- Heroes rarely have time to rest. War, peace, and day-to-day life bring no end to the struggles and challenges they face.

Heroes are supposed to shine no matter what burdens fall upon their shoulders.

The question begs however, what can anybody learn from these great souls who are sung of in our ancient legends? What drove them to do the things they did, to perform the feats they performed? What motivated them to risk their lives for the sake of others? Was it patriotism? Could it have been a sense of duty or honor? Perhaps the answer stems from loyalty to some cause or devotion to their fellow man?

Was it love that gave them the courage to journey into the dark places of the world that the old stories talk about?

If you think about it, there's no point in debating, for all that is something only they know…



~~*The Legend of Zelda: Facade of the Living*~~

By: Lord Augustus and ShadowWolfX



Chapter One: Pain Is But A Temporary Thing


-In a dank, long forgotten prison cell…-


Waking from his terrible nightmare, a Hylian prisoner grasped for his bedside. His hand grabbed nothing but air as his bloodshot eyes tried in vain to adjust to the bright light.

The dream had come true; he had been captured in the dark of night and thrown into this dungeon by the new King of the Gerudo Thieves, who apparently also had him beaten and robbed of all his earthly posessions. His head ached terribly, and the man didn't know where he was, or exactly how he had been brought to this place.

All he could remember was a sharp blow to the back of the head, then blackness.

The man searched frantically for his sword but could not come across it.

"Well, of course they'd take my weapons," he thought. "Hmm…but if you turn a well sideways you have a tunnel…"

Believe it or not, once upon a time, a fairy had given him that little anecdote. If he could reflect upon it, he might somehow find a way to escape, which at the time, was obviously his top priority.

Looking down at himself, the young man noticed that his green tunic was torn in many places. He found himself covered in dirt and his own dry blood. Barely mustering the energy to sit up, the prisoner tried to think of a way to escape. The walls of the cell were bare stone bricks, and there was only a single, barred window slit letting in a stream of piercing white light.

Shaking off his confusion, he jolted to his feet immediately after picking up the sound of footsteps against the floor outside his cell. They were not even the lightest pitter-patter, but the Hylian's slender, pointed elven ears could hear them perfectly.

Just then, the shadow that owned those footfalls loomed from the brightness of the hallway. The Hylian prepared himself for the worst and got ready to attack. When he laid eyes upon a boy, perhaps no older then he was, walking down the corridor, he became confused once again. Dressed only in a raggedy shirt with a hood that obscured his features, he was probably another prisoner, but the man failed to see any guards with him.

Suddenly, the Hylian came to a realization.

This boy was a Sheikah, one of the shadow people.

There was no denying it any longer, as the boy quickly pulled off his hood, revealing the rest of his face. Slightly shorter than he was, the boy had a shock of stringy whitish hair that fell down over his face. His penetrating eyes were an unexpected color, deep crimson red, typical of the Sheikah, but seldom seen.

In his hands, he held both a small knife and a longsword. The knife appeared to be rusty but still quite sharp, a common thief's dagger. However, the sword gleamed brightly in the scarce light. The handle was of blue gold, and the blade was a deadly length of solid steel.

This was clearly the Master Sword, the legendary Blade of Evil's Bane. Supposedly, the steel itself radiated with the holy power of the Goddesses. In the hands of the one destined to wield it, the sword would always have a gentle glow about it that seemed to grow brighter in times of adversity.

At this point, it should have been like a torch. Unfortunately, the person who possessed it at the moment wasn't exactly chosen by the gods.

The boy seemed to be having great trouble even holding onto the sword at all. It appeared as if the blade was incredibly heavy, and he dragged the tip across the floor, unable to bring it any higher.

"Hey, kid! Let me see that sword you have!" the Hylian prisoner suddenly yelled, hoping for a reply.

The boy's face turned from one of caution to one of suspicion. He walked up to the iron bars and laughed aloud at the man behind them.

"You think I'm going to give a common criminal this blade? This is none other than the Blade of Evil's Bane! Only the Legendary Hero can use it," he retorted, starting to walk away. "It weighs at least a million pounds. You couldn't lift it if you tried, so shut up!"

"But I am he! Watch, hand me the sword and I will show you," the Hylian replied, hoping for some mercy.

"Out of the question! Why would I let someone like you touch something as sacred as this?"

"I ask because I can prove it to you. Do you not have any compassion for the downtrodden?"

For a moment, the Sheikah was left speechless. He didn't have time to be diverted from his mission, but the Hylian had a look of such sincerity on his face and in his eyes that he could not resist.

