Chapter 3

Gannondorf was laughing in front of Link. And he was blocking the gap. Link knew that if he could get through the gap then he could get out of this horrible room, but he couldn't because of Gannondorf. But Gannondorf was getting closer... Link screamed and drew his sword...

only to see 8 eyes staring from above at him. Link pulled his sword free and drove it through the creature's heart, and then as it sat stunned, he jumped back from the Queen Gohma, and then flung again his sword at it until it was dead, and all Link had to do was walk into the light that had appeared in front of him.

He found himself outside on a beach in front of a giant cliff, and shaking, weakly sat down.

"Welcome, Hero of Time."

Link jumped to his feat again and spun around to see a woman in front of him, dressed in a flowing blue dress. He stared at her, wondering what dream he was in.

"I am a Siren, and come from here, Tail Island. But you come from Hyrule, not the Dungeon of Rock."

Her voice was so powerful that Link could only see her lips slightly quiver even though her voice was loud and clear.

"The Dungeon of what?" Link asked finally.

"The Dungeon of Rock, the Temple of Rock, it goes by many names. But you have just killed the monster that lives within it, and so released the curse."

He stared dazed at her. What was she talking about? He started again:

"But I..."

"You were captured there, you escaped, but it is not important. Important is your destiny."

"My..."

"Gannondorf with the power of Din destroyed Hyrule. Only the sages and the Hero of Time survived."

That made Link concentrate. Hyrule was gone? But then, where was he? And how had Gannondorf escaped?

"Where am I?"

"Nura, the land of the Gerudos."

Link knew the Gerudos well. Before he had betrayed them and killed their leader, Link had been one of them briefly, and the only other male member apart from Ganon. The Gerudos had been the only ones who had remembered what had happened to Ganon as Link had once perilously found out. He began to wonder how they knew, but then he thought of more important matters...

"Where's the sages? Where's Zelda?"

Zelda...She was a sage, surely she would be alive?

"You must find the six sages and wait for Zelda, Princess of Destiny to find you."

His heart dropped, and he found himself ashamed that he'd rather rescue her than all six sages. He shook his thoughts away and thought of a new question.

"How do I do that?"

"We will take you to a few mile walk away."

We? Who was we? Where was the rest of them?

"How?" asked Link, looking around for others

"You are not the only one who can travel by music," the Siren replied, before opening her lips again and starting to sing.

The song enchanted Link and all he wanted to do was stay here and listen to it for ever, but it gradually faded away and Link found himself at the bottom of a tall hill with only a distant town in sight.

His optimism left him and soon he was cursing his luck for having to walk up the hill.

He was on his own.

*-*

When Link stumbled into the Inn he was already tired, but aware of the task ahead. He had no money on him and it was unlikely the Inn would agree to a swap but Link had nowhere else to go. He walked into the Inn's bar and wandered over to a table where he sat down and waited for an idea to hit him.

He was surprised when another man sat down by him, and even more surprised when the man started to talk to him.

"You're not from here, are you?" the man asked.

Link shook his head slowly.

The man smiled. "Talkative aren't you?" he smiled, "where do you come from?"

Link looked at the man again. He was wearing a blue cloak that had a gold crescent on it, and lying on the floor beside the table was a sword of the highest quality. Link wondered who he could be.

"I come from...Hyrule..." he said, wondering if the man would have heard of it.

To his surprise the man stared at him and then...laughed.

"Hyrule? Are you sure about that? Who are you really?"

"I'm Link of the Kokiri, from Hyrule."

"So how did you get to be here?"

Link sighed, and then looked at the man wondering what he thought of him.

"Our land was destroyed by an evil sorcerer."

To Links astonishment this made the man laugh even louder, and Link began to get annoyed.

"That's good," the man laughed, "that's very good. Do you not know the legends, Link of Hyrule? Only one of our lands can exist at any one time. It is either Hyrule, or it is Nura. That is the way that destiny has decided for us. I Nala, Priest of our land have always hated your land, for according to the stars and the records kept, your land has been around for three

as long as ours, and so I have envied your land and hated it. And now I find that it has been destroyed, and that all that is left against our king (who has long tried to free our land from yours) is you."

"I have defeated him once before," Link said coldly.

The man looked surprised.

"Then I salute you, Link of Hyrule. And do not think of me as cruel. I support your quest, for I know that my life will go on, whether you break the curse or not, and you seem nice enough. But I ask you, why do you have no drink?"

"I have no money," Link said ashamed.

"Then you will need resources," the man noted, "and I seem perfect for that role. I am interested in your quest, and my influence in Nura will take you places that no one else could. So do you accept my offer?"

Link stared at Nala, but knew that he had no alternative so nodded.

"Yes, I accept."

That night Nala took Link around the town buying him as much equipment as Nala could afford with the money he had on him, and then he went and ordered more from the bank. Finally, they went back to the Inn, got a drink and some food, and Nala took out a large map and laid it on the table.

