The Legend of Zelda: Dark Alliance

Chapter 1- Spirits of the Forest

A heavy mist crept its way through the trees of Kakariko forest as dawn slowly broke through the canopy of leaves overhead. A lone boy, a youth of no more than seventeen summers, meandered through the trees atop a sturdy, brown stallion. The youth was fairly tall, even sitting it was obvious he was every bit of six feet. He wore a simple tunic of green-dyed wool with leggings and a shirt woven of undyed wool. Leather gauntlets were bound to his forearms. A belt of thick, brown leather was tied around his waist and a bandoleer of that same leather crossed his chest. A sword was slung low upon his left hip, and a small pouch upon his right. On his back hung a small bow, a quiver with only a few remaining arrows, and a round shield of hammered steel.

The boy looked formidable indeed. He was well muscled, but by no means bulky. A leather thong bound his long, blond hair but a few strands still hung in front of his face. Eyes, ice blue in their color, surveyed everything with keen interest. His body was relaxed but looked as if it could snap to action with little warning.

"Well," the youth began, noticing the encroaching mist. "It looks like we should stop for a bit. That fog doesn't look as if it's gonna make our trip too easy."

His horse snorted its assent and stopped, seemingly to understand its masters words entirely. The boy patted the horse's neck and slipped from its back and onto the dried leaves of the forest. He loosed the knot securing his bandoleer and slipped it off, setting the equipment on the ground. He stared, frowning, at the state of his equipment.

"Almost out of arrows and the bowstring's damned near done," he muttered. "Looks like I've got some shopping to do."

The boy reached into the pouch on his hip and pulled out a small, rawhide bag. He shook it a moment and his frown deepened when he heard the sound it made, as if a small pebble were inside of it.

"More good luck. Not only do I need supplies, but I need the cash to buy 'em."

The boy's horse gave a whinny that sounded almost like human laughter.

"What are you laughin' at, Bel?"

The horse shook its large head, then turned away to find some grass. Soon, the stallion was gone into the mists, leaving the boy alone to dwell on his sorry predicament. A gentle wind whispered through the trees, rustling the leaves and seemingly calling for someone.

"Link," the leaves whispered, startling the young man. "Link."

The boy, Link, looked around with his keen eyes for the source of the noise but soon realized that it was only the wind. His muscles fell lax as he realized his foolishness, but soon tensed again when he saw something that appeared to be moving toward him in the mist. He stood and silently drew his curved sword, holding it at the ready. The shape in the mist was far too large to be Bel, and Link was taking no chances that it was a friendly figure.

"Link." His name again, spoken in a voice that was as deep and rich as the earth.

Out of the mist stepped a tree, twenty feet tall at least. Its roots lifted and fell in muffled silence, making the plant seem to across the ground. Link, being a bit brash, charged the tree and swung with all of his strength at the behemoth, but the blow never struck. As he was charging a slender branch had reached down and plucked up the boy and a second branch shot out to restrain his sword arm.

"Is that any way to treat a spirit of the forest, boy? You kids today have no respect." The tree spoke from a hollow in its trunk that moved as if it were a mouth. Link was stunned to silence at this, not to mention his swift entrapment by this forest spirit. "Well, have you nothing to say?"

It took Link a few moments, but the words began to form upon his tongue: "Who... what are you?"

The tree laughed. A great bellowing sound it was - shaking the ground beneath its roots. "Good questions boy. Who and what indeed. I'll answer you both. But first I think you need a seat."

With that the leaves and debris that covered the ground swirled to form a chair and Link was placed upon it by the tree. The tree's mouth widened and out popped a figure that appeared to be made up of bundles of twigs. It was no more than four feet tall and, atop its twig neck, was a large leaf crinkled where the eyes, nose and mouth would be on a normal face. The crinkles moved as if they were part of a face: eyes surveying Link and mouth moving as if breathing.

"I'm a forest spirit," the stick man said in a voice much larger than his size would allow. "A Korok... or Kokori is you prefer." The little stick man suddenly melted into the form of a small boy dressed all in green with a shock of red hair that could be seen peeking under his cap.

"But you can call me Mido."