Link and Zelda gained more and more support from the Hylians and the King became no more than a figurehead. They started getting the people ready for war by having people make new advanced weapons such as cross bows that had a long range and were more accurate, stronger, sharper spears, and heavy armor for horses and knights. Link thought it would be good if about 20 soldiers and a few snipers guard the city walls at night. One morning all of the soldiers outside the city were gone. The Hylian people were awestruck by this event. Rumors spread quickly that a sniper knew why they disappeared. Link and Zelda found the sniper and asked what happened. “It was in the middle of the night, it was about as dark as it gets and a person wearing a black tunic attacked the soldiers with 2 swords. I tried to stop whatever it was, but it was to fast for me and the soldiers it killed.”

“Were there any survivors?” Zelda Asked.

“Yes, a man who surrendered and me. He must have been taken prisoner or something.”

“What did this guy look like?”

“He looked a lot like you, same height. I got a short glimpse of his face because of all the sparks flying. He looked like you.”

Link stood with his mouth open for a second. “Thank you,” he said to the sniper and walked away. “This is bad, he said.”

“Why?” Zelda asked.

“Remember, I saw myself in that mirror with Ganondorf. Is it possible he has joined Ganondorf’s side?”

“I have never heard of such a thing happening, but I suppose it is possible.”

“I just know he is loyal to Ganondorf, I can feel it.”

“How?” Zelda asked, “How can you tell that he has turned evil?”

Link didn’t know what to say, it was like his mind was being penetrated by some force, something evil. In his dreams he could almost sense where his evil reflection was, but he wasn’t sure if it was reality or his imagination. “I don’t know, it feels like he is a part of me,” Link said.

“I don’t know if there is anything that can destroy him but me. This is personal.”

“I have a feeling that we are going to need more than Hylians and Gorons to win this upcoming battle,” Zelda said, trying to change the subject. Link seemed uneasy about the situation with his reflection.

“The Zoras will help us. They won’t be hard to convince after they find out what happened.”

“I should probably go visit the Zoras, if they believe me they will join us,” Link said. His usual confidence was back. “I will leave tomorrow morning, but first, I must go home and get a goodnight sleep.”

The next morning Link showed up at the castle. He told Zelda he would go talk to the Zoras about what happened. Zelda wanted to come along but Link told her to stay back, something told him that it may be dangerous.

“Be careful Link.”

“I will, wish me luck.” Link rode away on Epona with two guards on his side. He was going to Lake Hylia. When he reached his destination, the stench of dead fish filled his nostrils. He was horrified at what he saw. There were dozens of Zoras floating in the water dead. They were all cut up and missing limbs. A few who were still alive were trying to bury the dead. Link walked up to one of them and said, “I think I know who did this.” They all looked at him.

“Who?” They asked.

“It’s a long story, but I feel it is important that I tell it to you. Excuse me for not introducing myself but I am Link, the Hero of time.”

“It was him!” Link looked around, startled to see a crazed Zora with a large gash on his left arm. He was with to others. Link’s heart began to race a million miles an hour. He knew him and his reflection looked exactly the same. “He killed them,” his voice was shaking with fear. Link couldn’t quite guess his age because Zoras didn’t have hair but he figured he was a little older than the rest.

The Zoras looked at him then they looked at Link in disbelief. Although they didn’t know Link very well he did not look like someone that could commit a terrible crime like this. Link couldn’t think clearly now. He was in his own world. Everything seemed to white out, except for the dead Zoras floating in the water. He looked at one of them. His face looked surprised, horrified, and lifeless. Link looked down into the water and saw his reflection. He then had a flash back of looking into that mirror and seeing himself with Ganondorf. Then something hit him like a tone of bricks. His reflection was right handed. Things started to clear up a little bit now. Link looked at the Zora he was just looking at. His left lung was impaled. He looked at another, who was holding onto his left wrist in a failed attempt to stop the bleeding. Everything was clear now. He had a way out.

“He calmly looked at the crazed Zora and said, “Look at the bodies around you. Look at their wounds. Look at your wound. Which side of your body is that on?

“My left,” he said still suspicious of Link.

“Exactly, if I did this most of these men would have cuts on their right side because I am left handed.”

The rest of the Zoras’ fears of Link were pretty much diminished. Link looked around and saw a look of relief on their faces. “Oh good,” he thought, maybe when this was all over I could be a lawyer or something.” After all, he had to get paid somehow. Link’s thoughts were interrupted.

“Prove it!” The Zora said, “Prove to me you are left handed!” He walked over to a big stick and he picked it up. The rest of the Zoras looked confused. He broke it in half and handed half of it to Link. Link saw where he was going with this.

“Alright, let’s make this a fair fight, and if you kill me I have witnesses.”

Link held the stick in his left hand. The Zora was the first to attack. He ran at Link and took a vertical chop at his head. Link blocked it. The Zora picked up the pace a little bit. He went for Link’s legs, then his chest, then his arm. Link blocked them again. The Zora, who was apparently in denial of the fact that Link didn’t kill those men, ran at him again and put all of the force he could behind his weapon. Link countered the attack, knocking the stick loose from his grip. He then held the stick against the Zoras neck.

