Chapter 1

Standing in the dark, she could feel the cold which numbed her hands and chilled her to the bone. It was windy, too, and her hair, so blond it was almost white, swirled around her head. The mist made it difficult to see, and as she stepped forward, straining to see something, she could make out the light. It beckoned her, and she stepped forth, much like a moth going to candlelight. Suddenly, the fog cleared, and there it was, shining with all its glory in front of her. The single, golden triangle, floating upside down. She reached out with trembling fingers, trying to touch it. Suddenly, the light vanished, and she could feel an evil presence. A deep, manacling laugh taunted her from the darkness. Stepping back, she could feel the ground disappear from beneath her feet. Screaming, she fell, the darkness beneath swallowing her whole.....
Anna awoke moments later on the wooden floor of the cottage. White moonlight shone through the windows, streaking out across the floor. Breathing hard, she kicked away the sheets that had tangled around her feet during the night. She sat still for a moment, heart pounding in her ears. Cold sweat ran in wet, salty paths down her forehead. Closing her eyes, she could see images of the dream flash before her for a brief instant. It was the same dream she'd been having for a few nights now, but never before had she seen the upside-down, golden triangle. She remembered in the previous nights' dreams walking toward the light, but she'd never actually seen that triangle before......What could it mean?
Rising on feet which still trembled, she sat cross legged in the center of her bed. She could see the sleeping forms of her uncle and brother, Link.
"Link....Link, wake up," Anna hissed to her brother. Link stirred sleepily.
"Huh? What? Anna, what is it? It's only 2:00 in the morning," Link whispered back irritably.
" Link, I've been having a strange dream lately. I think it's an omen," Anna whispered. There was no reply for a moment. Then, Link answered, his voice sounding more interested, "What about?"
" I saw a golden triangle, surrounded by fog. I went to touch it, but then I heard an evil laugh. I have a feeling.....that it has something to do with the Tetraforce Sashrahala told us about once."
Saying this, Anna glanced down at the pendant that hung around her neck. It caught the moonlight, shining with a white, mysterious glow. More than once it had saved her from evil. It had been her mother's once, and had been given to her when she was no more than a baby.
Long ago, when Link had been but two and Anna a baby, their parents had gone off to fight Ganon. before they left, never to return, Link had been entrusted to their uncle, and Anna to their Aunt Mary. Before their parents left, Anna's mother had given the pendant to Mary to give to Anna when she was older. As Anna grew, unaware of the sacrifice her parents had made, her aunt had taught her various forms of magic. She had learned her first spell at the age of five. She'd been so proud of herself for making that book float to her! When she was ten, she'd received the pendant. Her aunt had simply told her that the pendant had been her mother's. She had no idea it possessed such power until that day......
It had been last summer when Anna was in the Lost Woods, loitering about. She settled down on a rock, and began to sing softly to herself. Unbeknownst to her, Link had heard her. He had gone to talk to her, but she had heard him approach.She'd been getting a bad feeling lately that Ganon would return.. Thinking him to be one of Ganon's men, she'd run off. The next day, some real followers of Ganon's began prowling throughout the Lost Woods. Her only hope was to go to Hyrule Castle, to seek the one they called the Legendary Hero. He was the one who had destroyed Ganon a short time ago, and had wished the Dark World back to what it had been. On her way to the castle, one of Ganon's soldiers had followed her. She ran as fast as she could, but the soldier's arrow had been quicker than her. A shudder ran through her as she remembered the arrow hitting her, jarring her body forward with its impact. She felt dizzy, and, falling upon the cobblestone walkway that led to the castle's front doors, she lost consciousness. She'd awoke in the castle's guestroom the next morning. Link was sitting in a chair next to her bed. For some uncanny reason, she knew he was the brother her aunt had told her about, the one who was living somewhere in Hyrule with an uncle she'd never seen.....
Later, during a battle with Ganon, Anna had saved Link's life, only to lose her own. Link had brought her back to life with the magic of the Triforce.. Since then, Anna had come to live with Link and her uncle, and together, they and Princess Zelda had battled evil numerous times together.
