Disclaimer:The Legend of Zeldais property ofNintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto, all rights reserved. I am in no way affiliated with these companies, or any legal proceedings concerning The Legend of Zelda. This story has been written purely out of enjoyment, and is not intended to make a profit, steal ideas, or offend anybody. Any similarities between my work and anyone else's is purely coincidental.
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"Elements of Hyrule" — Chapter Eleven: Hyrule
By The Last Princess of Hyrule
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Elsewhere in Hyrule at that hour before dawn, several branches high above the ground in a tall, sturdy maple wobbled and rustled. This, to anyone who might have seen, would look odd, for there was no gust of wind disturbing the trees and only the maple had been upset. Were they to wait a little longer and a muffled "oomph!" followed by a series of loud crashes would have been heard, along with a small boy in green falling to the forest floor with a thud.
Grumbling, Link stood and stretched, straightening all the cramped limbs that were bent from sleeping among the tree branches. As he did so, Navi fluttered down slowly, her cheeks slightly pink with embarrassment. Link glowered at her for a moment before moving to pick up his things were they had fallen after.
"Link, I'm sorry!" she suddenly burst out. "But there was this hawk and—" The look on his face told her to just shut up and drop it.
The fairy awoke to a loud chirping in her ear, which took her a moment to realize was only a songbird. She was about to settle back into sleep when a horrible screeching cry of a bird predator sounded overhead. This, Navi instantly realized, was a hawk and she was terrified. Hawks preyed on fairies, despite their great magical powers. In a desperate voice, the air shimmering with her urgency, she darted about Link's head, begging him to awaken. Upon doing so, she so surprised him that he tried to back away, forgetting that they were in a tree, and toppled to the ground.
"Well, I guess we might as well start out," she announced optimistically.
They had walked for several hours the previous night until Link complained from aching feet and legs. Remembering Saria's warning of the possible threat of the other Kokiri children, they spent the night up in a tree, just in case pursuers found where they stopped. Navi guessed that they were still an hour or so from the forest's border. So, hoping that Link would cheer up later in the day, she started ahead. Link followed silently after.
As the trees began to thin, Navi could see the sky starting to lighten. It slowly faded from deep black to cool cobalt. The air was still breezy and a slight chill seeped among the trees. Link shivered a little as the sky turned to a mix of pale pinks and yellowy oranges, pastel colors of a summer sunrise. Almost half an hour later, when the sun's first rays were just beginning to shine through the trees, they reached the edge of the forest.
Link stopped. A few more steps and I'll be out in the world. He looked around slowly. Past the bounds of the last trees, Link could see long, rolling hills blanketed in tall golden grass, completely unlike the spongy forest floor. A few wind-ragged, slightly stunted trees stood above the ground, but they looked tired, as though they struggled to survive this open world. Everything was drenched in the morning sunrise and the affect nearly took his breath away. No one ever said the world was so beautiful . . . not even Saria . . .
Navi lightly alit on his right shoulder. "This is it," she said. "That out there is Hyrule."
Hyrule . . . Link's heart began to pound. Hyrule . . . The word came to him with ease and it sounded natural, unlike 'castle' or 'princess'. Something about Hyrule . . . The boy shook the thought from his head.
"No turning back now," Navi added as Link looked back over his shoulder. Behind him, tall emerald trees rose up amongst each other, majestic giants clustered with thick underbrush and thickets of forest creatures. Ahead were the gentle slopes of the flat ground that was Hyrule, so alien yet somehow so familiar.
He drew in a sharp breath as he remembered a story in the forest; if a Kokiri were to step outside the forest, they would die. Although Saria has assured him that this had been something Mido made up to keep the Kokiri from ever trying to leave, he was still doubtful. After all, what did any of them really know about the world?
Link forced the thoughts from his mind. Just get going, he told himself in their place. Just put one foot out and take the next step. It's no different from the last one you took. Nothing bad is going to happen outside the forest. Nothing at all.
But what if something does? As smaller, more timid, voice asked.
Nothing will. He told it firmly. Despite such assurances, the doubt remained and there was nothing he could do to free himself from it—until he took the step and found out.
You'll be fine. Nothing bad is gonna happen. Repeating these words over in his head, Link closed his eyes and took a step.
Nothing happened.
He took another. And another. Still nothing happened. No bolts of lightning zapped him from high above, no monsters leapt from oblivion to crush him, nothing. Link walked on. What had he been so afraid of? This wasn't so bad. There really was nothing to be afraid of.
