Chapter 1: The Onyx Pyramid

      Link looked at the stone wall in front of him. Embossed on the stone panel was the familiar symbol of the Sacred Relic, the Triforce. He stood inside of the Temple of Light before the door that led to the Golden Power. This is it, he said to himself. He approached the wall and it parted in front of him. Behind this door lay the artifact so many have sought. The Triforce hovered above the ground, beaming with its beautiful light. Link approached it slowly. He lifted his hand to place it on the Triforce. What should I wish for? he thought. His hand grew ever closer to the golden triangle. As his fingers reached it, his hand passed through the Triforce. Perplexed, he tried to touch it again, but with the same result. No matter what he did, he could not lay his hands upon the Triforce. Then, as if to spite him, the Triforce vanished in a brilliant flash of light.
      Disoriented, he awoke in his bed. He was back in the forest in his home. Link had been having this same dream every night since he closed the Door of Time. Of course, these dreams were better than the horrible nightmares he'd had before his adventure as the Hero of Time. Still, he wondered what the dream meant. After all, the dreams about Ganondorf turned out to be accurate premonitions. But what did this mean? Sleep. I'll worry about this in the morning.
 
 

       A tall man, about six feet, stood at the edge of a rectangular hole thirty feet wide and ten feet deep. His fine white hair waved in the breeze as he barked orders to the people below. It was one of Doctor Miko Sailann's usual archaeological digs. He'd recently become enthralled, almost obsessed, with ancient Hylian history. Most archaeologists studied periods going back about three thousand years. Dr. Sailann, however, preferred ancient history, really ancient history. He studied Hyrule's history from six thousand years ago. There were few records from this period; a few stone tablets and some pottery, but nothing major. If he hadn't have been so respected, people would've called him a crackpot. But he had good luck today. They just uncovered the remains of an ancient temple. Small pillars poked through the soil at the bottom of a hole. He guessed that it was about five to six thousand years old, judging from the style of the pillars and the writing inscribed on them. "Concentrate more on the center," he told they workers. They nodded and began shoveling soil from the middle of the dig site. As one of the iron spades plunged into the ground it collided with an object. Dr. Sailann sprinted down a ramp into the hole.
      "What was that?" a worker asked.
      "Keep digging," he ordered, "and hand me a shovel." The doctor began to dig along with his workers. After about twenty minutes, the object was revealed. It was a four-foot high black pyramid with a triangular base. "Let's get this thing out of the hole. Get some boards under this and hook it up to the pulley." This is it, he thought. This is what I'm looking for. They dug around the base of the pyramid and placed a large wooden board in front of it. Using a long lever one person lifted the edge up. Then two people gently slid the pyramid onto the boards. "Be gentle," Dr. Sailann said, not wanting to damage this priceless artifact. They then hauled the pyramid up with ropes attached to a multitude of pulleys. Once they hauled the pyramid up, it was swung onto a large square piece of linen.
      "I've never seen anything like this. What is it doctor?" asked one of his students who was helping with the project.
      "I'm not sure...judging from where we just found it, it should be around six thousand years old. But this doesn't look like it belongs here." He turned to his apprentice and best student, Keeto. "Look at this writing," he pointed to a side of the pyramid. "This doesn't look anything like the script on the pillars and walls we unearthed. In fact, I've never seen this writing before." As a gifted linguist, he knew much about the evolution of the Hylian Language. "This looks like Ancient Hylian, but some of these markings don't correspond to anything I know of."
      "Is it possible that this is just a different dialect?" Keeto asked.
      "I don't think so because the language didn't have any other dialects. The people were so concentrated at the time that they spoke the exact same language. These characters are similar to Ancient Hylian, but the construction is different. Well, let's get this back to the lab." They loaded the pyramid onto a horse-drawn carriage and hauled it to the Royal University.
 
 