"Let us say that you are at least lucky that I am Sheikah, and not Gerudo," the boy said in a smug tone. "It will be worth it to see you pull a muscle trying to lift the blade."

Interested by this wretch who was claiming to be a hero, the boy warily handed him the sword. He couldn't quite believe the way this prisoner had spoken to him, as if he were not the one locked in a prison cell. The young man gripped his dagger a little tighter, ready to stab the man in the green tunic at a moment's notice.

As soon as the Master Sword hit the Hylian man's palm the incredible weight was gone. The razor sharp blade glowed with a brilliant blue light. He brought the blade up high over his shoulder and swung it down in a wide arc, effectively slicing all the iron bars in two.

The green clad warrior swiftly kicked the door with the heel of his boot, and when the hinges came undone, it toppled over, barely missing his new friend.

Slamming hard onto the stone floor, it threw up a great billowing cloud of dust that took quite some time to settle. Afterwards, the boy had a look of pure astonishment on his face.

"You...you're Link!" he exclaimed. "I don't believe it, you're the Legendary One?"

Like a figure out of ancient history, the man stepped out of the cell and into the brightness of the corridor. His hair, once very fair, had changed over the years, and had more shades of brown than it once did. His cobalt eyes were heavy with suffering and much toil, although underneath it was an inner softess that could not be explained.

Truly, he was the Hero of Time spoken of in legends.

"Did I not say so?" Link replied. "Of course, you didn't take my word right away, but I don't blame you for it."

To show his respect and to apologize, the Sheikah took a step backwards and bowed at the waist.

"Forgive me, Master Link," said the boy, obviously more than a little awestruck. "I was sent to find you, but at the rate I was going I did not think I would ever do so. My apologies for not recognizing you when I had the chance to."

The hero did little more than smile back at the Sheikah.

"Honestly, don't worry about it. Forget everything else and tell me who sent you to…" Link started befoe being interrupted by a tremendous thundering noise.

Before the hero could even finish another thought, a group of monstrous Death Knights raced into the corridor.

Seven feet tall, and fully covered with black armor, these evil, dog faced creatures were the scum of the earth. They were once Moblins, but had been pushed even further into darkness by a will infinitely greater than their own. Immensely powerful, they could snap a man in half as if he were a toothpick. The fact that they carried broadswords the size of elephant tusks didn't help the matter.

The situation turned grim as the boy and escaping hero were noticed. There were twelve of the monsters in the relatively confined space of the hallway, meaning that if they charged, the Hylian and the Sheikah would certainly be mowed down.

Link held his sword high as the young boy spun his dagger, waiting for battle to come swiftly to them. Before the boy could say or do anything, the hero grabbed a hold of him and ran away from the evil creatures and towards what seemed to be a dead end.

"It's a dead end! Why bother running if we're gonna fight anyway?" yelled the boy as he was being pulled, his warrior spirit not wanting to be silenced.

"No time for that," replied the Hylian tersely. "Those who fight and run away will live to fight another day!"

As Link said this, he slashed his glowing sword at the wall. When he kicked it like he had the cell door, it quickly fell to pieces, revealing the absence of ground below. The only things visible were the air and a murky blackness which seemed to extend forever.

The hero gripped the boy firmly by the arm and they dove out of the strange castle into the abyss.


* * * * *


It seemed to take forever to fall, and everything was moving in slow motion. Minutes went by, and they still plummeted toward the ground, which they still couldn't see.

Link turned his head to his new friend, who was absolutely terrified.

"Everything's gonna be okay!" the Hylian screamed at the top of his lungs.

The boy didn't seem to care. Besides wondering if he would life to see the next sunrise, the Sheikah was really only interested in one thing.

"How did you do that with your sword?" he asked as loud as he could. "I didn't think stuff like that was possible!"

"It isn't usually!" Link yelled back. "I used magical energy to charge my sword!"

"You can control magic?!" the boy exclaimed. "That's incredible! By the way, my name is Jaden, of the Sheikah! You can call me Jade though if you like!"

"Nice to meet you Jaden, my name is Link!"

"I know that already! We should worry about the crocodiles when we finally hit the moat!"

"Good idea, friend!"

Several seconds later, their conversation was cut short. With an absolutely tremendous splash, Link and Jaden landed in the cloudy waters of the castle moat. After a good minute, the two surfaced, and congratulated themselves on a genius breakout. Surely it would go down in the history book as one of the most daring escapes ever.

Sadly, nobody saw them get away except the crocodiles.

Life isn't all about fame.








-At the bottom-


Looking around as he floated in the muddy water, Link made a rough guess as to where they might be. High above him at the edge of a cliff was the castle they had just leaped from. It was ancient and very dilapidated, with the north wall gone completely.

