Prologue
The grass swayed in the light breeze that rolled in gray clouds. Light golden brown leaves detached themselves from the trees and fluttered to the Earth. Lately the temperature had been dropping as it was nearing autumn. Our Hero dozed up against a rather large tree in the Kokiri Forest. The tree had been dead for a long time; about four years ago the King of Evil, Ganondorf, had put a curse upon the tree. The Great Deku Tree has asked for Link's help, so Link had ventured into the tree and killed the vicious queen Gohma. Although Link's heroic actions were greatly appreciated, the curse was too powerful and the Great Deku Tree had still died. Since Link was not Kokirian, but Hylian, he had the task bestowed upon him to defeat Ganondorf, the King of Evil, and save Hyrule, which he did.
Mido, a young Kokiri, stood angrily in front of the dozing Link. He had a disgruntled look on his face as he tried to wake Link. "Link! Wake up!" Unsuccessful with awakening Link, Mido picked up a small stone by his foot and tossed it at him, hitting Link on the forehead.
Link jolted awake and looked around groggily. "What... What's happening?" Link asked, looking around, eyes wide. Once seeing the angry Mido, he calmed down and leaned back up against the Great Deku Tree. "Oh, it's just you. I thought something important was happening."
Mido growled as he looked up to see the gray clouds settling above head. The wind began to pick up speed. "This is important Link; Princess Zelda has requested to speak with you."
"Princess Zelda..." Link's eyes became foggy as his mind was sent back into memories. He remembered the first day he had met the Princess...
"Link! She said it was urgent, she needs to speak with you right away." Mido had a panicked look on his face as his eyes darted around; the rain had begun to fall.
Link was pulled out of his thoughts, and back into reality. He looked at Mido as he began to become drenched with the water from the clouds. He sighed, and pushed himself up from the ground. As he walked toward Mido he unsheathed his Kokiri sword. At that point Mido began to freak out, too scared to run. Feet from him, Link raised his sword up above his head and plunged it into the soft dirt under him. He really needed a new sword. "Your eyes are bulging, and you are beginning to perspire. Why is that Mido? Are you afraid of me, or are you afraid of the rain?"
"Neither. I am afraid of what will happen if you do not quickly reach the Princess and speak with her. Now go!" Mido turned from him, his feet slightly sticking to the mud. Link watched Mido leave the small area; once he was out of sight he grabbed the hilt of his sword and pulled. His sword was lodged firmly in the ground, and the mud was making it rather difficult to retrieve it. He pulled with great strength, and the sword slid from the muddy ground. Link slipped on the mud and lost his balance, falling backwards. The mud splashed in different directions as his body hit the ground. Link now had a disgruntled look on his face as he pulled himself up. He spit some mud from his mouth, sheathing his sword, and then quickly left the Great Deku Tree.
He reached a different part of the Kokiri Forest, which many of his Kokirian friends were either running inside their tree-houses for shelter, or playing in the rain. He smiled as he saw his long time friend, Saria, singing and doing a rain dance. He was mesmerized by her movements. She spun in circles with her arms out; she stared up at the clouds as the rain fell on her face. She looked so happy, dancing and singing in the rain. He pealed his eyes away from his friend, and sprinted up to his tree-house, slipping and sliding in the mud along the way. He climbed up the wooden ladder, and then entered his house.
Link pulled off his wet and muddy clothes and quickly washed of the mud from his body. He grabbed his sword, and wiped up the drying mud before sheathing it again. He pulled on clean clothes, and buckled his belt around his waist. He buckled his sheath onto his back, and pulled on a new pair of brown leather boots. Then, he put a dagger into each of his boots, and grabbed some small bombs and put them into a pouch on his belt. Link then grabbed two swords three feet in length and then hooked them to his waist. He put small knives and such in various places on his body, concealing them. He pulled on a thick cloak, grabbed his bow and quiver full of arrows, and left his tree-house.
Link climbed down the ladder, and sprinted quickly towards his faithful rusty red horse, Epona. He swung the quiver onto his back, and hooked his bow onto the saddle, then mounted his horse. He looked over to his right and watched as Saria pulled wet strands of hair from her face. She noticed him watching her, so she smiled and waved. He waved back, and kicked Epona into a trot, and left the forest.
