I AWAKEN on my back staring straight up into a sky filled with leaves. The setting sun pierces through the leaves and the trees all around sideways like long arrows of heavenly amber. A leaf gently lands on my cheek and I hold it up to the sky. Another lands but I feel its dryness on my forehead. I sit up and clutch the leaf as another dry crumbly leaf falls to my lap. I look up to find myself again meters away from the Deku tree, with Navi hovering nearby and observing me. The stillness of the air is disrupted in the meadow now, the sound of falling leaves and sudden surges of wind disrupting the environment. "Captain…thou art…victorious. As I…truly knew…you…would be." The Deku Tree's pauses are noticeably pained even if he lacks the ability to pronounce his ailments in an animalistic fashion. He struggles for every phrase as something holds his very being down. "I never…faltered…in my believing. Thine courage…is as…potent…as fire. It…is a thing…tied to thy very…being. It…is…marvelous. Now…if thou would…give audience to…a single…final…lesson…before you depart…I would…deliver it…unto thee."
"I will listen, Great Deku." It is then that I notice a vine snaking up to the high canopy is draped above my head and in a second it descends slowly onto my forehead. I close my eyes and see darkness unnatural to the backs of my eyelids. The Deku Tree's voice begins clearer than it had been any of the times I had heard it previously and I silently note the damage this observation is related to. "Listen carefully to me. Be aware, a wicked bandit from a far desert wasteland cast this curse upon me.". There is suddenly fire piercing the darkness, erupting everywhere save a single area far in the distance that my sight begins to move toward. The flames heat my skin though this is a vision, and my body feels the terse hatred of the world of this vision as if it were malicious light of an evil sun. I pass through a surging tongue of flame and see the black car of my nightmares, sitting still and driverless with its roof retracted. The flames light the plated exterior and utilitarian interior, revealing a steering column wrapped in cloth in a bare cockpit full of exposed wiring and metal and a series of strange red and blue geometric patterns stenciled onto the black plate. Not one inch of metal on the entire vehicle reflects or shines. "This man hunts without tire the sacred realm connected to our own. There is nothing he will not dare, nor a step he will not take in his dark quest." A towering figure rises beside the vehicle, a long shroud sweeping off of his body and bursting into flames. The tall body turns to look straight into the distance, the fire illuminating a rigid nose and long narrow chin sculpted with skin an alien shade of dark moss green and decorated with a sinister metal flourish in the center of the forehead. I recognize the eyes as I look at them, their loud, powerful yellow hue somehow brighter than the firelight all around. "Much has he discarded, and he has yet determined to discard that which he sees fit, all for the sake of a single, solitary item lying within the Sacred Realm. That which is called the Triforce, itself a container filled with power unexplainable and supernatural, what is described as the essence of divinity that created our world." As he begins to turn to me I breathe in hard, but the scene flashes back to utter darkness. I release my breath as my heart pumps beat by beat out of my ears. "Legend booms the tale of this thing beyond mortal reach and knowing. Before time began, before the first heart bade legs and wings to rise and move and magic coalesced into consciousness of all beings, three goddesses with visages of liquid glimmering gold descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule." Three spears of light fall down into the dark far away from my viewpoint, coloured tails of pure light trailing each. The Deku Tree begins again and it becomes clear that I am not being spoken to. Instead I am listening to the narration of a prepared scene, something the Tree had created for me to watch on my successful return from the insect den. "Din, mighty and commanding goddess of power, bid the world's composite matter to be with the strength of her own arms, creating the great red earth." A banner of red light shoots over me and I am suddenly standing upon a red stone plain, the sky tumultuous with thunder and lightning. "Nayru, goddess of wisdom, knower of things in totality, aligned the world into cycles, laws and systems, bidding water to fall and all things to eventually fall to give rise to others." A blue streak flashes and a river suddenly washes by my legs. I can feel its coolness through my boots and it does not splash me. Above the sky quiets and turns a pale and gentle blue. "And finally, Farore, goddess of courage, with a bold soul and bright eyes, crafted the life that would uphold and observe these laws, the life that would love and create." The final green tail gives rise to plants and trees that grow incredibly fast becoming towering trees and fully bloomed wildflowers in seconds. Insects and small animals slowly drift and wander to the stream and mill about its flowing waters. "The goddesses, their labors in this realm completed, made their exit from it at a single point in space and time. It was there and then, at the point where the three goddesses immense power was gathered all at once to alter the fabric of our created realm, that three golden triangles were created linked, eternally at their vertices, remained." I am made to see the scene of the three coloured comets departing in a flash in a dark sky, and to see the three triangles aligned into one superform glowing in the dark, beams of light shooting from the points where the three triangles meet. "From then on, these triangles were the wellspring of good fortune for this world, the source its providence, and their resting place became the Sacred Realm, a place altogether removed from our Hyrule itself." The world darkens again and I regain my sight of the physical world, the meadow and the folds of my clothing having been heavily blanketed with dead leaves during my vision. "Thine…belief in these…legends…is not required…dear Captain…but…heed thou must…these tales. While thou…may not…believe them…the bandit…he in the black armor…does. To a…deadly…serious extent…he does." Navi just then notes as I do the Deku Tree's rapidly decaying speech.
