Legend of Zelda:
The Gemini Children

Chapter 1: A Haunting Recall

"Where is the chosen child?" Asked the soldier, his sword held steady at the blacksmiths large neck. The rest of the men looked on in silence. Watching as their master did his cruel work.

"What child?" He managed to say through gritted teeth.

"The child that was born here, we are not mistaken in saying a child was born here only a few days ago?" The blacksmith looked away. Sweat pushing out of every pour. Fear beating in time with his heart. He then looked back into the soldiers eyes. They were red like fire or ruby. They were in there own way beautiful. How could such a monster have such striking eyes. The blacksmith had watched as every house had been burnt to the ground, how every villager had been brutally killed, and how his house remained the last standing in the painful progress.

"No, no child has been here, no mother for that matter" He said, feeling the cold iron pushing against his neck, ever so slowly breaking the skin. The soldier narrowed his eyes slowly.

"Lies" He said and swiped his sword. The blood shattered in the air, spreading across the floor and the wall. It slowly trickled away through the cracks in the old worn floorboards. "Search the building, everywhere, If you cant find a child, or anything to suggest a child has been here, then burn it, just to be sure. We will have no folly"

He walked out the room, leaving his men to do their work. He admired his handy work as he wiped the blood from his armour. The village was now all a crimson blaze, the blacksmith had been the last to be searched. Nowhere had they found the child, but the legends had been so sure. It had to be this town, this time. He sighed. Then again, he thought, legends are just that, legends, they are sometimes mere exaggerations. He looked at his reflection in his blood cleansed sword. His long black hair covered his head and bordered his pale white face and dark red eyes. He was handsome and he knew it. He could have any girl he wanted, and in the mean time they would suffice. What he was really waiting for though, was one special wife, one special young lady, one special princess.

"Lord Vallous, no trace has been found, we just started the fire" The Lord looked up from his reflection.

"Very well, we shall move on"

"But Sir, what does it mean? What does it mean about the legends?" He contemplated the question for only a second or two.

"It means the legend was wrong, or at least altered at some point. No matter, as long as she was born then the other child is no real threat to me" The soldier nodded and walked away. From behind came the sound of torches lighting and flames roaring, but that sound came from everywhere. Vallous looked across the street into the crumbling wreckages of the houses raped by the flame.

Underneath the house, watching from a grating in the floor, a mother hugged her son tightly to her chest. She would make a break for it after the men had gone and the fire subsided. She clutched the sword her husband had made her and admired his bravery. She had heard it all. She had cried through it all. Her son looked up at her through his pale blue eyes and smiled. He didn't understand what was happening, she thought, nor was there any reason he should else it would haunt him for the rest of his life.

"It will be ok, we will start again somewhere new, won't we Link?" The baby gargled.

Link grabbed his sword and strapped it to his back. His head buzzing with memories, he wasn't sure how many were real but he knew they were all horrific. Every night for the past few days he had woken up in a cold sweat from the night. His nose was always filled with the scent of fire. It had started on his 18th birthday, could it be a coincidence? He shook his head. He assumed it was best not to think about it. He couldn't be having with bad dreams, today he set off for Hyrule and the Great Tournament. It was going to be a few days trek, even with Epona to carry him there. Hyrule was over the other side of the mountain, going straight there would take less then a day if you could go through it, but alas traders had to make their way around it, taking days to do so. The mountains were a dangerous thing to cross. Not many people had managed to cross them and lived to tell the tale. They stood like an emperors castle, surrounded by their own moat. Atop of its turrets perched large birds of prey which, though never leaving their nests, howled all through the nights. They were just another sign that life still existed during the midnight hours. Another sign that not everything slept. Link cast one finally look over his empty room and left.

"Your really leaving huh link?" Said a girl from behind. He turned. It was Maria, another child at the orphanage, she was only 14. Her parents too were struck down by soldiers, maybe even the same ones, no one could be sure. Link smiled at her. She was like a little sister, nobody else had taken to her as quickly as Link, she understood him and understood they were both alone. He hadn't made any friends at the orphanage really, no body he felt so strongly about to call a friend, more just acquaintances, many believed he was weird, in a way he agreed. But Maria had sat with him, come to him when she was scared. She had attached herself to him, and he to her. They were the brother and sister of the orphanage.
"Wish I could leave, I'd love to see what's out there, past the mountains, even past Hyrule, you must be really looking forward to it huh?" Link nodded silently and she smiled. He lifted up Epona's saddle and placed it on her back. She was by far the fastest and best looking horse anyone had seen. Nobody would doubt that he kept good condition of her. He'd treated her like family ever since he'd found her as trapped as a .

"You'll have to write, 'K Link?" Said Maria. He smiled and she smiled too.

It wasn't long before he was out the gates of the village and out into the forests. Here it was dark and damp, the sun didn't reach this area. The trees grew tall to reach the light, and the plants found more creative ways to get their sustenance. They adapted in their own way, becoming carnivorous, or even light generating. This often meant they became more dangerous, but Link knew what to look out for, and after all, he had his sword and shield, and what else would he need.