They actually hadn't fallen into a moat at all. Instead, Link found that a lazily flowing river current was carrying them both downstream.

He realized that they were swimming in one of the Zora River's tributaries that flowed northeast of Hyrule. That meant they were somewhere in the vicinity of Death Mountain. If they started off now, they might be able to make it back to Hyrule Castle in a few days.

As they pulled their soaked bodies from the murky waters, Jaden started to frantically ask questions on how Link could possibly have been captured. Starting to get annoyed by these questions, Link would eventually turn the tales and annoy him.

Maybe it would make the boy go away.

They started into the dark forest that grew on and around the mountain range. It would be another long journey that would take its toll on both the body and the mind. Of course, no more then five minutes into the forest Jaden burst out in another outburst of questions.

"Where are we going?"

"What are we doing?"

"When are we gonna get back?"

"What's your favorite color?"

Although the boy began to utter another few syllables, he abruptly stopped and showed no signs of explaining why.

Link started to turn, and as soon as he did, was shocked to see the boy held in place by an enormous, brawny Goron and a shrimpy, little Deku Scrub.

The Deku had his barbed hookshot, a weapon that launched a retractable chain and spike, aimed at Jaden's head. Already, the giant rock man had put his hand over the boy's mouth to stop him from screaming. Jaden had been abducted so quickly that the hero didn't even notice it, which made him second guess himself, something he never liked to do.

Link held his sword at the ready, and as it glimmered in the sun, reflecting brilliant flashes of color from the golden steel, he caught sight of the Goron's hammer. It was absolutely massive, and to be hit by it would surely mean a painful death. Gorons were notorious for being slow, but they were gifted with the most mind boggling strength.

To add to that, their skin was close to impenatrable, and might have proved a match even for the Master Sword.

"Hey! Let the boy go and I won't hurt you!" Link threatened, not really knowing if he could free the boy.

Link watched as the Scrub very slowly lowered his hookshot, perhaps backing down as a result of his threat. The Goron refused to let go of Jaden, however, and only gripped him tighter. With an enormous smile, he showed his gigantic, peg-like teeth. The young Sheikah soon turned blue and passed out, and the rock man let him fall to the ground in an unconscious heap.

Quite unexpectedly, the Goron burst out into a fit of laughter, causing the hero to become very irritated. Link always prided himself on having a good sense of humor, but nothing about this new situation was at all funny.

Just as the Hero of Time was about to charge into battle, his ears picked up a sound coming from the trees, the snap of a bowstring going taught.

As Link fell to the ground at the feet of his attackers, one of the last things he saw was a fleeting glance of the Zora woman who had nailed him.

Through his pain and clouded vision, he was able to see one final detail about his enemies, the strange tattoos on their shoulders.









-Some time later-


As Link woke up, he thought he was back in his dungeon cell awaiting the horrible execution fitting for an escapee. But when his eyes adjusted, he found himself unchained. There were no bars and apparently no way to keep him at bay.

Better yet, his sword had been wrapped in a neat cloth and laid beside him. Someone had also had the foresight to supply him with a baldric, a strong leather belt that he could use to strap the sword to his back. He took hold of the blade itself and withdrew it from its new sheath, exhaling in relief when he saw that the Blade of Evil's Bane was in no way damaged.

When Link returned the blade to the cloth, something miraculous happened. Right before the hero's eyes the simple linen sheath changed into something completely different. It widened a bit first, then lengthened more and suddenly became hard, strong wood. The wood then turned a deep shade of blue, upon which a clear varnish appeared, followed by several brilliant gold fittings.

The linen cloth had become the True Scabbard of the Master Sword.

Of course, while the transformation had been visually stunning, it did not surprise Link. On his own time, he had studied many of Hyrule's ancient legends, among those, the ones that pertained to the mystical powers of the Master Sword's sheath. If one sheath was lost or destroyed, the blade needed only to be placed in another, simpler one, and that one would then become the true scabbard.

These things left the Hylian's mind in an instant when his sensitive ears picked up movement.

"Who's there? Show yourself, fiend!" the hero yelled as he saw a dark shadow loom from the corner.

He grabbed his sword as Jaden walked into the room carrying a bowl of fresh fruit and a jug of cider for him.

"Whoa! Master Link, I knew you were always ready for battle, but this is ridiculous. I'm not going to kill you," said the boy.

"My apologies, I'm just a little confused. Where are we now?" Link asked as he returned the Master Sword to its scabbard.

