[ZGen] The Legend Of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, A Novel

This story is dedicated to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, written as a tribute to the game that brought me countless memories and fond childhood moments. This is the first of three books in an ambitious attempt to novelise one of the greatest video games of all time and create a piece of literary art. I intend for this to be a true novel in every sense, familiar and enjoyable to fans of the game, but enjoyable as a standalone novel for non-fans as well. There are some liberties that I've taken with the source material but this is to engender stronger characters and a more fluid, engaging narrative a cut above some of the more half-baked "novelisations" strewn over the 'net.

I hope you are willing to come on a journey to rediscover the land of Hyrule and explore the intricacies of its denizens through new eyes, and even moreso I hope you enjoy the story for what it. Without further ado, here is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, A Novel.

(PS: I realise there are already some other similar projects on the forum, hopefully mine is unique enough to attract your interest)

Chapter One:
The Boy With No Fairy

Smoke…so much smoke…

An ashen cloak billowed beneath a forlorn sky, pierced only by the blinding shock of lightning overhead and the roaring bursts of the fire in its core. Where was he?

The soil underfoot was sodden and the grass was limp and browning, the fields of dank earth sprawled out far beyond the darkness let his eyes see, instilling a desolate feeling in his heart.

A gargantuan structure lay ahead, obscured but visible, flames rearing their heads and churning out more and more smoke, bearing down on the land, smothering it amidst the high screeching that wailed from the distance.

He saw magnificent spires collapse and walls of solid stone crumble; foreign things, all falling to a heap before his eyes.

But of all he saw one thing took to him, the levitating, winged glow beside his head: a fairy…a fairy…with him…

What did all this-

“LINK!”

Who could possibly…?

And bursting from the black mass came a bright creature, majestically white and clothed in purple regalia, speeding forwards on four legs toward him. He sidestepped and caught a flash of two figures riding the beast: one at the fore, tall and clad in armour; the latter cradled by the former, much smaller, dressed in flowing white and purple…

“LINK!”

He snapped up, eyes wide and breath heavy; it had ended, earlier than usual. But it had happened; despite all his efforts he had fallen asleep again, and it returned to chase his slumbering psyche. He sighed, in both dissatisfaction and relief; he was back with the woken, now. With a push he raised his head from the pillow of his arms, the left of his pointed ears red and aching from the weight of his head. He propped his elbows up against his table, resting his jaw against his hand as he groggily gazed at the assorted drawings, scribbles and little carved, wooden figures that looked back at him.

”LINK!” rang a voice once more. He turned in surprise, his eyes wide again; the voice was here, too! He leapt from his chair and ran across the single, circular room of his house and to the door, feet pattering against the raw, wood floor. His small legs ran out onto the balcony exit of his home and looked eagerly earthward to see the source of the voice.
“Link! Where’ve you been? I couldn’t find you anywhere in the meadows, what have you been do-”

The yells were coming from a young girl with leafy green hair and an ocarina dangling from her necklace, standing at the foot of his treehouse; her arms crossed and eyes reproachful, and a green, winged ball of light fluttering by her side. “Oh, it was Saria,” he thought, with vague disappointment. His body loosened and he rubbed his eyes in the daylight that glowed through the village.

“-ing?! Oh Link, don’t tell me you were sleeping, it’s afternoon! How many times has this happened in the last month?” chided Saria.

Link yawned loudly and stretched his arms, walking forwards, away from the hollow trunk of the tall tree he called home. “Hi, Saria,” he said lazily amidst the yawn, brushing his golden blond fringe away from his eyes “I guess I was tired yesterday, or my bed was too comfortable or something,” trailing off meekly as he approached the ladder before him.

Saria cocked an eyebrow and inquisitively looked up at him with those glimmering greens meeting his deep ocean blues. “Sure…well, get yourself awake and get down here now, you’ve missed out on a bunch of work and I’m not sure how many more excuses I can make to get Mido off your case!”

Link took a glance up to see that the sun was high in the sky, it was probably around noon. Despite this, he hefted his tired body down to the ground with barely any urgency at all. “Good afternoon to you too, Saria” he said wearily, smiling a little.

Saria uncrossed her arms and returned a smile, unable to remain annoyed at the boy dismounting the ladder. “Here, Link” she said, in a gentle tone that always seemed much more natural to her. She threw a small parcel of twined grass to him, “It’s not a lot, but there wasn’t too much left, especially at this hour, and it’s better than nothing.”

Link unwrapped the parcel to find two slices of thin bread nestled within, forcing him to notice the churning and growling of his stomach, though it was soon to be sated.

“Thanks, Saria!” he said as he stuffed a slice into mouth without delay, crumbs pattering to the ground. Saria giggled as Link shamelessly ploughed through the bread. She fiddled instinctively with the strange musical instrument hanging from her necklace.

“Come on, Link, you’ve got work to do, I’ll see you by the river in a few hours, okay?” she said, as she clasped his hand.

“See you then!” he said, running off past his friend. She turned to watch him go, with unusual speed and energy for such a tired Kokiri child, his traditional green tunic rippling and his long, green, pointed cap wagging atop his head. She smiled and sighed, remaining at the foot of the tree house for a moment, before departing herself.

===============

For eons past the Great Deku Tree has served as guardian, guide, father and patron to those hidden within the vast forests of southern Hyrule: the Kokiri, a curious race of forest-dwellers who seem to never age past childhood, confined to the depths of the forest they call home. Despite their appearance, however, they do mature within themselves, and as the years drift by they learn, they live, and every now and then they will love. Such are the inhabitants and custodians of the southeastern forests of Hyrule, charged with the sustenance of its trees and the protection of its lives.

So entwined are they with the forest that they dwell within the trees themselves, cultivated and crafted to house their simple livings within their small village. Peculiarly enough, it is said that they have grown so connected to the spirits of the forest that any Kokiri who dares to travel beyond the boundaries of the spiritual woods is condemned to an abrupt and painful end.

Perhaps most curiously of all, each Kokiri child is entrusted to a companion for life, a luminous fairy, a tiny spirit of the forest that is destined to accompany and guard their Kokiri.

Each child save one.

“Navi, where art thou? Navi, come hither.”

“Great Deku Tree, you’ve been looking for me?”

“Indeed…Navi, I have a task soon to be set out for thee…dost thou wish to fulfill my request?”

“Of course, Great Deku Tree, of course!”

“Then listen well…These past moons of mine hath been plagued by a grave malaise; dost thou feel it, the blanket of darkness that dare encroach on our world? Our forest hath always stood strong against those that muster their machinations against Hyrule and its blessed forests, and yet surely thou must see that even my powers cannot withstand that which threatens us. It dost grow with every day that passes…”

“Great Deku Tree, what are you talking about? What in the world out there would dare come here, of all places?”

“A threat that none of the Kokiri could comprehend nor stand against…remain vigilant in thy waking, I fear I may indeed have to call on thee again shortly…”

“…Yes Great Deku Tree, I shall.”

===============

Link sat in a tree on the hill above the river, done picking seeds and nuts from its branches and contently sitting, letting his legs dangle in the air and watching the clouds float by. No doubt Saria would be finished in the meadows, and already would be on the path to the village, that distinct emerald head ready to bob into his line of sight at any moment now.

He sighed as he waited and watched, wishing that he’d had the foresight to bring something to draw this peaceful scene: the little enclave of Kokiri Village basking in the warm glow of the forest that lit the cliff walls a soft, creamy colour; the horizon of the Lost Woods’ trees, tickling the sky in the wind; the tree-houses dotting the middle of the village: the twin trees of the snobby Know-It-All Brothers to the right, the stout house of Mido to the left, and the petite abode of Saria on the far side near the clefts in the border, not too far from Link’s own home.

He was soaking in the serene view when he felt something fly past his head, “Damn it! Just missed!” said a familiarly nasal voice, “Oi you! Your turn!”

“Sure thing, Boss!” sounded another, lower voice, shortly followed by a sharp knock against his shoulder blade. Link jerked forward and felt the branch lurch worryingly; gripping it tight as he slowly turned himself around, looking directly into the sun. Squinting, he saw three blurred figures on the ground, one short, two tall, looking up at him.

“Hah! I knew it was him, I can recognize a loser, even from behind,” rang the nasal voice, “Gimme another shot.” Link saw the short figure bend over slightly before standing up with a raised hand; he knew what was coming. His reflexes pulsed and he swung himself leftward, slamming himself flat against the branch, hearing the stone whiz over his body and letting go a breath of relief.

That relief was not to last long, as he began feeling the strange sensation of the branch beginning to drop ever so slowly, emitting a small crackling noise largely overshadowed by the loud snickering coming from the ground. Link shut his eyes tight, “This may hurt a little,” he warned himself, awaiting the inevitable.

There was a sharp crunch and snap that accompanied his face into grass before a raucous laughter blasted his ears. “Jeez, No-Fairy, if you were gonna go and do that to yourself we wouldn’t have wasted them good rocks on you!” jeered the nasal voice, passing him by with multiple heavy footfalls stomping the ground. He made sure the sounds of guffawing were distant before rolling himself over and looking up at the tree he had only just been perched on, a jagged point jutting out of it pathetically. Thank heavens he’d picked a low branch, or else he may have been far worse off; for now all he had to contend with was a slightly numb nose and a bruised right hand. He blew the grass off his face in resignation, stuffing away this latest incident into that box he kept locked in the back of his mind.

