Outside, the crisp air was welcomed with a heavily contented sigh, but the sound of distant cackling left Link feeling uneasy. He tiptoed in the direction of the sound and found himself walking toward the Lost Woods, east of the ranch. The eerie darkness and moonlit shadows cast a frightening atmosphere upon the forest, but somehow this brought a sense of comfort to Link, and the cackling changed... Seemed more celebratory laughter than witchy spellbinding. Link glanced back at the house while he continued to follow the sounds of laughter.
A small light seemed to move of its own accord behind the tree trunks and through the branches, catching Link's curiosity and beckoning him to follow. The light seemed to keep pace with him, he sped up, the light sped up, he'd slow down, the light would slow down. Suddenly, he decided to go for broke and dashed after it. It lagged ahead of him briefly but shot ahead at blinding speed! The laughter also grew clearer and a little louder. A mix between cackles and celebratory hollers echoed off the fat trunks of old trees. The light led Link deep into the woods and suddenly darted off more directly toward the sounds of laughter.
Link managed to keep up, sliding as he made the sharp turn and losing one foothold, compensating with the other. The light was way ahead, clearly visible, but stationary. Link was running fast, but slowed down. He approached the light, maybe 10 feet away, the closest he'd gotten yet, and inched closer. The light rang and tinged softly and jumped back toward Link, got in his face, and hummed away into the treetops before Link could make out what had happened. Voices rose up through the laughter and conversation could be faintly distinguished. Link held his breath and crept softly closer.
Chapter IV: More Questions than Answers
This is ridiculous, what's going on here?!
Some sort of punk kid's fan-fiction or some crud?!
I'm starting to think this isn't going to be real Zelda.
I hate it when the author writes about themselves as the hero!
"Well that fairy did a fine job, helping us scout for a new mushroom patch!" One harsh voice beamed happily, "Indeed, indeed! We can begin making new potions again! Hee-hee!" Came another voice that sounded almost identical. "Who ever would have thought old hags like us could willingly work with a forest fairy?" The first one cackled. The two witches hobbled an awkward dance around an eerie blue flame that glowed as if with shadow rather than light. The flame abruptly went out and two shadows pooled up from it, before darting over to Link.
Two hands from separate bodies grabbed link by the shoulders and pinned him against a tree. "Aunt Koume, we have a visitor!" one said simultaneously, as the other said rather, "Aunt Kotake". The witches cackled, the air carrying their glee into the sky, and they suddenly materialized broomsticks and hovered swiftly over to Link. The fire pit had turned to normal fire and its light revealed a fat hollowed out tree with a ladder and chimney. Link admired this forest house in spite of his situation. One of the shadow girls noticed his gaze and looked at the house too. The twin on the other shoulder saw her sister turn away and so she, too, looked back. They both returned to stare Link down and asked in unison "What?"
Koume and Kotake alternated between one another with their speech. One would begin, the other would finish. "Twila, Midna, bring our guest inside," One started, "We have him a gift that will bring him pride." The other continued. "Special boy this one is." The red witch said "The destiny of Hyrule shall be his!" The blue witch finished.
Twila and Midna exchanged doubtful glances but withdrew into the ground as shadows and retreated to the tree home. Link hadn't realized the two shadow girls were holding him up so high and he fell unexpectedly. Koume and Kotake hovered closer and leaned in, just staring at him. Then turned and flew into their chimney calling behind them together "Hurry along now!" Koume said, "We've much to address!" Kotake punctuated. Link got up and brushed himself off, front and back. Looked up to see if he could find the light, apparently a fairy, he'd chased into this place.
Inside the Witch hut was a large cauldron in the middle of the room, a domed smoke stack hung over it from above, carved out of and supported by the tree itself, a low over hang with beds stacked on one wall, and an L shaped counter right beside the front door, where Midna or Twila stood, the other nowhere to be seen. Koume stood in front of the cauldron, stirring in mushrooms, and Kotake sat in a rocker beside the bunks, impatiently beckoning Link.
Link approached the red witch and sat before her, expecting a story or some such thing. The witch cackled "You heart is true, boy!" she started, "True like blue! Oi!" Koume joked to finish. Kotake picked up, "We may not look it, hags as we are, my sister and I trained the evil king in times long afar." Koume didn't look up from her brew, but kept the conversation going, "You might not believe my sister and I to have lived in ancient Hyrule as the centuries trickled by!" Then leaned in to sample the odor of her potion.
"You might not believe that we could so long have stayed alive" Kotake continued on, "But believe it or not, we are fifteen hundred and five!" Koume declared, to which her twin abruptly stood in her rocker, "You hag! we're twins! you cant be younger than me!" Kotake approached the cauldron from the opposite, grabbing a spoon, and stirring with her twin. "Don't be so cruel dear sister! We're finally free! I'm only trying to save us some grace!" Koume argued. Kotake shook the spoon at her, "But that's a lie, we're better than that! Know your place!" They continued bickering, "Don't blame me for learning how to survive!" And bickering... "Our student might still be alive!"
