Part One – Chapter Three

Link was frozen as he kneeled before Druid's unmoving body, tears pricking at his eyes as the crimson liquid flowed out from underneath the rock where the Dragon's head was supposed to be.

Druid was dead. Dead because of Link's foolishness. If he had only waited another week, then Druid might still be alive. This was all his fault and there was nothing he could do. He had nothing and no one to blame but himself. Here he thought he would become a great knight, and yet he couldn't even keep his Dragon alive for less than a day. He refused to move and just let the tears flow from his unblinking eyes. Gradloch and his golden Dragon flew down next to him, landing as softly as they could. This wasn't the first time a Dragon had died in the training program, but it certainly was the first time a Dragon was killed because of a fault in one of the traps. He had no idea that the rock was so unstable. He walked over and placed a reassuring hand on Link's trembling shoulder.

"I'm…so sorry, Link," he said, a solemn expression planted on his face. The young Hylian remained still for several more seconds before screaming out in frustration and slamming a fist onto the ground beneath him, his tears slowly turning it a darker shade.

Link hung his head low, mimicking the sun in the distant horizon. His footsteps were small and sluggish as he walked back to the Great Tree, avoiding all eye-contact as possible. His hair made sure of that by dangling over his face, hiding his saddened blue orbs from sight. He had his arms tightened around his torso almost defensively as he passed by other people and their Dragons. Occasionally someone would ask him if he was alright, but he would just mumble, "I'm fine," and continue trudging back to his dormitory room. Earlier, Gradloch had offered to fly him home, but being around Dragons just made him feel worse. He wanted to forget ever befriending Druid, but he knew the memory of his cold, still corpse would haunt him forever. It wasn't like he could move onto another Dragon either; a person being bound to more than one Dragon was unheard of if they weren't a Dragon Whisperer. Besides, no Dragon would want him now. Not with the knowledge that he'd let his die. There was no doubt that word would have quickly spread by morning, and he would be showered with attention.

As he entered the base of the Great Tree and began making his way up, he noticed Zelda and her father talking away down one corridor. He tried to get out of sight, but Zelda had already seen him. To avoid having to look at her with puffy red eyes, he booked it, knowing that he was well faster than her. He made it to his room in record time and slammed the door behind him, proceeding to push his set of wooden drawers against the door to prevent anyone from coming in. He viciously grabbed his hat off his hat and pelted it at the wall, letting it drop into a sad heap on the floor. He then threw himself onto his bed and pushed his face into the soft pillow, screaming as hard and loud as he dared. He just had to let all his emotions pile out – Zelda had taught him to do so, and it made him feel better every time.

Zelda grunted as she kept heaving herself against Link's door, trying desperately to get in. She knew that something was amiss the second she saw him walk by. If there wasn't, then he wouldn't even be walking; he would already be in his bedroom because Druid would have flown him there.

"Link, please, what's wrong? Let me in," she begged softly, but loud and clear enough so she was heard. The boy didn't reply however, but Zelda managed to push the drawers aside enough so she could squeeze in. She found him lying on his side facing the wall, knees pressed to his chest like a frightened child in a thunderstorm. Every now and then she would hear him sniffle and his body would jerk slightly from the quick breaths. She sighed and closed the door, slowly making her way over and sitting beside him, placing a fair-skinned hand on his upper arm. It wasn't hard to tell that he had been crying, but she'd known him since they were little, and the only time he ever cried was when his pet wolf pup passed away from a sudden illness – he was only young and yet he happened to find it one stormy evening, cold and motherless. He had brought it home and took care of it until its life ended a week later, during its sleep. He didn't come out of his room for days.

Oh no… Zelda thought, suddenly realizing that the worst case scenario had happened. Link was a big animal-lover. It was practically impossible to make him upset unless an incident with an animal occurred, but even in those times he didn't cry. He was tough as – no, he was made of stone, and nothing ever got to him as badly as his wolf pup did. But now, returning home without his Dragon…

"Link?" She gently rubbed his arm, not wanting to see him distraught.

"It's my fault… It's ALL my fault…" he said suddenly, his voice cracking in several areas.

"What's your fault?" she asked, although she was sure she already knew the answer. Her theories were confirmed when his only answer was repeated sobbing. "Shh… It's okay…" She shifted her position so she was able to rest her head on his shoulder and wrap her arms around him reassuringly.