Sitting up he looked around at the assorted debris from the fall scattered around him, flotsam on a green sea, a sizeable section of the branch feebly lying next to him. As he examined the section something caught his eye; a stocky offshoot, standing up out of the grass, poking at his attention.

He snapped the segment free and twirled it over and over, its intriguing shape holding his attention, an almost straight stick that split itself into a perfect “Y”. He looked upon the wood and saw the idea float to the front of his mind; if only he had his whittling knife…

“Link, what happened?”

Link looked up from his hands to see Saria standing with a blonde Kokiri beside her, confused by the spread of small timber surrounding him. “Oh hi Saria,” he said, “I’m okay, I just fell out of the tree, that’s all, those branches sure look sturdier than they are.” Saria didn’t need to know about what really happened, that was his problem, not hers.

“Gee, really? How’re you feeling now?”

“It’s alright, I’m fine; although I don’t recommend the grass here, it tastes awful. But hey, I think it might’ve just been worth it, check out what I’ve found!” he said, brandishing the little, wooden “Y”.

“Ooh, Link! What’re you going to make out of this one?” she asked, eyes running up and down the segment.

“I’ve got something a little different in mind for this; it’s going to be perfect.” He began miming, pretending to pull a something taut between the prongs of the stick, he shut one eye and feigned consternated aiming. “And then bam, right in the back of Mido’s head! This may just be the best thing I’ve come up with!”

“A slingshot, huh? Don’t you go causing too much trouble around the village, Link, I’m not sure that many Kokiri would appreciate the ingenuity of it while it’s smacking rocks into their heads,” said Saria.

“What? I just want to honour ‘The Great Mido’ with the blessing of my latest creation,” jested Link.

As Saria giggled, Link noticed the blonde Kokiri had stepped back from Saria, keeping her distance from where Link sat, eyeing him with an odd look. Saria turned to see where Link was looking when she remember the girl was there, “Oh, Fado,” she said, “I guess I’ll see you around this evening, right?”

Fado turned to her, “Sure thing, see you then.” She took a last glance at Link and added with a smirk “Be careful, Saria,” before taking off down the hill.

Ignoring this, Saria leant forward, her ocarina swinging down and dangling beneath her head as she did. She offered her hand, “Need some help?” she asked, Link clutching her palm and dragging himself to his feet.

“Well, looks like you’ve managed to make your way here without falling out of anything, what’s been up with you?” engaged Link.

They walked leisurely down the hill to the river, chatting and laughing all the while about the day so far, their conversation carrying them downstream. Slowly, Link became fixated on the rushing of the water by his feet, his mind endlessly pondering as they both sat down on the riverbank. “Where do you think it goes?” he asked, watching the bubbles and ripples slipping around the rocks that lay along the edges of the banks, winding its way throughout he village.

“You mean after the Lost Woods?” said Saria, looking up and observing her friend gaze so intently.

“Yeah…what’s beyond the trees? Who do you think is out there, all the time, while we’re in here? Do you think they drink the water? Do you think they need the water like we do? I mean…we know so much about the forests, but think about all the stuff that’s going on out there, think about what the world could be like…” Link spoke in rapt wonderment.

“We’ll never know, Link; you know just as well as me, Saria, or any of the Kokiri that none of you could ever make it beyond the trees before the life of the Forest deserted you!” chimed Aelie, Saria’s bright green fairy.

“But wouldn’t it be something if we could…” said Link.

“I’d say you’d best do like everyone else and just keep your head down and focused on the Forest, it’s not like we don’t have things to deal with here,” said Aelie sternly, “I don’t see why you dream of things like this”.

“I know, I know. But I can’t help it! It’s just that there are so many things that we’re missing out on, and there are so many places out there, maybe even a place for me.”

“Hm? Link? ‘For you’?” asked Saria.

“Oh, just like, y’know, a bigger house, a bigger village, stuff like that,” he explained hastily, adding a laugh to the sentence’s end.

“We’ve heard stories, Link” reminded Saria, “You know, when the Deku Tree used to get all the Kokiri and fairies together at dusk, and we’d sit in the meadow as he went through all those fabulous tales about the world? It’s been so long since then…”

“Longer for me,” Link mumbled, still facing the river, “Mido and his goons tied me to a tree the last time the Deku Tree told all of you guys a story…”

“Oh…” Saria said, embarrassed she’d forgotten that Mido had done such a thing, “Well it’s been long for me too, it’s been an age since the Great Deku Tree told any of us a story! In fact, it’s been an age since we’ve heard much from the Deku Tree at all, I wonder what he’s been up to?”

Link took his gaze away from the water and over past the path that traveled through Kokiri Village to the tiny village market, a mere few shops and stalls arranged in a cluttered circle. “Do you reckon the stories were true? I remember when he used to tell us about a place without trees, places even bigger than the meadows, markets that could cover the whole village twice over…”

“And houses made of stone,” Saria continued, “some taller than the tallest forest oaks...”

“And the creatures!” said Aelie distantly, her austerity succumbing to the nostalgia.

“Ones that lived off of huge, rocky mountains, ones that lived under the waves…some with two legs, some with four…”

“I remember when we’d sit by the Deku Tree’s roots, and the sunset would slip through his leaves as the fairies and fireflies lit up the grove, and we’d fall asleep right there on the grass…”

Link sighed distantly, “Oh I really wish I could hear one his stories again…”

“It can’t be too long now, right?” said Saria, “I mean, he’s overdue and he knows it!”

“Maybe I’ll ask him just what it’s like out there, whether the stories were true…whether one day I can see that world and all those places and creatures,” pondered Link.

Saria paused momentarily, her eyes stopping on Link, “I’m sure there must be a way out of here,” she spoke after a few seconds, “Don’t you remember when the Great Deku Tree told us about what the world use to be like, when the Kokiri used to deal with outside world? I think he might’ve even mentioned old, hidden passages in the woods that used to lead to places impossibly far beyond the forest boundaries! I’m sure he knows about some kind of secret to seeing the world, we can’t all be meant to stay cooped up in the Village forever, can we?”

“Really? You think so?” replied Link,

“Yeah,” said Saria kindly, “Why not?” and with that she turned her gaze to the ripples weaving along the river’s surface

“I hope you’re right,” said Link, sighing a little. Saria merely smiled back and patted his shoulder.

Chapter Two:
Differences

The afternoon sun filtered through the twilight over the Kokiri Forest, growing redder as it approached its resting place somewhere behind the trees. Its pinkish warmth brought with it a sense of peace as the Kokiri toiling in the East Meadow relinquished their work for the day.

Link opened the bag sitting by his kneeling body to find one seed left. He often kept his head well down during his planting duties, but when he looked up he saw all dozen of his fellow Kokiri and their fairies departing the meadow through the border of trees in the distance, the little creatures talking, laughing and chattering away with their child companions.

“Just in time…” he thought to himself, and grabbed the seed, burying it in the small ditch he’d just dug out. His small hands brushed soil back over the miniscule, hard casing within the ditch and emptied the remaining water from his canteen onto the patch. He patted down the soil caringly, talking to it as usual. “Big and strong, that’s how you’re going to be, just you wait, I know you’re going to do it.”

Looking around the meadow he felt at an utmost peace that he seldom found elsewhere. He judged that it had indeed become a lot smaller than the first time he laid eyes on it those years ago, and he wondered just how many of those trees were his. He’d always prided himself on how well he cultivated his trees, and without a fairy of his own, so much of his time and care went into the work in the meadows. He loved the planting season more than any other. There was something about the prospect of watching the trees go from tiny saplings to magnificent pillars, something that got to him, that filled him with joy

He put the cap back on his canteen and drew the string on his pouch, and as he pulled the string tight he began to get to his feet.

“Plant seeds in your own damn meadow, Mr. No-Fairy!” came a nasal yell from in front of him, accompanied by a swift cloud of dusty soil to the face.

Link immediately shut his eyes to fend off the stinging, and fell onto his back, tripping over the large, rough pebbles that were scattered amongst the meadow. He turned his head to his side and spat to clear his mouth of the terrible grainy feeling that coated it.

He opened his eyes and turned his head back to face the sky and saw an all-too-familiar face looking down on him. Scruffy brown hair atop a head with a frowning brow, bulbous cheeks and eyes filled with contempt, and a glowing ball of a fairy hovering beside it. Mido poked out his tongue and spat a fat raspberry down on Link’s face.

“Mido…” Link whispered, squinting in disdain, “Pah…why Mido? Why can’t you just leave me alone?!”

“‘Why?’ Mr. No-Fairy?” said Mido, getting up from his knelt position, turning his face from Link’s direction and beginning to leave. Abruptly he stopped, looking back at Link one more time, waited a moment, and kicked Link’s hat from his head, already walking away by the time its skidding came to a halt some distance away. “Because you aren’t going to stop me, No-Fairy, that’s why.” And then he was out of sight.

Link closed his eyes again, to hold away the burning of dust and tears. He swallowed hard and pushed himself to his feet with his hands, wiping his face with the back of his wrist, and managing to fight off the water in his eyes. He felt his hair ruffle in the winds of twilight and searched about for his long cap, seeing it lying about ten or so feet away.

