Part I: "A Nighttime Murder"

Cold. It was dreadfully cold. The one fact that remained in he minds of those who were there that night was the bone-chilling cold. Perhaps it was a sign of things to come.

They had gathered there in Gerudo Fortress, forty Gerudo females and one twenty-one year old Hyrulian man, to mourn the loss of one of their own. Nabooru. Her life taken by night...by blade.

Her body had been placed on a pyre, prepared for the ritual burning. The guests solemnly walked past the corpse, not muttering a word. The last in line was the Hyrulian man, who went simply by the name of Link.

To Nabooru, four years had passed since her heroic rescue at the hands of Link. But to the "Hero of Time," it had been eleven long, painful years. Seven painful years of knowing the future. The pain of saving the entire world, and no one knowing it but the seven sages. And then four long years of praise. Praise that grew old all too quickly.

He would shed no tears today. He had lost the will for such weak shows of emotion years ago. No, he thought to himself, I will hunt down whoever dis this and kill them where they stand. He tried to push the evil thought from his mind but failed as he always did. It remained inside with all the rest of his dangerous notions.

He reached out to touch Nabooru's cold cheek. As he felt the dead flesh, a flash of darkness raced across the depths of his mind. He pulled back his hand, and the feeling subsided. Curiously, he reached back towards Nabooru's body. The darkness came once again, and everything went pitch black.

Link found himself in almost a dream. Distorted. Wierd. The blackness had pulled back somewhat, but it was still difficult to see. He looked around, and something caught his attention. A bed with a person in it. Nabooru.

A slight creaking behind him caused Link to quickly turn around. There, in the doorway stood a shadowy figure. Link recognized her immediately. It was Aishana, Nabooru's seemingly loyal servant.

Aishana walked through the door and stopped in front of Link.

"The terror comes from within," she said.

And with that, Aishana waled over to the sleeping Nabooru an quickly slit her throat. Blood began pouring from the beautiful sage's neck. The once honorable servant turned back towards Link.

"This is only the beginning."

With a wicked smile, Aishana's flesh slowly melted away revealing the skeleton beneath. Stalfos.

Link began to draw his sword but was stopped by a booming voice from behind.

"Always were the honorable one, weren't you?" Link spun around and found himself face-to-face with the green-skinned, red-haired male Gerudo of his past.

"It won't save you this time," Ganondorf continued. "Soon, I will be free of my prison, and this time, there will be no sages to get in my way!"

With Ganondorf's evil laugh echoing in the distance, the vision faded away, and Link once again found himself standing at the pyre. Only seconds had passed.

Link stepped back and made room for the fire to be lit. He paid little attention as two torchbearers sombered by. Instead, he was scanning the crowd. Searching for her.

He saw her just twenty yards away, and as the torchbearers solemnly lit the dry timbers beneath Nabooru's body, Link was marching towards Aishana. As he came up to her, he drew his hand-made sword.

"Link?"

That was her last word.

As she was fatally impaled in the stomach, her mock human flesh disappeared, and her skeleton broke apart and Link's feet, burning to mere vapors. Another Stalfos returned to the depths of Hell.

Link turned and walked out of Gerudo valley as Nabooru's body burned to ashes behind him.