Caleb, The Hero (KUFF)

Started by Kman96, December 23, 2012, 03:59:46 PM

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Kman96

Caleb, The Hero
(A prequel to The Wind Waker)

*Disclaimer: I started this in 7th grade, FYI*

PLEASE DO NOT POST IN THIS THREAD.
Please direct all comments, questions and concerns to this thread here.

Prologue:
The Beginning of Peace

I can remember.  I can remember all the way back to the night that the Hero of time slayed Ganondorf.  I was two years old at the time, but I wasn't too young to understand that something bad had happened.

My name is Caleb.  I was born a few years after Ganondorf obtained the Triforce and destroyed Hyrule.  I lived in hiding in a boarded up house in the destroyed Hyrule Castle Town.  I lived there until we moved to the nearby village of Kakariko three years later.

On that night of terror, I had found a secret escape hole in our house that led outside where the living dead, also known as redeads, infested the streets.  As a baby would be, I was curious.  I had never been outside before.  I plopped down on the ground and began to stare at things.  It was all so amazing. 

I heard galloping sounds in the distance.  A huge brown horse ran through the large stone gate.  Its rider was a young man clothed in a green tunic, who wielded a pure silver sword.  I could sense he was strong.  The horse neighed as the boy slashed all the redeads in his path.  As a baby, this was horrifying to see, so I burst out crying.

The green clothed boy ran to quiet me, in fear the redeads would spot me.  He scooped me up and began roughly rocking me.  "Shhh!" He hushed.  "It will be over soon.  You won't have to be afraid any longer."
   
The true words of a hero.

From that day on, I knew it was my destiny to become a hero.  I quietly crawled back into the hole, unnoticed.
   
The next morning, for the first time in seven years, my family heard the chirping of birds; Ganondorf had been defeated.  We crawled through the small hole into the fresh air of a new Hyrule, as if the old one simply flew away overnight.
   
The town was refilled with people, and although the town was in pieces, everyone was rejoicing.  The Princess, Zelda, came down a long path that led towards Ganon's castle.  My mother, who was holding me, set me on the stone floor.
   
As Zelda entered the Castle Town, people exclaimed, "It's Zelda!"  Everyone formed a circle-like shape around her in the town square.
   
People "oohed," and "ahhed" and "who's that?"
   
"Quiet!" Zelda exclaimed.  She seemed happy, yet sad.  " I have an announcement to make."  As she spoke, I had crawled over to her side.  I tugged at her dress, and when she saw me, she picked me up and held me against her.  My mother searched frantically for me.  "Ganondorf has been defeated, and imprisoned in the Sacred Realm.  Praise the Gods, for may he never return!"  Everyone cheered.  My mother noticed me in the princess' arms and was relieved.  " The Hero of Time, however, has gone home.  Rejoice and be happy, Hyrule! Peace has come once again!
   
People cheered and began celebrating.  The princess walked over to my mother and handed me off.  " Your son will be great," she said. " I can feel it."
   
My mother bowed and said, " Thank you, your Majesty."
   
I wondered what had happened to the Hero of Time.  Where is he?  Did he go back to the past? Or did he go into the future?
Party Hard!
[close]

Kman96

Chapter 1:
A Mysterious Musician

I woke up in the morning with a chill on the wind.  The cold wind whipped over the still waves of Lake Hylia.
   
I put my clothes on and ate breakfast, then looked at the bulletin board on the inside of the door.  Three new requests were hanging from the worn board.  The first was from my wife, asking me to come home to Kakariko Village; the second was from a local fisherman named Alfred, saying his boat had leaked.
   
The last one, though, was from a man without a name, a man called The Wanderer. I've never heard of this person before.  The request said to bring a newly carved boat to Hyrule Market.  The Castle Town.  I vowed never to return to the market after a thief killed my mother when I was seven.
   
You see I became a boat carver when I was nineteen, and my boss had me up set shop at Lake Hylia.  That's where I met my wife, Jewel.  We got married and moved into a house in Kakariko, where my mother was buried.  Its been nearly thirty years since her death, but I still miss her dearly.  Our daughter, Mary, was born only a year ago, and she has almost learned to walk.  She lives with my wife as an only child.
   
My policy is this: No name, No boat.  There also wasn't much description provided in the request of what he wanted this boat to look like, leaving me dumbstruck.  There was only one thing I could do, and that was to venture to the castle town to get more information.  Alfred's gonna have to wait, because this job's obviously more important.

As I filled my pack with food and water, the sun burst from the trees as if Heaven was on Earth. With the sunrise at this rate, I figured I had picked a good day for traveling across Hyrule.

I locked up shop and got on my horse, Diamond. The ranch owner I purchased her from said she was the granddaughter of the horse taht belonged to the hero of time...Still, I searched for him.

When I got about halfway across the field, dark clouds rolled in, covering the bright shining sun.  S tireless wind blew across the plain. Diamond fiercely took off at an alarming rate.  Lon Lon Ranch, the local ranch was somewhere in the area.

Diamond began to run faster. I felt something freezing against my back, as if a giant, cold hand were trying to grab me and pull me into the shadows. Diamond bucked and I fell off.  She off into the stormy darkness.

I laid there, badly injured from the fall, closed my eyes, and felt consciousness drift away.

*        *         *

I woke up in a soft bed, smelling the putrid smell of cowpies. An open window let in the angelic sun.

A small wooden door in the south corner of the room creaked open, and a youngm red-headed girl popped her head through the opening. "Oh, good! You're awake! I brought you some breakfast!" she cried.

