Here goes another. A very special thanks to ignorantly grinning that wrote the first review (and agrees with me on chronology stuff). It'll take a little while to set up the plot and move on to the real story (in which Link is not a child).

II. Fire and ashes

Link was under a great tree, trying to get dry. Rain fell down, cold as death. The wind blew heavily. The little Hylian kid hid beneath the branches of the greatest tree he found and waited. He crossed his arms around his chest and tried to provide some warmth to himself. The sky was completely dark; no stars were to be seen. It seemed as if he was in the middle of the night, in a lightless cave. A lot of animals were making strange, scary noises. And yet, as he stared at the falling rain, he felt happy.

He was in the woods, after all.

In the woods, and after dark! There's no light anymore! Now this is adventure. Of course, I promised Master Curt I wouldn't go inside the woods... But surely, there'll be no problem if I just wander around the woods? I mean, I'm out here already. Not that I wanted to, of course. The rain made me come here.

But the rain stopped, as abruptly as it began. It was something too strange to be a mere climatic phenomenon, but Link realized nothing of the sort at the time. Presently, he was just happy with his luck. Even if he had realized anything, it wouldn't hurt if he stayed in the woods just a little while longer, right?

His hand moved to his back, touching the familiar shape of the staff he held. Uncle Tom had given it to him, just a week ago, on his twelfth birthday. He always carried it with him since that day. It was made of strong, hard wood. Of course, that hadn't been Link's wish. He had always wanted a sword, and had begged Uncle Tom for about a year for it. But Uncle Tom thought he was just too little to have a sword. Humph. Anyway, the staff was good enough. It had his name carved in especially carved letters (his design), and had the Royal Crest. Link himself had carved that one. (Stupid Dobb. Of course it does look like the Royal Crest.)

Of course, I've always known that soldiers are kinda goofy. But if I am going to show everybody I am braver than they are, then I surely deserve to wear the Royal emblem. Yeah. I'm brave. As much as they are, anywa—— Huh? What was that? What was that noise? Uh... It doesn't matter! Just let that stupid forest creature come near me! I'll soon deal with him good. After all the cool moves Uncle Tom taught me-!

And he practiced the routine he'd been told again. He wasn't really that good, but he looked quite impressive as he moved the blade in long arcs and sleek attacks.

Of course, Uncle Tom is a great swordsman. Sure, he is not very wealthy and all that, but he is a direct Hylian descendant. A true noble. How's that, Dobb? Your father doesn't even know how to use a sword, but my uncle does! And he told me my dad was even better! Ha! If you were here in the forest at night, you'd already be crying. You told everyone you know the forest like you know your room, but I don't believe you. You're too fat to get through the hole at the gate! No, he's not fat. That'd be Robbie. Well, OK, so you're not fat. But still, you don't know of the hole I found, so I outsmarted you there. And you would be crying now, while I'm ready to kick any animal's——

A sudden flash lit the sky.

Huh? What was that? It looked like a flaming comet. Cool! And hey! it stopped raining.

It was really a flame. Only it didn't look big enough, or distant enough to be a comet. The flame went up, high in the air, and then in a graceful arc went back down. It looked it was heading into the middle of the town, but the fence hid it from view.

Hey, I want to see that!

Link put out his staff and started to climb a tree that looked it had enough branches. He didn't take long to get to the top —he had a lot of practice from hiding from Aunt Lea in his tree—, but realized some more comets, or whatever they were, had crossed the sky behind him (a thing he was graceful for, as they were barely the only sources of light; climbing a tree in the dark was no easy job, even for Link).

At last he reached a branch that seemed high and strong enough to hold him. Getting into a more comfortable position (stupid –ow– tree), he turned around, eager to watch the spectacle of light that was surely going on behind him. But his jaw dropped. He couldn't believe it.

The lights were not flying one by one. There were hundreds of them! And they were falling in the middle of the town! On top of the houses, on the central square, on public buildings, on the people's houses! And they didn't stop burning! They were burning the town! Kakariko was on fire.

What is going on here? What are those things?

He refused to believe his eyes, but he could not avoid the simple truth that came to his mind. Those were no comets. They were arrows. Burning arrows. Someone was burning the town. Someone —a lot of men, by the number of arrows— were attacking Kakariko! He watched them fly. Were it not for their purpose, they would have looked like a rain of stars.

Fortunately (fortunately?) he was just on high enough ground, far enough from the village. He could see everything. He couldn't quite make out everything that was happening, not exactly, but he got a pretty good idea. Burning arrows had been thrown in massive numbers. Kakariko's buildings, made mostly of wood, were now in flames. Columns of smoke rose into the air, engulfing it in darkness.

Then the screams hit him. It was as if someone had put the sound back on. He heard the people yelling: heard their screaming, their cries for help, and the shrieks of terror. People were getting out of their houses, trying to escape the fire. They were running on the streets, running wildly. Some must be carrying weapons: he could make out the shapes of metal blades. Surely a defense was being assembled.

Finally!, thought Link. Surely, the King's guards were just a bunch of fools, but they were the King's Army. Nothing can stop them! And my Uncle Tom is with them! A true Hylian Knight! Err, at least a true descendant of them! He smiled. Go get them, Uncle Tom! Show them nobody messes with kakarikeans!

But they didn't look like they were getting into a very decent position. Blinded by smoke, unable to breathe properly, everyone was trying to make it to the center of the village, looking for air.

Another sound reached him. He wondered if the storm was starting again (nope, no rain). But there was definitely a sound like thunder. Then he realized an earthquake must be taking place, for the very ground was shaking. And his own branch was moving in an alarmingly uncomfortable way. Releasing a little yelp, he grabbed himself to the tree with as strongly as he could.

