Fan Fiction ❯ Destiny of a Hero ❯ A World of Darkness ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1 - A World of Darkness

He was alive. Around him flashed world of fantastic and vibrant colors. The epileptic array of colors assaulted his senses. Link began to feel ill. Sometimes he felt the sensation of flying, other times the sensation of rising. Nothing in the realm stayed constant.

Time was beginning to become endless. Link couldn't tell if he had been there for seconds or decades. Then there was an ending to the tunnel of light. A black hole that stood of from the color was pulling him to it.

There was a flash like lightening, then Link was spewed from the rift into the sky. Below him he could see the cold, hard ground. He landed on face first in the dirt, a plumb of dust rising around him. He tried to stand, but his feet failed him. The world around him faded into black.

*****

Dark figures plagued his dreams. A lone child stood in the midst of a raging battle. The child's eyes darted around, looking for a place to either run or to join the battle that was being played out around him. He held a small sword and a wooden shield, but all those around him seemed to pay him no mind.

Then, the figures became more pronounced. It was Ganondorf's horde of monsters battling with the valiant knights of Hyrule. Shrieks and commands were coming from both sides.

Suddenly, the ranks of the Hylian soldiers fell back. The confused monsters had but split second relief before a volley of arrows was shot into their ranks. The monsters howled in pain and retreated.

The crunch of metal boots upon the ground was heard. A tall man clad in black armor was walking through the monsters who fell to the side as he came through. His long red hair flowed around his head as the wind whipped around the battlefield.

A menacing smirk spread across his face. His body began to glow with purple energy. The sun that once was shining now became blotted out. A voice broke though the darkness, calling Link back to reality.

*****

It was Zelda's voice, "Link," she seemed to be on the verge of panic. "We're under attack!" she almost shrieked. With that he quickly jumped up to defend his princess. He unsheathed the Master Sword and swiftly looked around.

"Look out Link!" Zelda yelled. He turned just in time to see small, red skinned imp creature that brandished a short sword. As if by reflex, Link skewered the creature.

"What was that?" Zelda asked. Link pulled his blade free from the imp's shattered body. "I'm not sure," he answered, "I've never seen such a creature before."

They were in much different world. It darker and colder than either of them had even been exposed to. Rain began to pour from the dark, ominous storm clouds from overhead.

They were standing in the middle of an encampment. The encampment was surrounded by sharpened and fire-hardened spikes lashed together as a crude wall. Tents were strewn about in a haphazard fashion.

Lightening flashed, briefly illuminating the area. In the distance Link could see a battle raging over the only bridge that went over the crude moat around the encampment. Figures scrambled around as shouts and other sounds of battle became louder.

"What's going on here?" Link inquired from the nearest person not engaged in the battle. He was man dressed in blue robe, in the fashion of a person from the desert. He spoke in a heavily accented voice.

"Don't you know?" he asked. Link shook my head no. "You must be from far away. Demons have overrun the Rogue's Sanctuary. This is all that is left. The demons want them all dead and are now trying to finish the job. By the way young fighter, I'm Warriv, from Lut Gholain, the jewel of the desert." The strange man told me.

"I'm Link from Hyrule. This is Zelda." He pointed towards the princess. The shouts became more intense. Link looked toward the bridge and saw that the defenders were being pushed back by a horde of strange monsters.

Warriv caught sight of Link's sword. "What are you wasting time for?" he demanded. "You are a fresh fighter and you are just standing around. Go help them," he ordered.

Link nodded and turned to Zelda. "I don't want you getting hurt, stay here." Zelda threw her arms around him. "Stay alive," she ordered. He disentangled myself from her and started running to the bridge.

At the bridge, Link saw demons that were more frightening then anything that he had previously encountered. These blood thirsty monsters were wreaking havoc as they slashed, bit, and crushed anyone who got in their path.

Most of the soldiers fighting them were women with bows, but there were others as well.

One was huge white man that had a small black pony tail on an otherwise bald head. The giant of a man wore heavy armor and held a huge two-handed great sword and a grand tower shield. He was covered in tribal tattoos. He was handsome in a rugged way. He was fighting like an animal.

There was also a smaller, darker man that was about a head shorter than the previous warrior. He was about the same height of Link. He wore heavy armor, held a war hammer and tower shield, and was alight with some sort of magic that emanated from him to everyone within a certain radius. He was cool and collected. Every blow seemed like a deadly dance he was performing.

Next was a figure of pure unholy magic. He was a very pale man with short white hair whose light armor had a skull attached to the right shoulder. He was carrying a wand with a skull on top and was carrying a shield made of bone. What was most frightening was he was commanding a legion of undead horrors. They followed his orders, hacking or biting with anything they used in their former life at any enemy that came close to their master.