“Okay, you win.”

Link pulled the stick away and dropped it on the ground.

“That is enough to convince me that you didn’t do it,” the Zora said.

“By the way what is your name?” Link asked.

“I am the great Zora swordsman, Master Wyndisis. He had apparently calmed down some and he was out of breath.

“Pleased to meet you Master Wyndisis, you seem to be a formidable opponent, you must sword fight a lot,” Link said.

“Yes I do, and these are all my students here.”

Link was so busy fighting with Master Wyndisis and talking to him that he hadn’t noticed that the rest of the Zoras had circled around them during the fight.

“Wow, I never knew that so many Zora were into sword fighting.” There looked to be even more than there were when Link first came to Lake Hylia.

“Yes, it is a dying sport among the Zoras.”

“And are all these dead guys your students as well.”

“Yes,” he said shaking his head sadly. “I have trained them well, but not well enough.”

“How did it happen?” Link asked.

“We were doing a training session in the middle of the night. I was teaching them how to use a sword gracefully. I went to get some candles, you see they have this exercise where they have to cut through the candles and they can’t make the candles fall after they are cut.”

“I got you,” Link said.

“So as I was walking back I saw a man, your age, your height, same clothing, same… He looked exactly like you. He had his sword drawn, and began attacking my students. They were no match for him. He was taking them down so quickly I couldn’t get there in time to save many of them. I ran as fast as I could, I can’t run too fast because of my age. I engaged in a short fight with him and he cut my arm, then he hit me in the head with a metal spike on the handle of his sword. I fell down and I was dazed, but still conscious. He looked at me for a second, he looked just like you but he was cold, dark, and evil looking. He didn’t look like he had any emotion other than hate. He was about to finish me off when two of my swordsmen attacked him. One of them was my son.” A tear fell from Master Wyndisis’s eye. He managed to choke back his grief. He cut off the others head and held his sword to my son’s neck. My son dropped his sword and the man took him away. That was when I blacked out. I was awakened by somebody shaking me. “Master,” he said, “Are you alive?”

“I got up. He asked me what happened, and I told him everything I just told you. That is when you came along. I am truly sorry for misjudging you like that.

“It’s okay, I understand.” Link went back to what he was about to get to before. He wondered if he should tell them the entire whole story. He decided not to because they would probably just think he is crazy and there would be absolutely no point to it. The fact that they got attacked by a mysterious man who worked for Ganondorf was enough to convince them to help the Hylians defeat Ganondorf’s forces. Link began to speak to the group. “The person that attacked your fellow swordsmen was working for Ganondorf, a cruel man with evil intensions. Just recently, an attack like this occurred just outside of Hyrule Castle’s walls. It happened at night a number of soldiers were killed and the last one standing was taken away. I see that the same thing has happened here. I would appreciate it if you could convince your king to construct an army to defeat the evil foe.”

“I will do that,” said Wyndisis, “these men are trained to fight.”

“Thank you, I will make certain that I will do my part when Ganondorf comes our way. He will not defeat us, good will always triumph over evil!”

Chapter 6

It was about noon now. Link had helped the Zoras clean up the rest of the dead. He was starting to get a headache. He tended to get headaches when the weather was going to be bad. He thanked Wyndisis for his help once again. He got on Epona and rode away. A lot had been gotten done so far. The Hylians had faith in Link and Zelda, Darunia, his sworn brother would aid him if a war started, and the Zora warriors would help him as well. There wasn’t much more help out there. The Kokiri were too young to fight, the Sheikah were all but extinct, and the Gerudos were way too xenophobic. It started drizzling a little bit. Link kicked Epona in the sides to make her go faster; it was likely to start raining harder. Link figured he would have to get some rest when he got back. Zelda had arranged for him to have a small room in the center of the castle. It wasn’t first class, but it was small and cozy and most importantly to Link, quiet. The room was a typical one; it had a bed, a dresser and a nightstand with a fishbowl on it. When Link reached his destination his head was throbbing with pain. It was pouring rain now. He got off Epona and ran inside. Link needed to sit down. He slumped down against the wall. “Gees, I always get headaches when the weather is bad, but I never get anything this bad,” he thought. He stood up and headed off toward his room. One disadvantage of his room was that it was a long walk to get there and the whole castle was like a maze. He sometimes wished he could go back in time and smack the person that designed the place. He finally made it to his room. He plopped down on the bed, not even bothering to change into drier clothes. He took the pillow and put it over his head. Within minutes, he was asleep. He began to dream.

Link was out in the middle of a strange field. It was more grey than green and there was a gradually sloping hill with a tree at the top. Leaning against the tree was a young man, dressed in a grey robe. His face was also covered in grey. Link stood at least a quarter mile away from him, and he began to walk toward him. As he came closer and closer, the wind started blowing harder. Whirlwinds were carrying leaves around and about. Link was almost there. He was almost getting blown back the wind was blowing so hard. He reached the figure. It looked up at Link for a second, and then it turned around. A dark figure behind the person dressed in grey appeared. Link couldn’t tell who it was it was just really dark. Then it transformed into Ganondorf.

