The world is changed.
   He can feel it in the water. She can smell it in the air. I have observed it from beyond the stars.
   We can feel it in the earth. Much that once was is lost; we are among the few who remember it.
   It began with the forging of the Great Rings. Three were given to the magic-wielders; immortal, wisest, and fairest of all beings. One was bestowed to Greninja; another, to Palutena; and the last to myself.
   Seven were given to the mountain-folk; a diverse people, for there dwelled many a race and creature. The greatest miners and craftsmen were among they who dwelt in the mountain halls.
   And nine rings were gifted to the race of men; who above all else, desire power...
   For within these rings was bound the strength and will to govern each race.
   But they were all of them deceived; for another ring was made...
   In the land of Termina, in the fires of Death Mountain, the dark lord Master Hand forged in secret a master ring to control all others; and into this ring he poured his cruelty, his malice, and his will to dominate all life: One ring to rule them all.
   One by one the free peoples of Smashland fell to the power of the ring. Homes were burned. Innocents slain and stolen. Entire civilizations were claimed under the command of the dark lord. Smashland was nearly his.
   But there were some who resisted. A last alliance of men and those learned in the magic arts marched against the armies of Termina and on the slopes of Death Mountain they fought for the freedom of Smashland.
   The day was dark. Men, magicians and creatures of every race fought fiercely hand to hand, and many were lost. The hours wore on. Victory was near. But the power of the ring could not be undone.
   Out of the ashes approached a figure bathed in darkness and shadow. Across the battlefield his presence was felt; and all fell silent at the command of the ring he bore.
   It was in this moment when hope had faded that Link, the son of the Hero King of Time, took up his father's sword.
   In a last bold attempt, the young man stood between his dying father and the dark lord. Then Master Hand struck and in one blow the hero's sword was shattered.
   Half blinded, struck to the ground, the boy waited as Master Hand raised his sword to deliver the final decisive blow.
   But it was never to fall. In that last moment, when all was nearly lost, Link drew up the remains of his father's weapon.
   The ring had been separated from its master. Master Hand, the enemy of the free peoples of Smashland, was defeated.
   The ring passed to Link, who had the one chance to destroy evil forever. There in the heart of the mountain he stood, looking down upon his single chance to destroy the ring in the fires that had created it. But the hearts of men are easily corrupted, and the ring of power has a will of its own.
  Link kept the ring for a short time, until he was attacked riding out of Termina. In the river the ring betrayed him to his death; and some things that should not be forgotten were lost.
   History became but another of the legends of which the people speak; legend became myth; and for two and a half thousand years the ring passed out of all knowledge, until when chance came it ensnared a new bearer...
   The ring came to the creature Mewtwo, who took it deep into the tunnels of the Kiri Kiri Mountains, and there it consumed him. With the fiercest devotion, he lived on nearly naught but the ring for five hundred years, for it granted him an unnaturally long life. For all this time it poisoned his mind; and in the gloom of Mewtwo's cave, it waited.
   Darkness crept back into the forests of the world. Rumor grew of a shadow in the east; whispers of a nameless fear...
   And the ring of power perceived it's time had now come.
   It abandoned Mewtwo. But something happened then the ring did not intend.
   It was picked up by the most unlikely creature imaginable: a toadstool; Toadsworth of the Chanterelle. He took an instant liking to the ring and escaped with it; never speaking to anyone of its existence...
   For the time will soon come when the small, everyday folk will shape the fortunes of all.