"Link!" Navi suddenly cried. "Link, watch out—"
CRACK. Something very solid and very hard smacked him right in the face. Link opened his eyes to find, to his embarrassment, that he had walked right into the branch of one of the scraggly trees. Feeling stupid, Link backed away, rubbing a stinging mark it had left on his forehead.
"Try walking with your eyes open," Navi jeered sarcastically. "I hear it works better that way."
Link flicked her off his shoulder with a free hand, sending the little blue orb tumbling away. It returned in a huff, settling down on the top of his head were it might be out of range. Link ignored Navi and continued along in silence. It was a strange feeling wading through the tall grass, which rippled like a forest brook whenever a breath of wind disturbed it. Though it had looked, from afar, to be soft and comfortable, the blades were, in reality, quite rough and Link's legs were quickly covered in tiny scratches.
Other than the hills of grass and the occasional tree, there was not much to Hyrule. Very little scenery was worth looking at and what was there did not turn out to be what Link expected. The walk was long, dull, and dusty. The sun had barely risen above the horizon by the time Link's throat was dry.
"How much further?" he whined to Navi a few hours later.
The bright Hylian sun was beating down on them with intensity neither had ever even dreamed possible. Navi could nearly swear she saw heat waves rising off each hill. Summertime in Hyrule was obviously a scorching, sweltering season, unlike its pleasant counterpart in the forest. Neither Kokiri nor fairy, who had never been though such heat, felt like they could take much more of it.
And for Navi, the heat was putting her in an especially sour mood. "How should I know? Do you see any 'castles' anywhere?"
"I don't even know what a 'castle' looks like," Link retorted. "Maybe we walked right by one and didn't even notice."
"All I've seen since we got out here are grass and trees!" Navi snapped. "I haven't seen anything I don't recognize."
"Well excuse me."
Navi crossed her arms in frustration. The ambling pace continued on, scaling hill by hill, with what seemed like pointless suffering and fruitless results.
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Inside the princess's royal suit, the morning sun illuminated the heavy curtains drawn over the windows, pouring through their heavy fabric and turning them a glowing burgundy. The room was peaceful and quiet, both occupants sleeping dreamlessly.
A loud knock on the doors, however, startled them into wakefulness and the comfortable morn became no more. With a heavy sigh, Impa, draped in a heavy dark azure robe, strode to the doors and pulled one open. Outside staring in were two figures, a man in shining Hylian armor, and a blind, raven-haired woman carrying a silver staff.
"I beg your pardon, lady," the knight said, bowing graciously, "to awaken you so early, but I bring a visitor for the princess."
Impa looked expectantly at the woman an asked, "And you are . . .?"
"Havieze of Hylia," she replied with a small smile. "I am a prophetess and I have certain matters to discuss with a member of the royal family. Might I come in?"
Impa, slightly surprised by the woman's obviously lacking knowledge of proper palace etiquette, opened the door a little wider and allowing the knight and Havieze to enter.
Zelda was sitting up in her bed, rubbing her eyes, when the visitors came in. She looked curiously at the knight, and then turned in confusion to the lady, then finally back to Impa. The caretaker closed the door and moved around to Zelda's side.
"If you do not mind, my lady, perhaps we can have this conversation later, when the princess is properly awake," Impa addressed the young woman in a polite but firm tone. Havieze, however, was not the least bit intimidated.
"I'm afraid that this is something that cannot wait," she answered with a curtsy in Zelda's direction.
Behind her, the knight was slowly backing away in a half-bow. "My ladies," he addressed respectfully as a way of announcing that he was leaving, "princess."
"Sir Talmar, if you please," Impa began, stopping him. "I would like for you to stay."
Talmar bowed again. "As you wish, lady." He moved away from the door and stood quietly off to the side. Havieze, at Impa's invitation, settled herself in a plush chair across from the bed.
"Now, if you can," said Impa, "tell us what this is all about."
"Ah, right to business as always, Lady Impa," Havieze replied. "Well, as this is not a social calling, I should expect so." She cleared her voice. "You may or may not be aware of this, but an ancient prophecy's events have begun to show and I, being a prophetess, am concerned. The prophecy is one Purhpciy fu hith Papuulcespi, a very haunting prophecy indeed. A few others are coming into play, but on in response to the events of Purhpciy fu hith Papuulcespi."
Impa, Zelda, and Talmar looked on varying intensities of confusion.
"Do you think, perhaps," Zelda asked slowly, "that you could explain? I'm afraid I don't know much about any Purhpciy fu hith Papuulcespi."
