Prologue
Disclaimer: I own a sketchbook and pile of dirty laundry, and that's about it. Sad, no?
So, without further ado…
In ancient times, some random people whose identities escape me forged a whole bunch of rings. I'm sure you all know how it goes…
"Three rings for the Elven kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf lords in their halls of stone…"
And so on. Of course, that poem tells about the One Ring, the (dun dun dun) Ring of Power! When the hobbit Bilbo Baggins found it, he was supposed to give it to his cousin, Frodo. But Bilbo was old, and old people forget things. (No offense to the millions of old folk out there.) So he put it off for a long time.
While Bilbo was putting it off, a new attraction had been built in Middle Earth, called the "Passage Out." Some passage it was. In reality, it was a deep, dark hole. No one knew where it went. No one wanted to jump down it and find out. And yet hundreds of tourists, Men, Elves, Hobbits, and even Orcs alike, flocked around it and foolishly dropped pennies and other small tokens down it. It was the Middle Earth equivalent of a deep, dark wishing well.
Naturally, old Bilbo wanted to go visit this fascinating place before his death. He begged Frodo and eventually hitched a ride down there. The pitch-dark deepness and mysterious-ness wowed him. In fact, they wowed him so much he leaned very far out over it, and…the Ring he had been clasping in his fist slipped from his grasp.
In slo mo, Bilbo watched in horror as the Ring did a 360 in the air and began to fall down the pit. He reached out and tried to snatch it, and…lost his balance. With a very old-man-like scream, Bilbo and the Ring vanished down the pit.
Meanwhile, Frodo and his lady (erm, man) in waiting, Sam, had been at the food stand getting some hot dogs. (And taters-boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew!) Frodo, upon hearing the ghastly scream, whipped around and scanned the area for Bilbo. He was nowhere to be seen.
"Must have gone to the bathroom," Frodo muttered to himself, pouring chili all over his hot dog.
"What was that noise, Mr. Frodo?" asked Sam, puzzled.
"Who knows?" Frodo shrugged, "Who cares?"
It took Bilbo quite a long time to fall down the pit. He stupidly kept his eyes trained downwards the whole time. Actually, that was because the Ring, reduced to a glittering gold object, was falling below him. There was no way he was going to lose it now, even though he was probably going to die.
After about 10 minutes of falling, Bilbo began to feel sick, and he also spotted the bottom of the pit. It was…blue. And it seemed to be moving slightly. A little too late, Bilbo realized it was water, and he slammed into it with a graceful (ahem) belly flop. If you recall, hobbits don't have a strong spot for swimming, and within seconds, Bilbo was down for the count.
The Ring drifted peacefully to the bottom of the stream.
"Hey! Sir! Mr. Curly-haired dude! Are you awake?"
Bilbo became dimly aware of several facts; he was lying in a bed, he was warm, and there was a young girl with red hair and a white dress on leaning over him.
"Wake up, dude! Why are you sleeping?" the girl asked.
"I'm not sleeping, I'm unconscious, you stupid girl," Bilbo muttered angrily. The redhead gasped.
"He lives!" she cried happily, "TALON!"
"Who the…" Bilbo murmured to himself as a large man with overalls and a mustache bounded into the room.
"What is it, Malon?" asked the man in a booming voice.
Talon and Malon, thought Bilbo, How cute.
"The guy's alive!" Malon said. She and Talon leaned closer over Bilbo.
"Are you okay, mister?" Talon asked, "I found you out cold in the stream over by Kakariko Village on my way to the castle."
Bilbo's immediate thought was WHAT? What was Kakariko Village? What castle? Who would name their kid Malon?
"Are you from there?" Malon asked, peering into his face, "You look kind of like Dampe, only shorter."
"I…no," Bilbo managed to choke out.
"Here, drink this," Talon ordered, pulling Bilbo up into a sitting position and handing him a glass of something white. It tasted…different, but good.
"Are you from the Market?" Malon asked, "Or do you work at the castle?"
"Malon, give the poor guy some air," Talon said, "So…where are you from? What's your name? Is that milk good? Why were you laying in the middle of the stream?"
Malon rolled her eyes.
"Daddy…" she whined exasperatedly. Talon meekly shut his mouth, still looking curiously at poor Bilbo. Our hobbit friend struggled to find something to say.
"I…where AM I?" he settled for. Talon and Malon exchanged looks.
"Lon Lon Ranch," Malon answered slowly.
"Don't tell me you've never heard of us," Talon put in, "We're the only ranch in Hyrule."
Another new word for Bilbo to add to his vocabulary; Hyrule. What WAS this place? Then suddenly, he remembered the Ring. Gasp! What had happened to it?
"Did you find anything…else with me?" Bilbo asked slyly.
"Uh, actually, yeah," Talon answered, "It was like this ring looking thing. I took it to the castle and one of the guards gave it to the king. Last I heard, he was sending it to the Great Deku Tree to get it inspected."
"Good luck to him," Malon muttered.
"What is the Great…Deku-whatever Tree?" asked Bilbo in horror. How could a tree inspect the Ring? What if it ate it or something?
"It's…ya know…like the…leader of the forest folk," Malon said, "The…Koriki, I think they're called."
Bilbo decided to quit asking questions. It was making his head hurt.
"I need to see this tree," he ordered. Talon and Malon exchanged another look.
"Uh, you can't just go see the Great Deku Tree," Talon explained, "He's kind of…in the middle of the forest. Not to mention you have to be summoned."
"Just stay here for a while," Malon said, "I'm going to go feed Epona."
She left the room, closing the door behind her. Bilbo turned worriedly to Talon.
"What will the tree do with the Ring?" he asked fearfully. Talon shrugged.
"Who knows?" he said, "But you better hope he doesn't give it to one of his Koriki kids."
Well, that is for now! Review and tell me what you think! How much potential does it have?
Keatonzeldagirl -
