This story is rated T for minor violence later on, and I guess a bit of possible depression and such. No bad language or anything like that included. This might even be an exaggerated rating, but I don't want to risk it.

I am not Nintendo. I probably shouldn't be left in charge of anything that big, either. It would probably end up going up in flames or something XD

Last Edited 5/7/19

Prologue

With every age of peace and prosperity, there is another of darkness and despair. In the ancient realm of Hyrule, many of these ages were caused by an ancient evil, which has endured and grown throughout the ages.

This evil's name and appearance changes with time. They say that, in the beginning, this evil was known as the great Demon King, Demise. However, the records that describe this demon king were old and weathered, even tens of thousands of years ago, the language as old as the earth below.

This evil is said to be reincarnated over and over, seeking revenge on those that trapped it… and power over all that is light. Demise, Ganondorf, Ganon, Dark Beast… slowly, the humanity of this evil was replaced by complete and utter malice for the hero's spirit and bloodline of the princess who constantly sealed it away, prohibiting its rise to power that was never meant to be.

In this day and age, the one that I will share the story of, this evil had lost every sense of humanity, the hollowness filled by the purest hatred for those who sealed it away. It no longer sought to gain control and power over the land, instead seeking nothing more than the satisfaction of Hyrule's complete and utter destruction.

This incarnation of the evil's hatred is known as Calamity Ganon. When it first reared its head, the ancient Sheikah realized it to be more powerful and destructive than ever before. Lack of a mind seemed to create a reckless sense of destruction in their newly reborn foe. In their wisdom, the Sheikah constructed an army of mechanical soldiers to protect the hero and princess before they dealt the final blow. The soldiers were dubbed as Guardians. They also created the great Divine Beasts, some of the greatest mechanical wonders in history, to weaken Ganon before the hero's attack.

That was ten thousand years before this story. The stories of before that have been lost to all but a few, yet remain vague and hazy even to they.

No, this story is of the people preceding the Age of Burning Fields. These people, despite their extensive preparations, were never quite prepared for what was to come. They are often blamed for the great destruction that followed their deaths - considered the greatest failures among failures. However, some do not realize just how extensive their preparations were, or how much tension built in their land.

This is the story… of the age before the Calamity.

The throne room was large and ornately decorated. Banners depicting Hyrule's somewhat iffy history draped the walls, colorful stained glass windows coloring the light flowing in and casting shades of blue and gold in the room.

The king, King Rhoam Bosphoramous Hyrule, sat tall and firm upon his throne. The throne was gold (It was probably solid- just goes to show how rich these people were), decorated with jewels, and the king rested his behind upon scarlet silk. Beside him on a similar throne, though considerably smaller, was the queen, Queen Zelda Bosphoramous Hyrule IV, who takes her name from the royal tradition of naming the first born daughters "Zelda." The reasoning behind this tradition is unknown, but people stopped asking questions a long time ago.

And before them bowed an elderly woman, beside her one that was far younger, looking about thirteen or so. Both had silvery hair and blood colored eyes, a defining trait of the Sheikah. I suppose that the eye tattoos and the Sheikah robes would also qualify as "defining."

"The signs of resurrection of Calamity Ganon are clear," The Sheikah elder said firmly. "The power to oppose it lies dormant, beneath the ground."

"And what would this power be, Lady Rala?" The king asked. Lady Rala, the older woman, was the royal adviser. The girl beside her was her apprentice.

"The machines created by the ancient Sheikah ten thousand years ago," The girl cut in, but not without a glare from her mentor. "They must be the key to defeating the Calamity."

"Is that a prophecy?" The king asked with the rise of an eyebrow.

"No," Lady Rala said plainly, giving her student a pointed look. "I apologize, Your Highness. My student tends to speak out of turn. We've received prophecies of the rise of the Calamity, of course - it's a mere matter of years before its revival. The ancient texts have made it clear that we must search the ground for the machines which are vital to the Calamity's defeat!"

"You believe that it is too powerful for the hero and my daughter to defeat it without dependency on these 'machines' of which you speak," The king stated.

"We should, at the very least, find the machines," The apprentice cut in once again. "Not only would they aid in defeating the calamity, but they would also give Hyrule an even larger amount of technology. They could be used in battles against other kingdoms, correct? Our armies would be invincib-"

"Impa, that is enough," Lady Rala scolded the apprentice. "His Highness will decide how they will be used." Lady Rala turned to the king, awaiting his response.

