Chapter 3

"Are you sure about doing this my sister?"

"Yes…"

"Giving them this much power… what for."

"To see what they would do with it."

"And what about the evil…"

"He will be released…"

"Are you willing to let the world be destroyed?"

"We were going to do it anyways… but then they decided to do something about it… but how?…How did they know?"

"Rauru…he broke his pact and told them…"

"Well we will have to deal with him then…"

"And what about the hero?"

"He shouldn't have gotten into this… however…"

"However what?"

"He's different now…"

"So there is no threat from him?"

"Oh there is…but he just doesn't know it yet…"

Link awoke laying on the ground within the lost woods. Saria and he had been walking for a couple of days now, trying to get out of the woods, but it would still be some time before they were out. Link laid there, staring up at the sky, seeing the sun baring down on them. He cursed to himself; he had slept to long! If he had any chance of getting back to the castle before the day was done he would have to leave now!

He stood up, looking at what he had to get together. His sword and shield were against the tree nearest him, and his bag of items was near where he had been sleeping. Saria was still asleep, laying next to where Link had been laying. She would have to get up now if they were to leave soon.

"Get up." he said, starting towards his sword and shield, already tying his bag to his belt. Saria didn't move, she only laid there still sleeping. "Get up Saria." he said once again, but she still didn't move. He strapped his sword to his back, and hooked his shield to the scabbard, looking towards her, his anger rising. Finally he unsheathed his sword and plunged it into the ground two inches from her head. "GET UP!"

Saria jumped up, her dagger in hand, however she still had a drowsy look upon her face.

"What did you do that for!" she yelled, breathing hard from the scare, glaring at him.

"You wouldn't wake." he said, unsheathing the sword from the ground and placing it back into it's scabbard.

"You nearly cut my head off!" She yelled, still glaring, however, Link didn't answer. He just finished with his sword and started off. Saria merely stood there, glaring at him as if to pierce his soul.

"You need to be more alert to your surroundings, if I had been an enemy, I would have cut it off." Saria, still stood, not answering. Link stopped walking and turned back. "Look, are you coming or not?" He stared back, waiting for an answer.

"What happened to you Link?" asked Saria, rather suddenly.

"What?"

"Why are you always like that? On edge, like the world is out to get you?"

"There's nothing wrong with me, I…I just grew up that's all." he once again started off, seaming as if not to care if she went or stayed anymore.

"What happened to the Link I used to know? What happened to him that made him you?" She called, hoping to get him to stop, but he kept on, not answering her. Finally after he didn't answer, she hurried after him, trying to catch up.

It took them the rest of the day to get out of the woods and back to Hyrule Field, during which Saria told Link about what happened within the 5 years he had been gone.

"After the Deku Tree died, he left no successor, unlike the time Ganondorf was here. For some reason, the Deku tree sprout never came to be and the magic of the forest died. That's why I'm older now… it took me awhile to understand why I grew after so long…"

"The Deku Tree never told us we would die as soon as we left the Kokiri forest, he knew that if we left we would eventually grow up and die, unlike what we believed. We were the ones that restrained ourselves from leaving, not the forest. I originally believed that I grew before because I was a Hylan, but that was not true… we were all Hylan children."

"Yes, and that's also the reason my hair is a different color now, with the magic of the forest gone, my hair changed from green to brown….wait…how did you know all that?" asked Saria, as they walked out into the giant clearing that made up Hyrule field.

"I guessed…" answered Link, still walking. Saria smiled at him.

"At least you're smarter than I remember." she said, starting to chuckle a little, but after Link made no answer, she stopped and looked back towards where they were walking. They continued on, sticking to the dirt path that made up a somewhat crude road for traveling, but a road non the less.

"If we keep going, we should reach the castle by midnight." said Link, after several minutes of silence between the two. Saria didn't answer, instead she stared up at the night sky, watching the stars glimmer down at her.

"So beautiful…"she thought aloud, mesmerized by the night sky. "Don't you think so Link?"

"Yeah…beautiful…" Link answered, not even glancing at the sky. Saria didn't seam to notice, instead she was watching the shooting star that just whizzed by.

Link stopped suddenly, listening.

"Saria, come here!" he said, whispering to her.

"What for?"

"Just come here!" Saria came up to Link.

"What is it?" Link was looking in all directions, as if he was a deer that had heard something in a bush. Saria watched him for a minute.

"What are you doing?"

"Shhhhh…I thought I heard something."

"Oh come on, it was just you hearing things."

"I said Shhh!"

"Why?"

It was to late though, the ground had started to rumble. A few feat from where they stood, a mound of dirt started up, as if it had a life of it's own, then suddenly, piercing the dirt came a skeletal hand. Link was expecting Saria to scream, however she did the opposite, she readied herself for battle, unsheathing her dagger from the sheath at her waist. As the figure finished climbing out of the ground, Link unsheathed his sword from the scabbard on his back, also readying himself. The figure was a skeleton, magically animated so that it would attack those who passed by. It towered over them at 20 ft. tall, ready to kill them where they stood.

