Chapter Three
The Forefathers and Kokiri
Link woke up on the sofa in his living room, a worried Nanna at the head of it and Zelph and Zane by the door. It was Zelph who first noticed,
"He's waking up!" She exclaimed
"Link?" Nanna said in question as he winced and groaned in pain, "Oh you're alright!" Then to Zane she exclaimed, "He's OK!"
"I wouldn't go right to OK" Zane said, going over to him
"Could you go and get some soup for Link?" Nanna asked Zelph, Zelph nodded, "Thank you...Zelph"
Zelph grinned and rushed off to get Link some soup.
"These are for you Link, you're going to need them, they've been worn by every Hero of Time since Hyrule was created" Zane said proudly, presenting Link with a tissue paper parcel.
Link' heart skipped as he uravelled the hero' outfit, still not daring to believe that hero was him.
He coughed a little at the attire,
"When were these washed last?" He asked, Nanna clapped him round the head for his cheek, "Ouch, Nanna I'm in enough pain"
Zelph came back in at this moment with the soup and laughed a little.
"There's a belt and boots too. You've all weighed the same and reached the same height by this stage, it really is uncanny" Zane told him
Zelph sat down beside Link and with some effort he took the soup from her and drank it until his wounds were healed before their eyes. Zelph was stunned to see this.
"It's Kokiri magic" Nanna told her, "You'll need that outfit to get into the Kokiri village" She added to Link
"I know why you call yourself Zelph" Link said to Zelph with a grin
Zelph stood up, turning bright red,
"No you don't" She said
"Korki and Kokiri are elves, I'm half Korki half Hylian, it's a tribute to me" He said, thoroughly amused by Zelph' discomfort,
"Oh put your ego away Link!" She snapped huffily
"I saved you" Link said
Zelph turned around to look at him hopefully and Nanna stared at him in shock.
"Link, do you remember something?" Nanna asked
"Yes, I had a flash back after that pig thing batted me across the field like a rounders ball" Link told them. "I've seen that pig before, it's the one that kidnapped Zelda and me when we were kids, it destroyed the fountain outside her house" He continued
"It did!" Zane exclaimed
"The sword I have won't work on him, I'll need something else...he looks a little dumb" Link said, "I think he thought Mya was Zelda"
"Oh don't!" Zelph exclaimed
"What do we do now?" Link asked Zane
"I suppose we should head for the Lost Woods but you'll need the Master Sword, the Portals can't be activated until you're at the individual area" Zane said
"I'll book the flights to New Zeland then" Nanna said
"I'm not going anywhwere without my light arrows" Zelph told them
"Dew put them in the training ring, the King OK'd it" Zane told her.
Link was relcutant at first to change into the hero' outfit but once it was all on and he had the belt, the boots, the satchel and the sword in it's scabbard clipped to his back he felt pretty awesome.
"Wow" Zelph said as he came down the stairs.
Zane beamed proudly.
"I love this moment, how do you feel?" Zane asked
"Honestly, I feel awesome" Link said but then his face dropped a little, "But honestly unworthy of the title Hero of Time, I don't see how this outfit is going to make any difference"
"As each hero dies they leave a piece of themselves within the clothes of the hero, another in the sword, like a stamp, you will find yourself on this journey Link and add to it's power. As you go and learn you will feel the added strength that comes from wearing that outfit and weilding the Hero' Sword" Nanna told him proudly.
"Where's my hat or sheild?" Link asked
"The King keeps them at each passing of a hero until the next needs it and is ready to take on what is asked of him" Zane told him
"So I have to prove myself by obtaining the Master Sword first before he'll accept that I am the next Link, the Link of his world" Link summerised
"Indeed" Zane replied with a nod
Soon Link and Zelph were standing in a gold rimmed marble circle in the centre of a bandstand in the garden, and dotted around in the ground were sparkling glass domes.
This bandstand was gaurded by two Knuckle Knights statues.
