<div style="text-align: center"><b><u>Prologue</u></b><br/>​</div><br/>One hundred years had passed, the flow of time, however, having passed beneath Zelda’s notice.  Knelt upon the floor of the decayed ruins that were once Hyrule Castle, she had remained untouched by time’s ravages, held in a bubble of stasis thanks to the combined strength of the Triforces of Wisdom and Power.  Both triangles glowed upon the back of her left hand, their sister, the Triforce of Courage, still held by the boy currently in a healing sleep.  As she felt him begin to stir, a renewed sense of hope began to spark within her for the first time in ages.<br/><br/><br/>Her good mood was soured, unfortunately, by the dark entity she had been holding prisoner in the castle for the past century.<b><i>“Surrender, Zelda.  Abandon this petty rebellion.”</i></b>The chiding, almost parental tone was enhanced by the soft thunder of its disembodied voice, echoing from seemingly everywhere at once while the black, wispy form of a demonic, spectral boar with glowing red eyes swam through the air before her like a Zora in the water.  It must have tested its restraints already, found them held strong, and had now come to taunt her instead.<b><i>“What is it you profit from this continued defiance?”</i></b><br/><br/><br/>“Other than preventing the destruction of my kingdom?” Zelda replied, her own tone dripping with sarcasm, “There’s some grim satisfaction in infuriating you.”<br/><br/><br/>The beast chuckled a condescending laugh.<b><i>“My patience is eternal, Zelda.  How many eons can you bear to languish here delaying the inevitable?  Do you so delight in refusing my necessary and noble function?”</i></b>Zelda opened her mouth to tell it just what she thought of that descriptor, but the beast continued,<b><i>“The wheel of fate must turn.  All are redeemed in the cleansing agony of birth, death, and rebirth.  This is the engine of life, the purifying rhythm of the universe to which all souls are irresistibly drawn.  So it is for mortals, so it is for realms.  Hyrule has been living on borrowed time for thousands of years and refusing my purpose will not change its fate.”</i></b><br/><br/><br/>“Enough of your sermonizing,” Zelda replied cooly, “You fool no one.  We both know what you are.  Just a voracious parasite, cloaking its appetite and lust for power in a shroud of righteousness.  I can wait for as long as it takes because my waiting is nearing its end.  As we speak, Link awakens from the healing sleep and comes to finish what we started 100 years ago.”<br/><br/><br/><b><i>“Ah yes, this boy you’re so pathetically obsessed with,”</i></b>the beast replied mockingly,<b><i>“Are these tidings supposed to frighten me?  Am I to quake at the presence of a lone boy with a magic sword just because he holds the Triforce of Courage?  These triangles are not the infallible weapons you delude yourselves into believing they are.  After all, the Triforce of Power did little in the end to help-…”</i></b><br/><br/><br/>“DO NOT SPEAK HIS NAME!” Zelda roared in a burst of sudden anger, the Triforce of Power glowing to match her intensity as the stasis bubble surrounding her became charged with several streaks of red lightning.  There was a pause as she composed herself before adding, “The fact that you think he is alone only proves your ignorance.”<br/><br/><br/><b><i>“Enlighten me, then, oh Zelda the Wise and Powerful,”</i></b>Calamity Ganon replied skeptically,<b><i>“Regale me with tales of Courage and heroism while we await the prodigal son’s arrival.”</i></b><br/><br/><br/>At this, Zelda’s mouth curled into a small smile as she felt a touch of nostalgia and an opportunity to hold Calamity Ganon’s attention while Link performed his task.  “Very well.  I will indulge your curiosity,” she replied, inclining her head to stare into the middle distance as she took herself back to a happier time, “If I had to decide where it all began, I would place it when Lucien and I were following reports of monster attacks and a presumed young knight who was traveling from town to town helping people fight them off…”<br/><br/><br/>----<br/><br/><br/><div style="text-align: center"><b><u>The Search for the Hero</u></b>​</div><br/><br/>“Just tell us everything you remember.” Lucien, Chieftain of the Sheikah Tribe and Princess Zelda’s Royal Protector, said as the two sat with the chosen representative of the little village on Kincean Island in the Lanayru Province, the latter wishing to discuss over a drink at the town’s tavern.<br/><br/><br/>The Kincean Island representative, a wiry man with a bushy mustache named Kenneth, took a drink from his tankard and wiped the froth from his mustache before replying, “Ain’t about to forget about this, m’lord.  The boy came to town about a week back, a traveler we figured for a newly sworn knight or noble’s son.  His clothes weren’t much to look at, but he had a mighty fine sword on his back, much too fine for a simple traveler.  Anyway, a gang of monsters attacked the next day and we all hid to let them have their fun and be on their way.  It may sound cowardly to someone like you, Master Sheikah, but a few smashed carts and missing livestock ain’t worth gettin’ killed over.  We just look after ourselves when the monsters come and clean up once they go as best we can.”<br/><br/><br/>“I’m not judging you.  Go on.” Lucien replied from behind his hands, which were folded under his nose.<br/><br/><br/>“Well, while the monsters are wrecking the town, the boy, Link was his proper name, steps out and draws his sword, then grabs a large pot lid as a shield and starts banging his sword on it.  I’m thinking he’s tryin’ to get the monsters attention and lead them away, but then he starts shoutin’, ‘Your town!  Your town!  This is your town!  Take up arms!  Fight!  Fight for your town or lose it, there ain’t no in between!’<br/><br/><br/>Kenneth took another drink from his tankard to wet his throat before continuing, “Now, I been in my share of scraps as a lad, but I ain’t no warrior by any sense.  But, all his shoutin’, what he was sayin’…it started to make a lotta sense and lookin’ about, I saw the lads were thinkin’ the same.  This is our town, damn it!  If we don’t fight fer it, what good are we?  So, we all start grabbin’ whatever’s on hand, mostly pitchforks and farmin’ tools and the like, and we give them monsters one hell of a fight they won’t soon ferget!”  Some others nearby overheard Kenneth’s outburst and raised a cheer, the man responding by raising his tankard in salute.<br/><br/><br/>“You were all very lucky,” Lucien replied, choosing to leave it at that rather than voice his true opinion, before asking, “Is this boy still here?  Did he move on?”<br/><br/><br/>Kenneth’s demeanor turned sheepish.  “I, uh…I feel a bit bad sayin’ this, considerin’ what he done fer us.  But, nice as that sword he was carryin’ was, he weren’t too good with it.  Lucky fer him, the moblins and bokoblins favor sticks and clubs to swords and spears, but he still took a hell of a beatin’ in the fight.  Me neighbor, Bernie, loaded him up in the last cart left in working order and took him up to the Zora City.  There’s a healer there, Lady Mipha, who supposedly wields some sorta magic that can fix you up good as gold.  Can’t promise he’s still there, but no sane person would jump outta bed after a few days of bedrest.  Not after the beatin’ he got.”<br/><br/><br/>Kenneth dismissed himself, leaving Lucien and Zelda to their business.  The Sheikah turned to his charge, saying, “Well, he’s clearly no knight or squire, we would have heard about him.  I don’t know of any nobles’ sons named Link, either.  Nothing really to go on but a 'mighty fine sword'.  Sounds like a dead end.”  His eyes half-lidded as he added, “I know that look.  You want to go find him, don’t you?”