Prologue

A wolfos stood at attention, howling it's heart out in the dark of night. Though the moon was full, it cast little light on Hyrule Field. Only a pale, thin sliver of moonlight was able to make it through the thick clouds obscuring the sky and stars.

Not clouds. Smoke. Thick smoke that raised high into the air and choked out all life.

Underneath the ashen sky, a boy and his mother ran.

The boy – no younger than eight nor older than twelve – stumbled bleary-eyed in the darkness, tripping over rocks and stumbling over roots, completely lost, if not for the grip of his mother's hand around his wrist.

He stole a glance behind them, trying to catch a glimpse of the Castle Town walls and the silhouette of the castle it was named after against the smoky sky.

But all he could see was an orange glow on the horizon.

He felt his mother tug on his arm again and stumbled forward again, trying to keep up. To his confusion, he could feel her grip weakening. As the smoke above shifted, he caught a glimpse of his mother in the moonlight, her other hand wrapped firmly around her waist, her teeth grit together tightly.

As they reached the top of a hill, his mother slowed to a stop to look back, then to look this way and that. In the distance, he heard the howling of a wolfos again, the only sound cutting through the night besides his and his mother's ragged breathing. His mother's grip tightened, and she began to run again.

"Mom?"

When she did not answer, he opened his mouth to call out to her again. He wanted to cry out and beg for her to tell them where they were going, what was wrong, why the sky was full of ash. But the words died in his throat. He breathed heavily, his legs like jelly, and continued to stumble blindly behind her. Though very little was visible, he could just barely make out the silver outline of treetops in the distance ahead of him.

The forest. Thoughts of his father's words filled his mind. You must never venture near the forest alone, his father had told him many times before. It is not safe, filled with monsters, and besides that… He wondered where his father, the great knight that he was, was now, and if he knew where he and his mother were.

He was torn from his thoughts as his foot caught on something in the darkness. His mother did not stop, despite his pained cry as his ankle twisted unnaturally, pulling him down. His dead weight caused his mother's grip to slip away, and the sudden loss of the weight caused her to lose balance and stumble forward, falling, unable to catch herself.

The boy coughed painfully and pushed his torso up slightly. Then he managed to push himself to his hands and knees. Pain shot up his leg as he tried to stand back up, so instead he remained on his hands and knees while he tried to catch his breath.

How had he gotten here again? The night had been a blur. He remembered being awoken to his mom's scream. There was a shout afterwards, and then… he couldn't remember, then they were running through the town, running through the fields, the crackle of fire and the barking of dogs chasing after them. Somehow, at some point, they must have lost them. He turned back to look at his mother.

She had not risen, still lying flat on the ground, her breathing ragged. For some time, she made no motion to move. But distant howling managed to knock her out of her stupor. Her head shot up in alarm. Then weakly, she tried to push herself up, but fell.

The boy crawled over to her, letting out a whining sound. "Mom? Momma, what's going on?" He asked.

Only then did the woman look over to him, her eyes squinting as she tried to make out his face. "Listen to me very carefully," the mother started in a cracked, hushed whisper, raising a hand towards her child. "Li.. Listen. You have to run without me."

The boy's gaze clouded in confusion. He leaned slightly back. His mother's hand managed to find his shoulder.

"Run into the forest. Find the great spirit there. You must beg him to let you stay until it's safe to return. Do you understand?"

He shook his head. "N-no, no I don't understand. Momma, what's going on? I don't understand!"

His mother lowered her gaze. "Home is not safe anymore, my child. Find the forest spirit, find the forest children. Live."

"Bu-t mom, what-what about-" He was silenced by his mom's finger at his lips.

There was a moment of silence, and his mother moved her shaking hand to cup her child's face one last time. "Be courageous, my son, and the goddesses will protect you. I know you can do it, my little hero."

Howling sounded again, closer. His mother removed her hand. "Now run, go!"

Her hand fell with a shudder. Link stared at her for one last moment, then climbed to his feet, despite his leg's protesting, turned, and limped forward to the treeline.

The goddess would protect him if he was strong, right?

Then in the forest, in the darkness, he had nothing to fear.

A/N: So, first off, I can not begin to say how excited I am to publish this project! It's going to be the biggest writing project I've ever attempted (my previous longest story was about 25k words, and I've already almost surpassed that with my draft in only a tiny fraction of the story). I hope to update it weekly on Sundays.

So now for some quick notes about the story itself:

Yes this is going to diverge some from the story of Ocarina of Time. Some characters are going to get more development than they do in the original game, and the order of some events will be different, as well as how some of them play out. Some things within the story itself may not follow established canon to the exact, whether it be because I forgot something, or chose to change it for the sake of the story. Please feel free to point out glaring plot holes or flaws, but also please bear with me, and remember that this is a labor of love. Most of the plot is pretty well hammered out, but I still have a lot to write, so who knows how things could shift around in the end?

With all that said, I hope you enjoy The Heart of a Hero!