The bridge swayed as they trotted across it, and then entered Hyrule Field. Link could just see the white castle at the edge of the horizon, which was their destination.
It had taken him the entire day to reach the castle, the rain hadn't let up once. It was beginning to darken as the day ended. They galloped across the drawbridge and into the Hyrule Castle Town Market. There were a few children playing in the market as their parents watched, but it was still eerily deserted. He slowed Epona into a trot, as he neared two castle guards. He stopped Epona as he reached the guards.
"Who might you be, boy?" One of the guards asked in his gruff voice.
"I am Link. I believe Princess Zelda requested to speak with me?" He replied.
"Yes... I suppose so. Dismount your horse and we will take you up to the castle," Link did as he was told. He dismounted Epona, and he led her along the ten minute walk up to the castle with the two guards. Once they reached the gates with two different guards, the two guards who had led him up to the castle took Epona to the stables. One of the new guards let the draw bridge down, and he entered the castle, alone.
There was a knight waiting for him as he entered the castle. He was standing by a small round table. "Link I assume?"
"Yes?" Link asked as he reached the small round table the knight was standing by.
"Please remove all of your weapons," Link sighed as he pulled off his quiver and set it on the table. He removed his cloak and carelessly dropped it to the floor. He pulled off his Kokiri Sword from his back, and also set that on the table. He removed the two swords at his side, took out all of his small bombs from the pouch on his belt, took the two daggers from his boots, a curved knife from his inner thigh, upper arm, shin, and belt and set them on the table. He made a movement to pick up his cloak when the knight stopped him. "All of your weapons..."
Link sighed again as he removed the two iron daggers from his outer thighs, his longshot from a pocket, boomerang and slingshot from another pocket. "That is all of my weapons; if you don't believe me you might as well strip search me... Do you want me to take off my gauntlets too?" The knight shook his head no, and led him into a strange room. The room seemed to hold all of Hyrules history, its secrets, it's past... And there was Princess Zelda, her back turned to them as she studied a map of Hyrule. The map cut off at the edge of Death Mountain. There were other countries beyond Death Mountain making up the rest of the world. Few had ventured past the mountain and even fewer had come back. There was no known map of the rest of the world in Hyrule, it was left to imagination. The knight cleared his throat to gain the Princess's attention. She turned around and smiled as she saw Link.
"Please excuse us, I would like to speak with him alone," the knight nodded and left the Princess and Link alone, closing the door quietly behind him. "Link... Do you have any idea why I have asked you here?"
"No, I do not, Princess Zelda."
"I had a dream last night. And you were the boy in it. Of course I had told my father, but he didn't believe me. He said I had a wild imagination."
"Princess, what was your dream if you do not mid me asking?" Link has asked.
"An evil woman, even more powerful than Ganondorf--" She had stopped herself.
"Ganondorf? You remember... I thought that I was that only one that remembered since I was sent back in time after I destroyed him, and the ordeal with Ganondorf technically never happened..." Link said.
"Of course I remember, the event was so terrifying I couldn't forget it even though we were sent back in time. It was like everything was a dream, but I knew it was real. It was too horrible to be a nightmare. That's why when you were in my dream last night I knew it had really happened, and I knew that I just had to speak with you. You saved Hyrule before; I know you can do it again, but..." She let her voice trail off.
"But what Princess?"
"This time it is not just Hyrule in danger, it's the entire world. In my dream the evil woman was covering the world in shadow. She was moving rapidly, and if I am right, you only have three weeks to save the world."
"And how am I supposed to do that?" Link asked.
"She has already covered three temples in shadow. The Temple of Power, the Temple of Wisdom, and the Temple of Courage. Each temple was created for the three goddesses, Din, Farore, and Nayru. You must defeat the evil in each temple, and each goddess will reward you with a skill or weapon of some sort to aid you on your journey to save the world. You must go to the top of Death Mountain and there someone will be waiting for you to help you find the first temple. Go, now!" Princess Zelda pushed Link out of the strange room.
Link sprinted down the hallway and back to the small round table with all of his weapons. It took him almost ten minutes to retrieve each weapon and put them back some where on his body. Once he was finished the knight showed him to the stables where Epona was waiting for him. He mounted her and then galloped out of the court yard, and out of Hyrule Castle Town Market. He kicked Epona into a faster gallop as they neared the village set at the foot of Death Mountain.