".....him tomorrow. Anna?" Link whispered, bringing her back to the present.
"Oh, sorry, I wasn't listening. What?" Anna asked. Link sighed in exasperation.
" I was saying that if you think this dream is important enough, we should go see Sashrahala later," Link said.
"Oh," she said, remembering it was Sashrahala that had first told them about the rumored fourth piece to the Triforce. It was lost, shattered into many pieces in the early part of Hyrule's history. An ancestor of Link and Anna's had found it, and it had been made into a pendant shortly after the Imprisoning War. This pendant was passed down to the youngest child in their family for generations, and, as Sashrahala had once hinted, may have been part of the mysterious Tetraforce. Sighing, Anna lay back on her bed. Maybe this dream is a sign that we should look for the Tetraforce, Anna thought. if not, what did it mean? She turned so that she faced the wall, closing her eyes. Sleep came, cloaking her in its darkness.
**********

Morning sunlight burst through the windows, illuminating the cottage. Anna awoke only to see their uncle getting ready for the day's hunt. Link was already up and dressed, ready to depart for the castle. Only a few weeks before, gaunt and weary, Link had returned from a trip out to sea. It had been a quest for enlightenment that had driven him to go on a voyage. A storm had destroyed his ship, and he'd washed up on an island where he met a girl he called Marin. In the end, he left the island by awakening a creature called the Windfish. Link still wasn't sure if it had been a dream or not. Anna thought about the two weeks she and everyone else had to endure while Link was gone. It had been a tense, anxious time, as everyone was worried that Ganon would take the opportunity to attack Hyrule. Then, everyone had welcomed him back with open arms when he'd returned.
"Now, you two, mind the cottage. I'll be back," their uncle said, then strode off in the direction of the village. Anna got out of bed and dressed quickly. She went outside and ran to catch up to Link, who was halfway to the castle.
" Hello there, Link," the guard beside the gate called out to him as they walked past. "The princess has been waiting for you." Link went over to talk to the guard for a minute, then they were inside the castle. They went up the flights of stairs to the throne room. Princess Zelda rose from her throne upon seeing Link and Anna enter the room.
"Hello, Link, Anna. Impa told me she has something interesting to tell us in the parlor. Let's go," Zelda said, and they followed her into the castle's richly decorated parlor.
"Hello, everyone. Take a seat. I have quite a story to share." Impa, Princess Zelda's nursemaid, said from a padded chair by one of the large windows.. The older woman's hair shone like silver, and her merry blue eyes sparkled..
After everyone had a seat, Impa began her story. "As a descendant of the Shadow Folk, the Shiekahs, I have known this story for many years. It began many years ago, before the Imprisoning War itself. A young boy lived in the forest. One morning, a faerie took him to the father of the forest, the Great Deku Tree. The Great Deku Tree needed the boy's help. A curse had been cast upon him by an evil man of the desert called Ganondorf. And so the boy went inside the tree and broke the curse. The Great Deku Tree gave the boy the Spiritual Stone of the Forest, and told him he had two more to collect. Before he got the other two stones, though, the boy saw the Princess of Destiny, whose name was also Zelda. The boy's name was Link. You two, Link and Zelda, were named for those two who lived so long ago. The boy, Link, became the Hero of Time, and he, along with the Seven Sages, sealed Ganondorf away in the Sacred Realm. Link carried the Essence of the Triforce of Courage within him. Zelda carried the Triforce of Wisdom. And......it was Ganondorf who carried the Triforce of Power. During the battle between the hero, Link, and Ganondorf, Ganondorf changed himself using the power of the Triforce of Power into the pig creature we know as Ganon. The hero defeated him, and he was sealed in the Sacred Realm. He swore to destroy their descendants, but he failed at that, too......so far."
"So, our ancestors carried the Essence of the Triforces of Wisdom and Courage within them?" Link asked.
"Yes. And to this day, Ganon, who was corrupted because of the power of the Triforce of Power, still carries it within him. And it is this power that allows him to wreak such havoc on Hyrule."
