Greywood Road, North Clocktown
When she woke, it was earlier than usual. Faint dawn light sprinkled the room from a gap in the window curtains, reaching the end of the bedspread. With a sigh and a stretch, she sat up and glanced around the bedroom. Dark was nowhere to be seen; she frowned.
She'd been staying in his house for just over a week now. They'd already collected all of her things from the cottage in Snowhead and said goodbye to Fierce. As excited as she'd been to live with Dark, it still didn't feel like her home too.
Now, sitting alone in his bed, she felt oddly at home. Quiet as a mouse, Sienna slipped her feet out from under the blankets and scurried across the floor. The door creaked open with a twist of the brass knob, and she stuck her head out of the open door to look down the hallway. It was empty, so she slipped down to the kitchen to make breakfast for herself.
Several minutes later, she sat at the kitchen table eating the remains of her breakfast, when there three or four hard knocks sounded on the door, like someone was pounding their fist against it.
Startled, she nearly choked on a bite of food as she rose to answer it. She didn't even make it into the other room before whoever was on the other side kicked the door clean off its hinges, the now-useless wooden plank flying across the room and colliding with a mirror on the wall.
Sienna shrieked in surprise, covering her ears with her hands instinctively. The shattered mirror lay in pieces at her feet, the door having just missed her.
Someone seized her by the throat, lifting her off her feet. Choking on the gasp that somehow escaped her constricted throat, she felt her fingers scrape uselessly along arms covered in metal.
Nearly paralyzed from the shock, she gazed down to see a jet-black helmet with a narrow slit for the eyes. The man holding her was impossibly tall, nearly as tall as Fierce, and heavily muscled. The armor he wore was pitch black and covered him head to toe; on his back was a greatsword, equally black and vicious looking.
Under the helmet, where she should have seen a man's face, she saw darkness. The thing holding her was not human.
Its fingers clenched, bruising her throat and causing her to make a sputtering noise as she struggled to draw breath. The creature gave no reaction.
He gave off an aura of sorts, one that seemed to slither about and around him like a veil of smoke, invisible but potent. It only intensified the horrified shivers lacing their way up her spine, knowing that whatever this monster was, it was an unearthly and soulless being.
Dark spots appeared in her vision as the monster tightened its hold. She felt her eyes start to slip closed before a sharp female voice cut in.
"Stop. We need her alive."
Amazingly, the creature dropped her. She landed painfully on her hands and knees in the pile of broken glass, giving herself numerous cuts in the process. Sienna instantly grabbed for her throat, massaging it where it was sore. The creature gazed down at her with its nonexistent eyes, unmoved. Quickly, she scrambled away across the floor.
"Where is he?" demanded that rough female voice again.
Sienna glanced up, her eyes widening in shock when she saw who the voice belonged to.
~oOo~
Goron City
"We've hit a problem, Elder."
Darunia rubbed his stone jaw with one massive hand. "Hmm."
He stood at the mouth of a tunnel in the process of being dug out. It had become necessary to expand the city's tunnel complex. Good rocks were becoming increasingly harder to find, and his people needed to eat. The corrupted energy veiling Hyrule had even sunk into her mountains, poisoning the rock and causing cave-ins to happen more frequently than usual.
He grunted in annoyance. He almost dared Ganondorf to show his face here again. From the corner of his eye, he saw Link approaching, a somewhat troubled expression on his face. Darunia addressed the Goron supervising the tunnel excavation.
"A bit wider, Jorga. I want that ceiling reinforced. We can't afford another cave-in."
The female Goron in charge bowed her head. "Of course, Elder." She turned to convey his orders to the other Gorons waiting patiently to continue their work.
Turning to the young man at his elbow, Darunia adopted as much of a smile as he could under the circumstances. "Brother! I see you're feeling better. The hot springs work wonders."
Link stretched his arms above his head, demonstrating. "They certainly do," he agreed with a grin.
