https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOQPH30tdwk
There are many legends of which the people speak…
Before time began, before spirits and life existed…
Three golden goddesses descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule…
Din, the goddess of power… Nayru, the goddess of wisdom… Farore, the goddess of courage…
Din… With her strong flaming arms, she cultivated the land and created the red earth…
Nayru… Poured her wisdom onto the eath and gave the spirit of law to the world…
Farore… With her rich soul, produced all life forms who would uphold the law…
The three great goddesses, their labors completed, departed for the heavens.
And golden sacred triangles remained at the point where the goddesses left the world.
Since then, the sacred triangles have become the basis of our world’s providence.
And the resting place of the triangles has become the Sacred Realm.
Time passed, and the world grew restless. Those who would use the sacred triangles for their own ends became jealous, suspicious, and malicious. Blood was drawn and the people fell into madness and war. The goddesses commanded their servants to intervene-and intervene they did. The tribes were separated and sent across the corners of the world. The Sacred Realm was sealed.
Ages passed again, and history was forgotten. Those who would use the power of the gods arose again. The goddesses, not wishing to destroy the world again, set out to solve this crisis in a gentler manner; and so the Hero Cycle was born. A single mortal hero would arise each time to protect the sacred triangles and save the people, each time drawing on the strength and legacy of all his predecessors to defeat the darkness. Each one a link in the timeless chain of the sacred trinity of villain, innocent and hero…
This is not one of those legends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_cAAL7S6ZI
Ding... The pendulum reaches the apex of its swing; the bell rings.
The pale figure drifts lightly through the dark city night, observing people move through the streets and squares quietly as it weaves unnoticed between colorful stalls, plastered and stone walls with so much fine ornamentation with the occasional glow of enchanted lights.
Dong... and the pendulum rounds again to the other edge, sending its reverberations rippling outward.
The middle-aged man paced back and forth through the small study. His fingers scraped at the skin underneath his hair as he clenched his head, brow knit and deeply creased while stinging wetness kissed the edges of his panicked eyes. Upon another turn, he stared at the desk at the far side of the room, to the parchment, quill, candle and seal-cast stamp and released his tense breath as a relenting sigh. The finely-clad lord stepped to the desk and drew out the chair, sat down and began to write.
"Damn me by every word for a fool..."
Ding.
Lavender scent mixed well with that of the chamomile tea, the old man mused while gazing vaguely out the kitchen window to the scene of a colorful garden and ornamented city street beyond. Then came the curt, direct, though just shy of sharp or loud, knock upon his solid wooden door. With an exhale, he set down the small utensil of white china enameled with colorful Gerudo art and stepped briskly over to the door. Upon opening it, he blinked twice into the night for his seemingly empty doorway-then glanced downward as a mildly high-pitched, "Ah-hem," beckoned from below. The tall, elderly man's lips creased into a grin and his eyes twinkled behind his half-rimmed spectacles.
"Hello, Efa," he bid as softly as the warm glow of the candled lamp adjoined to his house wall.
The small, blonde Hyrulian girl grinned up at him with all of the warmth and brightness of a full summer day with the slight exhaustion of the afternoon with her childish blue eyes. She leaped forward to wrap her arms around his legs as high as she could reach. "Hello, Radomir. It's been a while."
"That it has!" the man chuckled as he put his hands behind her shoulders. "Come in, come in," he said while opening the door and stepping to the side for the girl to enter. "What brings you here?" he asked upon closing it after her.
"Business," she said. The seemingly usual girl, although dressed in boyish clothes for rough play, glanced around the room, her eyes taking to a harsh and piercing look unnervingly at odds with her apparent age. "... is it safe to talk about it here? And now?"
Radomir sighed. "It is. My children are asleep. Now, what is it?"
Efa sighed in turn and lifted up a pocket-for an orb fairy to come fluttering dizzily out, coughing lightly as it shook off the lint and dust. "Resistance work," the Kokiri girl said as she looked up to meet her friend's eyes with a face full of grim dread.
Dong.
"On to the next matter..." one of the assembled lords mumbled aloud as he shuffled through the stack of papers on the table before him. The others eyed him, waiting silently for the next matter of the meeting to be laid forth for discussion. "The riots at the eastern territories have quieted noticeably since the last meeting. It seems they are finally beginning to comply with the authorities there and the terrorist attacks are dropping in frequency and severity. The strict regulations and punishments seem to be having the desired effect."