There were also two women with them. One was a white woman with a larger bow, heavier armor, and fairer looks than the other women. Her pale blond hair was pulled back into a long pony tail that fell past her shoulders. She commanded a glowing woman who looked like her, but held a pike rather than a bow. She reminded me much of Zelda. She moved with a cat like grace, fluidly shooting arrows into the demons.

The other woman, who was darker and who wore only tight fitting leather armor, held a huge two-handed staff, and blasted a wide array of elemental magic at the invading host of creatures. She was also quite an exotic beauty.

These five figures were single handedly trying to push these demons from the pits of hell back from the bridge. But as Link watched, awestruck, more demons started pouring out of a cave in the middle of the wilderness. The five heroes were starting to show signs of fatigue as the defending host was starting to lose the battle for the bridge.

Link sensed that someone was behind him and turned to face an old woman. "Though their power is great, the barbarian, paladin, necromancer, amazon, and sorceress can't hold off the hosts of hell forever, go help them elfin warrior," This old sage said to me.

Link dashed into the ranks of the demons. As He joined in the fighting, the dark skinned man slash up five demons in quick order, but for every one he killed, three more took its place.

The barbarian was spinning through them like a whirlwind, but was quickly becoming overwhelmed. The necromancer, the amazon, and the sorceress were the doing the best they could at launching missiles of magic or arrows at the hoard, but they were losing ground fast.

The necromancer was gasping for breath; he was resting his hands on his knees, only swatting away enemies with the stick he carried; many of his minions destroyed. The sorceress was also felling the affects of prolonged combat. The amazon's servant has also fallen to the swarm of demons.

Link acted quickly.

He was fresh and immediately took the fight to the raging demons. He started to feel energized and stronger. The dark man's magic had started to take effect on him. Link smiled wickedly at the demons as He gathered energy for my spin attack. His sword began to glow blue, then orange as more energy was gathered to the sword.

Many demons were flocking to him and as he released the power in a whirl of orange energy. All those around him were all were ripped apart by the violent energies.

Link started to bring the battle to them himself. He ducked forward under the sword of a black she-demon, then rose up swinging his sword. Blood splattered over my tunic and sword, staining my white undershirt and leggings a deep crimson.

Three small red imps with short swords attacked him. I slashed horizontally and brought down each in one quick strike.

The other warriors on the bridge rallied to Link and they all fought their way to him in the middle of the bridge. They stood there for what to them seemed like eternity, hacking and slashing away at the endless tide of the vile monstrosities.

Then just as the tide of battle was turning, Zelda appeared at the bridge head, fighting along side the other women. She lifted her hands above her head. A soft, pink glow began issuing from them.

Link's heart leaped into his chest as he saw them being overwhelmed by a hoard of the small red imps that had somehow broken past the group of warriors. Zelda seemed to be unaware of the danger, instead putting her full concentration on her magic.

The monsters were hacking their way to her, killing the few women that stood in their way. They sensed that Zelda was a great threat.

Link's grip on his sword loosened. The creatures close in upon her. It snarled and swung its sword. Time seemed to slow for Link.

A shadow darkened over the monster. The barbarian had leaped over everyone toward the small pack that was advancing upon Zelda. He landed with crushing impact. The rest fled, screaming like banshees.

Link breathed a sigh of relief. His celebration was short lived. An ape-like roar went up from behind him.

Without hesitation, Link turned and sliced open a huge beast that smelled of rotting meat. The blood of most of these things was a deep black. More blood stained Link's cloths and body, the rest pooled around the beast, leaving a very foul smell. Link looked around swiftly, looking for more opponents to kill.

But there were none. The monsters had retreated. The dead were everywhere. He was covered in blood; his, others. His blood stained sword hung limply at his side. His shield had sustained surprisingly little damage, its mirrored surface still reflecting flawlessly.

*****

The four sages watched the gathering army. Ganondorf was gathering his minions upon Hyrule field. Soon the horde would lay siege to the ranch.

Ruto, the Zora sage of water, turned toward her fellow sages. "I can't believe that Link fell to that monster," she whispered. Her blue face became flushed red with anger.

Nabooru, the sage of spirit, let out a long sigh. "He is using my people to serve his dark ways. Already he has frozen what remains of the Zora and has trapped the Hylian people in this ranch. Ganondorf will not be satisfied until all of the free people are killed."

Impa's hand stroked the hilt of her bastard sword. "We have evacuated the women and children to the west coast. Saria and Rauru are watching over them. They are constructing a fleet of ships to cross the sea if we must escape Ganondorf." She slammed the point of her sword into the ground. "Let that bastard just try to take us. He will not find me easy prey."

