The streets of Hyrule Castle Town were busy as always. The security had been upped heavily after Ganondorf's attempt at taking the throne. Even after eighteen years, there were still guards patrolling the streets at all hours, and all transportation of trade goods to and from the town were followed by a heavy escort of highly trained soldiers. The people felt safe, and none of them feared that there might be a threat looming over their heads, ready to strike at any moment. However, inside the castle, in the queen's private room, there were two people discussing this very subject.
"There's no way he could be back, he's dead. He died years ago." Impa stretched, her old age was catching up to her, and she hadn't slept well for days. She looked at Zelda. The Queen of Hyrule, the crown on her head suited her well. And the people were safe under her rule. Lately however, she had started to act strange. As though there was something nagging her. "I'm telling you, Impa. I can feel his presence looming over the land like a storm, waiting to break out." The head of the Sheikah shook her head. "Well, the Hero defeated him years ago. And neither I nor any of the other sages can feel the presence of him or any other evil being." "But-" "But nothing, Zelda." Impa cut Zelda off. "He was defeated by the Hero, and then executed in front of everyone. Ganondorf is dead, I know it. After all, I was the executioner." Zelda looked out the window in the far end of her room. "Sadly, it seems that some people have a history of not staying dead."
The Stalfos stood towering over its fallen foe. It raised its sword high over its head, and thrust it downward, aiming to plunge it deep into the skull of the unconscious Hero. But the large sword never reached its target. Instead, it was knocked out of its owners hand by what appeared to be a large rock rolling along the ground, slamming into it. The Stalfos looked in the direction the rock came from, only to have one eye pierced by the spear of a Kokiri. The Kokiri had often had to fight off Stalfos, as they had become more common after half of the Gerudo tribe was banished to the forest by queen Zelda, and Satu knew exactly where to strike to kill one. And he would've killed the large skeletal beast if it hadn't turned its head. The Stalfos roared, and slammed its shield in the Kokiri child's stomach, sending him flying backwards, right over the head of an infuriated Zora, who raised her sword, and struck at the defenseless Stalfos. The skeletal creature roared once more, as its legs were severed, and it fell to the ground. It tried to get up, but was stopped by the Zora's sword piercing its skull. The Stalfos struggled for a second, then the deep, purple light in its one eye faded out, and it stopped moving.
Alela stood over the dead Stalfos. She looked into the empty socket that had moments earlier glowed with a purple light, and even before that, probably long before she was born, it had held an actual eye. She had never killed anything other than creatures of the lake. And she had only killed them in self defense, never out of rage. Now she had killed a man, or what once was a man, in a bout of all-consuming rage. The thought of that caused her anger to fade, and be replaced by sadness at what she had done. She felt Toko's large, heavy hand on her shoulder. In the Gorons other arm, he had Link, unconscious and bleeding. "We'd better get him back to your mother." He said. Alela didn't say anything, she just nodded, and followed Satu as he showed them the way back, taking many breaks to nurse his broken rips.
The Dark Link swung its sword at the Zora boy, who easily dodged, and planted one razor sharp elbow fin deep in its shoulder. It roared in pain, and swung at the boy again, only to have its other shoulder pierced. Zele enjoyed every moment of this fight, drawing it out to give this imposter a proper punishment for its crimes. The Dark Link didn't stand a chance against this young Zora, and it was clear that the boy was having fun beating it. "You don't stand a chance against the power of a Zora warrior." Zele had caught the Dark Link's blade between one fin and his arm, and with a swift turn, he had disarmed his opponent. "This contest is over!" Another turn, and the Dark Link's body fell limb to the ground, and its head rolled a few feet away, the deep red glow in its eyes fading out. Then the body, and the head, disappeared. "Nice job, Zora." A woman's voice. Zele turned, looking around for the one speaking. "Who's there? Show yourself!"
"You've managed to slow the progress of my plans, though only minimally." A woman stepped out from the shadow of the Forest Temple, though Zele could have sworn there wasn't anyone there just a moment ago. She had long, black hair, set in a high pony tail, reaching almost down to her knees. She was obviously of Gerudo decent, though Zele had only seen the Gerudo women being red haired. Even Ganondorf, the only male Gerudo to have been born in about a hundred years, had red hair. "Who are you?" Zele looked into the blood red eyes of this woman, she sent him a seductive smile. "My name is irrelevant, but you may call me Seikyo. Not that you will ever need to repeat it to anyone." From seemingly out of nowhere, she drew a pole-like weapon with a large crescent blade on one end. She held it in both hands, pointing the blade at the young Zora. "I would let you run off, but I can't risk further meddling in my affairs."
Ruto landed on the ground, still cradling Saria and Navi tightly in her arms. She had just leapt down from the hedge walls of the maze leading to and from the Forest Temple. Had it not been for the ladder near the opening, she would have had to navigate the maze, which, as she had seen whilst leaping from hedge wall to hedge wall, was filled with Stalfos patrolling the maze. She looked over her shoulder and breathed a sigh of relief, it didn't look like any of the Stalfos had followed her. She looked down at the unconscious Kokiri child. She was breathing, appearing to be in more of a sleep-like state than anything else. On her chest lay Navi, Link's faithful companion. Since childhood she had followed him through anything, but she had never been harmed, until now. Ruto tried to listen over the sound of the Stalfos' deep breathing, but she head nothing. She had no way of telling whether Zele was alright. She sighed and started walking back toward the well. Zele was a great fighter, and she had no doubt he could defeat the Dark Links, and right now, she had to get Saria and Navi to safety.
"That blasted skeleton had one wicked left hook." Satu said with a smirk, which was quickly replaced by a painful grimace, as he clutched his side. He could feel that at least three of his ribs were broken, but luckily for him, none of them had punctured his lung. "Satu, if you need to rest-" Alela tried to speak, but the Kokiri child cut her off. "No no no, it's fine. I've taken harder hits than this. You should see my brother, Soki, he lost an arm to one of those things." He looked back at the Zora and the Goron, both staring at him horror. "Yeah, I know. If it hadn't been for Zelda we wouldn't have this problem. I get that she would banish those of the Gerudo that were still loyal to Ganondorf, but that they had to go here, and get lost in the woods..." He stopped talking as another wave of pain shot through him. "Man, Mido is gonna throw a fit when he hears about this."
"I must say, you're one very impressive boy, Zora." Seikyo said as she slowly walked closer. Zele stood perfectly still, raising his arms in a defensive stance. "What does a Gerudo want from the leader of the Kokiri tribe? And how did you gain control over those... Things?" Zele wasn't sure what to call the Dark Links, but he was sure they weren't Hylians like the one they were trying to copy. Seikyo laughed. "You're asking a lot of questions, boy. Although sadly the answers are none of your business." She had gotten well within range to use her weapon, which Zele now recognized as a kwandao, a weapon often used by Gerudo guards. "Besides." Seikyo spoke again. "I see little point in revealing all of my secrets to someone who is about to die!" As she said this, she swung the kwandao, aiming for Zele's neck. The young Zora leapt aside, barely dodging the attack, he rolled along the ground to create some distance between himself and the sharp blade of the kwandao. When he got back up, he saw that Seikyo had vanished. "You're a fast one, aren't you, boy?" A chill went down Zele's spine as he heard Seikyo's voice whispering those words into his ear, and he felt her breath on the back of his neck.