Chapter 8:
His freedom

Link was on his balcony over looking the paved court yard. He was imagining his great tree standing there again. The ever jade leaves, that never change with the season. The sweet lush fruit that hung heavy on each branch. The light brown bark, who's healthy glow made it seem orange. He could almost smell the flowers that used to blossom by the roots.

His dream was disrupted by the sound of eight guards moving a large statue into the yard. They were arguing about how tough their lives as guards have been. The Hylian on the balcony sighed and wished he had the qualms of the men below. But, he knew the Goddesses would never allow such mercy. He was doomed to live a life of service to the holy beings. To be born at least once as a commoner, with parents, a normal uneventful life was just a dream in his mind. He watch the men complain of long hours, and little real guard work. The Hylian thought about his life and lives. He could complain of centuries of constant work and unfair treatment, but that would be pointless. His problems maybe greater then anyone's in Hyrule, yet he knew it was the price he had to pay for living in the vast, once beautiful, land.
The guards left the paved court-yard. Link stretched and yawned, then returned to the bed chamber. He looked around the gold and white walls. He remembered the excitement he felt about the lavish room first he entered. That was false happiness though, the tree he still loved was gone and thus the room fill no holes he had in his heart. If only he didn't feel so out of place in this world, if only he was the bad guy for once... Termina... That word, he remembered it. He traveled once to a fabled land called that. He felt drawn to it, regardless to the events that led him there during the end of his last adventure. Stopping a moon from crushing the place was also, not the reason. Grant that saving that world had become his duty, but he never felt saving Termina as his job though.

There every thing was backwards and twisted compared to Hyrule. The people were not as organized or united with other races. They were more advanced in weapons, creating something called gunpowder, they made boxes that capture scenes with a click of a button, and there was a public treasury. Link had read some of the temple's ruins and found at one time they worshiped a single god. But, the people soon started to worship four giants and made the previous god into a devil. They believed the god had tricked them and all who resemble that hated being was also treated with harsh glares.

This made Link smile a little inside, since it reminded him of the time before he was mortal. His name then was Fierce Deity, but most just called him Onigami. In the before times, Fierce Deity was called the Goddess of Destruction by mortals. When Din, Nayru, and Farore created Hyrule, he had created Termina to be the opposite He created the means for conflict between his sisters' world and his crafted lands. That had angered the three Goddesses, as their brother wanted to both copy their work and created deviants of law that leaked into their world. But, they couldn't remove their brother's creations, only could they seal them off from ever being aware of Hyrule and Hyrule from Termina.

Late that night when all in the castle fell asleep, Link decided to sneak out. There were a few guards walking the halls, but they were tired and easily distracted. He finally made it to the outer gates of the castle walls. Avoiding more guards he made his way to the town.
The plaza was quiet, even the dogs were finally caged. Link took a deep breath of freedom is the silvery moonlight. The fountain's water trickled as he walked over to the old abandoned Happy Mask shop, where he used to work as a child for the Happy Mask Salesman. Although he knew he was too old for masks and Hyrule had lost interest in them, he tried to find at least one before going off to Termina. He broke through the rotting boards covering the door and entered.

The old shop was full of dust and some Wallantulas seemed to have been there. Link walked to the dust covered desk. The sign telling the rules of borrowing from when his old boss was still there. He remembered running around Hyrule to sell the masks, just to get better masks for his own collection. Though he left them at the shop, since Mido was always stealing his things.

He remembered one time just before he left the forest to live in the castle, Mido tried to steal his cow Bella from his house. Link was almost in tears laughing at the boy, as he tried to get her down from the balcony Malon had got her up in the first place with a ramp and only Link was strong enough to carry the poor cow. After that Link desided that he might as well move, he was an adult by then and he knew that it was time to find a more privet home. He also let Bella free in the field as well as Epona. Both animals remembered him well and would always come when called.

As Link went through the old boxes, a small Wallantula crawled up beside him. The monsters of Hyrule were no longer evil without Ganondorf's presence, so Link didn't pay much attention. Anyway the spider looked fairly young and harmless. It sat and watched him as he move through the old boxes.

"You looking for something mister?" The spider asked. Link turned to it surprised but nodded. "This old shop was almost cleaned out when the Sales guy left. Me and my sisters have looked through every box. We only found one old mask. Is that what your looking for?" Link nodded again. "Wait here." The spider crawled away. After a bit a Skullantula climbed down from the ceiling. It had Link's old Truth mask on it's head.

"You looking for this thing?" The giant spider looked up at him. "Creepy eh? A one-eyed Skullantula, here take it. It's too freaky for me, I keep thinking the rocks are talking to me..." It gave him the one-eyed mask. Then it climbed away.

With the mask in hand, Link quickly made his way to the field Without his ocarina, he use a piece of grass to call Epona. He also played Bella's melody but the old cow never showed up. Thinking she fell into a hole or returned to the ranch, Link rode off towards the woods and to Termina.

AN:

Surprise! Link was never really a 100% good guy, he was the original deity of Termina and a "sister goddess" of the Three Golden Goddesses of Hyrule. (This just comes from the Tetra-force theory I read once.) Now before you question why Link is created both created from Oni and Farore, just remember many gods in real religions have inter bred before. I thought it would be interesting that the Golden Goddesses became angry with Oni for creating a twisted copy of Hyrule and as punishment sealed him in one of his mortal sons he created with Farore. But, their intention for their brother was he live one lifetime as a mortal to understand what life was, then Zelda (Hylia at the time) fell in love with him and made a wish that he remain mortal with her. Thus Hylia being a mortal goddess that would be reborn forever, Oni has to be reborn as a mortal forever. (Although his immortal powers are sealed in a mask on the Termainain moon.)