Chapter 1: The Prophecy
"The Land shall unite, with the Evil defeat, and the Opening shall hang with the Chosen One."
Link, Hero of Time, chosen protector of the land of Hyrule, was stood in the darkness, and from all around him many people were whispering those words. He couldn't see anything around him, but then, as he looked, the Chamber of Sages came into view. He was stood on the Triforce in the middles, and around him, the Sages of Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow, and Spirit, were all whispering loudly at him.
"The Land shall unite, with the Evil defeat, and the Opening shall hang with the Chosen One."
Link swivelled looking at the five madly, as they continued to chant. Then, they all turned their respective colours and disappeared. Link twisted to look at the place where the missing sage should have stood, and found Rauru was now standing there, where he hadn't before.
"The Land shall unite with the Evil defeat, and the Opening shall hang with the Chosen One."
Link's head span.
"Rauru, what do you mean?" he tried to say, but nothing came out. Then, he was at the side of the room, and as he looked at the spot he had been stood in a second ago, a figure appeared came into focus.
As Link recognised him, his heart froze. A familiar loud, evil laugh spread over the room.
The Master Sword was suddenly in Link's hand. He gripped the handle tightly in his left hand; his Hylian Shield was in his right.
Link watched as Ganon raised a hand and blasted magic at Rauru. The spell was deflected by a magical barrier around Rauru. The Light Sage continued waving his hands to strengthen the barrier, as Ganon threw another spell at him. This too was deflected, but it looked like Rauru's spell had been weakened. He moved his arms quickly to get it back up.
Ganon cast another spell and it hit Rauru. There was a smashing sound and shards of light flew everywhere. The barrier was broken.
Before Ganon could do anything Rauru threw his hands forward and a ball of light exploded around Ganon. He shrieked and Rauru quickly got a new barrier up and running.
Ganon roared angrily and raised his hand. He chucked a more powerful spell and the new barrier shattered instantaneously. Ganon flicked a spell at Rauru, and it struck him in the shoulder.
Link grimaced as he watched Rauru wince in pain, but Rauru quickly cast another attack spell at Ganon. He fired three in quick succession and Ganon roared with pain.
"Foolish old man!" said Ganon when he could. "I am the King of Evil. So you really think you can kill me that simply?"
"I do not think I can survive battling with you but by Din I won't just let you go while there's power in me to fight you."
"Then so be it!" called Ganon loudly. With a roar he raised his hands and Link saw a powerful spell appear above his hands.
"No!" he tried to call, but he still couldn't move.
He awoke in a cold sweat. He could remember nothing from the dream except the whispering of the sages and the loud, clear voice off Rauru, all saying the same thing.
"The Land shall unite with the Evil defeat, and the Opening shall hang with the Chosen One," muttered Link. "Now what does that mean?"
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and sat for a minute trying to clear his mind. Now matter how he tried, the prophecy wouldn't go away.
"I've never had anything like this before!" he thought. Then his mind strayed to when he was a ten year-old, living in Kokiri Forest, thinking he was a Kokiri. He had had a recurring dream for weeks before Navi had come to him and summoned him to see the Deku Tree. That had been a dream warning him of the future. His mind went to the little fairy who had come to him. He hadn't seen her for ten years, since his first adventure with Ganon had finished. She had flown away and he had never seen her again.
Link felt a lump in his throat. He missed Navi. They had been in very close contact, and he had become hugely close and terribly affectionate towards her. He couldn't forget what had happened at the collapse of Ganon's Castle. Having reached the top of Ganon's Tower in an effort to save Princess Zelda, who Link later found out was his twin; Ganon had created waves of evil, that had stopped Navi from helping the Hero of Time. When the Castle had been ruined and Ganon rose again to fight Link, Navi had refused to be held back.
"This time we fight together!"
Link remembered her courageous words. When Link had been knocked down in the battle Navi had distracted Ganon and given Link the chance to get up.