"But it's not okay… He wouldn't be…he wouldn't be dead if it weren't for me…"

"You know that he wouldn't blame you, so you shouldn't blame yourself. There's probably a more logical reason to this."

"I screwed up big time. I was never worthy of becoming a knight, let alone a Dragon rider. I don't fit in anywhere here, Zel. I have no future."

"Our futures aren't set, Link. There's still time for change."

"What is there to change?" He sat upright and turned to face her, his cheeks stained with dry tears. His expression had now changed from severely hurt to just downright depressed. "My Dragon is dead and there's nothing I can do to change that. I can't do anything but grieve over him and regret my every last action. There is nothing left here for me."

"…I'm here for you." Link's eyes widened slightly, as if he just remembered that Zelda was the one person he truly cared about. "Even if the Seven Realms go completely down in flames, I'll still be here for you, Link, just as I hope you'll be there for me. Promise?"

Link was so awestruck by her words that he almost forgot to reply.

"I promise, Zelda. I promise that I'll fight to the ends of the Earth for you."

"And I, too, promise that I'll never leave your side, and no one could ever convince me otherwise."

Link finally managed to muster a small and kind smile as she took his hands in hers.

"Thanks, Zel. You always know how to make me feel better."

"No problem." Link found himself lost in her eyes, trying desperately to resist kissing her softly smiling lips. He could swear he saw her blush as she looked away and suddenly found the foot of the bed very interesting. "Well, I'd better head off to bed before my dad worries about me. I trust that you'll be okay, from here on out, so don't give me any reasons to worry about you." She turned so her feet were now on the ground, ready to take her weight, but she paused as if contemplating something. She faced Link again for one more second and placed a simple, quick kiss on his left cheek. "Goodnight, Link." She got up and left the room, leaving the dumbfounded boy to just sit there blushing like crazy.

Link let out an irritated groan as sunlight poured in through his window, forcing unwanted light into his closed eyes. He picked his pillow up and then dumped it onto his face, holding it down either side with his arms. Today was going to be a LOOONG day.

The young Hylian finally managed to get up and groggily slip his leaf-green tunic over his head and sit it comfortably over his off-white, long-sleeved undershirt. He proceeded to pull his sandy-brown pants on, followed by his dark leather boots. Last but not least, he glanced over at his crumpled hat on the floor and picked it up with a sigh. Setting it somewhat on the back of his head, he nodded with satisfaction and pulled the set of drawers away from his door. He then exited and braced himself for the comments he was about to he knocked around with.

The first to approach him were two knights who had clearly had their careers for a long time. He expected them to be remorseful and pity him for his loss, but the words that came out of their mouths was most shocking.

"You're Link, yes?" the first one said, Link nodding in reply.

The second one shook his head before spitting out his words that were laced with venom. "…Shame on you…"

Link's eyes widened with surprise and a slight hint of hurt; he thought it was normal for one to blame oneself for a mishap, but for others to blame him too?! They pushed past him as if he was some kind of traitor to all knights, and it was clear they wanted him to hear their continuing conversation.

"I can't believe that kid, putting himself and his Dragon in the training program with no less than a day's practice."

"I didn't appoint for training until Snake and I had bonded for over a year."

"He should have known the dangers of the path to become a knight. I don't think I've seen anyone act so foolishly before."

"I pity his Dragon for choosing him as his companion."

Those words stung Link's heart like a thousand bees. He refused to let himself cry again; he'd already done that last night. Instead he shook his head and continued making his way to the bottom of the Great Tree's trunk. Just like the two knights, other people shamed him on his way outside, although there were a few people who apologized for Druid's death. He wasn't sure what he would do today besides just walking wherever. Perhaps he would go and fish, or venture into the Entangled Forest and climb around a bit to let out some of his stress. However, he decided against the latter, the memories of rushing through the trees on Druid's back flowing once more through his mind.

He headed down to the lake and greeted the ever-friendly fisherman, his only friend besides Zelda. His beard was grey and scraggly as usual, and his worn hat sat proudly atop his balding head.

"Oh, hello again, m'boy! Come back down 'ere to snag another whopper?" he said in his cheerful tone.

