So Link struck out once again, venturing through forest and town and across the roiling sea to root out this vile fiend and bring him to justice. While Link travelled by raft across the Great Sea to reach Eastern Hyrule, he endured a separate adventure which was just as taxing as his quest to rouse Princess Zelda. That is a different story, though, which would be better told at the conclusion of this tale. Link learned that the sorcerer had fled to the ancient ruin of the Great Palace, and that the only way to break the seal on the palace gate was to gather the shards of a Magic Crystal. These shards were buried for centuries within six dungeons and guarded by fearsome creatures. Link had seen his share of monsters, so he confidently fought his way through each palace. After many days of toil and trial, Link finally stood before the gate of the Great Palace and ripped the final barrier from its mystical hinges. He struck down the sorcerer's guardian, the cruel Thunderbird, then turned to face his ultimate foe. Link was struck with horror when he laid eyes on his adversary. The enemy he faced was none other than -- himself! Given form by an unknown power, a shadowy duplicate of Link was the true architect of evil. Was this Ganon in disguise? Could it be a dark version of Link from a parallel universe come to eliminate its righteous counterpart? Link thought back to his very first adventure, and remembered battling a similar foe deep within the Water Temple in Lake Hylia. He knew that he had eliminated foes like this before, which gave him the confidence to attack without fear. This dark version of himself turned out to be much more powerful than the creature he had faced so many years before. The battle raged for days, with the sound of their clashing swords ringing out through the land like thunderclaps. When their battle cries fell silent, it was Link who emerged the victor. Immediately, Princess Zelda was freed from her unnatural slumber, and the dark cloud of doom over Hyrule lifted. Link never found out if the mysterious sorcerer was created by Ganon, but his heart told him that the King of Evil was involved in one way or another. Link kept his promise to himself by keeping a much closer eye on Princess Zelda than he had in the past. They were both getting older, and both were justified in their simple wish for peace. In his quest to rouse Princess Zelda from an unnatural slumber, it was necessary for Link to use his raft to cross the Great Sea to reach Eastern Hyrule. During the crossing, Link became hopelessly sidetracked and found himself wrapped up in a completely new quest. During his crossing, Link encountered a terrible storm and became shipwrecked on Koholint Island. Even though his mind was distracted by thoughts of Princess Zelda, Link's heart was touched by the plight of the people on the island. A young woman named Marin had found Link on the beach, and brought him to her ocean-side home to heal. From Tarin, Marin's father, Link learned that evil creatures had appeared shortly after his arrival. Then, when Link returned to the beach to retrieve his sword, an owl flapped down beside him and told him the strangest story he had ever heard. According to the wise old bird, Link was the hero who had come to wake the Wind Fish, which lived in a giant egg at the top of a mountain range called Tal Tal Heights. The owl told Link that he couldn't leave until that task had been completed. Link was determined to do whatever he could to assist the people and animals which lived on Koholint Island, so he set out on a quest to recover all eight Instruments of the Sirens with which he could solve the riddle of the Wind Fish. A portion of Link's heart was happy to participate in this adventure, because he had secretly been fearing what he would find in Eastern Hyrule. Another part of him felt ashamed for abandoning Princess Zelda. He had never before experienced contradictory feelings like this, but since his raft had been destroyed in the shipwreck he was given little choice. Link was surprised at the extreme danger and hostile enemies he encountered on the small island, but with great effort he succeeded in his quest to wake the Wind Fish. The magical effects of waking the Wind Fish caused the entire ordeal to remain forever clouded in Link's memory, and he never quite knew whether he had dreamed the entire adventure, or whether he had once again slipped into a parallel universe. Did Koholint Island truly exist? Many of the names of the people he met and the places he went were inspired by his very first adventure when he was just a boy. Regardless of the circumstances, the quest had seemed very real to Link and he discovered that he still had a lot of work to do when he landed in Eastern Hyrule. Undoubtedly, this experience had cleared Link's mind and prepared him for the epic struggle he was about to face. And So Ends The Legend Of Zelda Or doesn't it?