He sat in the dark silent, thinking about the fairy he hadn't seen for ten years.
"The Land shall unite, with the Evil defeat, and the Opening shall hang with the Chosen One."
The prophecy continued to haunt him.
He got out of bed and strode over to the window. Hyrule Castle grounds lay dark below him. Guards wandered around. Link smiled at the memory of sneaking past the guards as a ten year old.
He looked out to the distant sight of Hyrule Field. He walked over to his desk and picked up a small, blue, ocarina. It was the Ocarina of Time. He sat down on the sill and put the instrument to his lips. He played Zelda's Lullaby, long and slow, enjoying the cool air of the night with the beautiful melody cutting through the darkness.
He stopped playing and stood up. Leaning on the windowsill he continued to look out. Something at the back of his mind kept nagging at him. He knew what it was.
He stepped away from the window and placed the Ocarina of Time down on the desk, and quietly slipped from his room.
He quietly made his way down to the Castle's library. He wandered the large room, looking over the shelves, slowly making his way to the back wall. He ran his finger along the books, knowing exactly where the one he wanted was. He didn't know why he felt like he was searching for it. Eventually, he found it, and pulled the musty old book from its shelf. He opened it and flicked through the crisp pages until near the back he found it.
"The Land shall unite with the Evil defeat, and the Opening shall hang with the Chosen One."
Link made his way back up to his room with the book.
It was now noon. Since he had got back from the library he had got dressed, and sat at his desk staring at the prophecy, and all that had happened was that he had got very confused.
He jumped at the sound of the door opening, and twisted in his seat to see his sister Zelda step in to the room.
He turned back to the book.
"Good morning to you to!" said Zelda.
"Oh, sorry! It's just this!" said Link angrily.
"What's that book?" asked his sister seeing the book.
"Book of Hyrulian prophecies."
"I haven't looked at that for years! Why are you looking at it now?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean?"
"I had a dream. It was odd. There was blackness, and I heard the sages! Only five of them. Saria, Darunia, Ruto, Impa, and Nabooru!"
"Not Rauru?"
"No. Not then. But they were all saying the same thing. The same prophecy. Then, loud and clear was Rauru's voice. He said what the others had been saying, but it wasn't until then I properly made it out. He said it once, and then there was another flash! Then, before I knew what was happening, I was in bed. I had woken up. I went straight to the library, even though it was the middle of the night, and got the book. I had to look. And I was right!"
"About what?"
"The thing they were all saying. The six sages."
"And what were they saying?"
"This," said Link, and showed her the prophecy on the page the book was open at. Zelda looked at the page, and read it. She blinked.
"The land shall unite with the evil defeat and the opening shall hang with the chosen one? Well done for finding it and everything, but what does it mean?"
Link stood up.
"That's the problem. I can't work it out! I think I'll go see Rauru about it."
"Good idea, but are you going to go right away? You look exhausted! I came to find you, because Malon's just come to the Castle. She was worried about why you didn't go down to Lon Lon Ranch this morning, without even sending a message. It's not like you!"
"Oh course!" cursed Link. "I forgot about Malon!"
Every morning Link went down to Lon Lon Ranch to help Malon with different jobs around the ranch.
"Well, I came to find you when I heard. I was in the entrance hall when she arrived. She's still waiting if you want to see her."
"Yeah, I better explain where I was," muttered Link and re-entered the Castle, followed by Zelda.
After Malon left, the Royal Family set about lunch. Lunch in Hyrule Castle was a great affair, even though it was one of the lesser meals or celebrations. People who didn't know what it was like in the Castle were always completely amazed by the wonderful spread. There were foods of many types. Eggs from Lon Lon Ranch, food imported to Gerudo Fortress, and the Castle kitchens outdid themselves on a daily basis. There was a fantastic assortment of cakes, trifles, and other desserts, and this was only lunch, but there were many people to feed.
