Author's Note: I'll warn you ahead of time, no characters from any previous Zelda game are in this chapter, but Link will make his appearance in chapter two. After chapter three, the story will start to focus on Link as the main character. So if you will please read to at least chapter four, I think you'll enjoy this story. By the way, this fic is finished, so there is no need to worry about when the next chapter will be out.
Chapter One: The Tyfirian Rebellion
"Dig you worthless slaves!" the taskmaster shouted as he whipped one of the less productive men. As he was struck, the slave let out a pathetic groan and collapsed on the ground.
"Water," he whispered to the taskmaster, stretching out his hand. His remaining strength then gave out and his face fell into the sand.
"Worthless slaves like you don't deserve water. Now get back to work!" the taskmaster commanded, as he kicked the fallen old man in the ribs as hard as he could. The man did not move. "Take him away," the slave driver ordered to two nearby soldiers. The soldiers rushed over, threw the withered man's arms over their shoulders, and carried him off.
The sun was setting in the west, but its blistering rays were still beating down upon the bare backs of the slaves laboring in the Dibrrian Desert. They were all working tirelessly. The intense heat caused all the slaves to thirst for water. Water, which could only be provided by one twelve year-old slave boy, who carried a pail full of water to all the dehydrated slaves.
These particular slaves had a simple task, which was to dig. Dig, that was it, dig until they bleed and then dig some more. Actually, their job was a little more complicated than that. They were in fact excavating what was thought to be an ancient city, which had been buried underneath the sands of the desert.
It had all begun, when a wandering Hylian, accidentally discovered a spire with odd markings on it, sticking out of the sand in the middle of nowhere. He reported this strange find to the king of the land of Cyntir, who ordered the spire to be dug up immediately. As the excavation progressed, it became apparent that the wandering Hylian had found much more than a simple spire, rather he found the tip of an ancient temple. This discovery intrigued the king. He loved studying the ancients and their magic. He thought, that by mimicking their ways a nation would become more prolific.
After the temple was uncovered, the Cyntirian king ordered an excavation of the land around the temple, for he thought if there was a temple, there must have been a settlement near by it. Hundreds of slaves were brought to the site and were forced to dig; many of which died during the tremendous physical strain. The excavation had been going on for three months, but not so much as a piece of pottery had been found. Yet, the King of Cyntir ordered the slaves to continue digging.
The King could not believe a temple of such fine workmanship, would be built more than two hundred miles away from the nearest settlement. This caused the king to hold on to the belief that there was a settlement buried close by, despite the fact that most of his advisors thought that the temple was not a temple at all, but a safe, built far way from any settlement to protect some treasure. They believed that was the reason the temple doors would not open. Even when bombs were used to blast the doors, nothing happened. In either case, the king was determined to find the purpose of this mysterious building.
The soldiers carried the fallen slave to a pile of other presumed dead slaves and flung him on top. They then hurried off to resume their duties. As soon as they were gone the old man's eyes shot open. He scanned his surroundings to make sure no one was watching him, and then he hopped off the hill of dead men once he saw that he was clear. He walked over to where the other slaves were working, ducking behind boulders, mounds of sand, and a few tents on the way.
At last the man came to the slave pit where the young water boy was handing out the rejuvenating liquid. The boy was very tall for his age; he had short blonde hair and icy grey eyes. The old slave looked around again, to make sure no one could see him. Once he was confident he was out of sight he made a strange bird call. The water boy looked up dropping the pail on the ground, causing the water to dump out. The boy picked up the pail and started to run off.
"Where do you think you're going kid?" asked a soldier as he grabbed the water boy's arm.
"I need to refill the bucket," the boy replied, showing the soldier the empty pail. The soldier gave the boy an odd look and then released him. "Be quick about it," the soldier called out as the boy ran off.
The boy ran half way to the water well, then dashed behind a near by sand mound. He carefully worked his way back to where he had heard the bird call and found the old man hiding behind a boulder.
"What took you so long?" inquired the old man, but the boy did not have a chance to reply before the old man started talking again. "Follow me," the man instructed, "I have something to show you." The man and the boy made their way to the back of the temple in a stealthy manner. When they arrived at the temple's rear the old man asked the boy, "Ormek, what do you see here?"
"Just the back wall of the temple, Gramps," he answered.
The old man snickered and said, "Watch closely." The old slave began feeling the bricks of the wall and applying a bit of pressure to several of them, as if he was looking for something. Finally both his hands stopped on the same brick. He pushed on the brick and it moved back into the wall and a small passage opened at the base of the wall, just large enough for an adult to crawl through. "Follow me Ormek," the old man said as he dropped to his knees and began crawling through the passage. Ormek nodded and did the same.