Link couldn't help but chuckle. "Hello again, Mr. McCarp. Yes, I have indeed come to snag another whopper." Link imitated Mr. McCarp's funny accent on his last sentence, making the both of them chortle with laughter. McCarp handed Link a rod and let the Hylian bait it with a small fish. He cast it out as far as he could and concentrated on whether it was ripples or nibbles that were making the brightly-coloured float bob up and down on the water's surface. There was silence as the two focused on the lines until McCarp broke that silence.

"I heard what happened yesterday, Link. I just want ya to know that I'm sorry for your loss; it can't be easy for ya."

Link nodded but kept his gaze on the water. "Thanks. I'm gradually getting over it, despite what other people say."

"Ugh. Just a few minutes ago I heard two gals squawking away at how irresponsible ya were, but I know it ain't ya fault."

"But isn't it my fault though? I mean, I was the one who foolishly appointed for a knight's position so quickly and didn't foresee the obvious and inevitable outcome."

"Boy, I'm sure there're plenty o' other things to blame for this."

"That's just what Zelda said. Well, almost, anyway."

"She's a wise one, that girl. Tells it like it is and ain't afraid to do so. Ya line's pullin'." Link's head shot forward and he stood up immediately, yanking the rod backwards in an attempt to hook the fish securely. "Ooh, looks like a biggun'!" The fish was desperately trying to fight Link, but he was too strong and yanked the aquatic creature onto the dock. He used a scrap of cloth that was sitting off to the side to easily hold the fish in place while he carefully eased the hook out. It had almost gone through the poor thing's eye. He wasn't able to stop a bit of blood from pouring, but the fish was okay nonetheless. "Ah, too bad. Not as big as last time's."

"Oh well, it's still something."

Unfortunately the fish wasn't an edible species, so he chucked the thing back into the water.

"Before I forget, I been meanin' to ask ya somethin'. Why is it that ya still in ya graduate's uniform?"

"Oh, uh…" Link actually didn't know why he'd put it back on this morning. Just yesterday he said he'd hated it, but it just felt normal to put it on, as if he'd been wearing it his whole life. He did have to admit that it looked rather cool compared to regular clothing.

His particular tunic was a nice shade of grass green (there were different colours associated to the knight's size to make things easier – brown was small, dark green was medium, and yellow was large) and no knights ever wore that colour, which he was half-proud of because he needed a special fitting, considering he was neither small nor medium, but somewhere in between. But just like every other uniform, the sleeves were cut to form a triangular point instead of just being straight and round, and had a beautiful yet simple logo of a Dragon woven into the fabric on each shoulder. The logo was what represented new graduates and knighthood, and was a different colour depending on the Realm. The Earth Realm's was green of course, but Link's had to be a shade lighter so it would be noticed. Fire was red, Snow was light blue, Water was dark blue, Desert was yellow, Shadow was black, and Light was pure white.

McCarp waved his free hand in the air.

"Ah, never mind. 'Tis none o' my business. Ya don't hafta answer that."

Link smiled and said goodbye to McCarp, saying that he was going to go for a short walk.

"Alright, m'boy. Take care o' yaself and Zelda for me."

Link kicked the ground as he walked, glad that no one else was talking to him, until a certain Wyvern-riding jerk decided to give him a little shove from behind as an introduction.

"Hey, little buddy! Today's my last day in the Earth Realm for now, so I thought I'd come along and say goodbye!" Rayan said, Link knowing full-well that most of that statement was sarcastic or had a different meaning.

"Okay then, bye. Now leave me alone. I'm not in the mood," Link replied darkly, although he immediately wished he hadn't knowing that Rayan wasn't the type to leave him alone while not in the best of moods. Talk about the worst timing ever.

"Ouch, looks like someone is still sore from yesterday."

Of course Rayan knew about Druid.

"What do you want, Rayan?" Link turned to him with crossed arms and an irritated expression.

"Me? I don't want anything, Stink. You know that I too think that your actions at the training grounds were horrific. I knew you were naïve, but I didn't think that you were low enough to kill your own Dragon." Link could hear the smirk in his voice. The Dragonless Hylian clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. How dare Rayan have the nerve to say that! "Although, I think we all know that it was pretty inevitable for your Dragon to die anyway. That thing was so scrawny it shamed the whole Dragon race. Oh well, I guess everyone can't have a tough Giants' Sanctuary Dragon like mine." As if on cue, Ferno gave a roar and landed right behind his companion, his horned snout held high with pride. Rayan climbed atop the Wyvern with ease from years of doing so and seated himself in the saddle that was draped with supply bags. "See ya round, Stink!" And with that, the two took off back to the Fire Realm.

