Chapter 2: Detour through the forest

It was evening. The sun was not at the point where it would set but it still emitted a warm orange glow turning the blue sky to a musty orange. This didn't matter to Link, though, as the large canopy of trees and branches overhead only allowed small shafts of light to get through so even if the sky was a luminous green, it would be very difficult to tell.

Link was a small boy aged 9 or 10. He was a strange boy as he wore green clothing all over; green shirt, green shorts and even a green hat that dangled to the back of his neck. This sort of clothing is natural for the eternally young children of the forest who all wear a similar attire, but this boy appeared from seemingly nowhere in the middle of the most populated town in all the land.

There are other aspects about him that can be deemed strange as well. While he is only 10 years old, he thinks in a way that most adults would, and even then it is odd by those standards.

The cause of this is the effect destiny has had on his life. A force of the world said to decree all of our moves and control the path of our lives. Such a force was placed upon this boy when he was still innocent and unknowing of how the world truly worked. Once his destiny was complete, after effects of his forced path still lingered and he knew he no longer belonged anywhere in the world.

In a vane attempt to try and give himself a new purpose, Link follows after a friend he met through the course of destiny and a friend he lost once his destiny had been fulfilled. The reason for losing her still echoes throughout his mind and brings back an all-too familiar emotion he experienced many times throughout his lifetime.

Anger.

Never before has he had a reason for such powerful anger since his innocent years as almost everything he held dear to him was taken away by his destiny. Everything except his closest friend, and now it had taken that away as well.

Through the forest he now trudges looking for his friend with the only thing he has left, his horse Epona. One of the few things that was spared was his ever faithful and loyal horse who now carried him on her back, aiding him in his search for what he desired most.

Unfortunately for him, his search would be cut short and his life would be changed once again in ways he could never predict.

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Just a short distance ahead two fairies, a light yellowy-white one and a dark purple one, lay hiding behind a large tree having seen the boy and his horse come. Nodding to one another, they silently flew from tree to tree and then waiting for the boy to come a little closer. The boy didn't seem to notice as he was in some kind of daze or stupor.

Realising the boy would barely react at all to them in the state he was in the two fairies decided to target the young horse instead. By silently yet quickly flying to the horses face when it was turned they were able to startle it enough to rear back and through her rider off, knocking him unconscious.

Having done their job, they turned to wait for their friend to turn up, which he quickly did so. Behind the two fairies a shadow of some sort appeared floating in the air but soon the shadow was gone and replaced by something more dark and sinister than any shadow.

It was a strange face with bright glowing yellow eyes with red outlining them, merging with the purple covering the majority of the face. Protruding out of the top and bottom of the face were large spikes a few inches long while across the face were odd markings like a spell or ancient text.

This was quickly followed by spindly body wearing ragged orange clothes similar to what you might find on a scarecrow. The body appeared just behind the face proving it to be a mask when the body of the skull kid who just appeared lifted it off his face to look at the two fairies having rejoined his side.

The skull kid gave a smile to the fairies then placed the mask back on as he made his way over to the fallen, unconscious boy. Flipping him over on to his back, the skull kid began rummaging through his clothes to see if he had anything worth taking, to which he could not immediately find.

"Hey skull kid, found anything yet?" The purple fairy asked.

"Tael, leave him alone. If he finds anything he'll tell us." The white fairy replied.

"Sorry sis." Tael said, to which he silenced himself at the same time the skull kid stopped searching.

Out from one of the boy's pockets the skull kid produced a sea blue ocarina that seemed bigger than most others.

"Oh, hey cool. An ocarina. Hey skull kid, can I play it?" Tael pleaded.

"No way Tael, let the skull kid have it. What if you broke it?"

"Aww, come on Tatl, we could play it together!" Tael continued to plead.

"No." Tatl firmly said, which was the last word said.

The skull kid would lift up his mask and put the ocarina to his lips, playing a short, flat note. It would be obvious to anyone that this creature did not know how to play an ocarina properly. Despite that, every note played managed to get a giggle out of the skull kid and another from the purple fairy, Tael.

Tatl would just look at them and sigh like a mother to her playful children.

Link was still lying on the floor, still unconscious. It was not a dream-less sleep, however, for there was one particular dream that occurred in his time on the ground, being robbed.

He couldn't see anything in his dream; he was just lying on his back in the middle of nothingness. A rustle of his clothes seemed to echo in the blank space making any sound much louder than it actually was, hence why his ears perked up when Link heard the flutter of a fairy's wings.

Link, wake up!

There was a voice, an unrecognisable voice, but a voice all the same that seemed to come from all around. Link tried to get up and look for the source of the voice but for some reasons his muscles didn't respond so he remained lying down.

Hey Link, hey, wake up!

