Chapter 1. Prologue

...

"That is quite the find, your majesty," stated a greying man, stroking his beard. He looked down at the artefact, carefully unwrapped from white linen and stood on the cold stone tablet.

"Tell me, where did you manage to come across this again?" he asked, eyeing the young woman studying the object with the help of a torch. He could not read the look on her face.

"Below the castle, sir," she answered, clearly troubled and in thought, "The chamber it resided in was well hidden… We stumbled upon it by accident, almost." She recalled the dark tunnels and caverns they had come across by sheer luck, revealed by a landslide of rock and earth. Curious by nature, she and the couple of researchers who had been with her had ventured into the mountain, guided only by the flickering light of torches, and found themselves being led down a winding path for what had seemed like hours. The further down they had descended, the more the cave walls had been framed by stone pillars and walls clearly man-made, with carvings of unfamiliar figures and language none of them recognized. Until finally, a dark chamber had opened up before them, the strange artefact standing proudly on a pedestal in the middle despite its broken demeanour.

The princess swiftly clapped dust off of her gloves and straightened up, turning to face the man with a shallow sigh. "Might you have any idea what it is?"

He furrowed his brow ever so slightly, still stroking his beard, "I'm afraid not, princess. But I am certain the history books in the library would hold such information. With your permission, I would like to gather a small team of researchers to look over them." By the creases around his eyes and on his forehead as well as the many silvery strands striping his dark beard and hair the man was close to his sixties, yet his eyes of stony blue displayed a glint of curiosity and excitement fit for a young boy. His gaze was still fixed on the artefact behind the princess.

"That won't be necessary, Sir Gafrey. I shall look into this myself," the princess smiled softly, yet her eyes portrayed a stern look of an order being given. The man hesitated for a moment, eyes darting between her and the object, until his face softened and a sigh escaped his lips.

"As you wish, princess" Sir Gafrey inclined his head, bowing slightly,and took his leave.

Zelda turned back to the artefact, hesitated for a moment and then grabbed a brightbloom bud from the nearby desk. With a gentle knock on the wood with it, and the whole room was illuminated with a white, cold light. She put it inside a lantern hanging from the ceiling above the artefact, pulled a chair from under the desk and sat in front of the strange thing.

The object was clearly broken, but it was still clear that there were two parts to it; sturdy stand with joints and handles made of brass, which branched out into a circular shape two feet from the base, and then the cause of interest itself, a thick piece of glass with intricate white lines and markings on its' surface. The glass slate was as black as a void, yet it clearly was not dyed; Zelda had never seen such a material before. Under her fingers it felt unbelievably smooth, yet she did not dare touch its sharp, broken edges. The slate's surface seemed to almost shimmer under the slight sway of the brightbloom lantern above, despite the dust that had accumulated on top of it over the period of what must've been centuries – or even aeons. Only a part of it was intact anymore, the glass slate no wider than two hands, and the metallic stand broken halfway through the circle, with only the bottom half remaining. Still, the slate seemed to be sitting tightly in place when Zelda carefully tried to lift it. She did not want to break it further, so she let it be.

There was no writing nor recognizable carvings anywhere on the stand or the slate, only the white markings on the black glass which to Zelda seemed foreign. They consisted of straight lines and low triangles, with some kind of writing between them, and all of it was arranged as to circle something in the middle. What it was, Zelda did not know, as the broken piece did not reach the part.

After what, to her, felt like mere seconds but must have been hours in reality, she stood up and left through the wooden door directly opposite of the artefact. She closed it tightly behind her, and headed down the stone staircase towards the courtyard. It surprised her to be greeted by the crescent moon and a light patter of rain instead of the sun's warm rays, but then again, it was nothing new to her – time sometimes did fly by when she was invested in her studies.

