The Fallen Sage

Chapter 1: Summonings
By The Mariner


(Author's note: this story is an extrapolation of the Legend of Zelda, the story told by Impa in Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. Don't worry, it's not necessary to know that story. This fits in with the history of Hyrule from what I have gathered. It takes place hundreds of years before Ocarina of Time.)

"Slow down, young prince!" Shelin Impa tried unsuccessfully to keep up with her charge. The boy, the crown prince of the largest kingdom of Hyrule, was giddy with excitement as he ran through the castle. Shelin was the granddaughter of the first Impa to serve the royal family. The middle aged nursemaid enjoyed her service and had already insured that her daughter and his husband would serve in this job when she had gone. The Impa line had pledged this service, and she was not one to break it. She even insisted on being called Impa to honor her line.

Meanwhile, Prince Eloan, barely four years old, paid no attention to his nanny. A servant had just told him that he could see his parents now. For months now Impa had been telling him that he would have a new brother or sister. And now the day had arrived. He reached his parents' chambers and stopped, waiting for Impa to catch up. She did and opened the door for the young prince. He saw his mother in bed, holding a little bundle, and his father standing next to her, looking more happy than the child could ever remember. He slowly moved up towards his mother, climbing up on the bed to see better. He looked at the bundle and saw a cute little face, sleeping contently. Its hair was matted and short, but already took on a reddish hue. 

The Queen of Hyrule smiled at her young son. "That's your new baby sister, Eloan." Eloan looked up. "What's her name?" "Zelda. Her name is Zelda." The little boy struggled to say the unfamiliar name. "Z...Zelda. I like it. It's a pretty name."

From the doorway, Shelin Impa smiled. It seemed as if they would get along well.


Across the backdrop of the giant Death Mountain Range, two horses could be made out in the twilight. Mudora, not used to riding for so long, continued to complain to the cloaked figure in front of him. Mudora was young, no more than fifteen, but certainly none would consider him boyish. The lad was smarter and more well versed in Hylian lore than most of the citizens of Kasuto. He had taken up apprenticeship with the wizard of Kasuto, hoping to learn more of the mysterious magic of Hyrule. But, truth to be told, he was more interested in studying the dusty old books of Hyrule, including the ancient legends. His master, Bagrand, was convinced he would become a scribe. Scribes, of course, usually did not have to deal with two week long trips across Hyrule. 

"Relax, Mudora, we are almost there." It was true; the boy could see the spires of the great Hyrule Castle already. Mudora was glad, not only to end this miserable trip, but also to see Rauru again. The older man was Bagrand's first apprentice, learning the mystic arts from one of the most powerful men in the world. Rauru had left Kasuto 4 years ago, just when Mudora was starting. Mudora remembered the man's good humor and his long lecture's against the abuse of magical power. He as a good man, Mudora thought, and certainly deserved his post as the king's special advisor on magic. But he had called on his old master, so something must be amiss. One does not call on Bagrand for simple pleasantries.

They arrived at the castle only a few hours later. They were let in without any problems and led to their rooms, where they were instructed to rest. Early in the morning they were called upon, and after a hasty breakfast, were brought into a small room. Moments later, a short, somewhat rotund man entered the room, followed by a tall knight. Mudora stood and greeted the former. "Rauru! It is good to see you again." Rauru smiled and nodded to the boy, but it was obvious that his attention was elsewhere. Bagrand, slightly embarrassed at his apprentice's reaction, shot him a look that basically stated shut up and sit down. He then turned his attention on the duo. "Pleasantries aside, Rauru, who is that with you, and why have you called me here?"

Rauru sat down, motioning a seat to his companion. "This is Kaepora Gaebora, the leader of the mage knights. He has a distinct interest in what we are about to discuss." He then turned attention to the boy. "Mudora, this is important and could very well change Hyrule forever. Can you accept the responsibility of listening to this discussion?" The lad, not waiting for instructions from his master, nodded solemnly, confused with Rauru's tone but excited about the possibilities. With that settled, Rauru once again focused his attention on his former mentor. "Bagrand, I believe I have found it."

"Found what?" 

"The fabled Sacred Realm," Rauru replied calmly.


Chapter 2: Golden Lands

"By Sacred Realm I assume you mean the place where the goddesses departed this land?" 

"Of course, what did you think I meant?" Rauru was slightly displeased with his former mentor's lack of enthusiasm.

"But, my dear Rauru, what has gotten into you? How would you find this place, and why would you want to go there anyway? What is so special about the goddesses departing point?" Bagrand was slightly annoyed. He had been called from Kasuto simply to find where the goddesses left? 

