The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Chapter One: Link’s Nightmare and the Wing Ceremony
(Current Chapter’s Point of View: Link’s)

The night before the day of the Wing Ceremony, which was also the day my adventure began, was when I had the nightmare. It started out as a normal dream, where I was just endlessly falling down from nothing, and the background was pitch black. I was wearing my normal clothes in the dream: a thick, beige sweater with small red and yellow patterns in the middle, dark, green, baggy pants, and a pair of dark, brown boots. I was tired in the dream, and I even shut my eyes for a good minute or two. Then, the voice of a woman that constantly echoed called out to me. It was very mysterious, and I was suddenly surrounded by a faint, purple haze. “Link,” it started. Then, it continued on to tell me how I had a heavy destiny, not mentioning what it was, and that the world ‘below’ needed my help. At first, I took absolutely nothing into account, and told myself it was all nonsense. Little did I know that the mysterious voice and spirit in that dream was my future guide and, eventually, dear, dear friend. After the echoic voice’s message to me, a gigantic, dark beast appeared under where I was falling. All of the faint, purple haze that was surrounding me earlier when the spirit was talking had disappeared, and the monster roared loudly. It was enormous, and it had no eyes or arms. It was black and slightly spiky in the back. The biggest part of its body was its head, specifically its mouth. I was assuming this is what I needed to help the world ‘below’ with. It didn’t say anything. Not a word. All it did was roar loudly, and I was still falling closer and closer to it. Then, I woke up, finding myself on the ground. My head was upside-down, and all I was facing was the window. Then, Zelda's blue Loftwing, a large bird we Skyloft folks use to get around, peeped its head inside. It had a letter in its beak. Then, it spat it to my face and flew off. I rubbed my head and dusted my sweater. Then, I picked up the letter. It was from Zelda, my childhood friend. The letter said for me to stop being a 'sleepyhead', something Zelda always called me as I slept in quite often, and meet her for a rendezvous at the Statue of the Goddess. Coming to my senses, I quickly rubbed my hair to look less messy, but on my boots and went downstairs. I was sleeping in one of the many dorms in the school I went to - Knight Academy. I dashed outside and looked around. In the distance, I could see a statue of a woman with a big, long dress at the highest peak of Skyloft. That must have been where Zelda asked to meet me. So, after chatting with some of the towns folk along the way, I finally reached the long, wooden stairs that led to the statue area. Nearly breathless, I arrived at the top, but I didn't say a word to Zelda just yet. She was playing a beautiful tune on her harp while singing a song of foreign language. Her beautiful voice echoed through the area, calming the atmosphere, and making everything seem more peaceful. When she was done, she put the harp down and turned to me. She looked surprised. Then, she had a big, warm smile on her face. Her golden locks swayed slowly has the wind gently breezed by. "Link!" she said to me. "I'm sorry for keeping you waiting! But I didn't expect you to come so early! You always sleep in, you know... Forgive me." I shook my head. "No need to worry!" Then, she smiled once again. "That song I just sang... that, Link, was the Ballad of the Goddess. It's a wonderful tune, is it not?" I agreed. "Yeah. So, what did you want to talk to me about?" I asked hopefully. She walked closer. "I wanted to tell you about the Wing Ceremony! It takes place today! You are joining, right?" I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. I tried not to sound like a fool, though. "Uh, the Wing Ceremony? Yeah, yeah, I'm going!" I stuttered. "Great! See you there!" she said, waving. Then, she walked away, back to the Knight Academy. After talking to some towns people, I learned what the Wing Ceremony was. A competition of some sort that involved Loftwings. Luckily, I had one of those. And it was crimson, too. Those ones are pretty rare. Apparently, it was a race. A race to get the Bird Statuette from the talons of another Loftwing. Pieace of cake! I was an expert on flying Loftwings. Sort of. At least I had flown around the sky with mine before. Now, all I had to do was find it. To summon your Loftwing, you have to go to any cliff (Skyloft was in the sky, after all) and jump. Then, whistle, and your Loftwing will be right there to save you. Each Loftwing has an acute sense of hearing, and they recognize which call is their Master's, and which calls aren't. So, I found a 'sky dock' and ran to it. Without a worry in the world, I jumped off and whistled. Then, I waited. Still falling. My Loftwing was taking longer than usual, and I was getting a bit worried. Three seconds had already passed, and I was about to fall through the clouds, where no one had ever been before. Thinking I was about to meet my doom, I suddenly felt a soft, feathery landing. No, it wasn't my Loftwing. It couldn't have been. My Loftwing was crimson. This one was blue. Then I realized which Loftwing it was. It was Zelda's! Zelda, who was also on, of course, turned her head to me. "Link? Are you crazy?! What happened?" I came to my senses once again and blinked. "O-oh! I'm saved! Thank you, Zelda! Anyway, I did whistle, in case you didn't know. But my Loftwing just didn't come." Then, the Loftwing landed. It was breathing heavily. It was used to normally carrying only one person. It was okay, though. All it needed was a little rest. "That's very odd." Said Zelda with concern. "A Loftwing ignoring the call of its Master... It's unheard of! Especially one as loyal as yours. There's only one explanation. It's trapped somewhere." I nodded in agreement. "Yeah." She was right. What else could have happened? So, I decided to split, as Zelda needed to care for her Loftwing. "Go look for it, Link. It's pretty hard to miss, isn't it? A crimson one like yours." So, I went and asked some towns people if they've seen it. No one had. If someone had trapped it, I suspected who it was. I suspected someone callous. Someone mean. Someone boastful. Some- you know what? Groose. That's who I suspected. A rather large, buff fellow who I was rivals with. He always picked on me and anyone else he saw as inferior. After looking around for a little while, I spotted the redheaded jerk with his dumb blond friend, Stritch, and his short plump friend, Cawlin. The three of them meant trouble. So, I took a deep breath, told myself to not be a wimp and that everything was going to be okay and bravely marched towards the troublesome trio. Then, I stopped. I overheard them saying something about my Loftwing. Then, I was sure of it. They were the ones behind everything. They must have trapped it somewhere. Upon, my arrival, Groose immediately laughed. His friends nudged each other's shoulders and snickered. "Oh, what do we have here?" he said. I couldn't think of anything else to say. So I said this. "Link." Then, he looked amused. "Oh ho! Someone's being a smart a" then, I interrupted him with a n intense frown. "Can I just get down to business, please? Where's my Loftwing, you brutes?" Then, they laughed even harder. Stritch walked over to me. "So, you do want to take place in the Loftwing Ceremony, eh? Heh heh." Then, Groose rubbed his hair. "You're just doing it for the alone time with Zelda, aren't you?" I nearly stopped breathing. "Guys..." Then, he stopped me. "Yes, you are. Well, listen here, kid. I'm going to win the contest, you hear? And we're not giving your precious feathered friend until I win and get that Bird Statuette! The people of Skyloft will treat me as a Hero!" Then, we heard someone clear her throat behind us. "Excuse me?" We turned around. It was Zelda. All four of us were stunned. "So, it was you guys. Give Link's Loftwing back, Groose!" Then, the redhead blushed. "O-oh, anything for you, Zelda! W-we were just playing! Right, g-guys?" Then, Stritch and Cawlin nodded. "Oh, of course we were! Heh... Uh, he's in a little cave behind the waterfall! You'll find him there for sure!" Then, obviously embarrassed, the three of them ran away, cursing under their breaths. "It's great we know where your Loftwing is, Link! Now, my father's busy, so he told me to give this to you." She gave me a beginner's sword from Knight Academy which was pretty much only useful for slaying bats. That's all I needed at the time, anyway. "Thanks, Zelda." She smiled. "Don't mention it. You'll need it where you're going. There are bloodsucking bats in there." Well, that thought was comforting. "Bye!" Then, I ran to the bank of the lake. I carefully hopped on all the rocks to reach the other side. Thankfully, I didn't fall. I made it to the other side of the lake, away from the town, but close to the cliff that would lead to to below the clouds if you fell. At the