DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Legend of Zelda series. The Legend of Zelda series is owned by Shigeru Miyamoto.

"Love is a promise; love is a souvenir, once given never forgotten, never let it disappear."

—John Lennon

That day was about to end like any other before. Nothing ever told me that I was about to have my life or even my fate permanently changed from that point on. How did it change, you ask; for the better or the worse? Well...that's for you to decide.

I yawn as I walk through the front door of my home, making sure to lock the door behind me. The lock clicks in response, and I let my hand slide off the knob.

But before I get any further, maybe it would be best if I introduced myself. My name is Neri, Neri Owens. I'm about seventeen and a half, and known as 'Erin' only by my close friends. Not many people know my real name but I think its better that way, even if most people still ask why I'm called Neri. I'm not exactly sure how it came along, but one of my friends in kindergarten suddenly moved the N at the end of my name to the front, and claimed my 'new name' suited me better, so I stuck with it.

Now, you wouldn't know, but there's more to me than my strange name. My indescribable, immeasurable love for swimming and water is also high on the charts. Actually, that's what I've just come back from. A Saturday filled with several long hours of swimming at the local fitness center with all my insane friends is one of the best ways to spend a weekend in my opinion. My bikini is under my hoodie, still damp and almost darkening the fabric clutched around my chest.

If I had to summarize my appearance in a short paragraph, then I'd say that I'm thin and have a moderate figure, long legs and arms, straight brown hair that curls near the ends skimming my shoulders; and I also feel like I'm inclined to say that for a senior in high school, I'm actually pretty petite. Weighing 107 lbs and standing at 5'3", well... You get the picture.

Once again, there's more to me than that. Other people distinguish me by my love for music, even though I'm not quite sure why. I typically have old rock, alternative, and hints of punk filling the eight gigabytes on my iPod.

Something I'm notorious for is my art. I can do realistic portraits, manga, a recreation of Tim Burton's cartoon sketches, anything. You name it I've done it; and if I haven't then I can always try. I sell my artwork online, and people say I should pursue being a graphic artist, graphic novelist, or something of the like as a career. I never meant for it to go that far, but after my friends saw my doodles in my sketchbook normally kept at home, they fawned over the many cracked and coloured pages before people started to crowd around the old book. I didn't get it back until third period. I guess my point is that I draw—I draw big time.

But most of all, I'm known for my love for games. Video games, to be exact. Not just any video games, either; because I'm picky. Most of what I play is comprised of the Legend of Zelda games. All my friends at school know of my love for some good old Zelda, and that I am quite the perfectionist when it comes to playing the games.

Phantom Hourglass was my first game of which I received with a golden DS Lite with the Triforce on it. Spirit Tracks came next, and I played it so much that one of the pixels in the top screen burst, effectively rendering my DS useless. We got a Wii for Christmas, and with that came Twilight Princess, my favourite game—I have finished it more than several times. Predictaby, Skyward Sword was next. It quickly became my second favourite, right behind Twilight Princess. Finally, after a year of saving up, eleven-year-old me had enough money for the newest gaming system—the Nintendo 3DS. The first game to come with that was Ocarina of Time 3D, and eventually, Majora's Mask 3D. For Christmas my best friend gave me A Link Between Worlds for the 3DS, which I enjoyed. Then for my sister's birthday we got a Wii U, and the first thing I did involved buying The Wind Waker HD, then coming back a week later to get Super Smash Bros. Wii U and a couple Amiibos; of which I trained until they were level 50s.

I am proud to say that I have 100% completed every single Zelda game that I have ever gotten. Every side quest completed, every item retrieved, and every character talked to. All of them were completely finished by this perfectionist standing right here—okay, well maybe not right here. At least, not for you anyway. More like the purgatory that is your mind imagining this scenario I'm laying out for you. The blueprint of your current thoughts, so to speak.

Pardon my distraction. So, back to the present. Right now my hair is fairly wet, chilling my forehead as my short brown locks fall into my eyes. Ah, yet another interesting topic that was forgotten earlier.

We all know that one person whose eye colour is nearly indistinguishable. That, my dear readers, is me. Some say they're blue, others say green, and the last crowd claims that they're hazel. In my opinion, I'd say that my eyes are one weird shade of gray or bright blue, with a golden haze around my pupil. Well, it's not that important, so I guess I'll just carry on in this amazing story that you must hear. Seriously, this changed my life.

Don't believe me? Then keep reading.

I glance outside, and do I ever wish it was raining. I love rain, which many people know. Whenever the cool drops of rain splash the grass and pavement and the crisp and fresh smell fills the air like fog as soon as the shower overfills the streets, that's the feeling that makes electric joy pulse through my veins. However, the strange thing is that I have astraphobia—the fear of lightning. Don't poke fun at me, because it's for a really traumatic reason. But that is another story that's best saved for another time.

Okay, enough with the distractions. Now that you know that much about me, I'd say we would be a little more than strangers.

Back to my original point, I'm beyond exhausted. I let my Lulu Lemon bag slide off my shoulder, and crash onto the leather couch. After coming back from swimming for about several hours straight, who wouldn't be tired? I could even fall asleep right now, in my incredibly comfy hoodie.