Midna had been hiding in the shadow of the rocker and slipped up to Link and introduced herself with a sly smile, and Twila slipped over behind the witches through Koume's shadow to approach Link's opposite side, "and I'm her twin sister, Twila." They then spoke in unison: "come, meet us outside, our aunts are busy finishing your potion." Link laughed to himself, 'is that what they're doing' he wondered in silence as he followed their floor shadows out the door. "Liar!" but not without passing bickering twins. "Wretch!"
The eerie blue flame had begun to enshroud the area again, and Link stepped in. Inside the shadow, light was reversed, where shone bright appeared shadow, where shadow fled, lurked light. It took a moment for Link's eyes to adjust, then he saw Midna and Twila standing together in what appeared to be a trance. They then hovered off the ground a few inches and the shadowy light dome around them changed and swirled, showing visions and events in a blur. Armies clashing for treasure, a giant mirror in the desert, a tall dark spire hovering over a pit of lava, and as the visions focused, Link saw himself as a young boy, maybe 2 or 3 years younger than he is now, asleep in a tree, stirring and restless.
"The first Hero of Time was never the first hero, yet the goddess of time picked you from him." The twins spoke inseparably, "Your past is not your past, your present is not your present, but the future belongs entirely to you. This young Link was the first the 3 goddesses spoke to, the first to touch their treasure in his mind... with his heart... ... and the first to save Hyrule from Ganondorf." The vision continued to change, but focused on this one event. A fairy entered and began bouncing all about, and the vision swelled and warped into the phantom Link's mind.
A dream of a young princess riding quickly with her attendant, fleeing Hyrule, followed distantly by Ganondorf, riding his steed out of an ancient Hyrule gate and drawbridge. A brief exchange of looks as the princess rides past link; Ganondorf halting before the boy, shouts at him about the white horse. Link drawing a weapon, and Ganon laughing. He smiles evilly, firing a bolt of dark light into link and paralyzing him... The dream hazed away back to the fairy who was shouting at Link, and then the vision faded away again to the eerie inverted light of Midna and Twila's dome. They continued their story, "You bear the heart, spirit, and soul of the Hero of Time, whose lives have been ever fraught with peril." Link was shocked and caught a small gasp in his throat, recoiled, and slowly sat down, trying to steady his swirling head.
"When you first awakened as the hero, Ganon had already seized power and sought the Triforce, but you and the princess weren't ready. While you traveled over vast mountains, under deep blue water, through the realm of the dead, and even across the river of time, in the end, Zelda and the sages sealed Ganon in the void between realms and she returned you to your original time, so to give you your own life back. But Ganon was not fully sealed as the sages had thought."
A vision of Ganon cursing the descendants of the sages, Zelda playing the ocarina of time, and Link; returning in the temple. The fairy was with him all times, throughout every moment of that long journey, until the very end, when he was returned to his past, whence the fairy drifted away through the cathedral window. "You did not forget your adventures, you still felt duty bound, but this time you warned the princess of Ganondorf's deceit; you told her your story of having arrived as he prophecy had shown, then did her bidding and opened the temple of time. You explained how her plan worked against 7 years of Hyrule's history, so Zelda made no requests of you, but offered a parting gift for your service to the royal family, and as a surefire guarantee that Ganondorf would not open the doors of time: the Ocarina of Time. Feeling empty, unfulfilled, and alone, you sought your old friend and companion whom had accompanied you on your first journey. Requesting the horse of another young friend, buying a custom shield from Biggoron, and finally requesting a sword from your former childhood community from which you were growing too distant, you set out into the Lost Woods, in hopes of finding your fairy..."
The vision warped into The Skullkid chasing Link through the lost woods, stealing his horse and transforming him into a Deku Scrub, followed by Termina fields' view of Clock Town, and showed the moon falling and warping back repeatedly. The vision remained in a strange loop like this as the twins kept on, "The goddess of time saw how powerful you had become and used you to save another world connected by the dreams of Hyruleans. Upon entering the dream world of Termina, your presence awakened a sleeping evil, the Nightmare Majora, trapped in the Dekuwood of a stolen magical mask; imprisoning Majora in the waking world of Hyrule. Though you had befriended a Skullkid with your own mask trading, he had stolen that evil mask from a traveling salesman, putting all dreams, and thus all of reality, at risk! The goddess of time guided you backward through time repeatedly, as this old and forgotten evil attempted to destroy the world by using your friend like a puppet! You needed to finish your first adventure... You did not know how... So you found yourself saving another world instead. Your adventure into the lost woods to find a former companion rather found you into rescuing the world from a deadly nightmare!"
The vision panned in on a Skullkid wearing a strange mask, beckoning a giant and angry Moon overhead and Link playing his Ocarina.