"That's why…"

Princess Zelda sat within Royal Hyrulian Library, reading one of the many ancient volumes of the History of Hyrule. She had read all of the books in this library many times each, almost to the point of memorization. She paused from reading, looking up from the page to a letter that had been given to her by her attendant Impa. It was signed by "an old friend," telling her to meet with the person within the Library at 20:00.

Zelda didn't know what to expect when she silently agreed to meet as she was told, she merely went by her gut instinct that what she was doing was the right thing to do. She had been waiting for the last 3 hours within the library, reading through the volumes of the ancient History of Hyrule. It was fool hardy, at most, to rush into a situation such as this, when she had no clue what or whom she may meet. She could only do as she believed right… for it was the only thing any one person could do.

In order to meet with this mystery person, the princess had sneak out of her room at 17:00 in order to get in within a 3 hour time frame. Impa had helped her by telling the guards that she would watch this area, so they might not stumble into the library while Zelda was there. This, however, was something Zelda had hoped to do at one time or another, for she hated the ever watching eyes of the guards, making sure the heir to the Hyrulian throne stayed safe. It was increasingly irritating to be watched at every step by the guards, but she knew there intentions were pure, despite her dislike.

Zelda looked back down to the volume of the History of Hyrule on the table in front of her, then closed the book. She had lost her place. Taking the book into her hand, she stood up and started over to the book case in witch a small space was for which the book would be placed.

"Zelda…" Princess Zelda was caught off guard by the voice, she stopped where she was, turning herself in hopes to find the direction the voice emanated from.

"Are you alone Zelda?" Came the voice once again, calm and reassuring, the voice of a young man, just out of puberty. Zelda heard the voice, still trying to find the direction it was coming from, however the echo of the room kept her from knowing where it was coming from. The voice however triggered a memory, that of a young boy she knew, however, she knew it could never be…

"You came… I knew you would… after all that Impa had told me." Zelda stopped spinning, deciding that trying to find the voice was useless from the echoes. He couldn't be back…

"If you are ready, I will now reveal myself…" the shock that this phrase brought Zelda was something she did not expect, It couldn't be him… he's dead…

A cloaked figure came from behind the book case Zelda was facing, he knew, it seamed that she would stop and look in that direction. Zelda dropped the book in surprise, her body shocked even though she knew who he was before she saw him. His arms were around her at once, for she had feinted and needed to be caught.

Link stood before the draw bridge that connected Hyrule field to the Hyrule castle town market. Saria and him had parted, her leaving to stay at Kakoriko village, for she "had no business at the castle, and didn't care to see it anyways." Link gazed up towards a high window, in hopes that a guards light might be there, signifying that the watch guard could raze the bridge. It had been roughly an hour since Saria and his accouter with a stal child, a fight in which Link didn't like.

Saria had fallen shortly into the battle, becoming another thing in his way while fighting. He had to look over her hide as well as his own, a thing he tried to keep to a minimum now a days. Saria had little skill in the ways of fighting, and Link knew this very well. She was determined as she could be, he could give her that though, for a Sage, she was ready to fight.

As far as she had said, several of the sages had simply vanished. Darunia of the Gorons hadn't been heard from for more than a year, and know one knew what happened to Nabooru. Saria had also mentioned that since the magic of the forest was dead, her powers were of little effect anymore, so her sage hood was of little use.

A light flickered within the window and a guard came up to it, looking out for travelers who may need the gate opened. He saw Link easily, which he would have done, even without the help of the lamp, for the moon was so luminous tonight much of the field could easily be seen.

"Who is it that wishes to enter the Hyrule Castle Town. I am not permitted to lower the draw bridge unless you have royal business." Said the guard, in a booming voice. Link stared up at the guards face, memorizing it for later use if needed.

"I am Link, a friend of Princess Zelda, she has informed me that she wishes to see me." Link lied, just hoping to get buy this numbskull of a guard.

"What proof do you have?" answered the guard, looking as if he didn't believe a word that came from Link's mouth. Link dug into his pouch and pulled out a letter signed from the Princess many years ago. He had kept it only for occasions like this, so he could easily get into the town without holdup. Link flashed the letter to the guard, who was luckily to far away to read what it said. It still had inscribed upon it "This is Link, he is on orders from me to save Hyrule," something that many didn't ever believe when it was written, much less now. The guard saw the note, but he didn't need to read it, the parchment that it had been written on it was that of Princess Zelda's and he knew it well.

"You may pass…" bellowed the guard, rather reluctantly. The drawbridge seamed to groan for a moment then began to lower for Link's admittance. After the shark clunk of it hitting the ground on the other side of the river, Link started across.

Zelda awoke in her bed, sweet trickling down her face. Sitting within a chair besides her bed was the figure that had helped her here, his piercing eyes ever watching over her.

"You have woken." said the figure, still watching her, his eyes never wavering from hers. Zelda stared back towards the face of her old friend, a friend she had thought long gone. The moon shone through Zelda's bedchamber window, illuminating the figured face, where it was seen easily for his cowl was gone that usually his the bottom half of it.

"Sheik…"