Legend of Zelda 1. I: Da’korath

Chapter I

Da'korath

Somewhere deep inside a prison sat a man. His clothes and breathe ragged, his blonde hair wild and eyes that once seemed so full of hope, now showed no sign of anything that resembled happiness. For in this prison, hope and happiness was a sin, and was treated as such. Endless beatings and torture, eternal darkness and misery, this is how the prison got its name. _Dokoaroth,_ The Pain of Hell.

The man in the cell suddenly lifted his head up. _Footsteps_. He could hear it, a sound he hadn't heard in years, or maybe days, it was hard to tell in this infernal place. Time muddled together to make one eternal night, and days seemed like years, and years like millenniums. The man was ragged and bloody, but there was something no other prisoner in all of Dokoaroth had. _Hope,_ despite the constant beatings, and the eternal darkness that never left the cell, the man had fire in his heart that nothing could put out.

The footsteps continued down the hall, they were growing continually louder, it was almost deafening. The only sound he had heard for at least a week was a slow _drip…drip_ of water in a wood bowl and the end of his cell, and his own ragged breath and constant heart beat that was so loud it kept him up.

The footsteps finally came to a halt in front of the cell. A man with dark brown skin, red hair and thick black armor stared at the pathetic man in the cell, and laughed. The laugh made the man in the cell shiver and cover his ears. It was the laugh of evil and insanity.

"Hello, Hero." The dark skinned man said with a rough and deep voice. The hero in the cell clenched his teeth.

"Ganon" the King of Evil smirked

"You remembered my name. After this long of rotting your mind in this dreadful place, I'd thought you would forget me." There was sarcastic enthusiasm in his voice.

"To tell you the truth, it's that hideous face that helped me remember your name. How dearly I would like to fix that thing on your neck you call a head." He did not smile; instead he stood up, and stared into the furious eyes of the man…no beast, which had sent him to this hell all those years ago.

"Obviously you have not been trained well enough, _Link_." He spat the name as if ridding a bitter taste from his mouth "Remember this, you are but a mangy mutt under my feet, I could kill y…"

"Then why don't you Ganon! Kill me, Come one, just try to touch me! I dare you…No, I command you to fight me!" It was his turn to be mad now, all these years in this hell, he would rather be dead than spend another week in this cell. Ganon frowned, but gained his smile back, and let out a small chuckle.

"Apparently I have gotten to you after all, you mutt. But you know as well as I do that I need you alive, that little golden triangle on your hand is worth more to me than your dead body."

"Then take it! I don't want it anymore!" Ganon laughed hysterically.

"Yes…but the mystery is, how do I take it?" The Hero fell to his knees; loud mirthless laughter squeezed out of the sane part of his mind and made its way out his lips.

"Kill me in a fair battle, _Ganon_, and the Power of the Goddeses will be yours."


	2. II: The Sword Of Evil's Bane

Chapter II

The Sword of Evil's Bane

Link had been in that cell for eight long hard years, he hadn't picked up a sword in that long, he hadn't even been able to go more than five paces except to his occasional beatings in a cell right next to his, where a whip had more freedom to move.

_Except for that once_ Gannon grinded his teeth at the memory. The Hero had tricked an old, pathetic, and weak Moblin, and escaped. He ran for two straight miles after sitting in a cell for five months and only eating twice a week. When he was captured, he was beaten with a three-pronged whip _thirty-eight_ times before loosing consciousness. It was a feat that no normal man could accomplish. Gannon whipped Link himself; it usually took four strikes before even the strongest of men lost themselves to the unimaginable strength of Gannon, King of Hyrule. But during all thirty-eight whips, he stared at Gannon's eyes, letting out only a shutter when the whip camp down across his back and stomach, and even a few times his face. Link still had the scars, like blood red veins, wrapping themselves across his pale white body. It would be a day that neither of them would forget.

"And I trust you _why_, Hero. You're obviously hiding something from me, and after that last escapade of yours, I shouldn't even grant that forked tongue of yours the gift to talk." Gannon almost yelled it. But Link merely shrugged as if they were talking about something two schoolboys might talk about after school.

"I give you my oath as King, Gannon, a hero and as a Hylian. I can give you nothing more, you have my Kingdom, and all my possessions, my life, and all that I stand for is in your hands."

"Yes, yes it is, and you would do well to remember that. All I have to say is a few words, and all of Hyrule will be burnt to dust." Gannon smiled at the power he held. Link nodded his head; it was a fact he never forgot. One of the many reasons he was becoming this desperate just to have one last fight with Gannon. If he killed Gannon, Hyrule would be free, and he and Zelda would take their rightful spot at the throne in Hyrule castle.