Having returned the cap to its resting place atop his rough blond head, he walked forward to pick up his canteen and pouch once again. As he looked down he noticed that Mido had kicked up the dirt covering the last seed he’d planted. Groaning heavily, he bent down and replaced the soil over it. “Don’t let him get to you little guy, let’s see him kick you up after you’ve grown!” he shakily encouraged the seed.

Straightening his cap again he took to the path out of the meadow, trying to forget yet another run-in with Mido, as he had managed to for so long by now. But it never got easier, no matter how many times the arrogant “chief” brought his fist down, Link always felt a sharp hurt within him, something he desperately hid from Mido, lest he see Link at his weakest. This time stung as much as ever, and it seemed to hurt physically too, his legs felt numbed and his head was spinning, it must’ve just been a daze from falling over.

He mulled over Mido’s deed and asked himself the regular questions in his mind. He felt the venom of his words and spite of the dust bite into him, the malice running deeper than usual, something he’d observed in Mido when he had no friends beside him, nothing but scorn as his accomplice against Link.

He sauntered along, near the foot of a sharp cliff that marked the Eastern Edge of the Kokiri Forest, the wilderness of the Lost Woods laying claim to the land beyond that cliff. The path diverged from the cliff face and went straight through the meadow into the forest’s wall of trees, said trees becoming shadowy in the dying daylight. His mind was awash as he continued trying to suppress the memory of dust in his face and mouth and that despicable voice ringing; “Mr. No-Fairy”. He went about-face to look at the sky turn dark behind the cliffs and catch a last look at the meadow, drowning the memories with the satisfaction of a hard day’s work.

He caught sight of a small shadow peeking out from the top of the cliff, in front of the trees that lined the cliff edge, a woodland creature, no doubt making its way back to the Northern Dens to escape the Lost Woods night. He returned to the path and finally was enveloped by the forest.

================

Atop his stallion he saw the trees clearing and the earth coming to drop in front of him. He stared his fiery contempt directly into the setting sun; so forgiving to the land here, renouncing its gentle warmth for the night’s cool breeze. Sharp steel gauntlets clenched the bridles, envy and hatred stirring within, as it had many times before. Beneath him was an expanse of lush, plain grass, bordered by trees that rustled gently in the sway of the wind, trees that belonged to a sacred forest, all to be his in time.

He sneered, and raised one hand to the trees, almost feeling able to reach out and take them within his grasp now. “You…” he muttered, as if to the forest itself, “You shall be undone…”

With that he pulled on the bridles, steering his steed along the path to the south.

===============

Link dashed out of his house and leapt down from his balcony, with no regards for the ladder, running pell-mell through the dimness of twilight’s end, all the while verbally abusing himself internally.

“You idiot! ‘Mouth of the woods, before sunset’! You’ve been late for a lot of things , but you’ve never been late for Saria! And you wonder why she gets ticked off at you?”

He reached the edge of the village as fast as he ever had, and saw the mouth of the Lost Woods, a large hole cut out of a cliff-face and reinforced by a frame made of the hollowed trunk of a long-gone tree.

Beside the cave sat Saria, with her knees curled up tight and her arms holding her little white ocarina to her chest. She was just where she said she would be, where he should have been an hour ago.

“Gosh, she waited, she actually waited…” thought Link, unable to stop a smile and a warm rush to his heart “You’re just lucky she hasn’t outright given up on you, you silly dolt!”

He came close to Saria, looking intently at her, and found her eyes to be closed, although it was hard to tell when her fringe came down over her face like it had. He pushed the hair away from her face and looked upon his friend’s dozing visage, so entranced by the simple sight of her sleep that he was unsure of whether it would be right to wake her at this point.

“Saria?” he whispered, to no result. “Saria?” he said, slightly louder, prodding her shoulder a little, to no result yet again. He hesitated for a moment, part of him feeling content to sit here next to her for however long it’d take for her wake up herself, before giving it another go. “Saria!” he said, louder still, shaking her shoulder lightly; and at last she stirred beneath those eyelids.

She sighed and released her legs from her chest, putting her arms down to her sides and yawning. Her emerald eyes blinked rapidly, and she mumbled, in a daze, “Link? Link is that you?”

“Yes, Saria, it’s me, it’s me! I’m so sorry it took me so long; I just got so caught up in the meadows and...I was really busy, and when I went home I was so tired and I took so long and I just wanted to lie down but…oh my gosh please don’t be mad,” Link apologized in a guilty fervor.

“Oh Link, don’t worry, I know how much you care about the meadows, if you weren’t working yourself half to death for those trees I don’t know if you’d be…well you wouldn’t be my best friend.” She said back, smiling at the waking sight of Link before her.

Link grinned and gave Saria a hug, her forgiveness meaning the world to him.

Saria hugged back, relieved to find that he had remembered to come after all. “Besides, you’d never be dumb enough to forget about me, right?”

“Never ever!” he said.

Saria’s smile suddenly vanished as she looked down over Link’s shoulder and released the hug, her eyes now inquisitive. “Link, what happened to you in the meadows?” she asked, motioning towards his leg.

Link was puzzled, he looked down at his leg and saw nothing wrong with his shin, “What are you on about, Saria? Everything was fine in the meadows!”

“No, Link, the back, look at the back!”

Link twisted his leg and body around to get a better look at his calf, and when he did, he was as surprised as Saria was. He had a small gash going along the back of his leg, and it was bleeding, coating a patch of his leg in dark crimson. He looked up again, and Saria had gotten to her feet now, her eyes still seeking an explanation.

”Hah, that…must’ve been when I…uh, was um…planting the seeds and I guess I just…fell and cut myself.” He said, knowing full well where the wound came from.

“You guess you fell and cut yourself?” Saria asked.

“Yeah…I-I ran into a, um, I ran into…” and then he gave up, she saw right through him, as usual.

“…Mido.” They both said, Link bowing his head in shame.

---------------

“There we go,” said Saria sprightly as she wrapped the leafy bandage across the cut in Link leg. She lathered her hands in a bucket of soapy water and stood up, reaching for a drying cloth.

“Thanks, Saria…” said Link, keeping his eyes squarely off of hers. His legs swayed nervously on the bench he sat on, watching Saria walk over to the window and lean on the sill, the moonlight mingling with the flicker of the walls’ lanterns over her. As she fiddled with her ocarina again, he anxiously awaited the inevitable question.

“Please Link, you can trust me, what did he do?.”

“No, you don’t have to know…it was nothing…” His face was angling ever downward.

“I know it wasn’t ‘nothing’, Link, you have to tell me. I want to know, I want to help.”

“You know him, he’s just a dumb brute…” His voice was shaking, and his eyes were wrenching shut.

“Don’t say that…”

”Of course I’ll say that!” He lashed back, “He…he just pushes me around, spits in my eye…he…he says whatever he wants as if his word is law…he hates me!” Link’s voice crescendoed as he felt the pressure against the back of his eyes, his fair skin going a shade of pink and red. “And why? Why?! He never ever says! He just attacks me time after time, calls me ‘Mister No-Fairy’, and tries to turn the whole village against me! Today, last week, last month, as long as I can remember! He’s nothing but a monster!” He was yelling with a heated tone, clenching his fists tight against his knees

Saria stopped; there was a small silence, “But what…what if there is a reason? I mean, you can’t…rule it out can you? Nobody is a true monster, Link…I’m sure there’s at least a shred of a soul in every being, even Mido…” she replied, her expression now dropping to face the wooded floor as well.

“Saria…are you defending Mido?” said Link, now raising his head with a feeling of shock creeping over him.”

“I’m just…I’m trying to help you see clearer…that’s all, I don’t mean to make what he did to you look any less awful.” She said, quietly.

“After all this…after everything he’s done to me…how can anybody possibly think that there’s a soul in that fat head of his?” His voice was swelling with frustration, and his eyes were glistening in the firelight.

Saria stepped away from the window, the sight of Link’s fragility affecting her core. Her own eyes felt hot, but she knew she had to stay strong for his sake. “Link, tell me; I know you’re shy, but I’ve seen you take so much more than Mido, heck, I’ve seen you take on those snobby brats, the Know-It-All Brothers! All three at a time! Remember?” she said, with a forced laugh, attempting to elicit one back.

He sat there, silently trembling, eyes screwed shut again.

“What does he say, Link? Why do his words do this to you?” She gently spoke.

Link gave a singular, quiet sob; keeping himself contained as best he could.

“Link?”

He gulped and finally asked out loud the questions that had chased him for so long. “Why don’t I belong here? Why do so many of the others treat me differently?” he asked desperately under his breath, struggling with the pressure behind his eyes. “Why does Mido pick on me? Why do I feel like I’m stuck here where I don’t belong, like even the Forest doesn’t want me? And please…tell me, Saria…please…why won’t a fairy come for me?!”

He begged for her to know the answer.

Saria stared backed him, taking in his words, overwhelmed but impressed with his honesty, even if they had shared so much with each other before. She thought carefully, her eyes never leaving his.

“One day your fairy will come…” she started, “It’s only a matter of time, but whether he or she is here or not doesn’t change who you really are. We’re all different, one way or another Link, in big and small ways. I…I used to be picked on, a while ago, before we met…”

“No…you’re just trying to make me feel better, I don’t even know why you bother hanging around with me when everybody here loves you so much.”