Havieze, smiling again, recited the prophecy. "Tradition, in the place where it is strongest, has been broken, by an element of the Outside, Hyrule. A society where Tradition has been undisturbed for all of existence, whose seclusion is so fierce little is known about them, became, shall we say, tainted, by the element of the Outside. At that moment, a portion of Purhpciy fu hith Papuulcespi, that which reads as 'When the way and tie of Tradition art encountered by the mysterious of the Outside', became no longer a foretelling, but an actual event, thus setting the prophecy into motion.
"After that time, however, a short interim was foretold and so has such nine years come to pass and the prophecy to be active again. This is why I have come to you, for bad things are said to begin. 'and the nine year interim hath passed, a time of Darkness shalt begin.'"
"'A time of Darkness'?" Impa repeated. "What do you mean?"
"A great and terrible evil will spread throughout the land, bringing terror and suffering as you cannot even begin to imagine."
Zelda felt shaky at the thought. The clouds were product of some evil . . . No, they were pure evil—the essence of evil itself. Their presence over her head filled her with the most awesome fear, consuming all of her and leaving her to feel helpless. It felt as though nothing could beat this terrible evil. There was nothing in existence in this entire world that could do so . . . The dream was still so vivid in her mind. Every time she thought of it, every time some essence of it touched her consciousness, her heart sped up and she had to draw in deep breaths to keep herself from losing control.
Havieze, who had been describing the evil, stopped short. "Your Majesty?" she asked. "Something troubles you, does it not?"
Zelda shook herself. "I beg your pardon?"
"Is this a dream you have been having? These dark clouds—the essence of evil which fill you with a most great fear whenever you think of them," Havieze went on. "They so trouble you, I feel."
Zelda was shocked. Can she read my mind? She wondered.
(For certain, Zelda of Hyrule.)
"What?" Zelda suddenly screamed.
"Zelda? Is something wrong?" Impa asked concernedly. "What happened?"
Zelda looked at Havieze, who smiled. "N-nothing. Please go on."
"Fair princess, will you tell me about your dream?" Havieze queried lightly, as if they were discussing nothing more important than the weather.
Zelda was silent for a moment, looking to Impa for advice. The caretaker shrugged. She's a lot of help, Zelda thought to herself cynically, before suddenly remembering that Havieze could hear her thoughts. Quickly, she closed them away and focused on explaining every detail of her vision-dream to the prophetess.
At the end of it all, Havieze sat with what looked like amusement on her face. "So you too have inherited the Silver Legacy's powers." The Hylian Royal Family, known also as the Silver Legacy, possessed strange, inherent powers, powers of premonition and vision, which had ceased to be common with the downfall of the Hylia.
Zelda studied the mysterious young woman before her. Something in her aura screamed unnatural, but the princess could not quite pinpoint it. What was it about this Havieze that made her feel so? "So what does it all mean?" Zelda asked, ignoring her growing suspicions.
"You vision says similar to what Purhpciy fu hith Papuulcespi foretells—that a great evil will arise. But you See that someone or something else will rise to meet it," Havieze explained. "This light from the forest, it is strongly entwined with Purhpciy fu hith Papuulcespi."
"Can't you make it any more clear than that?" Zelda's voice was beginning to sound desperate.
Havieze shook her head. (This is something you must work out on your own, Zelda of Hyrule. Only a fool would try to foretell Fate clearly. Such an action could lead to great disaster. One does not tamper with Fate.) The woman directed her thoughts at Zelda, whom she could sense had a very strongly developed power of telepathy.
Zelda noticed the thought, though not purposefully, and was even more confused. What did all this mean? How was clarifying a prophecy affecting Fate? And how, in what way, was her dream connected to this Purhpciy fu hith Papuulcespi?
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In another part of Hyrule all together, Link sat panting under the shade of a small tree. He had just crested the top of another rise, sweat running in streams down his face, nearly panting with heat and exhaustion. Navi had since darted under his cap, where it was shaded from the sun. Behind him was a crumpled trail of bent grass leading back into the distance and eventually to the forest.
"I'm tired," he complained to Navi again. The fairy sighed, having lost track of how many times her partner had stated this.
"We're probably almost there," she replied. "Just over that next hill."
"That's what you said when I started this hill," Link muttered bitterly under his breath. He was about to add that he was thirsty and would they ever find a stream when a distant sound wafted into hearing. It was a sound he recognized from the forest, when strange creatures from Hyrule would wander into the Lost Woods and cry pitifully for help. The sound was a horse's whinny.
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