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Prologue – The Hero of Time
A warlock clad in black armor slowly drifts to the ground, his golden eyes unfocused in the direction of his opponent. His eyes wander down, finally focusing on an arrow still glowing with magic and protruding from his chest. He starts to gasp, then focuses on the man in a green tunic standing in front of him, bow still up from the arrow he shot just moments before. "How… you…" he gasped, collapsing to his knees. He mumbles something, his voice gargled from the blood filling his lungs, then falls onto his face.
A pink crystal encasing a lone woman in an intricate gown drifts to the ground, and then evaporates, letting her land on the cold stone floor. Her ears are elongated, the only tell between the hylians and the humans, and her soft blue eyes look apathetically down at the slain dark wizard. "Ganondorf… pitiful man," she says quietly, more to herself than to the young man behind her. He slowly lowers his bow, approaching his nemesis cautiously. The sound of his leather boots echo in the vast chamber, the distant rumble of the volcanic moat audible at the base of this Dark Tower. "Without a strong and righteous mind, he could not control the power of the Gods…" her soft words, an epitaph for the fallen, though there is no pity for a man who has made her whole kingdom suffer for these seven long years.
This moment of silence is broken by a deep rumble from the base of the tower. The man's elongated ears, like the woman's, twitch under his long green cap. The princess looks from the fallen to the man standing next to her. "Link, listen to me! This tower will collapse soon. With his last breath, Ganondorf is trying to crush us in the ruins of this tower. We must hurry and escape. Follow me!" She turns quickly from him and begins to run down the stairs, with Link close in heel. Debary fall from the roof, and some of the passages crumble into the volcanic moat below. Halfway down, two resurrected skeletons cut off the woman, about to plunge their blades into her. Just before they do, Link jumps between them, deflecting the mameluke with his kite shield embroidered with the Royal Crest of the Kingdom of Hyrule. The princess, falling over backwards, looks up quickly at her savior. "Hurry!" she exclaims, "We don't have much time!"
A chuck of roof falls behind the skeletons, which look back and let their round shields lowering for a moment. Link seizes the opportunity and unsheathes an intricate silver blade called the Blade of Evil's Bane, charging it with energy, unleashing it on the skeletons and knocking them back. Getting up and dusting herself off, the princess turns back to Link. "Quickly! We are almost there!" They then continue down the stairs, and finally make it out of the front gate, just as the main tower begins to collapse. The tower crumbles in on itself, and a dust cloud envelopes the two hylians. The dust glows orange from the magma just below the hovering island, clearing to reveal the ruins that were once the Dark Tower. A glowing white light flutters towards the pair of survivors, its wings fluttering gently. The princess finally takes a deep breath, and then looks to Link. "It's over… it's finally over!" She sweetly smiles at her champion, his face lit by the fairy hovering by him. Link and the princess look deeply at each other. Suddenly, the fairy squeaks as the rubble begins to shift. She flutters to mans side, concentrating on the rubble as it shifts. "Link, I'm sorry I couldn't help you in the battle before!" Link, also concentrating on the rubble, nods his head. "Ganondorf's dark energy was too great. You would have only hurt yourself." Suddenly, the rubble bursts, reveling the dark warlock, his eyes unfocused and glazed. He thrusts his right hand before his face, the triangular pattern of the Triforce glowing red on his hand, as he murmurs inaudibly to himself. "By the goddesses!" the princess exclaims, "The Triforce of Power has resurrected him!" Link again draws his blade, cautiously approaching his adversary. Ganondorf suddenly lets out a blood curtailing roar, growing into a massive beast, a crazed boar in appearance but standing like a man, wielding two gigantic blades, each larger than Link. "Navi! Distract him!" Link calls, and his fairy companion begins to flutter before his face, the giant swatting at her with his blades. Link runs between its legs, and slices behind its knee, toppling it to the ground. A burst of light fills the area around the beast, as the princess stands by it with her hands stretched out. Without looking away, she shouts, "Link! I am holding the king of Evil with my power! You use your sword and deliver the final blow!"
Link then rushes to the head of the beast, whose watches him from the corner of his glowing red eyes. The champion raises his sword above his head, a blue light covering the blade with magical energy again, and brings it slashing down upon its neck. In a panicked pain, it broke free from the princess' power and began singing its blades around in a blind rage. After a few moments, the beast falls to a knee, bracing itself with one of its blades and finally it lets go and collapse to the ground.
In the Sacred Realm, an old Sage dressed in the robes of a monk begins an incantation. In a deep and booming voice, he says: "Ancient Creators of Hyrule! Send the Incarnation of Darkness into the Evil Realm!" In the tainted light, a black void opens, and a specter of Ganondorf's soul begins to be drawn in, screaming in feral rage. "You! Curse you, Zelda! Curse you, Sages! Curse you, Link! Someday, when this seal is broken, that is when I will exterminate your descendants! As long as the Triforce of Power is in my hand…" The specter is then swallowed up into the void, which closes behind him and leaves only silence. Somehow teleported to the Sacred Realm as well, Princess Zelda turns to Link. "Thank you, Link," her voice fatigued though her smile beamed at him. "Thanks to you, Ganondorf has been trapped inside the Evil Realm!" She then looks down, and the sorrow is visible on her face. "What we lost, what was sacrificed was great. It isn't fair to ask any of this from you. You deserve better." Zelda then looks up, extending her hand. "Link, give the Ocarina of Time to me. As a Sage, I can send you back to your original time." Link sticks his gauntlet clad hand into a pouch, and pulls out the ocarina. He stared at it, remembering the rainy night the young princess threw it to him as she fled the castle from Ganondorf seven years before. Finally, he places the ocarina into the princess' outstretched hand. She smiles at him, then lifts it to her lips, playing the ancient lullaby she had taught Link in the Palace garden so long ago, and link vanishes into light. "Thank you, Link," Zelda says quietly. "Thank you, and good-bye."
In the sanctum of the Temple of Time, a Link seven years younger is surrounded by light clutching the Blade of Evil's Bane. The blade is planted in the stone where he found it so many years ago, and Navi flutters around his young head. "You did it, Link!" she squeaked in her high pitched voice. "I'm glad I could help you when the Duku Tree sent me." The child looked up, though his eyes showed the experience beyond his years. "Navi, I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you for everything, but it is time you help another young grow up." At first, Navi seemed confused, but soon began to flutter about anxiously. "But what about you, Link? What are you going to do?" Link threw his hands behind his head innocently and began kicking at the ground. "I don't know. I will figure something out. But the Young Duku Tree will need you in order to grow and protect the Lost Wood." Link turned and began to walk to the entrance, the stain glass windows illuminating him as he walked. "Good-bye Link!" Navi cried out. "The world will never be able to repay you!" Link waved, never turning around. Navi began to fly to the open window at the top of the steeple. "You will always be our Hero of Time," she said quietly to herself. "It is sad that no one will remember what you have done for us."