Chapter 1 : The beginning

"In the vast, deep forest of Hyrule... Long have I served as the guardian spirit... I am known as the Deku Tree... The children of the forest, the Kokiri, live here with me. Each Kokiri has his or her own guardian fairy. However, there is one boy who does not have a fairy..."

In the heart of the Kokiri village, in a small treehouse built right within the trunk of the tree, a young boy slept. But his dreams were far from peaceful... He kept tossing and turning, plagued by a nightmare he could not escape...

It was raining heavily, much more so than anything the young boy had ever seen. He was standing in front of immense stone walls, the likes of which could not be found in the forest, surrounded by what looked like a stream. The imposing fortress presented a wall of wooden planks, held together by iron bars and attached to the wall by heavy-looking chains.

The boy noticed a blue fairy flying around him, but had no time to question it ; the planks tilted toward him until they formed a bridge across the stream, giving way to a strange creature with white fur, at least twice the boy's size. After a second, the boy realised it was a horse, an animal he had seen in one of the illusions his father created to illustrate the stories he told. The horse was running fast, so fast in fact that the young Kokiri barely had time to take a look at the two people on its back -a terrified-looking girl and a white-haired woman- before they disappeared in the darkness.

He heard a loud noise behind him and turned around to see another horse, black this time, ridden by a dark-skinned man. His hair were as red as the flames of the Kokiris's bonfire and his armour even darker than the storm clouds above them. For some reason, the boy felt a shiver run down his spine and fear seize his heart, yet he didn't move. He felt, deep inside, that he must not move. The man smiled, then raised his hand toward the boy and-

At the same time, in a clearing deep in the Kokiri Forest, beyond the village, the Great Deku Tree came to a decision.

"Navi... Navi, where art thou ? Come hither..."

A small fairy flew closer to the old, venerable tree. She looked like nothing more than a speck of light in front of the great guardian of the Forest, so large even all the Kokiris together couldn't encircle it, but it didn't bother her. She focused her attention on the Great Deku Tree's face, admiring, as she often did, the way its wood had bent and twisted over time to take the shape of an old man's face with bushy brows and a thick moustache. No Kokiri would ever grow into an adult, much less an old man or woman ; the Great Deku Tree would forever be the only one in the Forest to look like this.

Though the Great Deku Tree didn't move his mouth to speak, his voice was loud and clear :

"Oh, Navi the fairy... Listen to my words, the words of the Deku Tree... Dost thou sense it ? The climate of evil descending upon this realm..."

The small fairy shivered. As every spirit of the forest, she had some level of magical power, which allowed her to distinguish between good and evil, creatures and monsters... and to feel the darkness the Great Deku Tree was speaking of. Its power was unlike anything she had ever felt before and had been giving her nightmares for weeks now. If the Great Deku Tree mentioned this now, it was likely because it was threatening the Forest... Navi had to fight the urge to go back in hiding and instead stay put to listen to the Great Deku Tree.

"Malevolent forces even now are mustering to attack our land of Hyrule... For so long, the Kokiri Forest, the source of life, has stood as a barrier, deterring outsiders and maintaining the order of the world... But... before this tremendous evil power, even my power is as nothing..."

Navi's worst nightmares were coming true. If even the Great Deku Tree couldn't stop this threat, then the Forest was doomed... Unless... ?

"It seems the time has come for the boy without a fairy to begin his journey... The youth whose destiny it is to lead Hyrule to the path of justice and truth... Navi... go now ! Find our young friend and guide him to me... I do not have much time left. Fly, Navi, fly ! The fate of the forest, nay, the world, depends upon thee !"

She didn't need to be told twice : Navi flew toward the village as fast as her wings would allow, trying at the same time to remember where the boy lived. She had not gone to the village itself in years ; without a Kokiri to protect, she had no reason to leave the Great Deku Tree's side. Yet, she had seen the boy she needed to find a few times before, during feasts and parties held in the clearing : golden hair, sapphire eyes, and a strange outfit, a mix of the boys's hat and usual shirt and the girls's long tunics and skirts.

Out of the small path connecting the clearing to the village, Navi looked for this particular boy, but saw him nowhere : not with the all-knowing brothers, nor at the shop, nowhere near the training centre... But there was a treehouse next to it with no Kokiri around. She had heard that the boy had a tendency to sleep late ; could it be... ?

She flew to the house as fast as she could... and promptly hit her head on the barrier surrounding the training centre. She took a moment to shake herself, then flew more carefully through the barrier and entered the house.

She was relieved to see that she had been right, though said relief was short-lived : the boy -Link, if her memory served her right- seemed to be having a nightmare. Well, she had to wake him up to bring him to the Great Deku Tree anyway, didn't she ? He would certainly be grateful to be pulled from such an unpleasant dream.

Navi spoke up, voice stronger than usual but not screaming, for she didn't want to startle him:

"Hello, Link ! Wake up ! The Great Deku Tree wants to talk to you !"

Usually, any Kokiri would be bouncing with joy to be called on to by their Father, but the boy was still asleep and barely reacted to her voice. Navi tried to speak a little louder :

"Link, get up !"

Still no reaction. Navi felt her patience leaving her. The situation was dire, for Farore's sake ! She didn't have time to wait for him to be done with his beauty sleep !

She started flying up and down, the crystalline sound of her wings adding to the ringing of her voice as she it entered its screaming range :

"Hey ! C'mon ! Can Hyrule's destiny really depend on such a lazy boy ?"

That seemed to finally get his attention, for the boy stirred, then... stretched and yawned like a cat after a good night's sleep. Goddesses, give her patience.

Navi swallowed back -most of- her sardonic thoughts to greet him :

"You finally woke up ! I'm Navi the fairy ! The Great Deku Tree asked me to be your partner from now on ! Nice to meet you !"

The boy's eyes sparkled in wonder.

"A fairy ? I finally get to have a fairy ? Amazing ! But... Why now ?"

"No time to explain : the Great Deku Tree has summoned you ! So let's get going, right now !"

The boy -Link, she was his partner now, she needed to address him by name- seemed to understand that she would not hear any argument ; he nodded his agreement, then headed toward his door.

As he pushed the cloth that stood between him and the outside world, he did not imagine the adventures that this destined encounter would lead him to... nor did he suspect the suffering he would have to endure.