in rolled a rock, or what SEEMED like a rock. It laid there on the floor for a moment, then uncurled into the form of a humanoid being. It got up, shook itself off and then simply bowed in front of the king.

"My deepest apologies sir, but it seems your door was stuck, ill have the Goron metalsmiths on Death Mountain make you a new, stronger door."

The King could do nothing but stare, a Goron? The rock eaters from the Death Mountain region were rarely seen outside of their mountain villages. When was the last time he had actually come in contact with one? It seemed like ages ago that he made the allegiance with the leader of the Gorons. what was his name? For the life of him the King couldn't remember.

As if on cue the Goron refreshed his memory. "Big Brother Darunia sends his regards and wishes it could be him to deliver this message, but he's busy making plans for the troops that will assemble around the Market area in a fortnight-

"What? Troops? What troops?"

The Goron seemed slightly surprised at this remark; he seemed to think the King already knew about whatever he was babbling.

"Why the reinforcements sir. the ones promised in the treaty. If either nation should ever be threatened by an aggressor, the other nation would assemble soldiers."

The King remembered now. The treaty he had made over 40 years ago was still fresh in the minds of the Gorons. He was a much younger king back then, he'd only been king for two years when he made his journey to have talks with the newly appointed Goron leader. This was good, because he didn't like the idea of having to ask anyone for help, the Hylains were a wise race, but sometimes their pride clouded their judgment.

"When did you say they would be here?" The king asked.

"A fortnight sir, it would've been today, but we've not seen battle since the Great Wars sir, even we Gorons must grow soft. All the soldiers are practicing and the metallurgists are working on repairing the aged weapons. Even Biggoron, the master metal smith, has offered his services to your situation. An attack on one, sire, is an attack on all of Hyrule!"

The King liked the Goron's enthusiasm. He hoped that the combined strength of a Goron and Hylian army would be enough to counter-act Ganon's hellish horde. The Guerdo had sworn that they had nothing to do with Ganon's return, nor would they rejoin them if he came back to Hyrule. The king had his doubts, but they did pledge troops, and said that if the city were taken, the Valley would be a place the citizens could take refuge in. And the Zora's had royally pissed off the Hylians, by offering no assistance, King Zora sent back the dispatcher with a message saying that the Zoras were sorry, but they could not risk having their deity, Jabu Jabu, an oversized goldfish, getting in harms way. They didn't actually believe Ganon's forces would strike, those bastards, Ganon's demons were two weeks away. That left barely enough time to reinforce the city walls and assemble troops. The king needed more allies, his feelings told him a combined effort between three races still couldn't over come the Evil that had infest this land once before. How long had it really been since Ganon had taken over Hyrule and made it into the bloody hell that he and the other citizens of Hyrule still strived to repair? It's only been 2 years, he reminded himself, 'But its seemed to much longer than that.'

"Umm. sire?" The King was broken from his reverie by the voice of the dispatcher and looked up. "Even with the help of the Guerdo and the Gorons, I don't think we would be strong enough to hold Ganon back indefinitely." He had read his mind, the king thought bitterly. ".But I think there's one more place we haven't turned."

The King knew what was coming next, and he would have no part of it. "No! Don't you even dare finish that sentence, I would never ask those. those half lings for help on a matter that concerns faith in the three goddesses, something they forsook a long time ago!"

"But sire, if we ever want to stand a chance of defeating the horde, we'll need every scrap of help we can get! The Zora's have forsaken us! We need someone to take their place!"

The Goron who had been listening with minor curiosity finally decided to speak up. "Why not stop all this banter and just send the humans a messenger, when was the last time you actually made contact? How do u know they don't have something to combat Ganon?"

The Hylians in the room froze, as if the word 'human' were a curse never to be uttered, even by angry adults, which it was, when you were a young Hylian, one of the worst things to call someone was a human. That often incurred a rather large tongue-lashing from a parent though.

"Big Brother always says that in a time of need some petty quarrels have to be forgotten so you can face the larger problem at hand."

"That's all well and good," the king said, "But these humans abandoned our beliefs, beliefs all races of Hyrule share mind you, and said they could do better with their 'science' and 'alchemy'. They are blasphemers and I don't trust them as long as their dull pointed ears are! They disregarded what we- "

"Stop being so bigoted!" The Goron bellowed. "We are under the threat of Ganon attacking AGAIN, another threat of a great war, and still you keep your old hatreds, just send a damned dispatcher to Maelstrom, they can use the underground caves on Death Mountain to get there!" The Goron was breathing heavily, and expected to be imprisoned or beaten for raising his voice to the king of Hyrule, but the good king just sat in silence. Then finally he stood up from his throne.

"You're right Goron, old hatreds die hard I guess. I will not see my kingdom fall again, even if it means that I have to enlist the help of Men. I'll ready a squad of Hylian Guards and a dispatcher, might they return to the Goron City with you?"

The Goron was pleased to see the King agree so readily. He smiled a fleshy grin and exclaimed, "Why of course sire. But I hope they don't mind the heat, its summer, and Death Mountain's temperature can be pretty unbearable."

The King sighed, weary from this unexpected meeting. "That's quite alright, now if you'll excuse me, I'm an old king, and I need my rest. I'll make sure one of my aids gives you a room for the evening and gets you something to eat."

But the Goron was way ahead of him; he pulled a backpack off from his rocky underside, presumably put there so he wouldn't roll on it, and pulled out a large rock from it. "No need sire, I brought my own! Mmhmm, top rock sirloin!" He exclaimed as he took a rather large bite out of it, little pebbles dropping onto the floor as he plowed right into it.

The king had had too many surprises for one day. He called the dispatcher over. "Boy, are you well enough to make one more trip?"

The boy looked resolutely at the King of his people and said, "Yes sir, where to?"

"Lon Lon Ranch, give this the Hero of Time, and I need you to enlist the help of him and his Master Sword." The King knew this wasn't the best of idea's, since no one was supposed to know where the Hero of Time lived, that was his only request after the defeat of Ganon, he wanted to live in peace, on the Ranch. Only Zelda and the King knew of his whereabouts. The young soldier looked in awe to say the least.

"You mean. Link is still alive?" The young dispatcher said in awe, Link was a common role model among many of the new recruits.

"Yes boy, it's only been two years, I need him here in at most two days. Can you do that? I need him here to lead the guards going to Maelstrom."

"Yes sir!" The boy bowed and turned toward the broken doors. The king knew that soon enough he was going to be sending boys that young to die, to fight for the sovereignty of Hyrule and all its races. And that thought scared him to death.