Chapter 2: The Journey Begins

Link and Navi reached the end of the forest and walked out of the tree line.

"Wow," said Link in amazement.

Link had never seen an open field before. He ran to the top of the hill in front of them. He looked around as far as he could see. He had never seen anything so beautiful before.

"Hey Navi, are those mountains up there," asked Link excitedly as he pointed to the distance.

"Yes they are," she answered.

"What are those," he asked next.

"Those are giant stones or boulders if you will," she answered.

Link ran up to one of the giant rocks and started rubbing it.

"It's so hard, and cold," he exclaimed.

He backed way from it and kept looking around. He was really excited. He had never seen anything like this before.

"Hyrule castle is to the north so we must go up the mountains," Navi said to Link.

"I can't wait," said Link in an excited voice.

Link and Navi have been traveling for three days when they finally reach the foot of the mountain.

"This think is huge," said Link in aw.

"It will be rough to climb," Navi told him.

"For me it will be," said Link, "you can fly."

"Don't worry I won't rub it in too badly," Navi answered sarcastically.

Link looked off to the side.

"Is that a path," he asked Navi?

Navi looked to where Link was pointing.
"That's weird," Navi said, "A path means someone lives around here."

Link walked over to the path. He saw it went all the way to the top of the mountain. It zigzagged its way up to the top of the mountain.

Link started up the path. About an hour into the climb he looked down and saw how high up he was.

"Don't look down," Navi told him.

"I already did," said Link as he stared down.

"Look at me Link," Navi ordered.

"We are so high up," Link said to himself.

Link started to lean over the cliff. Navi darted to Link and pushed him away from the edge.

Link fell over. He shook his head and looked at Navi.

"Don't look down," Navi said strictly.

"Yeah," Link responded.

They continued their way up the mountain.

Link and Navi were walking for five hours when they finally reached the top of the mountain. The sun was setting and it was started to get cold. Link looked around while he was at the top. He had never seen anything like this. He could see all of Hyrule from up here.

"If you look to the north you can make out Hyrule Castle," said Navi to Link.

Link stared off into the distance but could not see anything. Something spotted his eye on the ledge of the cliff though: a telescope. He ran over to it and looked through it.

He easily spotted Hyrule castle through the scope.

"I see it," Link shouted.

Link saw the symbol above the gate of the castle. It was the symbol that appeared on his hand when he was fighting the monster. The gate looked familiar also.

Link stopped looking through the telescope when he realized where he had seen that gate before.

He had seen that gate in his reoccurring nightmare. He thought about the young girl being ridden off into the distance and the evil man at the gate.

"What's wrong," asked Navi.

"Nothing," Link said as he looked back into the telescope.

He looked to the right of the castle and saw a small town on the ledge of the mountains to the castle's right. Navi said that village was called Kakariko Village. Many humans live there.

Link then looked to the west and saw more mountains and then a desert as far as the eye could see. There was something gloomy about the west. It seemed dark and full of evil to Link.

"The desert; isn't that where Ganondorf is from," asked Link.

"Yes," Navi answered quickly.

There was a loud rumbling noise. The ground started to shake.

"What's going on," yelled Link.

"I think we are on a volcano," said Navi.

"What is a valcano," asked Link.

"It's a place you don't want to be when it goes off," said Navi in a panic.

"What do we do," asked Link?

"Get against the wall," Navi ordered Link.

Link ran and put his back against the wall of the mountain. Even the wall was shaking. Navi was flying all around trying to find a way off the mountain.

"I think we are stuck," Navi yelled.

Link saw the boulder next to him slide to the side and a monster came out and grabbed him and dragged him inside the hole he came out of.

"LINK," screamed Navi in horror.

Navi darted in the side of the mountain before the boulder rolled back and covered up the hole.

