Disclaimer: I own nothing! I only wrote this out of a desire for some good old fashioned toying with characters' heads. I've had the basic idea behind this fic in my head for several years now, but it's just now sifted to the part of my mind that's connected to my fingers. This is more based on the old Zelda cartoon than the Zelda games, but since the cartoon is based on the game then this story can claim to have roots in the game! Also, this is based on the original NES version of Zelda. Fear my old-schoolness!

The Price of Power

Chapter 1: The Beginning

The forest of the kingdom of Hyrule sprawled hugely across the land. It was a forest as all forests are - a land where nature rules and only the fit survive. The beasts and plants of the land had learned long ago that the best way of ensuring peace was by following the unwritten law of the land. The weak fell prey to the strong. The strong eventually grew weak and fell prey to those stronger. Everyday life in the forest was always about survival. No creature was above these laws - not even man.And so no animal gave a second glance as a boy barely old enough to be considered a man lunged through their territory. Other than the soft pad-pad of bare feet on the forest loam, the only sound from the boy was the deep ragged gasping of one near exhaustion.

The boy was as of an average height, but so lean and willowy that he appeared tall unless one was right next to him. Body paint - once spread lovingly across the boy's body in delicate swirling patterns - was smeared and streaked from sweat. If the boy had allowed his hair to grow out, he would've had a thick mane which just begged to have fingers run through it. As it was, though, his head was shaved except for a ponytail at the base of his skull. He bore no ornamentation except in the form of a golden earring in the shape of a boar - the boy's totem animal. The boy was of the Kunai - a wandering tribe whose presence was thought to be ill fortune among many people. And so the boy was being hunted like one of the beasts in the forest he called home.

The boy ran as if his life depended on his speed, for so it did. Ever-closer behind him, he could hear the incessant baying of hounds. "Kunai coward!" a rough voice behind him taunted. "Face your death like a man! Or are the stories true? Are your kind more beast than man? Do not run, oh lover of beasts!" Course laughter followed the remarks. The boy wanted so desperately to stop and face his hunters, but to do so would only mean his death. He was learning the arts of the shaman, not the warrior.

It hadn't been his fault! He'd just been a witness to the accident, not the cause. The boy had only been passing by when the horse threw its rider. But because he was Kunai and he was present, he was blamed. And so the chase had begun. The hunters had an easy task in getting others to join. All they had to do was mention that their prey was Kunai.

But if it was at all possible, the boy would cheat these hunters of their prey! A relieved grunt escaped the boy's lips as a stream came into sight. Finally he could lose the dogs! Wading into the ice cold water, the boy began forging his way upstream, letting his scent drift downstream for the dogs to follow. "Thank you, Raab," the boy prayed to his totem between teeth clenched against the cold. "Thank you for guiding my feet to this stream." He could not stop, though. Not yet. Not with the hunters so close. Not with certain death on his heels. And so the boy forged on.

Only when the sounds of dog and man were left far behind did the boy slow his frantic pace. Numbed from the waist down and too exhausted to take another step, the boy flung himself to the shore and crashed into the soft ground. Sleeping now, the boy knew, would lead only to his death. But he no longer had the strength or energy to go on further, and so he began to drift off. 'At least,' the boy thought to himself. 'At least this will be a painless death...'

The boy's musings were interrupted by a frail, wheezing voice. "Up! Up, Ganon of the Kunai! Your time has not yet come." So startled at hearing his name, the boy managed to jerk his head up and look around. Just ahead, a cave rose up like a hungry mouth out of the ground - the inside lit by a crackling fire. Drawing on reserves of strength that he hadn't known he possessed, the boy began pulling himself inch by inch over the rough ground. Now that there was a goal in sight, he could make it. The fire wasn't that far. Just a little more... Almost there...

The last sight Ganon of the Kunai beheld before he collapsed into a dreamless sleep was the face of an old man with a strip of cloth wrapped around his eyes.

~*~*~*~*~

When Ganon next knew the world, warm noon sun warmed his back as he lay sprawled in the entrance of the cave the cave. How long he had been asleep, he couldn't guess. But at least the bone-numbing weariness was gone. Sitting up slowly, Ganon began to inch to his feet. The old man was still there, blind to the world, but cocking his head towards Ganon. "Welcome, Ganon, savior of the Kunai. Welcome, Ganon, destroyer of the Kunai."

Ganon considered sitting silently and hoping the sightless one would think he'd left, but no such lick. "Come, come," the old man murmured. "Come and share old Melnas's lunch. There is plenty, and surely you are hungry after your run." Not able to refute that logic, and even less able to turn his back on the smell of warm stew drifting through the cave, Ganon crept closer to the fire pit. "Eat as much as you like," the old man - Melnas - encouraged. "There is bread in the satchel."