"Who knows what the goddesses placed in that land? Perhaps the goddesses themselves are still there. It is not from this world, you know. It is in an entirely different dimension."
"And the king has ordered us to investigate with all deliberate speed" cut in Gaebora, who seemed bored with the proceedings.
"He said to find anybody who might be useful, and so I chose you to aid me, Bagrand." Finished Rauru. "This could be the greatest moment in Hyrule's history.

"So I am ordered by the king to go on a fruitless quest, eh? This whole mess seems ridiculous. How, may I ask, are we to leave this dimension?" 

At this point Rauru seemed to notice Mudora again. "Do you remember verse 24 of the Races Canticle, Mudora?"

"Of course. 'And the goddesses gave the Hylian race pointed ears, like the Sheikah and Kokiri before them. But the ears of Hylia could hear messages from the goddesses, for they wished the Hylians to be blessed above all.' I never believed it much, though." Mudora looked rather shy to be quoting such legends in front of so many great men.

"Perhaps because you are Sheikah and feel jealous, eh?" Rauru smiled and turned his attention back to Bagrand. "Well, I have found many ancient scrolls of Hylians who claim to have received such messages. They claim that playing a sacred song, on a magical instrument, with a large magical force gathered, will open a rift. That is why we need you. An ocarina has been crafted, but we do not know how strong this magical force must be."

"Why ocarina?" Bagrand asked out of curiosity.

"It's the only instrument I can play," Kaepora said in a low voice.

Bagrand shrugged in a sort of I-Guess-That-Makes-Sense-Forget-I-Asked kind of way. Rauru merely stated "We begin tomorrow. Make sure you are prepared. May we have lots of luck, old man." With that he and Gaebora left. Bagrand and Mudora watched them leave. Bagrand turned to his student. "I get the feeling that Kaepora guy doesn't like me." Mudora shrugged, but his master continued. "It doesn't matter, really. This whole stupid thing will end soon and then we can get back to Kasuto. But it looks as if you are in for the ride, so pay attention to everything. I think I will call this lesson 'what happens when you spend too much time in a royal court.'" Mudora laughed.

That night, back in his chambers, Mudora took out a book from his belongings. About a year ago, he started to collect his thoughts on the ancient lore and wrote them down in this volume. The words "Mudora's Journal" were written on its bright green cover. It appears I will have more to write in this, Mudora thought.


Mudora had no idea what to expect, but even so his experiences were beyond anything he could have imagined. The day started ordinary enough, as Bagrand and he walked with Gaebora and Rauru to the royal gardens. The mage knight was in a better mood, and chatted with the boy all the way there. He seemed nice enough, even if he did have a tendency to drone on and on about things everyone already knew. When they reached the gardens, the royal family was there, from the king down to the baby princess. Mudora was shocked and embarrassed; who was he to meet the royal family? Fortunately, as the youngest member of the four, he was virtually ignored, and Bagrand did most of the talking. Merely formalities, of course. Bagrand extolled the king's virtues while the king spoke of the significance of this moment. Finally, the king gave Kaepora Gaebora a beautiful blue ocarina. The four moved away from the king, and the knight began to play.

Mudora was impressed. The quality of the ocarina was perfect, and sounded somewhat different than all others he had heard. And the song was beautiful, almost timeless. It gave Mudora the sense of being outside of time. He heard his mentor whisper "By Din..." in awe, and then it hit him. A strong force, a magical barrier stronger than he could ever imagine, seemed to repel him. He could sense the other three trying to break through that barrier, but it seemed no use. If anything could prove the existence of the goddesses, this was it. Suddenly, the force collapsed....

Eloan, the young prince, was bored with the whole ordeal. Although he was starting to realize the importance of his father, these sort of things started to bore him. Sure the music was nice, but what was the point? Yet his mouth opened with awe as he saw a miracle performed before his eyes. A brilliant blue shaft of light burst out from the ground, shooting upwards as far as the eye could see. The shaft, originating in the center of the four mages, expanded outward in a ring until it enveloped the four. The ring of light slowly shrunk back inwards and dissipated. Rauru, Kaepora, Bagrand, and Mudora were nowhere to be seen. 

When Mudora could see again, after the blinding blue light, everything had changed. There was no castle, no gardens, no king. Instead, they were in the middle of a beautiful valley during what appeared to be a sunset. Bagrand, looking around, said "It appears I owe you an apology, Rauru. You do seem to have found the Sacred Realm. But, what exactly is here?" Rauru offered a noncommittal response when Mudora noticed something rather odd. Although the sky was golden, like a sunset, the sun was still high in the sky. Mudora pointed this out to the older men, and they were forced to agree. 