The King, Zane and Dew were standing before them and a plynth, on which was a sunken handprint.
"I can't go into that place with you Link, I'm sorry" Zane called
Link nodded and the King placed his hand on the plynth until Link and Zelph sunk into the Training ring and the two Knuckle Knights crossed swords, electrifying the bandstand to stop Zane, Dew and the King going in to help.
"These are the youngest to fight since the first Hero of Time" Zane fretted
"Perhaps that is a good thing" Dew commented
"No turning back now" Zelph said as they stopped descending,
"Nope" Link agreed. A wall lowered and Link and Zelph were faced with two metal gaurds that had eyes in their backs, "Oh I know these guys...we don't have any bombs"
"They might have some" Zelph said, nodding at the dead knights scattered across the room
"That one at the far end has a bow" Link said, nodding at one knight in particular, "If we're quiet enough maybe we can use what's left of the them and the bombs to get rid of these guys" He added
Zelph agreed and she and Link started side stepping around the room. As Link got to a knight and was searching his satchel for bombs the guards came to life. Link got out of the way, just in time and somehow managed to keep the bombs he now had intact. Zelph screamed and they went after her so Link threw some rocks lying around the room at them to get them to go after him instead. This worked and Zelph was able to get her hands on some arrows and a bow, which she quickly used to shoot the eyes in the back so Link could use the bombs.
This worked and a green rimmed door opened, it let Link through but not Zelph. Zelph was confused,
"Stop messing about Zelda. Get in here" Link called
"I'm not, the door shut, I can't get through" Zelph called back, she turned when a pink rimmed door opened on the other side of the room, "Another door just opened, maybe we have to go two ways!"
"Be careful!" Link called but Zelph was already in the next room.
Zelph found a small ledge and a barless square bridge to a locked door on the other side of the room. She looked around for a key and found a skeleton in an area of the room she had no hope of getting to, she then looked at all the walls until she found a number of eyes she could shoot arrows into. One left, one right and one directly ahead.
Zelph took out the eye directly ahead of her and a gaint spider dropped down from the ceiling, big enough to break the barless bridge in the centre.
"Oh my God!" Zelph yelped, before shooting the soft spot on it's back with an arrow, though it did take a few goes what with it thrashing about in the water like it was, "So not that one" Zelph now took out the eye on the left wall and this froze the water. Zelph thought this was brilliant and easy but then she lowered herself onto the frozen water and slipped and slid and landed on her butt and then her side and then her front and it only got worse when she reached the skeleton with the key in it's hand. The skeleton was frozen too. Zelph managed to get onto a ledge and grabbed a stick from out of a fancy jar. She took it over to the skelton and thrashed the stick around, only for the stick to freeze, "Bother!" She exclaimed before foolishly taking out the third eye on the right wall so the ice thawed and into the water she dived.
It took a few moments for her to right herself and get out of the water, back onto the ledge.
Zelph took a breath and then looked carefully at the skeleton, she then kicked it and yanked at it until it came away from the wall to reveal blocks she could stand on. She had to stand in the same position as the skeleton before the key would just port from the skeleton' hand, into hers.
Now Zelph had to figure out how to get up to the locked door. She looked all around the room on receiving the key, and then up onto the ceiling where she found a 4th eye,
She lowered herself back down onto the ledge below and took out the eye on the ceiling, this caused several bricks to move out of the wall on the other side, that would allow her to get to the locked door.
She swam across to the opposite wall and used the blocks to get to the locked door. She turned back around for a second before venturing into the next room, feeling very proud of herself.
Beyond the door was a small space and in the middle sat her bow and light arrows in a glass cabinet.
She took them but then the room shook, her way out was blocked by flames, several eyes appeared all over the wall and a voice rang out, telling her to find the eye of truth. She paid close attention to the decorations on each eye rim, all but one had a decoration, she took her time as she aimed but this cost her because if an eye with a partner spotted her it shot a beam her way. The sound would alert her and she could dodge, though she did scream at a few near misses. Eventually and with a whimper she took a pot shot with a light arrow and destroyed all the eyes at once.
