Hiya guys, girls and everything in between! Julia is back with an exciting new story! How exciting? You'll see...

Acknowledgements: This story was inspired by several different things. Mainly by an article posted on The Odyssey of Hyrule, called "Link's Many Faces of Death", hence the title. You should all check out that website. It's very good. Some other stuff influenced this, but they are just little whisps of thought in my brain right now, so I can't credit them.

Disclaimer: If I ownedLOZ, everyone would hate it, because it would suck so much.Fear me. LOZ belongs to Nintendo, but this story belongs to me!

Link's Many Faces Of Death

PROLOGUE

It was a brilliantly sunny day in Hyrule. Birds were chirping, bees were buzzing, children laughed and chased Cuccos around.

It was a perfect day for a stroll through the plains of Hyrule, at least for a pointed ear hero who attended by the name of Link. He was 22 years old, and married; however the author will not grant you the satisfaction of knowing who he married since that would ruin the later chapters.

As stated in the above paragraph, Link decided it was a perfect day for a stroll through the plains of Hyrule. He set off early in the morning, and walked by the path that circled Lon Lon Ranch, passing by Gerudo Valley and Lake Hylia. About halfway there, he stopped for a quick bite, since he hadn't eaten breakfast.

One could say that's when things started going crazy.

As he ate a small sandwich a cat pounced out from behind. Link instinctively reached for his sword but seeing the cat posed no threat he ignored it. The cat however did not ignore Link; instead, it circled around, eying Link's sandwich carefully.

Eventually Link got irritated by the animal and shooed it away, but the cat came back. Again. And again. And again. By now Link was very frustrated by the pesky little feline. The cat was relatively small, white and orange, with bright green eyes. It seemed amused by Link's attempts at chasing it away, and toyed around with him, until Link became so angry he grabbed the little fiend by the scruff of its neck.

Bad move, Link.

Immediately he was electrocuted by the cat and blacked out. When he woke up, he was in for a very exiting adventure, indeed.

Dazed, he opened his eyes slowly. He was no longer in Hyrule Field. He was in some ethereal nothingness, a huge space filled with cool mist permeated by blue-white light.

He looked up, and down, and left and right, but he saw nothing but the bluish mist. Actually, he couldn't see his own body. Did he die? Was he in the Sacred Realm? As these questions crawled sluggishly through his mind, a voice boomed around him.

"Welcome, Link, to the Author's Domain."

"...What?" he asked stupidly. No one can blame him for that. He had just been electrocuted by a cat, transported to a bizarre parallel universe, his body was gone, and now a disembodied voice tells him he's in some place called the "Author's Domain". I better be dreaming, he thought, even though he no longer had a brain.

"Welcome, Link, to the Author's Domain," said the voice, automatically. Mechanically. Identically to how it had said before.

"What the heck is this 'Author's Domain'?" demanded Link, his thoughts speeding up now.

"Make yourself comfortable," said the voice, impassive. Link would have frowned if he still had a forehead. Instead, he was limited to bottling up the frustrated thoughts that bubbled around what should be his head. How could he "make himself comfortable" when he was a nothing floating in a nothing with nothing but mist and blue light?

Suddenly, the mist somewhere to his left started swirling madly. Link swivelled around to look at what was happening. The mist turned bright white for a second or two, then formed the outline of a girl. The mist solidified and color seeped in, and the girl was complete. She was smiling. She appeared to be about 13 or 14. She had light brown curly hair. She wore clothes similar to those Link had seen a few village commoners wear. A shirt made of some white material. But her pants...? Some odd fabric Link had never seen before. And her eyes... there was glass in front of her eyes. Lenses? Mini magnifying glasses? Link couldn't imagine what they where for.

The girl laughed as Link examined her. He looked down at himself, but he still couldn't see a body. Could the girl see him, somehow?

"I can't see you, Link, but I know what you're doing. I am the author of this story, therefore everything you do is written by me, therefore I know of every single one of you actions, thoughts, etc. Of course I could just make you understand everything right here and now, like this:"

Suddenly Link knew everything.

"But that wouldn't be much fun, would it? I like making you stupid," she said, and suddenly Link didn't know anything anymore.

"You have no free will, my Hylian hero. You are my puppet. I have supreme authority over this story. I can make you cower in fear:"

Suddenly Link was struck by terror and fright.

"Or I can make you angry:"

Suddenly Link felt extremely angry.

"Or sad:"

Suddenly Link felt depressed.

"I am the one who made you take that stroll this morning, I am the one who made you eat that sandwich. I am the one who made you touch that cat. I am the one who fried your body and brought you here. So it is written, and so it shall be. There is no escape!"

And with that, she laughed. Insanely. Link was scared of her.

"I make you scared, right? Of course. I wrote it. I could just as well make you brave and fearless," she said, smiling diabolically, "but that wouldn't be much fun, would it?"

And so, Link remained scared, despite the Triforce of Courage embedded in his left hand.

"As any author, I have my plans for you. And you will follow them, reluctantly. Because I said so. And as far as this story goes, you are my slave. If I tell you to be reluctant, you will be. But, that is not the point.

When you were zapped by that cat, you actually absorbed its nine lives. Now you have ten lives to live! Isn't that fun?" she said, and didn't wait for a response. "In each chapter, you will die a different death. Because I am bored and in need of entertainment. I will spare your last life, and, by ending the story, you will return to the place all characters come from, and your free will shall be restored. Just like that." She snapped her fingers. In reality, she can't, but since this is her story, everything is possible. Even snapping her fingers.

"But, now this conversation will be erased from you mind."

And so it was. Except for the part where she said, "When you were zapped by that cat, you actually absorbed its nine lives. Now you have ten lives to live! Isn't that fun? In each chapter, you will die a different death. Because I am bored and in need of entertainment. I will spare your last life, and, by ending the story, you will return to the place all characters come from, and your free will shall be restored. Just like that." That was necessary for the story to take place.

"Right now, your wife is finding you unconscious in Hyrule Field. It's time for you to go, Link!"

And with that, Link was returned to his body. As he traveled between dimensions, he thought he heard the wind whisper, "there is no escape." But maybe it was just a trick of his mind.

Or a trick of the author.

END OF PROLOGUE

I'm writing chapter 2 right now, where you get to meet Link's wife! And trust me, you'll never guess who she is. evil laughter

Oh yes, once all the chapters are done, I'll post a special chapter containing all of your suggestions! That's right! Whatever painful deaths I don't use in the story will be acknowledged in a nice superchappie based on your reviews! So review now! You get to torture Link! Oh, and you get a cookie too.