New chapter! Thank you all for the reviews. I think that this may be one of my best stories. It could be because I really had most of the story in mind before I started, but I think it is turning out rather well.

Now, on to chapter 3!

(((((Sacred Realm)))))

"So, what do you mean four years?"

Your soul has slept for four years, enough for you to mature and take up the Master Sword, so to rid this word of evil. It is your job to save Hyrule from the evil that threatens it. You will protect it, or die trying. This sword, the Master Sword, is the bane of the existence of evil. Take it, and realize your destiny.

(Thump) Thalia fainted.

Rauru sighed. She wasn't the Hero of Time, but he was out of commission. Especially now, he had no way of becoming the Hero. After that incident between him and Ganondorf...

Rauru sighed again. He held his hand toward the star-struck priestess, and she disappeared in a cloud of yellow light.

(((((Temple of Time: Master Sword room)))))

Thalia groaned slightly as something poked her in the side. She turned over to fall back asleep. It poked her again. Thalia's hand went to her back, groping for the offensive poker. She found it, grabbed it, and tossed it away. Thalia only realized that she had tossed a person when it yelled as it flew into the near wall.

She gasped, sitting up. It was indeed a person. Thalia rose and ran toward him.

"Oh my God, I am so sorry. I didn't know that it was a person! Are you hurt?"

Thalia studied the person. It was a rather girly-looking guy. And at the moment he was looking at her like she was a monster. True, Thalia was stronger than she looked, but her true strength scared many people.

When she first became priestess, some bullies who were of a different religion came in and roughed up the place quite a bit. The temple was closed for a month. For a while after that, she studied fighting skills, hoping to learn to defend herself. Unluckily for those boys, she was a fast learner. The next time that they came back she beat them up quite badly.

(((((14 years ago)))))

"Oh god, please don't break my arm!"

"Say it!"

"Please, no!"

"SAY IT!"

"You win! You win! Please just let me go!"

"And?"

"And my mother was a deku scrub!"

"... Good. Now get out of my temple."

(((((Back in the present)))))

Yeah, she wasn't bullied anymore.

"Are you alright?"

"I am fine."

"Are you sure? Here let me help-"

She reached toward him.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME... please, just, back away."

Thalia backed away from the man as he stood up, using the wall to steady himself. He gasped a couple of times, trying to get the air back into his lungs. Then he stood up straight, dusted himself off, and turned toward her.

"Um, hi. Sorry about that. My name is-"

"Thalia. I know of you."

"Okay. It's nice to meet you..."

"Sheik."

"Sheik, then."

She held out her hand in greeting. He looked at it incredulously. She quickly brought it back to her side, remembering the last time that he had contact with her hand.

They stood in silence for a couple of seconds. Just as Thalia was about to comment that it was too quiet and she was leaving, Sheik spoke.

"Follow me, please, and I will fill you in on what has happened in the past years."

Thalia noticed the Master Sword lying near her on the ground. She nodded and followed him silently.

(((((Outside of the Temple)))))

Thalia gasped as she exited the temple. The ground, the garden that she had worked so hard on, for all of those years, was devastated. Someone had trampled the flowers, the trees were all upturned, and weeds were growing everywhere. Now Thalia was mad.

Before she could cut herself and swear a blood-oath to the goddesses, Sheik grabbed her arm, pulling her to him and covering her mouth with his hand.

"You must be quieter. Minions of the Dark Lord are everywhere."

Thalia was quiet. As they began to walk, he quickly related the story of the past four years to Thalia.

She learned that when she grabbed the Master Sword, the link between the Sacred Realm and their world was opened. The bad news was that Ganondorf has managed to get the Triforce of Power. The good news was (since Thalia had caught him by surprise) that was the extent of what he had stolen. But he had gained power, and taken over Hyrule. The only way to defeat him was to awaken all of the sages, by going to the 5 temples of Hyrule, and breaking the seals on the sages.

It was now Thalia's job to do so. They had almost reached the town centre when the question was asked.

"What happened to the real Hero? Link was his name?"

Sheik was silent. Should her tell her? Or just say he didn't know. He had heard that Thalia was a bit bitchy, but she could also be very motherly. If he told her what had happened to Link, she might blame herself-

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

It looks like she would find out sooner than he had expected.

"Lord Gannon will love to hear about you two. He can kill you faster now that you've come out of hiding"

Both of them looked up to see a figure sitting on one of the roofs of the houses in town. He was wearing a solid black tunic with a grey undershirt and pants. His boots were also black. His hair, once blonde, had been dyed. It was now a sort of a half blonde, half black mix. His skin was pale and his eyes a deathly blue-grey.

Thalia gasped as she recognized him.

(((((TBC)))))

Well, do you know who it is?

I think that it's kind of obvious, but I don't know. If you don't know who it is, you will find out in the next chapter.

Next chapter: The identity of the mysterious man and the Forest Temple (long chapter).