And then he saw them. They were no thunder, but the sound they made was like it, and they moved as swiftly as the wind. They were men, many men with horses. They entered the village at a gallop, ruining whatever stood in their way. They had weapons. Giant spears, brilliant swords shone in their hands. Bows at their backs. They were all dressed in crimson red. They charged at the village.

What's going on? Link wondered, his eyes suddenly full of tears.

It was a horrible spectacle, but one from which he couldn't take away his eyes. The enemy attacked violently, furiously. They killed everyone they saw. If someone stood in their way, they rammed him, their horses passing over the bodies. They killed everyone they saw; if someone tried to run from them, a rider would stop, take out his bow, and hit the man with a carefully directed arrow. Everyone was screaming, trying to fly from the riders, but nobody knew which way to run.

The riders got separated. They were in the whole town, bringing death into every street and house of it. No one escaped their ferocious charge. But there! Link managed to get a look at the center of the village again. It was hard to see. Some of the houses had fallen, smoke covered everything. Link thought he saw some men trying to stand a defense. He actually saw, or though he saw, the armor and manners of the royal guards. They were trying to get together, and arrange some kind of formation, in the middle of the town. It seemed they couldn't get themselves in a decent position: they were fighting to stand their ground in the middle of the debris, the screams and confusion. Everyone was yelling at each other. At last they got into some kind of square formation. There seemed to be unarmed figures inside the square, probably those villagers that made it to the guards. Many men seemed to be giving orders at the same time.

The enemy got to them, and stopped, facing them. One of them stood in the stirrups of his horse, screamed something, and all of the riders raised their swords, screaming after him. With a great roar, they charged on the defendants. Some of the royal guards tried to raise their spears to receive the attack, but not many. A lot of them were unarmed; others simply could not see where the line was supposed to be hold. The enemy's charge easily broke their lines, passed through them and destroyed them.

Some then abandoned every defense attempt and tried to run. They were followed, reached, and executed. Screams and falling bodies, that's all Link could see. And yet, he couldn't close his eyes. He lost control of himself. He realized he was not breathing.

It was just unnatural. This could not be happening!

But it was. And he could only look at it.

Go down! Get down there and help them! Go get Aunt Lea and Uncle Tom and Dobb and Robbie and Master Curt!, yelled a voice inside him. But he couldn't. He was just paralyzed.

At last, after what seemed an eternity, the screams ended. The riders met again in the center of the town. They came in little groups, talking to themselves. They were showing each other whatever goods they stole from the burning town. They were laughing. Link felt himself burning with rage at the sound of their laughter. They gathered together in the middle of the town, and their leader, the same man with the same terrible voice, screamed some words to them. They laughed again, and left, speeding out to the east.

The rain started again. Strong it was: a mighty storm. It started as abruptly as the last one left the village. It stopped the fire. The thunder of horses lost itself in the distance. The rain, which seemed to have just started, stopped again. No sound was to be heard.

Link got down from the tree. He was shivering, but not because of the cold. He walked to the fence, crossed the hole, and got again inside of the town. He waited there, standing, for what seemed like hours. The first lights of the morning gave everything an eerie look. What had happened here? Just a day ago, Kakariko had been a prosperous town. But now, in one night, it had turned into a graveyard.

Link started to move, to look around. There were bodies all over the streets, horribly mutilated. Link tried not to look at them. He thought he recognized some of them...

Suddenly one caught his attention. He stopped walking, but begged that his legs just kept on moving. He didn't want to stop and look at the cadaver, but his body would not obey his will. Some strange force was moving him. So he had to take every part of the dreaded vision. The eyes of the dead man were white. His face was just a mimic of pain. His body was a barely distinguishable form surrounded by a pool of blood.

Link kneeled next to him, thinking hard of what to do. Nothing. His mind was empty. He couldn't cry or say anything, or do anything. So he just stood there, watching the body. At last, with a vacillating voice, the words came out:

'Master Curt...'

And raising his head, he screamed to the heavens. He cried to the top of his lungs, a cry full of anger, fear, disgust, defeat... What next?

Nowhere-to-go-what-am-i-to-do-what-should-where-is-what-happened-here-please-someone...

He looked around. His vision seemed dark, obscured by suffering. And he saw it. There it was: the old dusty book. Master Curt must have had it with him when he tried to escape... He reached for it—

«There it is! On top of those shelves! Maybe if I just... unngh... push... the... shelves... There you go! There you go! Boy, you are sure hard to find! Now you're down. So, come here. Wow. You look old. I just hope you're the right one... Ah! here it is... »

The vision came unexpectedly, but seemed familiar. He couldn't care about what it was. But, yes, here it was: the same book from the vision, still old and dusty. He recognized it immediately. Opening the first page and reading the title was just not necessary, just a movement controlled by habit. As clearly as the vision he saw, he knew the name.

'The Book of Mudora...'

«Aginah looked at me, his eyes glittering strangely. He didn't say anything for some time. He looked at me in wonder. And then he said with his voice full of... I don't know... excitement?

'The prophecy says, "The Hero will stand in the desert holding the Book of Mudora." If you have the Book of Mudora you can read the language of the Hylia People. It should be in the house of books in the village... You must get it! If you are the person who will be The Hero...' »

And next to it was the flute. The old flute. The forest flute. But those names he had given to it were now also unnecessary. Once again, the moment he saw it, he realized he already knew it. It was unexpected. It was strange.

'And this... the Ocarina of Time...'

To be continued.