Realizing I must have been out for some time, and that I hadn't eaten since breakfast the day before, I took the tray the small girl was holding and scarfed down everything on it.

"You've been asleep for a long, long time, mister!" the girl said. "You're lucky my dad found your horse, or you might have still been out there!" She pulled up a wooden stool and salt by the bed. "My name is Malon. I'm named after my grandmother, just like my dad was named after his grandfather!"

"Is this is ranch?" I asked Malon.

The little girl smiled as she sat down on the bed. "Yeah, my dad found you lying down about a mile out from the gates. My dad knew your horse right when he saw it. I don't know how he did it, hut he wrangled her and brought her in. I was watching the whole thing!"

"Where is Diamond now?" I asked with worry.

"Oh, she's in the barn. My dad just went down to feed her." Malon replied when she hopped off the bed. "If you come with me, I'll take you to your horse!"

I attempted to get up The pain in my back barely made it possible. Malon put out her hand to help me up. For her age, she was quite strong.  I made it up, and was unsteady. I walked out the door with Malon holding my hand. I limped down the stairs and out the door.

The barn was tiny. There were near 10 stalls in the entire place. 6 were filled with ranch horses, and 2 were filled with cows. Another was empty, and in the largest one were a plump man and Diamond.

The plump man turned to me, saying, "You've raised her to be a fine horse, Caleb. Happy, too." Diamond neighed. "I'm Talon, the ranch owner. My grandfather;s friend used to do all the work here way back when, but he passed away recently. Ingo, I think his name was?"

"Thank you, Talon, sir." I replied. "It's getting close to noon, and I have to make it to the Market before dark."

"Oh, I see." Talon said. "I'd better saddle up Diamond for ya, then, now shouldn't I?" He hoisted up the saddle, about to place it on Diamond, when the note fell out. "This is it?" Talon asked as he placed the saddle on Diamond. He picked up the note, read it, and handed it to me.

"Yeah, business." I answered.

"You know, I've met the Wanderer before," Talon remarked.

"You have?!" I exclaimed.

"Oh, yeah, he doesn't like people looking at his face." Talon informed. Some people say her hypnotizes things with music, so if you hear some, RUN!"

I'll try." I assured.

Malon ran up to me. "Are you sure you have to go? Why can't you just stay here?"

"I can't Malon," I said, "but I promise I'll be back."

"Okay..." Malon sulked.

Talon took Diamond and opened the large brown door, leading to the pasture.

"Here ya go!" He made sure I had a hold of Diamond. I hopped on and took off down through the gates.

"Thank you!" I shouted as loud as I could.

*        *         *

I made it to the Market by sunset. It was quiet, I tied up Diamond to a pole and went into the local inn to rent a room for the night. As I got into the bed and made myself comfortable, I felt a chilling breeze. I checked the window, discovering that it was shut tight. The breeze came again. I heard Diamond neigh. I got on my hands and knees and searched for the source. I found a fairly large hole the size of a toddler in the wall curiously placed under the bed.

Then it hit me.

This inn was the same building as the old boarded up house I used to live in. Obviously, no one had fixed the hole since then after all these years. I took a small crate from in the room and covered the hole, warming up the room immediately.

I slipped back into bed and fell asleep right away.

In the morning, I saddled up Diamond and rode her through town. There were many business up against every wall on every street. I strolled through town until I came to an empty alley with a tiny stall where a man sat with folded arms. He wore a pointy hat and a crystal ball sat in front of him. Diamond paused and looked down the alley.

"Sit down, Caleb, please," The man said. "I've been waiting."

"Who are you?" I cried.

"The question is, Caleb, who are you?" The man answered. I jumped off Diamond and sat down on the rug in front of him. "You know who I am. I am the Wanderer. I knew you would come."

"What do you mean, 'Who am I?'" I asked. "I know who I am!"

The Wanderer laughed. "Ah, yes, that may be, however, do others know you?" The Wanderer moved his hands over the crystal ball. He breathed on it, and the world around them turned into a pitch black landscape. Everything were cool colors: purple, green, black and blue. "Look at what you cannot see. Notice anything odd?"

"Where are we?" I shouted. "Turn this back!"

"Caleb, be calm. You are turning red, see?" The Wanderer called. I looked to see my body was turning from black to red. "Only you and I can see the world this way right now. Look for an odd color. Now, before you do anything, I must tell you that what you see is much farther away then it appears."

I began to look around the unfamiliar surroundings, not knowing what to expect. When I looked in a certain direction, I saw a small patch of red, that slowly moved. "Aah!" I cried, and the world snapped back to normal.

"What did you see?" The Wanderer asked.

"It was a patch of...a patch of red," I explained, recollecting myself, "and it was moving, getting closer and closer. What is it?"

"That...is a tragedy, coming from below," The Wanderer replied.  "Years from now, many many years from now...a terrible cataclysm will occur. We must prevent that evil from ever arising in Hyrule. Stop it in it's tracks. That's where you come in-"

"Wait!" I cried. "Why did you call me here? I came because I was replying to a request for a new boat."

The Wanderer just sat and stared, not saying a word.

"...and?" I impatiently asked. "So why am I here?"

Finally, he spoke. "The king is growing old, and I have sensed his death in the future. I need you to carve a boat for the ceremony at Lake Hylia. Something majestic." The Wanderer explained.

"Like a lion?" I speculated.