Darunia eyed him shrewdly. "There's something on your mind."
The youth scratched the back of his neck idly. "There is…"
Darunia chuckled. "Well, spit it out, Brother. You have my ear."
Link's blue eyes met Darunia's warm brown ones. "Darunia, who are the Sky People?"
The question caught him so off guard Darunia nearly laughed outright. Instead, he clapped Link on the shoulder—which made him wince—and chuckled lightly.
"The Sky People? You don't know, Brother?"
Confused, Link just shrugged. The Goron Elder laughed again. "The Sky People are your ancestors, Brother. They were the first of the Hylians."
From Link's expression, this surprised him. The Goron shook his head in disbelief, leading the young man back into the city. Descending a level, Darunia lumbered down a seldom-used pathway. The temperature rose a degree or two as they walked along.
Eventually, they reached a dark, hollowed out cavern. Link reached for his lantern. At Darunia's instruction, he lit the many torches lining the walls, allowing him to see the walls and ceiling.
"Link, welcome to one of the oldest tunnels in the city. We call it 'the tunnel of ages'."
Adorning the cave walls and ceiling were paintings; somewhat crude drawings made by hand. They were obviously ancient and varied greatly. Most depicted gorons, but there were some that featured Hylians and other creatures of Hyrule. Black lines separated some paintings from others, and Darunia told Link these represented the beginnings and ends of stories from the past. Pointing out a few well-known stories about the gorons, he settled back to watch Link. The tiny blue fairy that was Link's companion flew around the ceiling, as curious as Link.
"The Sky People were the first Hylians?" he asked after a few moments of studying the cave's painted walls, turning to him for clarification.
"We Gorons are an ancient race, Link. We pre-date even the Hylians." Darunia paused to chuckle. "Of course, it's important to understand that your people existed both before the Demon War and after."
"The Demon War?"
Darunia was surprised. "You don't know? I thought every Hylian knew of the story of the Goddess Hylia and the great Demon War."
Navi flew down and landed on Link's shoulder. "Link was never told the story. But I have heard the story many times, Elder Darunia."
Darunia sat and rested against the cave's wall, waving a hand to tell the fairy to continue. Next to him was a stout drum that Darunia pulled in front of him. Link sat cross-legged across from Darunia.The goron began to pound on the drum, a steady and hypnotic song like a heartbeat.
"The Bolero of Fire," he explained to Link with a wink. "For the story."
Navi flew to the center of the room, folding her arms over her chest and taking a breath before beginning her story.
Many thousands of years after the Old World died, and the ancient gods had created the earth from its ashes, the land now known as Hyrule was covered in Darkness.
Time moved no more, and the land was devoid of life. Sent by the Old World gods, three golden goddesses descended upon the chaos—Din, the goddess of power, Nayru, the goddess of wisdom, and Farore, the goddess of courage. Together, the blessed sisters breathed life back into the world.
Din bestowed her strength upon the earth, making it fertile, hardy, and sustaining.
Nayru poured out her wisdom, granting the world the spirit of order.
Farore shed light into the darkness, her rich soul creating all life forms and all races of Hyrule.
The three golden goddesses then departed for the heavens, the home of the gods. At the place where the goddesses left the earth, the golden relic known as the Triforce could be found. To protect this relic and watch over the peoples of Hyrule, the goddesses appointed the goddess Hylia.
For a thousand years, Hylia and her subjects enjoyed an era of prosperity. The goddess dutifully watched over her people, protecting them from the threat of the Darkness, should it ever return.
However, nothing could keep the spirits of evil at bay forever, and demons soon crawled out from the shadows to wreak havoc upon the world of light.
The ensuing battles were unmatched in ferocity, and many lives were lost. The demons had come to take for themselves the golden power protected by the goddess. The power of the Triforce was without equal, and held the ability to grant the wish of its holder.