"Great Deku!"
"Be at peace…brave, clever Navi. The…curse…that man laid…upon me…was indeed…one of…tremendous power…of pure malice. It…turned…the very creatures of this forest…transformed them…against mine body…to devour me.
"But the bugs are dissipated, the mad scrubs will leave. Great Deku the curse is broken!"
"Thine efforts…incredible…courageous…as they were…could not…have altered…this…my fate. Yes…my time…is nigh…as it…has been since…I tasked you." The fairy begins to sob. My eyes well and my nose burns. For all of my complaining of the forest and my alien-ness to it, it has still been my home, the Dekumekuna my guardian. My life is beginning to fall to pieces. This advent I thought I would have desired a mere day ago is now real and causing me undeniable anguish. I am unsure of what to say so I simply watch the great spirit of the forest die.
"Weep not for me…for at the end…I was…honored…to initiate…the…salvation…of this land. My life…has been…long…and…full…but this shall be…my greatest triumph. I pray…you will allow…this…self-indulgence…my happiness…is boundless now."
"But Great Deku, what shall we do without you?"
"You will…leave this forest…and go…north…to the castle…to the princess."
"Wait, what?" I say, suddenly sobered, surprised. "How will I survive?"
"Ah…there are yet more deeds…for which…I must…ask forgiveness. As I have…withheld…a truth…from…Navi…my star pupil…so too…have I withheld…a truth…from…you...my champion."
"Which truth? What don't I know?" My confusion boils me slowly, anticipation stinging in my chest, worry lingering.
"That…thou…are not…of…this forest…Captain. Never…have you been…Kokiri. A child…of the world…at large…you are…left by providence…in my care." I take a large step back and breathe heavily, my heart now racing and mind alight, memories of all my life being stained and pulled apart. "What? Why!? Why has no one said anything? Told me?"
"Because…they…my other children…never…knew." Navi turns to me slowly now as he pauses. " I…have…protected them…my precious children…zealously…for ages…they fear…do not understand…that…which is…different. So…I adopted thee…loved you…no differently. Thus…the truth...was...obstructed. Verily…thou must have…sensed…thy uniqueness…from the others. So tall…art thou…and growing still…at only fourteen…years…while other Kokiri…ageless…through the centuries…remain…stunted." It had been an issue Saria had brought up once just the past month. I was a full head taller than some of the others and easily the tallest of all. I know the others noticed this too, in secret and quiet, their sideways glances revealing all. "So I can leave the forest? Just walk out?"
"Yes…and leave…thou must. This lush place…this that has been…thy home…must be…forsaken. All…must be…forsaken…Captain…all but…thine mission. That…is the final…truth…I will impart to thee…that ye shall…become…this mission…that thou…shall be…consumed…for the sake…of all. For this…I…am…sorry. Also...am I sorry...that...I could not...make...this...place...a...true...home. I am...so...very...sorry"
"Great Deku Tree, please, save your strength."
"No…Navi please…I must speak…I must…help…Captain. I…have failed…in…many things. But in…what…little…assistance…I can offer…to this boy…I will have…a triumph…to carry…to my doom. Now…take this…the thing…that villain…wished for…so…desperately…that he hath…killed me." From on high something that glitters green in the twilight falls onto a sizeable pile of leaves and stays resting on the top, as if presented on a huge cushion. I step over to the pile and scoop up a cabochon emerald that fills my palm, set in gold that swirled around into the center of the dome. In the light, all the greens of the forest play in its heart. "Navi…thou knowest…what…that…is."
"Yes Great Deku. It is the Kokiri Emerald. I am honored to be able to see something so very sacred."
"Yes…you must…take it Captain…and…fly from here…to…the north…to the princess…the…princess…of destiny."
"I will." The words come up and out into the meadow like vomit, they are a reflexive act to this dying wish.
"Then…now…ye begin. Navi…gentle…brave…clever…Navi…to whom I entrust…this most…important…task…know now…that thou…art capable…art perfect…for this. Among…all fairies…it could…only…be…thine. Be…good…to…one…another…and…this…world…I…entreat…ye…" The wind seems to suck into the sky.
"Good….bye…" A wind surges down through the meadow and disappears altogether as if the world itself held its breath. I sit down as the Dekumekuna begins to visibly and horribly wither, its bark turning a deadly gray from the roots upward, life draining from the great tree as the spirit within fades away to oblivion. The leaves begin falling like rain. The fairy sobs quietly and hot tears cascade from me as we remain there in the meadow, the only witnesses to one of the greatest beings in the entire world.