Link tried to get the huge hand to leg go of him but the hand was too strong. Everything was pitch black and he didn't know where he was going. He saw Navi slip in right before the boulder got back in place. Before Navi could reach Link, he was thrown into a small room with a torch in the wall as the only light. He got a clear view of the creature. It was humongous. It had rough brown skin, a plumb torso and strong arms. Its beady eyes stared at Link. Link thought it was a funny looking creature.

He didn't feel threatened by it once he saw it in the light. He saw another creature that looked just like it come into the room with a huge rock above its head. Link suddenly felt afraid.

"LINK," he heard Navi yell.

He saw Navi avoiding swats of the other creatures, who must have thought she was a bug.

The creature carrying the rock got next to Link and dropped the rock in front of him and walked backwards and stared at him with the other monster.

They were just staring at him. He could hear the other monsters swatting at Navi in the background.

Link stood up and looked at the rock. Both creatures leaned towards Link a little in an excited way. Link was confused. He touched the rock to see what the monsters did. They leaned in a little more and continued to look at Link. One of them let out a grunting noise.

"Do you want me to...eat this?" asked Link.

The monsters tilted their heads as if they didn't understand.

"Eat," asked link as he touched the rock and then touched his mouth. The monsters started clapping and jumping up and down. They slowed down and stared at Link again.

Link thought for a second.

"I can't eat this," he said to them.

They tilted their heads in synchronization again.

He thought these monsters didn't want to hurt him. They were sharing their hospitality with him. They must eat the rocks.

He looked behind the two monsters and saw a light coming from a hallway he didn't see in the darkness. There was another monster but this one looked different. He had markings all over his body and was significantly bigger than the others.

He walked over towards Link. The two monsters moved to the side for this one. The big one planted his torch in the ground and looked at Link. Link couldn't believe how funny this creature looked. He chuckled a little bit.

"What you laugh at?" asked the monster.

Link was a little shocked.

"You can understand me," asked Link.

"Yes," the monster answered quickly and loudly.

"Where am I," asked Link?

"Goron City," the monster replied.

"I am Link," he told the goron.

"Darunia," the goron said as he punched his chest.

"Can you tell them to leave my fairy alone," asked Link as he pointed towards the gorons swiping at Navi.

Darunia looked towards them and grunted. They stopped swinging at Navi and walked into the hallway Darunia came from.

"Come," Darunia ordered Link.

He wobbled back into the hallway. Link followed him. He looked back and saw the two gorons following him and they still had that stare.

Link got into the main room and was in amazement. The center of goron city was full of gorons walking around and grunting with each other. There were many layers of the city. It looked like the gorons had hollowed out the mountain and made walkways against the walls spiraling from top to bottom. There was rope and wood strung around to make walkways across the center of each layer. Link realized he was at the very top.

He saw Darunia waiting on him a couple of yards away. Link followed him to a room where Darunia told him he could spend a few days in. The room was pretty big compared to Link's old room. There were torches in all four corners of the room. There was a bed, a rocking chair, and a rug. The room was surprisingly comfortable to Link.

Navi entered the room.

"This is nice," she said to Link.

"How long do we have to stay here," asked Link.

"It's not really safe to go outside until about this time tomorrow. There could still be loose rocks and such," Navi answered.

"Terrific, I want to learn about these gorons here. They really interest me," Link said.

"Well, you have an entire day to do that," Navi said.

Link laid down in the bed.

"But right now I could really use some rest," he told Navi.

"Good idea," Navi told him.

Navi put the torches out and went to sleep by the rocking chair.

Link saw the girl on the back of the horse throw something at Link. The object went over his head and landed in the moat around Hyrule Castle. When Link turned around Ganondorf was there looking at him. Ganondorf smiled at Link.

"I see you," he said to Link.

Ganondorf raised his hand and a blinding light appeared in his palm.

"The Sacred Realm is mine," he said.

Ganondorf then swung his hand at Link with the blinding light in it and Links saw nothing but brightness.

Link shot up from his bead in a cold sweat. He looked around the room lit only buy Navi.

"He talked," Link said to himself quietly.