“I’m not lying Link, people used to stare at me weirdly when I went by, sometimes they’d point and laugh at me, thinking I was some crazy girl who’d fallen in love with her ocarina…back when I spent so much time alone playing it. The bratty ones would throw their ocarinas at me; nobody would even try to talk to me. That’s why I started going to the Woods so much, not that they minded, they…they didn’t want to be seen…not with the Ocarina Girl”

“Well they’re just stupid!” Link spoke up, almost in protest, “The music you make with your ocarina’s more beautiful than nearly anything else in this forest! Honestly, you’re better at it than anybody else here, you’ve been trying to teach me how to play one for years and I’m still rubbish at it compared to you.”

Saria blushed, “Oh, that’s so nice of you Link, but you’re not that bad at it! Give yourself some credit once in a while; you really don’t do that often enough.”

“But it’s true! Saria, I’d be glad to be seen with you, no matter what they said or did, even if it meant getting pelted to death with ocarinas!”

She chuckled, “I know you would, Link…I know you would…but don’t you see? I do love my ocarina, Link, as much I love the forest or,” She bit her lip, “the Great Deku Tree! I never stopped playing it, but if I had your words I would’ve been happier so much earlier. I’m different, you’re different, and they’re all different, so what if somebody makes a big deal out of it? Don’t let it get to you and they’ll drop it, and then they can get a chance to meet Link, not this ‘Mr. No-Fairy’; and if they don’t then that’s just a shame for them, isn’t it?”
“Fairy or not, you’re a sweet, caring boy with the most creative mind I’ve ever seen, and that’s the boy that I became friends with. Keep your head up, Link, our differences are what make us great, and I know that you’re going to be greater than anybody else here.”

She had let but one tear get away.

Link finally smiled, and they embraced.

Chapter Three:
Navi the Fairy

Smoke, flame, screams, lightning…

He felt the despondently familiar mud slip around his feet and beheld the once-again ablaze stone structures.

‘…Houses taller than the tallest forest oaks…’

And the fairy! The fairy was here, his fairy!

He opened his mouth to speak to it when the white creature split the smoke and tore past him.

‘…Some with four legs…’

“LINK!!!” came the cry again. It was the person on the creature, a girl! A Kokiri? He couldn’t ponder, she needed him! But what was her name? In fact, who was she at all?!

Fishing his mind out of the confusion he watched the creature rush away, and saw the girl hurl something towards him, with her words muffled through the rain. He watched the object fly out of his reach near the blazing walls. He turned to track it down when…no…no! Not again!

He stared into a pair of burning red orbs, and was struck by a foreboding aura. It was another four-legged beast, dark as the smoke it stood against. He turned his head upward to see an imposing silhouette against the burning horizon; a muscular figure with a terrifying gaze and a crown of red hair.

He was stunned again, he tried to rip his feet from their standings and flee, but it was all in vain, he was transfixed by horror.

The figure raised its arm…

“AAAH!”

===============

“I fear that our time will soon be through. I believe the time has come that the boy with no fairy finds his beginning. So fly, Navi, fly, find our young friend and bring him here, the path of Hyrule doth depend on it.”

“Yes, Great Deku Tree, without delay!”

===============

Link shivered despite the blankets that guarded him from the late morning draft, tossing from side to side in his narrow bed, groaning and wincing as he brushed his hands out in front of himself, warding off a menace that was not there.

“Urgh, who even puts a fence there anyway? This boy better be worth the headache,”
spoke a high-pitched feminine voice.

He did not notice the fairy that had drifted into his house moments ago, bobbing up and down in the air, musing to itself and massaging its head softly beneath its veil of exquisitely bright light. It floated by his face and came ever closer, glaring at his shut eyes and furrowed brow, “Great, just great, at home at this hour,” she said, “And sleeping no less.”

She took a breath and raised her voice. “Link! Link! Hello!”

He didn’t budge.

“Hey! Listen! Get your head on straight and wake up!” She yelled again.

Still nothing.

“Sheesh! How can the ‘path of Hyrule’ rest in the hands of such a terribly lazy boy! For the love of Farore would you just wake yourself up!” And with that the fairy began to flutter erratically about, bouncing up and down, kicking the sleeping boy repeatedly with her tiny legs in the hopes that something would finally break his slumber.

And with one last hit to the face he was awake.

“NO! GET AWAY!” He screamed, throwing off his blanket, flailing his arms up to cover his head, fear etched in his face.

The fairy was aback with fright, and flung herself a fair distance to get away from this berserk child before her. “What on Din’s earth are you -?!” she started, only to realize that he was cowering, holed up in the corner of his bed, curled up and quivering. She almost began to feel sorry for the child.

He peeked through his fingers and saw he was back in his house, the smoky fields having dissolved into woody walls and floors, and the lightning faded to sunlight filtering in through his window. And of course the fairy had vanished too, becoming a…

“A fairy!” he cried, excited beyond belief.

“’A fairy’ he calls me, how rude!” she said, remembering that he had nearly smacked her clean across the room, “I have a name, you indolent child!”

But as Link’s common sense returned to him his excitement quickly turned to cynicism, “Wait…” he said, eyeing the fairy with wary suspicion, “Who put you up to this? What is this, some kind of joke? Does Mido still think this is funny; sending little Mister No Fairy a fairy ‘of his own’? Didn’t he get his fill attacking me twice yesterday?! Come on, Mido!” He called out his window, “I know you’re there, I’m not going to fall for this one again!”

“What are you talking about? What does he have to do with anything? I’m here because the Great Deku Tree sent me, not some smug, little delinquent!”

“Mido has everything to do with…this…” he stopped dead, could it possibly be, had the day come? “The Great Deku Tree…sent…and you’re…for me?”

“Yes! But if you don’t stop going around yelling at me and trying to hit one of my wings off I think I may just go back and tell the Great Deku Tree to go find another fairy for you!” she snapped.

“Oh I’m – wow - you’re really…mine?” he stuttered, not quite at grips.

”YES!”

“…Oh gosh, I’m - I didn’t mean to say that - or hit you - it’s just that…I’ve thought for so long now that one of you would never come, that I’d always be…”

“…the boy with no fairy?” she completed his thought.

“Yeah…No-Fairy…”

The fairy’s sympathy cooled her temper, and her glow shrunk as she tried to get back to the task at hand. “Not anymore!” she said, “Come on, chin up, Link, I can’t get you to the Great Deku Tree if you’re going to lie here all day!”

Link’s eyes widened as they went to the fairy, “He wants to see me? Now?” he asked, feeling a touch of excitement rushing back.

“Yes! So we ought to be on our way, wouldn’t you agree?” the fay replied, urging the boy out of bed.

“Oh, of course, thank you so much Miss - um, sorry, what was your name?”

The fairy faltered over her own rudeness, “Ah, sorry! Where are my manners? You can call me Navi.” She answered courteously.

“Thank you so much, Miss Navi!” Link completed.

Navi gave a tiny giggle, “Just Navi, Link, just Navi.”

“Navi…Navi the fairy” he reflected, starting to feel a little giddy as the exhilaration spread to his face “My fairy.” He jumped out of his bed, “C’mon! Let’s not keep the Great Deku Tree waiting!” he said, and he gleefully sprinted for the exit. As he broke into the light of day he grabbed the sides of his ladder and slid down, his feet hitting the ground and barely stopping before they were in a mad dash.

The houses and trees rushed past him in a blur, heads turning as numerous Kokiri glimpsed him running through the village and leaping fences. He saw the market whiz by and halted for a moment, to Navi’s surprise. There was something he had to do before he did anything else. “Wait just a moment, I have to see somebody,” he said, turning to run up the nearby hill.

Saria was sitting in the bough of a tree, gathering Deku seeds from its branches, when she saw Link sprinting up the slope, “Link, I’m up here!” she called, waving her arm.

“Saria! Saria! Get down here, quick! I’ve got something to tell you!” said Link, sliding to a halt, “Come on! Hurry up!” His animated behaviour was raising the eyebrows of the few other Kokiri that were sitting in the trees around him, all casting each other looks and silent questions.

Saria leapt from her branch and landed a few feet in front of him, “Are you alright? Is something wrong? It’s not Mido is it?” she said, rather startled.

He shook his head, “Nope! In fact, I’d say I’m doing better than ever!” he said as he began to jitter up and down, itching to break the news, “Notice anything different about me?” he asked brightly.

“Well you’re awake for once, and it’s not even eleven o’ clock yet; that’s certainly a difference. I know that’s quite an achievement for you but I am trying to work-” She tilted her head to one side, puzzled by his bobbing, “What’s the matter?” she said.

“Anything at all? Come on, just take a look,” he said, beaming from ear to ear.

“No, I…” and then Saria saw a little blue light floating just behind Link, tiny insect wings fluttering up and down, and she was stunned. “Oh wow, Link…you…your own fairy! A fairy! One finally came! Oh Link I’m so happy for you, this is amazing!”

The trees around them began to hum with the murmurs and whispers of the Kokiri who had just noticed the fay by his side, some jaws dropping and some hands flying to cover mouths that gasped in disbelief.

“I know! This is the best day ever! I’m a true Kokiri, and I can finally tell Mido to shove it and shut up!” Link’s exuberance was so infectious that Saria couldn’t help herself from skipping up and down as well. “Let me introduce you two, her name’s Navi!”


Saria bent forward to get a closer look, “Hi there, Navi, I’m Saria! It’s so great for you to be Link’s fairy after so long!”

Navi flew forward, “Hello, pleased to meet you, Saria,” she said politely.

