Legend of Zelda 1. Chapter 1

_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. . . 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 . . . 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 . . . _

_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 on thee!_

The cold seeped into my bones and almost seemed to burn my flesh. I looked away from the grass and waves of mud at my feet and gaze up at the castle. A fary dances in anxiety beside me. I have never seen the castle before, but I have seen it many times before. Some part of me realizes this must been the dream again. I shiver at another gust of wind, the kind that make even dreams feel tangible.

Then, a horseback rider speeds from the gates of the castle. There is a girl being carried by him. She looks back at me curiously or sadly. Either way, he face is writ with urgency. My heart aches at this and I look back. Another rides follows. This one is near complete blackness. I shiver again, but this time at his gaze, and I drop back into my body.

I lay for a moment. I begin to realize that my foot is numb, wrapped in my blanket and hanging off the bed. I sit up to unwrap it, but I'm covered in sweat and don't bother to pull the blanket up too. I curl up to try and go back to sleep.

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

I groan. I had just been getting back to sleep.

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

Wait? Is that a _girl's _voice? I sit up and rubbed my eyes wearily. Then I looked up blankly. A fairy is dancing around. My eyes widen.

"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 Great Deku Tree has summoned you! So let's get going, right now!"

Normally, I would have back talked her for being so hasty. But I'm elated. I grin at her and get up. I put my blanket back where it belongs and grabbed my hat off of the floor.

"Come _on_!" Navi complains and swirls around me.

I roll my eyes and go ahead to my ladder. I always loved going down the ladder. It's a better wake up call than a morning swim. Navi is getting agitated still, but I take my time. When I get to the bottom Saria runs up.

"Yahoo! Hi, Link!" she says.

"Hey, Saria."

"Wow! A fairy! Finally, a fairy came to you, Link! Wow! Now you're a true Kokiri, Link!"

Saria is my friend so I ignore the sentiment and tell her I've been summoned.

"It's quite an honor to talk to the Great Deku Tree! I'll wait for you here. Get going! Go see the Great Deku Tree!"

Navi mutters something about "someone finally showing reason". I just laugh and keep going. Of course, everyone says things similar to what Saria said. I show a little decency and pretend it's nice of them be happy for me rather than having only accepted me now. This was all fine until I got to the forest pass, where Mido is guarding the way.

"Hey, you! 'Mr. No Fairy!' What's your business with the Great Deku Tree? Without a fairy, you're not even a real man!"

"Are you blind?" I ask, motioning at Navi. She looks slightly annoyed. I am beginning to wonder if she is always annoyed.

"What?! You've got a fairy?! Say what?"

"Get out of the way," Navi tells him. "The Great Deku Tree wants to speak with him."

"The Great Deku Tree actually summoned you? Whaaaaaaaat?! Why would he summon you and not the great Mido?" He taps him foot and I restain laughter; he always taps him foot when he is outraged. "This isn't funny… I don't believe it! You aren't even fully equipped yet! How do you think you're going to help the Great Deku Tree without both a sword and shield ready?"

"Where are _yours_?"

"What? You're right, I don't have my equipment ready, but . . . If you want to pass through here, you should at least equip a sword and shield! Sheesh!"

Navi buzzes angrily in the air like a bee, but I just walk away. Being my fairy, she follows me.

"Come on!" Navi complains. "Go get passed him!"

"He's the leader," I tell her. "I can't go around beating up Mido."

She huffs but doesn't argue. I continue home, where Saria is still standing. She looks confused at my hasty return.

"Mido won't let me in," I tell her.

"What?! Mido won't let you go to see the Great Deku Tree? Ohh… That bum! I don't know why he's always so mean to everyone!"

"Yeah, I know. He wants me to have a shield and sword."

"What he said is true, though. The forest… strange things have been happening here lately… You need to be ready for anything. You'd better find a weapon! You can buy a shield at the shop, but there is only one sword hidden somewhere in the forest."

I am startled by her apt helpfulness. I also wonder why she keeps track of where shields are when there isn't anything dangerous in the whole forest. The only danger is going to the Lost Forest, which most people don't do.

I thank her and go ahead to the shop to find out the price of the shield. Navi has convinced herself that it would be best for me to be equipped for battle. The shield is forty Rupees. Rupees are little useless gems used as currency— they can be found almost anywhere you can imagine. The only way to really earn them is to take care of the world with cutting the grass and moving rocking and stuff. It's a pretty good system.

