Chapter VII: The Hero Within

Link continued to tear silently on the drawbridge, his sword and shield dropped. He looked down at the ground as the sun rose high in the noon sky. He felt something, but he didn't care.

"Link, why are you just standing there?" Fayore asked, appearing in front of Link. Link wiped his eyes with his glove.

"Aren't you going to do something?" Fayore pressed.

"Huh?" Link sobbed. Angry, Fayore picked up Link's shield and struck him in the forehead with it. Bang!

"OW!" was the first word to escape Link's lips as he clapped his hand to his forehead. "What'd you do that for?"

"SO THAT YOU WOULD COME TO YOUR SENSES!" Fayore shouted back, then folded her arms and shouted. Link cringed slightly, it's not fun to be yelled at by a Goddess, and he wiped all his tears away.

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Link asked, shifting his weight to his right foot and folding his arms as well, his eyes red slightly. Fayore smacked herself in the head.

"Go!" she said. "Find Zelda! Attack the wizard! Fight! Win! Kiss Zelda!" Link picked up his sword and shield and put them on his back. Fayore stood looking at Link the same way a mother does when her ignorant child understands. Unfortunately for Fayore the Goddess of Courage, Link was not the brightest light.

"But a simple sword and shield isn't enough!" Link protested. Fayore grabbed Link's hands and repeatedly smashed them into his stomach.

"Accept…your…destiny…be the Hero of Time!" Fayore insisted. Link finally comprehended what it was Fayore was saying. She wanted him to go get the Master Sword. He was supposed to return as the Hero of Time. He couldn't be just Link no matter what. Destiny wasn't going to let him go, it seemed.

"Fine, I'll go," Link agreed. Fayore sighed happily, and then vanished. Link stood awhile longer on the drawbridge, and then went to his room. Link threw the door open, and grabbed all his stuff that he could use. Such weapons were bombs, bomb-chus, the magic arrows, his hookshot, deku nuts, magic crystals of the Goddesses, the mirror shield, the Biggoron sword, his tunics, the iron boots, and the hover boots. He added them to his inventory, along with the Fierce Deity Mask. It was the only mask that fit him anymore. All of it was added with his bow, hammer, and ocarina. Link was geared to the teeth.

He had but one more weapon to get. Link took his long sword and its sheath and placed it on the bed, then left Hyrule Castle. Everyone watched Link go, as if in a trance, through the halls of the castle. They watched through windows as he walked down to the Temple of Time. Link stopped, looked at the Temple, took a deep breath, and walked in. The Triforce of Courage glowed with bravery. The soldiers throughout the castle cheered.

Link stood on the symbol of the Temple. He had teleported here many times through Ocarina, and the Prelude of Light still sung in his head. Link took a deep breath again, and walked sacredly up to the altar. There lay the three spiritual stones. The Door of Time was sealed, yet here on the altar was something Link hadn't seen for seven years: the Ocarina of Time. Link picked it up in his left hand, and put the instrument to his mouth. And, from memory he started to play the Song of Time. The music flowed flawlessly from the ocarina, and Link set the Ocarina of Time in his pack, and placed the Fairy Ocarina on the altar in place of it.

The Triforce above the Door of Time turned to its golden color. The door shifted, and it pulled to the left, revealing the passageway. Link stepped around the altar and walked to the passageway. Preserved in its pedestrial stood the Master Sword. Link walked up the stairs and set his hands on the handle. He lifted. The Master Sword did not move. Link tried again, and the Sword still did not budge. Link put all his strength into it, and over and over he tried to thrust the sword from its resting place. It did not obey.

Link let go of the sword. He slumped his shoulders and dropped his head, disappointment coursing throughout his being. Why won't it lift? Link thought. Why does the Master Sword not know me? Have I done something wrong? Then Link remembered something Fayore had said, "Be the Hero of Time!"

"I've defied my destiny, myself," Link muttered, raising his head, "I have left the Hero of Time to die and been just another person. I always wanted a normal life. But the Deku Tree knew I had to be different. That's why he called me and not Mido. That's why Zelda warmed to me so well. That's why I was able to achieve the Spiritual Stones. That's why I was chosen by the sword to be the Hero of Time, because I believed in myself.

