The Legend of Zelda: The Hero's of Hyrule

Destiny

I couldn't explain to you in words how I felt.
I was just told that my father was the hero of Hyrule. A man tasked with the protection of the kingdom, wielding a powerful sword, and using it to seal away the dark evil that had infected the land.
The same hero who failed. Even if I was the son of this hero, if he had failed, how was I in any way capable in taking up the mantle? It was absurd, ridiculous and outrages. I wanted to stand there and yell, tell Impa and Sheik how ludicrous their claims were. Why would the son of the Great Hero of Hyrule be living all the way in the Ordon Province? Would he not be safe with a Hylian family within the castle town? Or maybe Kakariko Village.
Yet somewhere deep within me I felt something. Something was agreeing with what these strangers were saying. Something within me was calling out, telling me to trust and believe in these two individuals.
Ever since I had learned of my past from Rusl, I cannot deny that I had a sense I was here for something greater. That I was spared, saved by Rusl within that deep forest for a reason, and going back there will give me the answers I needed.
So Instead I stayed Silent. I listened as Rusl and Impa argued about going deeper within the woods, how the Lost woods were impossible for any human to navigate.
I looked over to Sheik. He was staying silent as well, however he would not take his eye off me. He wasn't staring menacingly, it felt more like he was watching me, waiting for me to accept the inevitable.
He caught my gaze and his demeanour shifted, he twisted a little against the wall and his eye responded to my silent agreement.
'Well then let me here it,' Rusl declared sarcastically, 'how do you suppose Link traverse the untraversable forest.'
Impa could not answer, but Sheik knew I had figured it out.
'The Fairy.' He answered for me.
Impa and Rusl now noticed Sheik and I having a silent conversation.
'What do you mean the fairy?' Rusl answered, I could tell he was getting frustrated now.
'Well I remember my mother telling me about the Kokiri when I was younger." I noticed something tender in Sheik's voice as he began to explain.
'Once a Kokiri was old enough, which is a funny thing to say considering they do not age over ten years old, they receive a fairy partner who joins their side for life.' There was a sense of wonder in Sheik's one eye. Apparently, no one else saw it for Rusl looked at him blankly, but I understood.
'Link may not be a Kokiri from the forest but maybe that fairy who led you, Rusl, through the forest was sent by the Great Deku Tree to be Links partner fairy." Sheik explained further. Rusl looked at me. His expression was one of frustration and expectedness.
'Well Link? Where is your fairy partner?' He asked, very sarcastically, which I did not like very much. Just in spite of Rusl I turned around with saying a word and walked outside.
The sun was well on its way to setting now and Uli had finished hanging the washing. She was now tending to the small garden farm beside the house along with Colin. He waved at me and I waved back. I thought to myself as I looked around the village, if I had a fairy partner, how would I summon it? I closed my eyes to concentrate, and I heard the three from the house hastily stumble through the front door to watch.
I called out in my mind to any fairy who might have had a connection to me when I was a baby. I called out to the forest, the Kokiri forest.
I felt a pull in my chest, like a pull directly from my heart. I flung my eyes open but there was no fairy. I dropped my shoulders and turned around. Rusl was on the ground with Impa on top of him and Sheik had his hand around Fado's mouth. They all sighed, while Fado tried to protest however it all just came out muffled. I furrowed my brows at Sheik who released Fado.
'Oh, thank you sir, ehem. Link could please come back and wrangle the goats up for the night?' he asked.
I nodded my head slowly; I felt a little defeated that no fairy had come to me.
'Hey, Link its okay,' Rusl said as he wiggled his way out from under Impa.
'I'm sure if you take Impa and Sheik with you tomorrow to the Lost Woods and you all end right back here then its not meant to be. But for now we should all get ready for the feast.' Rusl said, ushering both Colin and Uli back inside the house.
'The feast?' Impa asked.
'Yes, The Mayor and my family will eat tonight together at his house, along with the one who was able to obtain our dinner, Link.' I knew Rusl had said that to lift my spirits, and it worked, I stood proudly.
'As visitors of Ordon, I'm sure the Mayor would love to have you two along with us for the feast.' Rusl begrudgingly added.