With this in mind, I go ahead and help various people. They are strange though; always acting as though it is by their kindness I was allowed to help them. By now I'm mostly used to it, but it still annoys me. I realize that sometimes they are getting the grunt work too, though, so I keep my mouth shut.

I soon have enough to get the shield. Also, I go to the Training Hill in hopes that I can find a sword there. Where else would one be? I end up having to go into a crawl space. Navi hides under my hat so that she doesn't get squished between my shoulder and the rock. I get out, brush myself off . . . walk over to read a sign . . . and immediately have to run away from a giant boulder. It's faster than I am and I get thrown against the wall by it. Joy. I force myself to keep running until I find a nice hidden space. There's a chest here and I open it. Conveniently, the Kokiri Sword is right inside. I shove it onto my back and race the boulder back to the crawl space, miraculously making it through.

On my way back, I swing the sword through all of the grass I see. I find quite a few Rupees this way. I'm really just reveling in the fact the Mido has to let me through now.

"Hey," I tell him, "let me through!"

"You need— Eh, what's that?! Oh, you have a Deku Shield… And what's THAT?! Is that the Kokiri Sword?! GOOD GRIEF!! Well, even with all that stuff, a wimp is still a wimp, huh? I, the great Mido, will never accept you as one of us! Shoot! How did you get to be the favorite of Saria and the Great Deku Tree? Huh?!"

I laugh at him monologue. I just can't help it. On the other hand, I'm offended. I'll never be one of them. How so? I have a fairy now! What's so different about me anyway?

I brush it off and take my first step into the forest pass.


	2. Chapter 2

"In every phenomenon the beginning remains the most notable moment."

- Carlyle Thomas

I rounded the second corner slowly, worried about what I would say to the Great Deku Tree. Really, what does one say to someone like that? And then it happened. Nothing could have ever prepared me for it. A large, grotesque monster reared it's head out of the ground and lashed at me.

I think Navi is saying something, but I can't hear her. I just wave my sword stupidly at the head—which is as big as I am, might I add—but I swing too low. I've never cut anything but grass! What do I do? It strokes me again, this time throwing me back against the wall.

I did what any sensible kid would do: I ran.

Navi, typically, is complaining about my cowardice. Will I never please her? Did she know these things were here? Why didn't she _tell_ me? Is that so much to ask? Stupid little unhelpful fairy.

"Why didn't you do what I said?" Navi says and now I'm calm enough to hear her.

Oh. She did try to help.

"Those are Deku Baba," she tells me. "You wait till they are straight and then you chop the head. If they go stiff, you can get a Deku Stick out of them. And if they don't, you get Deku Nuts."

Wow. I never noticed how many things are called Deku around here. Us Kokiri are obsessed. I laugh to myself at the thought of my Deku Shield. It's really just a distraction, though, as I'm still scared stiff.

"Let's keep going, then," Navi tells me.

We enter the clearing slowly, me by choose and Navi by obligation. It makes me want to go slower to annoy her even more, but I try to speed up. I also want her acceptance. I'm failure enough with her not accepting me— she's my fairy!

The Great Deku Tree is bigger than I would have thought. I am amused slightly by his bark mustache, but I might just be giddy from surviving.

"Great Deku Tree . . . I'm back!" This is Navi. She is dancing arounf so fast that it's making me dizzy to watch her, so I try to focus on the Tree.

"Oh . . . Navi . . . Thou hast returned . . . Link . . . Welcome . . . Listen carefully to what I, the Deku Tree, am about to tell thee . . .

"Thy slumber these past moons must have been restless, and full of nightmares . . . As the servants of evil gain strength, a vile climate pervades the land and causes nightmares to those sensitive to it . . . Verily, thou hast felt it . . .

"Link . . . The time has come to test thy courage . . . I have been cursed . . . I need you to break the curse with your wisdom and courage . . . Dost thou have courage enough to undertake this task?"

I stared at him. I wanted to ask the obvious question: why me? But then I would get the obvious answer. I tried to imagine Mido fighting the Deku Baba. He talked big, but he was a coward, and lazy to boot. I ran through them all, but I couldn't imagine the noblest of the fighting. The thought of gentle Saria with a sword make me cringe.

I barely fit into their society in the first place. It had to be me.