My favourite hoodie, a gray Cabela's hoodie with a pink label across the butt and heart. My dad got it for me at an RV show, and I've loved it ever since. Even my dark blue skinny jeans are seemingly comfy right now. I kick up my feet, which are currently wearing some admittedly awesome Adidas sneakers that drained all my pocket money earned by babysitting our neighbour's bratty kid.

While the cushions of the couch are pressing all the wrong areas of my back, my comfy bed is all the way upstairs, and I'm so tired. Maybe I could pull out my iPod from my jean pocket and listen to music? Nah, I'm too lazy—and it's too much of a hassle to get it out my pocket. Could I switch on some Duck Dynasty? Once, again, same problem. Too much of an effort with too little energy to complete the effort with. Ah, first-world problems. I begin to play with my rose quartz bracelet that my parents got me for my golden birthday three years ago, rolling the smoothed stones between my thumb and index finger.

Suddenly an idea makes its way into my brain, and I'm on my feet like I've been struck by the lightning that I loathe so much.

I think that I'll play some Zelda!

Taking two giant leaps across the room to our five-foot flat screen, I switch on the Wii console and get ready to feed it a disc as it flashes hungrily. But which one?

I pull out the packages for Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, and glance back and forth between the two. I sigh and put my head down, and my hair gently falls forward to shade my face, although not well. As earlier aforementioned, I never really wanted long hair like all the other girls. Now mine is maybe an inch or two past my chin, shorter than an average seventeen-year-old's.

If only I could decide between the two... I put them together...and almost put them back on the shelf. Almost.

But I have to play one of them! Considering this is me we're talking about, I could be here awhile just arguing which one has a better plot line. As I begin to peel them apart again, something shiny catches my eye.

Under the plastic cover of Twilight Princess is a disc that must have been lost. My fingers delicately pull it out, and I know immediately how it got there. It must've been my younger sister, never paying attention to where she puts stuff. But this disc is...weird, to say the least.

I pick it up and twirl it between my fingers, examining the rainbows that dance across the surface. It has no labeling, but scribbled in all capitalized Sharpie letters is the phrase:

LEGEND OF ZELDA

SEVERELY DEFECTED. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PLAY OR FIX. NEVER TO BE RELEASED.

Well, they certainly did a great job of that, didn't they? Once again, this is me we're talking about. So, I shove the otherwise unlabelled disc into the Wii console, grab the remote and wait for the upper left square on the Wii home screen to light up. Nothing happens.

What the hell?

Well it did say defected, after all, but...I'm one persistent girl. Despite my sore legs, I jump behind the TV and start doing what most girls know little about: Messing with wires to see what pops up.

I mean, something's got to happen sometime, right? At least, I'd like to think so.

Plus, no one's here to yell at me. I drove myself home, and my mom is out taking my sister to do her learner's license exam, which she has failed four times prior. My dad is at a business meeting with his cell and all other means of communication powered off.

So, as I pretend to be Dr. Sheldon Cooper—who apparently knows everything about anything—I pretend to know what I'm doing. Red to blue, green to black, and matching other pretty colours together...

Nothing. Screw this.

As my hand collapses, a small copper wire sticking out of the cord zaps my finger. I jump, and immediately stick my blistering pinky into my mouth. Well, this really sucks.

I get to my feet with one hand and I go to turn off the Wii, deciding to maybe catch some Zs; but my vision starts to get fuzzy. The room fazes in and out, and I stagger back for a moment while attempting to blink it away. My finger throbs between my lips, much more than a small electrocution like that ever should. Maybe I just stood up too fast?

The room starts to distort and twist, before spinning wildly below my feet and trashing all sense of depth perception.

Alright, maybe not. Did I not drink enough when swimming? Am I dehydrated or something? What if I go snag some Gatorade—?

I trip over my own feet and fall to my knees.

What's happening? My pulse starts to race as I think of all the possible things going wrong.

Am I having a heart attack? A stroke? A convulsion? Seizure? Anything?

The only thing that I can clarify with myself after digging deep into the caverns of my memory is that this feeling is vaguely familiar. As in, similar to what I can remember after fainting at school in grade six the day before Hallowe'en; and being hauled while half-conscious to the hospital where I was suspected of having contracted a new form of H1N1.

The painful throbbing of my finger brings me back to semi-reality. The aching of my pinky travels to cover my hand, and then makes my whole arm go numb with a flick of a switch. My shoulder begins to feel the numbed affliction, but my brain tells me to ignore it.

My ability to delve into my thoughts and analyze the increasing urgency of the situation dulls, and small colourless dots begin to creep into the corners of my eyes. I blink furiously, but to no avail. The dots clump together like little clouds, invading into my sight and growing larger by the moment.

I struggle to sit up and look around, before ultimately giving up and letting my front fall against the ground, the scratchy carpet carving an imprint into my cheek. My eyes are wide, but see nothing. The world fades to black, and I just let it happen.

So as my eyes begin to crawl to a close, I let out one final exhale and prepare myself to explain exactly why I was unconscious on the floor to my parents.

A picture of Neri is at the top of the chapter. Do not steal the image, I have drawn it and own it.