“Come with me,” Ganondorf said to the person, “I will teach you to be more powerful than you can imagine. Look at you now, you are nothing.” The figure started to walk toward Ganondorf. His clothing turned a darker grey.

The wind stared blowing really hard now. A limb flew off the tree. “Don’t listen to him,” Link yelled at the top of his lungs, “Don’t you see, he wants to use you as a pawn, he can give you power but he can take it away when he wants!” But the figure didn’t listen, he couldn’t hear.

“What a pathetic fool he is,” Ganondorf said, “Where would you be without me, most likely getting destroyed by me?” The wind was dying down whenever Ganondorf talked, and the figure was listening to him. It began to turn even darker.

“Come with me, I can destroy Ganondorf and you could too with my help. We could seal him back in the Evil Realm for eternity!” But the wind was blowing too strongly for the figure to hear Link. It turned completely black. It whipped his hood off and Link saw his own face, twisted and evil. He stood next to Ganondorf and held out his arm.

“NO!” Link screamed. The wind blew strongly in his direction, he flew back twenty feet. The sky was completely black as well. A lightning bolt split the tree right in half.

“Now we will destroy you and all you fought for,” the evil Link said.

Link sat up and looked in disbelief. A stick flew into his head and knocked him unconscious.

Link woke up in his room in a cold sweat. His headache was gone, so he decided to see how things were going in the castle. He opened the door to the hallway, and a blinding light shot through and turned everything white. This dream was not over yet.

Link stood in amazement, not knowing where he was. He began to pace around, but there was no where to go.

“Hello Link,” said a woman’s voice. It echoed twice when it spoke.

“Who’s there?” Link was looking around and he saw no one.

“Who do you think it is?”

“Are you the three goddesses?”

“Correct, we have come to tell you something of great importance. You have done well. You have gotten many people of different races to join you on your quest. A long quest your quest may be, but it shall be worth it all in the end.”

“But what is my quest exactly, all I know is that I was somehow duplicated between the past and the present and my duplicate joined Ganondorf.”

“Yes that is right, the spell Ganondorf cast on that mirror created a copy of you, but he used his power in such a way that your copy wasn’t yourself, it didn’t have your strong spirit, so consequently Ganondorf let evil cloud his thoughts and make him a pawn of his.”

“By the way, how did Ganondorf escape the Evil Realm?”

“We simply let him escape.”

“You what?” Link asked startled.

“That’s right we let him go. It is our first step in letting you destroy Ganondorf’s spirit, instead of just sealing him away and having him escape again. When you were duplicated by that mirror Ganondorf took over your copy’s mind. Now you have a telepathic connection to your dark side. Once you learn to use that connection to its fullest extent, you will be able to communicate with it, and give it your good thoughts, and turn him into a good copy of you. However this comes at great risk. Ganondorf can do the same thing to you, so you could be taken over by Ganondorf as well as your own dark side.” The goddesses could sense Link’s confusion. The respected that he wasn’t used to this sort of thing. “Think of it in military terms, Link. There are two islands, one represents you, and the other represents Ganondorf. Both have strong armies, but no ships to carry the troops over the vast sea. If only you could build a bridge and go over and destroy the enemy country. The bridge is built and it represents your duplicate.”

“So Ganondorf is halfway across the bridge and about to destroy me?” Link asked.

“Do not give into negativity, Link. Since you have such a strong soul we gave Ganondorf that mirror to do that, and it will help him in the short run, but however, his evil spirit is corrupt and you can destroy him easier than he could destroy you.”

“Oh good, this shouldn’t be too bad then,” Link thought.

“But your dark side is allied with him and that will even the odds a little.”

“Why couldn’t you destroy Ganondorf, Din? He has your powers so why can’t you use them to destroy him?”

“That is something you just have to live with Link, you would never understand, it is a part of our philosophy so to speak. You need to learn of the importance of the higher beings role. Remember how easily you convinced the Hylians, Gorons, and Zoras to join your cause. That is because they knew in their hearts that they had to do their part. They had no physical evidence that Ganondorf was around. How would they know that that lunatic killing people with a sword was Ganondorf’s follower?”

Link saw what they were getting to. “What do I do now?”

“Remember after you defeated Ganon the first time when you gave the Spiritual stones to Zelda for safe keeping in case Ganondorf ever did come back?”

“Yes.”

“Go talk to Zelda, ask for the spiritual stones and go retrieve the master sword.”

“Okay, but do I have to do any more of that time travel business.”

“No when you opened the door of time the first time you simply weren’t old enough to fight Ganondorf. Now you are twenty years old and you don’t need to be held any longer.”

“What do I do after I get the master sword?”

“You must head back to the shadow temple; there is a lot to be revealed there.”

With that the dream was over. Link sat up in his bed, and he set off to talk to Zelda.