“Let me tell you, you’ve really hit the jackpot with this boy,” Saria said, glancing momentarily at Link, “You couldn’t have ended up with anybody better.”

“Oh really, now? Well I guess that means I’m just the luckiest fairy in the forest then, aren’t I?” mused Navi airily before quickly returning to her task, “Link, we really don’t have time to dawdle, the Great Deku Tree’s still waiting!”

“Is that true, Link? The Great Deku Tree wants to talk to you?” asked Saria.

Link nodded, the grin still covering his face.

Saria stepped back a little in surprise, “Just you? What an honour! Go on, Link, I’ll be waiting for you when you get back! Go!” she urged, not wanting to stall the Great Deku Tree’s intentions any further.

“You heard the lady, let’s get going!” said a flustered Navi.

“I’ll be back here as soon as I can!” yelled Link, already running his way back down the hill. He cleared the river in three bounds, boisterously jumping from stone to stone, and passed through the last clearing of houses before the passage to the Great Deku Tree at the west end of the village. He spotted the tunnel hewn out of the rock wall getting closer and closer in front of him, and picked up his speed until-

“HAH!”

The next thing he felt was the ground slamming into him as his entire body flipped forward. Removing his head from the grass he heard laughter coming from behind him, and that unmistakable voice.

Mido withdrew his foot and admired his handiwork, seeing the little ‘outsider’ pick himself up off the ground. “Well, well, what’s the rush?” he said with a smirk, as his two little henchmen surrounded Link, “Got somewhere ya got to be going to?”.

Link simply stared back at Mido.

“Eh? Come on then, the great Mido wants an answer!” said Mido, stepping forward, an action his tall, heavyset accomplices quickly followed. “Yeah, answer the great Mido!” they said in thuggish unison.

“Get out of my way Mido,” began Link as he wiped soil from his tunic, a new strength entering his voice, “The Great Deku Tree’s asked to see me, you wouldn’t dare make him wait, would you?” A smirk of his own began to form.

“Huh? The Great Deku Tree? Yeah, right; like he would’ve asked to see you of all people, Mr. No Fairy, and not me. Did you really think was gonna work?”

At that point, Navi came buzzing out from behind Link, glowing hotly. Link stuck his chest out and looked upon the ball of her light loftily, “What was that you just called me, oh ‘Great Mido’?” he said.

Mido’s squinted distrustfully first at Link and then at the fairy beside him, “A fairy, eh…” He thought over his next words with great suspicion, “So whose did ya go and borrow huh? I guess it doesn’t matter anyway, though, fairy or not you’re still not welcome with us!”

“Say what you want, Mido, I don’t care, no matter what you say now, I know that I’m a Kokiri, so back off and let me through!”

“So now I’m supposed to believe that all of a sudden the Great Deku Tree wants to talk to you alone and gave you a fairy for no reason? Puh-lease, don’t act like I’m an idiot; it’s not like I’m you or anything.”

Before Link could respond, Navi burst out in an aggravated tirade, “Listen here you little brat, I don’t know why you think you own this place but the Great Deku Tree has ordered that I bring Link to speak to him so unless you want to be expelled from this forest for good I’d suggest that you get yourself out of our way!”

Mido’s was shocked into silence; unable to believe that Link could possibly ever be worthy of a fairy, and that he of all people would be summoned by the Great Deku Tree, in private to boot! How could he have all this? What else would he take that was rightfully Mido’s? He scrambled around in his thoughts, fuming with sheer envy, desperate to halt Link from taking the honour that couldn’t possibly belong to him.

“Hmph, just typical; when you’re not getting Saria to fight your fights, ya go and get a fairy to do it,” he jeered. “Well, even if you really are supposed to go see the Deku Tree,” Mido said, his speech slowing as he formulated his new plan, “It’s…it’s real dangerous out there, beyond the village. I mean, none of us have been to see the Deku Tree in so long, who knows what sorts of creatures have taken up the path. Right, boys?” He beckoned them to stand alongside him.

“Yeah, you don’t wanna get hurt, do ya’?” they said, taking up their positions and walling off the path. One of them pushed Link in the shoulder, “Do ya?” he repeated dumbly.

Link swatted him away and glowered, astonished that Mido’s loathing for him ran so deep, “Just let me get through here you jerk!” he said, a familiar frustration returning to him, “The Great Deku Tree summoned me, doesn’t that mean a single thing to you?!” He was incensed; he walked straight up to Mido, and raised his arm, only inches between them.

Mido simply sneered. “No need to get angry, it’s only for your own good,” he said sardonically, “Little guy like you could get yourself hurt.”

Link took a step forward and moved his arm before Navi fluttered in front of his face, “Wait!” she whispered, causing him to pause for a moment, “He’s an annoying little punk but let’s not get petty, you’re better than him! I know something we can get that’ll really make him shut up!”

Link hesitated; his fist trembling at the ready, Mido still just standing there with that sneer on his face. “Fine,” Link said, lowering his arm and backing away, “I’ll get you one day Mido, trust me…”

“Just like I thought, a wimp is still a wimp, even with a fairy. Get outta’ my sight, and don’t you come back ‘til you’re ‘properly equipped’!’ Mido called after him, “Whenever that is,” he added to his cackling lackeys.

Striding at a bitter gait, Link tried his best to let these words bounce off his back, but the thought of Mido’s victory was inescapable. “Great, I’m never going to see the Great Deku Tree now, just great. Even when I have a fairy, no matter what I do he’s always got to be going around ruining everything for me,” fumed Link,

“Hey, didn’t I say I had an idea?” interjected Navi.

“Oh yeah, ‘something that’ll really shut him up’? Just where are we supposed to get a sword and shield for that moron? Couldn’t we just find a way around him?”

“There’s no other way to get to the Great Deku Tree. And besides, where’s the fun to be had in that? You’ll see, just wait until we give him exactly what he wants…”

Chapter Four:
Hidden Steel

The hill became sheer as it met the village walls, leaping up into a near vertical cliff, above which more of the Lost Woods’ trees towered. Link looked at them with apprehension, “Am I supposed to climb this to get past Mido?” agitation still present in his voice.

“No, no, of course not!” said Navi, flying out of her refuge in Link’s hat, “That wouldn’t do you any good anyway, there’s nothing of use up there.”

“Then what was the point in coming? There’s nothing here.”

“Take a closer look.”

Link looked slowly from left to right, “Well I guess the rock looks kind of nice.”

“Oh very funny. Look down!”

He crouched and scanned the bottom of the cliff, and after a moment of inspection he saw what Navi was pointing to; a small hole in the cliff face, barely visible through the thickets of grass growing in front of it, something he’d never noticed in all his years within the village. “So that’s where you want me to go? Through there?”

“Of course.”

“And this is supposedly going to get us past Mido?”

“Yes.”

“I still don’t see why I can’t just get him in the head with a nice big pebble,” said Link, his hand resting on the slingshot tucked in his belt, “I have even gotten a chance to use this thing yet, seems only fitting that its first shot be right into that stupid face of his.”

“Must you always be so stubborn? Just trust me on this, would you? Honestly, the nerve of some people…”

Link sighed and approached the opening, getting down his knees and forearms and slipping into the tiny tunnel, Navi flying through after him. Shuffling through the murk he saw the passage slowly open up into a slightly brighter area ahead, and as he felt the walls shrink away he got to his feet.

The cave was small, but hardly claustrophobic, dark, but hardly frightening. A thin, singular beam of light shone down in the centre of the cavern, but it seemed to illuminate far beyond its reach. Upon a dais beneath the light lay a tiny shrine of ornate wood, carved in the shape of a small tree, smoothly gnarled and bent forward, cradling something within its arm-like branches.

Link stepped closer, squinting through the light as the shrine came into focus, the charge of the tree’s arms becoming clear: a glinting sword against a wooden shield. He gasped, and broke into a run across the room, stopping just before the dais, captivated by the sight of the marvelous weapon. “A sword, a real sword! I didn’t think you actually meant to get an actual sword to stick it to Mido!”

“Well I guess you ought to listen a little more to me next time,” replied Navi smugly.

Link was still looking upon the blade with confounded disbelief, “In the forest of all places! What’s it even doing here?”

“There were once, well, let’s just say there were less peaceful times in the forest, and to protect themselves the Kokiri entrusted their safety into things just like this little treasure,” said Navi in a dark manner, “But as time went on and the violence of the world went to rest, all the weapons were taken away from the forest. Except one, one that the Great Deku Tree kept for when…for when it was time for it to be used again.”

“Can I…?”

”Go on, take it! Give it a go!”

Hesitantly he reached for the stocky wooden handle, grabbing onto it with loose hands, its unfamiliarity and deadly potential sending shivers into his body. The shield followed soon after, its solid wooden body seeming as if it had been carved from some immense oak capable of holding up the sky. A symbol was whittled into it, a circular swirl that ended in a bulb, painted over in bright red.

“It’s a Deku Shield. There are some of these still around the forest, they were made by the Kokiri until a while ago. Of course there's not too much use for these things nowadays, so they're not so easy to come by," explained Navi, "That little symbol is the mark of the forest, its what the Kokiri used to represent themselves by, back when they still dealt with the matters of the world beyond the trees.”

He held the blade in his hand, weighted with a strangely profound sense of power unbefitting its size, the guardianship of the forest swimming within its metal. “The Kokiri Sword.” proclaimed Navi, fluttering ever closer, she too looking intently on the sword, “It’s been a long time since anybody’s held this.”