Link was still trying to move in some way but was now busy trying to put a face or person to the voice so as to understand who or what was talking to him.

Honestly, can the fate of Hyrule really rest on such a lazy boy?

No face was needed now, for while the voice was still unrecognisable who it belonged to was now obvious as he had heard that line before. It was Navi, waking him up from his bad dream the day his destiny began. The day they first met and became partners throughout their quest.

Link, Link! Hey, listen! Wake up!

To this, he was suddenly able to move but before he could, his eyes shut in a blink and were now opening much more slowly. The black nothingness had gone and now a large canopy of leaves and trees hung over his head, which was aching for some reason.

The flat note from an ocarina brought him back to his senses and reminded him where he was and what he was doing. Another flat note made him think of his ocarina to which he instantly searched for it, put two and two together and figured out that the sound was from his ocarina, having been stolen.

The cold, emotionless stare back in his eyes he stared at the skull kid playing his ocarina with an incredible loathing. It wasn't until the two fairies pointed behind him that the skull kid turned around and saw the boy awake and glaring at him.

In a vain attempt of hiding the ocarina behind his back, despite the fact that the boy had plainly seen it in his hands, the skull kid still hoped the boy would give up and go home. To this he would be sorely disappointed as Link was ready to pounce on the skull kid while aiming for his throat.

Just as he planned to commit this merciless murder, the skull kid somehow leapt high into the air and landed on the young foal Link had been riding earlier. Still maintaining his footing, Link swung around and pushed off the ground to try and grab the skull kid to pull him off, but only succeeded in getting a firm hold on his leg as both were being dragged away by the panicked, charging horse.

Trying to both cling on to the horse and shake the boy off, the skull kid help firm to whatever he could get a grip on, which wasn't much as Link never put a saddle on Epona. His point of opportunity came when, out of the dense forest, came a familiar clearing of which a turn to the other side of the horse would come, hopefully knocking the boy off while he got away freely.

Fortune seemed to smile upon him as just that occurred. Laughing as the boy lost his grip and tumbled into the bushes, the skull kid pushed himself to sit on the horse and rode it off into a large opening in an even larger tree.

Now, Link had lived in the forest all his life, well, childhood life, and he knew it like the back of his hand. This part of the woods extended beyond the boundaries of the Kokiri so Link did not know this part very well, if at all. It was this factor that surprised Link to see a tree of such a girth out in the middle of the forest, one that could rival the Great Deku Tree!

Such thoughts did not have time to linger, though, as his rage took control once more forcing Link to charge straight into the depths of the tree and get back what was his. Also, to kill that skull kid for robbing him.

Not thinking may have been a bad idea as the light outside was bad enough due to the trees blocking the sun, but when inside a tree it was so bad all you could see is a faint outline of structures or roots.

While his rage continued to blind him more than the lack of light was, somewhere deep in the back of his mind Link was pleading to someone. Pleading that Epona would be alright and hoping he wouldn't have to go through the same pain of losing the last thing he had left.

Then came the hole.

Still running forward, Link only just managed to see the edge of a pit that didn't seem to go on or look like a short drop. Despite his quick reactions, he couldn't help but topple slowly into it and begin the long plummet right down to the bottom.

Yes. Link thought. Yes, let me fall. Fall to my death. The only pain left is the impact and then no more pain ever again. Life has been cruel and harsh to me, and now it can finally end. Oh ye Gods who control fate, my fate is now death. Take me away from this world and let me die.

He closed his eyes and let himself fall limp, bracing himself for the collision with the ground that would surely take his life.

A moment later, his limp body hit the ground, but landing on something soft. Slowly pushing himself off the ground, Link saw he had landed on a giant flower of some sort that had cushioned the blow and let him live. Something he would curse now and praise later.

Just after he had got to his feet, two lights seemed so shine in from the walls and hit the ground lighting up the room.

It was not what the light allowed him to see that interested him most, namely the skull kid somehow levitating in the air, but the image that the light created in the centre of the floor.

It was the Triforce. At least, it resembled the Triforce. It looked distorted, like something grabbed it, ripped it apart then put it back together in the wrong places. Instinctively Link took a quick look at his hand and saw the same thing. The Triforce did not belong here or beyond this point. That which destiny gave him and forced him on his path was waning the further he went. He was finally free.

"What's with that stupid horse of yours anyway?"

The voice of the skull kid bringing him back to his senses also brought back the reason why Link had followed this thing. It also made him look and notice that Epona was not here.

"It doesn't listen to a word that's said to it."

Link obviously knew why. Epona was the kind of horse that didn't take kindly to strangers, even those who try to come up to her just to be friendly. Especially those who jump on her and take her away from someone she liked.

