Return of Majora

A Deku scrub was walking in the swamps to the south. It was holding a map and said to a fairy that, oddly enough, was following the scrub.

“Man, these swamps just go on forever!” the scrub said

“Well, we’re almost there.” Said the fairy, which was called Tæl. “Look, it should be right around that cor-” it suddenly became quiet. Around the corner was the Palace, in all it’s...

“Death...only death...” And he was right. The palace was surrounded by the rotting corpses of dekus. Some of them looked sort of like trees, others were black, charred, crawling with foreign life. Some of them didn’t even resemble dekus at all. Link heard a slight sob, from inside his head. “Don’t worry; I’m sure there are some people you know on Woodfall.” He then thought but how can I get up that mountain?

Memories of times long passed now flowed through the Deku’s head. “Through...the gates...”

“The gates?”

“Yes...I think there is a path to the top of the mountain from there...”

heh, I would have never guessed I could get up there from the Palace

“Oh, but it’s true. Trust me.” For one moment, Link had forgotten the scrub, listening to his every thought. He was truly annoyed. “Well, aren’t we going?”

“Very well.”


Through the gates, the palace was essentially the same. Rotting corpses everywhere.

“It’s just...horrible” Tæl said.

Link replied “This...this is just...” He remembered the market...death...nothing but death... “We must stop the one who is doing this...”

this place...I remember... Memories flowed through it’s head “Over there” it said. Although it had no hands, Link could clearly see what he meant. There was a small peace of land with a flower on it; a deku flower. “There, and through the cliff” and, surely enough, there was a gap in the cliff, one which Link should be able to get to via the flower.

“Heh, this’ll be easy!” He reached the small isle in the middle of the poisonous pond and from there up into the gap. There he saw a mountain. In the swamp below, the trees were so thick, and he didn’t notice it, but it was a great mountain. Woodfall...

“Hooot” Link was startled by a giant owl behind him.

“Wh-what’s that!?”

“My name is Kaepora Gaebora” the owl replied

It can talk? Link was really surprised by this. “Kaepora Gaebora...I remember you...” The scrub forced those words out of Link’s mouth, despite his will.

“And I most certainly remember you...young scrub...but I am sorry for you to have seen this terror. I greatly sympathize.”

“It’s...alright.”

“Are you sure? Such terror...it would leave most people in shock.”

“...do you know who did this?”

“I believe the one who has caused this is the master of Woodfall Temple, who all had thought dead-”

“Odolwa.” The scrub said, without giving Kaepora a chance to finish.

“So you do indeed remember...”

“Yes...I remember now...everything...”

“Then you know what you must do, do you not?”

“Yes...the temple.”

“How do we get to the temple?” Link shouted. “All I see is a closed mountain passed a big gap!” And he was right: there was no entrance into the mountain, and they couldn’t even get to that.

Kaepora then said “I do believe my old wings are still pretty tough.”

“You...you want to carry us?” Link said.

“I believe that is the only way.”

“Very well then...”

The owl then grabbed his hands with its talons and flew with him over the mountain and into the flooded crater. “Well, remember young lad, whatever you do, do not lose you’re courage, for that is the most important thing you can have. With courage, you can beat anything, no matter how impossible it might seem. With that, I bid you farewell, for now. May we meet each other again.” It then flew off, leaving the three in the crater.

“Well,” Link said “now what?” The crater was pretty much empty, just a few strands of earth sneaking out of the poisonous water.

“The instrument” the scrub said.

In his hylian form, Link picked up his ocarina and a melody shot into his head. He had never heard it before, but he played it with ease. It was a light song, one that filled the air. Link had never felt so refreshed. “The Sonata of Awakening.”

“How did you know that song?” the Deku said.

“It just...flew into my head.”

“But you even knew what it was called!”

“Well...I don’t know...but nothing’s happening.”

“It’s the wrong instrument.”

“What? Wrong instrument? That’ all I have.”

“Put the mask on.”

He did that and, when he turned into a Deku, his ocarina became a kind of horn. “By Din’s name...”

“Deku pipes. Now, play it again.”

To his amazement, he played it like he had been playing it for all his life. He played the Sonata of Awakening, and it filled the whole crater, echoing from wall after wall after wall. Finally, after all had gone silent, the ground began to shake and a great temple rose from the water.

“The temple...” the deku said “Odolwa awaits us inside, let’s go.”

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© Ahmed El-Khuffash and David Butler. All Rights Reserved.