"I suppose so...Yes, I do believe a lion would be perfect for the king to be laid to rest in." The Wanderer agreed. "...but he will also need something else. It is confidential information. I can't tell you why he does, but the King needs a conductor's baton."

I was befuddled. "Uhh...What kind? I'll see what I can do."

"White." The Wanderer replied. "With a curly handle. Now if you'll excuse me..." He reached into his pack and grabbed a round blue instrument with a golden triangle on the mouth piece "...I'd like to play some music."

Music! I thought. I jumped on Diamond and took off out of the alley. A soft, nostalgic melody was carried through the air. There was a flash; the music stopped.

I turned back and walked towards the booth. The Wanderer was gone! Gone, I thought. Like the Hero of Time.

I heard a noise. BAM! It sounded like someone slamming a log against a locked door. BAM! There it was again. Dust popped out of the side of the brick alley. BAM! A patch of bricks fell over, revealing a hole in the side of the building.

Wooden stairs led down into a candle-lit room. In the underground room, bookshelves covered the dirt walls, and a rug like the one in the booth covered the ground. A candle sat on a desk that was covered with papers about time travel. Ancient Hylian writing that wasn't used anymore, but the papers on the desk were written incredibly in the old text. There was a timeline on the desk as well. On the line, there were dates with points from thousands of years ago to many years in the future!

One event listed stated: "Ganon's Return"

Could it possibly be the return of that awful man? I looked at the date in relation to now. The roughly sketched timeline showed the event to be about 5 years into the future! Is this what that evil I had seen was...?

I went through the rest of the papers until the desk showed. On the desk was a message carved into the wood that read:
FIND THE HERO

Who lives here? I wondered.

BAM! There it was again. BAM! That pounding noise. BAM! A large snake flew out of the bookcase. It hissed at me and said, "Ssso you're the famousss Caleb, eh? Master often speaks highly of you. Let'ss sssee how ssstrong you really are!"

The giant snake leaped at me, while I jumped out of the way and grabbed a book to hit the snake. When the snake flew at me, I aimed the book at the snake's head and swung. The large snake flew against the wall. "Isss that all you can dissh out?"

I thought for a second. What's heavier than a book? Then it came to me. Quickly I ran up to the hole and picked up a brick from the outside, scrambling back down the wooden steps where the snake awaited.

The snake hissed. "Don't think about running away jussst yet. I'm not finnisshed!" The giant snake leaped at me with it's razor sharp fangs hanging from it's jaws. I shoved the brick down the snake's throat as fast as I could and pulled out my hand before it could bite my wrist The snake hit the goround with a THUD.

I snatched the snake's tail and began to swing it around. I let go of the snake's tail, and the snake's head (with the brick still in it's mouth) smashed into the cold, hard, stone wall, falling to the ground. The brick lay in pieces inside the snake's mouth.

In the cupboard, there was a sword. A sword with a blue hilt, and a shining silver blade. I threw open the doors and grabbed the sword. I held the sword over my head by the hilt, and swung it down over the snake's head.

The snake's head bounced off it's body and rolled away. "Congratulationssss," It's voice hissed, followed by both the head and the body vanished with a puff of purple smoke. Two halves of a book lay where the head and body had disappeared. Shaking, I set the sword on the ground.

The room was a mess, but it couldn't hide the strange light that slowly drifted to the floor. When the tiny ball of light hit the ground, an entire ring of light appeared, and inside the ring a chest materialized.

I popped open the chest after the light had faded away to find a decent amount of battle armor for one person. I was guessing it was for me. The sword inside wasn't as cool-looking as the one I had used to slay the snake with, but I wasn't going to be rude, so I took it. The shield look like that of the Hylian army: blue, with a metal perimeter, and a red bird as well as the Triforce. When I finished putting all of the gear on, I felt strong, almost like a hero. Almost like the Hero of Time.
Party Hard!
[close]

Kman96

Chapter 2:
The Baton

I was standing in the underground room, wondering what to do next. What would I do with a set of armor? I was just a lowly boat carver.

Suddenly the bookcase shook so hard, it began to lift itself off of the ground. After it floated a bit, it slammed back onto the ground, booming.

A large, green book fell out of the bookcase and smacked the ground, making a thunderous clap. It was open on a page that read: "Keep spirits inside objects."

I went to pick the book up, when it shut and flew directly off of the ground, smacking my face. As I was spinning, bearing the pain from the book, I noticed that the book floated over to the desk and open at the same page. I turned the book over to find that it was a spell book. I sat down and began to read. I stuck a small piece of cloth on the open page and began at the beginning.

The book was so interesting. For each spell, I found at least one thing in my life that I could use it for.

Hours later, I reached the back cover. The candles in the room had reached their last inch. I knew it was wrong to, but I took the book and stuck it in my bag. Diamond gave a worried whinny, trying to plead for me. I ran up the wooden steps, only to find the sky had gone dark, covered with stars. It was nighttime, and I still had to make it back to Lake Hylia.

The long journey wasn't worth the hassle. It was too dark to be roaming about Hyrule Field. Monsters would be crawling everywhere. I stuck the book in Diamond's saddle, and I rode her over to the inn we had stayed at the night before.

Later that evening while I was sleeping, a strange man appeared in my dream. He was old and wore a red robe. He had a white mane-like collar and had small black shoes on his feet. The last thing I noticed was his crown. He was the King, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule. Walls of the castle rose up around him. The King sat on a bed while his wife the queen walked into the room.

"Dear, please try to relax. You will only make it worse," the queen said.

"Yes. I know," The king replied. "I can't help but get overwhelmed when I hear his name."

