Part 1

The Legend

Chapter 1

"Old will topple, the new shall be found."

The memories of kingdoms vanish as the sands of time scour the bones of the one's who remembered them. Legends though, can pass untouched through the trials of the ages. Being passed from person to person, generation to generation they endure, surviving on the wind's breath.

The first tendrils of summer were touching the bustling city of Hylia. Cars roared up and down the roadways, drivers oblivious to the forgotten magics that lay dormant within the land. Mother's tended to their children, unaware of their royal lineage. Ignorance plagued the newest generations, and even historians knew little about what came before.

"Psst!" Link whispered under his breath, trying to get the attention of the girl sitting in the desk next to him. It was the last day of high school for the two seniors, and Link was getting a little antsy.

"Psst! Malon!" Link tried again. She must be asleep, he thought to himself. Checking to make sure the teacher was preoccupied, the boy leaned over and quickly smacked the top of her desk. She jumped, and woke with a loud snort.

"Deku trees!" she said loudly, causing the class to burst into laughter. The teacher, however, didn't seem amused.

"Miss Lon!" he said with comically raised eyebrows. "I know it's hard, but please, try not to disrupt the class."

"Sorry Mr. Jones," she said sleepily. "It won't happen again."

"That's 'cause you won't be able to fall asleep again before the bell rings," Link muttered under his breath, winning a glare from the red-haired girl sitting next to him. He and Malon had met each other in preschool, and had been best friends ever since. Today she was wearing jeans, as usual, and the purple tee shirt that Link had gotten her for her birthday. Strangely, that made him smile. Around the neck was a yellow scarf that she had recently taken to wearing. Link thought it looked good on her. Somehow, everything looked good on her.

He was a bit scruffy by comparison. His blue sweater was a size too big and his long tan shorts always seemed to have a stain on them, no matter how hard he tried to keep them clean. When he was a kid, he had taken to the habit of growing his hair out long in an unsuccessful attempt to hide his unnaturally long, pointed ears. It had been years since he last cared what people said about them, but he kept his hair long all the same.

"Psst, Malon!" he whispered again now that she was awake.

"What?" she whispered back heatedly. "I was having a nice dream."

Link had to suppress a laugh at how depressed she sounded. He motioned her to watch as he took a paper airplane out from under his desk. He took a moment to carefully aim the aircraft. Then, with a wink at Malon, he let it fly. Direct hit! He congratulated himself as the object struck the back of the irritable teacher's balding head.

Mr. Jones spun around, furiously snatching the airplane off the ground. "Who threw this contraption!?" Malon couldn't help but let out a quickly suppressed giggle. "Miss Lon!" he said, eyebrows again climbing up his forehead. "I'm afraid that you're going to need to stay after cla—"

RIINNNNGGGGG!!! Malon broke into as she ran out the door. "Have a nice summer Mr. Jones!" Link yelled back at the teacher as he followed Malon into the hall.

"Freedom!" Malon yelled, spinning in circles and receiving some strange looks from passerby. "C'mon slowpoke! Let's get outta here, this place is so dismal." Link smiled at Malon's enthusiasm, but hesitated before following her down the hallway to the exit. He almost regretted leaving the school. Not that he had experienced a very pleasant high school journey; most of the time he was alone, ostracized by his peers because of his odd ears. However, the building had sheltered him. He didn't think he could count the number of times he'd snuck onto the roof just to get some time alone.

With a sigh, he followed Malon outside. She had already detached her bike from the rack, and was off a little bit saying goodbyes to some of her friends. Link detached his bicycle as well, but didn't join up with this friend. He knew that some people felt awkward around him, and he didn't want to ruin Malon's conversation. After a few minutes she walked over to him, giving him an apologetic look.

"Popular kids," he said sarcastically, trying to lighten the mood.

"Whatever!" She biffed him on the arm. "So do you wanna come over to my place for dinner tonight?"

"Actually, I was kinda hoping that you'd come over to my house for the night," Link suggested. "Becky's staying the night too, and in the morning my brother was going to take us on a picnic to the archery range."

Link's brother Samir had taken care of him since their parents had died in a car accident a few years back. The police report stated that their parents had been avoiding another car, probably a drunk driver, and had run off the road and into a tree. Their mother had died instantly, but their dad had lived just long enough to make it to the hospital and say goodbye to his children.

Since the accident, Sam had don't his best to provide for Link, taking up odd jobs around the city to pay for their small house. They never had much money, but Sam would always find a way to get Link what he needed. Link was extremely proud of his brother, and admired everything that he did. Whenever he wanted to curse the goddesses for taking his parents, he instead thought of Sam, and thanked them that he hadn't been killed as well.

