Disclaimer: I've been considering this for a while now and I've decided to try my hand at a Legend of Zelda story. Certain characters, particularly Zelda and Link, will be characterized a bit differently but I'll try not to stray too far from their overall portrayal. Also, I'm going to try to present this story as an amalgamation of several of the games in the series so bear with me please.

Thanks to Moon13Dreams for editing.

No ownership here. Enjoy!

Prologue

((Let me tell you story of how the world we call home first came to be...

Long ago, in the beginning of time, nothing existed of our world, but ash. There were no plant nor animals, not even the smallest of insect; the world was barren with the scars just being created. From the heaven descended the three golden goddesses who reached out to bless those lonely lands. Each goddess gave the lands their own gift.

The first was Din, a powerful goddess garbed in red, who gave the lands ridges, hills, mountains, and volcanos that stretched far and wide to create the different planes that continued to make the land grow to where the edges became further than the eye could see. Then there was Nayru, the always wise and mindful goddess decorated in calming blue, created laws to govern the lands towards lasting eras of peace. The last, but never the least, was a free spirited, brave goddess shining with bright greens who went by the name of Farore and created all the different species in the land that would follow these laws created by her fellow goddess in the now floral, fauna world. Pleased with the beautiful and fertile world they created, the three goddesses returned to their home in the heavens that lied above.

Even though these three goddesses never set foot on the land, their presence and influence would not be easily forgotten. When the goddesses departed, they left behind sacred artifact, one that took the shape of three triangles. Within this artifact the powers to stabilize this new realm and remind the inhabitants of their everlasting existence. This relic was eventually given a name by the inhabitants of the realm. This ancient relic would be know as the Triforce. The realm itself was also given a name by the inhabitants; they called their new lands Hyrule…))

"…named after its dominate race, the Hylia," the woman concluded her tale as she draped a blanket over the tiny shoulders of her yawning daughter. The mother was a beautiful woman by the name of Vera, garbed in royal attire and with long, light brown hair strung in a tail hanging delicately over her shoulder. "That, my little Zelda, is how our world came to be and how we came to inhabit it."

The little girl, Zelda, looked up at her mother with bright crystal blue eyes. She was very young, no more than 8 years of age, but she was very beautiful, just as her mother had been. She had the same sparkle in her eyes as her mother had, which was loved by all around her; she even had similar light brown hair that was currently sprawled across the pillow on which her small head rest. "What happened to the goddesses after the returned to the heavens, Mother?"

Vera smiled at her daughter, as she brushed her child's bangs our of her eyes, "No one really know, my sweet; only that they left the Triforce behind when they departed."

"But where is the Triforce, Mother? I want to see it!" She yawned as her eyes began to grow heavy, fluttering as she struggled to stay awake.

"I'm not sure, my child; though it is said that anyone who manages to find the Triforce can have their deepest wishes granted... but that's a story for another time, my dear," Vera leaned down and kissed Zelda on his forehead. She smiled as she finally gave into her faltering consciousness, slowly closing her eyes; her mother tucked a lock of hair behind her child's ear with a soft, loving smile. "Sweet dreams, my little princess."

Just like that, young Zelda was gone to the world around her, lost in a world of wonder and magic that existed only in her sleep. Vera smiled down at her daughter for a moment before she quietly rose from the bed. She quietly walked toward the door on the other side of the room, turning back to bear one more glimpse of her daughter for the evening. Zelda turned to her side as she stirred in her dreams, resting comfortably within her blankets. It filled Vera with a strong sense of joy knowing that her daughter would be safe and sound. She left the bedroom, shutting the door gently behind her as silently as she could.

Outside of the bedroom, Vera was greeted by two other people. One was a tall man dressed in similarly elegant, royal attire as Vera, his head and beard hair having color filled with a graying brown. The other was a darker young woman dress in slightly ragged blue and white attire, her silvery hair tied behind her head.

The tall man approached Vera and through his arm around her, kissing her forehead before turning towards the other woman. "Thank you again for looking after Zelda, Impa."

The darker woman bowed to the tall man, "It was my pleasure as always, King Daphnes. May you and your family rest well on this night."

"Thank you, Impa. Rest well," Vera smiled. With a last bow, Impa walked off to rest for the night. Vera turned to her King, husband, and eternal love. "Our daughter is so inquisitive at such a young age."

"That she is, my Queen," Daphnes smiled back at her. "Reminds me of a very curious young woman I met once in my youth. How could I have known that she would become my wife and Queen?"

Luck." Vera leaned towards him and planted a strong kiss on Daphnes's lips. "You were lucky, and so was I." Then she kissed him once more.

All the while, in her bedroom, Zelda was sound asleep and dreaming of things that only a child could dream of. She never would've noticed the glowing image of a single triangle on her hand.

Something stirred the sleeping girl from her slumber and caused her to open her eyes. Something strange.

She urgently sat up from her bed and looked around her room while trying to adjust to the darkness that cloaked the night. Her auburn red hair was bit of a mess, but that was hardly an issue to her at the moment given the strange feeling that made her stomach churn. She knew she heard something, and not one of the animals in the ranch. This sound was unusual. She knew the sound, but never heard it in the night before. It was indeed familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was... or where it came from.

The noise occurred again, allowing her to pinpoint the subtle noise, figuring out it was coming from the kitchen a floor below. She cautiously stared at her bedroom door before starting to get out of bed in search of the source. She was careful to open her door as quietly as she could, looking around before stepping out and closing her door gingerly. When the girl was out of her room, she slowly inched down the hall, stopping at another door to press her head against it. It was her father's room and she didn't want to wake him when she knew he was going to be working very hard the next day. With a smile, she move away from the door when she heard the man on the other side snoring loudly. He was always a heavy sleeper, so she was hardly surprised that he didn't respond to the noises in the kitchen like she had.