'Well we better get those goats inside then.' Fado said, and I nodded in agreement. I began to head off with Fado when Impa stopped me.
'Do you mind if I tag along with you? Sheik, you can stay behind here?' Sheik nodded and joined Rusl's family.
Fado and Impa went on ahead while I quickly raced over and grabbed Epona. I trotted through town on her back and was not too far behind Impa and Fado. I kicked at Epona's sides and she broke into a gallop and easily jumped over the fence before Fado could open the gate. I didn't look back to check Imp and Fado's expression, but I think they would have been impressed.
The goats were pretty close together this time around, and they seemed like they were ready for to head inside for the night. It wasn't hard to round them up and I push the little group towards the stable, Epona cantered behind as they formed a single file line and moved into the stable.
Once the last one was in Fado closed the gate and we were done with it. He held his hand out and I made contact with it with my hand as Epona trotted past.
Fado opened the gate this time for Epona and together we left the grazing area. Fado said good day to us as he jogged backwards, just making one last check on the goats. Impa walked beside Epona as she trotted down the path back to the mayor's house.
'Your father rode amazingly like that; I knew him you know.' She said. She didn't wait for answer and continued.
'Yes your father was a fine horse rider a finer swordsman. Everyone loved him and believed in him. When he... Well I just..." I could tell Impa was holding back tears as she was saying that. It went silent for a few seconds and then she spoke again.
'You look just like him.'
We had reached The Mayors house and I dismounted Epona, tethered her to a fence post and let Impa inside. I was greeted at the door by Ilia, she gave me a hug and I introduced her to Impa. Ilia led us deeper into the house to a large dining room. Everyone was seated at the table waiting for us. Colin patted the seat next to him gleefully and I joined his side.
'Well we welcome our guests here today, sorry, what where your names again?' Bo asked, sitting at the head of the table with a pitcher of milk in his hand.
'Uhh, I am Impa and this is my companion Sheik." Impa said.
'Urr right, We welcome Impa and Sheik to our little humble village with this amazing feast tonight. Prepared by my lovely daughter Ilia, we have pumpkin which we grow locally, but we could not have eaten like kings tonight with some lovely veal if not for Link here, so too Link!' Bo held the Pitcher up high and started to drink from it, not realising that no one had milk in their cups. Ilia rolled her eyes and grabbed an extra pitcher and poured everyone some milk.
We all drank together and ate together. Colin was telling Ilia and I stories about what he did today with the children. He told us how the kids were playing around the waters edge where Sera's cat was trying to catch a fish. Talo tried to sneak up on the cat which frightened it, which frightened Talo and he fell in. Colin said he then jumped in after him and with Beth's help pulled him out.
'Well look at that, what does Link always say?' Ilia said. Colin turned in his seat and tried to look older and more mature, he put on a voice and said, 'Colin, you are always so brave even if you do not think it yourself, you may feel frightened, but remember, courage is not the absence of fear, but the mastery of it,' laughter erupted around the table at Colin's impression of me and he tried to hide his embarrassment.
'So, Impa and Sheik, what brings you to this town? Not to steal our fortified pumpkins?' Bo joked, smacking Rusl against the shoulder with his great big hand, who nervously laughed with him, but looked genuinely in pain from being hit from the big man.
'Well we came in search of the Hero of Hyrule of course, which we found, Link." A Silence fell over the room.
Bo let out a chuckle, 'Link? The Hero of Hyrule? Please believe me, Link is an extraordinary young man, I may not know how exactly he came to this town, but I'm glad he did. But Hero of Hyrule? I've never heard anything so ludicrous.'
'Well it is true, In fact the previous Hero, Links father, I knew him, and Link is the spitting image of him, that's why tomorrow we are going to venture through the Lost Woods to find out more.' Impa explained.
'No, you can't it is way too dangerous.' Ilia interjected.
She did have a point. I had tried a few times in the past to no avail, and I did come across a few monsters I had to run away from. But now, more than ever, there have been monster sightings, even in Ordon forest. They seem to be getting closer and closer. Luckily, we had Rusl, who was training Bo and Jaggle in swordplay, in case something would happen.