time, we believed there was nothing down there. Just and endless fall. So, I found the cave that was under the waterfall. It led to an even more rural part of Skyloft, the chunk of land in the sky we all lived in, but it was so small, and there was only another tiny cave in it. That's where my Loftwing was. So, I unsheathed my sword and walked into the cave. All that was in it was bats, really, but they were plentiful. Slashing the grass helped me find some Rupees. There were little puddles inside the cave, and the sounds of my boots splashing against them echoed and resonated through the cave walls. I was going to find my friend no matter what it took. After killing some bats who were playing rough, I happily noticed a glowing light. It must have been the exit. Relieved, I started marching towards it. Then, I saw the big, beautiful sky once more. Getting out of that cave was a huge relief. There was very little space between me and the cliff, though. I had to be very careful. I cautiously inched my way over the other tiny cave that was nearby. I could already hear my Loftwing's cries. "I'm coming for you, buddy!" I assured it. Then, I couldn't help but smile when I saw it. But, then, I lost my smile. My poor bird was inside a small cave and trapped inside. Then, I heard Zelda's voice call out to me from behind. "Link! I can't believe what they did to it! How cruel... That poor thing!" I was wondering how she got through the cave. She probably flew around it on her Loftwing. Or she just got lucky, I guess. Then, I focused on the matter at hand. "We've got to bust him out," I said. I thought about what was barring the cave entrance. There were ropes tied firmly around four nails that were hammered into the cave. The ropes were nailed into two large planks of wood blocking the entrance of the tiny cave, preventing my crimson Loftwing from escaping. It was a piece of cake. I unsheathed my sword. Then, I snapped each of the four ropes, one by one, and the planks all fell to the ground. My Loftwing cried of joy, immediately flew out of the cave, and stretched out its wings. It was happy to be free again. It must have been extremely cramped up in there. Poor thing. While my Loftwing was readjusting itself, I noticed Zelda looking rather expressionless and setting her sights on the horizon. I poked her shoulder. "Uh... Zelda?" She turned around. "O-oh! Link. Sorry. I was just wondering... what's below the clouds.... Uh, never mind. Silly question." I was a tad curious on that subject as well, I must admit. Then, Zelda and I smiled, then turned to each other's Loftwings. "Let's fly back to central Skyloft now. My father, headmaster of the academy and Wing Ceremony, might be worried. I nodded. "Right." Then, we hopped on our feathered friends and took off for the skies. I set my sights on the clouds, asking myself the same question Zelda did. "Was there really 'nothing' below the clouds?" I brushed it off and tried not to think about it. "Nah. Of course not." Then, we both landed on the stoney ground of central Skyloft. Zelda's dad, Gaepora rushed to us almost instantly, and hugged Zelda tight. "Darling! Link! Where have you two been?" We then went on to relay to him everything that had happened. Gaepora sighed. "Typical Groose. Well, you two had better be off. The Wing Ceremony is about to begin. Zelda, you play a part in it, correct?" Then, the blonde nodded. "Yeah. Come on, Link! Let's go!" Then, she grabbed my hand, and we headed for south Skyloft. That's were the big race was held. I was going to beat Groose, get the Bird Statuette, and win this thing no matter what it took. I was determined. Also, I would play the role as the Hero in the end and get that 'alone time' with Zelda while she, as I guessed, sang the Ballad of the Goddess. I had already heard her sing it before, and thought it was just marvelous! I couldn't wait to hear her sing it again. And I couldn't wait to be seen by all as a Hero. Filled with confidence, Zelda and arrived at the Wing Ceremony, which was crowded by competitors and members of the large audience. Eventually, I lost Zelda in the crowd, but she had to go to a different place, anyway. Besides, I would be seeing her after I won. Then, I told myself not to keep thinking about my victory and how sure I was of it. I didn't want my over-confidence to get the better of me. So, I took a deep breath and headed towards the cliff, lining up with all the other Loftwing flyers. I wasn't being boastful, but somehow I knew I was going to win. I was sure of it.