"Don't you see? You need to get over Ganondorf-"

"Agh!" The king cried. "Don't say his name!"

"He's gone, darling! Please calm down." The queen ordered. She went over to the door. "Goodnight, dear." She went into the hall and closed the door.

"I'm dying," the King said to himself, in the light of the moon. "I have only a handful of years left..." Then he began to cry, quietly to himself.

The room and the King began to fade away. Somewhere, a cucco cried, and my eyes shot open. It was morning.

I mumbled and rubbed my eyes. I need to begin building that boat for the king! I thought, my head racing. I got dressed and packed up for the trip to Lake Hylia.

I saddled up Diamond and strolled to the entrance gate. As Diamond stepped outside the gate, I felt a rush of excitement and shouted, "Hyaa!" and pulled Diamond's reigns.

The horse took off. The speed was exhilarating; how I loved the feeling the wind in my face. I rode the whole way like that.

After I had passed the halfway mark, Lon Lon Ranch, the wind began to rise. It blew everything about and caused distress. I looked to the right of me, and saw a woman dressed in purple, charging on her horse almost parallel to me, about a half-mile away. She had hanging from her saddle a variety of curved swords. The rattled against each other as the woman's horse darted across the field.

Suddenly she made a sharp left turn, charging straight towards me. Then there was about 5 more women on horses behind her. Their red hair beamed brightly and caught my attention. They raced ahead and began getting faster and faster.

I pulled Diamond's reigns and she started running away to the left. I looked ahead and saw a white light shine, somewhere on the ground in the distance.

The 5 women began to catch up and formed a semi-circle around Diamond's front, trying to block my view. The white light got closer; close enough to see that it was a leafless silvery bush. They went up in front of the bush and slid to a stop. Diamond was going too fast to halt!

Diamond got to the bush and whirled around, with me hanging onto the reigns. Out of nowhere, the leader of the women took the hilt of one of the curved swords and jabbed it into my chest. The wind was knocked out of me and as I fell into the silvery bush below, I heard the worried cry of Diamond.

* * *

As consciousness drifted back into my head I moaned. Me head was leaned up against a wooden wall. The whole room was made of wood.

Wherever I was, the room was extremely warm. Much hotter than anywhere I had ever been before. There was a small window that let light into the jail cell.

"HEY! YOU!" A voice came from above. A woman with tan skin, red hair, and a purple outfit was coming into view from the hole in the roof. "Good timing. Our leader wants to see you." She began to leave, but she turned around and said, "You know, you're pretty good with swords, really. If you weren't a man, we would probably let you join us!" Then a rope dropped down from where she was standing.

My muscles didn't work very well, but I was able to make it up the rope. The lady was standing there as if she'd been waiting for hours. "Where am I?" I asked.

"Think about it," The woman ordered. Let's see: red hair, tan skin, brilliant sword capabilities, warm environment, purple clothes; that fit the description of the Gerudo Tribe that lived in the desert. I didn't have to dive her an answer. She could read my face.

"Why am I here?" I said next.

"No one knows. Boss just told us to get you." She walked through the door leading into the cliff, signaling me to follow.

"But how do you know I'm the right guy?"

"Are you Alfred the fisherman?" She asked, turning to face me.

I was dumbfounded. "No," I replied.

She replied without missing a beat, "you're the right guy." She kept walking. Although confused, I followed.

She led me into a large room with a red carpet and two torches on the back wall. The rest of the room was very dark. A woman wearing an orange top with baggy pants was sitting on the carpet facing the wall. "Welcome, Caleb. I have been waiting for your arrival." She slowly rose from the ground and turned to me, displaying her red locks.

"Miss, why am I here?" I asked.

"Please, call me Aryll. I have asked my underlings to bring you here because I have questions about subjects that only a lowly boat carver would understand." The women who led me in left the room. "I know you have spoken to the Wanderer. I have been having visions lately, and Gerudo women are not akin to having psychic powers. These visions are of Hyrule, swallowed by terror, like it was so long ago."

"That's terrible," I said.

"Yes, and, I think..." Aryll hesitated. "I think Ganon is going to return."

"I have heard that, too." I replied. "In fact, I found a timeline of future events in what I believe to be the Wanderer's house!"

"Caleb, I must know if you are trustworthy to keep a secret," Aryll said. "There is only one way to do that."

"How is that?" I asked.

"A duel. To the death." Aryll said. I shuddered and took a step back. "You may win without killing me, for I have the secret. Your death, however, shows that you are unworthy."

"WHAT?!" I cried.

"AIEE!" Aryll lunged with a sword she had pulled from somewhere. I quickly jumped out of the way. I grabbed the sword from its place on my belt and swung it at her. She had quick moves to deflect each of my swings.

My arm was getting tired quickly. I had to think of a way that Aryll couldn't deflect my shot. Then an idea popped into my head.

Suddenly Aryll's arm came swinging on the side. I jumped, touched my foot on the sword, flipped over Aryll, and jabbed my hilt into her back.

"AAGH!" Aryll cried. "Guards!" She shouted. Two more Gerudo women came running into the room. "Take him back to the dungeon!"

At that, the two women grabbed my arms and hauled me out of the chamber.

"WAIT!" Aryll called. "Bring him back in here. We still have unfinished business." The two guards came back and dropped me on the floor, leaving and closing the door.

Aryll looked at me. She seemed to be feeling better. "Do you know why you are special, Caleb?" She asked.