Once they were out of earshot and seeing as there was no one else around, Link screamed and pulled at his hair and stomped the ground, letting the world know just how much he hated Rayan.

"THAT SELF-OBSESSED, EGOSTITICAL, SLIMEY LITTLE…UGH!" Link panted heavily and allowed his rage to die down a little by thinking of Zelda. Oh how he wished that she could kiss him goodnight all the time…

Link had only walked a few more steps again when he suddenly recalled Rayan's words: "Oh well, I guess everyone can't have a tough Giants' Sanctuary Dragon like mine." His eyes widened and his head slowly turned in the direction of the Earth Realm's Giants' Sanctuary.

Zelda raced down the corridors of the Great Tree, having long given up on searching for Link and instead looked for her father to ask if he'd seen her best friend anywhere.

"Dad? Daddy! Come on, where are you…?" she cried out, mumbling the last part to herself. Her head frantically flicked left and right in the hopes to catch a glimpse of him. Maybe he's at the top of the tree? she suggested to herself. She followed her gut instinct that he was there, and there he was. He was conversing with a few knights – about what, she didn't know, nor did she care. All she cared about was finding Link. She wanted to spend as much time with him as possible, knowing that he might still be a little unstable and say or do something reckless.

She ran forward and crashed into the back of her father, squeezing him like she usually did.

"Oof! Hello, my daughter. Is something the matter?" he greeted.

Zelda looked up at him with puppy-eyes. "Have you seen Link at all today? I can't find him anywhere! He's not in his room, he's not in his special spot, he's not in the Great Tree, he's not by the-"

The burly man chuckled. "Zelda, my dear, relax. I have heard that people have seen him around today, just walking about."

"WHERE?!"

Her father had to back up slightly as she drew her face as close to his as she could, a clear concern in her eyes.

"I'm afraid I can't say. He could be anywhere right now, that boy. Anyway, isn't best you leave him be for a bit? I think he could use some alone time after…yesterday…"

Zelda sighed in exasperation. "If he wanted to be alone then he would've shut himself away in his room and – wait, you don't blame him for what happened? And you're not mad at him for it either?"

"Well, he is partially to blame, since he was the one who wanted to train so early. But no, I'm not mad at him. Losing a Dragon the same day you befriend it isn't easy, and we can't expect everyone to know their Dragon's limits right away." Zelda let out a relieved breath, although she quickly became agitated again at the thought of still not knowing where Link was. Her father raised a hand to stop her from rambling again so he could continue speaking. "Why not go and see Llilat? I'm sure she would be happy to send out a Dragon to scope the Earth Realm for him."

Zelda's face lit up and she tightly hugged her father again. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome, my daughter." He chuckled as he watched her sprint away to Llilat's chamber.

The Dragon Whisperer was calmly stroking one of her Guardian Shoulder Dragons in content, until the daughter of the captain of the Earth Realm Guard came bursting in, out of breath from the looks of it.

"My dear, what is it that has you in a panic?" she asked the young Hylian girl.

"Can't find…Link…Dragon…to find him…please…" Zelda said in between heavy breaths. Llilat quietly giggled.

"Slow down, and take a moment to calm yourself." Zelda almost completely collapsed on the floor next to another Guardian, startling the thing and making it leap up and shriek. She let her gaze drift around the large room, noticing that much of its decorations had been replaced with new ones. The walls and ceiling were engulfed in thin vines that grew many beautiful and exotic flowers, and the far end of the room contained a mountainous pile of soft pillows in various shades of blue and gold, of which Llilat and her first Soul Dragon rested on. After another moment, Llilat spoke again. "Now, please, what is troubling you?" She pushed a lock flowing red hair behind her ear to show that Zelda had her full attention.

"Please, Miss Llilat, I need a Dragon to search for Link. Assuming that you know what happened to his Dragon yesterday, I don't want to leave him to his own devices, but I can't find him anywhere. I'm worried sick about him." Llilat smiled and spoke softly to another Dragon lying nearby. It soon stood up and gracefully exited the room to look for the lost boy. "Thank you so much, Miss Llilat."

