Darkness.
He could feel nothing, nothing except the heat which radiated from the thing up ahead. The Darkness was thick, just visible was an enormous long... something... It was coiled up, much like a serpent.
*It was that... thing which opened one great red eye.
*That thing which called “Master”….

Link woke up in a cold sweat, the repercussions of the voice echoing through his head. Panting slightly he lay back in his soft bed in the castle of Hyrule. Link closed his eyes and cast his mind back to his nightmare, to the voice that had spoken, not in anger but in anguish and pain. Realisation dawned upon him. As he had leant into the soft cuccu-feather bed he had placed his arm across his wife’s side of the bed, yet had felt no resistance. Zelda was gone!
Link cast his mind back over the three years of marriage with his finicky wife. She was usually a late riser but he was sure that if there had been great need she would cave arisen before sunup. She must have had an early meeting to sort out such and such problem in the Land of Hyrule!
That settled in his mind, Link proceeded to change into his forest green tunic. This had caused uproar in the land as, like it or not, Link was a hero. His mode of dress had sparked a new fashion. That said, the new designs were garish to Link’s eyes.
After changing, Link looked at his bag. There were so many items to choose from! All except…the Ocarina of Time! He tensed, then decided that Zelda must have taken it. After a moments thought he slung the master sword across his back and left the room shutting the doors quietly behind him.
As Link left the royal suite where he and Zelda lived, he was greeted by the guard Shiro who, despite Links entreaties, continued to guard their door. Link smiled, he had grown very close to this unassuming guard who patiently stood in the corridor outside their rooms.
Link began to walk toward the stairway leading to the castle proper when he half-turned and asked “Shiro, when did Zelda leave our chambers?”
Silence.
Shiro’s honest face showed puzzlement. “No-one save yourself has left your chambers. Neither left nor entered…Wherever your wife is, she has not come out here…”
Link froze, and spun around, his face a careful blank. He stared at Shiro a few more seconds in which Shiro felt distinctly uncomfortable, then ran into the rooms. Once there he looked for any other way in which his wife could have left …the window!
Link ran to the window, fearing what he might find. As the faint breeze stirred the net curtains Link looked down at the courtyard below… and sighed in relief. There was nothing below.
Link stared unseeing a moment more then proceeded to ransack the apartments looking for something…anything which might help him find out where Zelda was. After a long search, so long that Link nearly despaired, he saw a small scrap of paper lying on the desk on top of all the sheets of numbers and complaints that Zelda studied daily. Link walked over to the desk and read the note. His heart fell.
The letter read;

My dearest Link, Hero of Time,
Link, Hero of Hyrule,
I have taken your wife, The Seventh Sage of Light, and intend to use her to regain the ultimate power. Any attempts to save her will prove to be your last. You have a choice. Either you sacrifice yourself to try save Zelda, and somehow find your way to the Sacred Realm. Or you accept that I have become stronger that you could have ever imagined and flee to save you miserable existence. As in one month’s time I will rule over all the lands.
Ganondorf Dragmire.


The letter fluttered from Link’s hand as he stared into space in shock. From his mouth he emits one long noise full of anguish, sorrow and despair
“Nooooooooooo…”
With this scream the doors of their quarters were flung open and Impa, Sage of Spirit and Zelda’s handmaiden rushed in to find Link kneeling on the floor as if praying, tears streaming in rivulets down his face. Noticing the discarded note Impa picked it up, read it…and all the blood was sucked from her face.
“Din, Nayru and Farore!”
By this time Link had risen to his feet his face set in a determined manner. Impa, recognising this, stood blocking the doorway.
“Don’t be a fool! You’re doing exactly what they want you to do!” Impa shouted, and then went on in a quieter tone “and besides, how would you get there?”
Despite all that Impa could do, Link would not listen. His pain and anger at the kidnap of his wife had caused a cold fury to run through his blood. To him there was no reason.
Link stared at Impa for a minute then continued in a cold whisper that could be heard in every corner of the room.
“I must.”
Impa looked at Link and, realising if he got it into his mind to go nothing could stop him, stood aside from the door. Link left without a backward glance.

Link entered the royal stables unmolested, which surprised him, but he could not see his own face which radiated a sense of terrible purpose. He saddled Epona, who, sensing her masters anxiety, whinnied to go. Vaulting onto her back, Link jumped the gates of the stable and was away over Hyrule field.
Link felt free. This was the only place he truly belonged. He might lead a life of luxury at the Castle but it was a life of tedium and routine. In his free time (which was seldom enough) he had begun to teach swordplay to the children of the market until the guards of the city joined in. Link taught them also but realised he knew relatively little about wars and unarmed combat. He would then join the recruits in their training in these areas, however the others were in awe of the legendary Hero of Time, and with a sword in his hand, no-one could come even close to beating him. Link had an uncanny instinct about when to use which attack and besides, he was the only person alive to have ever mastered the Great fairies unstoppable spinning attack.
Epona reared, snapping Link out of his reverie. His thoughts elsewhere, Link and Epona had come to the river separating the road to Kakariko village and the rest of Hyrule. Kakariko… and Death Mountain.
Link closed his eyes for a moment and they snapped open, the call from his dream still resounding through his head.
“Master”….
A shadow flicked over Link’s face and he looked up into the sky, shielding his eyes from the morning’s glare with his left hand. Link could just make out a serpentine form twisting its way toward the volcanic crater where it had made its home. Volvagia.