"This golden light seems to emanate from those mountains. Something must be up there," Kaepora offered. The others agreed, and it was quickly decided that the golden light should be their destination. Slowly, the first four travelers to the Sacred Realm moved toward the brilliant light.

Chapter 3: Sacred Triangles

It was a long march, but not altogether unpleasant. The thrill of discovery had invigorated the four, even the slightly aging Bagrand. There was little talk along the way. Why bother? The gold light was all they could think of, but there was no use in discussing it. After all, no one had any clue what it was.

Mudora, being the youngest of the group, ran up ahead of the others near the end of the journey, and was the first to rest his eyes on the relic. Surprisingly, even though the object lit up the sky, the light did not hurt his eyes. To be honest, Mudora was rather disappointed. He had expected something powerful and majestic, yet all he saw were three triangles. Although it was still more impressive than anything anyone had ever seen before. The golden triangles were floating above a large outcropping of rock, and spinning slowly. They came together to form one larger triangle, with a hole in the middle. The spinning was done in tandem; the entire triangle spun together instead of each of the pieces at a separate speed. Bizarre was all Mudora could think about.

When the rest of the party caught up, their initial reactions were much the same as Mudora's. What was a triangle doing in the middle of nowhere. Bagrand moved closer to it, with the intention of taking it back to the king. The king was hoping there would be something useful in this Sacred Realm, but Bagrand was willing to bet that these triangles were useful. He couldn't have been more wrong. As he neared the triangles, he heard a voice in his head, a pleasant voice that seemed to touch his soul. "I am the essence of the Triforce. Approach with a wish in your heart."

The others heard it too, although it sounded like a faint echo to them. It was enough to stop Bagrand in his tracks. Of course, they all started to talk at once. "Did you hear that?" "Essence of the Triforce?" "Is that what this triangle is, some sort of Force?" "A wish, what does that mean?" "How powerful is this thing?" And, of course, "what should we do with it?"

"Power... Think of all that power Rauru," Bagrand finally said when all calmed down. "Think of what we could learn if this Triforce thing really does grant us our wishes. All my life I have studied the magical arts, yet it has always depressed me that I would not learn it all. Yet with one simple wish...."

"Yes, Bagrand, but can we truly use this object? The power would be too great. I feel this Triforce will only bring ill upon Hyrule," Rauru replied.

"Rauru, you cannot think we would leave this treasure here. If anything we owe it to the king to bring it back to him." Kaepora, like Bagrand, was enraptured by the power of the Triforce and could not bear to leave it. 

"Well, yes, but we must be careful with it." Rauru disliked the idea of the Triforce. Too much power in his opinion. 

"Of course," Bagrand mumbled, and reached up towards the Triforce. He then remembered what the Triforce had said, and realized he should let the king handle it. So he wrapped his hand in his cloak, hoping that a direct touch would not trigger the wish in his heart. For his wish was to understand the power of this Triforce, yet he agreed with Rauru that it was not his to use. But the Triforce recognized his wish to not have a wish, and so remained dormant. Once the Triforce was in his hands, it stopped spinning. The golden triangles lay there in his arms, unmoving and losing much of its luster.

This worried the young Mudora. "Is it... gone? I mean, did it lose its power?"

"No..." Bagrand whispered. For he still felt the power of the Triforce. It's magic had touched his heart. It was the defining moment in Bagrand's life, to feel such power within him. It was a moment he was not likely to forget. "It's still here...."

Kaepora, uncomfortable with Bagrand's new focus, muttered gruffly, "It's time we leave. We should report to the king." The rest agreed and huddled around the tall knight. He pulled out the ocarina and replayed that beautiful song....

The light surrounded them yet again; but this time the magic barrier had shrunken. Once again, Mudora felt the strange nauseating feeling of losing track with one world and entering another. The sensation passed quickly, and the blinding blue light soon faded. When he could see again, he noticed that they were not in the Castle courtyard, but on Death Mountain. "It seems that this Sacred Realm is a mirror world to our own," Rauru stated. Mudora merely sighed. It was going to be a long march down.

Although it wasn't dull, at least not for Mudora. He had never seen a Goron before, and there were many who stopped along the way to watch the travelers. It wasn't often three Hylians and a Sheikah appeared out of nowhere on Death Mountain, and the Gorons were curious. Mudora would have loved to stay and talk to them, but Bagrand and the others were in a hurry. So they finally reached the Castle late in the afternoon. They were immediately ushered into the throne room, where the king awaited. 

He was slightly shocked. "You have returned already? Was the quest a useless endeavor?"