Usually the princess took her time to walk among the apple trees and flowerbeds of the courtyard, but at this moment she felt a weird sensation of rush. Not sure about the reason, she hurried to the wide door on the right which would lead her down another flight of stairs, and into the warmly lit, tall space that was the royal library. It was arguably one of the biggest rooms in the castle, losing in size only to the throne room and the dining hall, and built in a circular shape with a tall dome for a ceiling and dozens of brightbloom-lit lanterns as well as one, huge crystal chandelier hanging in the middle of it all. Tall wooden bookshelves circled the room along the walls, with even more of them placed diagonally towards the middle. And in said middle, stood a round oaken table so heavy no man could move it an inch. On that table rested the map of the whole kingdom, drawn in intricate detail and skill, the same one that had been looked upon by countless generations of the royal family.

Now, Zelda, the lone princess of Hyrule, sat alone at that table, in front of her a huge book with the title of The History of Hyrule and Its Lands. She opened it and flipped to the table of contents, underlining the chapters with her finger as she searched for a match, reading through the chapters she hoped would give her an answer, or at least lead her to the right direction. Yet she found nothing related to the artefact, or the chamber it was found in.

She was in deep enough thought, focused solely on the pages of the thick book under her nose, that she could not notice the small, calm footsteps approaching her.

"I am afraid you will not find what you are looking for from here, princess," the voice of an old woman spoke behind her. Zelda gasped and turned around to meet the lady eye to eye, only to sigh in relief.

"Ah, lady Impa, it was only you," she took a breath, stood up and collected her composure, "What is it that keeps you up at this hour?"

The old woman chuckled roughly, "Why, princess, it is sunrise already. Have you been up all night because of that mirror, my lady?" She was wearing her usual attire, the traditional Sheikah garb; white cloth lined with red and blue, with her wide-brimmed hat which sheltered her whole, small figure.

Shoot, is it morning already? I could have sworn… Zelda thought to herself, but did not let the feeling come through. "So it seems, time must have gotten the best of me," she half-chuckled back, then sobering down her expression, "What is this mirror you mentioned?"

Impa looked up at her with a solemn face, yet Zelda could notice something else in the old woman's eyes as well. Concern, maybe..?

"That artifact you found is a mirror. A very old one, from an era long past." she said, lowering her voice, "You will not find a word about it in books, princess."

Zelda raised a questioning eyebrow, both at the elder's hushed tone as well as the sudden, serious look in her eyes. She could not help the shiver that hurried up her spine.

"Why is that, my lady?"

Impa frowned and glanced over her shoulder, beckoning her with her hand, "We should not discuss it in the open. Let's make to your study, Zelda."

…

The lock on the door clicked as Zelda turned the key, and the door creaked open. Impa almost pushed her inside, and shut the door behind them. She gasped audibly as she laid her eyes on the broken piece of mirror resting on its stand, moving towards it with an alarming carefulness. The princess swallowed as she felt the need to be cautious as well, despite not being sure of the reason; surely the elder was wiser than her.

Before Zelda could move a muscle, Impa took her by the hand. The grip was surprisingly strong for a woman of her age.

"Zelda, tell me," she worried, "How many touched the mirror while bringing it here?"

The princess looked at the old lady, not sure why that was important.

"If someone touched the mirror with their bare hands… They must be taken to the Spring of the Goddess to heal!"

"Heal? What do you mean? Heal from what?" Zelda gulped, colour draining from her already pale face. She had touched the mirror, but only for a second. It could not be that bad, could it?

Impa must have noticed her tension rising through the roof, as she sighed and let go of her hand. "Ah, my apologies, princess. I did not mean to be so abrupt with my words. Please, sit down, and let me explain," she gestured at the chair Zelda had left facing the mirror, and the princess did not object.

For a short moment, the both of them just looked at the piece of glass in front of them, the detailed white markings and shapes that travelled along its surface, and the white light that reflected from the lantern above. Its swaying had grown still. Zelda felt the urge to look away, to shun the mirror, as something about the shine and the lines and the black of the mirror was almost too alluring. It made her uneasy.