       "I wish I knew what the dreams meant," Link said to Saria. They were sitting on a blanket in the grass. Since it was such a nice day in the forest, they decided to have a picnic.
      "Maybe their just dreams. All dreams don't have to mean something," Saria said.
      "But those dreams about Zelda and Ganondorf came true. And this dream about the Triforce really worries me. I told you what happened. I have the Triforce of Courage, Zelda has the Triforce of Wisdom, and Ganondorf has the Triforce of Power. But since I came back from the future, everything's changed. After Zelda fled the castle, Ganondorf was supposed to have taken over Hyrule in a big war. But what happened? He disappeared. No one knows what happened to him, he just vanished. Zelda returned to the castle and everything went back to normal. Everything that I experienced didn't happen. There was no war, no sages were awakened, and no evil ever engulfed the world. So, everything I did to destroy the evil and save Hyrule was unnecessary. It didn't happen."
      "Of course it happened," Saria responded. "Maybe your time traveling changed the future." She felt so sorry for him. After everything he went through, she was surprised that he was still sane. The stories he told her were hard to believe, but Link never lied. She was flattered by hearing that she was the mystical Sage of the Forest. She never thought that she could be so important.
      "But if I changed the future, how come I remember it?" Link asked.
      "You probably shouldn't drive yourself crazy over this. The only thing that matters is that everyone is okay. It doesn't matter that nothing ever happened. That's good."
      "That's not what worries me, though. What if I don't have the Triforce of Courage? In my dream, I touched the Triforce and it disappeared. That might mean that I don't have it after all. An if I don't have it then someone else might..."
      "Quit worrying," Saria interrupted. "Let's just enjoy this beautiful day. That's why we came here."
      "You're right. I'm sorry." He smiled. "I shouldn't worry myself over this. Let's finish our lunch." He opened up a wicker basket and pulled an array of various fruits. Saria was a vegetarian so he brought some fruit for lunch. He brought some melons that he'd gotten from the castle market. It was kind of a surprise for her because she'd never had anything like it before because. Due to the temperate climate, melons didn't grow in the forest. She'd never had any exotic fruits or vegetables; she had never even left Kokiri Forest. "Here, I got this just for you." He pulled out a large, green,  smooth-skinned melon.
      "Ooh. What is it?" she asked with eagerness.
      "It's a honeydew melon. They're really good. I went all the way to the castle market to get this for you." He cut into bite-sized pieces with a small knife. He gave a piece to her. She examined it and sniffed it.
      "It smells good." Then she placed it in her mouth and ate it. "Ooh...Yum. I like this. I wish we had these in the forest."
      "Well, I'm thinking of growing some in a little garden. Maybe we could do it together. I think it would be fun to finally do something normal, and," he said sarcastically, "non life-threatening."
      "Oh you're so pessimistic," Saria giggled. They sat there in silence, continuing to eat their lunch. After a while of sitting and contemplating, Link decided to break the silence.
      "You know the one thing I haven't been able to figure out?" Link asked.
      "No, what?"
      "It's Navi."
      "Oh, your fairy. What happened to her?"
      "That's the thing, I don't know. When I got back into the past she just flew away and never came back." He sat there thinking. "Well, I didn't really like her anyways. She was pretty annoying. Always saying 'hey' and 'watch out.' She was always telling me things I already knew; she treated me like I was an idiot. Of course, now I'm gonna be the laughing stock of the forest...again."
      "Oh don't say that, it's not true."
      "Yes it is. Before, I never even had a fairy. Then when I finally got one, she leaves me. What's everyone else supposed to think? I get a fairy and I can't even keep her?"
      "You're not even supposed to have a fairy anyway, right? You said that you found out you were a Hylian. You should consider yourself lucky. You got a fairy even though you're not a Kokiri."
      "Yeah," he smiled, "I guess you're right."
 
 