The inside of the temple was full of cobwebs and everything was covered in dust. It was quite evident that no one had entered the temple in many years. The old man was busy clearing out a bunch of cobwebs when Ormek asked, "How did you find the way in here Gramps?"
"I was working back here yesterday," Ormek's grandfather replied, "when I leaned on the side of the temple to take a little rest. I accidentally pushed in the key brick and the passage opened. I didn't dare enter it then, cause I was scared the slave driver or one of the soldiers would see me go in. So I pushed the brick again and it popped out and closed the door."
Ormek's grandfather lit a torch using a tinderbox he kept with him at all times and began examining the inscriptions on the walls. "Wow," Ormek whispered still in amazement as the torch lit up the walls and revealed that the walls were covered with inscriptions. "Gramps," he said ecstatically, "everyone has been looking for a way into the temple for months."
"That's right my boy," his grandfather confirmed, "but remember, you must not tell anyone. Only you and I may know about this. If anyone else found out about it, they'd take credit for finding it themselves." Upon hearing this Ormek sighed. "Come now," his grandfather said, "let us explore.
The chamber was shaped like a giant cube. Each wall was covered in ancient writings and hieroglyphs, including the ceiling. The floor was made of granite and was for the most part unremarkable. There was however a small pedestal in the exact middle of the room. On top of the pedestal there was a small hole about as wide as the shaft of a spear.
The old man stroked his snowy white beard as he contemplated the inscriptions and hieroglyphs. "Well this is rather odd," said the old man.
"Do you understand what these markings mean?" asked Ormek eagerly.
"No," the old man replied, "I've never seen this type of writing. It must be in some ancient text. However, the hieroglyphs are quite clear. They all seem to be focused around three large triangles." The old man paused for a second and then said, "I wonder if this has to do with the legend of the Triforce passed down in Hyrule. No, that can't be right. This hieroglyph here shows some sort of bird carrying a fourth triangle. It's carrying it away from the other triangles. What is that supposed to mean."
The old man started walking around the room some more and stopped by another set of hieroglyphics and held his torch up to them. "This set shows a man placing an odd looking staff in a pedestal."
"I wonder if it's referring to the pedestal in the middle of the room." commented Ormek, but his grandfather was too interested in the pictographs to hear him.
Ormek sat on the floor waiting for more interpretations about the hieroglyphs, when suddenly his grandfather cried out, "Ah ha! Here are some writings in Hyrulian. It says, 'This is the Temple of Knowledge, wherein lies a gate to a secluded part of the Sacred Realm. Proceed with caution, for the essence of evil awaits the one who will claim the lost piece on the other side.' Hmm, this is rather odd indeed."
The old man picked up a piece of parchment lying on the ground and copied the markings below the Hyrulian inscription using a soft rock. When he was finished he folded up the parchment and handed it to Ormek. He turned back to the inscriptions and asked, "Ormek, do you realize what this means?"
"It means we shall be rewarded greatly by the king," chimed in an unfamiliar voice. Ormek and his grandfather turned around to see three Cyntirian soldiers by the entrance. "Thanks a lot slave," one of the soldiers said as he approached the old man and the boy.
"The reward is ours!" shouted Ormek.
"Don't worry little brat," the soldier said cruelly as he approached Ormek, "I have a reward for you, right here." With that the soldier pulled out his sword and with two quick cuts, he sliced off the tips of Ormek's ears. The cuts left one ear only about as long as a Gerudo's, the other only about half an inch longer. The soldier raised his sword to slay the boy, upon seeing this the old man went out of control and rushed the soldier. Already on his guard, the soldier ran his sword through the old slave's stomach. Ormek watched in terror as blood began to steam from his grandfather's mouth.
"Run boy!" the dying man uttered as he fell on top of the soldier who stabbed him.
Ormek took off toward the entrance at full speed. Just before the first guard grabbed him, Ormek dived in between his legs. His momentum carried him to the passage. Ormek started crawling through the hole just as the second guard grabbed his ankle.
"I got him!" called out the soldier as laid on the floor. Ormek thrashed about, trying to break free, but the soldier's grip was too strong. The soldier started pulling him back into the temple, but Ormek reached out and grabbed a fist full of sand. Once he had been pulled back in the temple, he flung the sand into the soldier's eyes. He howled in pain and instinctively let go of Ormek's leg and covered his eyes. Now free, the boy shot through the passage. Once he was out, he found the brick that had been pressed in and pulled it out again. The small passage closed, locking the three soldiers and the old man inside. They were all trapped in there, for they did not know how to open the passage from within the temple.
