Chapter Two: A Call for Aid
"Princess, it is time to get up," Impa said as she entered Zelda's chamber and pulled back a set of curtains, allowing the early morning sun to rush in through the window. Zelda stretched out her limbs wearily and squinted her eyes as the sunlight reached her face. She drowsily sat up and looked at Impa as though she had not slept for one minute during the night.
"What's wrong?" Impa asked, "Didn't you get enough sleep last night?"
"I did," Zelda answered, "but I had this strange dream. I couldn't make sense of it. I was standing in a field I didn't recognize. Off in the distance there was a mountain range and above the range were some storm clouds. The clouds began to spread over the field until they came to a forest on the southern edge of the field and then all but one of them dissipated. The wind changed and carried the last cloud to the east and over an ocean where it began to rain over a grey desert. On the ground where it rained, a shadow formed. It was small at first, but it soon began to move from place to place and each time in moved, it grew larger until it returned to the spot where it originated.
"The shadow then began to move north over a large body of water to an island and the cloud followed it. In the middle of the island there was a fortress, but many snowcapped mountains hid it. Once the shadow finally came to the fortress the storm cloud began to glow with a strange light. The light shinned only on the edges of the shadow, but slowly the darkness started to recede. Yet before the light could do much, darkness formed with the cloud and turned it all to black until only one spot of light was left. As soon as the cloud was dimmed, the shadow consumed the fortress and then the darkness erupted and covered the world.
"What do you suppose the dream means?" Zelda asked her attendant as she rose to her feet.
"I do not know," Impa replied, "but it seems to me to be some kind of ill omen."
"I wonder if the forest is a symbol…" the princess stopped mid sentence as she realized her nursemaid was staring inquisitively at her.
"A symbol for what?" The Sheikah woman asked.
"Nothing," Zelda said bashfully, "I was just thinking out loud, that's all."
"Link," Impa said abruptly, "Is that what you think the forest is a symbol of?"
"No," Zelda said as she shook her head gently, "It could mean so many other things. It could not be Link. No one has seen him for thirteen years."
"I suppose you're right," Impa replied, "He could be dead for all we know."
"No," Zelda snapped, "He isn't dead, he's alive. I know it." Zelda held the back of her right hand in front of her and gazed intently at the symbol of the Triforce.
"Somehow, the Triforce of Wisdom tells me he still lives," the princess said in a softer tone. "But if he is alive, why has he not returned to Hyrule? Doesn't he know that…" Zelda mumbled the last few words of her sentence so softly that even Impa with her acute hearing could not understand her words. Impa saw that the princess was drifting into a depression. The same depression she fell into every time she thought of the boy from the forest.
"Come now princess," Impa said in a cheerful tone, "That's enough talk about dreams. I'm sure it will make sense to you soon enough, but we don't have time to analyze it now. We have to prepare for the ball tonight. Remember your father put you in charge of organizing it and there is still much to do before it starts tonight."
"Organizing a ball, what an honorable charge that is," Zelda said sarcastically. "The only reason my father wants to throw this celebration is so I can find a husband."
"And what is wrong with that?" Impa asked even though she did not expect to receive an answer. "Your father is worried about you princess. You are already twenty-three years old, and still unmarried."
"There are many people who are not married by my age," Zelda retorted, "Why is it such a problem then that I remain unwed?"
"It is not common for a woman of your standing to wait so long before taking a husband," Impa answered.
"I know," Zelda sighed, "I just wish father could understand I'm not ready yet."
"Will you at least try to humor your father tonight?" Impa asked. "At least act like you are enjoying yourself."
"I will try," Zelda said, "but it is frustrating having to put up with those awful princes from our neighboring countries. I swear, they think they are the sun itself simply because they are royalty. I can not see how they can think themselves so much greater than their people. Some of the most honorable men who ever lived were of the lowest birth." Impa knew exactly who Zelda was referring to, but she did not react to the princess's comment.
After Zelda dressed, she and Impa proceeded to the hall where that night's celebration was to be held. The princess oversaw everything from decorations to the evening's feast, the whole time wishing she could be doing something more important. She recalled the events when she helped the sages and the hero of time, imprison the evil Gerudo king Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm. During that time she was doing something worthwhile, something admirable, instead of organizing some frivolous ball for no real reason, but the question that kept creeping into her mind was when had she done those admirable things? She did not know if it was six or thirteen years ago or if she had really done anything at all.