Link tested his hand at the sword, cutting loosely at the air in front of him, “Wow…it’s heavy, but…it’s so beautiful.” He tightened his grip around the smoothly carved wooden hilt, his fingers slipping over a large red bead embedded at the guard. He took a firmer stab at the air, and then slashed at it again with force, hearing it cut through the air with a low whistle.

“It goes well with you,” Navi quipped, “I’m sure the Great Deku Tree won’t mind if we borrow this, just for a bit.”

“A sword… never thought I’d see one of these, something so deadly, it’s almost…scary to think about what this thing could do,” whispered Link, fixated upon the blade.

“Well that’s why it was put here, wasn’t it? But I think it’s about time this old thing got another run, and it’ll sure put that Mido in his place.”

A sly smile crept onto Link’s face, “Just wait ‘til you see his face when we get back to him, he’ll never mess with me again.”

With that he returned the sword to its scabbard and affixed it across his back, its firm weight against him. He then pulled the shield over it and stood still for a moment, contemplating his new look, “Link: Warrior of the Forest”, he thought, “Doesn’t have too bad of a ring to it, I could get used to this.”

“Well, hurry up then! There’s no time to just stand there and admire yourself, we’ve still got to get back to the Deku Tree!”

Link shook himself and made way for the tunnel, “Let’s go, I think we’ve kept him waiting for just about long enough.”

Crawling his way out of the cavern, he made his way back through the village. As he passed by the idling Kokiri that were returning from their morning duties he found that he was drawing even more glances than usual, the air buzzing with whispers and hushed, shocked speculation; fingers subtly pointing, first at Navi, and then at the sword and shield mounted upon his back.

“Is that Link? With a fairy?!”
“No way, he was never gonna get one!”
“I can’t believe they were telling the truth, Tila never tells the truth!”
“What’s that? No-Fairy got himself a fairy?”
”Shh, Dore! Don’t call him that!”
“Well it’s not like any of you can call him that anymore, is it?”
“Congratulations Link! You finally got a fairy!”
“What is that on his back?!”

He simply walked on through the mutterings and the gossip, occasionally waving at the odd well-wisher and smirking at the awe inspired by his new equipment, perhaps this was what respect from all his fellow Kokiri was meant to feel like. He drank in the feeling and began moving with a peculiar swagger. “Really, must they point like that?” nagged Navi, “The fact that you Kokiri haven’t been taught all your proper manners is just unacceptable. And stop strutting around like that, you look ridiculous.”

He reached Mido and his cronies, guffawing and whispering all the while as they saw him approach, “Well, whatcha’ think you’re up to, eh? I thought I already told you that you weren’t getting past me! Or were you just too stupid to understand that?”

Silently, Link drew the blade and shield from his back and pointed the sword directly at Mido, smiling just as he had last time, now with the air of a definite victor. Link basked in the moment, for once it was he who held the grin and Mido the scowl.

“Is that - ? How did you - ?! A Kokiri Sword?! Good grief! There is no way that belongs to you, give me that!” Mido lunged forward, hands grabbing for the sword.

“Watch it there, Mido!” said Link, backing away and brandishing the blade a little, “Wouldn’t want to get cut now, would we?” He couldn’t be grinning harder if he tried.

“That can’t be yours! There aren’t even supposed to be any of those left in the forest; and besides, it’s the Kokiri Sword, it doesn’t belong in your filthy hands!” Mido’s bewilderment was morphing into fury.

“I am a Kokiri Mido, fairy and all, and I don’t care what you say, because it’s not going to change that. Now let me and Navi through.”

“This isn’t right.” Mido then said aside, “he’s not supposed to keep up like this!” He began to shake, and spoke up “Yeah – well you – you can’t –“

“Move!” yelled Navi.

“I – I – You – Agh! Fine! Go ahead and have your stupid meeting, see if I care! I don’t need a damn sword or the Great Deku Tree to prove I’m a Kokiri!” With that, a flustered Mido stormed past Link, and as he left the passageway only Navi heard him say in a minutely trembling mutter: “…Saria and the Great Deku Tree…honestly…”

Navi gave a quizzical glance in Mido’s direction before she was brushed past by his two lackeys, confusedly loping after their leader, not quite sure what to do. Link watched Mido’s shrinking figure with the sense of victory for the first time, immensely satisfied. “Well, well, standing up to big, bad Mido. Look who’s a big shot now?” said Navi as she nudged Link’s head slightly, “The Deku Tree just might’ve gotten the right kid.”

”Hm? The right kid for what?”

”Oh, you’ll find out soon enough. Let’s get moving, just a little bit further to go now!”

Hewn through the rock wall of the village, the path writhed this way and that, smooth walls snaking about as sunlight winked off them. Link had walked this path some time ago, but it was alien now, the smooth grass of old was so overgrown, moss covered the passageway in a shimmering, green coat where the patchy light did not reach through the thick canopy, giving the path a slightly wet feel.

As he approached the end of the path he felt the grass beneath his feet becoming coarser and taller, brushing roughly against his shins and almost creeping into his boots. The dirt also began to make faint scratching and scraping noises against the soles of his boots, the dry grinding being something that he hadn’t ever felt in the grass in any other part of the village.

Suddenly the passage opened up and led onto wide, shallow hill sided by small, stony ridges, a familiar sight to Link despite the time gone by. Navi took off ahead and raced upward, “Great Deku Tree! Great Deku Tree! I’m back; I brought him here as you asked!”

And as Link craned his head upward he saw the Great Deku Tree, massive and majestic as ever, his presence nearly completely dominating Link’s vision. He looked up at the trunk of the Deku Tree, where if one looked close enough they could just about make out a wisened, bearded visage in the gnarls and swirls of the bark.

Link stepped forward, approaching slowly; he was always awed by the company of such a great being, so much larger than any other tree in the Forest. Link swore that the Deku Tree had to be the height of at least three of the tallest Forest Pines, and even wider still. His roots alone had to be at least a dozen feet tall and big enough so that only a few of them were needed to support each and every Kokiri in the Forest when it came time to gather and listen to his stories.

Link then noticed there was something odd about the Deku Tree, his bark seemed rougher and its texture a little off from its usual brown, his leaves were looking limp and dry; and his ‘face’ almost seemed to bear a look of concern. Stopping himself from staring, he quickly bowed down awkwardly, trying to convey his respect through silence.

Staring hard at the patch of grass framing his feet he felt Navi nudge his head, “What are you doing?! Greet him!” she whispered in a flustered tone.

“Um, er, Great – ahem - Great Deku Tree, I’m deeply honoured to –“ he stammered.

“Thou dost not require formalities around me, my child,” spoke the Great Deku Tree, “Nor is thou unworthy of looking upon me whilst we talk,” he added benevolently. The voice came from somewhere in the centre of the glade, though where exactly was something Link couldn’t place. It seemed to resonate from within the wood of the Great Deku Tree, or perhaps it was the air around it. There was no movement save for the rustling of the leaves in the high branches of the Great Deku Tree.

He quickly looked up and attempted another sentence, “I – I’m sorry, Great Deku Tree, apologies for my rudeness.”

“Thou need not apologise, although considering thine offer of apology I shall accept it nonetheless, as would be polite.” Link was rather unused to the Great Deku Tree’s relaxed manners, having never spoken alone with him before.

After another moment of silence Navi whispered “Feel free to talk any day now”

Link took a breath and calmed himself before he opened his mouth again, “Great Deku Tree, thank you for summoning me here,” he said, “And a million thanks for giving me Navi as a companion, it means so much for me to finally have a fairy of my own after so long.”

“’Twas an act long overdue, in fact, I must offer apologies of mine own in the unpunctuality of Navi’s bestowment upon thee.”

Link was rather unsure as to whether he was meant to forgive the Great Deku Tree at this point, and simply gave a non-committal nod.

“But now I am sure thou hast many questions in store, am I not correct?”

“Y-Yes, Great Deku Tree,” Link pondered for a moment as to whether it would be the best time to ask what was on his mind, “I was just wondering…” he went ahead anyway, “Why has it been so long since you told any of us a story? I-I mean, not that you have to, it’s just that we really enjoy it when you tell them to us and we’ve just been waiting and…”

“Indeed thou hast been biding much time since the moons whence I had told thee such tales, perhaps in due course of our meeting I shall regale thee once more with a story. Alas, our current attention is required on matters far less pleasant.”

Abruptly, in his next words the voice of the Great Deku Tree became graver, one more apt for his epic presence, displacing the air within the glade and resounding from the rocky walls, “I regret that I could not have brought thee here under reasons more peaceable, alas, I fear that thy calling is due to the malevolent workings set in motion by a force thou must now face.”

“Me?” asked Link, puzzled.

“Aye, child, but before I go on I must ask thee; hast thou been chased in thy sleep by visions? By nightmares? Indeed I have seen that thou hast not often been waking before the rise of the midday sun.”

“Yes, Great Deku Tree, they’re - they’re frightening, I don’t understand them and I haven’t even seen the places or things in them before. There’s a girl, there’s always a girl, and she’s always calling my name, but I can’t see who she is, and I don’t know what she wants. And just before I wake up there’s…” he couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.

“When the darkness approaches, the climate is often pervaded by a malevolence that dost manifest itself in the minds of those sensitive to it, such as thyself. Such are the times now as the evil you must stand against gather in strength.”