Still in shock, Ormek kept running, he ran past the well and past a group of soldiers. They ran after him, yelling at him to stop, but Ormek did not listen to them. He used the darkness of the night to hide himself from them, but their torches uncovered him. Still, he kept running. The fastest soldier had almost caught Ormek, when something grabbed the soldier's leg and pulled him under the sand. He let out a scream just as his head was pulled under. Ormek heard the soldier's cry, but he did not look back. The other soldiers stopped upon seeing this and started to run back to camp. "It's a veriok," one of them cried as he saw a long scaly tail wrap up another one of his companions. Ormek continued on into the cold desert night. Despite all the screams of terror coming from the soldiers, he never once looked back.
Ormek ran until he could no longer see the fires burning at the excavation site. He slowed to a jog then a walk. A gust of wind blew on Ormek. It chilled his bones and threw sand in his face. A piece of sand lodged itself in his eye, causing it to water. A tear rolled down Ormek's cheek and dropped into the sand. That single tear triggered a reaction in Ormek. Soon not one but many tears were steaming down his face. Ormek dropped to his knees and let out a little groan. He could not imagine how he could go on with out his grandfather. Ormek now no longer had any living family. He was completely alone in the world. Not only that, he had nowhere to go. He was a renegade slave and no one would be willing to help him. Plus he was in the middle of the desert, with no food and no water. Still with these thoughts dominating his mind, a laugh, small and soft escaped his mouth. Some how during all the commotion, Ormek had forgotten that he was no longer a slave. He was free. All his life he dreamt about being free. Now he was. No one knew he was a slave, so at least he had anonymity on his side. All he had to do is find his way out of the desert.
Ormek got up and started walking in the direction he had previously been moving. He walked through the desert all night in the icy cold. His fingers were almost like ice when the sun arose that morning. Soon the cold changed to heat as the sun beat down on the already exhausted straggler. He continued on for many hours in the sun. As the day grew hot, Ormek's throat became dry and he began to feel dizzy. Ormek was desperate to find a water source, for he knew he could only last a few more hours in the desert with absolutely no water. Luckily, Ormek came to an oasis after another two hours of traipsing through the desert.
Ormek made his way to the oasis's water hole and knelt down by it. He cupped his hands and plunged them into the water and splashed his face with some. He then scooped up some more water in his hands and quickly drank it all. Ormek decided he would relax at the oasis for a while. There where small animals there that he could kill and eat, using rocks scattered around the oasis, the water supply was plentiful, and there were many palm trees which provided shade.
Even with all the necessities of survival at this oasis, Ormek was still uneasy. He did not want to spend the rest of his life at the oasis. He couldn't risk trying to cross the desert though, he would most likely die, and he certainly couldn't go back to the temple. It seemed that his only chance was to stay put and hope some opportunity would present itself.
At this point Ormek was very tired from walking all night and morning, so he decided to take a nap underneath the shade of a palm tree. He sat down, with his back propped up against the trunk of the tree. He shut his eyes and tried to forget the events of the previous day. He had just about dosed off when he heard a quiet voice. He jumped right up and looked around to see if he could find where the voice was coming from. As he searched the oasis frantically, he spotted three fairies.
The first two fairies he saw emitted green and blue light, common colors for fairies to be, but the third was a quite rare. Its center was black, but it emitted a dim blue light. "Just leave us alone Shriek," the green fairy said.
"C'mon, why I can't play with you guys?" inquired the black fairy.
"Because you're weird." The blue fairy said scornfully. The two normal fairies began to laugh and fly away. With that the black fairy began to shake. It then let out a high pitched scream. The scream caused Ormek to feel a little pain in his left ear. The shriek had a different effect on the fairies. They howled in pain for a while, but soon dropped to the ground.
"Jerks," mumbled the black fairy as he began to fly away. Ormek was intrigued by what the black fairy had done, but more importantly he hoped the fairy could help him out.
"Excuse me!" Ormek called out. The fairy turned around startled. Upon seeing that it was a Hylian that had approached him, the black fairy let out another shrill cry. "You know that's really annoying," Ormek said rubbing his left ear. The black fairy stopped and looked at Ormek strangely.
"What's up with you?" asked the fairy, "Normally a cry like that puts a Hylian clean out."
"Why is that?" questioned Ormek.
"Well," the fairy replied "It's at a sound that causes most Hylians to pass out."
"It must be the high-pitch that does it," Ormek commented, "I can barely hear it out of my left ear and with my right I can't hear it at all."
"Oh I see," said the fairy looking at Ormek's ears. "Your ears are very short for a Hylian." With that comment, Ormek remembered the tips of his ears had been cut off. "That's why it doesn't affect you," he continued. "Your ears aren't long enough to pick up that high of a frequency. So, um, what's with your ears anyway?"
"Some greedy Cyntirian cut the tips of them off," Ormek answered angrily.
"Oh that's too bad," the fairy sympathized "Um, anyway, my name is Shriek, what's yours?" Ormek looked at Shriek, smiled and told him his name. "Nice to meet ya." Shriek replied.