"N-no, ma'am. No I do not," I replied, stuttering.

"Our tribe has been watching you for weeks at all times of the day. WE all know what you do at anytime, anywhere or with anyone. But we still don't know why the ancient sages have chosen you."

"Chosen me for what? I haven't done anything." I said. I was getting confused.

"We know so much, that we know exactly what's going to happen in the next five years, and much farther on." Aryll's voice got creepier the more she spoke. "And no, Caleb. You haven't done anything, not yet. But know this: Whatever you do, your great-great-grandson will follow in your footsteps." I gasped.

"When I said I thought Ganon was coming back, I lied." Aryll said. "I know he is. And what makes us confused is why you will be the only one for the next one hundred years to attempt to kill him. That's the part we don't get...why would you care so much, as a small business man, as to challenge the King of Evil?"

My brain was in shock. I'm sure my mouth was open but I couldn't feel it. "I-I don't know...yet. That's not me, I guess. I don't think I've found my reason, yet."

"Very well, then. My business with you is done," Aryll decided. "Guards! Take him back down."

The women took me back to the wooden room where they threw me down through the hole in the floor that lead to the jail.

I began to think about the requests the Wanderer had given me: A boat in the shape of a lion, and a silver conductor's baton.

Then I began to feel a slight pain in my chest, as if something was digging deeper and deeper into my skin. I lifted my shirt to see that a mass of silver wood had been stuck into my side from the bush I had crashed into.

I still hurt. There was one more piece of silver wood, and this piece was bigger and thicker than the rest. The two stems it had were close to where a hand would be at the bottom, and they seemed to twirl inward.

Then I thought of a brilliant idea. I could use this for the conductor's baton for the king. It was excellent, except it was far too long, and if I cut it, the silver might fade away.

I took out my sword and began slowly carving the wood layer by layer of wood to see what the color was. It was silver. From a bush made of complete silver wood.

After a while, I had carved off about three inches off the top, bringing it to a perfect point. When I lifted the sword off of the baton began to glow a bright white. I held it in my fist and a ray of light echoed from the wand.

The wind began to blow suddenly, and it was blowing roughly. I could hear the guards outside screaming and scrambling to get inside.

I began to play with the baton. Just kind of swinging it around, pretending like I'm actually conducting music. Immediately, as if from the heavens, voices cried different notes, in a song that seemed to control the wind itself.

Suddenly, a stream of wind came in through the small window and twirled around my body. It grabbed the baton out of my hand, and swirled it out of the wood cell. I had to catch it! I had worked so hard on that baton! The wind had carried it out the window and out of reach.

 "The wind was silent before I made this baton," I said to myself. "Once I finished it, the wind awoke." A startling thought entered my brain. "It wakes the wind. I'll call it the Wind Waker!"

Something in the cell moved. I turned around to see a man with big white eyes. He had a small head and a short brown haircut. He wasn't wearing any clothes except for some brown shorts. "OOOOH!" He cried. "HELLO! How are you?"

"Who are you?" I asked as I pulled out my sword. "And...and what do you want?"

"Oh! I can help you escape! After all, I did sneak into this place," he replied. "My name is Beedon, but everyone calls me Beedle. I am a traveling marketer, I travel around Hyrule trading items with other people."

"I've never heard of you before," I remarked.

"Yes, many people have never heard of me, but my family has been running the trade business for years!" Beedle replied. "Someday, I hope the world will know my family's business."

"Okay, anyway, how do we escape?" I asked. "I need to get out!"

"Oh, right!" Beedle said. "Right over here." He lifted a board to display a tunnel dug through the rock. Finally, a way out. "But first," He began, "I need to get something." He walked over to a corner of the cell and picked up an empty bottle, then showed it to me. "I left this in here when I was originally captured. Let's go!" He lifted the board again and let me through first, following behind.

The rock path led to an open field of sand. Around the corner was the fortress. I had never really seen the outside before, but it looked quite sturdy.

A horse neighed. I recognized it as the worried plea of Diamond. She must know I'm near – wherever she was.

Beedle and I snuck around the front of the base. Diamond's head came into view. She was tied to a post in the ground. I peeked my head above the ground to see that no guards were outside. I leapt onto the ledge and cut the rope Diamond had been tied down with.

Then, two guards walked out to find me releasing Diamond. "He's escaping!" one shouted. Tons of other guards came pouring out of the fortress, charging towards me.

Diamond began to circle, the guards surrounding us on all sides until they were too numerous to fight off. She ran towards the cliff and jumped. Diamond soared through the air before landing on the sandy ground at a breakneck pace.

Beedle was on the road from the fortress, running for his life. I took one hand and bent down low to scoop him up and secured him behind me. "Thanks," he said.

The road away from the Gerudo fortress was full of twists and turns, leading to a gorge connected by a bridge. An abandoned pack lay on the ground, untouched. "STOP!" Beedle shouted. "That's my pack! I left it there."

Diamond slid to a halt. Beedle jumped off of the great horse and ran over to his pack that was lying by a dead tree. When he picked up the pack, I noticed there was a very colorful bird perched atop the highest branch. It was purple with white feathers on its wings. It had a cute little mask that was covering its eyes, and three short green and yellow tails. It looked almost suspicious.

The beards beady little eyes followed Beedle as he walked back over to Diamond. "I'll take the rest of my journey on foot with my pack," he said. "You don't want your horse to be aching." The strange little man quickly trodded off along the distant rocky pathway. "Thank you!" He called.