“Evil?! Excuse me, Great Deku Tree?!” spluttered Link, his head jumping forward, rather sure he’d misheard the Tree’s words.

“Aye, an evil that has found it within necessity to place a curse upon my being, one that I am afraid I cannot vanquish. Verily, it is thou that I must turn to rid myself of this accursed plague.”

“I’m…I’m sorry? Rid you of a plague? No that’s - You mustn’t have meant to ask for me, you must’ve asked for the wrong Kokiri!”

“Nay, I have asked for the exact child I hath need for,” assured the Great Deku Tree as Link continued to stand in stunned silence. “I instruct thee thus: The curse has ingrained itself deeply within my core, and I task that thou find its wretched source and crush it.”

“Within? Great Deku Tree how am I supposed to – “

A gargantuan creaking noise filled the air with the crackling undercurrent of bark snapping rippling beneath it. Link stepped back and almost tripped over his own foot, confused at the sudden dissonance swirling through the glade. “Great Deku Tree! Are you alright?” he yelled whilst he covered his ears, quite worried that the Deku Tree was about to splinter apart.

But then he saw it and realized exactly what was happening: just at the base of the Deku Tree, nestled in a nook between two mammoth roots, the ‘flesh’ of the Tree was parting, knots becoming undone and bits of crackling bark flying this way and that, like some massive wooden curtain being drawn. He watched in awe as he witnessed the Deku Tree rend itself, wondering just how much pain the tear must’ve been causing it. Wait, could the Tree even feel any pain at all? He glanced up at Navi as she fluttered anxiously beside his head, no doubt looking on with the same worrisome eyes.

The creaking evaporated in an instant and Link stared upon the Deku Tree’s work; the base of the trunk now seemed to open up, and within a nook lay a large sliver of darkness leading into the depths of the Tree, a crack of night in the light of day. Link gulped, he had a strong inkling as to just what the Deku Tree expected of him, but clung to the faintest hope that perhaps he could be wrong. “Great Deku Tree, am I…am I supposed to…?” he half-said, half-pleaded.

“Indeed, Link, lest our forest be discarded to the winds of the wicked.”

“Go on, Link, the forest needs you!” said Navi. Link remained still, rooted to the spot quite like the Tree that stood in the glade’s centre. “The Great Deku Tree wouldn’t put you into any danger that you couldn’t make it through, you know that!”

The word ‘evil’ was still reverberating in his mind, “But…now? I can’t…I can’t just wait, or even prepare?” Link entreated. He had the sudden urge to go talk to Saria at this point; and, to be honest, he would’ve felt happy with leaving the forest in somebody else’s hands.

“Nay, our time escapes us.”

The whole glade closed in on him, its pressure squeezing him tightly from all sides. “Well, Link?” chimed Navi.

There was a moment of thick silence before Link, with utmost will, stepped his foot forward, feeling as if he were stamping through a viscous bog of fear, but his heart filling with a lukewarm resolve. “I’ll do it,” he said, forcing as much of this resolve into his voice as he could.

“Then enter, brave child, and Navi too, I trust that my fate doth lie in the most capable of grasps.”

Navi nodded before perching herself on Link’s hat, hushed and still. Link gulped once more and then wrenched his foot from the grass. One step, two steps, three steps. He kept his eyes on that fissure in the trunk, that ever-widening darkness approaching, drawing him in. As he stepped on the threshold between day and dark, he didn’t abate his stride; “Just one step at a time” he thought, as the blackness engulfed him.

===============

(Note: Please leave a comment if you have the time. I love getting feedback on my work and I'd like to know what I'm doing well and what I could improve on. Heck, I'd just like to know if anybody's taken the time to read it at all! Well, anyway, if you are reading, I hope you're enjoying it so far. Thanks!)

Still not a comment? Well, I guess I must be doing something wrong then...

Anyway, whilst I try to fix it, I'll just say for now (to anybody who happens to be reading this story, if there is anyone at all) that Chapter Five is taking a little longer than expected due to commitments elsewhere in my life, but rest assured it'll be on its way by the time this week is over!

^no! nothing wrong! It's just not that many people visit the fan-fics threads.. wow, when I read this, I coud have sworn that this would have been a popular story on the thread!!!
I'll subscirbe to your novel and read to the end. I haven't started but is it a fan fic of OoT or is it the exact order of dungeon and quests that you do in OoT?

Good Luck and keep going!

Please don't double post. Next time, just use the edit feature. :3

Chapter Five: The Depths of the Great Deku Tree

The blue flicker of Navi was all he had to light the way through the Deku Tree’s trunk, her bobbing body casting vision on the thick gnarls that sided him. He wasn’t sure about how wide the Great Deku Tree was, and where exactly he was supposed to go, all he knew was that he had to keep walking, concentrating on his feet against the soil beneath him.

In the back of Link’s mind a question occurred to him: who would curse the Deku Tree? What purpose would they have? What would they gain from poisoning the forest? Looking into the black ahead of him and seeing those walls, seeming endlessly thick he shuddered at the thought at just how anybody or anything could possibly have brought conceivable harm upon the Great Deku Tree. And considering the Tree’s wisdom and fortitude, strong enough to rule over the Forests for countless years, just how powerful was whatever had been responsible for this?

The fissure gradually grew as they walked along, giving Navi more space to hover about ahead of Link, moving forwards from wall to wall, stopping every now and then as if checking something. “Link, take a look at this,” she said suddenly, beckoning toward a section of the wall. As he caught up to her he peered closer to her glow, an inch from the bark that lined the way.

“What on earth…” he murmured, and ran his hand over the wall, feeling not the smooth knotted bark he was expecting, but a rough bunch of grooves that poked and cut at his fingertips. Slowly he advanced alongside Navi, his hand still running lightly along the bark, “What happened here? Is this because of the Deku Tree opening the way up for us?”

“No, it doesn’t look like that at all; this is definitely the work of something else.”

It was getting worse as they went on, looking as if bowl-sized scoops had been taken out of the wood, along with wide lacerations. Navi looked more and more vexed, and Link was beginning to feel dread creep into him, the prospect of turning back to the safety of daylight becoming more and more tempting.

Navi dashed ahead to see just how far the strange markings went, but before long Link saw the light of her body halt and her little voice speak, “Oh no…” Link ran up to where she hovered and looked upon the sight before him

It was positively cavernous, a gigantic chamber hollowed out from the core of the Great Deku Tree, looming up to what must’ve been halfway up his trunk. The great expanse was lit up dimly by what seemed to be minute cracks in the walls, tiny crevices that had to run a considerable distance to allow light to penetrate this far into the tree. But there was something else here too, an odd murky light that pervaded the cavity, congealing in the humid air and mixing in with the smell of decaying wood.

“There’s nothing I’ve ever heard of in the Forest that could have possibly done this to him,” said Navi in awe. It was grotesque in a way, the appearance of this strange place they were in. But the already odd sensation of being within a living thing was overshadowed by the horrible state of its insides. The walls were scarred and shredded all over, vast chunks obviously had been torn piece by piece, when the core had been hollowed out; Link grimaced and felt a little twinge in his stomach.

He looked closer at the walls, his eyes adjusting to the gloom, and noticed they also seemed to be covered in a swathe of white patches, blotted with what looked like sheets upon sheets of immense web. “What was here, a family of spiders?” he asked faintly.

“I’ve never seen any spider that could eat through this much wood. Gosh, I knew there was something wrong with him but this is just disgusting…”

“He’s been sick for a while, you mean?”

“Well it wasn’t like he seemed sick, but he did seem awful concerned about something. He was always concentrating on things he’d never reveal to any of us, saying we ought to wait until the time came and then we’d know everything. Then this morning he just began to look dreadful and he asked me to come get you.”

“So that’s why he’s been putting off the stories. I wouldn’t have held it against him if I’d known he was fighting something that could just rip him up from the inside,” said Link.

“We’ve got to do something about this; I can hardly bear to look at it.”

Link shuddered as he imagined giant claws tearing away, carving at him as they had to the Deku Tree. No, he thought, I can’t fail the Great Deku Tree, I can’t let him or the forest down, forcing his feet onward.

The path from the entrance dipped down into the circular ‘room’; dark, dry soil served as a coarse floor, mingling with the shadows. They found nothing as they searched from side to side, examining the walls to find any clues about the exact source of the carnage. The scratches and marks stopped; there was nothing but those huge chunks taken out of the wood all over the place. “Look at these things; they look like bite marks. I’d say that whatever it is has been making a good meal out of the Great Deku Tree, it must’ve been growing at an incredibly fast rate with this much to nourish itself,” said a still shocked Navi.

They ventured further inward, Link found catious footing on the dipping slopes, feeling soil slide under his boots as he tried to make each step. The moment they made their way down the little hill that edged the area they laid their eyes upon a fascinating sight in the centre of the room.

Here there was dirt floor no more, although one couldn’t tell from afar, considering the lack of light. Instead there was a pit burrowing deep into the ground at least thirty feet wide, veiled by layer upon layer of tangled web that obscured the drop below, shedding vision only on select pockets of shadow in the depths of the earth. “I think I have a pretty good idea about where it went…” said Navi, peering into it.