Though the goddess Hylia commanded many armies, who fought valiantly at her side, they were not able to defeat the king of the demons. With the fires of destruction threatening to consume the earth, the goddess Hylia gathered the survivors on an island and sent it skyward, far from the reach of the demon armies.
The survivors were her own people, who came to be known as the Hylians. To them she entrusted the Triforce, and they swore to protect it from the demon king who so desired its power.
On the surface, the goddess and one other remained behind. The goddess herself had chosen a hero among her people, a man of pure heart and soul who could wield the divine blade of Hylia.
This Hero met the Demon King in a battle that it is said was waged for days without end. At last, the Hero defeated his enemy, sealing him deep beneath the surface once again. With peace restored to the surface and the Hylians safe in the skies, all seemed well.
However, the Hero had fallen, gravely injured from his fight with the Demon King. To Hylia, he promised his eternal allegiance, swearing to forever protect the land he had given his life to save.
As death drew nearer, he pledged to fight at her side for as long as his spirit lived on.
Hylia's tears fell, mourning the loss of her Hero. The goddess chose then to shed her divinity and become mortal.
She vowed that his pure spirit would live on through the ages, and that the two of them would be reborn should ever the land of Hylia fall under the shadow of Darkness again.
"…It wasn't until many years later that the Hylians living in the heavens returned to the surface world. It was they who established the Kingdom of Hyrule. It is said that the bloodline of the Royal Family contains the blood of the goddess Hylia reincarnated," Navi finished, hovering in between Link and Darunia.
Darunia nodded, playing the drum steadily. "We Gorons have passed down this story for centuries. It was our ancestors who fought alongside Hylia, and it was a goron who met the first reincarnation of the Hero when he returned to the surface."
He pointed a large finger at a painting on the wall. It depicted a goron, a pack on his back and a map in his hand, next to a Hylian youth.
Link studied the drawing more closely, unable to ignore what he knew was plain to the other two. The Hylian figure wore a green uniform and carried a sword on his back that shone with divine light. The reincarnation of the Hero…
Darunia spoke his thoughts aloud. "The first Hylian to return was none other than the Hero of old reborn. He appeared because this land was once again in danger from the same demon horde that attacked it all those years ago."
Link didn't reply; his were eyes fixed on the hazy face of the Hero, both unknown to him and all-too-familiar.
Darunia shifted, coming to kneel next to Link. "Now you know why you were chosen, Brother. Ganondorf brought darkness back to Hyrule. The land of the goddess Hylia has need of its hero, and so you have come."
Hours later, Link stood in the room provided to him by the gorons, securing his pack before slinging it over his shoulder. Goron City had been his home in the weeks of his recovery, but it was time to leave.
"Link?" Navi called from outside before flying through the hole in the wall that served as a door.
He looked up as he was slipping the Master Sword into its sheath. "Yeah?"
"Are you okay? You seemed a little…distant," she said warily. "When you left the tunnel of ages…"
"I'm fine, Navi," he said, his tone clipped.
She fluttered anxiously, watching as he readied himself to leave. His injuries had healed enough that traveling was no longer dangerous, and she knew Link planned to head to Zora's Domain straightaway.
She also knew him well enough by now to know the revelations in the old tunnel had affected him. In what way, she was not yet sure.
He spoke, surprising her. "There's so much I don't know, Navi." Unsure what he meant, she waited until he continued. "There are so many things that I feel, and I can't explain them…like this," Link said, drawing the Master Sword from its place. "The more I wield it, the more I think it's…" He stopped and glanced at her, shaking his head. "But that's impossible."
"What is?" she asked, cocking her head.
Link hesitated. "Sometimes it feels as if the sword is…alive, somehow," he explained.
Navi flew closer, inspecting the blade's shining surface. "You've formed a connection to it. That's not uncommon, Link."
"It's more than that," he insisted. "It's like it can read my mind, and acts on an impulse before I finish the thought, or it shows me what to do if I freeze up."
