Chapter 6
The sword that slew the first beast
As daylight burst through the trees, particles of dust were illuminated as they floated downwards from the canopy. The single shaft of sunlight shone down upon a single stump in the middle of the clearing. It was a simply stump, moss here and there, a mushroom or two at its roots. But there was something more that made this stump stand out. Around it, a grand growth of flowers of a vast array of colors and fragrances grew. It was as if a strange pulse of life was flowing from the stump. And it was. The powerful energy was coming from a magical blade sunken in the very center of the stump. It was a sword that was so small it could have been a knife. It had a finely crafted wooden hilt with a single ruby engraved at the base of the blade. The sword had only one name, the Kokiri sword. It had been with this very same sword that Link began his journey down the path to become the Hero of Time. The sword had been returned to the forest when Link had returned from his journeys in other parts of Zildross. The grotto was considered holy ground among the children of the forest because of the strange life energy that had begun resonating from its core ever since it had been returned the forest.
A boy who looked to be at the age of eleven entered the grotto. Saying a quick prayer to Farore in respect, he approached the blade. He had red hair and was clad in the traditional forest green garb of the Kokiri. His name was Mido. Years back, when Link had lived in the forest and had been unaware of his true nature, Mido had taken the self-appointed job of trying to crush Link's spirit at every turn, mistrusting him, making fun of him, and even picking fights with him. When he had seen what Link had become, however, he changed his ways and now respected him above any other person. Mido was now the age of 18, but like all Kokiri he remained in the form of a child. His fairy familiar, named Rope, dated around the clearing, emitting a soft yellow light.
Mido came before the stump, and got down on one knee, bowing his head. As part of his daily rituals, he now came to visit the sword ever so often as a token of respect for Link. After all, the Kokiri Sword had been Link's first sword, after all. Mido wished someday he could gather up the courage to try to wield the sword. But, every time he had reached for the hilt something within him would stop him. It was as if the sword was speaking to him, and saying that he was not worthy. Today, however, Mido had been given the sole assignment of removing the sword.
"Okay, Mido, suck it in and pull the sword out..." He said to himself. He rubbed his palms together, reached forwards, inching his fingers slowly closer and closer. He could feel the life energy of the sword pulsing. He could feel the handle in his hands. Reaching deep inside of himself, he pulled.
"Come on, Mido, Pull!" urged Rope.
"I'm trying!" said Mido, pulling on the hilt again. It seemed the earth itself was pulling back on the sword, preventing him from withdrawing it from its pedestal of wood. With one final yank, the blade came free, and a loud, ringing noise filled the clearing. Mido fell onto his backside, the blade firmly in his right hand. Mido could hardly believe it- he had pulled the Kokiri sword out, and on the first try!
"Yeah!" exclaimed Mido, holding the sword up high.
"Good work, Mido! Now let's get it back to the soldier!" said Rope, bouncing around enthusiastically.
At that exact moment, Kirk was putting away his practice sword, deciding it was time to go looking for Link. For some strange reason, he hadn't come down for their early morning sparring. This was most unlike him, as it was Link who usually was pulling Kirk out of bed for it. He placed his chest plate on the shelf in the barracks and proceeded up the stairs to Link's tower. When he opened the door to Link's door, he found the room empty, save for scattered scrolls and books, and a ruffled-up Geabora Keapora perched atop the bookcase.
"What's all this?!" screeched the owl.
"What?" asked Kirk.
"Link! This morning he bolted out of bed, covered in cold sweat, then he began throwing scrolls around and reading them like there was no tomorrow! When he went through the last book, he just started mumbling and then ran down to the archives vault, saying that you had to go meet him there! So, like I said, what is this all about that Link had to wake me up at four in the morning?!"
"What?" repeated Kirk, "I don't...wait, what?"
"Get down to the archives now!" screeched Geabora, flapping his wings and blowing Kirk out the door. Kirk ran all the way down the stairs he had just climbed and then sprinted down two hundred more stairs, falling down the last two, getting up and grumbling as he pulled open the heavy wooden doors to the royal archives, to find Link at the top of a rolling ladder propped against a tall bookcase. Thin shafts of light from windows at the highest parts of the wall shone through the flying dust upon a scene of chaos. Much like Link's room, books and scrolls of varying size had been thrown about. Link was at the top of the heap, hurling the ancient tomes and parchments off the shelves so that it rained paper and bindings. It took a full second for Kirk to pull his senses together, and then he yelled.