       The black pyramid rested on a large table in Dr. Sailann's lab at the Royal University of Hyrule. The University was just east of the castle, and was the intellectual mecca of the whole country. The entire room was filled with hundreds of artifacts from various periods in history. Masks adorned the stone walls, and a multitude of pots and jars lined the almost endless shelving. He was diligently inspecting every detail of the pyramid using a large magnifying glass.  The large wooden door creaked and he turned to see Keeto enter. He beckoned Keeto to come over to the table.
      "Remarkable. Look at this Keeto. It's perfect, not a scratch on it. It has been buried for thousands of years and it looks like it's only a day old." The pyramid was even more magnificent when it was clean. Its color was jet black, but the surface was also shiny. They both saw their reflections on the pyramid; the reflections should've been distorted but they weren't. The surface of the pyramid was smoother and flatter than glass. "This writing is very interesting. It looks like it's actually embedded underneath the surface."
      "Have you made any progress as to what the writing means?" Keeto asked.
      "No, for once I'm completely stumped. After I looked more closely at the writing, I realized that it's not even related to Ancient Hylian. Look at these characters," he pointed at a grouping of letters. "The morphology of these characters is completely different from anything I've seen. And look at this." He rotated the pyramid so they were looking at another side.
      "What am I supposed to be seeing?" Keeto asked, looking confused.
      "Look closer." Keeto took a closer look, but still saw nothing. He shrugged  his shoulders. "Each side is identical," Sailann said. "Whatever this says, it's repeated on each side of the pyramid. But that's not the best part. Watch this." He walked a few feet from the table and rummaged around in a corner full of junk. Keeto was again confused and scratched his head. After some cajoling, Dr. Sailann managed to extract a large sledgehammer from the pile.
      "What are you going to do," Keeto asked, beginning to get worried.
      "You're gonna love this," Dr. Sailann said with an almost creepy smile on his face. He approached the pyramid and stopped in front of it. He lifted the sledgehammer above his head and prepared to swing it.
      "Dr. Sailann, no!" Keeto exclaimed. "What are you doing?" But it was too late. Dr. Sailann swung the hammer, aiming for the sharp point at the tip of the pyramid. Keeto turned his head and shielded his face. There was a deafening crash and a shower of sparks as the twenty pound iron head impacted with the tip of the pyramid. The head of the hammer splintered into numerous fragments that jetted away in all directions. Keeto instinctively shielded his face from the flying debris. He peeked through his hands to see that he and Dr. Sailann were still alive and not bleeding.
      "Holy gods! What is that thing made out of?" Keeto exclaimed.
      "I don't know. It looks like a giant piece of onyx." Onyx is a semi-precious stone that has a pitch black color. "But onyx isn't hard like this. The makeup of the pyramid is like nothing I've ever seen. Now, touch the tip of the pyramid where I just hit it." Keeto slowly moved his index finger toward the point at the top of the pyramid.
      "Ouch!" Keeto exclaimed as he removed his finger from the point. He looked at his index finger and saw a small crimson dot forming, blood. He stuck his finger in his mouth. "That point is sharp! You think that thing would get dull after hitting it like that."
      "I know," Dr. Sailann said. "I've talked to some of the geologists in the University, and they have no clue what this is made of. All we know is that this is the hardest, most durable substance we've ever seen. It's so hard that it makes a diamond seem like putty. How somebody was even able to carve this thing is mind boggling."
      "Where...when do you think this pyramid came from?" Keeto asked.
      "Since this is in such good condition, there's no way of telling. It could be a hundred, a thousand, or even ten thousand years old. Your guess is as good as mine. There's no historical context to put this thing in. The design is unique, the writing is completely unknown, and the material is like nothing on this planet."
      "Is there anyone who knows what this could be?" Keeto asked.
      "Maybe," Dr. Sailann responded. "I want you to get some people together to deliver these posters." He pointed to a stack of papers on his desk in the far corner of the room. "Put one of these in every village and market in Hyrule."
      Keeto nodded and looked at one of the posters. It read:

Royal University of Hyrule Seeks Help
Small black pyramid with strange writing found at dig.
Anyone who knows ancient or
extinct languages is urged to come.
2000 rupee award for anyone who can
successfully help decipher the writing.       "You think this will help?" Keeto asked.
      "It's the only chance we've got left. All of our scholars have examined the pyramid and were as dumbfounded as I was. I'm hoping that someone outside the University will know something."
      "But with this reward you're offering, don't you think people will come just for the money and only pretend to give us help?" Keeto asked.
      "I thought of that," Dr. Sailann responded. "We should be able to filter out the weirdoes from people who actually know what they're doing. I made up some tests for them to take before they can help." Dr. Sailann turned around and began searching through the endless piles of debris on his desk. "Ah-hah," he said as he found the paper he was searching for. "Here," he handed the paper to Keeto. "I copied the writing and rearranged the words. If our candidate knows what he's doing, he should recognize this as just gibberish." Keeto nodded his head, realizing what Dr. Sailann was getting at.
 
 

      Zelda woke up screaming. Impa, her nursemaid, came running into Zelda's bedroom.
      "What's wrong?" Impa asked, almost frantic. Zelda clutched her stuffed dog, trying to keep her composure and not break into tears. She was shaking and covered in a cold sweat.
      "I had..." she sniffled, "a bad dream. It was...terrifying."
      Impa sat beside Zelda and tried to comfort her. "It's okay sweetie, it was just a dream. Dreams aren't real."
      "No. This one was different. It wasn't the dream that was scary."
      "What was it then?" Impa asked.
      "It was...the feeling I had." Zelda was at a loss for words. She couldn't quite describe the felling she'd had. "I saw this big, black thing. It was some kind of...pyramid. I walked up to it and touched it." She sobbed for a moment, but regained her composure. "Then all of a sudden I was overwhelmed with horrible emotions. I was terrified, and angry, and every other bad feeling there was. It was a hundred times worse than anything I've ever felt before."
      "Don't worry. It's over now. You're safe here." Impa comforted her. Ever since they'd fled the castle, Zelda was uneasy. Even though Ganondorf was gone now, she still kept her guard up. More nightmares were the last thing Zelda needed.
      "But it was so real. This wasn't just a dream. I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen. Something...terrible."
      "Don't worry, honey," Impa said. "Ganondorf is gone now. He'll never come back."
      "No." Zelda all of a sudden took on a grim tone. She looked into Impa's eyes with a seriousness that she had never seen before. "It's not Ganondorf. It's something worse, much worse. I see an evil force worse than anything we've ever seen. and it's coming.... It's coming soon." Zelda was starting to worry Impa. Her premonitions had always been accurate. Impa hoped that this one wasn't.
 