"He never said anything before," Link added.

Link thought about those words. Could Ganondorf be communicating through his dreams?

He decided to get up and walk around. He couldn't sleep anyways. Link walked out into the silent center of Goron City. Every footstep he took echoed across the cavern.

He heard drums coming from the lowest level. He looked down to see one room with light protruding from it. Link made his way to that room and went inside.

Link saw Darunia playing a drum set. The drums had different note to them. Link had never seen anything like that before.

Darunia stared at Link.

"What are you doing," Link asked.

"Me try to make song," Darunia responded.

Link thought for a moment.

"I know a few songs," he told Darunia.

Darunia looked excited.

"Play one for me," he asked Link.

Link pulled out Saria's ocarina and played the song that she had always played. The song brought back a lot of memories. He wished Saria could have been here with him on this journey.

When Link finished the song on the ocarina he saw Darunia was staring at him.

Darunia started playing something like the song Link played.

"Do you want me to teach you this song," Link asked.

"Yes, it a good song," Darunia responded.

Both of them spent the rest of the night trading songs and talking.

Link woke up in the room he was given by the gorons. He looked around to see Navi still sleeping. Link realized it must be around noon. He could hear the gorons grunting and walking around in the center of Goron City.

Navi woke up.

"Wow that was a good sleep," she said.

"We have to leave unfortunately," Link told her.

"Really? Weren't you the one wanting to learn more about the gorons," asked Navi.

"I learned a lot last night from Darunia. I couldn't sleep so I gave him a visit. He is a really good goron," Link told Navi.

"Was it that dream again," Navi asked.

Link explained that this dream was different. Ganondorf actually spoke in this one.

"We'll ask Princess Zelda when we get to the castle," Navi told Link.

The two made their way out of Goron City. Standing outside the entrance was Darunia, waiting for them.

"Link," Darunia stated.

Link and Navi stopped and looked at him.

"Good luck on journey to castle. You always welcome in Goron City," Darunia said.

"Thank you Darunia. Your hospitality was more than welcome," Link responded.

"I name song after you, Link," Darunia added.

"The one I taught you last night?"

"Yes. It be played every day from now on," Darunia told Link.

"I'm glad to hear that," Link told Darunia.

Darunia then walked up to Link and gave him a huge (and painful) hug. He put Link down and bid a final farewell.

Link and Navi started their journey once again.

"I liked it there," Link said to Navi.

"Me, too," Navi said, "They are very kind."

Link started to list all of the things he learned about the gorons. They have never left the mountain; much like the Kokiri never left their forest. They were also good blacksmiths. They had forged a lot of humungous swords.

The two were in a deep conversation when a strong wind came from the west. Link lost his balance and fell over the edge of the mountain.

"LINK," Navi yelled.

She saw Link holding on to the cliff's edge by one hand. There was quite a fall for Link if he couldn't hold on.

The wind kept blowing. Link tried to pull himself up onto the ledge but the wind was too strong. Navi had trouble staying in one spot. Link felt his grip start to slip.

"NAVI," Link shouted.

He then lost all grip on the ledge and started falling towards the earth.

Link could only look up as he fell. Everything was flying by him so fast. All he could do was scream. He knew the ground was coming up soon so he braced himself and hoped for the best.

Link felt impact. But not the kind he expected. His hearing went muffled, his eyes blurred and he couldn't move. Everything just kept getting darker. He realized he had landed in a river. He kept sinking and sinking. There was nothing he could do.

He finally hit the bottom of the river. Link could barely see anything. The current kept him moving with his feet dragging across the sand at the bottom of the river. He realized he was moving very fast. He just didn't know where the river was taking him.

Link needed air. He planted his feet the best he could and pushed up towards the surface as hard as he could. His head was feeling like it was about to be crushed. His lungs couldn't make it much more. A sharp pain was growing in Link's chest. Link finally got to the surface and started gasping for air. He then closed his eyes and passed out. His body still flowing where ever the river would take him.