Author Note: Welcome!! Though this is my first fanfic under darthritter86, I'm not totally foreign to fanfics in the least. I find that if I want a good story, I need your feedback...so please go and REVIEW!
Disclaimer: I own nothing...But Nintendo owns everything...well at least they own Legend of Zelda...sigh...I own nothing
Link, Hero of Time…
…Savior of Light and Shadow…
…the champion of all races, scorn of evil, defeater of tyrants in both his world and Twilight…
…with very last of his strength, physical and spiritual, Link strain not to cut Shad into little, tiny pieces and throw them into a river.
For three hours Link stood, sat, paced, laid, pulled grass, broke apart sticks, build a little house out of said stick pieces, and whatever else he could think of to pass the time. Meanwhile Shad was still standing in the same spot, gazing at the same inscription, on the same wall and he didn't show any sign of letting up. It was like had Link arrived by himself and found an amazingly Shad-like statue, facing the wall. If he had been any warning of this, Link would have brought a book.
This is a nightmare……but one which Link could easily awaken from. A simple; 'Hey, Shad! How about 5-minute-break?' or 'Maybe we should start heading back?' Yeah…that could work……Shad should have started to feel hungry by now and would want grab a bite (evening though he hasn't done anything but stare at the wall). Unfortunately as simple as it was to get Shad to speed things along, the sinking-feeling in Link's stomach had halted him. The hero was the one who invited himself along on Shad's trip to the Temple of Time and he had promised to help Shad out on his research. Why would Link want to damn himself in such a way? Any price was worth it so that Link could get more information on the Mirror of Twilight……
Had it only been four months since Link saved Hyrule? Four months since he defeated Gannondorf and his minions? Four months since he last saw smart-talking Princess of Twilight………
Now Link was here, wasting away in the middle of decaying ruins with a…extremely talkative scholar and nothing to do expect wonder why he needed to meet a certain Princess of Shadows. Why had Link set out on a quest that he could never hope to succeed, even in a lifetime of searching? Midna and he had been through a lot together in such short amount of time……
No.
That would not be fair to group her into some great pedestal that was highter than the rest of his friends. They all been through those tougher days of Twilight and all were equally as important as Midna……right? Besides, she's safe and sound in her own world, with her own people. For crying out loud, Midna's royalty! She's being waited on by hundreds…even thousands of servants in the place where she choose to be! And Link needs to see her? Midna choose to destroy the mirror……not just for herself…….
"Link...I...See you later."
The memory was eerily as clear as the day it happened. The feeling of the desert sun…tears in her eyes…the cracking of glass………it haunted Link. What Midna had said…no way could that there was. He wouldn't let that be their last words together. Even if it cost him his life, Link will see the Twilight Princess once more……
A low thud of a book closing awakened Link from his thoughts. He looked to see Shad face him instead of the ancient writings…a somewhat smug and somewhat tired expression was printed across his entire body (he had just been standing for 3 hours). Suddenly his features change dramatically to shock, as though he just released something.
"Link!!" Shad exclaimed and then with sigh continued, "Oh may…You were so quiet for such along time. I forgot you were even there!"
"Thanks, Shad. It's real nice to know that I have that kind of impression on you." Everyone knew Link wasn't the noisy-type. Hell, he didn't even remember talking throughout his last adventure, but HOLY CRAP! He was right behind Shad!!
"So…" Link proceeded to ask, "What have you been looking at these past few hours I've been wastin-err…waiting for you?"
"Ah, yes……My dear friend, I believe I have discovered one of the most…nay the most important breakthrough to archeology as a whole!" The look of success and triumph returned to Shad's face as moved his body into a thespian-like pose, hand raised to shoulder height and arm out stretched as he pointed into the distance……
Link, taking his theatrical arranged friend as showing his finding, followed Shad's finger to a wall some feet away. The wall itself was less than wall and more of an overgrowth of vines with a few snails and spiders crawling across it. How were bugs and plants earthmoving, the hero thought to himself. As Link turned back to Shad, he found him walking away from him and to a pair of stone doors. Link instantly recognized them as the gate that let him into the Temple of Time, fully restored, in an era when the structure was intact.
"Link." Shad said, bringing the hero's attention back to him, "When you described these ruins to me, you said you used this doorway to cross time itself, right?" Shad was simply answered with nod from Link and he went on, "You also said that when you returned to this age, the doors would no longer open?"
"Yeah that's right. When I came back I couldn't pry them open or anything." Where was the scholar going with this?
Shad only smile and reached into the Hero's travel pack. After emptying its contents into a small mountain of metal and sharp things (why Link needs steel shoes to sink underwater with that much junk, only the Gods knows) he retrieved the item he needed……the Dominion Rod. Shad held the ancient shaft in front of Link and himself. Even in the bright sunlight, the green glow of the Rod gave their faces a lime tint. Link thought it was funny that the same relic that provided Shad with his first breakthrough would once again prove helpful on Shad's newest discovery.
"Link" Shad had finally spoke up, "the Dominion Rod, the ancestral technology of Oocca……This is the key to Hyrule's past!!" Shad's eyes were wide and a vivid state awe was reflected in his face.
"Imagine it Link!! To see history come to life! To watch the first Kings of Hyrule struggle in it's erection, hear languages that long since died off be spoken again…to meet the Oocca in a time when they and Hylians both shared the land……Link, we simple mortals can't begin comprehend what can done with this power!"
But Link could see exactly what this new power could do. He's seen first hand what magic at this level had done to their world and how it turned men with dark thoughts into the oppressors of evil. The potential to change the past and civilization as they knew it would be too hard to pass by……for anyone……
That day four months ago……
"Link...I...See you later."