Navi gazed up at him, uncertain what to make of what he was telling her. "The Master Sword is an ancient blade, Link. It was forged when the magic permeating the land was much stronger. Perhaps it is the magical properties of the blade you are tapping into. It's just another confirmation that you are indeed the Hero of Time."
Link studied the reflection of his face in the metal's surface. Holding it so close, it only displayed a fragment of his features. One striking blue iris stared back at him.
"I remember when you first left the forest and looked upon the land of Hyrule for the first time," Navi was saying. "The Hero fought to protect his home; the land was very dear to his heart, as I know it is to you. From the moment you first saw the world outside the forest, you felt the connection."
Navi was rattling off more reasons why it was obvious that Link was the Hero's reincarnation when a thought struck him.
"Navi," he interrupted her spiel. "You said the goddess Hylia became mortal, and that her descendants became the Royal Family of Hyrule?"
Navi tucked her hair behind her ears. "Well, yes—"
"You said like the hero, she is reborn whenever Hyrule is in danger…"
"Yes…"
"So, that means—"
"Am I interrupting?" Sheik's muffled voice cut over Link's hurried voice.
Link turned abruptly. "Er, no. Not at all."
Sheik eyed him. "I apologize. But I have unpleasant news."
"What is it?" Navi asked.
Sheik turned his back to them, casting a glance at Link over his shoulder. "Zora's Domain has been attacked."
~oOo~
West Clocktown, Termina
Storefronts and town houses whipped by, their colors and textures blending together. As he ran, he kept to one side to avoid any passersby or shop owners loitering in the road. He started up the steady incline on West Clocktown Road, panting as he increased his pace and pushed his body.
His morning run was something he'd come to look forward to. It released some of the tension and kept his strength up. Usually after his run he'd cool off before training, but today he knew Sienna was waiting.
From the height of the sun in the sky, she might be up by now. Dark sped up, thinking she might be worried if she woke up and he was gone.
At the top of the hill, he slowed to catch his breath. He stopped outside the window of a jewelry shop, and found his eye drawn to some of the rings on display.
Wedding rings weren't uncommon; married couples exchanged simple, decorative bands on their wedding day. Engagement rings, however, like the ones on display, were usually only given by nobles to other nobles. These particular ones were expensive. The jewelry store carried a lot of high-ticket items.
"Looking for anything in particular?" a feminine voice asked, her tone teasing.
Dark spun to see the young woman watching the shop. Her hair was long, blonde and straight, and her eyes were onyx black. Her mouth curving into a seductive smile, she cast a glance at his half-naked body.
"We have something for everyone here," she told him, gesturing to the window display.
"I'm not a nobleman," he said dismissively, running a hand over the back of his neck to wipe off the sweat from the exertion.
She giggled. "Could've fooled me with those looks," she said playfully, her black eyes tracing his features.
Dark resisted the urge to laugh. He had vaguely aristocratic features, sure, but no one had ever mistaken him for one.
"I was just looking," he said, turning to leave.
She placed a hand on his arm, her fingernails scratching lightly as he moved away. He had to fight his instinct to wrench away at the touch of a stranger. He gritted his teeth, looking back at her.
"Are you busy tonight?" she asked, smiling at him again.
"I have a girlfriend."
The words felt foreign rolling off his tongue. Was Sienna his girlfriend? They hadn't had a chance to talk as of yet.
"Too bad," the woman said, her lips pouting.
Dark slipped his arm from her grip, breaking into a jog once again. She waved coyly as he headed up the road. A few turns later, he was on Greywood Road. His eyes turned to the house, and he stopped. Something was wrong.
He slid up to the front door, which lay in slivers in the front entrance. Cautiously he peered inside, only to be greeted by the creaking sound of armor, his only warning before a massive sword sliced through the air.
He jumped back, narrowly avoiding decapitation. The Darknut smashed its way through what remained of his front door, its glowing red eyes glaring at him beneath the full helmet.