"LINK, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"
Link halted in mid-throw, looking to Kirk.
"Oh, hi, Kirk! See you got Geabora's message, I..."
"WHAT THE HELL IS ALL THIS?!" cursed Kirk again, jumping over an overturned chair and some scrolls to the ladder Link was on.
"Research! I need your help with something! I can't find it..."
"LINK, STOP MUTTERING ABOUT BOOKS AND GET DOWN HERE NOW!"
"Okay, but hold these, will you..." Link then dropped the heavy, oversized book he had been about to throw on top of Kirk's head.
"Ow! Link!" Kirk began rubbing his head as he grabbed the rung of the ladder. "Get down here now before..."
"FOUND IT!" Link yelled, grabbing a book off the shelves and sliding down the ladder- and landed on top of Kirk's shoulders.
"What?! Get off my back!" yelled Kirk, struggling to hold himself and Link's weight up.
"You shouldn't have been under the laddAAAAAAAAHH!" Link yelled as Kirk fell over, throwing Link off his back. He landed face down on the floor, sending papers flying and making a fine layer of dust coat everything. Kirk was the first to get up.
"What's this all about?! You miss the morning sparring and now here I find you throwing books like a madman! What gives?!"
"This book!" said Link, pulling himself up. He shoved all the scrolls and books off the table and slapped the tome he had taken from the shelf onto the wooden surface. Kirk came over and picked it up.
"And what is this?"
"It's a journal written by some of the sages who built the Temple of Time and all the other temples in Hyrule! I've been looking for it since..."
"Four this morning, I know," said Kirk. "The Owl told me how you woke him up."
Link snatched the book from Kirk's hands and began flipping through the pages as if he was searching for a cure for some terrible disease that was inflicting him.
"Why, exactly, did you have to destroy the archives in order to find this thing? And WHY exactly are you interested in the creation of the temples, anyways?"
"Here it is!" Link exclaimed, opening to a page with a drawing on it. "This is it!"
Kirk looked at the drawing. It was of a doorway of some sort carved into the face of some rock wall. But this was not an ordinary doorway. The design...it was so...dark. It was the only way Kirk could think of it. It showed the moon, and fire raining down from the sky upon the land.
"It's just like..."
"Yes, it's just like the door in the Temple of Time, only it's like some sort of opposite version! I found it, Kirk! I found it, under the castle!"
"What? Wait, Link..."
Link took a long breath and began spilling words out rapidly.
"There's a vast network of these passages, you see, underground, and it spreads all the way from here all the way to Holodrum, right? Well, part of it goes underneath this castle, and well, being stuck in the castle and all made me want to just get out of here, so I was thinking about sneaking out through these tunnels, but along the way, I came across this weird place with a whole lot of strange stones and this weird door carved into the wall..."
"Whoa, whoa, Link, slow down and take a breath? What's this about secret passages and doors? We're not in a dungeon, Link! Say it slower this time at a rate that a normal Hylian can hear!"
"This doorway-I found it in the catacombs beneath the castle while looking for an escape route!"
"And...your reason for tearing up the archive just to point this out?" huffed Kirk.
"What?" Link began looking around. "Wait..."
"Now what? Don't tell me you don't remember doing all this when you did it just now right on top of my head? And it still hurts, too! Sheesh! Don't you remember anything?"
"Just this weird feeling...Like I was compelled to look for the door...I mean, I knew I was doing it, but at the same time...It's like it didn't register or something..."
"Well, register or not, we have to clean this place up."
"We?"
"Yes, we. If the king finds out you messed up again, it'll be your head."
"A moment ago you were ready to bite my head off. What gives?"
"Simple. Because unlike most of the people in this castle I know better then to think that you're actually cracking up. I've heard about things like this-most likely you were simply falling into the hands of fate."
"Kind of like that book. I guess. Sorry about that."
"Apology accepted...now, where does this group of books go?"