Link knew his path, his life had always been clear. Ever since he could remember he had always been in this orphanage. He had grown up around this town, around these people. He knew little to nothing of his mother, except a small hand-sized painting he had of her and him and that was more then could be said of his father for link knew absolutely nothing of him. There was also the sword he thought. He had been given it when he'd reached 14. It was his mothers they'd said, and that was the only thing they'd said. He often wondered if she had been a soldier, or even a rogue, he felt that's where he got his keen sense of combat from though. From an early age he had trained with swords, even though they'd been pretend ones made of old bits of wood and metal. Maybe the sword on his back was a pity gift, but even if it had been it had served him well. He would be lost without it and it would serve him forever. All he had to do now was make it to Hyrule. The town was surrounded by forests but that would be easy enough to pass, then it was on to the fields. Miles of beautiful green grass surrounding Hyrule and the great Temple. The great temple was said to be the worship place of peace, no religion, just peace. Link would visit it one day, he would sit within its walls and he would pray. He trained in combat, he lived to fight, but he fought for peace. He longed for the chance to be able to cast aside his sword and watch a world of life and harmony spring into existence where no one suffered or lost loved ones due to war and merciless killings. In Hyrule he would continue his fight, he would fight in the Great Tournament.

The Great Tournament had been talked about for years, it was going to decide the future of Hyrule. The King had had one daughter. No son, no heir, just one daughter. The Great Tournament was going to decide who gained her hand and gained the throne in the future. Link was going to win that tournament and it was going to be he who would win her hand. He had seen the portraits. A beautiful girl of his age with long blond hair and jade green eyes. Her smile had captivated him. She was a princess and Link felt it up to him that she was treated like one. He wouldn't let her become the wife of some savage power hungry brute like the Lords he had seen pass through the village. He knew many were only in the Tournament to prove they could fight, they didn't care if they won or not. Some were 40, maybe 50, it was wrong for her to be forced into marrying someone like that, Link was going to win, they were going to live in prosperity, they were going to spread peace. Nobody understood the unconditional strength of his determination.

Suddenly something rustled behind him. He turned but nothing was there. Passing it off for a woodland creature or a plant, he carried on. Again the rustling came, this time it was something from above. He gave the signal and Epona broke into a gallop. If it really was something harmless it wouldn't follow, it was better to be safe. The rustling came from either side, left, right, even above, all at once. There was defiantly something watching him, following him, and he wasn't under the impression it was good news. Whatever it was could keep up though, the rustling became faster and now the shadows moved. Something was leaping across the trees after him. Faster he spurred Epona on but faster the shadow followed. He drew his sword, ready to strike it down. The emerald plants surrounding him all moved to their own rhythms giving the thing the cover it needed to get a surprise attack. He watched everywhere. Suddenly from in front something jumped up and grabbed hold of him. It was like a small, black monkey. Not as in a darker shade of something, but black as in pitch black, the absence of all light, it had no detail, no texture. Its touch was burning him, he could feel it on him, as though it was being absorbed. He pushed it away, but it was too strong, he slashed at it with such force that Epona became unsteady in her footing and it lost grip for a second before managing to cling to Link's arm. Now it burnt even more on his open skin. Epona steered left, nearer to the trees at the side. It was risky but the agonising pain was just too much. The burning of his flesh, the smell of the thing, he couldn't take it. He flung his arm out and the thing bashed against the trees passing. One after another, each with strength. It let go, leaving Links arm, and Link in general and it bounced away down the path. Link knew it would come back, it had left its mark now. He looked down at his arm, it had a black pattern on it, absorbed onto his skin like some form of tattoo. He wondered why it had come, and then he spontaneously like a explosion he remembered his dreams.

Fire.

Smoke.

Death.

He felt queasy now.

"Its ok Link, they will look after you for a bit, Mommy will be back soon ok?"

He felt his heart racing in his chest.

"Don't tell the boy, it would be too painful for him to know. Its just, well you see we've found his mother, she was lost some time back but we found her, beaten, raped and left to decompose. It was a sick sight we found and she wasn't the only one, there was over a dozen girls there, all abused, all killed in sick and twisted ways"

His head was thumping, his vision was going.

"Where is the chosen child?"

The queasiness grew stronger.

"Its ok Link…"

He felt his muscles contracting.

"Don't Tell the boy"

A pain rushed all over.

"Burn it, just to be sure"

Link fell. Flung from Epona's back and onto the dirt like the creature that had attacked him before. He hurt all over but especially his arm. It was burning like the fires way back then. As hot as the planets core and as unrelenting as it too. He cried out in pain, though nothing would be able to hear him except the birds in the trees. Cold sweat ran from his forehead. He arched in pain, his back almost breaking. He grabbed the dirt with his hands trying to hold onto reality. His bones cracked, he screamed out. Then came the worst, he suddenly felt hollow inside, he was empty, he felt lifeless. He could taste the tears from his eyes, the sweat from his head. He could feel every beating vein pushing against his skin. He could feel every pulsating muscle. But he couldn't feel his life.