Chapter Nine
Kalunera knocked on the door again. “Auralii, wake up!” She sighed in frustration. “Okay, that’s it, I’m coming in. It’s not my fault if you’re not ready!” She pushed the door open.
The bed was empty and made. That’s weird. It’s pretty early. Usually she’s still in bed. Or at least she hasn’t made her bed yet. Auralii was nowhere in sight. Kalunera checked the bathroom. Auralii wasn’t there either. “Okay, Auralii. This isn’t funny at all. Where are you hiding?” There was no answer. “Don’t play games like this with me, Lii. We’re not little kids anymore.” There was still no answer from her sister. Maybe she left already. Kalunera quickly left the room.
As she walked down the hall, she saw Sapphira walking to breakfast. “Sapphira!” she called. Her friend turned around. “Have you seen Auralii at all this morning?”
Sapphira shook her head. “You know me. I’m a late sleeper. I just got up. Link’s been up for a while though. I think that he’s down in the library.”
“Alright, thanks.”
“Is something wrong?”
“Auralii’s not in her room”
“So?”
“Her bed’s made.”
“This early? The servants don’t come around until eleven, and she hates making it herself.”
“Exactly. I’m going to go see if Link’s seen her anywhere.”
“Okay. I’ll ask around at breakfast.”
Kalunera made her way down the hall and went to the library. Sure enough, Link was sitting in an old armchair. He had pulled over a table and pilled books on top of it. He was currently sitting sideways in the armchair with his legs over one of the arms and using the other arm as the backrest. As Kalunera walked in, he was writing down some information from a book onto a sheet of parchment. He sighed in frustration as he put the book on top of a large stack of books. Then, he picked up a tome from a smaller pile next to it and began to search the pages. He looks like he does this a lot. He’s got a little system going here.
“And what is the illustrious Hero of Time doing this morning?” she asked with an air of authority.
He looked up with a startled expression on his face. “Oh, good morning, Kalunera,” he said. “Do I have to pick a number?”
“Not yet. How long have you been up?”
He thought for a moment. “I don’t know, maybe around five. I was talking to Auralii last night, and our topic of discussion was keeping me up all night.”
“What were you talking about?”
“The book that you got her. The one about the temples.”
“Oh, that one. Speaking of Auralii, have you seen her this morning? She’s not in her room at all, and her bed’s been made.”
Link looked worried. Then, his worry turned to fear. “Are you sure that she made her bed this morning?”
“She would have had to. The servants don’t get to her rooms until eleven or so. What are you saying?”
“What if she didn’t make her bed this morning?”
“Link, don’t confuse me so much! I’m a simpleminded person!”
Link quickly put the book down and took off his left boot. As he put the notes he took into his boot, he said, “She wouldn’t have had to make her bed this morning if she didn’t sleep in it!” He hurried out of the room. Kalunera followed closely.
“Where are you going? And why would she not sleep in her own bed? Link, answer me!”
“I have a bad feeling about this. I’m going to tell your parents.”
“Well, they’re in the dining hall now, not the throne room.”
He changed course slightly. “Fine, we’ll go there then.”
“Link, what do you think it is?”
“I think she’s been kidnapped.”
“You’ve no proof of that. Besides, there was no ransom note. Maybe she ran away.”
“I just have a feeling, okay! Let’s tell your parents anyway. They have the right to know about this.” They were silent until they reached the room.
“Good morning, you two,” said the King. He, the Queen, Sapphira, and Liam were already seated at the table. “Have you seen Auralii this morning? We had the kitchen make pancakes this morning because she likes them so much.”
Kalunera was out of breath. “Auralii’s missing! She wasn't in her room and her bed is made.”
Before Link could add his opinion, a loud boom shook the Palace. Plates fell off the table and smashed, drinks spilled, and people screamed. Link and Kalunera rushed to their respective spouses.
Before anyone could register what had just happened, a black vortex appeared in midair. Soon, the blackness faded into a recognizable face. It was Ganon.