Out in the castle gardens, Tingle and Error were playing their favorite game- live grenade. The rules were simple- Tingle would fly around hanging from his balloon, dropping smoke bombs, and it was up to Error to catch them and put out the fuse by spitting on it. Failure to do so would result in getting a face full of smoke. So far, Error hadn't had much luck, and the garden now resembled more of a battlefield rather then the pristine vegetated courtyard it once was. It wasn't until a guard finally chased them away that the destruction stopped. They were not allowed to enter the garden with explosives any more after that. The Castle Gardener had fainted on sight, and when he had woken up he chased Tingle and Error around the ruined yard with a trowel for almost half an hour.
Deep within the forest, a soldier named Dober was sitting upon a stump, slouched over, incredibly bored, and tapping his foot on the moss- carpeted earth impatiently. This man was the kind that would put you in mind of an unstoppable hunting dog. He had hooded brown eyes that were like two bronze coins. His fine, curly, chestnut hair was worn in a style reminiscent of a trailing ribbon, and had a broad-shouldered build. Right now he was at the point where he was just about ready to get up and look for the little squirt. It seemed as if his childish body affected his mind. It seemed creepy, even. It was at the moment this thought came into his mind that the boy with emerged into the enclosed clearing. The clearing was dark despite the light of day, thanks to the dense cloud-like branches above. With the lack of light, it was hard for Dober to see him at first.
"Hello?" called out Mido. "Are you there?"
"I'm in front of you, idiot," growled Dober. "where is it?"
"It's right here," said Mido, pulling out the Kokiri Sword, which was wrapped in an emerald green cloth with gold ancient Hylian Writing along the edges.
"Give me that," said Dober roughly, snatching the blade from Mido's hand's. He removed the cloth and examined the sword.
"This is it?" he inquired.
"Yeah, it's the very same sword the Hero of Time himself used on his first journey. He's a friend of mine, you know. If you want anything else I can..."
"That won't be necessary. Thank you for your help. I'll take this with me then."
"Okay, then. By the way, why does Link want it back?"
"As a memento. He sends his regards."
"Tell him thanks and that he's very welcome."
"I'll do that."
And with that, he left, wondering why he had been asked to act so friendly. The concept alone was so...mushy. He looked down at the tiny sword that he had obtained. It was hard to believe that his was the blade that slew the first beast the Hero of Time defeated on his first journey...
Akunem was in his room. He could feel it even now. Two down, one more to go...
As daylight burst through the trees, particles of dust were illuminated as they floated downwards from the canopy. The single shaft of sunlight shone down upon a single stump in the middle of the clearing. It was a simply stump, moss here and there, a mushroom or two at its roots. But there was something more that made this stump stand out. Around it, a grand growth of flowers of a vast array of colors and fragrances grew. It was as if a strange pulse of life was flowing from the stump. And it was. The powerful energy was coming from a magical blade sunken in the very center of the stump. It was a sword that was so small it could have been a knife. It had a finely crafted wooden hilt with a single ruby engraved at the base of the blade. The sword had only one name, the Kokiri sword. It had been with this very same sword that Link began his journey down the path to become the Hero of Time. The sword had been returned to the forest when Link had returned from his journeys in other parts of Zildross. The grotto was considered holy ground among the children of the forest because of the strange life energy that had begun resonating from its core ever since it had been returned the forest.
A boy who looked to be at the age of eleven entered the grotto. Saying a quick prayer to Farore in respect, he approached the blade. He had red hair and was clad in the traditional forest green garb of the Kokiri. His name was Mido. Years back, when Link had lived in the forest and had been unaware of his true nature, Mido had taken the self-appointed job of trying to crush Link's spirit at every turn, mistrusting him, making fun of him, and even picking fights with him. When he had seen what Link had become, however, he changed his ways and now respected him above any other person. Mido was now the age of 18, but like all Kokiri he remained in the form of a child. His fairy familiar, named Rope, dated around the clearing, emitting a soft yellow light.
Mido came before the stump, and got down on one knee, bowing his head. As part of his daily rituals, he now came to visit the sword ever so often as a token of respect for Link. After all, the Kokiri Sword had been Link's first sword, after all. Mido wished someday he could gather up the courage to try to wield the sword. But, every time he had reached for the hilt something within him would stop him. It was as if the sword was speaking to him, and saying that he was not worthy. Today, however, Mido had been given the sole assignment of removing the sword.
"Okay, Mido, suck it in and pull the sword out..." He said to himself. He rubbed his palms together, reached forwards, inching his fingers slowly closer and closer. He could feel the life energy of the sword pulsing. He could feel the handle in his hands. Reaching deep inside of himself, he pulled.