Diamond began slowly walking in Beedle's direction, hoping that we might also find also find a way out. The small purple bird flew off into the direction of the Gerudo fortress, as Diamond and I slowly walked out of the desert area.

The long desert trail led into the open Hyrule Field. Diamond obviously felt like I was rushed, so she sprinted for Lake Hylia. I barely held on as the wild young horse took off at lightning speed across the grassy plain.

I could see the gates up ahead and began to get my keys out. Diamond sped up; there was no stopping her! The gates came closer. I shut my eyes...Diamond was going to crash!

Suddenly I was overcome with a feeling of being light as a feather. With a loud THUD I opened my eyes and the gates were gone! I looked behind me to see the gates getting further and further away. Diamond had jumped right over them! She sailed right into the entry to Lake Hylia.

I rested Diamond in her stable and walked into my cabin. Dozens more notes were on the withered bulletin board. "Fix this," they said. "Fix that," they said. "Buy some meat," they said. What a bunch of junk.

I sat down at my desk as the sun was almost set. Half of the sky was covered by gorgeous sunlight, the other half a deep black, covered in tiny stars, like white glitter on black paper.

I heard footsteps outside. Suddenly, a letter fell through the mailslot. "Mail call!" A man cried, walking away.

I picked up. It was addressed to me, Caleb, and seemed quite formal. I read through the letter completely. Through the finely written print, it was an invitation for me to come to Hyrule Castle. For a boat request. It was almost time.
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Kman96

Chapter 3:
Hyrule Castle

Well, I guess I should explain how Hyrule Castle was rebuilt after Ganondorf was defeated, along with other things that I have learned from stories. After he gained his power so long ago, he destroyed the beauty Hyrule was known for. He left the Castle Town in ruins and destroyed the castle itself.

On the spot of where Hyrule Castle used to stand, he built his own castle. Layer by layer, his dark domain was created. A tall cement fortress stood in the dark sky of the Hyrule for seven years. To add to the horror, Ganon added a pool of hot lava under his castle, which was on a giant slab of rock hovering over the magma.

The night the Hero of Time came to vanquish him, the six sages created a bridge that helped lead his path into the castle. After battle ensued, it resulted in the castle collapsing to a complete flat landscape, hovering above the lava, with towers coming out of the ground. When all seemed finished, Ganon returned as a monstrous beast. That is when the Hero of Time final slayed Ganondorf and trapped him in the Sacred Realm. Or so, that's how the story goes.

Anyway, once the skies cleared up, Princess Zelda gave orders to the best carpenters in the land to rebuild the castle. Since there were only five carpenters in all of Hyrule, many men were sent to help build the castle.

Years later, as a young boy, I was the helper of the leader of the carpenters, the old man named Mutoh. He supervised everything the other carpenters did. He sent me out to find good trees to cut down for the castle's inner structure. It was that job that led me to become a boat carver.

The Gorons also helped in building the castle. The rock-like creatures dug deep into Death Mountain to find the best marble for the stone walls.

The carpenters and the Gorons were able to gather all of the supplies perfect to build a brand new castle, when an extremely large problem came about. One that was filled with blazing hot magma. The destroyed castle was still on a rock slab, hovering above a giant pool of lava. There was no way to get to the floating landmass except for the rainbow bridge created by the sages.

Everyone decided that they needed to get rid of the lava first. They all knew they couldn't actually remove the lava because it could destroy anything. It needed to be frozen into a hard crust with water.

But where would we get enough water? The people thought.

Nobody knew.

Not until King Zora spoke up and mentioned that Zora's domain was almost completely unfrozen. The river that led from the domain ran right by the edge of the castle town. The other zoras began speaking of how they could force as much water as they can down the river and then create a new canal leading into the pit of lava.

So it was done.

Multiple new canals were dug, all leading into the giant lake filled with magma. At first only a small amount of water came through the new canals, and it wasn't enough to do much good. Once the zoras forced tons and tons of water down the new canals, the lava created a light crust, and it got thicker and thicker as more water was forced through.

A thick crust rested on top of the lava beneath the floating castle. The water kept pouring onto the base of the pit, filling it higher and higher.

The zoras were able to stop the water flow before it exceeded the pit's capacity, and the rest of the workers filled in the trenches.

There was now a flat landscape floating on a lake of pure blue water. Immediately, men began laying bricks down on the rainbow bridge to begin a bridge to the island for the castle, and progress was being made.

Once a long bridge was created, the rainbow one faded away, almost gluing the new bridge in place. Now there was a sturdy bridge leading to the castle grounds.

The carpenters then began building the actual castle. It took ages. Years and years.

The final product looked amazing. By then, grass had covered the outskirts of the canals and the entire lake, and the canals had run over and grown into another branch of Zora's River. It looked ten times better than the old castle. So much more royal than before.

The beauty of the inside matched that of the outside. Tall pillars held up the painted ceiling. At the main entrance to the castle, two paintings were hung. One of which was of the King, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule. The other was of his daughter Zelda and her court of servants.

The King, while sitting in his new castle, had another thought. The carpenters had put in a basement just as a storage room, or a dungeon, whichever was preferred, and the King thought what would make the castle even more royal was if they had their own chamber that held the Master Sword.

Immediately workers cleared out the basement, and stuck in stained windows of the six sages: Saria, Darunia, Ruto, Impa, Nabooru, and Rauru. Polished columns were formed around a small altar in the center, and a small pit was placed in the center, where the master sword was to be placed.

...But another problem came about. The Master Sword was missing.