"Good," one across the table said as he drew his hand down from stroking his long, curled beard. "Let's keep it that way the-"
"Increase them, then," a deep and unyielding voice interrupted. "Increase them until they stop completely and issue a public verdict stating so. The crackdowns will increase until there is complete order."
"... are you certain, sire? Much more and they might rebel openl-"
"Yes," the enormous man said, glaring at him from on high. Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule XVIII was a giant of a man, bear-like in shape and stature and garbed in royal red velvet robes trimmed with white fur, gold filigree and jewelry all over. Even if height of his status was not enough to impose upon the gathered nobles and merchant-kings, the glare of his sharp blue eyes on that wide, sharply-featured face was enough to set most of them close to pissing themselves. All of them knew it-and even worse, he knew that they knew it, a lion among the thieves and liars. "Complete order. Now, what of the western front?"
The lord under question swallowed and tugged at his ruffled collar while staring at a paper. "... we are still at a stalemate. We have thus far not managed to get around the problem of the Gerudo Desert; we simply cannot send enough resources to take the desert fortresses as it is right now. And the rebels still hold waterway crags north of it and have stopped every attempt by that route."
The King chuckled with a savage grin. "Then that shouldn't be a problem much longer."
Ding.
The lord sighed and heaved back in his chair, hand to his forehead as several letters now lay scattered about his desk, completed and wax seals dried. He glanced around the room before sighing again and standing up.
A minute later, the last of the birds flew from the man's study window, a letter bound to each of their legs. Birds were rarely used to convey messages anymore-Rito and transportation magic had largely rendered that tradition obsolete. For that reason, this was likely his only means of sending out this vital information, nevermind the relic he had stolen and hidden away, past those watching him. However, he knew this would reveal him. And he knew what it would cost.
Finally, his work finished, the man sat down in his chair, hung his head upon his hand and wept.
Dong The slow-moving pendulum completes its third tone, completing.
With a soft thud, the young man set the book down on the table by his bedside to stare up at the ceiling, brow furrowed, his lips pensive lips pursed as though biting back his thoughts from escaping into the air of their own volition. After a long moment, he sighed and closed his eyes. He lifted one hand and snapped his fingers; a moment later, the lamp dimmed and the boy rolled to his side, his blonde bangs dangling in front of his staring blue eyes.
All of this unrest was unsettling-yet no major events were occurring. Not that he could be involved in them, anyways. The boy sighed again and pulled the sheets over himself as he finally closed his eyes, once again cursing what he knew most would consider a blessing. He was completely provided for, his future entirely secure-so long as he did not exist. So long as no one knew that he existed. So long as no one knew that next Hero of the Cycle, the Hero of Darkness, was already alive and in the capital, working as a journalist reporter. For all that he could interact with it, the world was oppressively boring and empty, Link lamented.
Ding. A fourth ring.
The white-clad pale figure looked down over the city. He looked to be a young Hyrulian to the eye-human, pale skin, fair features with faintly blue-tinted grey eyes and soft white hair, hair parted in the center with long bangs to either side textured like feathery wings. With a faint exhale, he sat down, tunic and trousers pressing against the tiled roof of the city's great clocktower. Airships floated slowly through the night sky over the dazzling lights below; men and women drank in the taverns, gamblers yelled and whores and wives moaned in the night. In the nobles district to the north, wealthy men plotted; in the slums to the far south, beggars pulled their scraps tight and gangs slurred and fought. The guards shifted posts and yet, this was among the quietest nights the city had known in months, at least for the sound.
Slowly, a faint smile spread over the young man's lips, gentle and subtle as he glanced down to the fountain at the center of the plaza that marked the exact center of the city. The same statue of a proud bird holding the sacred Triforce aloft stood at the center, the symbol of the Royal Family the center of the kingdom since time immemorial. The white figure released a soft breath to the gentle night wind, carrying with it all of the resigned nostalgia and melancholy of the past and knowing that the future would not be peaceful again like this present for a long time to come-yet dwarfed by the more-subtle still eagerness, the excitement sharp as Death's razor and deep as the bottomless hole of hell. At last, the day had come.
The bell struck at the sounding of the hour, midnight, the mark of a new day. The white stranger smiled.