"You're very welcome. I shall let you know if my Dragon finds anything."

Link took one more glance around his surroundings to make sure nobody could see him. Sighing in relief, he climbed up the pile of rocks and heaved himself over the edge. He stared up at the small opening that stood not too far away. Come on, no going back now, he thought, bravely taking more steps forward into the small tunnel. To be honest, he didn't know what the heck he was doing; he was just doing it. He placed his right hand upon the cool rock as he slowly shuffled forwards. His breath hitched and came out as hot steam. Goosebumps erupted all along his skin as the cold crawled around him, wrapping him in an unforgiving blanket of icy fear. He didn't know how the temperature dropped so rapidly. Was the cold just a side effect of maybe some kind of enchantment to keep the Dragons in? Each Giants' Sanctuary was sealed inside a wall of rock, which made Link wonder why they didn't all just fly out, so an enchantment probably was the cause, although it did seem rather ridiculous to think about. However, it certainly did cause a dramatic change in atmosphere. He knew he was trying his courage by doing this. He half expected to hear whispers echoing around him as he travelled onward.

The tunnel and its frightening chill finally came to a standstill, and Link was met with a mass of greenery – even more so than back in the village. But he wasn't in the safe haven of it anymore; he was now in a completely different territory, and staying alert meant staying alive. It was really hard to decide whether to come armed or not, but since he wasn't here to fight, he decided to leave any weapons and tools behind.

The grass was amazingly soft beneath his feet, and the trees were a brilliant shade of green. The sun cascaded down in between each leaf, painting the ground below golden. Link stopped in his tracks and looked sharply upwards at a flock of tropical birds that flew out of the canopy, startling him with the noise of ruffling vegetation. Link breathed out and continued walking, constantly looking around him. Aside from birds tweeting and insects making infernal buzzing noises, it was pretty quiet. Too quiet for Link's liking. Why were there no thunderous footsteps and bellowing roars that could practically break rock? Just where were all the Giants' Sanctuary Dragons?

After a while, Link paused to take a small break and sat by a nearby creek. He wasn't going to leave until he came across at least one Dragon. He watched as a glistening silver-blue fish leapt out of the water and swam downstream with incredible speed for such a small thing. It was pretty much gone in an instant. If I want to keep my skin in this place, maybe I ought to take some mental notes. Number one: speed, Link thought to himself, smirking. Observing the way animals thrived in this environment would certainly aid him in preventing his limbs from being torn apart. Or swallowed whole.

He stood back up and picked a random direction to walk in.

"On second thought, a sword might have been nice…" Link said to no one in particular as he struggled to navigate the forest and push aside any thick leaves and branches. The hem of his tunic and hat kept snagging on protruding twigs, his face was almost constantly met with massive spider webs (fortunately most of them didn't contain their owners) and almost strangled himself on a dangling vine. "I swear, the next thing you know I'm gonna be walking straight into – WHAAGH!" Link exclaimed as he suddenly felt his feet disappear right from beneath him, along with the ground.

He desperately tried clinging onto anything that was within range to stop himself from sliding into incoming rocks and other unwanted obstacles, and leaves flew everywhere as his back sped downwards towards who-knows-where. A couple of Guardians shrieked in terror as the screaming Hylian crashed into them, bringing them with him. One lay wide-eyed across his face while the other dug its claws into his tunic, holding on for dear life. The trio carried on for several more seconds before the ground finally levelled out again, causing Link to catapult forwards and roll over multiple times. The Guardians were launched into the air and then landed in a crumpled heap not too far away from the leaf-covered boy. The Dragons stood up and grumbled to themselves as they stretched their limbs before taking off, shrieking insults at Link on their way into the trees.

