AN:Hello again! I really liked, how this chapter turned out. Thanks again for everyone who reviewed/favorited/followed. I feel quite important! :D

Chapter 7

Link seated himself on a fallen trunk not far from the river. He tried to stay as far as possible from the bigger man. Had this been a normal and happy day, like most of his days had been until now, Link would have been mesmerized simply by the patterns the sunlight created, when its rays fell on the leaves of the trees on Hyrule field. Unfortunately Link was in no state of mind to regard the nature right then. From Link's perspective, he had only learnt the meaning of true fear a few days ago and the source of that emotion sat only few feet away from him, grinning arrogantly, when he noticed the hero's attitude about himself.

Ganondorf's eyes showed some signs of fire again. For some reason he was excited. He began speaking in his usual proud tone. Was he addressing it all to Link? He wasn't sure. Link, wasn't able to comprehend a single word.

Even if the sheer terror, Link had experienced only moments ago was gone, he still couldn't help but to dread the fiery man next to him. He had sad, he only wanted to talk to Link, not hurt him (for now), yet Link still wasn't able to shake of all of his wariness. He couldn't really pinpoint, why he feared the way he did, especially when he had never experienced anything like it before.

After some thinking Link convinced himself that it was because of the physical superiority and the fact that Link was completely unarmed right then. His Master Sword still lay where Ganondorf had thrown it, and Link knew he had no chance of retrieving it without getting caught. He shivered from only considering the consequences of such attempt.

Even still the aspiring hero understood the opportunity he faced. There was no guarantee that he would be alive tomorrow. Saving the realm seemed more futile every passing second. Even if he failed in everything else, Link still yearned for answers. If he were to die here, he at least wanted to know why he was dying!

Even if it was just for a moment, Link ignored his fear and forced the words out of his mouth: "Why-," he swallowed, "For what reason did you kill him, The Great Deku Tree?"

The bigger man stopped speaking after that question, clearly bothered by the sudden interruption of his speech. "What in the world are you prattling on about?"

Link felt his blood boiling again. He didn't wonder the reason anymore. He was angry.

"Don't you DARE to play dumb!" Link quickly stood up, crushing some flora in the process as he stomped next to the dark king to yell at his face. "He was my teacher! He was so kind to us all! What did he do to deserve such an end?! I KNOW it was your fault and please don't say it was only to get your hands on that stupid stone-"

Link was suddenly silenced with a hand on his mouth. With the sudden contact his previous fury vanished and made way for the terror to return. Ganondorf smirked. Link felt suddenly paralyzed.

"Did you live in that forest? If so, you probably don't know much about the world outside, do you now?"

No answer.

Ganondorf sighed. "That's what we thought. You are on this journey, without knowing anything about the land you are meddling with. Sit down boy, We will tell you a story since you seem to have absolutely no context what so ever to what is actually happening here."

A little warily Link sat down again. He refused to look to the other male, but implied he was listening. Ganondorf then began his story that would change the hero's perspective of the world and himself forever.

"You might understand as the normal state of this realm for what it was like seven years ago, when you were but a child. But what if We told you that such peace and harmony was not there until very recently?"

"What?" Link became a bit confused yet interested at the same time. Curiosity won over the fear.

"Do you know how many culturally diverge tribes have lived here in Hyrule? There are people like Us, the Gerudo tribe, the rock-eating, stubborn Gorons, the silent, the water worshipping Zoras, the forest children of Kokiri and their caretaker trees and finally that self-acclaimed 'master race' of Hylians."

"Do you hate those Hylians?" Link was almost oozing with curiosity, his earlier panic completely forgotten.

"Patience, We were just about to come there. Yes, We very much despise the Hylian race. Do you know why? Because there are so many and so different tribes and races in Hyrule, none of them ever seemed to agree on anything. Everyone wanted to acquire the Triforce, the power of the Goddesses that would grant any wish. The cultural chasm was too large for everyone to work together and live in peace. That time was called the era of chaos. There were small-scale wars all the time, and some tribes were even completely wiped out during those uncertain times."

Link had hard time trying to imagine the Hyrule field soaked in blood.

"Here is where the Hylians come in. At some point someone decided that there had been enough victims in those wars. What do they do? They needed to make the warring stop. How did they do that? They needed to unite all the tribes under a single ruler. That was accomplished by raising their own race to the pedestal. They took advantage of the age old fable that Hylians were the direct descendants of the Goddess of time, Hylia. They named themselves after her and spread the rumour that they could hear the will of Goddesses with their long ears. It was not the cleverest plan of all time, but it did the trick for the masses. Soon after the Hylians were praised as the master race and the period of endless conflict was about to end. The royal family of Hyrule was established not long after, and the Triforce was given to them for safekeeping. Since then the Triforce has granted its powers only to those of royal descend."