Impa cleared her throat and placed a hand on Zelda's shoulder. "To this day, I have lived my life without seeing so much as a description of this mirror. And yet, here it is in front of my own two eyes…" Her harsh voice trailed off, as an unnerving silence fell on the room. Zelda felt the need to quiet her breaths, to make them shallow and unnoticeable.

"What is it, Impa?"

Her voice was almost shaky in its faintness, and she had to drag her gaze from the artefact forcefully to look into the eyes of the old woman.

"It is an old relic, belonging to an age so far in the past it has turned into legends." Impa took a deep breath, as if to prepare for what she was about to tell, and the princess felt compelled to do the same. "During that age, a terrible war was fought, a war between the very essences of our world – between the Light and the Shadow. Without a warning, the realm of shadows was unleashed over our precious Hyrule, and she and her people succumbed to a darkness without a sun or a moon. And without their life's essence, the Light, the people were reduced to mere spirits, unaware of their own forms, as the Shadow spawned dark creatures from the deepest nightmares to take over the kingdom."

Zelda shivered visibly as, in the distant corners of her mind, a vision was being played of dark, nightmarish creatures with inhuman speed racing through the ancient lands. With blood curdling screeches they stole the Light from its hosts, the spirits, and a veil of blackness and dusk befall the kingdom. She could see villages burning and walls crumbling to dust, hear the shrill screams of terror and slaughter, and feel the fear, the shivering, the cowering of the whole of Hyrule under this unknown evil.

"But," she was jolted back to reality as Impa continued, "when the kingdom needed him the most, the Chosen Hero awakened, and with great effort drove back the Shadow threatening the kingdom, defeating the great evil and bringing back peace to Hyrule. You may know of these events as the Twilight Invasion."

Zelda nodded hesitantly, visibly shaken. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because, my dear Zelda, the cause of that war was something called the Mirror of Twilight. It was a powerful relic, capable of sending people to the realm of shadows, the Twilight Realm. The great evil which caused the war, was once a terrible criminal banished into that realm as a punishment for his crimes. For centuries the evil remained imprisoned in the world of Twilight, growing stronger with the hatred and need for revenge it harboured inside. Until one day, through means unknown to us, it escaped and unleashed its fury upon Hyrule. Only with the aid of the ruler of the Twili, the people of Twilight, the Hero was capable of besting the evil and destroying the mirror, separating the two realms for ever."

Impa paused, breathing deeply for a few seconds.

"Yet, unbeknownst to them, a second mirror had been made as well, and hidden from the prying eyes of evil. As ages passed, the magic protecting it slowly wore off, and the mirror was revealed to us mortals once more. My own ancestors, the Sheikah of that time, came across it first, recognizing the artefact and decided it best to attempt at hiding it again. They carved out tunnels under the castle of Hyrule where they sealed the mirror and broke it into five pieces with the magic they still possessed. Those pieces were then sealed away in the farthest corners of the kingdom as well, powerful spells making it so that they would never be found again. The Sheikah agreed to erase all written records of the second mirror, keeping knowledge of it only to those trusted enough in their tribe so as not to reveal the truth to those who might use it against them. To this day, it has been kept a secret only a select few know about."

Impa shifted her gaze from Zelda back to the mirror in front of them, and a cold wave of realisation ran through Zelda's body.

"Those tunnels revealed by the landslide are the very same ones carved out by the Sheikah, and this, Zelda, is the very same mirror they sealed away. The Mirror of Twilight."

Zelda was at a loss for words.

"But… If the mirror, all parts of it, was sealed away… How can it be here? How… How were we able to find it… at all?" Her voice betrayed her uneasiness, and even fear, as she was trying her hardest to come up with an explanation as to how they were able to go past the seal and find it, not to mention take it with them from its resting place. She knew Sheikah magic had been one of the strongest of its time, back when magic still existed in Hyrule, and a Seal of Sheikah could not simply be walked through. She was left with only one option, an outcome she barely even dared to think about…

"The seal must have been broken." Impa answered, seeming to read her thoughts. "The magic of my tribe is long gone, and with no one to strengthen the seal regularly, it must have worn off. This is troubling news…"

Her eyes darted back at the ancient relic, the mark of the Triforce starting to hum and pulse ever so slightly on her right hand. Impa took note of the faint glow emanating from it, a shadow of concern on her face.