"Not bad," a woman's voice commented, causing Dark to spin in surprise.
He was surrounded by Gerudo warriors. He'd never actually met any, but he'd heard of them. During the siege of Castle Town, he'd glimpsed a few on horseback. The one who'd spoken was clearly the leader of the group, toting a wickedly curved blade on her shoulder—the Gerudos' signature weapon.
"For a Hylian," she added, flashing her teeth menacingly.
Dark smirked, wishing he had his sword. He would've relished the chance to test his skills against a Gerudo. "Surprised? It won't be the last time."
She smiled, placing one hand on her hip. The Gerudo all dressed quite similar. Most of them wore lightweight garments that bared their arms, shoulders and midriffs—clothing that was meant for the hot desert climate that was their home. They wore very little armor and at most three weapons each. Perhaps two of those curved blades and a spear. Some bore a bow and quiver upon their backs.
Like most Gerudo, her hair was a deep shade of red, and tied into a loose knot at the back of her head. The others with her wore theirs in a similar fashion, and sported masks that covered them from under their noses to past their chins.
It was difficult to read their expressions, since they kept their eyes cold and neutral. Everything about these women spoke of their years of discipline, patience, and skill. Their abilities were legendary; they were the measuring stick for any serious swordsman.
Dark knew that unarmed as he was, he stood no chance. Still, he projected an air of confidence. He spread his feet and planted them, standing tall.
"Why are you here?" he asked, trying to buy for more time while he concocted a plan.
The leader, dressed in blue to indicate her higher status, spoke. "We've come for you."
Her tone was uncompromising.
"Don't be so sure of your success," he taunted.
The Gerudo woman laughed, lifting her weapon and crouching into a battle position. Instinctively, he mimicked her pose, even though he was weaponless and bare-chested. She didn't move, but her lips curled the slightest bit. His eyes narrowed.
The Darknut moved with a swiftness that belied its appearance. Dark ducked, sliding underneath the creature's reach. Thinking quickly, he seized the secondary sword strapped to the Darknut's back, using it to knock off one of its protective shoulder pads. It didn't react, other than to spin and try to separate his head from his body again.
The Gerudo leader let him strike the Darknut a few more times, cleaving off more pieces of its armor, before she held up a hand and commanded the thing to stop. It obeyed, which unnerved him.
Dark hadn't realized that the power of the Gerudo had grown enough that they could even control dark creatures as strong as Darknuts. It didn't bode well.
"Enough nonsense," the leader muttered. She pointed her weapon at him. "You're coming with us."
"Not likely," he growled, brandishing his stolen Darknut sword.
"Bring her," the woman ordered one of her guards.
A pair of guards slipped into the house, emerging with a bound and gagged Sienna. Dark's hopes that she hadn't been home when the Gerudo had arrived sunk. She shot him a look of pure terror. Her eyes pleaded with him to explain what was happening.
"Release her!" he roared at the Gerudo leader, charging at her.
She parried his blow, meeting his gaze as their blades locked. "Now why would we do that when keeping her guarantees you'll be a good boy and cooperate?" she grinned at him, disarming him with a sharp twist of the curved blade. Dark was knocked backwards with a swift kick to his chest.
Dark grunted as he hit the unforgiving street hard; it was no use fighting when the odds were so against him. Gerudo guards quickly seized him, binding his hands and hauling him back on his feet. The Darknut knelt to retrieve the sword he'd stolen, its phantom eyes giving him what he assumed was a dirty look.
"Good," the Gerudo captain said, eyeing his bonds somewhat skeptically. "Keep a close eye on him. Let's go."
"Yes, Captain Imara," one of the guards replied, wrapping a hand around Dark's arm.
Sienna shouted something at him, but the gag muffled her voice. Dark looked over his shoulder at her, willing her to hear his reassuring thoughts. The panic on her face was the last thing he saw before the Darknut's fist came down on his head, knocking him unconscious.