The king looked thoughtful. "If the signs are truly that clear… I give you permission to organize and oversee the excavation of these machines. Do as you must, Lady Rala."

Lady Rala bowed deeply before turning away, her... lively apprentice on her heels.

Weeks Later...

Come on, come on, come on! The young Rito, about twelve years old in age, pleaded as he pulled back an arrow, his sharp eyes set on the bull's eye before him.

He released it, sending the arrow into the third circle from the center. The young Rito groaned.

"Come on, Revali," Said a voice from beside the boy. He turned to see his mentor and father, a dark blue feathered Rito with sharp golden eyes. "You can do it."

The Rito child nodded silently before turning back to the target. He pulled back the arrow and aimed it to the best of his ability. Come on! He drew in a deep breath, before finally releasing the arrow.

Dead center.

The Rito child pumped a fisted wing in triumph. I got one! I did it!

"Well done, Princess!" The Zora smiled and gave a small clap.

The Zora princess smiled and placed her trident back on the wall. "Thank you, Seggin. May I ask you something?"

"Anything, Princess Mipha," The Zora said with a nod.

"I heard something about a troupe of Hylian knights visiting to share techniques and such," The Zora princess stated. "Is this accurate?"

The other Zora nodded. "Indeed. Only the best of them, of course. I heard they even managed to get Sir Koruma to come, though they had to agree to allow his family to attend beside him."

The Zora princess had heard of this "Sir Koruma." He was renowned as a natural leader, and an extremely skilled knight of the Royal Guard. He was offered the title of Captain of the Royal Guard, one of the highest ranks one could get, but he turned it down because it meant not spending as much time with his family. It was surprising that he agreed at all, though she supposed that Zora's Domain was a considerable vacation spot for families.

The Zora princess touched her chin thoughtfully. For some reason she felt that this trip was important in some way, though she could certainly be wrong. She was a young Zora, with a mind foolish and exaggerated.

The mighty Goron crushed the last of the remaining bokoblins, before turning to see who he had saved.

The man stood, brushing dust off of his trousers. The Goron did not understand why Hylians wore so much clothing, especially this close to Death Mountain. The poor man was probably burning to death, even more so because of the stuffy armor he was wearing. Not that the Goron knew how that felt. The closest to burning the Goron had ever experienced was when he had accidentally stepped in a puddle of lava.

The man smiled sheepishly. "Thank you. You must be Chief Daruk."

"The one and only!" The Goron grinned. "You gotta be careful up here. Monsters have been becoming more common around here."

"Y-yes, my apologies." The Hylian stumbled. "I'm actually here to ask for permission."

"Permission for what, now?" The Goron asked, genuinely curious.

The Hylian pushed up his glasses and stood up a little straighter. "I am here on behalf of Lady Rala to ask for permission to dig in these parts. We seek to find the mechanical army of Guardians due to the rising signs of the return of Calamity Ganon."

The Goron chief regarded the Hylian before him for hardly a moment before shrugging and nodding. "Anything for the Royal Family!" He patted the Hylian on the back, sending the knight flying forward.

"...Oops."

A tall, tan, red headed woman sat upon her throne, regarding the woman before her with interest.

"A Hylian messenger," The Gerudo chief mused. "What news do you bring us on this fine day?"

The female knight bowed her head. "The signs of the calamity have become clearer. We seek to search the desert sands for the mechanical beasts and the Guardians spoken of in the legends."

The Gerudo chief looked deep in thought. The room was in tense silence for minutes- wait no, months? It was in silence for what seemed forever to the Hylian messenger, but it seemed to be merely a single moment to the Gerudo chief.

"I will allow you to excavate within the Gerudo lands - on one condition."

The messenger tensed.

"If anything is taken from the desert without permission - that includes ancient machinery and any other object," The chief added, "then we will no longer permit excavation."

The messenger was relieved, but refused to show it. Instead she politely bowed her head again. "The Royal Family offers their gratitude."

The chief nodded. "I owe them for bringing our tribe back to Hyrule all those years ago." The chief sat up as straight as possible. "Sav'orq, Hylian messenger. Give my best wishes to the queen."