"Okay," I told him. "I will do what you wish."

"Then enter, brave Link, and thou too, Navi . . . Navi the fairy . . . thou must aid Link . . . And Link . . . When Navi speaks, listen well to her words of wisdom . . ."

The Tree's mouth was open now and I was to enter. So I entered. Navi did not complain about my slowness this time, but huddled near my shoulder. This made me think she was a scared as I was; only she knew nothing more than this. I had been safe and proceed with no thought of this in my mind and she had never known anything outside this certainty that she would follow me into danger. I felt sad for, as I felt sorry for myself.

Inside the tree, it was dark. There was enough light to see by, but my eyes took their time adjusting. I walked in a little more after they'd had their time. A Deku Baba immediately jumped out at me. I thrusted with the sword and it stood straight up, towering over me. I sliced the bottom and it fell over, head seeming to melt into mud. I pick the stick up carefully to look at. Navi tells me to stop gawking and put it away.

"How?" I ask her.

"Put in the pouch on your sword sheath. It should hold ten of them. One should also hold nuts," Navi explains. I do what she says (I already had some nuts in one pouch), and am amazed at the truth of her words when the stick it twice my height. I look around. There's a ladder, some vines, and a giant hole in the floor covered in webs. I go over to the webs and walk out into the middle. It holds me. I jump up and down a few times. Nothing. I bet I have to get past it somehow.

So I try the ladder. It takes me up a level, but it looks like I'll have to find my own way up higher. I also have to jump a couple ledges. Jumping isn't hard for me but I can't always go very far. Luckily, I made it both times. There's a few spider looking things on the walls that Navi informs me are Skulltulas. She tells me they are some larger ones up ahead and that their bellies are they weak points.

Yeah, right. I hugged the wall until I reached a door, as the Skulltulas don't seem to mind me this far away, and I throw myself into the room in case it changes it's mind. Here there is another Deku Baba. I hate them, I really do. I kill this one a little easier and with a little less panic. I put the stick away and look around. There's a cliff on my side and the other and a small cave in one wall. But I would have to find some way across the both. And both are protected by Skulltulas. I look around. There's some grass. That's nice. I cut the grass, more for nostalgia than anything. But I find some nuts and a small round bottle shaped like a heart. I open it and a cool, pink wind blows out. I am somewhat stunned, but I feel less bruised.

"What's this?" I asked Navi, showing her the left over container. It had been glowing but not now.

"A heart pack," she tells me. "It heals you. I don't know where they come from."

I nod and put the container back.

"How do I get across?" I ask.

Navi looks at me wish almost insulting astonishment. She lands on my shoulder and grabs a bundle of hair so that she doesn't fall. She is a strange little fairy. I've never seen one this close before. I'm not sure if the brilliant glow is coming off of her or the lightly tinted dress she's wearing.

But it doesn't matter. There's work to do. Ah! That sounds like her.

"That torch looks like it's recently blown out," she tells me. I nod. "And that button looks oddly suspicious, or maybe it doesn't look like a button from your level?"

I look at the torch and then at the stone mound. Is that mound the button she means? I try climbing onto in. It slides down under me and I hit the floor with an _oof_.

"Smooth," Navi says sarcastically. But she's smiling.

I get up quickly, adjusting my hat, and look over at the rising pieces of floor. I realize that I don't have time to gawk and jump onto the nearest one. I can see a chest behind the wall-cavern Skulltula, so I jump across another block and then passed the Skulltula. It's spinning confusingly. I whack blindly with my sword and hit it's shell. It clangs up my arm with horrible force. My arm is half numb but I thrust again, this time hitting its soft underbelly. It rises from the ground and I back up, hiding panickedly behind my shield. It doesn't hit me, but it goes back to spinning. One more it in the belly kills it. It falls down.

I sit against the chest for a moment to rest.

"Why are you doing this?" Navi asks me. She lowers herself to my knee.

"Why not?" I ask her. I hadn't really thought about it too much.

"Because you could die!"

"I can? No I can't, you'll protect me."

She doesn't look convinced by this argument. But I'm not really convinced either. As she says it, it kind of sinks in. I could die. And she could die trying to save me.

"We won't die," I assure her, tapping her head with one finger. It's starting to occur to me that's she's just a kid, like me. And that she's probably in over her head, too. Just like me.


End file.

Legend of Zelda, Adventure, Fantasy