Could Link let this pass by? The answer to his mission and all his questions was lying in front of him……but at what price? Risking all of existence to see one girl…no matter how tempting the thought was, no way could Link be that selfish. Shad couldn't help but see his friend struggle internally on the new issues that had come from his greatest discovery. We all have personal demons that needed to considered during times like these, Shad silently thought,…Link most of all……
But all negative repercussion aside, time-travel could only help mankind…at least that's what Shad had always dreamed of.
"Well, Link…" Shad interrupting Link's thoughts, "Let's try to see if we can even get these relics working. I hate get us both excited over nothing."
"Right" Link replied with slight nod and half smile, "So! Where do we plug this thing in?"
"If it was only that easy" Shad scoffed, "No, unfortunately, a different course of action is required to be performed……"
Shad shift his body back towards the doorway, raising the Dominion Rod to point its lustrous sphere at the edifice. In dull whisper, foreign and forget words were uttered to form a small incantation. Its meaning escaped Link, though he remembered hearing a few of the words when Shad had re-imbued the Dominion Rod with power. Suddenly the green globe at the end of the shaft shootout at the doorway, incasing it a lime green light……Then the light seemed to crawl over the doors, forming fluid lime green lines across the its surface. In the middle of gate, the lines traced a figure of a bird under the Triforce, the symbol of Hyrule royalty that Link had seen throughout his journeys.
Clank
The sound seemed echo around in air for few seconds…and then…the door slowly groaned open. Link and Shad stared in wonderment as the doorway reviled a pool of water-like…something. The portal reminded Link of look at the surface of a pond during a cloudy day, a dark gray color disturbed by small waves that rolled over its self. But the big difference between the pond and the portal was that the portal was standing strait up, perpendicular to the ground, and didn't seem the least bit concerned with gravity. Link was pull from his daydreaming by a yelp for a masculine (though not that masculine) voice. He turned to see Shad slowly being drag toward the open doorway as he stubbornly refused to let go of the Dominion Rod. Link sprang into action and caught the Rod a foot away from enter the portal.
"Oh, thank the Deities for your heroic strength. I thought I was done for!!" Shad exclaimed…even though Colin had a stronger pull than the Rod had, in Links opinion. Shad relinquish the Rod to Link's grip and took a step back, "Who would have expected such an odd react?"
"So we got the doors to open……now what?" Link asked as turned to Shad for an answer, but the expression on Shad's face said it all. He wanted to jump through and start a conversation with a caveman, but Link was a little hesitant to let him go after seeing Shad's…manly display of strength, "Maybe I should be the one goes in and you stay here Shad. I am more experience at time-travel than you are, anyway."
"I guess there's no denying it." Shad stated with sigh, "You are the Hero after all…and I'm just a bookworm. If I got into a scrape I do not think I could handle it that well…"
"Ok, it's settled. I'll go into the past myself-" Link then remembered that he no idea where this portal would lead him. He could very well be walking into the caveman era! "Say…Shad…do you have any idea how far back I'll go?"
Shad took a minute to think the question over, chin between fingers and eyes closed. Sometimes Link thought Shad belong in some overpriced Castle Town play instead of the real world. He was the most dramatic archeologist (he knew so many).
"I would say…six……seven years at the most, yes."
Shad's reply wasn't quite what Link expected and the confusion was plain see on his face. I'm really only go to travel that far? The hero thought, less than a decade?! The desire to slice Shad into piece had mysteriously returned to Link……
"Shad…" Link said in a low tone, etched in anger, "Did you get me bent out of shape all because of 7 years?!"
"But it would be dangerous if you went further!" Shad defending his position as he recoil from his annoyed friend, "Any dated farther than 50 years and you'd risk exhausting the Rod's power source!"
Link let out a long, drawn out sigh that help him extinguish his anger. In the grand scheme of things, seven years was perfect. Link certainly didn't want to go to the ancient times……and he couldn't stop himself if he was back four months ago……
"Well I guess I'm going…"
"No! Wait!!" Shad said quickly and then wrote something onto a small piece of paper. He handed the paper to Link and continued, "That spell is what's needed to return this time. I translated it into modern Hylian syllables, so you should be able to pronounce it."
"Should be able to, Shad?" Link asked apprehensively, "You mean if it doesn't work, I'll have to wait seven years to get back?"
"All the better that it's only seven instead of a hundred." Shad retorted with smile, "Now then, off you go."
So much for excuses, Link thought……He knew the risks and he never had or ever will run away because of danger. But every time someone told him a risk, the risk turned out to be a thousand times worse. Link was use to risk, but he didn't have to like it. It would have been better if he never knew.
"One small step for Hylian…"
And with that, Link let the pull of the Rod move him toward the portal. The moment he meet its surface Link felt an odd displacement sensation, but it was familiar from his last adventure. A second later Link's vision went complete white……so white that even when he closed his eyes the void remain. The void of white dissolved to black of his eyelids, apparently Link made it through. The first thing Link saw when he opened his eyes was the one thing he expected. He was outside. Though it was extremely dark…too dark even for it to be night alone. Link gazed upward, guessing a stormy sky would face him. No sky…the only thing that met Link's sight was leafs and branches…and upon further investigating he found he was no longer in a ruin covered field. He was now deep within a dense forest, trees reaching high into heavens, blocking out any thought of light. When Link turned around to the doorway he just existed from, he discovered that the stone doors and arch were gone, replaced by the lines of green light that had covered the gateway.
"…one giant leap for Hyliankind."
Link's comical comment (as terrible a pun as it was) was small comfort for him. He knew what his new surroundings meant……The Temple of Time had been in ruin for hundreds of years and was probably build over 500 years ago……so…not 7 years in the past. Further……
"Oh boy…"