The Legend of Zelda

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XII. Spellbound

Two years after Link III's first adventure through Hyrule, Princess Zelda IV still ruled the kingdom of Hyrule beside her father, King Harkinian, and things seemed to be at ease from within... yet evil still loomed over the land from without. Hyrule seemed fast on the road to ruin. The power that the vile heart of Ganon had left behind was causing chaos and disorder in Hyrule. What's more, even after the fall of Ganon, many of his underlings remained, awaiting their master's return.

Link III, who had remained in Hyrule to lend his hand to its restoration in this time of healing, found that circumstances did not look good. Link III was destined to become a hero still, but in the peaceful days that ensued, he would ultimately grow restless.

He wandered the forests, crossed the deserts and delved into the caverns of Hyrule, looking for any clues that might explain his feelings of unease. In time he became aware of a whisper that passed between the birds, beasts, and even through the blades of grass: there was a new magic in the land, nameless and terrifying.

One day, a strange mark, exactly akin to the crest of the kingdom, appeared on the back of Link's hand as he approached his 16th birthday. The worried Link went to Impa, who was shocked and frightened when she took notice of the birthmark.

Taking him to the North Palace, Link was led to a door within called "the door that does not open," a door that would open upon contact with the birthmark on Link's hand.

As Link III unlocked and opened this mysterious door, Impa immediately told Link at last the Legend of Zelda; how the sister of an ancient prince - Zelda - withheld the Triforce from him, was placed into an enchanted, timeless slumber by the prince's magician, and how this woeful princeful decreed every female child born into the royal household was decreed to be given the name "Zelda."

Lying as still as marble, the original mythical Princess Zelda I from ages before slept her dreamless sleep of enchantment within the room before them, just as the Legend said she would be.

When Link found her thus arrayed in the North Palace, he saw at once that she was spellbound indeed. Link III's mission seemed clear enough from the beginning. By refusing to reveal the secret power of the Triforce to a magician, this Princess Zelda had brought on her own downfall. But all was not lost.

If Link III somehow unlocked the mystery of the Great Palace, he could save this ancient Zelda and the newly-realized Triforce of Courage Impa spoke of. He set off.
Again Link found himself taking to the fields and forests, but these places had become wild and dangerous, inhabited by enemies of old. Link found himself relying on his wits and swordplay at every step.

Creatures he had never before seen also waylaid him: spiders called Deelers that dropped from trees, tall Geldarms that rose from the sands of the Tantari Desert, and Daira armed with axes and hatred.

Link's mission was to enter each of six palaces and restore a missing crystal to its proper statue. Together, the statues created a magical lock on the Great Palace and only by replacing the six crystals could Link open the final door. In each palace, however, he had to battle a Statue Guardian of great strength: Barba the Dragon, Ironknuckle the Knight, Carock the Wizard, and others.

As he closed the palaces one by one, Link crossed nearly the entire expanse of Hyrule, from Ruto in the northwest to Death Mountain in the south, from the Island Palace in the Stormy Straights to Maze Island in the Far Eastern Sea. He helped villagers when he could, but he never lost sight of his ultimate goal. Finally, after uncovering the secrets of Old Kasuto, Link pushed on to the Great Palace where he encountered what he thought to be the final obstacle in his quest - the Thunderbird.

Once the Thunderbird was vanquished, Link thought that Zelda I and Hyrule would be saved, but it was not to be... not yet.

Exhausted from his journeying, Link had one more enemy to defeat - an enemy so unexpected that he did noot know what to do, for the enemy was his own self... his own shadow.


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