Moving steadily onward, the girl quietly started down the wooden stairs to the lower floor. Once reaching the bottom, she picked up the nearest blunt object she could find. It was a cast iron pan, the only on they had. She had never used it before since her father was still slowly teaching her how to cook, so she soon found out that the object was much heavier than it looked. She soon traded the heavy iron skillet for a sharp cutting knife. She knew her father told her many times before not to touch it, but she rather hold that than the skillet.

She looked around the kitchen carefully, finding one of the windows open; a faint wind gusting through that caused the thin curtains to sway slowly back and forth. She sighed with relief before she saw several of the upper cabinets opened and swing lightly in the wind. That worried her; she knew the wind wasn't strong enough to cause something like that. The only other conclusion she could come up with was an intruder, and she didn't really like the thought of that. She had heard of stories where an intruder was a big burly miscreant that could make an example out of a child like her.

Then she heard something. A thump.

It came from behind the table in the middle of the kitchen and the girl braced herself, holding the knife in front of her defensively. She bravely stated, "C'mon on out where I can see you."

She hadn't the slightest idea what to expect, but something in her gut told her it was good; at least, better than a large, ugly man. For a few moments, nothing happened to indicate that the intruder heard her voice, but she didn't budge. Then she saw movement; a small set of fingers slowly crawling over the edge of the tabletop. She was trembling at the sight and saw another set of fingers appear beside the other set. Next, slowly and cautiously, the top of a head appeared between the fingers. For a while, it stopped only enough to see the top of his head and it was a long time before more of the head emerged. The girl saw a pair of scared eyes peering right back at her through dirty blonde hair. A bit more and it became clear to the girl that the intruder was a mere boy. He was about the same age as her and he appeared as if was just as frightened as she was.

The girl felt her grip on her weapon falter a bit as the boy revealed himself, slowly stepping out from behind the table. Even in the darkness of the night, he was clearly filthy. He was garbed in grungy clothing and blonde hair was very stringy as it barely covered his natural blue eyes. Besides his physical appearance, the girl could tell that he was shaking, but not seeming to be out of fear. She didn't need but a few seconds to conclude that his trembling was because he was cold, his clothing appearing to be very thin and worn out.

After another gust of wind swept through the room, he sneezed and fell down on his backside. The sneeze startled the girl as well and caused her to drop her weapon as she giggled, the knife barely avoiding her tiny bare feet. The boy frowned in chagrin.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" she started with a small smile, but stopped when she saw the boy shivering again. He looked as if he was going to topple over with the next gentle gust of wind. "Are you... are you okay?"

The boy stared at her for a moment before answering her with an involuntary stutter. "It's… it's cold."

The girl's thoughts were quick as she rushed back upstairs to her room, forgetting the fact that her father was still asleep in his room. She came back down as quick as she could with a bed sheet that was kept in the spare bedroom. The boy hadn't moved from where was sitting on the kitchen floor when she shuffled over to him, throwing the bed sheet around him. The boy was still shivering, but not nearly as badly as before. The girl huddled up a little closer to the boy to help him warm up, being careful not to give him the wrong impression. At this point, all the boy was too preoccupied with the thought of keeping warm than that there was a stranger huddling up beside him. The girl backed away, beginning to rub the boy's arms and shoulders rapidly, trying anything to warm him up.

"It's okay," she said softly. "You're going to be okay."

"I'm… sorry," he said quietly. "I didn't mean to break into your home. I was really hungry and freezing."

"It's okay. Look; we've got plenty of food here... warm blankets and clothes," the girl trailed off. "In fact, you don't have to steal any of it. You can stay here with me and my Papa if you want to."

The boy looked at the girl with wide eyes. She was looking right back at him with her green eyes, ones that made him recognize her to be very beautiful. The thought of her beauty ran through his head again before saying, "You're not going to throw me out?"

"I don't see why I should. My Papa and I can take care of you. You'll never have to run again," she said with a smile. "My name is Malon. What's your name?"

The boy was a bit taken aback at the kindness of this girl named Malon; it was the first time he had ever been shown such kindness. "Link," he replied. "My name is Link."

"It's nice to meet you, Link." Malon said, to which Link smiled. "Let's get you warmed up. In the morning, I'll introduce you to my Papa."

He nodded, smiling the widest smile he had smiled in a long time. While they talked to each other, a glowing triangle went unnoticed as it appeared on his left hand under the sheet he was using that was wrapped around his tiny body.

In a far off desert stronghold, a singular individual sat alone in a chair shrouded in the shadow. He stood from the chair and sauntered to the window overlooking the desert that he called his kingdom. The full moon shined overhead, lighting the desert to show the swirling dust storm. The man was a hulking figure garbed in grim black and gold armor, a crimson red cloak rested over his shoulder that matched the color of his hair. He gazed indifferently out the window with his cold, yellow eyes. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a gleam that seemed to be coming from below him. He looked to see that nn his right hand, a glowing triangle appeared. The man looked down at the triangle and then back out the window with a slight smirk.

He declared in his solitude, "So it begins…"

Author's Note: That puts the prologue in the books to start the story. I decided to keep it short and to the point as a means of introducing the main characters Zelda and Link. As I said, they'll be portrayed a bit differently but won't stray from normal. Out of all the characters featured in the prologue, the one called Vera is an original character not featured in the games. She was originally going to be called Midna but I didn't want there to be confusion.

By now, you might already know who the primary antagonist will be. (I like saying that for some reason.)

Again, thanks to Moon13Dreams for editing. Feedback would be most welcome and encouraged.