Deftly, Ganon filled the only two bowls present with the stew - setting one bowl in the waiting hands of Melnas and keeping the other for himself. "How do you know me?" the boy asked before sipping at the stew.

Melnas smiled an enigmatic smile. "The very rocks echo with your name, boy. You will do great things... Great and terrible things!" He waved a bone-thin hand around. "All that you see may one day be yours. Or it might not be."

'Great,' Ganon decided. 'The old man has lost his mind.'

Melnas paused to take a great slurp of stew. Wiping his mouth, he turned again to face the boy. Then he pulled the strip of cloth and stared at the boy intently with milky blind eyes. "I know you boy because I have Seen you. My sight I gave up long ago for Sight. I have Seen you lead the Kunai, not your older brother. I have seen you change the Kunai and make them strong and fierce... And dangerous. But I have not Seen all that the future holds for you. For your path is too clouded with possibilities to completely know. The future is not written in stone. Rather, it is like a crack in a stone. It branches out in many directions, and each direction holds a different termination. But some things absolutely must happen or that stone of time will crumble completely."

"And you're here to make sure those things happen," Ganon finished for the old man, and was rewarded with a confirming nod.

Feeling for his sleeping fur, Melnas pulled back the edge and held up a small pyramid of brilliant ruby. Ganon's breath caught in his throat. He'd heard legends, but surely this couldn't be... Why would this old man have - "The Triforce of Power," Melnas purred, cradling the object like a child. "The source of the strongest magic in all of Hyrule. It makes your Kunai spells seem as mere parlor tricks. When this Triforce is Linked with the sister Triforce - the Triforce of Wisdom - the bearer of both will be ruler of all Hyrule. So it is woven in Time's tapestry, and so it shall be. I lay the Triforce of Power in your charge, Ganon of the Kunai. Your destiny is to wield the Triforce until the Link unites it with the sister Triforce."

Ganon stared in dumbfounded shock as Melnas held the Triforce out to him. "You can't mean... No! Impossible! I cannot - will not - accept this!" But even as he spoke, Ganon knew he lied. He wanted that jewel more than he'd ever wanted anything in his life. Caressing that cool red surface - knowing every inch of the Triforce - became more important even than living. And the depths of Ganon's desire frightened him.

Torn between his desire and fear, Ganon reached out and brushed his trembling fingers over the Triforce. Immediately, a light flared to life in the center of the jewel. Melnas merely continued to smile that enigmatic smile as he waited with infinite patience. "It knows, boy. It knows the touch of its possessor." Steeling his nerves, Ganon seized the Triforce from the old man. And the Triforce of Power responded by filling with a soft, warm glow. Awestruck, Ganon cuddled the Triforce against his chest. The jewel felt more like a living thing than a chunk of cold rock as its power and warmth thrummed into Ganon.

"There is more, boy," Melnas continued. "When you return to your people, you must have a sword made. This sword is not for you, but for the Link. It must be a good sword. And it must be strong. Infuse it with the power of light so that it might vanquish monsters of the dark. It will be called the Crissword, and it must be hidden away once it is completed so that the Link may find it and wield it in the service of the Triforce. Once it is hidden, use the Triforce to wipe the knowledge of the sword's hiding place from your mind. Do you understand?"

Ganon nodded quietly. A sword of light... He would see it made so that destiny could be played out. After all, surely a hero wielding a Kunai sword was meant to deliver the Triforce of Wisdom into Kunai hands. And a Kunai king ruling all of Hyrule could mean the end of the persecution of the Kunai. Yes, Ganon would see to it this sword was made even if he had to cast the metal with his own hands.

Ganon was jerked out of his reverie by a hand on his shoulder. "And lastly, boy, I have a warning." Ganon shivered at the intensity in Melnas's voice. "The Kunai still have many hard years ahead of them. The current king is full of a dark hatred for your tribesmen, and he will seek to purge the land of all Kunai. I know that those of your tribe are people of the forest, but the forests will not protect you. Remember this place, Ganon, for it holds the salvation of your people."

Swallowing hard, Ganon began studying the cavern closely, determined to commit every stone and speck of dust to memory. He squinted into the dark gloom of the cavern, but could discern no end to its dark depths. But he would not forget this cave - not if it would keep his people alive. "Thank you, Mel-," Ganon began, only to realize that he was talking to an empty cavern. The seer was gone. And so with a new treasure and new hopes and dreads, Ganon started for home.