"Trust me to jinx myself…" Link mumbled, getting up and brushing himself off. "Heh, if Zelda got covered in leaves and dirt she'd completely flip." It was true that, despite her independent attitude, Zelda could be such a girl at times. She often wore her favourite outfit too, which was a flowy pink dress that stopped just above the knees. The sleeves went no further than just before her elbows, and the entire top half of the dress was decorated with a swirly lilac-coloured pattern. The swirls gradually faded out as it reached the skirt of the dress, leaving the rest of it a plain pink. To match, she wore the same lilac-coloured tights underneath. Her leather boots were plain just like Link's, although hers had a slight red hue to the dark brown. Occupying her wrists were a few golden bangles that Link had gotten her for her birthday once. He had also noticed long ago that she always wore her hair the same way every day too – a section of the middle was neatly plaited and divided at the top of her head to form a hair-crown, and the rest of her golden locks remained untouched and slung down her back, although she sometimes liked it to hang over one shoulder. Her fringe was long and thin and was parted to the right; Link liked the way it was slightly wavy and framed her fragile face.

He sighed dreamily, glad that no one was around to give him strange looks while he was caught up in his daydreams. He snapped out of his trance however when he remembered that his full attention needed to be focused on his surroundings. He glanced up at the slope he had just descended from. I guess I'm not going back that way any time soon… he thought. The amount of leaves that were splayed along the ground were what made it so slippery, and it would be near impossible to climb. Link groaned and began heading off towards what he hoped was the heart of the Giants' Sanctuary. He found himself wondering just how big a Giant could get and whether it was truly possible to actually move around at such a size. He chuckled at the thought, but instantly froze when he heard a distant thumping in the direction he was walking. The Dragons were close.

Link's heart pounded in his chest, yelling at him angrily to just get out of there before he was noticed. The young Hylian ignored this, and instead focused his attention on the Dragon he was currently watching from inside his bush. He guessed from its slender form that it was a female, and its scales were the most fluorescent yellow that Link had ever seen. Its face was covered in tiny red freckles, or at least, Link hoped that they were freckles and not…blood. He shivered at the thought, although he was reassured when he saw that the Dragon was a fruit-eater. However, that did not mean that it was defenseless or friendly, so he kept a low profile. He watched as its immensely curly, whip-like tail wrapped around a plump mango and picked it straight off the tree it was sitting next to. It then proceeded to slice it open with ease with its claws and nibble at the fleshy inside. As for the Dragon's size, it was almost as tall as the tree it was picking from, which Link already thought was pretty impressive, although he was sure that he would come across even larger Dragons. This thought reminded him of why he was here, and so he began to silently slip away, being careful not to snap any twigs or crunch any leaves.

He was almost out of sight before he noticed a small skulltula that had somehow sneaked its way onto his foot and, in a blind panic, completely forgot that he was supposed to be stealthy. He yelped and sprang up, kicking his leg around wildly and drawing the attention of every living thing in the area. When the arachnid was finally flung off, Link came back to his senses. He slowly turned around to meet the startled and bewildered gaze of the yellow Giant Dragon. It was completely frozen in place, its taloned paw clutching a mango halfway to its mouth. It looked at Link like he was a completely bizarre piece of fruit that it had never seen before and had no intention of eating. Link swallowed nervously, sweat coating his forehead and the inside of his clenched fists. His wide eyes looked left and right, unsure whether to stand his ground or just make a break for it. After what seemed like an agonizing eternity, the Dragon's gaze flickered to the mango, then back to Link. It finally decided that he wasn't a threat, and continued feasting. Link let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding, and backed up slowly so as not to startle the Dragon with any sudden movements. When he was finally able to make a dash towards the behind of a tree, he spotted the same skulltula crawling around not too far away. Link narrowed his eyes and pointed a finger at it.

"You're really going to wish that I was eaten right now."

Zelda raced to the top of the tree towards Llilat's chamber, her golden bangles bouncing crazily on her wrists. She was already worn out from doing another run around the village in search for Link, but now she was panting like an overexcited puppy. That didn't stop her from being as quick as she could though, not if Llilat had information on her best friend. She whizzed past her father who wasn't quick enough to stop her so she could rest and ignored his calls. She had to shove her way past several knights and residents of the Great Tree, earning herself some light insults from the annoyed people. A visiting Zora from the Water Realm was the next to be in her way. Zelda was ready to step to the side to avoid her, but the aquatic female accidentally stepped in the same direction. Zelda came to a sudden halt, and both awkwardly stepped in the same directions in the hopes to let the other pass. The Zora finally stepped to the left and stayed there, apologizing. Zelda apologized back and dashed off once again, finally coming to her destination. She opened the double-doors and pushed past the ivy curtain to greet Llilat for the news on Link.