"Come on, Mido, Pull!" urged Rope.
"I'm trying!" said Mido, pulling on the hilt again. It seemed the earth itself was pulling back on the sword, preventing him from withdrawing it from its pedestal of wood. With one final yank, the blade came free, and a loud, ringing noise filled the clearing. Mido fell onto his backside, the blade firmly in his right hand. Mido could hardly believe it- he had pulled the Kokiri sword out, and on the first try!
"Yeah!" exclaimed Mido, holding the sword up high.
"Good work, Mido! Now let's get it back to the soldier!" said Rope, bouncing around enthusiastically.
At that exact moment, Kirk was putting away his practice sword, deciding it was time to go looking for Link. For some strange reason, he hadn't come down for their early morning sparring. This was most unlike him, as it was Link who usually was pulling Kirk out of bed for it. He placed his chest plate on the shelf in the barracks and proceeded up the stairs to Link's tower. When he opened the door to Link's door, he found the room empty, save for scattered scrolls and books, and a ruffled-up Geabora Keapora perched atop the bookcase.
"What's all this?!" screeched the owl.
"What?" asked Kirk.
"Link! This morning he bolted out of bed, covered in cold sweat, then he began throwing scrolls around and reading them like there was no tomorrow! When he went through the last book, he just started mumbling and then ran down to the archives vault, saying that you had to go meet him there! So, like I said, what is this all about that Link had to wake me up at four in the morning?!"
"What?" repeated Kirk, "I don't...wait, what?"
"Get down to the archives now!" screeched Geabora, flapping his wings and blowing Kirk out the door. Kirk ran all the way down the stairs he had just climbed and then sprinted down two hundred more stairs, falling down the last two, getting up and grumbling as he pulled open the heavy wooden doors to the royal archives, to find Link at the top of a rolling ladder propped against a tall bookcase. Thin shafts of light from windows at the highest parts of the wall shone through the flying dust upon a scene of chaos. Much like Link's room, books and scrolls of varying size had been thrown about. Link was at the top of the heap, hurling the ancient tomes and parchments off the shelves so that it rained paper and bindings. It took a full second for Kirk to pull his senses together, and then he yelled.
"LINK, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"
Link halted in mid-throw, looking to Kirk.
"Oh, hi, Kirk! See you got Geabora's message, I..."
"WHAT THE HELL IS ALL THIS?!" cursed Kirk again, jumping over an overturned chair and some scrolls to the ladder Link was on.
"Research! I need your help with something! I can't find it..."
"LINK, STOP MUTTERING ABOUT BOOKS AND GET DOWN HERE NOW!"
"Okay, but hold these, will you..." Link then dropped the heavy, oversized book he had been about to throw on top of Kirk's head.
"Ow! Link!" Kirk began rubbing his head as he grabbed the rung of the ladder. "Get down here now before..."
"FOUND IT!" Link yelled, grabbing a book off the shelves and sliding down the ladder- and landed on top of Kirk's shoulders.
"What?! Get off my back!" yelled Kirk, struggling to hold himself and Link's weight up.
"You shouldn't have been under the laddAAAAAAAAHH!" Link yelled as Kirk fell over, throwing Link off his back. He landed face down on the floor, sending papers flying and making a fine layer of dust coat everything. Kirk was the first to get up.
"What's this all about?! You miss the morning sparring and now here I find you throwing books like a madman! What gives?!"
"This book!" said Link, pulling himself up. He shoved all the scrolls and books off the table and slapped the tome he had taken from the shelf onto the wooden surface. Kirk came over and picked it up.
"And what is this?"
"It's a journal written by some of the sages who built the Temple of Time and all the other temples in Hyrule! I've been looking for it since..."
"Four this morning, I know," said Kirk. "The Owl told me how you woke him up."
Link snatched the book from Kirk's hands and began flipping through the pages as if he was searching for a cure for some terrible disease that was inflicting him.
"Why, exactly, did you have to destroy the archives in order to find this thing? And WHY exactly are you interested in the creation of the temples, anyways?"
"Here it is!" Link exclaimed, opening to a page with a drawing on it. "This is it!"
