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Zelda Fan Fiction > Memoirs of Hyrule - Chapter 1
I read that foreigners to the woods would become lost souls. ..so lost that they would eventually become stalfos. Everybody lost. ..everybody stalfos.
-Grog Son of Mutoh
The book of Mudora. I was only a boy when I read my first passage. It was a fascinating leather-bound book of legend and folklore. Tales of Hyrulian mythology and scriptures of old. My young mind perceived every word on those pages as truth. I received every ounce of its literature like a young sage studying holy scriptures. But it was only folklore. Mythology. Stories with no legitimizing facts of history. At least that's what I was taught to believe. Still I could not keep my mind from refraining from its intriguing content. I could not understand how it was the least requested manuscript in the academy's library. The other young men and academy scribes shared more interest in literature regarding weaponry, self defense and the art of war. Those were readings that made men out of boys, knights out of scribes and kings out of renowned warriors. My boyhood dream, however, was not to become king of Hyrule. It was not to become Kakariko's finest champion knight. It was only to one day travel beyond the borders of the kingdom lands and see for myself if the tales of old were true
That was my boyhood dream. To embark on an impossible quest. A quest that would be forced upon me by my father a month after my completion of the academy. I refused his offer to work for him as a carpenter and soon afterward I was suffering the wrath of his anger. He was always angry. Always drinking. After mother died he became this angry drunkard. A drunkard that sent me away. He ordered me to gather my belongings and leave his house. Leave his village. Leave his life. None of my brothers stood up for me. Not one. For the first time in my life I mourned. Not from the betrayal of my own blood nor the inevitable loss of my family but from my fathers selfish acts of blind rage. I still remember leaving Kakariko. My father was there to watch me go. My sister was there too. Crying. The only person in the world, it seemed, who wanted me to stay. I left her Cojiro. He was my childhood pet. I knew that she would care for him. I tried to say goodbye to her when I was interrupted by the sound of my fathers voice.
"Its time you left, Grog!"
He always called me, "Son". As long as I could remember he called me, "Son". This time, however, he called me by name. It hurt me to hear that. It hurt inside. I couldn't show this hurt. Not in the presence of my dear sister. I had to be strong for her. For Cojiro. I said nothing. I kissed my sister farewell and headed for the river. I do recall looking back once. I must have been a quarter-mile from Kakariko. I looked and saw the place I once called home further from me than ever. I noticed the village windmill slowly turning in the distance as if it were waving goodbye. I noticed how small the village was in comparison to the fields of Hyrule. But what I remember most is that while I observed my home from a afar.. ..no one was looking back at me. I was alone.
I followed Zora's river for many days. It's how I survived. I drank from her waters and ate of her food. The rich trees of her bank were my shelter from the journey's heat. That was until I saw him in the distance. Standing tall and high above any other tree in his forest. It had to be him. The book of Mudora mentioned him several times. He is the one who would give purpose to the purpose-less and refuge to the abandoned. He was the Great Deku Tree. Guardian of the Kokiri. I was on the brink of his frontier with no idea of how to navigate the murky woods ahead. But I had to. I would have to separate myself from the river.
From the sole reason for my survival. I would have to depend on these woods. And I did. I had to. Because I knew that these woods had answers for me. Answers to my questions. I knew that the Great Deku Tree would give me refuge. Purpose. Answers. I marched on. Away from the river and into the murky wilderness. It was a mistake. I should have gone back when I had the chance. I should have followed the river. Instead I followed the woods. The same woods. Over and over again. Familiar canopies of darkness that appeared and reappeared in a vicious cycle of failed navigation. I was lost.
Days became weeks. Weeks became months. Months became years. I drank from the stale waters of life-less ponds and ate the raw, bitter flesh of dead skulltulas. I was growing sick from it all. So sick that I could sense my end approaching. I was dying a slow and sickly death. It was then that I did something I never thought I would ever do. I prayed to the goddesses. I prayed to them my last prayer. Not for food or drink. Not for shelter or a second chance. Just for a friend. And when my hope was completely gone.. ..there he was. Standing tall and strong. His eyes were like the morning sky and his vesture was the color of the forest. His hair was like the evening sun just as the book described him. He was equipped with what legend described as.. ..the Sword of Evil's Bane. He was not alone. He was accompanied by a mythical creature.
A being of legend who's history goes back as far as the creation of Hyrule. A fairy. I couldn't believe my eyes. Her name was Navi of Kokiri and she floated around him illuminating his armor like the setting sun illuminates Zora's river. He humbly introduced himself to me and greeted me with a gift. Something special. Something that was worth more to me than anything else in the world. The answer to my prayers. Cojiro. Somewhere, somehow the goddesses bestowed their grace upon me. I was in the presence of the Hero of Legend. That's what the book of Mudora referred to him as. Yet, the goddesses had it in their perfect will to guide him to my sister and to bring me Cojiro. To bring me good news from home. He spoke to me of my sister's well being. Of how my brothers search for me daily. Of how my father grieves for me. But I could not go back. It was too late. I was dying. I gave him a final message for my beloved family and bid him farewell. Shortly afterward, he disappeared into the woods. But it was ok. Because I was no longer alone. I had a friend now. I could live happy. I could die happy. Everybody dies. Everybody stalfos. It all made sense.
I never found the Kokiri Forest. I never met the Great Deku Tree. It didn't matter. I was part of history. The Hero of Legend found me and I will take the memory of that moment with me to the after life. I'll never forget his name.. ..Sir Link of Hylia.
Continue to Chapter 2