~oOo~
Hyrule Castle
For perhaps the thousandth time, Ganondorf studied the mark on the back of his hand. It glowed faintly, emitting only a soft aura of light.
The Triforce of Power pulsed at a steady rate like a second heartbeat, fueling him in a way the organ in his chest never could. It was the Triforce of Power that kept him alive now, and it was Power that fed his ambition.
He looked over the land of Hyrule, a sense of satisfaction sweeping over him. A place like Hyrule needed a strong leader, and the gods had deemed him worthy.
He was by no means ignorant of the attitude the Hylians held towards him—they thought him a tyrant. They were fools. The Triforce of Power had chosen him, and it had used him as a vessel to bring about the changes this world so desperately needed.
In all the ways Hyrule had declined, Ganondorf would see that it rose again, rising even above its former glory.
His fingers curled around the edges of the throne's arms; indeed, he would remake the world into what it should be. He belonged at the pinnacle of power. The superior Gerudo race belonged here. For too long they had been exiles, wasting away in a desert. The corner of his lip twitched. But the desert had made them powerful, too. It had made them ready for this.
He stood, his long cape flourishing behind him. The throne room he stood in was the only room he had ordered to be untouched by the invasion. Gerudo forces had pillaged the rest of the castle, taking with them any valuables and destroying any artifacts they could find of Hyrule's former reign.
But this place they had left alone. The magnificent vaulted ceiling with its pristine stone archways, the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, the shrine depicting the goddesses surrounding the Triforce, and the throne itself, were his. This room truly reflected power and superiority.
Ganondorf paused at a window on the right, gazing out at the horizon. He could barely see it, but the dusty, red-brown cliffs that marked the beginning of the Gerudo valley could be spotted. He had been debating for some time whether to return.
The Triforce of Power had been immensely useful, but its power was in some ways…limited. It sounded ridiculous to him—a limit to power? If he truly wanted everything the land of Hyrule could give him, he needed the remaining two pieces. Ganondorf knew without doubt that the answer of how to do so lay in the sands.
The people he ruled over might have thought him a simple barbarian, but Ganondorf was no fool. He had been educated by the wisest of the Gerudo, and been blessed with centuries of ancient knowledge passed down through the generations.
Originally having been scholars and students of magic, not warriors, the Gerudo preserved their vast knowledge of the world, ever increasing their stores of recorded history. To keep these treasures safe, they had built a temple in the desert, keeping it safe from outsiders.
In his youth, Ganondorf had spent many hours there, studying the ancient texts and meditating, preparing himself for the day when he would become King of the Gerudo and take what rightfully belonged to his people. His hatred of the Hylians stemmed from thousands of years' worth of history. Even the Sheikah were his enemies.
The first of them had grown apart from the Gerudo, betraying them when they discovered that the power of the gods had returned to Hyrule. They tried to steal the power, and so the Hylians had exiled the Gerudo to the desert in distrust, forcing them to leave their true homeland.
Ganondorf's lips curled into a smirk. Hyrule was once again theirs. The traitorous Sheikah had been all but wiped out—he'd seen to that during the civil war. And now the Hylians remained under his boot and under his control.
It was in the desert temple that Ganondorf had confirmed the rumors of the power of the gods, thought to still be hidden somewhere in Hyrule. He hoped it would once again bestow upon him the knowledge of how to seize the power of the other two pieces.
The only question is where are those pieces to be found? He wondered, laying a hand on the cool surface of the glass. His eyes raked over the land of Hyrule all the way to the horizon, as if he would be able to spot them from this distance. His search was becoming more than frustrating. He needed to find them, and soon. Where are you? He seethed.
Ganondorf closed his eyes, resting his forehead against his raised arm. His eyes opening, he stared intently at what remained of Castle Town's gates. Come out and play, children. I'm ready for you.