Zelda remembered hazily the seven years between the time Ganondorf managed to steal the Triforce of Power and the time Link defeated the Gerudo king, but she had trouble determining whether or not those things had ever happened. To her the seven years of the alternate past seemed to be a strange dream, which she had when she was ten years old. All of the sages had a similar experience. They had a recollection of the alternate past, but they knew they never actually did the things they remembered from that time frame, at least not in the reality they now knew.
Zelda had spent hundreds of hours trying to comprehend exactly what she had and had not done. She would have gone mad had it not been for Impa. Her attendant was the sage of shadow and had experienced the same confusion Zelda and the other sages had. By talking with Impa and the other sages the princess managed to find a certain degree of closure. It was a luxury, which Link did not have. The hero of time actually lived through the alternate past and then the real one. Link was not confused as to whether or not he had done certain things. He did all of the things he remembered. Not even the sages remembered the Hyrule's alternate history the way he did. The only person who could fully comprehend Link's adventure was the guardian fairy Navi who followed him in his journey through time, but she left the hero when he completed his task and defeated Ganondorf. After a short time of trying to deal with the alternate past on his own, Link left Hyrule in search of his fairy companion. He hoped that if he could find her he might have someone who could understand him and what he had been through, some one who could help him preserve his sanity. Zelda never saw or heard from Link again after that.
For the most part Zelda was a cheery person. It was only when she thought of the boy from the forest that she slipped out of that happiness. The princess longed to see Link again, to have some form of conformation that he was okay. She felt guilty for what happened to him. She thought she was responsible for Link's inner turmoil. After all she was the one who sent him on the quest to stop Ganondorf. Zelda always felt deep down, that if she had not sent Link on that quest he would have been able to lead a normal life. If she had never sent him to get the Triforce before Ganondorf, he would have never pulled the Master Sword from the pedestal of time. Ganondorf never would have captured the Triforce of Power and Link never would have been sealed away in the Sacred Realm for seven years.
Zelda also knew Link blamed himself for what happened to Hyrule. He thought because he led Ganondorf to the Triforce he was at fault for Hyrule's destruction and the death and torment of thousands of people in the alternate past. After Link completed his quest, Zelda tried to explain to him that it was truly Ganondorf who was responsible for all the suffering of Hyrule's people. She also tried to point out that because no one remembered the alternate history they could not remember their sufferings either, but the princess's words did nothing to help the hero forgive himself. Zelda wondered where Link was at that moment. She wished she could understand why her old friend never returned to Hyrule, but she knew she would probably never receive an answer.
Though Zelda was less than thrilled with her appointed task, Hyrule castle was soon ready for the night's festivities. With the castle prepared, the princess then preceded to prepare herself for the event. She quickly bathed and then dressed herself in a gown made of the finest silk the world had to offer. Her ladies in waiting then brushed her hair and braided portions of it in a highly elegant style. Once she was ready she proceeded to the ballroom and greeted her father who was already waiting for her and dressed in his royal attire.
"Ah, my dear Zelda," the king of Hyrule said as he welcomed his daughter with a hug, "You grow more beautiful by the day. I dare say that I have the most gorgeous daughter in the world. The man that you choose to marry will be considered the luckiest man in existence."
"Father," Zelda sighed, wishing to comment on her marital status, but instead chose to remain silent. She did not wish upset her father, but the king knew his child well enough that he discerned the princess's protest in a word.
"I know you feel you are not ready to wed and I am sure you have guessed the true purpose of this ball, but you must understand Zelda, I want to make sure you find someone who will take care of you when I am gone.
"I can take care of myself," Zelda replied somewhat harshly, "I do not need some arrogant prince to protect me. I can handle myself. In fact I'd wager I have more skill with a sword than any prince who shows up tonight. I've spent more time training with weapons than any of them."
"That's not what I mean," the king said in an apologetic tone. "I meant that you would be taken care of emotionally. I want to see you happy."
"Why should I be happy?" Zelda asked sternly, "many people in the world are miserable. Why should I know happiness simply because I am royalty?" The king then gave Zelda a disappointed look and the princess quickly apologized, "I am sorry father, it's just, I've had a lot on my mind today." Zelda then spotted Malon, a girl from a nearby ranch and one of Zelda's few friends who was neither one of her attendants nor one of the sages of Hyrule. Knowing that her father would have her mingling with self-obsessed prince for a large portion of the evening, Zelda took leave of the king and went over to visit with Malon.
"I wish I knew what was troubling her, Impa," the Hyrulian king said to the Sheikah woman who was dressed more like she was going to war than to a ball.