'It's okay young lady, Sheik and I are highly trained warriors, we will protect Link.' Impa reassured.
'No, just no,' Ilia was now standing up, the scrape of her wooden chair legs across the wooden floorboard filled the room with awkward air. I noticed Colin was looking at the floor twiddling his thumbs.
'Father you cannot allow this, the lost woods are dangerous and off limits.' She pleaded to Bo. Sheik had stood up now, adding more tension to the situation with the scrape of his chair.
'We must travel through the lost woods and find out more about Links past, The Great Deku tree is the only one who can tell us the truth about Link.' Sheik explained.
'And I said it is too dangerous, and Link is not going, I do not care how well trained you two are.' Ilia turned to her father waiting for him to respond.
'Darling...' Bo was stuck in an awkward position.
'If these two travellers say they can protect Link then I say they should be able to go, maybe Link is this Hero and they need to find out.'
Ilia didn't say a word, she just turned and walked off and we all heard the front door slam shut behind her.
'Please excuse her, she always gets this way when she is thinking of Link.' Bo said, apologising to Impa.
'It's fine, she seems to have a soft spot for the boy.' Impa said. I looked away hiding my red cheeks.
'I'll go after her, maker sure she is okay.' Bo began to stand but I stood up quicker and held my hand out. Bo sat back down and nodded, dismissing me.
I raced after Ilia and when I got outside, I noticed Epona was gone. Where would Ilia take Epona too? I thought of the spring. she would probably take Epona to the spring just passed by house to clean her from all her work today. Being at the spring was a good place to clear your head, and Ilia could always organise her thoughts better when performing a task like cleaning Epona.
I jogged off down the path, passed the water wheel, passed my house and then into another clearing where a gentle spring lived.
It was a beautiful spot, especially in the moonlight. It would bounce off the water creating a glittery mist. Rusl once told me that if the conditions were right, and on a full moon, being in the spring could allow you to communicate with the spirit who protects the Ordon forest.
As I suspected Ilia was cleaning the mud off Epona in the spring, she had rolled up her leggings, but they were still getting wet as she washed away the dirt. She never cared though, never cared if she got wet or dirty, just another part of her free spirit. I got closer and Ilia noticed me, but she didn't turn to me.
'There has always been something special about you Link.' She continued with her work, now at Epona's hind legs.
'I could never quite put my finger on it, but I knew something was different about you,' she got up and approached me now, her hands were on her hips and she leaned forward.
'But are you sure this is it? The son Of the Hero of Hyrule who died in battle against the evil?'
I nodded. I wasn't lying, I agreed with her, something was different about me, and it could be this thing, this destiny, and I had to go to find out.
She dropped her arms in defeat and hung her head down with a heavy sigh.
'I know you don't talk much Link, but sometimes I wished you would use your words.' She jokingly said.
'Sorry," I replied. She lifted her head and couldn't hide her smile.
'You know I think that's the first word I have heard you say all day.' She laughed a little, and I couldn't help but laugh as well. Suddenly we heard a voice, a voice that was getting louder and louder.
'Watch out!'
Ilia and I looked around but could not find the source of the voice, then the tiniest, and frankly pretty anticlimactic, amount of water splash up beside me. I leaned in to see what it was, and a small glowing orb flew out of the water. It flew around my head about four times before stopping, then it flew straight at my face. I stumbled backwards nearly falling over.
'Oh my, I made it! I'm here Link! Whew, I'm a little out of breath just hold on.' The orb said.
Once it stopped darting around so much, I noticed that within the orb was a small person, a fairy. My eyes widened.
'Yes, it is me, your fairy, Navi.' The fairy said as if reading my mind.
'I'm sorry It took so long for me to get here, I took a wrong turn in the Lost Woods and ended up near some crazy guy with some large hair and a bird, but luckily a nice monkey gave me directions and I am here now, do not worry.' I stared at the fairy in awe. She had appeared now, which meant I was special, I needed to head into the forest. Suddenly Ilia and I heard an ear-piercing shriek coming from the Village.