Chapter 2
"Dreams are nothing more than dreams. There is no coincidence, so don't let yourself become fooled by your own imagination." Zelda's father, the King of Hyrule himself, was merciless even with his own daughter. "Foolish father.." She ran back to her chambers and didn't look back. She didn't want to see him ever again, he would have rather finally met with his guest arriving shortly, Ganondorf Dragmire from the deserts to the west of the continent. He is the only male Gerudo to have been born in the past 100 years, but he was still nothing to be respected in Zelda's eyes. She was the princess of this land, and she wanted to at least have some privileges in the castle beyond having servants that bring her food and a bodyguard. "Princess..I have a feeling today will be more exciting for you than the usual 'wait for your father to not be preoccupied and listen' type of day." Zelda turned from her window into the throne room to see her attendant, Impa watching over her.
"What do you mean?..Are we going to visit mother today or go to the Market?" Impa shook her head. "I have forseen it..my Sheikan sight doesn't give false visions. A boy clothed in green holding a sacred green stone from the forests, coming here to meet destiny." Zelda tilted her head and sighed. "I hope not another fan that got by the guards. We pay those guys too much for just walking back and forth the courtyard. I still want to visit mother, though.." Impa walked back toward the exit into the courtyard, keeping an eye towards Zelda. "We can visit her grave in the meadow later..I know how much you miss her after she passed away 3 years ago, but you'll have to become accustomed to your father someday.." Zelda sighed tiredly. "I'd rather not."
Link had finally reached the training center up on the hills of the village. He's spent several hours there so far, but not with a real weapon that awaited him. "I gotta hurry!" He ran into the center and saw several swinging logs in his path, a test of endurance and agility. Confidently, he hopped off of the ground quickly above each of the logs that could knock him over, and dodge the rest to make it to the end unscathed. The next test required intelligence, as friendly Deku Scrubs beared questions that required correct answers for the hero to pass. The first Scrub arose from his home in the leaves. "O-ho, you must be the one the Deku Tree likes! Then to pass, answer me this, what weapon do you use to combat against ice?"
"Don't strain yourself thinking up too difficult of questions, it's fire." The Deku Scrub fell back into his home and the branches shifted out of the way so Link could continue onward. Finally after making it through 4 more questions from the Deku Scrubs, Link could make it to the final test, a test of might and agility. Five rolling boulders along thin corridors constantly rolled along, ready to crush any wannabe hero that wanted to prove themselves. "I've already done this a million times, this puzzle is too easy!" Link sprinted out toward the other side of the corridor as the boulder rolled past, and chased after it as fast as he could to not get crushed by the one following them. Glancing to the right as he continued running, he found the path toward the goal post. Rolling aside and out of the way, Link caught his breath.
"I seriously think he'd rather see deaths in this test than see failures come out.." Link stepped toward the goal post and looked about, trying to find what new path was apparently opened by the Great Deku Tree. "What's this..?" Looking closer, Link had seen a path he hadn't crossed before when he was here. The branches weren't closed, and they led him deeper into the training center than he's been in before. At the end of the new path was a large shrine with a sword in a scabbard mounted on it. "Is this the sacred treasure of the Kokiri people..if it is, I out of all of them am being entrusted with it?" Link stepped onto the shrine and took the sword off of the shrine and attached the scabbard to his carrier belt behind his shield. The sword made him feel extra-powerful inside, like he could take on anything that stood in his way. "I can't wait around, gotta keep moving.." Saving his triumphant thoughts for later, Link ran back to the meadow.
"Great Deku Tree, I'm here!" Link sprinted down the path and Saria half-smiled at seeing him arrive. "I apologize Link for the test..but it is required so no-one unworthy takes the sword.." The great tree spoke with some pain in his voice, which worried Link and Saria greatly. The Great Deku Tree was their guardian, so if he fell, then the forest fell with him, and so will its inhabitants. Link stepped forward, pushing his courage forward and his doubts back. "I..I think I'm ready. I'll do all I can to help." Not saying any more, the bark in front of the Great Deku Tree seemed to fade, and a pathway inside opened. Link hesitatingly walked inside as Saria simply told him "good luck" as he vanished within the darkness.
Only the light from outside could bring light inside of the great tree. "I can't see anything, it's too dark!" Link shouted, hoping he can still get a response. In seconds, several torches lit themselves throughout the inside, showing that it was like a grand castle inside of the tree. Immediately though, he noticed what probably caused the illness. Right in front of him, Link could see that something burrowed deeper into the Deku Tree, digging deep into its roots. The only thing blocking his path was a thick spider-web that is covering the entrance into the hole, so he can't check down there. "There must be a way to get rid of this web..my sword's not sharp enough to cut it..guess I have to climb up."
Using vines attached to the walls, he made his way up the inside of the tree. It seemed peaceful so far inside, but farther up he could see spiders attached to the walls, waiting for victims to push off the wall and chew at their corpse. He didn't want to die this early in life, so he climbed up to the 2nd floor platform and noticed a door in one of the walls. "Why's the inside of the Great Deku Tree like this..?" Link walked past the door and stepped inside a room, where a puzzle awaited him. A thin beam stretched across the room with a large pit on both sides of it, with seemingly no bottom. Though, what made the trek across the beam seem tempting was the large treasure chest on the other side of the room.
"Might as well.." Stepping carefully, he made his way to the other side without falling to his doom. Placing his hands on the chest, he opened it excitedly to see what awaited him. He was expecting to find a chest full of rupees, maybe a plethora of weapons. But what he found was a simple Slingshot. "..Wow, this was all worth it. This slingshot doesn't even come with ammo." Checking around the area, he found several bushes growing out of the walls in the room around the treasure chest. Cutting them down, Link had found several Deku Seeds that grow from the bushes. Stuffing his back pouch full of them, Link headed back into the main cavern and got an idea.
"I doubt those spiders can stand getting knocked off the wall themselves!" He pulled out his new slingshot and readied a few seeds. Taking close aim, he fired seeds one after another at each of the spiders, knocking them off the wall and having them fall several feet to the ground, crushing their bodies. With a new sense of security, Link continued up to the 3rd floor of the Deku Tree, which was a corridor ring thick with spider webs. What caused them was 3 huge Skulltula spiders hanging from the top. Pushing back any fear of spiders, Link slowly started to walk around them.
"Going good..can't let them touch me.." As Link stepped across, a Skulltula suddenly crept above Link and came down, pushing him off the ledge. "No!" He began plummeting past the 2nd floor and kept going down, his mind going a thousand directions at once as he feared this fall would kill him. Though, when he finally touched the bottom, it felt more comforting than his bones crushing in against his organs. It felt more..silky, but afterward he began falling again with now a puzzled mind. It took seconds to realize that the spider web in the ground saved his life, plus he managed to break it with his fall.
He plummeted into a small river inside the tree, breathing heavy while thanking the goddesses he was still alive. Swimming to the platform, Link got back onto his feet and examined his surroundings. "More webs..out-of-reach platform..and another door. I'm already tired of being nearly killed.."