It was last seen by the last Princess Zelda when she sent the Hero of Time home, but not even she knew where it was. Still, no one knows where it is or what it looks like.

The King was disappointed, but soon decided that the Master Sword might be better off if it remained missing.

People then looked upon the Temple of Time poorly. Now, it was just an empty building. The three Spiritual Stones that had been placed there by the Hero of Time still spun in their respective places.

Then King Daphnes got another idea and called upon the Gorons for a favor.

He asked the Gorons to forge the stones into pearls, so they would be easier to preserve. So the Gorons took the three Spiritual stones up to Death Mountain. Within hours, they returned the stones, but they weren't stones – they were pearls.  So the King named the pearls after the goddesses: Nayru, Farore and Din. Din's pearl: Red. Farore's pearl: green. Nayru's pearl: blue.

Then he called a representative from each of the main races of Hyrule: Goron, Zora and Kokiri. The three that were sent were Fado the Kokiri, Laruto the Zora, and Link the goron, son of Fire sage Darunia.  Daphnes then distributed the three pearls between the representatives. Fado received Farore's pearl, Link Nayru's pearl, and last but not least, Laruto was given Din's pearl.

Fado was satisfied with his pearl, for Farore was the goddess of life, which had begun in the forest. Neither Laruto or Link were happy with their given pearls. Din was the goddess of power, the one who had created the land in fire, while Nayru was the goddess of law, the one who brought order to chaos and water to the world. Everyone had thought the King had made a mistake in his choice, but he explained that for it was not his choice, but the Gods'.

By the end of the meeting, King Daphnes had dubbed each of the three representatives as sages of the newest temples in Hyrule. The Wind temple in the north, close to Kakariko village, but not as close as the Shadow Temple, was given charge of Fado. The Earth Temple in the South was given to LAruto. The final temple given in charge of Link the Goron was the Snow Temple, the smallest of all of the other temples, yet it was located atop a high mountain in Hyrule's center. The three sages vowed never to leave their temple unless needed in case of emergency.

Being stubborn, Link used all his strength to push the temple as deep into the mountain as he could, and built a house for himself directly above it. He made a secret hole in his new abode to provide easy access to the temple whenever he needed it. Although Link did all that, the temple, from where it was positioned on the mountain, still had enough snow under it that the floor of the temple was constantly soaked with water. Meanwhile, both Fado and Laruto lived peacefully in their temples, with occasional visitors.

Link had three sons that were only infants, living with their mother in Goron City. At just one year old, they all became apprentices of the local shopkeeper so that they could one day go out into the world as Goron merchants.

And then, years later, inruders entered the snow temple and killed Link the Goron. Some say he still roams the house cabana as the butler. The intruders all died within the temple, and no one remembers where the temple might be, though it is rumored that someone kept the cabana deed hidden away somewhere.

Anyway, Hyrule Castle seemed much brighter and friendlier than before, and I was on my way to my meeting with the king.

Over a boat.
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Kman96

Chapter 4:
Homecoming

 Kakariko village sat in peace. Diamond rode slowly into town, trying not to make a sound. Nobody was outside, so it appeared that Kakariko village was deserted.

I was shocked, yet I also felt like a hero coming home from war, wielding a sword and shield. I had been away for so long, I couldn't remember where my house was.

The door to a house opened up on a small hill and a young woman walked out. She was beautiful. She had long blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes and a flawless complexion. A small child came stumbling after her.

Jewel, with baby Mary.

I dropped my sword and shield and LEAPED off of Diamond. I ran as fast as I could. Diamond followed. "Jewel!" I cried. "Jewel! Mary! It's me! It's daddy!" Jewel saw me and ran towards me. I caught her and held her in my arms. "Oh, it's so good to be home. I missed you so much!"

"Me too," Jewel replied. "I just knew you'd come home soon!" She paused and gave me a suspicious look. "What are you doing home?"

I pulled out the invitation from Hyrule Castle and showed it to her. "I have a meeting with the King soon, and I needed to take a break and visit home, and decided now was best, especially since I was so close!"

She smiled, giving me a warm hug. "That's wonderful, honey." She turned and picked up Mary, who had grown quite a bit since I last saw her.

"Da-dah" Mary spat, pointing at me. Jewel and I gasped. Mary had never spoken before. I looked at my wife, who was looking at me. We were both incredibly amazed.

"Mary! That's amazing!" I praised. "How have you already learned to speak? I'm so proud of you!"

Jewel eventually burst into a giggle. "I taught her while you were away." She explained. "I wanted her to be ready in case you came home suddenly, and look! Here you are."

A tear came to my eye. "Thank you, sweetie." I took Mary and swung her around in the air. My wife and I laughed.

* * *

That night at dinner, the sky went dark, and the moon was the only thing in the sky, a giant ball of white light, shining down onto the small village.

I sat at one end of the wooden dinner table, with complete silence. Mary sat in the center, stabbing at her mashed dinner. Jewel came into the dining room carrying a cooked turkey and set it on the table. Only then did I notice two things: The turkey was steaming so it must have just come off of the fire, and that my lovely bride was wearing a long dress that almost touched the floor. "Jewel," I said. "Why are you so dressed up?"

"Because," she replied, "Tonight is a special occasion. It's not everyday that one's husband comes home from a long time away at work." She sat down and served me some of the turkey. And we talked. And talked. And talked. Soon it became very late, and we put Mary to bed. "So what else happened on your trip besides the Mysterious Wanderer?" Jewel asked.