Kirk looked at the drawing. It was of a doorway of some sort carved into the face of some rock wall. But this was not an ordinary doorway. The design...it was so...dark. It was the only way Kirk could think of it. It showed the moon, and fire raining down from the sky upon the land.
"It's just like..."
"Yes, it's just like the door in the Temple of Time, only it's like some sort of opposite version! I found it, Kirk! I found it, under the castle!"
"What? Wait, Link..."
Link took a long breath and began spilling words out rapidly.
"There's a vast network of these passages, you see, underground, and it spreads all the way from here all the way to Holodrum, right? Well, part of it goes underneath this castle, and well, being stuck in the castle and all made me want to just get out of here, so I was thinking about sneaking out through these tunnels, but along the way, I came across this weird place with a whole lot of strange stones and this weird door carved into the wall..."
"Whoa, whoa, Link, slow down and take a breath? What's this about secret passages and doors? We're not in a dungeon, Link! Say it slower this time at a rate that a normal Hylian can hear!"
"This doorway-I found it in the catacombs beneath the castle while looking for an escape route!"
"And...your reason for tearing up the archive just to point this out?" huffed Kirk.
"What?" Link began looking around. "Wait..."
"Now what? Don't tell me you don't remember doing all this when you did it just now right on top of my head? And it still hurts, too! Sheesh! Don't you remember anything?"
"Just this weird feeling...Like I was compelled to look for the door...I mean, I knew I was doing it, but at the same time...It's like it didn't register or something..."
"Well, register or not, we have to clean this place up."
"We?"
"Yes, we. If the king finds out you messed up again, it'll be your head."
"A moment ago you were ready to bite my head off. What gives?"
"Simple. Because unlike most of the people in this castle I know better then to think that you're actually cracking up. I've heard about things like this-most likely you were simply falling into the hands of fate."
"Kind of like that book. I guess. Sorry about that."
"Apology accepted...now, where does this group of books go?"
Out in the castle gardens, Tingle and Error were playing their favorite game- live grenade. The rules were simple- Tingle would fly around hanging from his balloon, dropping smoke bombs, and it was up to Error to catch them and put out the fuse by spitting on it. Failure to do so would result in getting a face full of smoke. So far, Error hadn't had much luck, and the garden now resembled more of a battlefield rather then the pristine vegetated courtyard it once was. It wasn't until a guard finally chased them away that the destruction stopped. They were not allowed to enter the garden with explosives any more after that. The Castle Gardener had fainted on sight, and when he had woken up he chased Tingle and Error around the ruined yard with a trowel for almost half an hour.
Deep within the forest, a soldier named Dober was sitting upon a stump, slouched over, incredibly bored, and tapping his foot on the moss- carpeted earth impatiently. This man was the kind that would put you in mind of an unstoppable hunting dog. He had hooded brown eyes that were like two bronze coins. His fine, curly, chestnut hair was worn in a style reminiscent of a trailing ribbon, and had a broad-shouldered build. Right now he was at the point where he was just about ready to get up and look for the little squirt. It seemed as if his childish body affected his mind. It seemed creepy, even. It was at the moment this thought came into his mind that the boy with emerged into the enclosed clearing. The clearing was dark despite the light of day, thanks to the dense cloud-like branches above. With the lack of light, it was hard for Dober to see him at first.
"Hello?" called out Mido. "Are you there?"
"I'm in front of you, idiot," growled Dober. "where is it?"
"It's right here," said Mido, pulling out the Kokiri Sword, which was wrapped in an emerald green cloth with gold ancient Hylian Writing along the edges.
"Give me that," said Dober roughly, snatching the blade from Mido's hand's. He removed the cloth and examined the sword.
"This is it?" he inquired.
"Yeah, it's the very same sword the Hero of Time himself used on his first journey. He's a friend of mine, you know. If you want anything else I can..."
"That won't be necessary. Thank you for your help. I'll take this with me then."
"Okay, then. By the way, why does Link want it back?"
"As a memento. He sends his regards."
"Tell him thanks and that he's very welcome."
"I'll do that."
And with that, he left, wondering why he had been asked to act so friendly. The concept alone was so...mushy. He looked down at the tiny sword that he had obtained. It was hard to believe that his was the blade that slew the first beast the Hero of Time defeated on his first journey...
Akunem was in his room. He could feel it even now. Two down, one more to go...