"Sav'orq, Chief Urbosa."

"Papa!" The little boy ran towards the knight, just dismounting before their home, with a wide grin.

The knight looked quite a lot like the boy. They had the same messy blonde hair, of the same shade and thickness. The only difference between the two was their eyes, the soldier having a laughing emerald and the boy having a piercing sky blue.

The knight had been patting his horse's neck before turning and seeing the child. The soldier's stoic expression shifted to a beaming smile as he saw the boy.

"Hello, my boy!" The knight greeted as he met the running child in the middle and plucked him off of the ground with a grin. "I missed you while I was away!"

"I missed you too, Papa!" The boy chirped as he hugged his father as firmly as one with such tiny arms could.

"Well, now," Said a female voice. The knight looked up at the brunette woman, with eyes to match the boy's, who stood in the doorway. "You're late," She said disapprovingly.

The knight placed the boy gently on the ground before giving his wife a peck on the cheek. "I ran into a bit of trouble on the way home," He said with a sheepish grin.

The woman sighed, before smiling. "So long as you didn't get injured."

"I have a surprise for both of you." The soldier drew them both into a huddle, the boy excited and curious, the woman looking quite amused. "How would you like to go on a trip... to Zora's Domain?"

The words' effect on the child was immediate. His eyes grew wide and sparkled with curiosity, and he pulled out to jump in excitement. "I get to meet the fish people!" The boy cheered.

"Zora, Link," The woman corrected with a chuckle.

"Zohrah," The boy attempted.

"Zor…" The woman said slowly, trying to get the child to copy her.

"Zor…" The boy said uncertainly.

"Rah." The knight chuckled in the background at their antics.

"Rah!"

"Zora."

"...Zohrah!"

The knight burst into laughter while the boy met a disbelieving look from his mother. It took her a moment to recover. "Close enough," She managed to say with a roll of her eyes.

The Hylian princess beamed as she twisted the wildflowers her maid had brought her into a beautiful crown.

"That is beautiful, my Little Bird!" The queen laughed. The queen lifted the flower crown off of the ground and placed it gently upon her daughter's head, among the sunny golden locks. "You make a beautiful princess."

Then the little princess frowned. "Princess Lana said that I'll be a really bad princess, though."

The queen's face matched her daughter's. "Now, that isn't true!"

"But Lana knows everything!" The little princess pouted.

The queen pulled the child into her lap. "Zelda, my love, all will be well in the end. You can do anything." The queen smiled her beautiful smile. "You can, and will, be the greatest princess this kingdom has ever seen!"

The little princess tilted her head at the queen, her young mind still within that wonderful youthful oblivion, before smiling. "Yes, Mommy! I'll make you proud!"

Hello there! Welcome to the rewrite of Before! I already like this one better! Hey, hey, I know that some of you aren't exactly happy with this. Feel free to set my lawn on fire.

So... to those of you that are new... whatever you do, DON'T READ THE ORIGINAL. It sucks, and it has a lot of spoilers! So, if you haven't already read it, please avoid it like the plague, because if you read it, you'll probably get the flu or something.

Also, I love reviews! Even a "You don't completely suck at this, Ari!" is extreme motivation juice. However, I have one rule about them. You can't write, "I'd rather stare at the sun for the next two hours than read another page of this." Because, for one, ouch! My feelings! And, if you only say "I hate this," then I can't fix it! So do give a reasoning for hating it. Then tell me how much you hate it.

It would also be nice if you told me about any grammar mistakes. I try my best to spell everything right and use proper grammar, but I found a lot of mistakes in my old story. So, do tell me if you see one! If you do, you'll get a gold star!

And to my old readers, try not to mention possible spoilers. I'm sure there are some newbies that read the reviews for some reason XD

Oh, and thanks to all of you that helped me figure out where to start chapter 1 (In progress now)! I would probably be stuck in a hole, carving ideas into the rocky dirt walls, and failing miserably to find out how to start this story! XD

Also (sorry, this is getting long), (Warning, possible spoilers for the newbies!) I am wondering if I should still include Fi in the same way as the last story. You guys are helpful, and you are also the readers. Should I keep Fi in it?

Thank you, guests, regulars, silent readers, and my old readers! I do hope you enjoyed this prologue!

Most sincerely (I MEAN IT THIS TIME),

Ari~