Four years ago...
King Harkinian of Hyrule awoke with a start. He forced himself out of bed and headed toward his balcony. As he made his way past his carefully and beautifully carved bookshelf, he stopped and sat in a velvet chair next to it and pulled an old photo album off of the shelf.
He flipped through it for a while, trying to make himself sleepy again. When he woke up in the middle of the night like this, he went through these photo scrapbooks and it always made him tired again. But tonight was different; he had a bad feeling about...something. He couldn't understand exactly what.
Feeling no sense in taking any more time reading the captions of the pictures, he got up and, carefully placing the book back on its shelf, continued his destination to his balcony.
Finally, he made his way to the top of the balcony and sat down. It was rather cold that night; it was the middle of September and the temperatures were falling rapidly and beginning to stay that way. A soft, cold breeze made him shiver and shook his now graying wavy hair back and forth, along with his beard that he had so long neglected to care for. His wife, Ellen, always bothered him about it, but why bother cutting it? It would only get longer again; besides, he liked the image it gave him; he thought it made him look more like a powerful man rather than an aging king.
Finally he felt as though the cold had made his bones so painfully freezing that he knew it was time to go back in. Before, though, he looked at the moon's position and interpreted the time: two o' clock, maybe two thirty.
As he headed back to his room, he heard the soft sound of footsteps and turned around to see his seven-year-old daughter, Zelda, running toward him.
"Daddy! Daddy, something bad happened to Mommy, come quick, come quick!"
"Don't worry honey, I'm sure it was only a dream," Harkinian said, smiling.
"But Da-a-ad!" Zelda protested.
"I'll tuck you in," Harkinian said firmly.
And so Harkinian took Zelda, whining the whole way, back to her bedroom. Then he went down the hallway to his room.
Zelda didn't understand why her father wouldn't listen to her. Something bad happened to her mother! And now something would happen to her father...and then, what if they came for her?
She didn't want to stay and wonder what would happen if they did. So she decided to get out, right then and there. She went up to her window and threw it open. Shivering in the breeze she met upon opening the window, she gathered up her bed sheets. She tied the ends together in a simple, weak, and inaccurate not, but that would have to do. Her room was far from the ground, so she tied all the sheets she could gather together and threw them out the window. She crawled through the window and grabbed onto the first length of sheet. Then she realized she couldn't do it. It wasn't that she was weak, but she soon learned of her fear of heights. Then, too late, she learned of her poor performance in the tying of knots. As she forced herself to crawl down to the next sheet, her weight pulled on the first sheet and undid the knot.
She knew she should've planned this beforehand as she looked down and realized she planned her escape over the moat. But it was too late, and her and the remaining sheets fell the remainder of the drop into the icy cold water. Zelda tried to swim, but soon after she fell in she had gone totally numb. And so she allowed the stream to carry her through the moat, into the river that the moat opened into, and as it carried her further and further she became more and more numb...finally, after an eternity, after Zelda was far past her limitation of pain...she stopped moving. She lifted her head up as much as she could but all she could see was grass and all she could smell was dirt...she realized she still had the sheet in her hand, but that didn't matter anymore...finally the numbness and bitter cold began to leave her, she forgot her terror, she forgot everything, and she felt a strange sense of peace...
Harkinian crawled into bed. As he did so he thought he saw Ellen make a strange movement, as though she were still awake.
"Ellen, are you awake?" Harkinian asked.
"She will sleep forever," a stranger's voice said from behind him.
Harkinian turned around and found a group of three people, masked and dressed in dark clothing, looking back at him. He stood up and prepared to fight, but as he did so the man in front came forward.
"Hello...your Highness..." he said mockingly.
"Who are you?" Harkinian asked.
"I? Who I am is none of your business, and you will soon not worry or wonder who I am," the man said. Without warning he made a thrusting movement and Harkinian felt a dagger plunge into his lower belly. He knew then that tonight was his last night, that he had seen his beloved daughter for the last time, and that...that his wife was dead...