"Well, honey," I began to say, and then I thought to myself, Should I tell her what happened at Gerudo Fortress? Will she believe me if I do? I quickly made a decision and said, "No, that's not all that happened."

She saw the dread on my face. "Caleb, darling, what is wrong? I'll believe you, please tell me."

I went on. "On my way back to the shop, I ran into trouble – the Gerudo tribe."

Jewel gasped. "What happened? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Jewel," I replied. "I headed out on the field and suddenly these Gerudo women came from nowhere and surrounded Diamond and I, and we crashed." Jewel gasped. I awoke in their jail. They even brought me to meet their leader, Aryll."

"They didn't hurt you?" My wife started.

"Well yes and no. Let me finish," I said. "They took me to their leader, who actually wasn't half bad."

"Really?"

"Yeah, until she tried to cut my head off!" I shouted. Jewel jumped back. "We dueled, but she collapsed after one of my blows. She was strong and nimble enough to endure whatever pushed her, yet fragile enough to fall after just one hit.

"Wow! Your second real sword fight!" Jewel cried. "Caleb you should join the Hyrule Army! You're a natural!"

"No." I sternly replied. "I enjoy my life as it is. Besides, if I joined the army I'd be home even less often than I already am as a boat carver."  I thought about it. Me? In the army? Ridiculous! Then I thought about what I should tell her next. "But the real reason the Gerudo apparently kidnapped me was because there was information that they needed to relay to me. The leader dueled with me to show that I was worthy, yet when I won, she was too angry to tell me. So they locked me back in the dungeon."...I can't believe I just lied to my wife.

"Oh my word!" Jewel exclaimed. She had an expression of fear on her face like I had never seen before. "How did you escape?"

"I met someone inside who knew an escape route," I explained. "His name was Beedle, he was some kind of merchant."

"Oh, Beedle? The guy with the short hair and gigantic pack on his back?" Jewel asked.

"Yeah, you know him?" I implied.

"Know him?" She teased. "He comes into town every other day with all sorts of exotic items not from here. Zunari goes berserk when Beedle steals his customers."

"Really? I've never seen him around before," I assured. "Anyway, I found Diamond and Beedle and I high-tailed it out of there!"

"Is that it?"

"Yeah that's pretty much it, because I had just gotten back to the shop when I received the invitation." My tale was finally over. We both decided it was too late to stay awake any longer, so we both went to bed.

Lying in bed, I remembered something I had forgot to tell my wife.  I pulled from my pile of clothes a glass jar that contained a large piece of parchment. I uncorked the jar and pulled out the paper inside. There was an incredibly detailed picture of a cabana with a spring and a waterfall. There was writing on the parchment, too:

HERE IS THE DEED TO YOUR PRIVATE CABANA,
LOCATED ON THE MOUNTAIN CLOSEST TO THE FOREST.

Until I read the writing, I had not noticed that the illustration did indeed depict the cabana being on a mountain. I could see that a few yards from the house, a small gray cliff slowly descended until paper ran out.

I remembered where I had found the glass jar: It was resting next to the silvery bush I had crashed into a few days earlier. When I headed home, I had decided to examine the bush because I did not have the opportunity to before. The entire bush gleamed from the light of the sun because it was pure silver.

I thought about picking the entire bush, but as soon as I touched the roots, the wind roared and blew me off of my feet. I let go and the wind stopped.

Then something else roared. It must have been my stomach. I turned around and a huge red lion pounced on me, knocking me to the ground. It roared and put its front paws on my chest, bearing its pointy canine teeth. It stared into my eyes and opened its mouth to roar again. I closed my eyes and cringed.

* * *

I woke up with a roaring voice in my head. "Carve the king..." The voice echoed in my head as I wondered what had happened. I didn't even realize I had fallen asleep.

I rolled out of bed and put my clothes on, wondering what smelled so good. Jewel's breakfast, most likely. My wife was leaning over the fireplace, holding a tray of food, freshly cooked. Ham and eggs were steaming on the tray, begging to be tended to. Mary sat in her high-chair built just for her by yours truly, once again mashing at her exceedingly crushed plate of food.

"Good Morning!" Jewel called, wrapping her arms around me. "How did you sleep?"

"Great. It was wonderful to be in my own bed again," I said. "Loads better than that junk I've got out at the shop."

Wonderful dear, now here, eat your breakfast before it gets too cold." My wife handed me a plate of food. We sat down and began to eat, not paying any attention to the mess on our daughter's plate.

"I had a strange dream last night." I said. "I was out in Hyrule Field, examining the bush I mentioned last night, when I was greeted by a great big auburn-colored lion."

"A lion? Oh my." Jewel gasped.

"It seemed to be speaking to me, like it wanted something," I continued.

"Like what?" My wife asked.

"I think it was a message from the Wanderer, telling me to get a move-on with that boat I have to carve."

"Well then go! Get going!" My wife exclaimed. "Start on it, as soon as you can! You don't want to keep the king waiting!"

I stood up. "You're right, Jewel – I better start as soon as I'm finished here."

"No!" She cried. "Start now! You have a meeting with the King, and you need to make that boat. Don't worry about Mary or me. We'll be fine. She's just glad she got to see her daddy."




...That's all I've written. I have no plans to continue this story.
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Kman96

#5


Essentially, what this picture tells you is that I had planned Caleb to be an ancestor of the Link from The Wind Waker. It is stated in the game that Link has no connection to the legendary Hero (the Hero of Time), so I thought that he could be descended from someone who tried to make a difference during that time between games.
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