"You requested to see me?" Zelda asked, collapsing onto the floor like she had previously done.

"Yes. About Link," the Dragon Whisperer replied, her face solemn. Zelda hoped that her expression didn't mean bad news.

"…Well? Did you find him?"

"No, I'm afraid not. My Dragon flew across the whole Realm and even asked other Dragons for his whereabouts. The only information I can give you is that he was last seen by the lake with Mr. McCarp. I'm so sorry."

Zelda's gaze landed on the ground, a giant hole now torn in her heart. Her mind flipped through the most logical and worst scenario she could think of: Link went to the lake to drown himself. Tears stung her eyes as she pondered this, wondering if it was really true or not. But she couldn't believe that theory just yet, not if his body wasn't found. And besides, there was no way Link would commit suicide, right?

"Perhaps you should go down to the old fisherman and see what he has to say. It's just a suggestion, but you might find out where Link went," Llilat continued.

Zelda sniffed and wiped the corner of her eye with the back of her hand. "It's worth a shot, I guess. Thank you so much for your help."

"No probl-"

Llilat was cut off by an echoing roar that was too deep and too loud to be from a normal Dragon. The noise rang out for several seconds before fading away, and they could feel the silence that befell the entire tree.

"…What was that…?" Zelda asked, her voice wavering in fright.

A large crowd gathered in front of the platform that the students graduated from, waiting for Llilat to appear and assess the situation. Panicked murmurs floated around the Hylians and the other races, while the Dragons were completely freaking out as if the whole Earth Realm was going to be obliterated along with everything in it. They were constantly looking about themselves, flapping their wings sheepishly and letting out frightened shrieks.

The Dragon Whisperer, Zelda's father, Zelda herself, and several other high-rank knights finally stepped out onto the platform. The captain of the Earth Realm Guard placed himself in front and raised a hand.

"Everyone, please, calm yourselves! I know you must be concerned about what we all just heard, but I can assure you, Llilat will soon know of what is going on."

He moved aside so the young woman could speak. The crowd fell completely silent, although some of the Dragons remained in panic mode.

"Now, judging by how much the sound echoed, we can only assume that it came from the Giants' Sanctuary, and it was no doubt a Dragon that caused it," she began.

The scared civilians began throwing questions at her.

"How can you be sure?"

"Just how big was it?"

"What did you hear it say?"

Llilat took special note of the last question she heard. "The tone and pitch of the roar is most definitely recognizable as a Dragon, although I cannot say how big it was. The only thing I do know is that this could possibly be the largest Dragon we have ever heard of." The crowed once again began chattering amongst themselves, obviously worried about their safety. "And as for what it said…" Silence endured as everyone waited for the answer they wanted most. "…I do not know." A chorus of gasps escaped everyone's mouths. Never had they heard of a Dragon Whisperer being unable to understand a Dragon.

"You don't know? As in the roar was too inaudible to make out?" Zelda's father said worryingly.

"Unfortunately, no. The roar was crystal clear; something was definitely being said." Llilat leaned closer to the captain and lowered her voice to a whisper when the crowd began talking again. "…Something is definitely wrong. None of the Dragons will tell me what they heard, either."

"They won't?"

"No. I fear that we are dealing with something beyond our knowledge. The Dragons are freaking out and they won't tell me why."

"Well, what have you heard from them besides that?"

"A whole mix of phrases. The most concerning ones are 'It's coming' and 'Need to escape'."

Zelda's father reeled back slowly in thought, trying to contain his rising fear.

Behind them, Zelda was unable to stop her hands from shaking. Something terrible was about to happen, and all she could do was pray to the Goddesses that Link was alright.

"Alright. We station some guards outside the Giants' Sanctuary, just to be safe. If anything happens, they can report back," the captain said.

Zelda's eyes widened in horror at the realization. "Dad?" she said, walking up to him and tapping his arm.

"Hmm? Yes, dear?"

"Llilat, you know how the whole Earth Realm was searched and we couldn't find Link?"

Her father sighed and continued before Llilat could answer. "Zelda, I know you're worried about him, but now-"

Pure fear and concern were clear in her voice. "If he's nowhere to be found, then that leaves only one possible place…"

The adults' eyes widened as they realized where Zelda was going with this.

Link had gone to the Giants' Sanctuary.