Chapter 3 - Chp III

Link…[/i]
What…?
Link… you need towake up… please wake up…[/i]
A voice was calling to him. It was a female voice, softand very welcoming. But… who was it?
Link…[/i]
His eyes fluttered open. He was lying sprawled on thegrass, his head to one side. It took him a moment to recover, and when his mindwas clear he tried to sit up. And as he did so, he realized how much his headhurt. He clutched his head and sighed. He slowly got to his feet, and he almostfell back down again.
He tried to remember how he had gotten to… wherever hewas, but... he couldn’t remember. He had no idea were he was or how he hadgotten there. And now he realized that… that he didn’t even remember who hewas.
He began to breathe heavily as he searched his mind forsomething, anything. But there was nothing. No memories at all. Nothing.
His eyes snapped open, and he began to look around wildly.All around him was a vast field, and if he squinted he could see a faintoutline of a castle in the distance. And when he looked to his right, he saw ariver with a small bridge leading over it.
He was beginning to get scared. He ran to the river, andlooked down into the cool water.
A blonde, blue-eyed boy was staring back at him. He lookedaround seventeen or eighteen. On the boy’s head was a green hat, and his longelfin ears were both pierced and had a golden ring dangling from each. He hadon a green shirt that went down past his waist, and white pants under that.
He touched his face, and the boy did the same.
This was insane. What was wrong with him?
He was getting extremely frustrated at his empty mind.
“Who am I?!” he screamed to no one. His voice reverberatedback to him, but it carried no answer.
FLASH! A younger version of the boy was standing on thedeck of a tree house looking down at a girl with green hair and warm eyes. Shehad a fairy bobbing around her head.
“Come on, Link!You’re going to be late!”[/i]
The sudden vision took him by surprise. He fell to hisknees.
“Link? Link…”
It sounded so familiar, but he could pry the answer fromhimself. Then he realized it. That was his…
“That’s my name!” he cried, ecstatic from the realization.“My name is Link! Link… Link…” He kept repeating it to himself as though if heceased he would forget it again. Link tried to remember more, but it wasuseless.
Get a grip, [/i]Link thought, At least you know your name. Now I just have to figure out were I am…and maybe find that green haired girl, maybe she knows me…[/i]
Satisfied with his ‘plan’ he began walking shakily towardsthe castle. It seemed like the best place to go for now because where there wasa castle, there was probably a market. And where there was a market, there werepeople. People who may be able to help him.
Trying not to think of what might or might not happen whenhe was surrounded by strangers, he tried desperately to remember more abouthimself. He looked at his hands. He was wearing gloves, and his gloves had afew magic trinkets on them, most of them looked like they were use for aid inbattle. Hmmm, maybe I’m a warrior of somekind… [/i]he thought absentmindedly. And on closer examination of his righthand, he saw three triangles forming one triangle, with one of them golden andthe rest faded.
Something about the formation made him feel uncomfortable.He knew it was important… but exactly what it did he didn’t know.
Link was torn from his thoughts when he heard thethundering of hoof beats behind him. And when he turned around, he saw a greatblack horse sprinting towards him. As it drew near, Link realized it had nointention of stopping. He rolled out of the way instinctively, and his handwent back automatically as if to grab something. But as it grasped air, herealized nothing was there. What had he been trying to grab? Asword, a bow and arrow, some kind of weapon? Link noted that to have mechanicallyreached for something, he must usually have something normally back there. Butwhat it was, he had no idea…
He glared at the rider of the monstrous horse, but hisface and body was covered by a long black cloak. The figure silently dismountedhis beast-like horse, and whistled into the distance. Almost instantly, Linkheard the thundering of horses approaching.
Link was very confused at the moment, and he wondered whothis guy was and why he had tried to run him over with his horse. And when hesaw dozens of more huge horses with threatening riders atop them, he decided hemost likely didn’t want to find out. Link tried to make a run for it, but soonthe gang surrounded him, and began to brandish their swords at him if he gottoo close to the edge.
He stared at them all. Surrounding him were various menand women, all of them had either black or flaming red hair. They all dressedin black and possessed many weapons. They laughed and jeered at him, andthreatened him also. But what surprised Link the most… was his mood. He was notscared in the slightest bit, but he actually felt annoyed. He subconsciouslyknew that they were all weak, and that he could beat them if he only had his…his weapon[/i], or whatever it was.