"Don't wake up..." the man said coldly. Then he laughed and Harkinian knew no more
King Harkinian of Hyrule awoke with a start. He forced himself out of bed and headed toward his balcony. As he made his way past his carefully and beautifully carved bookshelf, he stopped and sat in a velvet chair next to it and pulled an old photo album off of the shelf.
He flipped through it for a while, trying to make himself sleepy again. When he woke up in the middle of the night like this, he went through these photo scrapbooks and it always made him tired again. But tonight was different; he had a bad feeling about...something. He couldn't understand exactly what.
Feeling no sense in taking any more time reading the captions of the pictures, he got up and, carefully placing the book back on its shelf, continued his destination to his balcony.
Finally, he made his way to the top of the balcony and sat down. It was rather cold that night; it was the middle of September and the temperatures were falling rapidly and beginning to stay that way. A soft, cold breeze made him shiver and shook his now graying wavy hair back and forth, along with his beard that he had so long neglected to care for. His wife, Ellen, always bothered him about it, but why bother cutting it? It would only get longer again; besides, he liked the image it gave him; he thought it made him look more like a powerful man rather than an aging king.
Finally he felt as though the cold had made his bones so painfully freezing that he knew it was time to go back in. Before, though, he looked at the moon's position and interpreted the time: two o' clock, maybe two thirty.
As he headed back to his room, he heard the soft sound of footsteps and turned around to see his seven-year-old daughter, Zelda, running toward him.
"Daddy! Daddy, something bad happened to Mommy, come quick, come quick!"
"Don't worry honey, I'm sure it was only a dream," Harkinian said, smiling.
"But Da-a-ad!" Zelda protested.
"I'll tuck you in," Harkinian said firmly.
And so Harkinian took Zelda, whining the whole way, back to her bedroom. Then he went down the hallway to his room.
Zelda didn't understand why her father wouldn't listen to her. Something bad happened to her mother! And now something would happen to her father...and then, what if they came for her?
She didn't want to stay and wonder what would happen if they did. So she decided to get out, right then and there. She went up to her window and threw it open. Shivering in the breeze she met upon opening the window, she gathered up her bed sheets. She tied the ends together in a simple, weak, and inaccurate not, but that would have to do. Her room was far from the ground, so she tied all the sheets she could gather together and threw them out the window. She crawled through the window and grabbed onto the first length of sheet. Then she realized she couldn't do it. It wasn't that she was weak, but she soon learned of her fear of heights. Then, too late, she learned of her poor performance in the tying of knots. As she forced herself to crawl down to the next sheet, her weight pulled on the first sheet and undid the knot.
She knew she should've planned this beforehand as she looked down and realized she planned her escape over the moat. But it was too late, and her and the remaining sheets fell the remainder of the drop into the icy cold water. Zelda tried to swim, but soon after she fell in she had gone totally numb. And so she allowed the stream to carry her through the moat, into the river that the moat opened into, and as it carried her further and further she became more and more numb...finally, after an eternity, after Zelda was far past her limitation of pain...she stopped moving. She lifted her head up as much as she could but all she could see was grass and all she could smell was dirt...she realized she still had the sheet in her hand, but that didn't matter anymore...finally the numbness and bitter cold began to leave her, she forgot her terror, she forgot everything, and she felt a strange sense of peace...
Harkinian crawled into bed. As he did so he thought he saw Ellen make a strange movement, as though she were still awake.
"Ellen, are you awake?" Harkinian asked.
"She will sleep forever," a stranger's voice said from behind him.
Harkinian turned around and found a group of three people, masked and dressed in dark clothing, looking back at him. He stood up and prepared to fight, but as he did so the man in front came forward.
"Hello...your Highness..." he said mockingly.
"Who are you?" Harkinian asked.
"I? Who I am is none of your business, and you will soon not worry or wonder who I am," the man said. Without warning he made a thrusting movement and Harkinian felt a dagger plunge into his lower belly. He knew then that tonight was his last night, that he had seen his beloved daughter for the last time, and that...that his wife was dead...
"Don't wake up..." the man said coldly. Then he laughed and Harkinian knew no more