"Your Triforce can sense it, the evil and darkness surging within the mirror."

The princess looked at her hand, confused, and lifted it up to examine it more closely. After a few seconds, a frown scrunched down her brows. "It is reacting only now. Why is that?" In front of them, the mirror seemed to have gained an almost otherworldly glow, barely recognisable yet nevertheless enough to grab both of their attention and earning a startled gasp from the elder.

"The magic sealing the other shards must be dwindling as well. The mirror can sense them again, and it yearns to be reunited."

"Does that mean the hiding places of the other shards have been revealed as well?" Zelda asked hurriedly, whipping her eyes back at Impa and gripping the armrests of her chair, ready to stand up. Impa's wrinkled face paled with shock as she inhaled a raspy breath. She put her hands on Zelda's left arm, her short, old fingers tightening around it and gaining a muted whine from the princess.

"Oh no… If they fall to the wrong hands, we could be facing another war in no time. Zelda! You must send for Link immediately!"

"Link? Are you sure this is dire enough to disturb a retired Hero?" Zelda felt ashamed of just the idea of urging the swordsman to plunge into another danger after all the hardships he had endured a few years ago. "Surely this could be handled without him?" A hint of hesitance riddled her voice, as she, on her own, came to the conclusion that the Hero would indeed be needed for this. For if Evil got its hands on the mirror, who was she to say that another war of two realms would not ensue. Then, the Hero would be needed again to save the kingdom. Nevertheless, the thought still pained the princess, as she had witnessed first hand the relief on his face after she had let him go and build a life of his own, away from the castle and the Royal Guard. And now, like some divine prank, she was forced to call upon him once more.

Impa confirmed her inner reasoning a mere second later.

"The evils of the mirror can not be confronted by mere humans. You will need the combined strength of the Goddesses to overcome their trials, if the shards have truly awakened," Impa's tone was hurried and almost panicky – something Zelda had rarely witnessed, and it sent a deep chill into her heart, "I believe it best for him to be wielding the Master Sword to ensure a safe journey."

Zelda had stood up and was dragging the chair back to her desk, whirling around at the mention of the Blade of Evil's Bane. She took a couple of deep breaths, nodded stiffly and sat at her desk. Her hands searched feverishly for parchment, found it, and reached for the ink bottle with such shakiness that it was almost toppled over. She rolled the parchment open, setting it between wooden weights to keep it from rolling back together and was met with a sudden silence of her mind. What would she write? How could she excuse herself for bothering the Chosen Hero again?

Impa's faint, shuffling footsteps towards the door sparked a question in her mind. "You mentioned a journey," she breathed, halting the elder with one hand on the handle, "Where are we headed?"

"To Gerudo," the old woman mumbled, lowering her voice even more for the next part, "To the birthplace of the Mirror."

Zelda followed in silence as the elder exited the room, realising she had not remembered to ask where the lady was headed. Brows furrowed in a troubling expression, she glanced at the mirror shard hastily and brought her focus back to the empty parchment on the desk.

Behind her, the piece of mirror loomed over her in its growing presence, dwarfing her, threateningly whispering in the distant voices of its prisoners in the back of her mind, begging to be set free, pleading to be brought together.

And the Triforce pulsed ever more.

Author's Note: Well hello there, dear readers! This is my first time writing in over six years, and needless to say I feel a bit rusty, but I hope this short prologue wasn't a terrible read :D I am excited to continue this story and develop the world, and see where it goes! I have a rough plan written down, as well as new towns and cities to implement on the map. Maybe I will even draw a map at some point, if I find the time, hahah. I am already working on the next, proper chapter, so hopefully I will see you soon!