Chapter 2 The Marketplace

As Link made his way through town he couldn't help but feel a bit sadden by the earlier events. Yeah, sure, his aunt had a great point about following his passion. Although Link never thought that far ahead, certainly he felt as if fate had more intended for him. Never did he imagine what that may entitle. What would he do now? What could he do?

Certainly there was some alternative, even though he opposed the thought, maybe he could be a guard. Granted most were crooks, but they did at least get to patrol the walls outside of Castle Town, which was a big deal. No one was ever allowed to leave castle town, unless of course they were salesmen or were from elsewhere. The citizens however, they weren't authorized. Mostly due to the rest of Hyrule being invaded with all sorts of creatures moblins, stalfos, poes, wolfos and the occasional ReDead.

Its said that Hyrule was once a glorious kingdom, a place many travelers spoke highly of, now it was merely an empty shell full of darkness. The only remaining secured place to live being Castle Town, which the population was more than the town could handle.

Housing and buildings were so close to one another you could hardly fit three people side by side between the space, which meant all traveling through town was by foot. In certain parts, especially the market place, people were shoulder to shoulder with each other. This occasionally gave Link anxiety, mostly because there are always so many people in such a small space, it made him feel claustrophobic. He did travel to the marketplace many times nonetheless, mostly for his aunt.

As Link looked around he found himself only a mere street away from the buzzing and bustling market place. With his powerful hearing he was able to make out all the voices overlapping one another from here. There were only a small handful of people here and there on the street he was passing through, but he knew that would change once he got to the market. 'Mind as well enjoy it now' Link thought as he let out a sigh. He checked his pocket for his bag of rupees, they were still there and he gave himself a small nod. You must walk with caution when roaming the streets, pick pocketing was at an all time high. Link pressed forward, that's when he heard shouting.

"Get back here you little thief!!!" He heard a deep voice call out.

Link turned toward the voice, it was then that he observed a small figure in a ditty grey cloak come running out from an alley way. The figure glanced around and met with Links eyes. It looked as if a young child, around 9, a boy, the child ran over to, and hid behind Link.

Link looked down at the child, it seemed as if the child was clutching something. He tilted his head and was about to say something to the child when a voice called out.

"Hey! You!" The deep voice shouted Link looked up and came face to face with a guardsman. He was holding a spear and came rushing towards the two of them. "Move aside!" The guard said as he shoved Link.

Link stumbled back then tripped and fell on his back. He let out a groan of pain as his head suddenly collided with the ground.

In a flash Links surroundings suddenly changed, as he sat up he now found himself in a village. The houses made from stone with hay rooftops. Houses far apart from one another, this was a small, yet open village. Peaceful nonetheless, there were people walking around, laughing and talking with each other. The village surrounded by a beautiful forest, and in the distance he could make out a mountain range.

Then in a blink everything changed, Link could suddenly hear cries and screaming for help as all sorts of people were running chaotically through the village, to and fro.

Upon closer examination Link realized something, some of the people rushing about had grayish skin, long pointed ears, a short tail that came to a point, and had the face of a pig. Link had never seen these creatures before...Bokoblins, that is what they were. He couldn't say how he knew, it was as if a voice in the back of his mind told him what these creatures were.

The village was being overrun and destroyed, he could smell the thick smoke as it threatened to choke him. He watched in fear as a Bokobolin dragged a woman off a horse, it then swung its sword down to her face. Link quickly averted his gaze, looking to the side, he did not want to witness someone die, that's when he became aware of something.

Not too far from him he saw what he could only assume as a mother and child hiding behind some barrels. The child looked 10, had bright blonde hair and pointed ears, much like...

The women turned to the child. "Link take this" she handed him a large rucksack "You need to run, head north to the kingdom"

"but mother" The young child began

"no-you have to run, I will distract them... you'll be safe, now go. Quickly" The women said

Link could feel his heart rate begin to spike, then the two of them paused a moment and then turned to Link. He could feel his heart sink to the pit of his soul, as it began to beat even faster.