A lifetime ago Link had fought his way through the temple at the centre of the crater, to rescue his sworn brothers, the Gorons, from the evil Ganondorf had let loose on their peaceful civilisation. He stood now before the chamber where that evil was living, where Darunia had entered before him…and not returned! Opening the door with his key, Link entered a chamber with a small platform before him, and a larger one beyond, with what looked like pools of lava. Link jumped to the central platform and, as the platform behind slid into the lava below, a fiery head emerged from the central lava pool, with a mane of flame and crystal eyes devoid of all emotion. Volvagia.

Link’s sapphire eyes traced Volvagia’s path into the crater, hardening at the memory that had resurfaced. He ached to go to find Zelda but his mind replayed the horror that the Gorons had had to live through and he was still wondering how he would get to the sacred realm. Toughening his resolve, Link dismounted Epona, thanked her, and ran up the steps to Kakariko Village.
Within the village he saw groups of people huddling inside their houses. When they saw Link they entreated him to take care of the demon-dragon that had appeared again over Death Mountain. Calming the villagers down he continued past the gate and followed the boulder strewn path leading up. Tektites jumped at him from all angles but Link just dodged them. Running into the Goron village, Link held his breath, fearing the worst…

Not a single Goron was in sight, save that small childlike form rolling round the cavern in an endless cycle. There was no-one else. The once bustling centre full of my sworn brothers was now an empty shell. Link looked at the rolling child and wondered if there was a way to stop him, as he needed information…

The cavern was full of Gorons! Relief hit him like a wave until he saw the numerous weapons each person carried. Sword, axe, hammer, spear, all were here, even a rusty farmers pitchfork! At the head of this mindless mob was his old friend, and Sage of Fire, Darunia. Darunia was speaking to the crowd.
“Let no brother leave the safety of their friends, and none leave this place with no good reason. All must…” The list drifted off as he saw Link.
Link jumped down the cavern, landing in a spectacular roll next to Darunia, who gave him the dreaded Goron hug which knocked the breath out of him.
Darunia laughed. “Sorry brother but it is so good to see you again, at our time of direst need.”
“Volvagia?”
Darunia looked uncomfortable, and gazed with great fear in the direction of Death Mountain. This was all Link needed to see.
“I shall go.”
All the Gorons looked at Link with such confidence at his quiet words that Link felt trapped by this blind faith, trapped from continuing his quest to save Zelda from Ganondorf. However the words were out of his mouth and he would not take them back, even where he able to.
Unable to stand a moment longer of this atmosphere Link headed towards the Death Mountain Temple through the secret entrance in Darunia’s chamber. Towards Volvagia.

The sound of drums greets Link’s ears as he enters the Temple, drums and the weird echo of a long distant choir. Link sat back and let the music flow through him into an awareness of all that within the room. Mounting the steps with infinite caution, his sword drawn and at the ready, Link turned left and entered the room he had seen what felt like an age ago. In front of him stood a door so wide that four could comfortably walk through abreast. Jumping lightly across to the door Link stood and looked at it, full in the knowledge that he may die, and then who would protect Zelda? He entered.
In the centre of the chamber, coiled and with the firelight flickering off his scaled hide, Volvagia awaited.
Volvagia had long hair of fire but on that body you could see the charred and scarred marks from his last battle with Link. The sinuous body looked contorted and bent, evidence of badly set broken bones. The scales seemed dimmer, almost as if a silver mist covered them, obscuring their vibrant colours.
The rest of the differences in Volvagia paled into insignificance against the changes in his eyes. The deep crystalline eyes seemed almost bloodshot but with a flush of golden yellow. Those emotionless eyes which had hidden everything and shown nothing now had a raw emotion burning through them. Pain.
As Link looked into those eyes he felt his soul flutter, his heart leap in sympathy. He felt an overwhelming sadness which caused him to realise that, in his heart of hearts, he could not do this to the fire serpent again.
Link knew also that he could not just give up so he drew his sword to defend himself. The sword hummed as it left its sheathe and with despair, Link held up the sword.
“Master”….
The words vibrated through his head that Link fell to his knees and, as his sword clattered at his feet, he pushed his hands against his ears, hoping that it would lessen the sound.
It didn’t.
As crystal eyes met sapphire ones, the words “heal me” swept through Link’s mind. Immediately images flashed through his mind…
“Now you have found that which was stolen from you I can return you to your true form. As I have promised…” The mask salesman seemed to light up in sadistic glee and jumped to the organ that filled the chamber in the Clock Tower. As he began to play and the sad melody swept over and through Link, he could feel the deku shrub, the hideously confining and humiliation deku shrub retreat into a vortex leading to …a mask. The mask clattered at Link’s feet. “This tune will free any soul from corruption and pain. Do not forget this…”
Link looked at Volvagia in despair. “My ocarina… Zelda has it…” Link’s voice drifted off for he began to feel decidedly strange. The power raced through his blood, the light was killing him, pain was swallowing him whole. He could hear the organ of the mask salesman, or was he imagining it? The faint music took form in the air and he could feel the tiger that was the music that was…
Time.
The music surrounded Link in a nimbus of light that grew brighter and brighter until Link shut his eyes to block out the blinding light but they then flicked open of their own accord because the light was in his eyes too.
Link screamed. He shook violently as the music seared his blood. The power needed an outlet, a channel, a path. Link suddenly knew what to do. With unwavering certainty Link laid his palm against that scaly side, which should have burnt him alive. He held his hand there for a second (or hour, he really couldn’t tell) and finally felt the power break down any barriers between them, and in that instant Link became Volvagia, an understanding forged by the magic, a bridge so strong that nothing would ever break it, a connection that made Link live Volvagia’s life from his moment of becoming to this pain-stricken beast which lay before him
An explosion took place, blasting Link to the other side of the room. Stunned, Link pushed himself to his feet.
“What was that?”