_Zelda, _the name shot the pain of grief and longing through his body. It had been so long since he had seen her last. He knew she was alive of course, if she was dead, the Tri-force would have told him. But, he didn't know where she was, or if she was in trouble or pain. For all he knew, Zelda could be in the cell next to his.

"We fight in fifteen days time. Until then, you will be fed everyday, and even given your precious sword to practice with. The last thing I want is a boring battle with Link, Hero of Time. This battle will be read in history books for millenniums to come!" There was a maniac gleam in Gannon's eyes. There was nothing he loved more than power, he would give his soul and body for just a little power, and had already given his heart. But imagining generations from now, when he was dead, and his sons were in power, and people still having fear leaping up in their throats at just the mention of his name, because of a battle that he won against the Hero of Time. That was true power.

Gannon laughed and with out saying a word, walked slowly down the hall. With each step his laugh grew louder until he reached the very end of the hall. Link heard a door open, and then shut. The laugh was finally gone. Link fell backwards onto the bale of hay that he had called bed for the last eight years.

_What am I going to do now?_ And with that, The Hero of Time fell swiftly into a nightmarish sleep full of battles and blood, none of which was Gannon's, all of which was his.

Link woke up the next morning, assuming it was morning, to footsteps. This time there was three pairs of feet taking light and short steps, one of which was limping. When the ugly piggish Moblins came into view, Link clenched his fist, but said nothing.

Two of the Moblins were very large, especially compared to the ones Link used to fight when he was free. One of the larger Moblins had had dark blue skin, and was obviously a runner. Link smiled at the precaution Gannon was taking. The other, largest Moblin, was jet black, and could probably lift a full-grown Ox if he chose too. They both carried swords on their backs.

They grunted something in their language, and the one with the limp pulled out a key. Link recognized this one; it was the same one he had tricked to let him out. Back then; he was pitch black, healthy and strong, much like the creature standing next to him right now. Now his right leg and left arm was broken, his skin seemed more gray than black, and he had scars on every inch of his body, more than even Link had, which was saying more than just about anybody else in Hyrule could claim

Tega, Link remembered the former head Moblins name, gave the key to the black Moblin, who quickly snatched the key, and then pushed Tega to the floor, just for kicks. He snorted, and the dark blue Moblin to his left took a step backwards. He obviously received the same treatment as Tega, Link realized, when he started to rub a bruise on his arm and then a bump on the back of his head.

The black Moblin put the key into the keyhole and turned it six times before a clicking nose was heard. He grabbed the big black bars, and pushed them inwards.

_An open door _it was something link hadn't seen, save for his occasional beatings, in over eight years. He stood up, and the two larger Moblins took a few steps back, while Tega continued to rub a sore spot on his bum from when he was pushed down.

"You know that's not very nice to push down a wounded comrade." The black Moblin took a step forward, growled a very piggish sounding growl, and lifted a fist to challenge Link. Link just smiled, and the Moblins face turned to one of shock and fear, but did not back down. Link took a few steps forward, and was out of the cell. The Moblin took a few steps back; he was pinned against the wall now.

"Well, if you're not going to lead the way, then I suppose one of you will." Link traded glanced with Tega and the dark blue Moblin.

"I sure do hope that Gannon will forgive you for not doing your duty." The dark blue Moblin was walking towards the door at the end of the hall and Link followed, though he wasn't sure if the Moblin was trying to sneak away from the verbal battle, or lead him to wherever they were going.

The excitement and fear was almost too much to hold back, but he was able to keep a perfectly emotionless face by imagining a Sheikah, and copying the face as best he could. It was considerably harder than he would have thought. Especially with so many emotions shooting though him like arrows that had lost their way. Fear, excitement, freedom, confusion, every emotion possible, along with every question was passing so fast, he barely had time to realize which emotion he was feeling, and no where close to enough time to think about his own questions.

The blue Moblin opened the door, and light poured through. Link's hands shot up to his eyes, and blocked the light. He had forgotten that the real world could be so bright. When his eyes adjusted a little, he continued to walk through the door and found himself in a large blank room with only four doors and a rack with keys next to the door they just came out of.

The blue Moblin continued on to lead Link, but the black Moblin came out of nowhere and pushed him to the ground, and became leader again. They went through door after door until finally they came to a room with no more doors, and stopped. The room was huge; it would take a full minute to sprint from end to the other. The black Moblin made a grunt, and pointed to a corner where a pile of stuff tossed carelessly on the ground lay.

A green tunic, shield, bow and arrows, a hook shot, some bombs, a boomerang, his gloves and even a healing potion were there. But even if none of that was there, it wouldn't have mattered, for among everything else, lay his sword. His most cherished and prized possession. With it, he could Kill Gannon with a well-placed slash. With out it, he could maybe cut his check.