The mother and child spoke in unison. "wake up"

Link threw his hands over his eyes and began to shake his head. 'no way this was a dream! It must have been, just relax' He thought to himself as he began to take a few deep breaths. He steadily lowered his arms, then opened his eyes.

He found himself sitting on the ground on the same street as before. Almost no time had passed...He looked around, his mind was racing 100 miles a minute. What had just happened? Was it a dream? If so why did it feel so real? And that child, it looked nearly exactly like him...It felt as if it was a memory, but he had lived in castle town for as long as he could remember. Maybe he was going crazy...

Link quickly shoved that thought aside as he slowly became more aware of the world around him.

The guard suddenly grabbed the child by his arm and yanked him forward. "you're coming with me"

The kid struggled to get free, he had dropped what he was clutching. It was a freshly baked loaf of bread, it tumbled to the ground and landed by Link's feet.

"No, let me go!" The kid screamed out as he continued to struggle. The kid managed to yank his arm free and fell backwards.

Without a second thought Link jumped to his feet and stood between the guardand the child. He threw his arms out to the side and gave the guard a stern look, one that said he meant business.

The guard narrowed his eyes. "Step aside! Youre intruding on official guardsman duty!" Link refused to move, he stood his ground. This only made the guard angry. "Have it your way kid" He said as the guard raised his hand, and thrust his spear down towards Link.

Link, to even his surprise caught the spear in mid-air, only a mere inch from his face. This caused all the guard and the child to gasp quietly. Link blinked a few times, still a bit shocked.

The guard pulled his spear away then scoffed. "Fine. It's only a loaf of bread... if I see either of your faces around here again ill toss you behind bars. This is your only warning" The guard threatened, he tried to seem intimidating but even the child could tell he was a bit shaken, the guard then turned and walked off.

Link dropped his arms to his side and watched as the guard practically stormed off. He hasn't even notice the young child walk over, pick up and wipe off the bread. That was when Link felt someone tug on the bottom of his shirt, looking down he saw the smiling face of the child.

"Thank you very much sir" The boy said slightly shyly.

Link smiled and pat the boy's head a few times. "no problem.. here" Link then reached into his pocket and after rustling around pulled out a handful of rupees. "take these That way next time you don't have to steal."

The childs face lit up with joy and he snatched the rupees. "Thanks sir, I won't ever forget you!" He said with a grin as he ran off.

Link just stood there and watched as the child slowly vanished from sight, then he began walking again. He couldn't help but think about what had just happened with the awful dream he had, could he even call it that? No, it was more like a nightmare, but how could it have been?? He had never had a nightmare while awake before.

A vision... Yes, that's what it was. It was like a vision, or a memory... a memory that had never happened to him, impossible. He heard a voice ring in the back of his mind, it was barely louder than a whisper.

Link... Help me

He froze in his place, staring forward. Nightmares, visions, and now hearing voices... was he beginning to lose his mind?

Just a little farther, you're almost there...

It was then that Link began to take in his surroundings. He was standing in the middle of an alleyway. 'I should really pay closer attention to where I'm walking' He thought to himself as he continued down the alley. It looked as if it only continued for a few more feet before ending with a brick wall. Link looked around. A dead end...or was it? The walls on the side of the alley werestone, so why would someone brick it up? He reached his hand out to place it on the wall.

Link gasped then pulled his hand away as it mysteriously passed through the wall... How peculiar. Link reached out, his hand passed through the bricks again. Upon a closer look he came to the understanding that it must have been a false wall, an illusion... magic! It had to have been. This made Link smile, it had been a long while since magic was in castle town.

Link pushed his way through the illusion, one would expect for it to feel as if there was resistance pushing back , however it did not.

Taking a few steps he then glanced back, mostly out of curiosity. Much to his surprise it still looked as if there was a brick wall. Incredible, growing up Link had heard stories and rumors about magical walls, but never did he think he'd ever see one for himself.