No matter… [/i]he thought automatically andreached into his pack that he hadn’t even realized was there, and drew out adiamond shaped crystal-thing with a small flame inside it. Link didn’t knowwhat it was, but he slowly remembered how to use it…
His hands drew back, and he threw the crystal to theground. Where it landed a flaming orb grew from it. The orb grew and grew,hitting some of the riders around him in a wave of fire. They cried out as theflames hit them, and some fell off their horses. Link realized that his aim hadbeen off, because 2/3’s of the gang had remained untouched by his crystalthing. Link smirked and was about to use it again, but he stopped when itglowed black and went flying from his hands.
It zoomed across the circle and landed in the hands of thecloaked man. He held it to his shadowed face to examine it. A soft chuckleemitted from him.
“Din’s Fire… is that the best you can do, Link? Has thealmighty Hero of Time been reduced to using cheap parlor tricks? I expectedbetter of you,” he sneered.
Din’s Fire…[/i]
Hero of Time…[/i]
These phrases sounded so… right. He knew that they hadsome connection to his past, but he didn’t have time to find out.
The cloaked figure walked towards him with a very cockygait. His arrogance made Link furious. Howdare this guy just come out of no where and start screwing with me?![/i] I wake up and have no idea who I am… andthis guy just thinks he can run up to me and cause trouble?! Who does he thinkhe is?[/i]
Link’s eyes bore into him as he approached. He was solivid he was ready to just lash out and strike the stranger if he got tooclose. But as his distance enclosed, he pulled back his hood.
   Golden eyes shone through long black hair,which was covering most of the man’s face. But when Link really studied him, hewasn’t a man, but merely a boy. He was probably no more than twenty years ofage.
   His gloved hand reached to his face, andbrushed his spiky hair, moving it from his eyes. And as he did so, he revealedtwin marks under each eye. Both tattoos were black and stood out vividlyagainst his pale skin.
   “Who…” Link started, “who are you?”
   The boy’s thin lips formed into a smallsmirk.
   “It’s not who I am…” he said softly, “it’swhat you[/i] are going to become.[/i] Take him.” He motioned to hiscronies. They all nodded, at least those who were still conscious, anddismounted their horses. The great beasts snorted and pawed the ground.
   The crowd slowly advanced on Link, but hewas ready. He would not be ‘taken’, at least not without a fight. With almostno idea of what he was going to do or how he was going to do it, he preparedfor a struggle.
   The first person who came at him was a youngman, and Link instinctively grabbed the boy’s arm and flung him over hisshoulder. And on his way to the ground he took down a few of his friends.
   A red-haired girl was next to attack Link.She withdrew a long chain from her belt and swung it above her head. Shereleased and Link blocked the blow with his right arm. The chain wrapped itselfaround his wrist, and before Link could shake it off, others were coming at himin waves. He had to fight them off with one hand still immobile from the chain.He punched a man square in the face, and he went down hard. With the smallpause of action, Link decided to try to get the chain off his wrist. He tore atit and after a few moments his hand was free. But after he had accomplishedthis, he knew had paused too long. A flat side of a broad sword made contactwith the side of his head, and it sent him reeling. The strike wasn’t enough toknock him out, but he defiantly saw stars. He fell to his knees, still tryingto recover from it.
   As soon as he touched the ground, he feltmany hands upon him holding him down. He practically bucked against anythingthat touched him but it was futile, there were too many of them. He felt stripsof leather begin to bind his wrists and feet, and they were cutting into hisskin.
   When they were sure he was bound correctly,and that he was completely helpless, the gang began to jeer and kick him. Someeven reached down to tear at his clothes and pull his hair.
   And while all this was happening, Linkcouldn’t help but think: Why are theydoing this? What have I done? Who am I?[/i]
  [/i]Theirresponse to his silent questions was a kick to his ribs. He gasped, and grittedhis teeth. He would not scream. He wouldn’t give any signs that they werehurting him. Link refused to give these strangers that pleasure.
   They obviously grew tired of tormenting him,because the flat of the blade was making contact with his head once more. Hesaw a blurred image of the once cloaked man, staring down at him. And justbefore he completely lost it, he realized something just from seeing the lookon his face.
   This wasn’t over yet.
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