Then the vision warped into the moon's mouth and revealed an eerie arena where the mask took on its own body and form.
Link put on a white mask, and the vision faded again...
The twins were hovering, slowly circling over the dark flame together, "The goddess of time saw you through many adventures throughout the ages, and with the help of her sisters and their Triforce, you vanquished evil at every turn... Passing between the world of light and shadow, entering the Sacred Realm en Dark World, and even passing through the dreams of Hyruleans..." The vision warped through time and exposed the execution of Ganondorf Dragmire for his crimes against the Royal Family, warping around to show Ganon vanquished by Link in his lair in the Black Citadel, warping past to Phantom Ganon in the Forest Temple, twisting light into a vast ocean, boiling away to a nightmarish battle against Ganon in the form of a Great Beast, warping away to the twins again. "After Zelda originally sent you back in time, Ganon had broken free from the void between realms... and in order to save everyone, the goddesses flooded nearly all of Hyrule with the help of the King, and your dream was forgotten... so that you could be born yet again, to face the revived King of Evil in his own deluge. Ganon, King of Evil met his demise at your hands countless times over countless eons, but never parted with the Triforce of Power until the events of the Imprisoning War, whereupon he was sealed in the sacred realm and his evil magic twisted it into the Dark World."
The vision disintegrated and dissolved, revealing another vision underlying. "Using the wizard, Aghanim, Ganon found a way to escape, and nearly succeeded until you were chosen once more to save Hyrule and attacked the Wizard, learning of his darker designs. He kidnapped the descendants of the seven sages who had imprisoned him, so as to escape and unleash the united parts of the Triforce against the world, but fell to your might and finally lost all three parts in the end. You vanquished him and laid claim to the whole Triforce after an epic battle. Your wish to restore Hyrule touched Farore's heart..." The vision warping through time and space again, to show Ganon vanquished by Link in his pyramid lair in the Dark World; Link securing the Triforce in an adjacent chamber; then warping back to the twins and Link, the vision flowing away like low tide. "However, as ever you returned, time and time again, so too did Ganondorf Dragmire; and over time, he had been resurrected by his followers in Hyrule, yet again, to secure the Triforce of Power."
The vision flooded in again, with images of an older and more mature Link: Emerging from a cave, carrying a newly acquired sword, and embarking upon his journey before the visage faded back out - like the tides ashore. "You had defeated Ganon once more and Zelda used her power of the Triforce of Wisdom to strip the Triforce of Power from Ganon's being and return the world to peace." tides rising, the vision swells with prosperous celebration and drains back to the inverted darkness. "Yet even as a hero, you walked away to live on in simplicity: For she was engaged; to a selfish prince, a man unworthy of kingdom who inadvertently cursed his bride-to-be with a sleeping spell, cast by a devious magician he, himself, hired... To secure the Triforce for his own selfish desire!" The vision faded back in, to detail Link's battles against a shadow copy of himself as the young twins narrated on, "Once more you came to the aid of Hyrule and sought the means to rescue the princess. Your shadow image guarded the Triforce of Courage, needed to awaken the Princess who had separated the 3 golden triangles and sealed them in 3 separate locations. A time of great prosperity followed for Hyrule thereafter... The Triforce became the stuff of legend and was all but forgotten..."
The twins hovered away from the flame on opposite ends and touched down to the ground. The blue flame dissipated and returned to normal fire, and the twins continued... "Farore, the goddess of courage, had grieved for you and wished you your own life, so with the help of the Goddess of Wisdom, Nayru and the Goddess of Time; Farore helped you and Zelda forget all your deeds as the Hero of Time and Sage of Wisdom, after Zelda sent you back originally."
The twins became solemn, "You were genuinely returned to your own time. You did not wait with the Master Sword for 7 years to battle Ganon, but were sent back to the moment you awoke from your nightmare. You left the Kokiri Forest in a daze, did not come back again to enter Termina, for you did not remember your fairy companion, and you did not return to the Kokiri village in the Lost Woods either. You grew to manhood, becoming a Hylian Hunter and introduced the Kokirish attire as huntsman's garb; when you became a man it had been since made traditional attire for hunting. However, Ganon could not be parted with his lust for power, even after he was trained as a Wizard by our very aunts, Koume and Kotake!" Link recoiled, Twila and Midna continued, "He used their teachings to bind them to his own will for a time and became an evil Warlock. He seized the Triforce of Power and used it to vanquish you and steal the Triforce of Courage. With those two parts in place, he forced Zelda to relinquish the Triforce of Wisdom and vanished; all but without a trace, as his minions overran all of Hyrule for 500 years of pure darkness. What has happened in the last 400 years are enshrouded in mystery, as his monsters seemed to disappear and civility returned to the lands... ... but the existence of the Moblin police and Stalfos Knights remain testament to his presence even toda..." Interrupting the twins, Koume and Kotake burst out of the tree hut and began scolding their twin nieces.