_The Sword of Evils Bane _it had been so long since it had been used in battle. Link could tell it was eager to shed blood, or maybe it was just links own feelings. Link took off the dirty clothes he was wearing, and put on his old green tunic, with out ever taking his eyes off his sword. He then hung his bow on his back, and then hung his shield over that. He continued to find spots for all of his items, and when it finally came to picking up his sword, he stood there. If it wasn't for that sword, he would not have lost eight years of his life, and spend four years before that, just trying to stay out of here. But for some reason, he loves that sword more than his life, cause well, it was his life, and much more. With out that sword, he was nothing, he wouldn't be a hero or a king, he would never of met Zelda, he wouldn't have his tri-force piece…with out it, he would be a poor farmer, losing half of all the rupees he made to Gannon.

Link kneeled down, and reached his hand down. As his hand got closer to the sword, his hand tingled, and slowly moved up his arm, and the sword started to glow the color of time. An indescribable color, that was more blue than anything else, but yet, blue just didn't quite explain the color.

By now Links whole body was tingling, the feeling was so comforting, that link felt like is he could just live like this forever, he would never want again. His hand finally reached the sword and he picked it up. A burst of gold and the indescribable color of time burst out of the sword and surrounded links body along with a strong gust of wind that lifted his feet of the ground. The wind was so intense that Link had to close his eyes as it slowly became stronger. It felt like a million flaming hot needles were piercing his body, but as time progressed, they were more like swords than needles. Link let out a pain filled scream.

_What's happening?_ Link thought as he lost consciousness. Suddenly there was an explosion of white-hot light out of his body, and when the light was gone, so was The Hero of Time.

AN: Thank you Nomad Soldier and Moonlit-snow! Until now, I didn't know what it felt like to get reviews. And it feels good. Anyway, I tried to make this chapter at least a little bit longer. Too short still? It's only two and a half pages. Anyway, hopefully this chapter is as good as my first, I've been known to do good first chapters, and not so good on the second.


	3. III: Trail of Autumn

Chapter III

Trail of Autumn

Bird's singing, scampering creatures and Links soft breath was the only thing hear in the forest. But, as if a tree had fallen, the hero suddenly woke up, his sword in hand at the throat of some unseen villain. He was soaked in salty sweat, and was panting heavily. He only started to pant more when he noticed he was in the middle of a forest that was probably older than the Great Deku Tree himself.

_Well_ he thought _at least I am out of Da'korath, and wont have to fight Gannon…well, at least not yet. _He checked himself to make sure he had all his weapons still with him, and then started searching around for a way out of the ancient forest or at least somebody that could point him the way. He tried to remember what had happened. But all he could remember was picking up his sword, and then after that, everything went black.

_Except for that blue flash_. He wondered how he got to the forest for hours while trying to find his way out, but to no avail.

"What now." He thought out loud, and sat down on a tree that had been knocked over probably before he was even born. He buried his face into his hands, and sat like that for a few moments before deciding that sitting around wasn't going to help him.

He took his face out of his hands and slowly opened his eyes, hoping it had all been a dream and he would be back home at the castle with Zelda at his side. He was disappointed when his eyes finally opened, and what he saw actually spooked him. Instead of the ancient green and healthy tree's he had seen earlier, the trees were literally changing before his eyes, starting at one end of the tree, and then working its way to the other side, the trees were dying. Their green leaves were now shades of red and gold.

But not all of the trees were dying. On one side of Link, all the trees were still healthy and untouched by whatever curse was killing the trees, but almost in a straight line, the curse moved east.

"What in the…" he trailed off when he heard footsteps running east with the curse at an unbelievably fast pace. He stood up, and ran as quietly as he could after the footsteps.

He could occasionally catch glances of the runner, but after a straight hour of running as fast as he could, the only thing he could see was an occasional blur of colors. Link stopped suddenly, he was so focused on the runner, he hadn't seen what he was leaving behind, a trail of fiery footsteps.

He was panting heavily, and didn't think he could run much longer, but by the time Link had caught his breathe, the runner couldn't be seen, only his trail of fire and his wake of dead trees showed which way he had gone.

He walked over to one of the many fires that littered the ground, and noticed that the fire was like no fire he had ever seen before. The fire gave off no heat, but it was still burning the twigs and leaves inside the indented footprints, though it took a while before even a small twig was completely burned. The fire wasn't spreading either; it kept its footstep shape perfectly and would only burn what was inside the footstep. By studying the footstep, Link could tell that the runner was roughly two hundred pounds, including all of his clothes and weaponry, assuming he had any.

Link nervously put a finger inside the fire. He almost laughed at what he thought Zelda might say if she could see him now. But he was too nervous about what the fire might do to let out even a chuckle. The fire still gave off no heat and didn't hurt him, but it slowly ate away at his skin. If someone were to put this fire on someone while they were asleep, they wouldn't even know that they were on fire, but it would be a few hours before the fire did enough damage to kill them.