Dong.
There are many legends of which the people speak…
Before time began, before spirits and life existed…
Three golden goddesses descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule…
Din, the goddess of power… Nayru, the goddess of wisdom… Farore, the goddess of courage…
Din… With her strong flaming arms, she cultivated the land and created the red earth…
Nayru… Poured her wisdom onto the eath and gave the spirit of law to the world…
Farore… With her rich soul, produced all life forms who would uphold the law…
The three great goddesses, their labors completed, departed for the heavens.
And golden sacred triangles remained at the point where the goddesses left the world.
Since then, the sacred triangles have become the basis of our world’s providence.
And the resting place of the triangles has become the Sacred Realm.
Time passed, and the world grew restless. Those who would use the sacred triangles for their own ends became jealous, suspicious, and malicious. Blood was drawn and the people fell into madness and war. The goddesses commanded their servants to intervene-and intervene they did. The tribes were separated and sent across the corners of the world. The Sacred Realm was sealed.
Ages passed again, and history was forgotten. Those who would use the power of the gods arose again. The goddesses, not wishing to destroy the world again, set out to solve this crisis in a gentler manner; and so the Hero Cycle was born. A single mortal hero would arise each time to protect the sacred triangles and save the people, each time drawing on the strength and legacy of all his predecessors to defeat the darkness. Each one a link in the timeless chain of the sacred trinity of villain, innocent and hero…
This is not one of those legends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_cAAL7S6ZI
Ding... The pendulum reaches the apex of its swing; the bell rings.
The pale figure drifts lightly through the dark city night, observing people move through the streets and squares quietly as it weaves unnoticed between colorful stalls, plastered and stone walls with so much fine ornamentation with the occasional glow of enchanted lights.
Dong... and the pendulum rounds again to the other edge, sending its reverberations rippling outward.
The middle-aged man paced back and forth through the small study. His fingers scraped at the skin underneath his hair as he clenched his head, brow knit and deeply creased while stinging wetness kissed the edges of his panicked eyes. Upon another turn, he stared at the desk at the far side of the room, to the parchment, quill, candle and seal-cast stamp and released his tense breath as a relenting sigh. The finely-clad lord stepped to the desk and drew out the chair, sat down and began to write.
"Damn me by every word for a fool..."
Ding.
Lavender scent mixed well with that of the chamomile tea, the old man mused while gazing vaguely out the kitchen window to the scene of a colorful garden and ornamented city street beyond. Then came the curt, direct, though just shy of sharp or loud, knock upon his solid wooden door. With an exhale, he set down the small utensil of white china enameled with colorful Gerudo art and stepped briskly over to the door. Upon opening it, he blinked twice into the night for his seemingly empty doorway-then glanced downward as a mildly high-pitched, "Ah-hem," beckoned from below. The tall, elderly man's lips creased into a grin and his eyes twinkled behind his half-rimmed spectacles.
"Hello, Efa," he bid as softly as the warm glow of the candled lamp adjoined to his house wall.
The small, blonde Hyrulian girl grinned up at him with all of the warmth and brightness of a full summer day with the slight exhaustion of the afternoon with her childish blue eyes. She leaped forward to wrap her arms around his legs as high as she could reach. "Hello, Radomir. It's been a while."
"That it has!" the man chuckled as he put his hands behind her shoulders. "Come in, come in," he said while opening the door and stepping to the side for the girl to enter. "What brings you here?" he asked upon closing it after her.
"Business," she said. The seemingly usual girl, although dressed in boyish clothes for rough play, glanced around the room, her eyes taking to a harsh and piercing look unnervingly at odds with her apparent age. "... is it safe to talk about it here? And now?"
Radomir sighed. "It is. My children are asleep. Now, what is it?"
Efa sighed in turn and lifted up a pocket-for an orb fairy to come fluttering dizzily out, coughing lightly as it shook off the lint and dust. "Resistance work," the Kokiri girl said as she looked up to meet her friend's eyes with a face full of grim dread.
Dong.
"On to the next matter..." one of the assembled lords mumbled aloud as he shuffled through the stack of papers on the table before him. The others eyed him, waiting silently for the next matter of the meeting to be laid forth for discussion. "The riots at the eastern territories have quieted noticeably since the last meeting. It seems they are finally beginning to comply with the authorities there and the terrorist attacks are dropping in frequency and severity. The strict regulations and punishments seem to be having the desired effect."