Pressing forward he found himself in an opening, there were a handful of buildings that were all connected. There was four doors, one that led to the different buildings. Standing just outside one of the doors was a tough looking man, he stood a strong six-foot tall, and had muscles the side of links head. The man had an angry look on his face, he could easily snap link like a twig.

Link took a deep breath, he had to press forward, someone was in need of help and he couldn't just stand around.

He walked over to the man, and gave the giant and serious look.

The giant grunted and held out a hand. "entrance fee is 250 rupees"

250??? Now that was an insane amount of rupees, and for what? An entrance fee, that only made him feel queasy, what was he getting himself into??

He didn't want to know, Link dug into his pocket and pulled out the desired amount then placed it in the mans hand. With that the man stepped aside, Link opened the door and stepped inside the building.

Entering the house he find himself in a long hall way, there were no window's and the walls were paints a dark blue. Hardly any light was present which gave the place a creepy feeling. When Link came to the end of the hall he found himself in a very large room. There were four rows of seats a few feet away from a small stage. On top of the stage was a number of items that all had a cloth over them.

There were all sorts of people in the room. Mostly all of them sitting in the front row, the all were wearing cloaks, probably to keep their identities. Which suddenly made Link nervous...maybe he should have done the same thing.

Link slid along the wall and remained in the back of the room, sticking close to the shadows that way he avoided beingseen, or identified. He then once again heard the voice...

Link... it is almost time... Be ready.

'Almost time for what?..' he couldn't help but wonder to himself.

A few more moments passed before someone walked on the stage, it was then that a few lights lit up the stage. The women on stage was a Gerudo, she wore loose red pant as well as a top, her bright orange hair pulled back into a bun, she had a sword sheathed on her hip.

Looking around Link noticed that nearly everyone in the room had a weapon...His hesrt began to race.

"Welcome ladies and gents. Today we have a variety of very amazing things for sale, all the way from magical masks, fairies, all the way to musical instruments from a forgotten family, but please make sure to stick around for the last bid... because today we have a very rare gift...Lets start off with the first object" The woman said as she pulled one of the blankets off to show a cage which held a handful of glowing tiny people. Fairies. The cage rested upon a podium.

People began to bid on the cage full of fairies, Link could feel a great sadness begin to press down on him, it was as if he could feel what the fairies were feeling.

It didn't take long for someone to buy the fairies,from there one by one the objects raveled and auctioned off to the highest bidder. There were all sorts of different objects, a mask that lookednothing more than a rock, allegedly the mask was able to make the wearer turn invisible. The next item was a magical bow which gave the arrows it used magical abilities, such as shooting fire, or ice. Right, as if that was a real thing.

Then there was a deep blue instrument, an ocarina,this instrument had some sort of yellow triangular symbols at the top of it. Staring at the instrument Link suddenly felt as if he held some sort of special connection to the ocarina, almost as if it held some sort of powerful meaning. He had to resist the urge to place a bid on the object.

A handful of other objects sold as well. Link began to relax a bit, maybe nothing bad was going to happen after all.

"Alright, i do hope you all saved some rupees, now it is time for our last bid. Something that is truly " The woman on stage said, she waved her hand at a man whom was standing near a curtain which Link assumed led to another room of the building. The man vanished behind the curtain, and the woman continued to speak. "the next thing we have up for auction is something of a mystery...come to you from a land far away...an extinct race. Behold" The woman clapped her hands, just as she did the man from before returns.

The man is holding a chain, giving it a yank, someone else stumbles out of the room behind the man. Attached to the end of the chain is a mysterious person, clothed head to toe in cloth, the person wore a deep blue cloth like pants and shirt that seemed to compliment the person's figure. The prisoner wore cloth like boots and had white bandage like cloths wrapped around both their arms and legs, and wore a white scarf. The person also had half of their face covered as well, as well as the top of their head wrapped. The mysterious person looked up and glanced around the room, Link and the figure locked eyes. That's when he heard the voice in his head again.

The time has come, prepare yourself... hero...