Chapter 2: An Adventure Begins
Link knelt down by the bleeding sage and looked over him, unsure what to do. He was relieved to see Rauru's chest heaving up and down.
"He's alive!" he called to his sister.
Zelda sighed with relief and ran across to join her brother.
With effort, Rauru rolled over so he could look at them.
"Hero of Time, Seventh Sage, I am glad you are here."
"What happened to you?" asked Zelda.
"First, there is much I must tell you. Please, listen. For you both know of the Ancient Sages, but you know not enough. It is important that before I die, I tell you these things."
"You're not going to die!" said Link.
"I am sorry Hero, but I am beyond your healing power, both of you. There is no hope for me. But, I must tell you these things.
"First, the Ancient Sages. There were six Ancient Sages, as there are six Sages now. When the Golden Goddesses left Hyrule, they left the six to guard the Triforce.
"The Forest Sage was a man. He was at one with nature. He lived in a small hut in the Forest, and loved all the trees and creatures there.
"The Fire Sage was leader of the gorons, and a great Goron warrior.
"The Water Sage was queen and first ruler of the Zoras. She was beautiful, a graceful swimmer, and could handle a bow as well.
"In this time, the Sheikah were far more prosperous than they are now. Their leader was a great man, and he was the Shadow Sage.
"The Spirit Sage was a gerudo male. He was a great warrior, who loved Hyrule and was happy to be united with it.
"I was the final Sage, representing the humans. We were not called Hylians then. All six sages were given immortal life, but not invulnerability.
"Sadly, it did not last. After many years of prosperity and happiness in Hyrule, the Forest Sage decided he was bored of this land, and wanted to see many other things. He left and explored the world, but before he left, he planted a tree for the protection of the Forest. The Great Deku Tree.
"Then the dragon Volvagia came. He devoured many gorons and those that escaped built Goron City and lived happily there, but the Fire Sage was unhappy with the situation with the dragon, so forged a great hammer powerful enough to kill the dragon, and went to the Fire Temple. Sadly, with the dragon dead, the Fire Sage became bored of just governing the gorons, and set out from Hyrule in search of adventure.
"Then, a plague swept Hyrule, and the Sheikah race was shrunk considerably. That is why it is so small today, and both the Water Sage and Shadow Sage died.
"Finally, the Spirit Sage disappeared near the Spirit Temple, at the time when evil drove the gerudo to Gerudo Fortress. I was the only sage left, and to protect the Triforce single handed, I could not do that. So the Temple of Time was built to protect the Sacred Realm, and I remained inside.
"Link, Zelda, I am glad I had the chance to tell you two this. It is important for you to know. Now, I must pass into shadow as well. The Ancient Sages are all gone now."
"Rauru, who did this to you?" asked Link.
"Have you not already guessed?" said Rauru, giving Link a piercing look.
"I did not want to believe my guess. But I suppose there is no more doubting it."
"Link, what do you mean?" asked Zelda.
"Zelda, Ganondorf has escaped."
"What?" said Zelda in shock. She looked at Rauru. "Is it true?"
"It is true. I am sorry. And he is the one who did this to me."
Suddenly, Link remembered the rest of his dream.
"That scum!" spat Link.
"Link, you must stop Ganondorf, and awaken the new Light Sage. Hurry. He is waiting for you on Hyrule Field."
With that, the last of he Ancient Sages passed away. Rauru was dead.
Zelda let out a small sob of sorrow. Link's face was hard and set, contorted with anger.
"Come on Zelda. You heard Rauru. The scum is waiting for me!"
Zelda got to her feet, tears streaming openly down her beautiful face. She walked over to Link and again waved her arms. Blue light surrounded them as before.
They reappeared in Link's bedroom, and immediately he snatched up his shield from the wall, and picked up the Master Sword in its sheath, He hung his sword on his back and put his shield over it, then picked up his bow and hid it behind his back as usual. Then he took a quiver full of arrows and hung it over his shoulder.
"Lets go!" he said firmly, and strode purposefully out the room. He marched down through the Castle to the stables, where he grabbed a saddle and quickly fastened it on his horse, Epona. Then he put on her reins and attached stirrups and leapt into the saddle.
Epona galloped through the grounds past all the guards, and rather than follow the road Link rode across the grass to save time with the guard at the gate. He galloped over the gate and Epona leapt down, landing on the floor and galloping down into the market.
"So, where is your precious saviour now?"
Malon cringed away from Ganondorf.
He had escaped from the Sacred Realm, and killed that old fool Rauru. He had enjoyed killing him. The last of the Ancient Sages. It had made his Triforce piece burn with energy. He had come here, to Lon Lon Ranch. When he had arrived, the girl had been away. She had come back and gone into the barn in search of her father and that worker. Ganon had put the worker in charge of the Ranch when he had come to power before, but when Link had escaped, Ingo had shown weakness. Ganondorf couldn't abide weakness. As soon as this is all over, he thought to himself, I shall do away with Ingo. Maybe I shall just destroy the entire ranch. It will be fun listening to their begs for mercy. But it will do them no avail anyway.