Darunia pulled the giant war hammer from his side. While absently smacking it against his open palm he said, "They will not find me easy prey either. We shall resist him to the last, with or without Link and Zelda."

The horde would attack soon.

*****

The women had made a pyre to burn the bodies. Disease came quickly when the dead were left unburied. The dead demons would only bring more disease or more demons if left out.

Link sat before a bucket washing the blood from his face, and trying to scrub the blood from his tunic. A voice sounded from behind him. "You were great out there Link," Zelda said. Her praise caused him to turn a bright red.

"It was...uh...nothing...my lady," Link stammered, trying to turn his attention back to washing. She placed a soft hand upon his bare back. Link stiffened under her touch. "Do you need any help?" she asked innocently.

Link could not muster any words to respond. He shook his head in the negative. Zelda took a step away from Link. "Fine. When you are finished, those fighters wanted you to meet them in the center of the camp."

Link stared at her as she walked off. He muttered to himself about not being able to remove the stains as he slipped on his blue Zora tunic.

*****

The fire burned brightly. Around the fire, the five figures sat in a circle. All but the paladin were greedily eating the meager camp fare. Link approached the group.

The dark man noticed him and stepped forward. "Greetings fighter, my name is Haze Gabriel. I am a paladin of Zakarum, a church in the eastern kingdom of Kehjistan." Link took the hand he extended and shook. "I'm Link. What do you want with me?" Link asked.

"I couldn't help but notice your fighting skills are greater than one would expect for someone so young. How did you come by your skills?" He asked. Zelda come up to fire, taking her place next to Link.

"I learned my magic from the Great Fairies, but I was never taught how to fight. I've just somehow always known. I've been fighting since I was ten," he told him. "Why would you start fighting at such an early age?" The beautiful sorceress asked.

Link told his tale of Ganondorf's usurpation of the throne of Hyrule with Zelda filling in details Link missed. He finished by telling them of how Ganondorf had thrown Zelda and him through a rift. They all were curious about how he had not been destroyed by a rift. Link had no answer for them. By all rights he should have been killed.

"Where the hell am I?" He finally asked. "Ha-ha, by Bul-Kathos that lad is serious," the large barbarian responded. "This here is Khanduras."

"Khanduras?" Link repeated, puzzled at the name. "The lad is a daft one!" The barbarian had a roaring laugh, also taking a mouthful of stew he was consuming. "You're on the world of Sanctuary and y' don't know `bout Khanduras?"

Link was taken aback. He knew there were other worlds, but he had never expected to ever travel to one. There was no telling how far in space he had traveled.

The honey skinned sorceress now turned to Zelda. "I'm Livia Iesha. I saw you use magic. It was quite impressive." It was Zelda's turn to blush. "It wasn't anything," she said, "just old Shieka magic."

"You are quite a skilled mage. I would be honored to teach you new spells. There are many more things can be done with magic then you can imagine." She said. Zelda squealed with glee. "I would love to. If we ever did get home, I'm sure it would be helpful in defeating Ganondorf."

"Link, seeing as you still need to perfect your skills, would you like me to train you in the art of Zakarum?" Haze asked. Link thought on his offer briefly. "Sure, it would be an honor. I mean you can only learn so much about fighting on my planet. There's not many fighters left there. Yours looks pretty war torn, so I think you all know a little about fighting. There are not many fighters left on that planet. Ganondorf made sure of that."

The old sage stepped forward and said, "I'm Akara, the high priestess of the rogues. If you are here, will you help our world get rid of the demonic forces that inhabit it?"

"Evil forces?" Link asked. "Yes, they are the three Prime Evils of Hell; Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal. They are the Lords of Terror, Hatred, and Destruction.

"But, quests must start small. You first must go out of the encampment and cleanse the Den of Evil. The monsters have their base there and cleansing it would stop these attacks." She informed them. "Childs play," Link joked, "I would get a chance to work on my fighting skills in the field," he remarked.

Haze spoke up and said, "Well, now that you are part of the team, meet your teammates." He waved his hand at each as he said, "They are: Biluk, a barbarian from the Northern Steppes, Menadar Belegur, a necromancer from the East, and Francine Sheina, an amazon from the islands to the south. We all have all been drawn from around the world for different reasons. Many of our kin have gone out seeking glory or riches. Most have not returned. We have banded together to defeat this evil and free our lands from the darkness for good."

Biluk suddenly stood up, throwing down his empty bowl of food. "Now we'll show them demon bastards! Let's how `em what humans are made of!" He yelled.

A cheer went up form the group as they rushed out the gate into the Blood Moor. Link couldn't shake the feeling that they making some mistake. They should be concentrating on getting back home, not trying to save this world.