"There's no point in riding a thing like that so I did you a favour and got rid of it. Hee hee."

That was it. Link had now lost everything dear to him and the rage could no longer keep control over the rest of his emotions. Sadness now overwhelmed him as he had no-one to be with, no-one to keep him company, nowhere to belong, he didn't even have a destiny to guide his way anymore. He was now truly alone.

"Aww, boo hoo. Why the sad face? I just thought I'd have a little fun with you."

Still a victim to his sadness, Link drew his sword in an attempt to try and bring back the anger in order to suppress his sorrow. Also the skull kid's attitude was really beginning to bug him so the sooner he was out of the way the better.

The two fairies stayed floating on either side of the hovering skull kid staring at the young boy. At the last words mentioned, the whitish fairy, Tatl, gave a quick side-glance to the skull kid and her younger brother as if she felt she had to.

Link couldn't see the skull kid's face from his angle, but Tatl could and she had to stifle a gasp when she realised what she saw. She had seen this when…but that meant that. No. This boy had not been as bad, surely the skull kid would not be so harsh. After all, even he would have to admit it was partially his fault. Well, entirely his fault really but he would never admit to that much.

"Oh, come now. You really think you can defeat me as I am now? Fool!"

The voice of the skull kid had now considerably changed to a much lower level with no hint of kindness or any other friendly emotion at all. Every being in the room got a chill from hearing it, but for Link the chill didn't last.

Coming from the mask was some kind of dark aura and a threatening shadow that crept towards him. Link wanted to do something against it, anything. Slash it with his sword, feebly try and block it with his shield, but he soon discovered such acts were impossible as he could no longer move his body to his own will.

Both fairies were now looking back and forth between the skull kid and the young boy to see if somehow the boy could defeat the mask right here. A sudden glint from the skull kid's eye and the boy suddenly moved his hands from his side straight to his head to try and soothe whatever pain was occurring in his mind.

Tael was now looking at the child only, staring at the pain he was going through wishing he weren't there to see it. Yet, he knew the consequences of questioning the actions of the skull kid so he remained still and watched in silence. Tatl had frozen as soon as she had spotted the glint in the skull kid's eye immediately knowing what it meant, but at the same time had the feeling of impossibility.

Still clutching his head, Link desperately hoped the pain souring through his entire body would end soon and with one final yet sudden surge, it ended by knocking him out. His eyes closed and his body fell to the floor.

Nothing.

Link was surrounded by nothingness. There were no walls, no rocks or stone nor earth. There wasn't even light. Everywhere he looked there was nothing.

What was he doing here anyway? Was this the Gods way of torturing him by showing he had nothing left? Perhaps it was punishment for escaping the reaches of his destiny. Whatever it was, Link didn't like it.

What confused him the most, though, was that this dislike of his surroundings did not bring anger, but fear. He could not explain why, but for some reason actually seeing that he had nothing made him afraid that he, too, may be swallowed by the empty void that his life now was.

His trail of thought quickly ended when some kind of rustling noise reached his ears.

He had heard this noise, or something very similar before, but to what it was Link could not figure out. Not that it mattered as within the blink of an eye he was no longer surrounded by nothingness but instead by a mass horde of deku scrubs. Little bush-like creatures made of wood with red eyes and a large, round snout.

There must be at least a hundred, Link thought. He instinctively reached for his sword, through habit and a strong want to defend himself in some way, but realised his sword was gone. When had he lost it? He had it when he challenged the skull kid. But he wasn't around the skull kid anymore, so Link assumed he had taken it.

Another rustle brought him back to the now, and the fact he was surrounded by a hundred dekus with no weapon. Intimidated by the large number and still afraid of the blankness he did the only thing his body would allow.

Run.

Pushing the scrubs aside Link ran through the crowd and back out into the dark void of emptiness in a desperate attempt to survive. Why had the scrubs not tried to stop him though? They had plenty of time to retaliate so why did they let him go? The answer to this question was quickly found when the ground (or whatever ground was in this void) vibrated with large thumps every two seconds or so. A quick look back revealed a large scrub standing about 20" tall and heading his way. All Link could do was keep running for his life.

As he ran, the irony of the situation sank home giving him a moment to laugh to himself before his life came to an end. When he wanted to die it was to escape the empty void of his life and be free, instead he was spared and his suicide attempt failed. Now he was running into the empty void of his life in an attempt to escape death and now he was going to die to this thing.

The scrub had caught up to him and was now lowering its main body leaving its snout hovering over the head of the fearful little boy. A shrill cackle now rang in the air as his doom was now upon him. He knew it, this was it. Closer the snout to his death came to his body while the cackle began to unnerve him and then…

He awoke.