"Don't worry too much about her sire," Impa pleaded. "Lately the princess has been worried about a friend of hers."
"Wait, let me guess," the king interrupted, "It's that boy from the forest." Impa simply nodded indicating to the king that he was correct. "Zelda sure thinks a lot about that boy considering she only knew him for a few months over a decade ago," the king continued.
"Yes well, it seemed like much longer to Zelda," Impa said. With out another word the king knew what the Sheikah meant.
"Still," the king said, "It is clear that boy does not care about my daughter, otherwise he would have made some attempt to contact her in the last thirteen years."
"I feel the same way," Impa replied, "though I would not admit it to the princess, I just wish she could accept the fact that he is never going to comeback to Hyrule."
Meanwhile on the other side of the hall, Zelda was busy conversing with Malon. Soon after Link left, Zelda became friends with the farm girl and almost everyone else who knew the hero of time in an attempt to get to know him better through having common friends. After Zelda and Malon talked with one another for a little over a quarter hour, Zelda's father whisked the princess away and took her to greet all the royalty from nearby lands that had come to enjoy the nights events.
For Zelda, the evening seemed to pass by like a snail inching its way across an ocean of molasses, and the night went almost exactly like she predicted. She first was forced to meet with various princes from other lands. Once all the guests had arrived, they sat down to an enormous feast courtesy of the king of Hyrule. During the meal the princess saw many familiar faces. She spotted Darunia, the big boss of the Gorons, Ruto the Zora princess, and Nabooru who had led the Gerudo ever since their king, Ganondorf, vanished over thirteen years ago. Those three individuals were sages of Hyrule and people Zelda knew very well. The only sages that did not attend the ball were Saria, who rarely left the forest and Rauru, whose place of residence was in the Sacred Realm. Zelda sat next to the sages during the feast and talked about many things with them including her dream. During that time she felt she was in her proper place, a feeling she did not get around the princes her father had introduced her to.
After the feast the main event took place as the guests proceeded to the ballroom to dance. Zelda found that the princes were arguing amongst themselves for the pleasure a dancing with her. Zelda hid her disgust and wished the night would end as the men tried in vain to win her affection.
Midway through the ball the captain of the king's guard entered the room, walked over to the monarch and whispered something into his ear. The king immediately left the room once the guard finished his message. Zelda noticed the exchange and decided to follow her father and find out what the captain had said, but at the time she was stuck dancing with one of the princes. Rather than finish the dance, the princess decided to feign weariness. She told the man she was with that she needed to get some fresh air. The prince offered to go with her, but she gracefully declined. Zelda followed her father out of the room, but she did not allow her presence to be detected by the king, instead she stayed out of sight.
The captain of the guard led the king to a man who was standing outside the ballroom in a wide hall. The captain introduced the man as a herald of prince Anthros of Asrenath. At first Zelda thought the man had come to talk about her, as princes often sent their heralds to inquire about her hand in marriage, but as the princess listened she learned that the man's message was of a much more urgent nature.
"Your majesty," the messenger said with a bow as he saw the king. "I come to you by order of my master, prince Anthros, to humbly request your help. As you are no doubt aware a sudden infestation of a band of demons known as the Siragons has plagued the eastern lands for the last two and a half years." Zelda was a bit confused by what exactly the Siragons were. She had never actually seen one, but she had heard many awful tales about the creatures. Fortunately for Hyrule, no Siragon had ever been spotted within or near its borders, something Zelda was very grateful for.
"These beasts have destroyed many nations and terrorized the people of the east," the messenger continued. "It was these foul creatures that were responsible for the fall of Acromiar and its great army. Long did king Tarreus of Asrenath try to rid his land the scourge of the Siragons, but alas the grey desert of Siragoth, from which the demons come, is right on Asrenath's borders and recently the population of the Siragons has exploded." As soon as the herald mentioned the grey desert, Zelda wondered if the desert in her dream the previous night was Siragoth and if the Siragons were what was represented by the shadow.
"My king tried to flush the demons out of the desert," the herald said to the king, "but the black mountains surrounding Siragoth have made the land difficult to conquer and have allowed the demons to stay Asrenath's mighty army.
"During a battle with the Siragons, the king was stricken with a terrible illness and has been in a deep sleep for many months. Since that time my lord Anthros has led his father's armies against Siragoth with little successes.