 

      An old man, about sixty years old, was on his usual morning walk. He had shoulder length silver hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He wore long flowing robes that resembled those of a monk. He weaved through the many vendors' stands in the market of Kataan village. Kataan was about twenty miles southeast of Hyrule Castle He frequently used his walk as an excuse to go shopping. Occasionally he found some interesting things at the market, but today seemed pretty slow. He decided to check the town bulletin board. Maybe something of interest would be here. Another disappointment. He turned to walk away as a young man tacked another paper onto the message board. This one caught the old man's attention. The paper was a message from the University of Hyrule.

Royal University of Hyrule Seeks Help
Small black pyramid with strange writing found at dig.
Anyone who knows ancient or
extinct languages is urged to come.
2000 rupee award for anyone who can
successfully help decipher the writing. "Uh-Oh," he said. All of a sudden, he became sick to his stomach.  This was not a good sign. He had to tell the others about this. He tore the paper from the wooden board, folded it, and put it in his pocket. He chased after the boy who put the paper up. He managed to catch up with him, and he tapped the boy on the shoulder.
      "Who did you get this from?" the old man asked the boy.
      "Excuse me, sir?" the boy asked with a confused look.
      "Where'd you get this?" he asked pulling the paper from his pocket and showing it to the boy.
      "Someone from the University asked me to put this up in the market. He had a whole stack of them."
      "Thank you," he said as the boy walked away. What was that all about? The boy thought as he walked away. The old man stood there for a moment, oblivious to the hustle and bustle going on around him. Then the old man decided to run back to his house. He lived just outside of the village in a cluster of seven cottages. He finally arrived home nearly out of breath. He was in good shape, but this was pushing it. He walked into the biggest house where six people were eating breakfast. They all wore clothes similar to his. There were three women at one side of the table and three men at the other. They were all relatively old, ranging in age from early forties to the old man who was the eldest of the group. One woman had waist-length blonde hair in a neat braid; another had slightly longer than shoulder length brunette hair that was tied up in a ponytail; the last had gray hair that was neatly trimmed. One man was short, thin, and bald; another was tall with very short black hair; and the other was of an average size with short salt-and-pepper hair and a gray mustache. They looked at him as he tried to catch his breath. They were all worried because he was never like this.
      "What's wrong, Kasuto?" one of the women asked.
      "I found this at the market," Kasuto said as he showed the paper to everyone. "It looks like some archaeologist found the pyramid. We have to go to the University before they find out what it really is."
      "How are we going to get it back?" asked the woman. "You know you can get an artifact away from an archaeologist. We'll have to pry it from his cold dead hands."
      "I hope it doesn't have to come to that." Kasuto said grimly.
 
 

      "I had a different dream last night," Link said to Saria. They were in her house today. They had planned on taking a walk through the forest together, but it was raining. So they just sat there passing the time.
      "What was this one like?" she asked.
      "It was terrifying." Saria showed at concerned look at this. "All I saw was this black object...a pyramid."
      "What's so scary about that?" she asked.
      "It wasn't what I saw, it was how I felt." He always felt comfortable talking to Saria about his feelings. They had always been like brother and sister. Now she acted as his therapist.
      "How did you feel?" Saria asked with genuine concern.
      "Bad. Angry. Sad. Jealous. And every single other bad emotion there is. I was so overwhelmed with fear and hatred that I was blinded by it. It was like some kind of evil force took over my emotions. I had no control.  This thing was just pure evil. And I have a feeling that this evil is coming, and soon." Saria started to become uneasy at what he was saying. "And I know...that when this evil comes, we won't be able to stop it. No one will."
      "Link, you're really starting to scare me. You are just letting these nightmares get to you. There's nothing to worry about." She was trying to comfort him, but she wasn't sure if she even believed her own words. "Maybe you're just stressed out. That could make anyone feel paranoid."
      "I'm not paranoid. I know what I'm talking about," Link protested. "You just don't believe me!"
      "I...but...you know I would never...." Saria mumbled
      "You're just humoring me!" he yelled. What am I saying? He thought to himself. This isn't me. "This thing is coming whether you believe me or not!"
      "What's wrong with you?" Saria asked. She was really concerned now. Link was never like this. Maybe what he said was true. These dreams are destroying him.
      "I'm...sorry. I don't...know what came over me. I think I'll go lay down. I need some time alone," Link said. He tried to smile, but couldn't.
      "It's okay," Saria said. She walked over to him and gave him a hug. "I know you're having a rough time. Go ahead and get some rest." He turned to walk out. "Sweet dreams," she said attempting to use humor to lighten the mood. Link looked back and a small smile formed on his face. He continued out the door and headed back to his tree house.
 
 

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