"I'll explain after you eat and recover your strength. While I'm here I'm gonna get something to eat myself. Please, relax."

With that, the Sheikah disappeared back into the shadows from whence he came.


* * * * *


After Jaden left, the daylight seemed to penetrate the darkness a little more. Link, now being able to see more of his surroundings, started to look over the moss-covered walls. He seemed to be in a cave some depth under ground. It had been dug out to fit the likes of maybe three Gorons stacked on top of each other.

There was straw thrown about on the floor, either to soak up water or to be a cheap form of carpeting. Boxes and arcane knicknacks were scattered around the chamber, and it appeared that the cave was some sort of a storage area. It didn't matter though, as Link could make neither heads nor tails of any of it.

As he surveyed the surroundings the smell of the cider and fruit made its way to his nose and he could not bear not to resist.

He picked up the bowl of assorted fruits and pulled out a strange looking banana-like object. It had the overall shape of a banana, but was a very odd shade of red. As he peeled it, it opened up into a flowerish petal and seeds poured out of the sides.

Link then noticed a goblet, filled to the brim with some sort of red liquid.

"What is all of this?" he said as he raised the glass. He brought it to his nose and took a whiff of it. To his surprise, it had a very sweet smell to it, so he brought the cup to his lips and took a sip.

He took one drink and immediately his body felt rejuvenated.

"Even Lon Lon milk doesn't taste this good!" Link thought to himself.

Many of the painful wounds on his person immediately healed. As the liquid coated his stomach, his splitting headache finally went away.

Pulling himself to his feet, Link was ready to investigate the strange cavern.

With his body feeling fresh and his sense of curiousity screaming, he walked in the direction he had seen Jaden go a few minutes before. He was crunching on some of the seeds from the banana fruit, which seemed to contain a sort of gum-like substance, when he heard voices down a hall that seemed to lead into another chamber.

He peeked around the corner to see the three people who had attacked him conversing with each other.

"Yes it is Link! I know it is! That sword is no ordinary blade, it's the Master Sword!" said the Goron.

"No way! You mean the Link is here," the impish Scrub exclaimed.

"Yes, it seems to me that we have indeed found who we were looking for, doesn't it?" the Zora woman said, looking thoughtful. "But do you think he will help us? I mean I did shoot him with an arrow."

"Well, it's not like you stabbed the guy!" yelled the excited little Deku Shrub. "It was blunted. Just to stun him, ya know?."

The Zora woman sighed and held her head in her hands. Why did the Deku always have to be so difficult?

"Use your little wooden brain Dreck! Do you think he knows that?" she yelled at him.

It was then that Link decided to emerge from his little hiding space. With his trusty sword, he was positive there was nothing they could do this time to injure him, but he nevertheless warily stepped forward

"At least I'm still alive," he said as he strolled from around the corner. "I'm certainly thankful to you for that."

The Zora, Goron and Deku were all startled by his sudden arrival. All three of them rushed at once to greet him.

"Master Link! I must apologize if I've injured you. I mean Dreck and Gonga thought that the only way a man of your status and fame would talk to us is for us to...shoot you," the Zora apologized.

The hero suddenly felt like he could use a drink, or two.

"So what are your names again?" Link asked, sighing heavily.

First the proud Goron stepped forward. On his shoulder rested the giant warhammer, presumably for smashing things into oblivion. His size was truly impressive, almost twice Link's height, and he had a thick beard encrusted with minerals, as most elder Goron men did. Aside from this he wore nothing, as was the custom, and perhaps because Gorons have no shame when it comes to nudity.

"I am Gonga! Proud warrior of the Goron race," he proclaimed loudly. "I am honored to meet you, and hope to soon call you friend."

His earth-shaking voice didn't seem to affect the young Hylian in any way. Despite his volume, the rock eating man gave off a sense of jolliness.

Next, the tiny Deku Scrub took a step forward. Despite being only two and a half feet tall, he exuded an aura of confidence that more than accomodated for his lack of height. His skin was a dark brown, and shone in the light like varnished wood. This was not unusual, as those of the Deku race were from the forests and swamps of the world, and were in fact, made of wood. He was clothed in a small tunic, like one that a small child would wear, fastened at the waist by a leather belt. On his little belt swung what appeared to be the hookshot he has used to threaten Jaden earlier in the day.

"Yeah, they call me Dreck. It's my name, and I'd ask you not to wear it out," he said in a voice fitting his stature.

Again, Link wasn't impressed. The Deku's size and squeaky voice didn't exactly instill mortal fear in him, but he knew better than to trust first impressions.