"Recently though, the Siragons attacked Cathor. They destroyed much of the Carthorian army and the king was also stricken with the same illness our king suffers from now. Carthor is now in shambles as a result of the Siragon invasion. It has been reported by Asrean spies that the Siragon army that invaded Carthor has made its way to the island of Lorshimnen. Since that time, prince Anthros has been sending word to all free nations of the known world and to ask for their help. He believes that if the army in Lorshimnen is put down, the forces of Siragoth will be weak enough to be forced out of Siragoth by our troops and be destroyed once and for all.
"Your prince is very bold indeed if he thinks he can unite the nations of this world," the king of Hyrule said, "To my knowledge the Siragons have not yet been met with a unified opposition. What makes Anthros think he can rally the world against them now?'
"Because," the herald replied, "a few months ago the Siragons located what the Lorshimnenites believe to be to be the fortress Ulron-Chi,"
As soon as Zelda heard the name of Ulron-Chi, she concluded that her dream was indeed a warning about the Siragons. The princess did not know much about the fortress, all of her knowledge concerning the ancient structure came from a single passage she stumbled across when she was studying legends from other lands. According to legend, a small army of composed Hylians and Sheikah managed to hold off an army twenty times its size for ten years. After the Hylians and the Sheikah finally defeated their enemies the goddesses blessed the fortress and placed inside it a great treasure. After the war the Hylians and the Sheikah began to quarrel over the treasure and they raised their weapons against one another. The two races fought each other until less than a dozen men remained on each side. After witnessing so much bloodshed on account of Ulron-Chi's great treasure, the king of the Hylians and the king of the Sheikah agreed that the treasure should not be possessed by either race. So the two kings left the fortress and decided never to return, but in doing so the location of Ulron-Chi was lost.
"What?!" the king replied in astonishment. "I thought Ulron-Chi was merely a myth. Men have sought that fortress for thousands of years and never found it.
"Fortunately, the men of Lorshimnen managed to posses the fortress before the Siragons and they were also able to defend it against the demons' initial onslaught.
"Tell me," the king of Hyrule said anxiously, "what of the treasure that was rumored to be held there?"
"The Lorshimnenites found no valuables in Ulron-Chi," answered the herald.
"Let the Siragons take the fortress then," said the king in a huff. "If there is nothing of value there, what does it matter?"
"Prince Anthros is worried that if the Siragons take Ulron-Chi, we will never be able to rid the world of them."
"Father," said Zelda in a respectful yet authoritative tone as she revealed herself, "I think we should aid the Asreans and the Lorshimnenites."
"Why?" the king asked, seeming somewhat cross with his daughter for eaves dropping on him. Zelda then took her father aside and explained to him her dream and how she believed it meant they should help in the fight against the Siragons.
"In the past when I have ignored your prophetic dreams, many evil things have occurred," the king said quietly to his daughter. "Very well, we shall send troops to aid them." The king then left his daughter's side, to tell Anthros's messenger his decision.
"I think there is something else the Siragons are after other than a place to hold off their enemies," Zelda said beneath her breath.
Link sat up in a cold sweat as he awoke from another nightmare. The Hyrulian tried to calm himself down as the images from his dream forced their way into his conscious mind. It was not uncommon for Link to have nightmares, but the one he had just awoken from was particularly disturbing.
In his dream he stood amongst a large army made up of Calrigan mercenaries. Off in the distance a host of Siragons was marching towards Link and his men. When the Siragons attacked, Link discovered that he was paralyzed. He watched helplessly as the Siragons slaughtered his army, but as the troop's numbers diminished, Link realized that the army was also composed of other people from his past. One by one the hero watched the people, who were once his friends, slain by the demons of Siragoth, while they cried out Link's name, begging for his help, but the hero could still not move.
The last person the Siragons killed was Saria, Link's best friend growing up. They grabbed her from behind and slit her throat as she ran towards Link calling out for him. He tried to move, but his muscles did not respond. Once the entire army was destroyed, one of the Siragons walked up to Link and said, "Some hero you turned out to be." The Siragons then left him alone with the hacked and hewn bodies of his former friends and allies.
When Link awoke he found himself utterly alone in the midst of a dark forest. Neither his old friends nor the Siragons were anywhere to be seen. The only creature remotely near him was his horse Epona who was sleeping on the other side of a smoldering fire pit. Link stood up and began to pace as he tried to remove the images of the dream from his mind. After a few minutes Link laid back down on the hard ground. He had no pillow or even a blanket. His bed was the earth. Fortunately it was a warm night, so he had no use for such things.