"Soooo, I was wondering," Ormek said after he made the fairy's acquaintance, "do you know of any nearby settlements, preferably slave free ones?"
"There's a camp about five miles north of here." Ormek looked in the direction Shriek motioned towards, to make sure he was not talking about the excavation site.
"Can you guide me there? That is if it's not too much trouble." Ormek asked.
"Sure thing, follow me." Shriek replied.
The two hurried off towards the camp. At first Ormek ran, but slowed down after a short while. He had almost forgotten how tired he was. The camp came into view, just as the sun was beginning to set. The camp was immense to say the least. Hundreds of small one-man tents were scattered all through out the sands of the desert.
"Thank you Shriek," Ormek said, "I'm so glad you were willing to help me."
As they approached the camp they began to see how large it was. There were enough tents to provide shelter for one thousand people. "Whoa!" Ormek exclaimed as his jaw dropped, "this camp is huge…. Well thanks for the help Shriek. You can go home now."
"Oh, right," Shriek said as his wings drooped. He began to fly away, when Ormek called out.
"You can stick around if you want to."
"Really?" Shriek asked in an excited tone. He flew back to Ormek and sat on his shoulder.
While walking through the camp, Ormek realized most the people were men, all of them armed with all sorts of weapons. "This must be a military camp," said Ormek. Just then, a man tossed him a sword and said"Hey boy, clean my blade for me will ya."
"Clean it yourself," Ormek snapped throwing the sword back at the man.
"You've got some nerve kid," the man said angrily, "we take you little squires in-training along with us after you told us how useful you'd be, and then you refuse to do your chores.
"I'm no squire." Ormek shot back.
"Just what are you then?" the man asked.
Ormek paused and then asked Shriek in a whisper, "Are you absolutely certain the guys are anti-slavery?" Shriek nodded.
"Well?" the man said waiting for an answer.
"I'm an escaped slave," replied Ormek.
"Big deal we all are," laughed the man.
"You are, that's great, because I just escaped last night." Ormek said with relief.
"You did? How'd you find us so quickly?" inquired the man.
"Luck, I guess," Ormek said.
"Where'd you escape from?" asked the man.
"The temple excavation site," answered Ormek.
"Really? Come with me then, I want you to meet some one," The man said as if lost in thought.
Ormek was taken to a large tent, inside there were many maps, and men looking at each of them. Ormek was taken to a man suited in tattered, slightly rusty armor. "General Talrid," the man who was guiding Ormek said, "I've just found a boy who wandered into to our camp who claims he recently escaped from the excavation site."
"Is that so?" Talrid questioned.
"Yes sir," Ormek replied.
Talrid looked at Ormek very carefully for a few seconds then asked, "Can you tell me how heavily guarded the slaves there are?"
"It wasn't very hard for me to escape," Ormek said. "Though, that's probably because not many slaves try to escape in a desert this size.
"Are there many soldiers stationed there?" Talrid continued.
"Just enough to keep the slaves in line, about five hundred or so," replied Ormek.
"Excellent!" Talrid said under his breath.
"Why do you care so much?" Ormek questioned.
"Because we are of the infamous Tyfirian Rebellion. It is our job to care about these slaves," Talrid said authoritatively.
"Excuse me, who?" Ormek asked shaking his head.
Talrid gave Ormek a look of utter shock. "You've never heard of us," he asked.
"Why? Should I have?" Ormek asked.
"Yes, we're the group of free slaves, who travel all around Cyntir, freeing our brethren." Talrid said.
"You mean to say, you are going to liberate all the slaves at the excavation site? Right?" Ormek inquired with great excitement. Talrid simply nodded his head.
"Is there anyway I can help?" asked Ormek eagerly.
"You already have son," said Talrid, "You've given us some valuable information about that excavation site. Now we know we have enough men to take it."
"No, I mean can I help with the fighting?" Ormek asked clenching his fists.
"Aren't you a little young for that?" Talrid asked.
"No sir, I am ready to fight for my people at any age," Ormek said bravely.
"You've got guts kid," said Talrid, "I like that. Tell me, what is your name?"
"Ormek sir," replied the boy.
"How old are you?" asked Talrid.
"Twelve sir," young Ormek answered.
"Tell, you what Ormek," Talrid said, "usually we don't let our boys start training till they're at least fourteen, but I can tell you have the spirit of a warrior in you. We will start you training today, and I will be you teacher.
Ormek grinned and at that moment he resolved he would be the greatest warrior of all the Tyfirian forces. He vowed to liberate all the slaves of Cyntir and help them create their own nation. But above all, he resolved he would avenge his grandfather's death and make Cyntir pay for what they did to his people.