“Good morning, everyone!” he bellowed. “Hi, Link!”
Link cursed under his breath. The Queen heard him and said, “Watch your mouth, young man.” Link apologized quickly.
“What do you want, Ganon?” Link asked with his teeth clenched.
“I think I want to make a little bargain with you, Link.”
“Is she alive?”
“Wow, you’re smart!” Ganon said sarcastically. “Yeah, she’s still alive.”
“And safe?”
“You don’t take chances, do you? She’s safe. In fact, she’s staying in one of my guestrooms.”
“You have guestrooms? In the Evil Realm?”
“Yeah, of course I do! I don’t want to make my friends sleep in the dungeons! I didn’t give her the nicest one, but she demanded that I give her a decent room.” He looked scared. “She demanded! I almost died of shock. But she hasn’t done anything to make me mad yet, so I thought, ‘Why not? I have a couple rooms free anyways, and it’ll shut her up.’”
“Okay, a little off subject,” said Link. “Show her to us so we know she’s okay!”
“Fine. Loki!” Ganon turned and called to someone out of sight. “Bring the Princess here immediately!” He turned back around.
“Why did you kidnap Auralii in the first place?” asked Kalunera. “Like you said, she hasn’t done anything to you.”
“I wasn't trying to kidnap her. I was trying to kidnap Sapphira.” Sapphira turned white and Link hugged her close.
“How’d you manage to mix them up?” asked Kalunera. “They look nothing alike.”
“Long story. I sent one of my minions to do it. He thought that Liam was Link and so he thought he was supposed to kidnap you, Kalunera. But last night, he took the wrong redhead.”
“Geez, Link,” said Liam. “We keep on screwing people up. Maybe we should shave your head and dye it blue.” Link rolled his eyes.
“Actually,” mused Ganon, “could you do that? It would only solve, let’s see, about half my problems.”
“Sorry,” said Link. “I like my hair the way it is.”
“Ha!” said Ganon. “You’ll look ridiculous no matter what you do with it. Oh, here comes Loki with your precious little Princess.”
The vortex expanded to include two more figures. The Queen cried out as she saw Auralii. She looked calm, but there was a knife being held to her throat. Link cried out, too, but it wasn't because of the knife. It was because of who was holding it.
“No!” he cried. “That never happened! I changed everything!”
Everyone, including Auralii, looked at Link in confusion. “What are you talking about, Link?” asked Sapphira.
Ganon just smiled. “I managed to keep him from disappearing. Once you relived all those years, he came into being again.”
“But I never stepped into the temple again! He shouldn’t exist! How did you manage to save him? I defeated him!”
“Yes, but he lived on. The shadow can only die if the person who casts it dies as well. You lived, and so did he. I found him and imprisoned him so the time flow wouldn’t erase him.”
“What is going on?” demanded the King. “What are you two talking about?”
Ganon laughed. “Haven’t you always wondered why Link is called the Hero of Time? Or why I just suddenly appeared as the vile creature I am now? Eight years ago, I existed as a Gerudo, the King of the Gerudo, in fact. I sought the Triforce. I cursed the three races that held the Spiritual Stones in order to obtain the stones myself. Then, I was going to steal the Ocarina of Time from Princess Zelda and open the door to the Sacred Realm. Then, the Triforce would be mine.
“However, my plans were thwarted. A ten-year-old boy managed to break all of the curses and obtain the stones. He was helping Princess Zelda. You can just guess who that boy was.” No one needed an explanation. All eyes turned to Link. He had an expression of despair on his face.
“It’s true,” the Hero said. “Ganon was called Ganondorf then, and he chased Zelda out of the Castle while trying to steal the Ocarina. Zelda threw it to me, but Ganondorf didn’t know that. When I thought the coast was clear, I went to the Temple of Time. I got into the room with the Master Sword in it, and I pulled it out without thinking.
