10th installment of the VGNU.
The scars of battle run deep in Hyrule's history, but the worst is yet to come.
Again the cycle begins, and a hero must answer the call, no matter how cruel and unfair.
(Originally published 2020-2021)
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
In the vast, deep forest of Hyrule... Long have I served as the guardian spirit... I am known as the Deku Tree... The children of the forest, the Kokiri, live here with me. Each Kokiri has his or her own guardian fairy.
However, there is one boy who does not have a fairy...
The Great Deku Tree stood in the center of his clearing, watching over the forest. The children of the forest were all asleep, the early morning sun having only just peeked over the distant trees on the horizon.
"Navi..." the Deku Tree called. "Navi, where art thou? Come hither..."
A tiny blue fairy fluttered out of the trees around the clearing. She was nothing more than a ball of light with four glistening wings -- should you look without a second glance, that is -- but if you looked closer you'd see the frail elven body the light hid. This was Navi, a young fairy.
She flew up to hover before the Deku Tree, answering his call.
"Oh, Navi the fairy... Listen to my words, the words of the Deku Tree... Dost thou sense it? The climate of evil descending upon this realm... Malevolent forces even now are mustering to attack our land of Hyrule... For so long, the Kokiri forest, the source of life, has stood as a barrier, deterring outsiders and maintaining the order of the world..."
The Deku Tree took a deep breath as he fought against his deep rooted age, Navi waiting patiently for him to continue. "But, before this tremendous evil power, even my power is as nothing... It seems the time has come for the boy without a fairy to begin his journey... The youth whose destiny it is to lead Hyrule to the path of justice and truth... Navi... go now! Find our young friend and guide him to me... I do not have much time left. Fly, Navi, fly! The fate of the forest, nay, the world, depends upon thee!"
Navi nodded vigorously, already flying down the path to the village hidden in the forest. She was so excited to finally be paired with one of the Kokiri! It was something every fairy waited for. Navi had thought she was too young, but the Deku Tree seemed to think otherwise and Navi wasn't going to argue!
She zipped through the branches, shooting out of the treeline and rising to get a look at the houses. Each was made from its own large tree, hollowed out and chopped down. The ingenuity of the children of the forest never ceased to amaze her. Some of the children waved to her as she flew over them. Navi spun to greet them, saying hello to them as they got up for the morning.
Then she realized she was lost. She knew who she was going to see, but she'd gotten herself turned around.
There it was! The tall tree with the ladder up to a small porch. She flew straight for it, but in her excitement she hadn't noticed the fence in her way. She smacked right in to it. Laughing as she shook herself off, she finally arrived at the home which belonged to the boy without a fairy.
She hovered above the little boy still snoring on his bed. "Hello, Link!" she said cheerfully. "Wake up!"
I'd say my only regret in the Zelda series so far, is cutting out the moment where Link from Skyward Sword planted the Deku Tree. It got cut when I transcribed the game as a movie (the start of this whole project) and when I moved it to be a novel it just didn't fit back in. Even through these re-edits, I couldn't quite find a place for it without it feeling like "And then for some reason Link planted a tree."
I'd wanted a moment where maybe the Deku Tree acknowledged that he watched Link more carefully because he knew him 400-500 years ago. It would've been just after Navi left, here, where he would keep his thoughts to himself. It wouldn't have been a big deal anyway, so there didn't seem to be reason enough to force it to happen.