At this point Link had to voice some of his thoughts: "I think they used some wrong ways to achieve it, but at least there was peace. I still don't understand, why you hate them so much!"

"It really isn't that easy to achieve everlasting peace. Surely it was a good solution at the time, but at some point someone would begin to doubt the whole story of Goddess in mortal form. There would be a revolution at some point. No, if they wanted permanent peace they needed something stronger. And blood is strong. Nothing unites people better than a common enemy. The problem was, there was no such thing. There was no race that was morally considered pure evil in the midst of all those tribes, so they decided to make one. Our tribe received the unfortunate fate to become the scapegoat for the purpose of uniting rest of the tribes. A murder of the royal heir was staged and the blame was pinned on to the Gerudo tribe. As a punishment we were exiled to live in the desert where the crop doesn't grow and the environment is hostile in every way. We were forced to resort in to thieving to stay alive. That's where our reputation as a tribe of thieves comes from."

Link suddenly went very serious. "And the Great Deku Tree? I understand now why you hate the Hylians so much, but what did the Great Deku Tree ever do to deserve such fate?!"

Ganondorf replied in equally serious tone: "When we were exiled from Hyrule, we sought refuge from the forest of the Kokiri. The Kokiri are all children, so they never took part in the warring between the tribes, nor did they express loyalty to the new monarchy. Instead they remained neutral, isolated in their forest. The Gerudo asked the forest to let them in, but they were rejected by the same tree you call your teacher."

Link was shocked. He had so many questions, but he had a great urge to defend his teacher first. "That probably was the smart decision! He couldn't put the children in danger, so he obeyed the kingdom!"

"Perhaps, yet in the process he sacrificed countless of innocent lives!" Both of them were about to boil over.

Link knew what he would say next could very well cost him his life, yet he forced the words out of his mouth. "I- I understand you feel wronged, but no matter how your tribe has suffered, it doesn't justify what you have done to the world! You have killed people! You have destroyed the world order for your personal revenge!"

Ganondorf was clearly irritated, but he only just kept his calm. "And what about all of those monsters you have ended on your little journey. Don't they deserve to live, just because they do what their instinct tells them?"

Again, Link's defiance was completely reversed as his own moral standards shook.

"I- I don't- But I had to-"

"You don't have to do anything. You left for your journey from your own free will. Carry that responsibility or quit."

Link swallowed. His heart was aching because of this new point of view. He would think about it later. He still had some unanswered questions left. He stayed silent for a moment and changed the subject.

"You said that Kokiri are all children, but I am no child anymore? What does that mean?"

Ganondorf laughed a bit. "Well that obviously means that you are not a Kokiri."

That was exactly the answer Link had been dreading. He felt deeply hurt. He wasn't who he had thought he had been. But honestly speaking, he had had a feeling that he wasn't exactly the same as everyone else.

Link decided he would have to work on this too later, but right now he had to push forward.

"You also said that the Triforce only chooses members of the royal family. According to everyone I was chosen by the Triforce of courage. I don't understand!"

"At some point of history some of the Hylians diverged from the main population and became their own race we know as Sheikah. They closely resemble their relatives in appearance, but their ideology is completely different. The Sheikah were probably those who disagreed with the royal family for a reason or another so they isolated themselves in the Kakariko village north-west from here. Some years ago, around the time you were born, they decided to overthrow the old monarchy. The Sheikah allied with the lesser branch of the royal family and prepared for revolution. Unfortunately for them, the plan was leaked. The revolution was extinguished before it sparked. It was now given that Sheikah could not be trusted. They were too intelligent race to be exiled like we were, so the entire race was massacred instead. Their bodies and the bodies of the lesser branch of the royal family now lie under the soil of Kakariko village. The whole incident's losing side had only three possible survivors: The sole survivor of the Sheikah tribe, the one who leaked the plan and a woman from the lesser branch who went missing with her child, the baby prince. The mother and child were never seen again. They too are presumed long dead. The whole incident has pretty much been forgotten by the people and history only knows it in name only as the Hyrulian civil war."

Link's breath quickened. Surely Ganondorf wasn't implying that…

"With that much information you can surely make out the rest." Ganondorf was relieved that the hero had not realised to ask about how he related to the Triforce of power. He wasn't ready to talk about it.

Link's head had been filled with confusing information. He wasn't sure about anything anymore. He didn't know whom to trust. Falling on his knees, he was quite ready to faint.

We need to leave now, hero of time. But know that We will return soon. As a last gift We are giving you this. A small bottle flew to the ground next to Link. A blue ball was swirling inside.

"Navi…" Link opened the lid of the bottle with his weak hands. He felt bad forgetting completely about her. Link turned to Ganondorf, but the man was no longer there. Link felt the final drops of energy escaping him and he went out cold.

AN:It was so much fun reading the Hyrule Historia and fitting the historical events in the story! I love to speculate about everything related to the Zeldaverse. I hope you have enjoyed the chapter!