"What an idiot I've been. I always wanted a normal life, but I always wanted to be a hero too. Being a hero is my normal life. I've been unknowingly denying what I've always wanted. That's why the Goddesses have appeared to me so many times. That's why I couldn't Zelda. But now I can…because I believe I am the Hero of Time!"

Link rushed forward, grabbed the hilt, and pulled. The sword came free. Link was once again the Hero of Time, and Chosen Hero of the Goddesses. Link let go of the sword with his right hand, leaving it in his right. Link studied the old friend carefully. Yet nothing was wrong with his blade, the Master Sword, just like nothing would be for eternity. Link swung the blade experimentally a few times, stepping and swinging. Then he took out the mirror shield in his right hand, and he was ready. So was trouble.

A soldier ran through the Temple entrance. "Hero," he cried, "The monsters have returned to finish what they started!" Link nodded at the soldier, and they ran out to the drawbridge.

Now threescore skeletons and spiders had come. Against the score of guards, this is not a very good thing. The soldiers fought with might, joined with the fast young messenger soldier, against the onslaught. Then Link came up from behind, the Master Sword and Mirror Shield ready. He swung the Master sword horizontally, and cut off the head of a skeleton. Half the monsters turned to face the Hero of Time. Link raised his shield and deflected a blow from a skeleton, then an attacking spider limb. Link moved his shield out of the way, and swung vertically, slicing a spider in two. He brought the sword back up, and it bounced off the shield of a skeleton captain. Link jumped up on the skeleton's shoulders, raised his word with both hands, and swung it down at the skeleton captain's head as fast as he could. The skeleton shield came up and stopped the strike, and Link back flipped onto the ground. He took a knee and left his word out behind him. It charged and glowed blue. The skeleton captain looked to see what he was doing, and lowered its shield.

Link's sword charged red. He unleashed. Link got to his feet and started to spin in brilliant circles with his sword flying around him, an orange tail following it. It cut the skeleton captain in half. A spider jumped at Link, only to cut across the stomach in two. Five more monsters fell victim to Link's spin before he stopped. Link regained his balance, shook all traces of dizziness, and returned to battle. He stabbed his sword up into the air and caught a spider in the middle. Link swung his sword to sling the spider off. Then he made a blow with his shield and knocked a skeleton's shield into its own face. Link did it two more times to stun it, then turned around to see an incoming sword. Link rolled underneath, and got to his feet, followed by a spin with which Link banged the skeleton in the face with his hilt, drawing his word back. Link shot the sword forward and finished off the first skeleton, then turned and kicked the second in the chest, followed by a diagonal swipe.

Link put his sword and shield away and took out the ever infamous bow. He hooked a Light arrow to it and shot. It pierce three skeletons and two spiders, killing them. The aura produced shot out and burned the monsters. When the aura faded, Link was on top of the castle, looking down towards the drawbridge. Link yelled at the top of his voice, and all the soldiers withdrew. Link looked to his right a boiling pot of who-knows-what. He kicked it over, and watched it fall down to disintegrate all the monsters except ten. Link took his sword out and jumped off the wall. He came racing down, and pointed his sword downward. It landed going through a spider, and Link rolled as he reached the ground, flinging the dead spider at a skeleton. Link kicked up out of the roll, and his feet made contact with the skeleton's face, which afterward made contact with the Master Sword.

Then Link heard a noise behind him. He dropped to his stomach, and looked up to see a volley of arrows lunge forward to finish off his enemies. Link stood up and sheathed the Master Sword and put away the Mirror Shield. The soldiers ran up to Link and cheered, patting him on the back, glorying him, and shouting battle cries. After the general celebration died down, Link got ready to leave.

"See to it that the gate guard is doubled," Link commanded a captain. The captain saluted, and ran off to find an extra score of men. Link watched him run inside the castle, then left on his own journey. Two feet out of Hyrule Castle Town he stopped. Link didn't know where the heck to go. Suddenly the wind blew, and Link looked in the direction it blew towards. The wind blew towards Death Mountain. Link shifted his gear, and jogged off, ready to rescue Zelda.