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"Link...Link...Come to me...Come to me and fulfill your destiny…"
Link shot up from the soft spot in the grass. Someone was calling to him. Someone needed him desperately. Eyes wide, he looked around. Zelda squirmed nearby.
"Link, go back to sleep. You're going to get us in trouble…" the princess groaned, her blonde hair in a matted mess. She rolled over, hoping the small boy would bother her no longer.
Link stood up. He could no longer hear the voice, but he could feel something pulling him away from the camp like a tiny golden string attached to his chest, pulling him over the river, towards the trees. It was as if he had lost control of his body, each bare foot foot moving in front of the other independently of any thought or choice. A large hand clamped down on his shoulder.
Link spun around suddenly, met with a pair of fearful blue eyes. "Link," the man said nervously, "What the hell are you doing?! Stay by the fire! Do you want to be eaten?"
The small boy gasped; the spell finally broken, he blinked a few times, unable to respond in any logical way. The man grabbed his arm and dragged him closer to the fire.
"How do you think we can protect the princess if you keep wandering off?" The man sighed, "If anything happened to you, I…"
Link looked up at him apologetically rubbing the mark on his left hand, "I'm sorry, Father. I thought I heard a voice calling out to me. I...I felt I had to go to it." Link looked down, dejectedly. "I was wrong to disobey. I put myself and the princess in danger. I didn't mean to fail my duty."
Link's sighed. He didn't want to be too hard on the boy. He'd been through enough already.
"Link," his father said, "You must be careful. There are dangerous monsters that roam the fields at twilight, especially this close to the Lost Woods."
"What are the lost woods, Father?"
"A dangerous place, Link. You should never go there. It is a dangerous labyrinth of trees protected by an old an ancient magic. Men lose their minds wandering those woods. They say a man who becomes lost in there becomes a monster himself-or worse, one of the demon trees, left to trap other souls within its depths."
"Why would anyone go there if it's such a dangerous place?"
"Some say there's an ancient power hidden there, but there's no one who has ever come back to prove its merit." His father adjusted his green tunic. "So stay away! You can't help me keep the princess safe if something were to happen to you."
Link's eyes had already closed ashe drifted off to sleep. "I can't keep anyone safe, remember?"
His son's words cut through his heart like a knife.
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There was pain. Pain like he'd only experienced two times since. A searing pain that ripped through his chest, as if something inside him had broken, and his very soul had come burning and pouring out of him. His mind was an empty white scream.
He couldn't see her face, everything was a blur of fear and sadness welling from his eyes. She laid in bed, whispered something to him, smiled, and then they pulled him away. He remember running, screaming into the rain. He was at...Hateno? There were patches...flashes. It was as if this was a memory he had forced himself to forget, even before his 100 year slumber.
He remembered days later, sitting beside the wooden door, wet and caked in mud, listening to the adults talk about what they thought he couldn't understand.
"He shouldn't stay here," an old woman said, "There's no one to care for him. Sir Arn has made it very clear that returning to the village would be too painful."
"Arn is a knight of the royal guard," another voice replied, "he has a duty to the royal family. What makes him think that he can raise a child while keeping the royal family safe at times like this?"
"He's probably got a woman in castle town," a third voice chimed in.
"Domin! Don't say such things!"
"Why not?" The voice came back, "I hear it's not uncommon for the royal knights! I hear some of them have entire secret families within the walls of Castle Town. Why wouldn't Arn? Especially with Umi always going on about their family's 'honor' at any chance. I imagine Arn will have one of his women take care of the boy…"
Link heard a loud slap.
"Dormin, I will not have you speak ill of the dead." The old woman said, her voice loud and stern. "Especially with Umi's son so nearby. Arn has sent for him; Link is to leave with the next merchant caravan into the city."
Link could remember no more of the conversation. The words were drowned out by his tears as he sank beneath a wave of sadness.
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Thanks for reading! I decided to do a bit of an interlude, because I have a few memories that I didn't quite know where to place. I was so excited to get some reviews that I decided to give an extra update this week!