The flames went out and she was able to get out of the training ring.
She took the largest breath, grateful to be outside again. She was then greeted by her proud father, who she hugged with reluctance,
"Come on" He said
"I would't have had to go through all that if you'd told Dew to leave my arrows in the attic like a normal person" She retorted, "How's Link doing?" She then asked
Link was having a hell of a time with the Beamos. He was trying to find a place to stand that wouldn't get him hit by one of the beams.
After darting, ducking and rolling across the room Link got hold of a shield from one of five dead knights and used it to reflect the beam from the Beamos in the corner. Once he had this rendered useless he used the shield to bat back the beams from the other Beamos in the room but the bars blocking his exit wouldn't fall.
Link placed a bomb at the foot of each statue and embedded his sword in a bubble switch in the centre of the room, which set them all off, destroying the Beamos and breaking the bars blocking his path.
Link ventured into the next room, where sat the Master Sword.
The sight literally took his breath away. He had no words to describe the feeling coming from the blade, it was polished, it was...alive!
"Step this way Link" It said
"Father?!" Link exclaimed in question, confused
"I am one of many. Our souls will guide you and our light will aid you on your journey ahead, through woods, under seas, over mountains and underground before your final task with the Shanklin leader and quite possibly Canon himself"
"Thank you for putting my mind at ease" Link said sarcastically, "I feel so much better now"
"You have my lip kid, take sword in hand and let us test the four techniques I taught you in secret" The voice from the sword said,
"Sure, we could do that...if you weren't dead already!" Link retorted. He took the sword from it's stand and immeditately felt dizzy, the room spun until he was in a white field with Hyrule Castle in the distance and was surrounded by four Link' from the past. His father, his Grandfather, his Great Grandfather and his Great, Great Grandfather, "Oh boy"
"Don't worry boy, we won't all come at you at once, it's not in your best interests or anyone elses if we just knock you into the middle of next week, you will take us on one at a time with a technique your father taught you before his passing" His Great Grandfather told him.
Link relaxed a little.
They all altered in appearance until they appeared as they were at the prime of their lives.
The first challenger was Link' father, he stepped forward and the other three stepped back. Link and his father crossed blades for a second and bowed to each other.
"The first technique was the ending blow" His father said, "Come now son don't look so worried I'm dead already what will it do to me huh? Come at me now"
Link was emotional but did as he was told and faught with his father' ghost until he was on the floor before jumping into the air and driving the sword down through his middle with a cry. He then stood back and his father simply got up and stood back too so Link could retrieve his sword from the white grass.
"Very good" Link' Grandfather said. He stepped forward and Link' father stepped back further, "Sheild attack"
Link batted his Grandfather with the sheild to knock him off course before using the sword to jab him off his feet. Again, as he was a ghost it didn't really hurt him, he had a force around him so he could be pushed or jabbed.
The next challenger was his Great Gradfather.
"Spin attack" He said to Link,
Link nodded and did a spin attack but what he didn't expect was for his Great Grandfather to turn into a skeleton in part; head and torso parted from pelvis. Link was horrified as one half circled to find the other that was hopping around.
"Oh my God, I am so sorry!" Link exclaimed, full of remorse
"Happens all the time" His Great Grandfather told him as he put himself back together
Link' father burst out laughing.
Link looked at his Great, Great Grandfather now, he had a missing eye,
"What happened to you?" Link asked
"Same thing that happened to Shade" He replied, "Do you remember the battle of 1066?"
"Not personally, no" Link replied
"Oh Lord!" His Great Great Grandfather exclaimed, "Try the target attack"
"Focus training" Link said
"Yes Link but this time your mark will work for you, raise your hand to scan your target for weak points and then use your sword or whatever you have on you when the time comes to utilise it" His father told him.
