Around fourth grade, a little before my friend Marco introduced me to the Triforce symbol, my favorite video game character...was Mario. No idea about Zelda at all. We had little bingo sheets at school from which we got to pick our own homework assi...
This is an improved reprise of my second story, written years after the original, using my current and better writing style. Enjoy.
The sky was covered with a gloom, a gloom that seemed to have covered Hyrule since Ganondorf's defeat two years prior. The gloom made the sky nearly dark as night, especially in the forest where the war-torn hero took cover. He was on his weekly hunt, concealed in the bushes, waiting in silence for his prey to wander into sight. Link kept his hand on the Hero's Bow, last owned by his father, passed down since the days of Twilight.
Link had adapted to depriving himself of sleep, but the dark atmosphere made it difficult to stay awake as he bided his time. He sensed a stir in the clearing he had been watching.
Then he saw him: a strong, crowned beast, with thick brown and white fur, and dignity behind his eyes. Link felt an inkling of unwanting to kill this creature of such majesty, until his growling stomach said otherwise. His heart struck faster as the buck turned to look in his direction. Both were utterly still until the deer dashed off further into the clearing to find food further from where he heard the strange sound.
Link silently cursed his hungry stomach for scaring off his meal, and slowly, as quietly as he could, crawled out from under the shrubs without disturbing a single twig. He stood up from the dirt and steadied his breath in exasperation that there was now much further of a distance to shoot from. He was sure he would hit his target, but if he happened to miss, the family might have to go hungry for another night.
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The hunter made all movements slow from the moment he took an arrow from his quiver and nocked it to his bow. The deer looked so small as he began to feast on the leaves of a young oak tree. Link raised his weapon, filled his chest with air, and drew back his bowstring, relaxed, narrow eyes trained on the unaware animal. He released air from his lips, drew another breath, loosed the arrow and watched it cut at impeccable speed through the motionless air. The arrow soared and struck the buck, who let out a short-lived, shrill cry as his life poured from him. Link threw his bow around him, sprinted through the tall grass to meet his prize, and took the arrow from him.
It wouldn't hurt to have an early taste, the hunter thought, so he put his tongue to the arrowhead to taste and clean the blood, which stung his tongue with an amazing flavor, even though it was raw. Link stooped down and took the heavy carcass over his strong shoulders, glad to find at most a week's worth of meals.
His father, Paj, had gone out to Hyrule Field two years before and never returned, which left the teenage Hylian as the man of the house, to take care of his mother and sister. Only a month ago, Link's younger sister had gone on a surveying trip with her friends from Ordon Village, so their mother was presently home alone, planning a homecoming feast for her if they could even have one. Link in the past had taught his sister, Erille how to use a bow and arrow, but she wasn't interested in becoming as skilled as he was, so she used her bow only for defense on her expeditions. Link still was the only archer skilled enough to hunt for his family's meals.
As Link approached his home, he noted that the lights inside his home were fewer today, either because his mother was using only the light from the fireplace, or she went out to the village. He disliked her to go out alone because he foolishly believed the world was still riddled with monsters, so he forced her to carry his childhood sword.
All of this, he thought until entering the barn next to the cottage so he could hide the deer, in case a woodland bandit came along to steal it from the rotisserie pit out front. He slid the burden off of his shoulders and pushed the hefty barn door closed. The young man scratched the thin stubble that had begun to grow on his jaw as he opened the front door inside.
His mother would be pleased to find the delicacy that her son brought home. Link expected her greeting, followed by her offer of her always-boiling pot of tea, but no welcome was to be heard. Nothing was to be heard at all. The kettle was hanging over the fireplace, but the logs were dark. Things were out of place as if she suddenly decided to up and leave, the broom leaning against the kitchen table, curtains open, tools left out and in odd places. Link was startled when he kicked over a bucket of water he didn't see, which dumped all over the wooden floor with a splash that made his heart pound again.
The hero's mind resumed the paranoia of his journey, prompting him to instinctively draw his Master Sword that glinted in the ray of dim light that seeped through the window. He hadn't heard the sound of his blade against the metallic sheath in two years. The darkness of the silent cottage was more intense than ever before, almost giving Link the feeling of death when he surveyed the room. He began to creep around the house in search of any life at all. This was like his adventure, only this time, deep down, he was scared.
Link gathered his senses and courage and tried not to become nervous at the sound of his boots on the hardwood floor. He peered into his bedroom and found no one. His house was cold and colorless now.
"Mother?" Link found his mother's bedroom empty as well. The bathroom and closet were as such. "Erille?" Her room was also empty. Link began to tremble as he sprinted outside and back into the barn. His hand with the Triforce of Courage clutched the hilt of the Master Sword as he saw his wall of weapons staring back at him. The short sword that he gave to his mother still hung on the wall, as did his dagger, and the golden bow that he always wondered was a worthy weapon.
The barn door closed, leaving Link in pitch darkness. He scrambled to light his lantern, and peered behind him as the trapdoor to the basement loudly creaked open. Light in that basement didn't exist unless Link went down there to retrieve his Hero's Clothes, or to see what opened that door. His blue eyes grew and he gasped aloud when a sinister, high-pitched laugh filled his pointed ears and echoed through the house:
"I have them."
Link turned around, for he felt the breath of a small voice tickle his right ear.
"They are mine now," It spoke into his left ear this time, and Link swung his sword at empty air, "Come and get them if you can."
Link sensed a creature about his size slither along the ceiling and crawl around in the darkness of the barn, carelessly avoiding the light of his lantern.
"What's more," Link could swear he felt something brush the back of his neck, "I have your father too."
Link's fear immediately drained from him, and was replaced with boiling rage.