"Good," one across the table said as he drew his hand down from stroking his long, curled beard. "Let's keep it that way the-"
"Increase them, then," a deep and unyielding voice interrupted. "Increase them until they stop completely and issue a public verdict stating so. The crackdowns will increase until there is complete order."
"... are you certain, sire? Much more and they might rebel openl-"
"Yes," the enormous man said, glaring at him from on high. Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule XVIII was a giant of a man, bear-like in shape and stature and garbed in royal red velvet robes trimmed with white fur, gold filigree and jewelry all over. Even if height of his status was not enough to impose upon the gathered nobles and merchant-kings, the glare of his sharp blue eyes on that wide, sharply-featured face was enough to set most of them close to pissing themselves. All of them knew it-and even worse, he knew that they knew it, a lion among the thieves and liars. "Complete order. Now, what of the western front?"
The lord under question swallowed and tugged at his ruffled collar while staring at a paper. "... we are still at a stalemate. We have thus far not managed to get around the problem of the Gerudo Desert; we simply cannot send enough resources to take the desert fortresses as it is right now. And the rebels still hold waterway crags north of it and have stopped every attempt by that route."
The King chuckled with a savage grin. "Then that shouldn't be a problem much longer."
Ding.
The lord sighed and heaved back in his chair, hand to his forehead as several letters now lay scattered about his desk, completed and wax seals dried. He glanced around the room before sighing again and standing up.
A minute later, the last of the birds flew from the man's study window, a letter bound to each of their legs. Birds were rarely used to convey messages anymore-Rito and transportation magic had largely rendered that tradition obsolete. For that reason, this was likely his only means of sending out this vital information, nevermind the relic he had stolen and hidden away, past those watching him. However, he knew this would reveal him. And he knew what it would cost.
Finally, his work finished, the man sat down in his chair, hung his head upon his hand and wept.
Dong The slow-moving pendulum completes its third tone, completing.
With a soft thud, the young man set the book down on the table by his bedside to stare up at the ceiling, brow furrowed, his lips pensive lips pursed as though biting back his thoughts from escaping into the air of their own volition. After a long moment, he sighed and closed his eyes. He lifted one hand and snapped his fingers; a moment later, the lamp dimmed and the boy rolled to his side, his blonde bangs dangling in front of his staring blue eyes.
All of this unrest was unsettling-yet no major events were occurring. Not that he could be involved in them, anyways. The boy sighed again and pulled the sheets over himself as he finally closed his eyes, once again cursing what he knew most would consider a blessing. He was completely provided for, his future entirely secure-so long as he did not exist. So long as no one knew that he existed. So long as no one knew that next Hero of the Cycle, the Hero of Darkness, was already alive and in the capital, working as a journalist reporter. For all that he could interact with it, the world was oppressively boring and empty, Link lamented.
Ding. A fourth ring.
The white-clad pale figure looked down over the city. He looked to be a young Hyrulian to the eye-human, pale skin, fair features with faintly blue-tinted grey eyes and soft white hair, hair parted in the center with long bangs to either side textured like feathery wings. With a faint exhale, he sat down, tunic and trousers pressing against the tiled roof of the city's great clocktower. Airships floated slowly through the night sky over the dazzling lights below; men and women drank in the taverns, gamblers yelled and whores and wives moaned in the night. In the nobles district to the north, wealthy men plotted; in the slums to the far south, beggars pulled their scraps tight and gangs slurred and fought. The guards shifted posts and yet, this was among the quietest nights the city had known in months, at least for the sound.
Slowly, a faint smile spread over the young man's lips, gentle and subtle as he glanced down to the fountain at the center of the plaza that marked the exact center of the city. The same statue of a proud bird holding the sacred Triforce aloft stood at the center, the symbol of the Royal Family the center of the kingdom since time immemorial. The white figure released a soft breath to the gentle night wind, carrying with it all of the resigned nostalgia and melancholy of the past and knowing that the future would not be peaceful again like this present for a long time to come-yet dwarfed by the more-subtle still eagerness, the excitement sharp as Death's razor and deep as the bottomless hole of hell. At last, the day had come.
The bell struck at the sounding of the hour, midnight, the mark of a new day. The white stranger smiled.
Dong.