“I was planning to get the Triforce, but two things happened that I didn’t expect. The first was that Ganondorf hadn’t followed the Princess, he had followed me. He followed me into the Sacred Realm. The other thing was that I was destined to be the Hero of Time, but I was not old enough to bear the Master Sword. So, upon entering the Sacred Realm, my spirit was sealed away for seven years. Ganondorf managed to get the Triforce before me, and with it, he became the King of Evil.
“I didn’t know this then, but I learned it later. Ganondorf didn’t get the entire Triforce. He had power, but he was lacking in wisdom and courage. The Triforce cannot go to someone who is so unbalanced. So, he only received the Triforce of Power. The two other pieces went to two people that were destined to hold them from birth. The destined holder of the Triforce of Courage was I. I found out later that the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom was Zelda. Ganondorf wanted to get the Triforce pieces from us to gain the true Triforce.
“So, after being sealed away from seven years, I had to awaken five of the six sages. To do this, I had to travel to all of the temples across the land and destroy the evil lurking inside. Finally, I awakened all of the sages. The six sages then helped me to get into the Castle where Ganondorf was. I fought Ganondorf and escaped with Zelda from the Castle before it collapsed.”
“I don’t remember any of this!” said the King. “And Hyrule Castle never collapsed!”
“Please, Your Majesty, let me finish. We thought that Ganondorf was dead, and we started to rejoice. Then, we heard noises from the rubble. Ganondorf, on the brink of death, had transformed into Ganon using the Triforce of Power. So I fought him and managed to weaken him enough for Zelda to send him into the Evil Realm.
“I thought that that was the end of this whole mess. But Zelda told me that she was going to send me back to regain my lost time that was stolen from me. So, I went back. I was ten again. Everything was as if I hadn’t done anything. I hadn’t met Zelda or collected the Spiritual Stones. There was only one difference. Ganondorf had disappeared completely. He was still Ganon, and he was still in the Evil Realm. I had changed the past in the future. But only Ganon and I remember this. No one else remembers. People just call me the Hero of Time because that’s my title. But Ganon and I are the only ones who know why I’m called that.”
“Nice story, Link,” said the Queen, “but what does this have to do with what you were upset about earlier?”
Link pointed to Loki. “You! You shouldn’t exist anymore! You should have been erased with the rest of it! Ask Auralii! She’ll tell you! No one’s ever crossed that stupid lake in this timeline. Never! So you shouldn’t be here!”
“I’m here anyways. It doesn’t matter that I shouldn’t be.” Loki’s voice was completely emotionless.
“I’ve checked every source in the library. You shouldn’t exist. There is no way that Ganon could have preserved you.”
“It doesn’t matter. He did.”
“Enough!” bellowed Ganon and the King at the same time. Sapphira hugged Link close.
Kalunera tried to register what was going on. Somehow, Link had changed the timeline, and the only thing that was supposed to be changed in the past was the existence of Ganondorf. Ganon was already locked away when Link went back in time. But somehow, this man who held the knife at Auralii’s throat was not supposed to have remained, yet he had. Okay, this makes sense now. But why does this guy look and sound so much like Link?
“For those who are very confused as to who my minion is,” said Ganon, “his name is Loki. Link created him when he stepped across the Lake of Shadows in the Water Temple. Loki is Link’s dark side. He was not completely destroyed because Link lived through the Water Temple. Link is the only person to ever survive, but because this was in the alternate timeline, it isn’t documented. However, I salvaged Loki by having him become shadows, which he does very nicely. He became a shadow in the Evil Realm, and the Evil Realm was not affected by the change in timelines. So, he lived on. He is the perfect minion because he knows everything that Link knows.”
“So, what do you want?” asked the King.
“Oh, nothing much. In return for Auralii…hmmm…let’s see…I’d like to have…Link!”
Sapphira gasped. “What?”
“How much time do we have to think?” asked the King slowly.
“I’ll give you three days,” replied Ganon. “That means you have the rest of today, all of tomorrow, and most of the next day to think. Then, if I don’t have Link, I’m going to kill Auralii. Have a nice day!” The vortex turned black and disappeared.