As Link and Malon set out for Link's house, Malon struck up another conversation. "So how long have your brother and Rebecka been dating now?" she asked. "It's been quite a while."

"It'll be two years next week," Link replied, riding up alongside her. "Becky's almost as much a part of our family as you are." Neither of them spoke as they turned into Link's neighborhood. Link could tell that Malon had something on her mind.

"What's up Mal?" he asked, using her childhood nickname. She hesitated for a second, slowing down their bike ride as she did so.

"Has Sam said anything about…" her voice trailed off.

"About what?" Link asked, clueless as to what Malon what talking about.

"Ah, nothing," Malon said. "You already would have told me if he had."

"What?" Link asked again, now curious.

"Well, I was wondering if Sam had said anything about what he plans to do now that you're out of high school," she said, giving him a sideways look. "It's gonna be hard for him to stay with Rebecka if he decides to move away to college or something."

Link was stunned. He hadn't considered the possibility that his brother would want to leave. In fact, he hadn't really thought about what Sam would do now that he didn't need to stay around to tend his little brother.

"Don't worry about it," Malon said as they turned down Link's street. "You're brother wouldn't just run off without talking to you first. He really cares about you."

"Yeah, you're right." Link nodded in agreement, his fears momentarily relieved. Together, they put their bikes in the shed and walked up the pathway to Link's house. In the wake of their parent's death, Sam and Link discovered that their inheritance couldn't continue to pay for the expensive house they had been living in. Fortunately, after a few months Sam found a cheap, run down old shack that they could afford. It took weeks of hard work to make the house livable. In fact, the work never really ended. Link could remember how they were forced to sleep in the kitchen the first time that it rained because the roof was so leaky. It had definitely been a lot of work to fix it up, but it had paid off.

Walking into the house, Link wondered what life would have been like if their parents were still alive. They would have a nicer house, for one thing. His brother, Sam, was sitting on the couch facing away from the door, obviously engrossed in the soccer game playing on the television.

"Hey guys!" Sam said, finally noticing the pair. "How was the last day of school?" Sam had just recently turned twenty-four, but his long brown hair covered his forehead, making him appear younger. Usually he dressed pretty formally, but tonight he was just wearing jeans and a tee-shirt.

"Fine," Link said, wrapped up in his own thoughts.

"Yeah, but not that we got that over with, we can finally get on with the rest of our lives," Malon interjected, obviously in a good mood.

"So when's Becky coming over?" Link asked, him and Malon joining Sam on the couch.

"Any minute," Sam replied, checking his watch. "Actually, I'm surprised that you beat her here."

"It's weird for her to be late," Malon said, grabbing some chips out of the big bag lying on the coffee table. Sam was just about to respond when Rebecka walked through the door.

"Sorry guys, did I miss anything?" she said as she hung up her coat. "My job interview ran longer than expected." She walked over to the couch and bent over to kiss Sam, her long red hair falling around his face.

"Not a thing," he said as she pulled away. "I was just about to call for pizza." Sam stood up and walked into the conjoining kitchen. Rachel took his spot, her long slender form easily sliding in beside Link.

"Alright, pizza!" Link exclaimed, giving Malon a high-five.

"Yeah," Sam said from the kitchen, his voice carrying through the wide entryway. "I thought you two would like that better than a nice homemade dinner. Especially since I would be the one cooking."

The pizza arrived before the soccer game was over, so the group ate in front of the television.

"Oh! I almost forgot," Sam said to Rebecka as he leaned forward to grab the last piece of pizza. "How did your job interview go?"

"It went alright," she replied. "The manager really seemed to like me, and they said that they'd call me in a day or two if I got the job, but I don't know…" she trailed off as their soccer team made a spectacular cross in front of the other team's goal.

"Come on…" Malon urged. "Take the shot!"

"Yes!" they all yelled as the ball went sailing into the net.

"What a shot!" Link said, tapping his glass against Sam's as the game ended. "Perfect way to finish a match!"

"Definitely," Malon said as she and Rebecka stood and stretched. Rebecka grabbed the empty pizza box and went to throw it away in the kitchen. "Hey Link, what do you say to going out and watching the sunset at the lake?" Malon asked.

Link laughed. "Sure, let me ask Mom." He turned to Sam, who chuckled. "Hey Mom…"

"I don't care, just try not to fall in," Sam replied.

"Sweet," Link said, following Malon into the kitchen. Sam could hear some laughter in the next room that was suddenly cut off as the door swung shut. After a minute Rebecka walked back into the living room.