When she had come in and seen the two bound and gagged she had screamed, and Ganon had laughed at her. He had enjoyed watching her struggle against him, but now she was sat, hope drained from her.
They were on Hyrule Field, and Ganondorf knew it wouldn't be long before Link arrived. Then he would finally be rid of that nuisance, and he would kill the girl, and the other two, and maybe level Lon Lon Ranch. Then he would go to Hyrule Castle. He would capture Zelda, but everyone else would be put to death. Then he would destroy Hyrule Castle, and have his army rebuild Ganon's Castle, with a renewed, strengthened Tower. From there he would see all with the completed Triforce. Hyrule would fall at his feet, followed by all the other lands of the world. No one would dare appose the great King of Evil after they had seen their precious Hero of Time killed. And they would see him. He would be tortured first, and then strung up here, on the Field, and the population of Hyrule would be forced by their Dark Lord's forces to watch Link die, slowly.
A smile spread across Ganondorf's lips at the thought.
The smile disappeared. Anger flooded through the Dark Lord.
Ten years, locked away in the Evil Realm. But it was over. He was free now; it would be different this time. Link would not be able to dodge.
Where was he? Maybe he wouldn't come for the girl after all. No, the Hero would come. He wouldn't be able to let his precious Malon die. But where was he? He was taking a long time coming.
Epona thundered over the drawbridge onto Hyrule Field. Link wasn't stupid enough to let Ganon's plan work. He galloped round the edge of the Field on Epona quickly, coming across on Ganon's right.
Link's nemesis didn't notice the flash of brown leave Hyrule Castle, or Link coming from his side, as the Hero kept Epona galloping full pelt, and pulled out his bow. He notched an arrow, and whispered a short incantation. The end of the arrow burned bright yellow, and Link shouted in fury: "I'll kill you, you scum! You'll pay for what you did to Rauru!"
Ganondorf turned and saw Link, but wasn't fast enough to stop the Light Arrow flying at him.
It pierced him and he roared in pain, falling to his knees. When the pain passed, he looked up, but Link had disappeared.
Having fired a light arrow at his foe, Link had charged around the back of Lon Lon Ranch, and towards Gerudo Valley. Ganondorf still didn't know where he was when Epona leapt from the cliff above him and Link threw himself off her, with a scream of "Hyruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuule!"
At the sound of the hated battle cry, Ganondorf turned just in time to see Link swing the Master Sword.
The King of Evil stepped back. The legendary sword had struck him in the chest.
Link landed neatly and ran to Malon, using the Master Sword to quickly cut the ropes that tied her hands together.
She climbed to her feet and ran towards the Ranch.
Link was now watching his enemy who was floating a foot above the floor. He had the Hylian Shield up and was circling the floating Ganon, watching him.
"Finally. The Hero arrives. What took you so long?"
"Trying to cover up for not seeing me come past you and then managing to lose me by pretending you're the one with the upper hand, huh? Sorry, Ganon, and I really don't mean that, but I'm stronger than I was when we fought at the top of your tower, or four years ago in the Evil Realm, and I beat you both of those times."
Ganondorf didn't answer, but simply held up his hand and threw a spell at Link.
Link brought his left hand up as the spell exploded around him. As the smoke cleared Link still stood there, his left hand raised, the Triforce emblazoned strongly on it, Triforce of Courage highlighted.
"Oh, and did I forget to mention, I've learnt to use my Triforce piece!" he said, almost laughing. He threw his hand forward and golden light blasted forwards, striking Ganondorf, who wasn't fast enough to react. When the light cleared Ganon was back on the floor, and before he could rise off the ground, Link was thrashing him mercilessly with the Master Sword.
The fight now had quite an audience. Zelda had arrived on the scene on her beautiful white horse, and the two horses charging through the Market had attracted all the villagers from there, so they had all come onto the Field to see what had caused this excitement. Somehow, people in Kakariko Village had heard what was happening so they were there, and even a few gorons from Goron City and Death Mountain, all cheering Link on. Plus, Malon had untied Talon and Ingo and the three had left the ranch and were also watching the fight.
Finally, Ganon regained enough strength from the Triforce of Power that he went to punch Link out of the way.
Link saw it coming and caught the punch in his right hand.
"I don't think so!" he said mockingly, and stabbed the Master Sword into Ganon, jumping back to get out of the way.
The watchers cheered.
Ganon rose in the air and looked at them.
"You dare to mock me!" he spat and raised a hand to blast several of them with deadly spells.
Before he could, a Light Arrow pierced him. He turned to look at Link.
"Ganon, this is between you and me! You can kill them over my dead body!" He roared the last four words and charged forward, Master Sword in hand, leaping in the air, he brought Ganondorf to the floor.
The people cheered louder, emboldened by the way their Hero had saved several of them from death.
