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{{ Soul Shadow }}
Hyrule had at last been freed from Ganondorf’s wicked grasp, and all peoples of the country rejoiced; Princess Zelda quickly assumed her position in the monarchy once more and commissioned the rebuilding and restoration of all that had been damaged or destroyed over the seven long years of darkness. But her first task was to offer her gratitude to Link, the Hero of Time, who had sacrificed so much and risked his life to defend a land he could have easily turned his back upon and walked away from.
But Link’s time in the hero’s light was to be brief. Zelda disclosed to him that he had forsaken seven years of his life and needed to be sent back in order to live those years as they should have been, under a free and prosperous Hyrule. Though he did not argue with the Princess, Link felt a faint sense of betrayal in his heart, like the expendable soldier who had done his duty and was no longer needed. He tried to tell himself that this couldn’t possibly be true, but his feelings were adamant and could not be changed. And so, somewhat unwillingly, he accepted Zelda’s kiss upon his brow and returned the Master Sword to its place, and found himself amongst his Kokiri friends once again, his quest to save Hyrule nought but a memory that faded more and more as time passed until it came to him only in dreams or faint sensations of déjà vu.
And so Link continued on with his life in the Lost Wood, blissfully unaware of what he had gone through to save the future that had now become his present. And while the Water Temple at the bottom of Lake Hylia was cleansed of all traces of Ganondorf’s evil, the secret room at the end of the labyrinth of halls and passages remained untouched, undisturbed, unmentioned. It was lost to time and memory, for only those who knew of its existence had been destroyed.