Link nodded in understanding and held the back of his hand up to his Great Great Gradfather, six weak points appeared, his wrists, his shoulders and his shins,
"Woe, this is all kinds of awesome and supper weird at the same time" Link said before using his sword to render this last ghost Link uselsess.
"That is enough for now, you may meet more down the path" Link' father told him,
"Don't go!" Link begged as he was ported back to the last room he was in.
He knelt, sword straight before him, both hands on the handle and head bowed, sobbing,
"I will never leave you, Link" The sword' voice whispered
Zelph was worried for Link as he stepped out of the training ring, his face tear stained; but then she saw ths Master Sword and as he placed it in the new scabbard on his back she hugged him. He hugged her back and cried.
"You saw him didn't you?" Zane said in question, tears welling
"Heros don't cry" The King said as Link and Zelph parted
"Well this one dose" Link told him, "The best ones do"
"Let's go and get your sister back" Zane said
"And maybe save the world while we're at it huh?" Zelph smiled
The King presented Link with his hat and the Hyrule Shield,
"My daughter is in your care now Link, take good care of her you hear?" He said
Link bowed with respect.
Link and Nanna were stunned by Zelph while on the plane to New Zealand when they hit an air pocket, plunged 100 feet and she started laughing hysterically.
Link just burst out laughing with her then out of shock, which set off Nanna and Zane and a few of the other passengers nearby. Then one by one they all fell asleep, accept for Link, he was worrying about his little sister and missing his parents.
The quiet was unnerving him so he was grateful when Zelph woke up from a bad dream.
"A bird was attacking the plane" She said
"Don't say that too loudly" Link told her,
"You're thinking about your sister?" Zelph asked
"Yeah, she's only 11, we hadn't yet taught her defence, you just assume when you're young that your parents will always be there, you take them for granted and then one day, bang, they're gone" Nanna woke up to listen, "I took them for granted, I won't take Nanna for granted"
"Link, their death wasn't because of anything you didn't say or do" Zelph said
"Doesn't mean I don't think it, maybe if I hadn't denyed what I was I could have sensed something sooner, I could have stopped it from happening, what if I can't save Mya?" Link said dispairingly
"You can't think like that, Mya will be OK" Zelph told him, "Big brother' got her back and I have yours"
Link smiled.
"Thank you"
Link, Zelph, Nanna and Zane were met by a rather eccentric old fellow in tight green trousers and white and green striped shirt. Where his buttons should be were green leaves and he had a hat not too disimilar to Link'.
"Nanna, is that you? Are my eyes playing tricks?!" He cried happily to Nanna
"Do I know you?" She asked
"Why...it's me, Skit!" He exclaimed proudly
"You left the village?" Nanna said in question, confused
"Well yes! To find you, we thought something terrible had happened to you, you were like our mother and you just left us" Skit told her
"Oh Skit" Nanna gushed guiltily
"Oh life wasn't that bad, I married a nice fairy called; Tulip, she took pity on me and blew herself up"
"Oh my God!" Link exclaimed
"I mean she grew to me size" Skit explained
"How did you know we were coming?" Zane asked
"Come on Zane, we're right next to the Zoras, they heard about the attack at the school, we knew it was only a matter of time before you found Link and sent him our way. Nanna had to come home one day" Skit said happily, then looking at Link he said, "You're Link aren't you? It's so nice to meet you"
"You too" Link told him, "This is Zelph" He added, putting a hand on Zelph' shoulder that made her shiver,
"Have you a connection to Hylian? If not you won't past the gates of the Lost Woods" He told her
"I'm Princess Zelda of the Hylian and Hi-Range Royal family, will that do?" She asked
"All I heard was Hylian so you're safe" Skit said, making Link laugh
"I like this guy" Link said to Zane as they jumped into the cutest vintage car he'd ever seen,
"Skit, you do remember the way back to Kokiri don't you?" Nanna asked cautiously
He humphed and off they went,
Skit just drove across 6 lanes of traffic without hitting a car, into the forest on the other side,
Link and Zelph were stunned,
"Woe!" Link exclaimed
After a little drive Skit stopped at a wodden bridge with a tunnel carlved into a huge fallen tree on the other side of it.