Ganondorf backed away from Link, and there was a hint of fear in his eyes. He had expected this to go easily. He would take the Hero of Time down quickly and take his unconscious form to his Castle before conquering the world.
But he had met more opposition. His enemy was stronger than he had anticipated.
"Okay, Hero, you win this time!"
He rose high into the air and flew away towards Hyrule Castle.
"Epona!" called Link. His beautiful horse came quickly to his side and he was already in the saddle, charging to Hyrule Castle after Ganon.
The Evil King flew across the empty square, and into Hyrule Castle. He waved his hands and blasted powerful magic at the gate.
It exploded into rubble, burying the guard who had been there.
Ganondorf flew on.
Epona thundered onto the grounds of Hyrule Castle. Link took in the destroyed gate and grieved for the guard who had been there. Epona leapt the rubble and Link saw his foe ahead of him.
He pulled out his bow and fired another light arrow. Ganondorf stopped and turned.
"Ah. You're here."
Link didn't respond, except for notching another arrow to his bow and aiming it at Ganon slowly.
"I think it's a little to happy here! Lets change things a bit, shall we!" called Ganondorf mockingly.
In his hands a staff appeared, and he swung it quickly, pointing it at the sky. Lightning erupted from its tip, and blasted at the blue sky. It changed to dark heavy clouds, reminiscent to when Ganon had ruled Hyrule before.
"Much better!"
Link shuddered as a chill wind swept through the grounds of Hyrule Castle. Though it was still the place, the sky gave it an altogether evil feel.
Link leapt from Epona, and drew the Master Sword slowly, moving the Hylian Shield onto his arm. He strode purposefully forward.
"Alright, Ganon! Lets do it!" he said calmly. "Hyruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuule!"
He broke into a run as he gave his battle cry, and Ganon landed. Link pulled up short as Ganon went for him with his staff, using it as a mace, but Link had stopped out of range of the staff, and Ganon was caught off balance.
Link attacked, slashing out. Ganon managed to get his staff around to parry, and thrust it forward, Link gave a little ground, and Ganon raised his staff high twirling it and swinging.
The Master Sword flashed up and there was a loud clang as the two struck together. This time Ganon gave ground, as Link moved forward a little.
Ganon parried, then Link did, and they mover neatly. Parry, slash, parry, stab. Finally Link ducked back and Ganon lost his momentum, as Link twirled round and slammed his sword at Ganon's staff. The staff dropped from Ganon's hands and he dodged sideways to pick it up, then swung it fiercely at Link. He parried again, and then hacked at Ganon, hitting the target.
Ganon roared and flew up again.
"I tire of this," he said. "It is time to move on."
He pointed his staff at the ground away from Link and golden energy blasted from it, hitting the ground and forming a figure, which moulded into a woman.
"You may not know her, but her name is Arena," said Ganon to Link.
She looked scared, and it seemed she couldn't move.
Ganon pointed his staff at the ground next to her and more golden energy issued forth. This time, it moulded into the shape of someone Link recognised.
"Els," he whispered in shock and amazement.
"That's right!" laughed Ganon.
Els looked as if he couldn't move as well. His eyes flicked to Link and he seemed panic-stricken.
Ganon pointed his staff again and this time the energy formed another familiar figure.
"Swar."
The next one Link recognised as his friend Maynor, and Ganon shot a final blast of energy to form Link's old Flow friend, who was now second-in-command of the Hyrulian Flows who lived on the Twin Mountains: Ascend.
"I'm sure you know some of these, though you've never met dear Arena before! I'm sure you'll get along wonderfully!" cackled Ganon. "But before we do anything else," he pointed his staff at the ground next to Ascend. "Who could forget," Golden energy hit the ground and moulded into a final figure. "The ever beautiful, Princess Zelda!"
Fear was in Zelda's eyes more so than the rest of them, and she couldn't move either.
"And finally, your old friends!"
He pointed his staff at where Arena stood and golden energy began shooting from it, as Ganon moved his staff along the line, five new figures appeared.
"Saria, Darunia, Ruto, Impa, and Nabooru!"
Sure enough, the five sages were now standing with the others.
"Now you see them!" Ganon was still laughing his words. "Now you don't!" He pointed his staff at Saria and Arena who were standing together, and blasted green magic at them. It hit the two and they disappeared.
Ganon laughed horribly, and then pointed his staff at Darunia and Els. This time the magic was red as they disappeared. Now he pointed it at Swar and Ruto, and Link broke free of his trance and ran forward.
"No!" he called, but he was too late as the blue magic hit them and caused them to disappear.
Ganon laughed louder, as Link swivelled to see purple magic cause Impa and Maynor disappear, followed by golden magic making Nabooru and Ascend disappear.
"And finally...awed Ganon.
Link watched as bright yellow magic swallowed up his sister.
"If you can't guess where they're gone, you really haven't learnt anything from our previous meetings!" said Ganon evilly, and then disappeared.
Link broke down, and began to cry.