Before Link had come to live at the Castle, servants had to eat mediocre meals in there dingy little servant quarters at the bottom of the Castle, but now they had much better accommodation, proper rooms, for the Castle had many beautiful rooms empty, and they now ate dinner at the table with everyone else in the Castle. The kitchen staff having made the food would come up and help eat it, the maids, guards, servants, cleaners, and anyone else, plus of course the residents, would all sit at the huge table save the few who were working at that time.
Everyone agreed, the Castle was a much better place since Link had come to live there.
The people who worked there were content with things, and quite happy to do there work, the kitchen staff excelled themselves especially now they got to eat the food they made.
Link believed everyone should be equal, and he made sure they were. There were no second bests in the Castle, and Link himself often helped in the kitchen, cleaning the Castle, though the guards were a little less fond of him.
Though he did it less now, Link had always enjoyed sneaking round the grounds and throwing small rocks or lumps of earth at the guards. He found it highly amusing, though the guards didn't. For a few years until they were about thirteen, Zelda had done it with him, but she had suddenly grown up. She was very feminine and almost snobby, and though Link adored his sister, he could get very annoyed with her behaviour.
When he had first come to the Castle, Zelda had been a tomboy, she had always enjoyed running round the grounds with Link, but not anymore. Link often missed the girl who had helped him escape guards by also chucking rocks and lumps of earth at them.
Though it had to be said, Link rarely did it now. He had grown up, and didn't fool around so much, though he did often sneak out of the grounds on his own without telling anyone. This annoyed the King greatly, but Link always seemed to have his own agenda, not caring for rules of the Castle, for that was the truth. He tried desperately to make more changes to the Castle. To have the gate open all the time, to give the horses better stables, to be more like the people of Hyrule. Link knew that there were very few bad people in Hyrule. Even the Deku Scrubs could be trusted now, and some of Link's best friends were Gerudo. There was very little evil in Hyrule at that time.
So he thought.
That day the lunch was as good as always, but Link hardly ate anything, which was quite unlike him. He usually had a very large appetite, even after a big meal. Today, he had very little on his plate and only picked at it. His mind was out of the Hall, out of the Castle, gone from Hyrule.
"The Land shall unite, with the Evil defeat, and the Opening shall hang with the Chosen One."
That was going round and round in his head. But what does it mean? thought the Hero. He couldn't get the prophecy from his head.
His sister sat at his side and noticed how little he was eating.
"What's wrong?" she whispered.
Link brought his head up, his thought trail broken.
"Huh?"
"You've barely touched your food. It's so unlike you! Are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah, I feel fine," he replied without enthusiasm.
"What's bothering you?" she asked relentlessly.
"That prophecy."
Zelda thought for a second then repeated the prophecy.
"The Land shall unite with the Evil defeat, and the Opening shall hang with the Chosen One."
"Yeah."
"Have you figured it out yet?"
"No."
"Come on, I'll take you to see Rauru now. You need to get these questions answered!"
"Thanks!" said Link, getting to his feet. Zelda stood up also. They nodded to their father and walked from the hall.
"Come on! I'll take you there the quick way."
They walked quickly along the corridor until they came to a deserted room, and Zelda slipped in, dragging Link behind her.
"Stand still," she ordered, and began waving her arms in a complicated way. Blue light surrounded them, and they disappeared.
The two reappeared on the Triforce symbol in the Chamber of Sages, in the Light Temple, in the Sacred Realm. As the Seventh Sage, Zelda had the power to transport them there rather than having to go through the entrance in Hyrule Market's Temple of Time.
Zelda smiled at Link as they landed and they turned to where the pad for the Light Sage where they would find Rauru was.
Rauru was the Sage of Light, and the last of the Ancient Sages. He knew a great deal about Hyrule, especially its past.
They turned to look, and the breath caught in their mouths. Zelda fought to breathe as she heard the tapping of Link's feet, she saw him run across the chamber to where Rauru lay, bleeding terribly. Zelda couldn't move with the fear, that the last of the Ancient Sages was dead.