He stood up and realized that the sun was setting behind the horizon of trees. It would only be a few minutes before it was to dark to see. He found a hallow tree nearby that wasn't affected by the curse, and found a comfortable position, and tried to fall asleep. It certainly was an odd day, and he was still confused about what was happening and how he got in the forest. But wondering about it wasn't going to get him anywhere. He decided that he would follow the mysterious runner's trail tomorrow, and see if he led him to a town or at least out of the forest. But he probably wouldn't stop there; he wanted to know who the runner was. It was very interesting that he, or maybe even she, left behind footsteps of fire and left a trail of dead trees with out even touching them. He had to know who or what it was, friend or foe.

_Link kneeled down, and reached his hand down. As his hand got closer to the sword, his hand tingled, and slowly moved up his arm, and the sword started to glow the color of time. An indescribable color, that was more blue than anything else, but yet, blue just didn't quite explain the color._

_By now Links whole body was tingling, the feeling was so comforting, that link felt like is he could just live like this forever, he would never want again. His hand finally reached the sword and he picked it up. A burst of gold and the indescribable color of time burst out of the sword and surrounded links body along with a strong gust of wind that lifted his feet of the ground. The wind was so intense that Link had to close his eyes as it slowly became stronger. It felt like a million flaming hot needles were piercing his body, but as time progressed, they were more like swords than needles. Link let out a pain filled scream._

_What's happening? Link thought as he lost consciousness. Suddenly there was an explosion of white-hot light out of his body, and when the light was gone, so was The Hero of Time._

_Link went in and out of consciousness for what seemed like days, but in truth, it could have been just seconds. Finally, when link was able to stay consciousness long enough, he got a good look around. He was on a floating blue platform, surrounded by thousands more of the bluish platforms, in what seemed like a giant atrium. But instead of walls in the atrium, there were waterfalls that were the same color as time, falling into what seemed like eternity. There were twelve waterfalls, each a little bit different in color, but all the color of time. _

"_Beautiful are they not?" A voice said from behind. Link swung around and drew his sword out at the same time, by the time he had a good look at the figure, his sword was already under his chin, and Link was standing in a battle position._

How did I not here him before? _Link wondered in his head._

_The man smiled "Your speed has never ceased to amaze me, Hero of Time."_

By the time link opened his eyes, he was already sitting up, covered in cold sweat. The cold morning air blew softly though his little hallow inside the tree, and he shivered. He remembered now what happened after he grabbed the sword, but where his dream, or flash back, ended, he couldn't remember anything after that.

_Where was that_? He wondered. He crawled out of his cove into the cold morning, and stretched his sore legs and arm, sleeping in a place as small as that made him a little cramped.

While stretching he noticed that all of the trees had shed their leaves during the night, and now, little green leaves were growing, reaching full size in a matter of seconds.

"Who is this mysterious runner?"It was almost the only thing Link could think of, but the answer almost scared him.

He walked to the trail of fiery footsteps. There wasn't even a trace that there was a fire there last night. Deciding that he had race the healing forest, or else lose the runner's trail, Link started to sprint down the trail, dream and fears forgotten.

There was only bare trees, and charcoal footprints the further he got, but it was more than what he had seen that morning, Eventually, trees started appearing that had red and gold leaves, and the charcoal footsteps were once again little footstep shaped fire's that gave off no heat.

_I am getting closer_

The tree's ended suddenly, and the fiery prints ended too. There was a great grass plain in front of him, it reminded him of Hyrule Field, but this field was different.

"Why do you follow me, elf." A deep voice said from above. Link drew his bow and nocked an arrow and readied into a shooting stance, preparing for an aerial attack off a nearby tree. What he saw nestled up high in the branches almost made him drop his bow.

"Speed like that I have never seen in your kind. Who are you, and why are you in my forest?" The creature had a sword hanging from his hand almost carelessly; he didn't even seem worried about Link's bow.

"My name is unimportant, I am just walking through, trying to find my way to Hyrule. I followed you in hopes you would lead me to there, or any civilization for that matter." Link lowered his bow a little.

The creature gave Link a strange glance. "Why do you search for Hyrule? You seem Hylian in my eyes, but yet, you do not tremble before me as most, and seem unaware of the terror that resides in Hyrule."

"You have not attacked me yet, so I have no reason to fear you, though your trail you leave behind intrigues me. And I do not fear Gannon as..."

The creature laughed. "Gannon! The magician is no more than a mutt, no one's seen him in years! There are far worse things in Hyrule these days."

Link scowled and re-aimed his bow at the creature in the tree. "Who are you?"


End file.