Lastly, the Zora woman stepped forward. She was thin, rather shapely, and her bluish-grey skin stood in stark contrast to the overall earth tones of the cave. One of the aquatic people from eastern Hyrule, she was sure to be either very boistrous or very antisocial. Link knew the Zora people well, and had dealings with them in the past that didn't always turn out very well.

He could theorize that she was the one who had shot him, as she had a bow and a quiver full of arrows strapped to her backside.

"My name is Zetalyn, archer extraordinaire'!" she said, her tone sounding quite sultry. "You may call me Zeta, if that's what you wish."

Link smiled and scratched his head nervously, as he didn't quite know what to say to that, but at least he could rule out her being an introvert.

"Umm, pleasure to meet you…" he finally stammered out.

Suddenly, the Sheikah boy Jaden stumbled into view. He had of course been eavesdropping on their conversation. The young man stumbled around for a minute before tripping over his own feet and falling to the ground. After wiping himself off, Jaden picked up the jar of cider he had dropped, stood up, and began twirling his dagger on his left palm, trying his best to show off.

"I mean come on people. You think after nearly killing him he's going to listen to you, especially when he's fully armed?" the youth said in a cocky tone, sounding drunk. "You knock...knock him unconscious and keep him unguarded with his weapon at his side...which I might add is capable of destroying you all in an instant."

The group shook their heads at how quickly the young man had become inebriated, and they backed off a few steps as Link glared at Jaden. The boy certainly needed to learn a little respect, and a sense of balance, as he had dumped the contents of his jar onto the floor.

He was promptly ignored and they resumed their conversation until something suddenly caught Link's eye.

"What does that symbol mean?" he inquired, pointing to a cloth tapestry on the damp wall. "I've seen it in some taverns here and there, and you three seem to also have it on your shoulders."

Permanently tattooed on their shoulders were strange emblems. They somewhat resembled the scarlet eagle symbol used by the Royal Family of Hyrule. However the wings of the bird were huge, wrapping around their upper arms like a decorative bracelet.

"It is the sign of our band of resistance. We are the elite, the strong, the fierce, the brave. We are the Renegades!" the small Deku said with a great measure of pride in his voice.

The young Hylian quickly narrowed his eyes at the group in front of him. He had heard many tales of the Renegades, and knew quite well that they were mercenaries for hire, soldiers of fortune so to say. They looked rather seedy, but he could tell they had been through many ordeals. He could see also that they had not always been on the side of justice.

"You see, we used to work for a man named Lorkhan. He's the new Gerudo king. He often hired us to eliminate resistance and take out rebellious groups within his domain," the large Goron boomed from his corner.

"But after a while we started to realize that these groups were right in trying to take out Lorkhan," Zetalyn said solemnly. "This guy is insane, and kills and maims people for his own demented fucking pleasure! He'll stop at nothing to get what he wants, which is obviously all of Hyrule kingdom. We'd planned to stop him, but by the time we were ready to attack, he had found out our plans through a leak in the organization."

The Zora spoke with an odd tone as if she had once been the leader of a much larger group then just the three of these misfits. As if to answer the question in Link's mind the Deku spoke up.

"We used to be many, but now we are few. We were betrayed by General Trebla'," he said.

"I'm a Renegade as well, and we've all worked together at some point. I remember that Trebla' was our main source of information. He promised to help us strike Lorkhan down," Jaden said also, sounding knowledgable all of a sudden. "He turned out to be the guy's right hand, but he pretended to be in on the assassination plot. In the end, Trebla' betrayed us all and we fell into his trap. At one time, our numbers were more than two hundred, but we're all that's left."

"So we ask you, Master Link, to help us rid the world of Ganondorf's successor," the tiny Dreck said.

"Please, help us destroy the evil he has brought upon this land," Zetalyn pleaded.

"And help us restore the balance of good and evil that has been protected by you on so many occasions," said the big Gonga.

Link turned his left hand over and glanced at the mark of the Triforce of Courage. The triangular mark was a representation of the power of the Goddesses that dwelled within him, and was but part of the many things that were supposed to make him a hero. It had never steered him wrong in his life, and had given him the resolve to save the world countless times.

He felt a warm glow in his hand as he lifted his head and smiled.

That smile faded when he thought about what the new Gerudo king could do to the land of Hyrule. Link didn't know what his power was, but if this Lorkhan character was anything like Ganondorf, then darkness would soon enshroud the kingdom.

As the hero consigned himself to being roped into another painful adventure, he realized that there was perhaps one more person who could be of great help to their cause.

"Okay, I'm in," the Hero of Time said, "but first…there's someone I need to speak with."


End Chapter One



Proceed to Chapter Two