Link studied it, and recognised as a world map, with one slight difference, Hyrule was gone and Nura was there instead. Link watched as Nala performed several calculations on the map, and then as his mind wandered back to the conversation they had had earlier that evening, he asked, "Nala, how did the Gerudos get into Hyrule, and how are there so many men here?"

Nala answered as he continued his calculations, "There are Gerudos in Hyrule for the same reason that there is Hylinians in Nura. It is as it is. As for men? The Hylinians are responsible for them. There are many, many Hylinians here, but still the Gerudos blood runs clear."

"What do you mean?" Link asked.

"The Gerudos have not become part Hylinian, the Hylinians have become part Geared. It is a proven fact."

"What are you?"

"I am Hylinian, all men are Hylinian here. Only one Gerudo man is born every 100 years."

Link looked around, and then said, "What are you a priest of?"

"Nura, the god by whom this land is named."

Link looked though the window, and finally asked, "Have you worked anything out yet?"

"There is only thing I am certain of about our route. We must not travel by sea," he laughed.

"Why not?" asked Link puzzled.

"You haven't heard have you?" he sighed, "Sorry, I should have thought. Another Hail pretender is at sea at the moment. No ship is safe."

"Hail?"

"You don't know her either? She's supposed to appear when the Distile comes, a time prophecised since the beginning of the world. So every decade somebody pretends to be her, and has all the pirates following her for a few months before they realise that she's a fake. Then....death. if they haven't run away already."

Nala suddenly brightened as an idea struck him. "We are getting nowhere here," he decided, "let us go to the temple and I will call on Nura there. She will guide us."

Link agreed and they began to make their way across the city. As they went Link saw many beggars, but the strangest one was a man who was wearing a kind of metallic looking suit. He kept on pestering Link asked for a donation.

"Ignore him," Nala said quietly, with a voice of disgust.

"I heard that," said the metallic man icily.

Nala walked on without looking back.

"Walk on, Chi'Lah. It will not make your god real," said the man with hate in his voice.

"How dare you!" shouted Nala, finally responding and turning around. "You shall never get a penny out of my pocket."

With that Nala stalked off, and Link was about to follow when he saw something strange about to happen. The metallic man was getting strangely more reflective and brighter. And then Link realised that it was not his own face reflected that he could see, but the other side of the street. The man was becoming transparent. Suddenly Link realised that he could no longer see the man, and he was left staring astonished into mid air. Finally he ran on to catch Nala up.

"What did he say?" Link asked, still panting from the run

"Chi'Lah," Nala said coldly, "it is an insult to our god created by his kind. It implies that she was created by man. He could have something nothing worse."

Link heard a laugh, and blinked as suddenly the metallic man came into focus again, holding a purse which he threw back to Nala.

"You should be more careful with your money," the man laughed.

Nala turned on him and without saying a word (although his face said it all), drew a sword and cut the metallic mans hand straight off. It fell down onto the muddy road, and the blood began to pour from the mans arm.

Link stared at both of them, and then followed the metallic man as he crept over to a dark alley. Link found him sitting down and screaming in pain. The metallic man looked up at him and asked, "Who are you?"

Link replied, "I am Link of Hyrule. Who are you?"

The man made no comment and simply replied, "I am Kalen of the True Gerudos. We keep the old believes in lights superiority to the new in Magic and the like, and speak in the noble, old language."

Link looked at him again. "What are the new beliefs?" he asked.

"In Nura, the Chi'Lah," the man spat.

"Link," he asked, quietening down suddenly, "you do not know it, but any cut to one of us is fatal. It was a curse invoked by the Chi'Lah, long ago."

"You'll die?" Link asked, horrified.

The man nodded. "Take this, it is your destiny. It is our sacred broach which will allow you to perform the simple trick I just showed you without this heavy armour. I could not use the broach, for I am just a Hylinian. Only a Gerudo can use it. I...I...trust you."

With that the man died, and Link, knowing not what else to do, silently pocketed the broach the man had offered on his old hand, and made his way over to the huge Temple which he could see in the distance.

Inside the old temple many candles were burning, and Link could smell Incense as just one of the strange substances around. At the alter Link saw a figure in white ceremonial dress with a gold crescent embroided on it, which he finally realised was Nala. He had his arms stretched to the sky, and as Link looked closer he could see him sweating heavily. Nala finally turned around, looking exhausted but also shocked. His arms were scarred as if he had tried to cut them many times to farm his blood for the ceremonies.

"It has come," he said at last, "the Distile has come. Nala did not speak to me, she had been captured."

"The Distile," Link asked puzzled, "what happens in the Distile?"

Nala shook silently, white and terrified. "Our land either," he said at last, "...either becomes a new land alongside Hyrule or it is... destroyed. And now it has come!"

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