The darkness had been replaced by the cavern he was in earlier, the cackle had been replaced by a high pitched laughter and the enveloping darkness had been replaced with the odd light signifying his escape of his destiny.

"Hee, hee! Now that's a good look for you!" The skull kid said while laughing.

Not quite sure what he meant, Link looked down to his hands but instead only saw wooden stumps lying out in front of him. Following them down he saw these stumps were connected to a wooden body of some sort with more stumps coming out where legs would be.

Noticing the small pool of water next to where he fell, Link moved to it to see his reflection and to prove his fears wrong. They only intensified as slight creaks could be heard when he walked forward and when he looked into the water he did not like what he saw.

Instead of a young, 10 year old boy looking back at him, there was a large wooden head with yellowy-red eyes and a short crop of blond coloured leaves hiding beneath a large green cap.

This was him, there was no denying it now. He didn't know how or why, but Link was now a deku scrub.

"You'll stay here looking that way forever!" The skull kid mischievously laughed again

The skull kid began to float backwards through an opening leading to a tunnel out, dragging the purple fairy in tow. Tatl remained behind, not being able to take her gaze off the poor boy who was now another victim of the skull kid and his strange mask.

She snapped back to her senses when she saw the boy running after the skull kid, for what reason she could not tell as dekus were harder to read than humans. Despite not liking the skull kid, she did what she could do delay the boy by ramming herself at him and knocking him back.

Link was now understanding why dekus are considered the weakest race. They were small and light which is why even a fairy could knock him to the floor.

By now the skull kid had already made his way to the end of the tunnel with the purple fairy a short way down eagerly awaiting the return of his sister. Therefore it came as a surprise and shock to him when the stone doorway slammed shut cutting the two fairies off from each other.

"Sis!" Tael called out from behind the door.

"Tael? Tael!" The fairy cried back.

She charged across the room and began repeatedly ramming the large doorway in some attempt of getting through, but to no avail.

"Sis! SIS!"

"Tael? Skull kid you leave him alone NOW!" The white fairy practically screamed.

She kept on ramming but eventually realised it was hopeless and that she could not get through the door alone, which is when she remembered the boy who they had victimised just earlier.

"You! I know we just turned you into a deku, I know we got rid of your horse and I know we robbed you but right now my brother is in danger and you have to open this door!"

Whether it was because she looked so much like Navi or because one of his lost emotions called compassion returned to him Link did not know, but a part of him felt like he had to help this fairy despite all the actions they had just recently done to him.

This new form was very unfamiliar to him so moving was difficult and something that would take some time adjusting to, but all the same he still tried to push himself on ahead just to help out someone in need. You could say his hero sense kicked in, but if you did you would almost instantly turn it off again.

He pressed his wooden hands on the large door like he had done with many large doors back in Hyrule. In his experience doors that had no hinges, moved without lifting or pushing and were made of a part of the surroundings were moved by pressing them and channelling a part of their magical energies which exist inside every intelligent being, be they practised mages or simple townsfolk. The same seemed to apply here as the door lifted up revealing the tunnel the skull kid had just recently glided down.

Unfortunately for both Link and Tatl, it was empty.

"No. No. No, no, no. They're gone." Tatl softly whispered to herself. "I swore to myself that I would never lose sight of either one ever again, and now they're both gone. No, no, no, no."

Link wasn't sure if he should comfort her or just leave her. He wanted to comfort her, but almost every time he tried he couldn't help but see Navi and suddenly he found it impossible. He didn't want to keep seeing Navi anymore, so he turned and made his way down the tunnel and after the skull kid.

"Uh, wait. Please wait." The fairy called out.

Link stopped just to see what this fairy wanted, then he would be on his way again. He just wanted to back after that skull kid and get his body and ocarina back. Being tormented by memories of one fairy by looking at another were not something he wanted right now.

"Uh, I'm, uh. I'm sorry about all that stuff back there. So please, take me with you."

What!? Link said, or hoped to say. It seemed talking was another thing done differently as a deku and something he could not figure out just yet. As a consequence, Tatl didn't hear it but could pretty much guess it.

"Look, hear me out. That skull kid is the one who turned you into a deku, so he can turn you back into a human as well. You find the skull kid, you get your old form back. I find the skull kid and I get to be with my brother again. Both of us win, neither one of us loses anything. It's in your best interest." She explained.

Best interest? It's in my best interest to be stuck with some random fairy who keeps reminding me of her?

Despite his dislike of the situation, the fairy did have a point and as speech was still difficult for him he merely nodded and began walking slowly.

She got the hint and flew alongside him as they walked down the long tunnel to find the skull kid. Already Link could tell it wasn't going to be easy, but this wasn't something he could just quit and ignore. Not this.

Here we go. Another long journey, except this time, I've got nothing to lose.