"Those two," Sam said, shaking his head and grinning. Beck tiredly walked over and lay on the couch next to him.

"I wonder when they'll figure it out," Rebecka said as she lay her head on Sam's chest and closed her eyes.

She looks so peaceful, he thought to himself. Aloud he replied, "What?"

"How perfect they are for each other."

Link and Malon arrived at the lake just as the sun was beginning to set. As kids, they had discovered an old, abandoned boat dock on the backside of the lake during a picnic trip with Link's parents. After that, whenever they came to the lake they would always watch the sunset from the small pier.

"We almost missed it," Malon said, leaving her bike near the shore and walking out to the edge of the dock. Link propped his bike up on its kickstand and followed her.

"This is nice," Link said. Together they took off their socks and shoes, dangling their feet in the cool lake water as the sun continued to set. Glancing at Malon, Link was struck by how beautifully the sun reflected off of her long red hair. What am I thinking? he said to himself, quickly turning his gaze back to the lake. After a moment though, his eyes found their way back to Malon, only to find that she was looking at him as well. His striking blue eyes locked with her elegant brown ones for what seemed like an eternity. Link thought that he could happily stay like this forever.

"I got you something," Malon suddenly said. She turned around and reached into the bag she had brought with her. After a minute she pulled out the oldest looking book Link had ever seen. The faded green cover didn't have a title that Link could see, but engraved on the front were three golden triangles arranged to form one larger triangle. "I found this buried under some old movies at the pawn shop downtown. The owner didn't have any idea what it was, so I bought it and looked it up online when I got home. Turns out, it's over three-hundred years old. It's one of the only known records of the—"

"The Legend of Zelda." Link interrupted, his voice airy with excitement.

"Yeah," Malon replied, obviously surprised. "How did you know?"

"I dunno," Link said, and for the life of him, he couldn't recall why he had said that. "Must've been a lucky guess."

"Right," Malon said skeptically. "Anyway, I remember you told me that your parents used to tell you stories about the Cycle of Eternity when you were a kid. I thought you might like this."

"They used to tell me about Princess Zelda and the Hero of Time. About how they were reincarnated again and again in order to stop the desert demon. They told me the stories every night before I went to sleep," Link said, quietly reminiscing. He looked up at Malon, a sad look in his eyes. "Thank you."

Malon leaned over and gave Link a hug. She could tell how much it meant to him. "You're welcome."

"You wanna hear a story?" Link said suddenly, brightening up. "I could tell you about the beginning of the world."

"Sure!"

"Alright, I hope I can remember," he said, his eyes glazing over as he tried to recall the story.

"The world was created by the three golden goddesses: Din the goddess of power, Nayru the goddess of wisdom, and Farore the goddess of courage," Link began. "Din used her power to cultivate the land and create red earth. Nayru, with her wisdom, gave the spirit of law to the land. Then Farore stepped upon the world and, with her rich soul, created life that would uphold the law. Their labors completed, the goddesses departed for the heavens, leaving behind the golden triforce at the point where they left the world." Link opened the book, leafing through some pages before he found an ancient drawing of what appeared to be a group of people in the middle of a great fire. "However, the people were not safe. After a thousand years a man appeared from the desert and tried to steal the sacred triforce from the Temple of Time. The goddesses shattered the triforce into three pieces in order to prevent his dominion of the sacred realm. The triforce piece of power was given to the evil demon Ganon, the triforce piece of wisdom was given to the Princess Zelda, and the triforce piece of courage was given to a boy of the forest who was known as the Hero of Time."

Link turned another few pages to a picture of a boy clad in green, he held a bright sword in his hands and under his foot was the body of a boar. "The three Chosen became locked in a battle that lasted for eternity. The Hero of Time would arise and seal Ganon away with the help of Princess Zelda. Then, in the next age, Ganon would break free of the seal and the Hero of Time would reawaken in a brave youth, who would earn the help of the princess and seal away the demon once more. Thus was the beginning of the cycle of eternity." Link closed the book, his voice becoming more lighthearted. "Nobody knows what became of the Chosen. Some believe that they are still out there, waiting for the cycle to turn again. Others believe that the cycle has been broken forever."

Link blinked in surprise when he realized that Malon had rested her head on his shoulder while he was telling the story. Her eyes were closed, and for a minute Link thought that she had fallen asleep. "And what do you think?" Malon asked groggily, on the verge of falling asleep.

"I think it's just a story," Link replied softly. He lay his head upon Malon's brow and together they watched the sun sink below the horizon. Neither youth remained awake to see the sun set, each asleep and dreaming of a wonderful summer's eve.