"Can't drive any further than here, but don't worry this bridge is perfectly safe" Skit told them as they all got out of the car.
Skit enjoyed Nanna and Zane' reactions to being back in the forest they were born in.
"How do the Kokiri...where do they come from?" Link asked delicately
"From pollen in the enchanted woods or Lost Woods as we call them, if you don't know where you want to be you'll just end up back in the same place or back here at the bridge into Kokiri" Zane told him,
"We're children forever unless we chose to leave" Nanna explained
"Why do some leave and others don't?" Zelph asked
"Someone has to make a wish, the wish that we are real and if the urge is great enough some of the children will leave the forest and go out into the world, to see things from their eyes. Every now and then those lives were unhappy ones and the children that left turned into black eyed beings or Skull Kids, they wanted to play but were mistreated and came back to the forest but tainted by experiences in the human world they could never come back to live in harmony with the Kokiri. The lucky ones could come back whenever they liked for a visit though and moved to Korki" Skit told Zelph
Link shivered,
"And we're going into those woods?"
Skit smiled and led Link, Zelph, Nanna and Zane across the bridge, through the tunnel and into Kokiri Village, where they were immediatley surrounded by the Kokiri. Little kids with green hair and bright eyes.
Link was enchanted but Zelph was little creeped out at first.
Kokiri was a villiage made up of tiny tree houses dotted all over and mini thatched houses for the Kokiri afraid of heights. There was a stream and a lake to fish in and a watermill and farmland off to the far left.
"Look who's back everyone, it's Zane and Nanna!" Skit said
The excited Kokiri went around both Zane and Nanna to inspect them before one cheeky Kokiri looked Skit up and down and said,
"Time has not been kind to you Skit!"
"Oi! Be quiet Skull Kid!" Skit retored,
This cheeky Kokiri' lip quivered and he yelled across to the beefy child, who was clearly the leader now,
"Skit' been gone 60 years and he had the cheek to call me a Skull Kid!"
"Maybe you were acting like one" The leader said, shutting the him up. He made his way over to everyone and looked at Link, "Link?" Link nodded and smiled. The leader hugged Link, "You'll save us won't you Link?"
"What's been happening here?" He asked
"Wait a second!" The cheeky Kokiri interupted, "Nanna leaves and looks like that, Zane leaves and looks like that, Link leaves and gets younger but Skit leaves and he's ancient!" Skit humphed and stomped his foot, "Just saying that world out there is weird!"
"I could still out-run you!" He snapped
"Prove it Granddad!" The Kokiri retorted,
"Stop it the pair of you! No one is racing anyone until that monster in the shrine, blowing purple fog down this way every night and leaving Kokiri biting fly traps everywhere has been dealt with!" The leader cried, then to Link he added, "We're sure he has a Kokiri in there too, we can hear her crying at night"
This upset Link.
"Thats my little sister; take us to the Lost Wood's entrance" He said
"You'll need a few supplies first Link" Zane said, "There's a shop over there" He told him
Zelph and Link followed Zane and another Kokiri into a tiny thatched house and up to a counter. There were shelves behind it and a serious looking Kokiri.
Nanna stayed with the leader and the other Kokiri'.
Zelph, Link and Zane had to sit on the leafy floor because the ceiling was too low for them.
On the shelf was a sling shot, some pips and a bag of jelly hearts,
"Ooh slingshot, oh I've got to get one of those!" Zelph said
"You'll need some pips too, handy for stunning Shanklin Mineral critters" Zane told them, "And some jelly hearts please" Then as the Kokiri behind the counter got all these things for them he told Link, "You'll need these out there, you can't take the soup into the Lost Woods"