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Chapter One – The Beginning

Townsfolk were wandering down the village's busy thoroughfare streets, greeting each other as they walked through the hustle and bustle of the streets. Woman gossiped in the shadows of buildings and haggled with shop owners over fruit prices. The sun was shining, and most of the village kids were out playing in the Spirit Eldin's spring. Their happy laughter could be heard all throughout the town as they splashed around in the pure and cool waters of Eldin's Spring. Days like this made Hylians feel at peace, as though there weren't monsters all over the land of Hyrule, just waiting to attack those that were forced to travel the trade routes to Hyrule Castle. Everyone in the small village of Kakariko was at peace and all had a smile on their face as they continued their lives of ignorance and pacifism.

It makes me want to vomit. Inasha couldn't help but growl a little at the brightness of the day. All the activity bothered her. She preferred to keep to herself in her hideaway behind Eldin's spring, improving on her archery, which worried her peace-loving village to no end. The elders of the village worried for the thin blonde. She lacked community solidarity and shoved aside all the values she had been taught growing up.

Some tried to pass it off as a simple phase; others thought it was something much deeper. Rumors were always flying around the small village, some of them as ridiculous as they were false.

Some believed it was her father's doing. He had hailed from Castle Town, a knight in training when he met her mother. She had been asked to join a trade group to sell wares in the city from Kakariko. He threw aside all just to return home to marry the young woman, but many elders opposed to it. He held on to his violent ways, threatening to taint the ways of old that their village valued so well.

Others thought Inasha was a demon, one of the many monsters that wandered Hyrule's fields, taken up the disguise of a young woman.

Others thought she was a descendant of the Great King of Evil, destined to follow in his footsteps.

The young girl was not oblivious to the many outrageous whisperings that tried to explain her strange and rebellious ways, but quite frankly she did not care. They could think what they wish, as long as they left her to her own designs.

Inasha stood on an outcropping of rock above a glistening, clear pool. A few hylian bass and greengill swam contentedly in the chilly waters below. An unearthly blue light filtered through a hole above the "dome" of the spring, reflecting off the waters. It brought her a certain inner peace and helped her concentrate.

She knocked another arrow in her bow and pulled it back with ease, hardly straining the muscles hidden in her pale, thin arms. She closed one eye and aimed at the target moving around. Eldin was helping her to aim at a moving target while at a standstill. The huge golden spirit floated beside her in his smaller, less impressive form: a ball of moving light. She imagined a kargarok in place of the target, flapping its huge grey wings and screeching angrily at the world for being cursed to live as such a monstrosity.

In three seconds, the taut string was released, propelling the light wooden shaft straight into the path of the moving target. It halted with a dull thud right in the center ring.

"Yes! My first bullseye on a moving target!" Despite her usually calm nature, Inasha couldn't refrain from pumping her fists into the air in a fit of celebration. After 30 or so arrows she had finally struck her mark.

Though he was just a ball, Inasha had the vision of the huge golden bird, Eldin, nodding his head in approval. She smiled at the ball of light beside her.

"That was a very good shot, my Daughter," the spirit commented. "You seem to be growing more accustomed to more than just shooting at a stationary target. Very rarely will you ever encounter an enemy who will stand still for you. Tomorrow we will perfect this before moving on to targets that are approaching you." The ball of light departed from her side and took his place above his spring. He returned all unbroken arrows to her, which she packed into her quiver before waving a farewell.

"Goodbye, my child. We will meet again tomorrow." In a blinding burst of light, he was gone.

Inasha sat down, leaning back on her hands and looking up through the hole in the "roof" of the natural dome. The sun had long since passed over, and was now setting somewhere far over the western hills.

More faint laughter and light conversation drifted her way from the outside of the spring. Inasha sighed and scooped up a handful of red dust, letting it filter down from her palm and be carried away by a soft breeze. I'll escape this place some day. I'll find something better to do with my life than become a lowly housewife and eventually a grumpy old elder.

It was a vow she made herself daily. She yearned for the outside world; a place she'd never seen in all 16 years of her life. She imagined the Grand Hylian Library, where they kept all of Hyrule's records, all information known about the many beings that inhabited the land and beings of the past.

She was so limited by the Kakariko Library. The few books it had on Hyrule and the surrounding lands hardly contained any details or history, just the geographical features and the ways of that society.

She imaged the Faron and Ordon provinces, just south of Hyrule. They were mostly woodland areas with a much more temperate climate than dusty Kakariko. Ordon was a rancher's province, while Faron was hardly inhabited. She wondered how the people of the small provinces went about their lives, so far isolated from the greater cities.

She dreamed of one day meeting the Zoras. They were a graceful water tribe who prided themselves in their jobs of protecting Hyrule's water source, Lake Hylia. She imagined they would be much more tolerable and wiser than the Goron people that inhabited the huge volcano that towered over her small town.

Realizing that she had drifted off and wasted the rest of the daylight, Inasha swept up her bow and quiver and dashed back through the rocky tunnel that opened out to the rest of Kakariko. Her mother would be furious if she didn't make it home soon!

She ran as fast as her slender legs could carry her, closed businesses and darkened, empty houses flying by in a blur around her. She was home within moments, panting heavily. Her mother didn't take notice of her arrival at first.

The door slipped from Inasha's grasp when she attempted to close it, slamming it shut. Both of the women jumped at the sudden loud noise.

"Inasha! Was that truly necessary?" her mother scolded, waving a burning hot wooden spoon at her young daughter.

Her shoulders slumped a little. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to…it slipped from my fingers!" She placed her weaponry beside the door and locked it up. "Um…at least I got home on time?"