Link tested his foot on the edge of the drop, feeling the loose soil around it, watching it become a flaky brown powder lodged in the strands of web. “Maybe we should, er, take a look around here first before we make any decisions about where we go next. Or what holes we jump into.” He took tentative steps around the pit, approaching the opposite end of the Tree’s trunk, constantly watching the hole out of the corner of his eye, half-expecting a sway or quiver in the web to precede some horrible thing leaping out at him.

His feet crunched softly on dirt and bark beneath him, the solitary crackle in time with his every movement unnerving him, the gloom straining his eyes. He stopped to rub them for a moment when he noticed something on the side of the chamber, something pinkish and moving in the minutest fashion. He inched close enough to get a clear look at it.

It was a cluster of round, pink objects hanging up against the wall of the Tree, looking like a strange batch of veined, large grapes pinned up to the side of the trunk, somewhere they distinctly didn’t belong, given they were inside the Great Deku Tree. Abruptly there was a snap and one of the objects came plunging down in front of them, rolling around a little before it came to a stop.

It pulsed slowly, looking dull and soft in the light that the Tree let in; an elliptical ball of pink with dark patches of purple spotting it, faint red lines of veins jolting through its surface. It was beating with an irregular rhythm, looking as if something inside it was slowly prodding and poking at its skin. “It’s an egg…a really gross looking egg,” said Link.

“Well obviously, but what could be inside of – “

With the sound of a small pop, a little black stub emerged from the side of the egg, wriggling its way through the surface. Link simply watched on in surprise, rather curious to find out what was hiding beneath the egg’s skin.

The little spot of black had become what looked like a rather ugly, albeit fully formed foot, “Do you reckon it’s a kind of bird?” asked Link, the scaly claws vaguely reminding him of birds he’d seen around the forest.

Then with an unsavoury, wet ripping sound the foot tore its way through the whole sac and the egg split open; thick, milky liquid exuding from its broken casing. Along with it came a small, two-legged animal that was stumbling about woozily, not accustomed to its feet just yet.

It was a strange thing, tall enough to just about reach Link’s chest, with two sharply bent legs and a large, swollen round eye that dominated its façade, protruding grossly with a milky cyan hue, glazed and unfocused, a little, serrated mouth dripping below it. Its body was miniscule in comparison, covered in a rough, hairy hide, crowned by a bluntly pointed twist of turquoise bone, giving it the look of particularly bizarre insect.

“That’s definitely not a bird,” said Navi.

Link was perplexed, having never dealt with a thing quite like it in all his years, he wasn’t sure whether it was harmful, but its shocking appearance, blasted over by that bulging eye, gave him some reason to be apprehensive. “What the heck is that thing?”

It heard him, and it wasn’t at all happy to have him around. A shrill rattling pierced his ears, his hands instinctively moving up to clamp over them, and in a flash the creature’s eyes became a violent red; it burst forward, the horn on its head spurred forth to gore him. He rolled to the side clumsily, seeing it leap over his legs and turning to face him again as he floundered with his arms trying to get himself onto his feet.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s awful nice!” yelled Navi, now zooming about frantically above Link.

His feet slipping every which way, he brought himself upright about-face and bolted away from the thing, his head down, praying that it would neglect his presence if he just got as far away as he could. All the while his balance eluded him, his steps staggering as he tried his hardest to keep moving whilst regaining his composure. He ran as far as he could, but that shriek sounded again and the sound of footfalls came up behind him. How could it run so fast with such small legs?

He felt a sharp pain in his lower back and stumbled forward, eyes wrenched shut in pain and the tips of his boots dragging along through the earth. “Link, no! Stop!” screamed Navi’s voice from somewhere beside him; he dug in his heels to try and regain balance and felt the firmness beneath him give way and the soil begin to slip around his feet, heady weightlessness overtook his senses as his body began to drop backwards.

His tunic was rippling against him, his hat barely remaining fixed on his head as he plummeted into the yawning pit, his eyes now wide open in fear as the seconds of the drop seemed to drag unnaturally. Then he felt something grab at him and he sagged down into what felt like a silky hammock, his hands still madly snatching at the air around him. He caught his grip on something ropey and taut and let his breath out, suddenly remembering the huge webs within the hole, oddly thankful for them.

The moment of reprieve was taken away by the poking of a small horn over the edge of the pit’s mouth above him, the shrieks accompanied by the clicking of teeth as the creature’s full body came into view, leaping down off the edge. The force of it came down on his torso, its little mouth repulsively close to his face, teeth dripping with syrupy drool and miniature pincers tapping together in a sickly rhythm over what was now a rambling, gargling sound.

Link flailed his arms out in front of him, grabbing the beast by its sides and trying to fend it off by pushing it back, those pincers getting threateningly close to his face. He felt the bristling hairs of its skin and the thick humour of its eye and turned his head away, shouting in disgust and resistance. “Link! What are you doing?! By Din, use the blasted sword you idiot!” hollered Navi, leveling herself right in front of his face.

“I – ah – yeah, of course!” he yelped, pulling his left hand to his back to unsheathe the Kokiri Sword, feeling it slice through strands of web as he struggled to bring it in front of himself, that horrible thing still writhing and gargling. His hand trembled as he tried to align his plan of attack in his head “I – how do I –“

“Just attack it!”

He swung the blade out across blindly, turning away and avoiding the sight of its first kill by his hand, instead feeling the sickening, momentary resistance of flesh against its edge before the arc completed on his right. The mad thrashing and pushing against his arm stopped, replaced by a slight quivering and a warm sensation that leaked over it. With a peek up his saw the work of his hand and blade before him: the jag of bone on the beast’s head now a stump exuding vile yellow-orange pus. That bulbous eye was now dull again as its body tilted sideways and, with a last, rasping shriek, fell through a gap in the web into the dark beneath, its fall ending with a splash.

His hand was still shaking as he speechlessly turned to Navi, breathing deeply as he tried to regain his bearings. But again there was no relief to be had as from above there was that wet, ripping sound again, this time seeming to come from all sides, a dissonance of multiple, hatching eggs. “Quick, we have to get down before they find out where we are!” spoke Navi, as the ground above became host to the patter of dozens of newborn feet.

He squirmed and kicked to loosen himself from the web, but it adhered viciously to his clothes and skin, fixing him in place. He thrashed about a little before stopping, bobbing up and down awkwardly in the web’s grip. “Oh come on, again? Use the sword!” groaned Navi.

“Sorry,” he replied, embarrassed. He readied the blade again and began swinging it every which way around him, cutting through multiple strands of the voluminous web, feeling his steadiness waver as the threads he lay on grew fewer and fewer, and his body began to sway uncontrollably as he continued to cut away.

As the steps above grew uncomfortably close, the remaining web snapped soundlessly beneath him. He began to tumble down into the void below, biting his tongue to stop himself from making any noise as the weightlessness returned. The spot of the light above became smaller and smaller, framed by a growing ring of darkness as he fell, enclosing him. He felt his hat flee from his head and twirl up into the air, floating into his vision above him and evading his frantic grabs.

There was a sting against his back as it broke the surface, accompanied by a loud plunk and splash; water flew up all around him and drenched his face, hair and clothes in a cool wash. Righting himself with sword still in hand, he took a moment to tread the water, looking around for his hat that had surely fallen nearby, eyes once again adjusting to the even heavier darkness that swallowed the area. Putting the Kokiri Sword back into its scabbard, he turned on the spot, treading water amongst wavy clumps and strands of sodden web floating on the surface. He found his hat floating a few feet away and swam over to take it back before going on to seek dry land.

Navi came down gradually, taking her time as she descended in a spiral, muttering to herself. Link made it to a muddy bank nearby and hefted himself to his feet, feeling distinctly heavier. After shaking his head rapidly to dry out his hair, he wrung out his hat and his clothes as hard as he could; leaving them crinkled but only a little damp. As he was emptying his boots Navi came close and spoke up, “Honestly, you have a sword, it’s not like there’s a rule against using it, especially if some little beastie is trying to bite your nose off!”

A little pink, Link looked away from Navi and to the boot he was still vigorously shaking the last drops of water from. He tried to turn the subject away from his swordsmanship, “Are you sure you don’t know what that thing was?”

Navi grumbled but went on to answer his question, “Well now that I think about it, I might’ve heard about something like that before, that awful eye really reminds me of something I may have read about somewhere, but I can’t say exactly what.”

“That one was enough of a pain, imagine what would’ve happened if those others had found us.”

“But you know what those eggs mean, right? They must’ve come from somewhere, and considering how handy you are with that there sword I’d say it won’t be such a pleasant time coming up against whatever laid them.”

“Just get off it, okay? I haven’t used one before!” objected Link weakly.

Navi merely bobbed in a sort of shrug. Trying to set his mind straight, Link took a look at his surroundings, he found himself in a small hollow in the dirt and rock, the reservoir he’d just fallen into taking up a large proportion of the space; the embankment he stood on tapered into the wall, beyond which the darkness blanketed his sight. Once again the source of light wasn’t solely that which leaked in from the hole above, but also from that same abnormal, hazy glow emerging from the air itself.

“We must be fairly deep now,” said Navi stiffly, containing her exasperation, “We can’t be too far from where the Great Deku Tree’s roots lie.”

“The roots? So if whatever it is that’s eating the Great Deku Tree came down here, it couldn’t find much else to eat further on, which means…”

“We can’t be that far behind it.”

He tensed.

“Let’s go,” Navi said, “We have to finish off what we came in here to do.”