As Link tried to get back to sleep, the graphic images of thousands of dead people managed to creep back into his mind. Each time the pictures returned, Link snapped back to alertness. After an hour of failing to fall back to sleep, the Hylian decided it was no use and awoke Epona by gently nudging her side with his foot. The horse groggily arose and shook her head in frustration. It was becoming a common occurrence for Link to wake her late at night because he could not sleep.
The hero's unconscious mind was constantly plagued with nightmares and terrifying thoughts. He no longer had normal dreams. They had become so horrifying as of late that he scarcely got through a night without being frightened awake by his own mind. His nightmare-induced insomnia was beginning to take its toll. He was always tired, but he rarely got any sleep, but he still could not find refuge from his dreams even when awake. The nightmares had recently been forcing their way into the hero's waking mind. Everyday Link lost a bit more of his sanity and his thoughts grew darker and each time the Siragons attacked a settlement and he failed to stop them, the despair grew within him. Between his inability to stay the Siragons and his dreams at night, Link was trapped in an unending nightmare.
Link's entire body ached from lack of sleep as he and Epona rode through the dark forest, guided only by the moon's light which occasionally broke through the leaves of the trees. The Hyrulian was exhausted. He had not felt completely rested in over three years. There was always something in the back in his mind that that told him there was something he desperately needed to do, something that required finishing, but what that thing was he did not know. That in combination with his incessant nightmares kept him from ever really resting.
Link was currently in Lorshimnen, a large island in the northeast corner of the world. He had heard a rumor that the Siragons had been spotted in large numbers in the mountains of Lorshimnen and he instantly set off to investigate. He arrived on the southern coast of the island the previous day by ship and was currently headed for Lorshimnen's capital.
Not long after Link continued his traveling, a heavy rain began to spill from the sky. The water drenched the Hylian's clothes, but he did not mind. Link emerged from the forest as the sun rose, behind the dark storm clouds. Once he exited the woods he saw a small village about a quarter of a mile away. He decided to pass by the village and head straight for Lorshimnen's capital, but as he traveled north and closer to the village he heard a bone-chilling scream coming from the town.
Link immediately kicked Epona's sides and she began to gallop towards the village. As he drew closer, Link spotted the familiar shape of Siragons running about gathering supplies and killing anything that tried to stop them from retrieving their loot. Link drew his sword as he entered the town. He managed to hit a demon in the back before it even saw him, however he was spotted by several other Siragons the instant the first one fell. The Siragons tried to chase after him, but he was too fast while on Epona.
Link rode through the streets of the village cutting down Siragons whenever he saw them, but he always kept moving, otherwise the demons might encircle him and take him down. As Link rode through the village the screaming stopped, the Hyrulian desperately searched for survivors, but found none, only the bloodied bodies of the dead villagers.
There were fewer than forty Siragons in the village and Link managed to kill more than a dozen before he came across one of the Rimgard Siragons mounted atop a black horse. The creature immediately galloped towards Link once it saw him. The Siragon tried to run Link through with his sword, but the Hylian managed to turn the demons blade aside. The two then began to circle one another on horseback while their swords clashed repeatedly. The Siragon did manage to cut Link's right arm, but the warrior did not flinch, even though the cut was fairly deep. Instead Link continued to fight and before long he managed to knock the sword from his opponent's hand and then stab him through the heart. The demon fell lifelessly to the ground from his horse, with a loud thud. Link only managed to ride a few feet away from his fallen enemy before six more horse-mounted Rimgard found him.
Link knew that he could not handle the six Rimgard all at once and he also knew that with Rimgard Siragons present, the demons would not likely harm the villagers. These Siragons usually only killed those who resisted them, though other types of Siragons would kill anything that got in their way if none of the Rimgard were with them. Convinced the people still in the village were in no immediate danger Link turned Epona around and bolted from the town. The Rimgard tried to chase after him, but their horses could not match the speed of Epona. The demons shot arrows at Link as he began to put distance between himself and the Siragons, but the heavy rain distracted them while they tried to aim. A few of the arrows came close to hitting Link or Epona, but most of them were several feet off. Soon the Siragons lost their quarry in the grassy hills of Lorshimnen.
Once Link felt he was safe, he slowed Epona to a trot. "The Siragons are here as the rumors said," Link thought to himself somberly. "If this last encounter with the Siragons is an indicator of how the battle in Lorshimnen will go then this land will fall just as Acromiar did, but I have a strange feeling about this place. There is an evil here I have sensed before, but I can not recall from where."