"Impa, how do you know about all this?" Zelda questioned.
"An ancestor of mine, whose name was also Impa, used to be a nursemaid for the other Princess Zelda. It was this Impa who was born in the place we know as Kakariko Village, and it was she who helped make it what it is today. She passed this story down through the generations."
It was shortly after this that Link noticed the time, and hastily told Impa and the princess that he and Anna were going to go Sashrahala's house. They left the castle and walked quickly to the older man's house. It was said that he was the wisest man in all of the village, perhaps even all of Hyrule..
Sashrahala welcomed them in, and invited them to sit down. Link told Sashrahala about the story he had just heard from Impa.
"Ah, yes, my boy, the story Impa has told you is quite true. The Book of Mudora tells of the same things. The acients who wrote it knew everything about this world."
"Sashrahala?" Anna asked.
"Yes, child?"
"I've been having a reoccurring dream lately. I see an upside-down, golden triangle. I try to touch it, but it always disappears before I can. Then, I can hear this evil laugh. I have no idea what it means."
"Well......." Sashrahala said, deep in thought, "It appears to be some sort of sign. As for the upside-down triangle, I believe it is the Fourth Force the goddesses left behind, long ago. Let me tell you yet another old story.."
"It began when the goddesses, Din, Nayru, and Forore created this world and all its people. Before leaving Hyrule, never to return, they created the Triforce. The place where they departed from this world became known as the Golden Land, known back in the olden days as the Sacred Realm. The people of Hyrule live in a different dimension than does the Triforce. However, before they left, the goddesses supposedly created yet another triangle. However, they did not make it part of the Triforce, for if anyone ever got hold of all four triangles, they would be the ultimate ruler of both dimensions. They would be more powerful than Ganon could ever hope to be."
Link and Anna gaped at the old man in shock. More powerful than Ganon?
"However, for some unknown reason, the Tetraforce was shattered into pieces. These pieces somehow reached our world. The only piece that was ever found was that one." Sashrahala pointed to Anna's pendant, which supposedly housed a piece of the Tetraforce.
"And this dream I've been having......it's trying to tell me to find....the Tetraforce?" Anna asked.
"It could be, child, it could be," Sashrahala said.
***************

After visiting Sashrahala, Link and Anna returned to the castle. Princess Zelda was there to greet them. "Impa said that there was once a large graveyard for people who served the Royal Family of Hyrule. She said we should go try to find it."
The three of them walked behind the village to the Lost Woods. They searched around for a time, finding nothing. Finally, Link nearly tripped over an old, worn tombstone. This was at the head of an old sunken grave. There were other graves, all sunken and old, and the remnants of an old, wooden fence lay, rotten, its pieces scattered all across the grass. A walkway, made of stone tile, was barely discernable, as it was covered in moss. Link bent to read the inscription on the tombstone.
"Hey," he said after a moment, "this must be where our ancestors are buried. Come see." Zelda knelt beside him, the thin shawl she wore loosely over her shoulders catching the wind and flapping in the light breeze.
"Yes," Zelda said. "This is where your ancestor is buried. I wonder where my ancestor is."
After a time, they found quite a large tombstone. This bore the name of the past princess, and the notes to a song.
"I reconize the notes to this song. It's been handed down in my family for generations. It's called `Zelda's Lullaby'."
Link looked at the inscription of the Triforce on the tombstone. Just underneath this, there was another triangle. An upside-down triangle.
"Whoa, look at this," Link said running his finger over the mark. "Maybe this Tetraforce thing is more than just a dream of Anna's." They all looked at the mark for a time, then wordlessly left the graveyard. As they reached Link's cottage, Zelda told him she would tell Impa what they saw, and promised to see him tomorrow.
By now, it was dark and late out, so Link and Anna went to bed. Their uncle would come home sometime during the night, as always. Anna fell into a deep sleep instantly, no longer plauged by the dreams. Link, however, had a harder time trying to sleep, and when he finally let sleep claim him, it was a restless slumber full of dreams.
Little did Link know that this was only the beginning of the nightmares.......