"Only by a hair," her mother replied in a warning tone. "There are strange creatures that lurk the streets at night. I would prefer you be home before the sun sets over the western canyons."

The younger woman sighed heavily. "Mother! That's so early! I'm home before dinner, isn't that early enough? I have my bow to protect me!"

"I do wish you would drop your silly obsession over that weapon already. The elders worry about you dear, you could really hurt yourself…" she placed a steaming bowl of cuccoo soup in front of Inasha.

She growled inwardly. "If anything I am safer with a weapon at my disposal! And I'm no deaf child, I hear the whisperings, and they are downright preposterous. I, a demon? Ha! Such ridiculous musings. They're becoming cuccoo-brained in their old age."

"With age comes wisdom, my dear child," her mother responded softly before taking a sip of her soup. "And the elders are just trying to look out for their town…"

"That isn't wisdom," Inasha scoffed. "'There are monsters lurking the streets at night! Let's tell everyone that weapons are useless and that pacifism is the only way, and all will be well!' That's exactly what their 'wisdom' is."

"Inasha, that is enough. You will have respect for this village's leaders. They are doing what they feel the Goddesses tell them. Do not mock them."

She opened her mouth to respond, but decided against it. The women finished their supper in silence. Inasha excused herself finally to her room, where she pulled out one of her favorite books she had ever possessed. A traveling merchant a few moons ago had the worn book amongst his wares, and after some haggling Inasha was able to purchase it for almost nothing.

It was titled Hyrule's History. Supposedly, it had been an old schoolbook that had been discarded after new tomes had been printed to replace them. It told of ancient wars fought over control of "sacred powers" that supposedly gave one the world. Inasha's mom had never known much of Hyrule's history, as in Kakariko it was a fading thing. Few people remembered past their grandparents' times.

She buried her nose into the torn pages of the tome, immersing herself in what seemed like a fantasy, though it was all truth of an ancient legend.

"For unknown reasons, a great war erupted across the kingdom of Hyrule. Fierce fighting between the different tribes of the land broke out and many lives were lost.

In the midst of this great chaos, a Hylian mother fled away from the violence of the war with her newborn son in arms and fled to the forbidden forest. Known as Kokiri Forest, to those who lived within it, it was said that any human who entered its realms would become a Stalfos if they were an adult, or a Skull Kid if they were a child, doomed to wander in the forest forever.

The mother was heavily injured. Her only choice to save her child was to entrust him into the care of the guardian spirit of the forest, the Great Deku Tree. The wise Deku Tree sensed that this child's destiny was intertwined with the fate of Hyrule, and so he allowed the child to remain in the forest. The mother breathed her last, and the child was raised among the Kokiri, the race of forest children who never grew into adults. The child's name was—"

"Inasha! Lights out!" her mother called from down the hall, breaking apart the story that had begun forming in her mind. She sighed and slammed the book shut, puffing out the lantern beside her bed. Within a few moments, dreams of Hyrule's history ran through her resting mind.

X-X-X

The blue-haired woman looked down upon the scene below her. A woman broke away from the din, rapier in hand, and charged at the first Rebel cavalry member she could reach, dispatching him swiftly and taking hold of his horse. Despite the horse's protests, she reined him in and urged him out, away from the warring town.

She was on her way out of the city, towards the huge forest to the south. Her young son clung desperately to her bosom through his blanket. Blonde fuzz was just beginning to grow on his soft head, blue eyes shut tightly as he cried at the sounds and smells that upset him.

The mother stroked her young son's head lovingly and charged forward, not noticing the soldier closing in on her left. The bluenette wanted to warn the woman, but she could do nothing.

Another already had her blessing. This woman was under her sister's care. Her fate was in her hands.

The woman screamed in agony as the opponent's longsword dug deep into her side, but she continued to flee. The soldier gave chase momentarily, but thought better of it, seeing as though she was headed straight for the southern gate. She would perish soon anyways, with that deep of a cut.

The woman watching it all wanted to follow, but she was bound here, in this city. The one bearing her blessing was bound here, so was she. She hoped her careless sister was actually doing her job for once, instead of just bouncing around, hoping things would turn out well on their own.

She turned her attention to her blessed one. The child was no larger than a sack of flour, and possibly weighed no more. Violet eyes shone innocently, ignorant of the violence going on outside of her protected home. Five guards were stationed inside the room, and two outside. None of them noticed the woman approach the child, however. No one saw her if she didn't will it to be.

She reached down and stroked the infant's gentle golden curls. The child's eyes sparkled as if she understood who the woman was. She reached up for a blue lock of hair.

As the young child played with her hair with fascination, the woman wondered just what it was about infants that Hylians would sacrifice their very life for just to protect them. Certainly they could have more than just one to carry on the bloodline. She'd seen families with nearly 20 children!

So what was it about a small infant that warranted such protective feelings? Many other creatures left their young on their own just shortly after birth, but the humans held onto them for many years.

She looked at the shining, lavender eyes that looked up at her with such curiosity. "What is it about you that life becomes suddenly so unimportant if the outcome is your safety? You do not yet understand what goes on around you."

The baby cooed at the sound of the woman's voice. "Well...you do not completely understand..."

X-X-X

Revised 12/1/12
Second Revision 12/23/14

Man, what is with these December revisions, right?

The textbook she is reading from is actually supposed to closely follow "The Legend of Hyrule," a fanfiction by author minijen that I thoroughly enjoyed. It's a very (in my opinion) accurate portrayal of Hyrule's history, in an entertaining textbook form.

Feedback is always so appreciated.