Bagrand smiled. "No your highness, quite the contrary. We have brought back the greatest treasure you could ever imagine."

Chapter 4: 
The Triforce's First Bearer

Naturally, the king was skeptical. And being skeptical didn't change when he saw a golden triangle with a triangular hole in it. "It's very lovely, but what is it?" Considering the greatest treasure in the world was a triangle, the king thought he restrained his sarcasm enough.

"To be honest, your highness, we are not really sure," Gaebora spoke up. Ignoring Bagrand's nasty look for stealing his spotlight, the knight continued. "We heard a voice. Something about touching it with a wish in one's heart. We felt it's power, but we agreed it would be best for you to discover just what this wish can do."

"An interesting tale. Do you know what will happen now?" The king asked, only slightly intrigued.

Bagrand held out the triangle, still lying dormant in the cloth, to the king. "Touch it and see."

Sighing inwardly, the king reached forward, his fingers nearing the triangles. Once again, the strange voice echoed in their heads. The indescribable feeling of being in the presence of great power overcame all present, as the Triforce came alive once again. This time, its focus was on the king, and Bagrand only felt the distant echo of the power. A fleeting moment of jealousy entered the old mage's mind, as any chance of ever receiving that power disappeared with that voice. Yet the thought was brushed aside quickly, for he knew it was for the better. 

The king, of course, had by this time been filled with awe. The presence of the Triforce had enraptured him. As his hand touched the triangle, a new sensation rushed over him. He was joined, somehow, to this power. His deepest wishes had been laid open to the relic and scrutinized. Power flowed from the Triforce to its first bearer. An incredible feeling, to be sure. But the others saw none of this, the king was dumbstruck, but nothing seemed to happen at first. Then, slowly, the Triforce rose from the cloth and started spinning, in tandem, in the air. Its former shine had returned, and the courtyard was bathed in a golden light. The king lowered his hand.

"Remarkable..." he muttered. "Utterly..." The king finally regained his composure and turned to the four mages. "Your efforts are exemplary. This...this Triforce holds much potential for our country and the six races. Bagrand, Sir Kaepora, Rauru, and Mudora, I hereby appoint you four as scholars of the Triforce. You will learn its secrets. You will discover how to use it, as it seems obvious that there's more to forming wishes. You will learn of its past, its purpose, its weaknesses if there are any. I appoint you four with the title Sage, for you will bring wisdom to the land. And please, make sure to write all of your learnings down, so that future generations will always be able to use this gift of the goddesses." With that, the meeting was over.

Mudora left, fairly pleased with the outcome. To be honest, he was still feeling the effects of the strange day. Whisked away to another world, finding an ultimate power, and then being appointed as a scholar of the power by the king... well, it was not exactly a typical day. But the studying looked promising. And the last part of the king's orders was something Mudora had only dreamed of doing before. Certainly, as the youngest and most useless of the sages, he would be appointed the job of the scribe, which suited him fine. Rauru, too, was most pleased with the day. Although he still worried that this power did not belong in Hyrule, and wondered what would happen if someone with ill intents stole it. Deep down, he was apprehensive of the Triforce. Kaepora Gaebora was his normal self. Outwardly jovial, as usual, the strange knight was secretly imagining the true power of the Triforce. And Bagrand, as happy as he was about the Triforce, did not feel complete. He had touched an ultimate power, only to lose it. 

As Shelin Impa rested in her room after Zelda and Eloan were asleep, she turned her thoughts for the first time to the triangles. She did not fully understand what had happened, as she was not present, but the king took the time to explain it to her. An amazing discovery, to be sure, and Impa had no doubts the king would use this power for the benefit of the people of Hyrule. And after the king, Eloan would inherit the Triforce. The thought made Impa proud. She had raised the prince herself, and he was like a son to her. The boy would make an excellent king. Just like his father. And he would use the Triforce wisely. He would care for his younger sister. What more could a nursemaid ask for?

Back in his chambers, Mudora started to write furiously. He was determined not to forget any detail of their experiences. Page after page of Mudora's Journal were filled. Sketches were made, paragraphs written, and legends retold. Mudora even practiced a little poetry, trying to capture the feel of the Sacred Realm.

In a Realm beyond sight
The sky shines gold, not blue.
There the Triforce's might
Makes mortal dreams come true.

And thus began the Golden Age of Hyrule. If only for a brief time, it showered the people of Hyrule and the world with peace and prosperity. Commerce thrived and war diminished. Vast improvements in the sciences and magic emerged. The races grew closer to each other than ever before. And the king became the most respected man in the world. It seemed like the perfect time to be living.