Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Link collapsed back into Zelda’s arms, his vision going dark at the edges, or had night fallen? No, it was already dark and raining as they ran. The princess cried and called his name, but his hearing was going away, along with his vision, and the pain. He’d been in so much pain before, running and fighting constantly, the pain when Epona was cut down from under him, the pain of losing, everyone. When Zelda’s face was the last thing he could still see, Link regretted that he could no longer protect her, they had been so close to safety, but he couldn’t get her there. She was going to die alongside him.
‘I can’t protect her, not alone. I need help.’
~I’m so tired of being alone~
~ ~ ~ ~
~Link~
~Link~
~LINK~
~Wake up Link~
~ ~ ~ ~
Blue eyes crept open, staring blankly at the blue lighted structure above him, unseeing until the sensation of liquid draining away from his body startled him upright, his hand splashing down in what remained as he searched for…something.
Link looked around the room he was in, finding unfamiliar and barren stone walls besides a few random blue lights in them, the only furniture or structures the platform he was on and a small pedestal next to what he hoped was a door, all made from stone.
~Link…asleep…pickup the Sheikah slate…help you~
Link looked around for the source of the faint voice, unsure if he’d really heard it in his head or…
‘Better than lying here, getting cold.’ Link thought after waiting for a while in silence, with no one appearing to continue speaking. He came off the platform and collapsed to the floor with a grunt as his legs refused to hold his weight, feeling weak and shaky, his hands as he rubbed his legs numb and tingling at the same time. ‘Or I can sit here and get cold. Ow.’
After too long his legs stopped trembling and he carefully stood, not liking the feeling of being vulnerable, testing his limbs while holding onto the edge of where he’d been sleeping. Where he was dry, he had regained his strength, though his back still felt numb as his hair continued to drip. ‘Whatever this stuff is, I’d better not drink it, no matter how thirsty I might get, would probably paralyze me. Hopefully I find a way out of here soon.’
As he approached the pedestal, the pale blue lines glowed brighter, but nothing else happened. The lines went around in a broken circle, leaving the middle dark. On a hunch he placed his hand on it and it flashed brightly. There was a sound like stone grinding on stone as the center rose, then something lifted up, spinning around to reveal what looked like an eye with a tear, outlined in glowing orange.
When nothing happened after that, he picked up the tablet, which buzzed like a cat in his hands. Turning it showed the weeping eye on the other side as well, changing from orange to blue as he watched. There was a click that Link felt through the floor, and sections of the wall dropped into a sunken recess in the floor, grinding as they went, revealing another room beyond. Barrels and crates lined the walls, leaving a path clear to the other end, but most were rotted and broken.
‘How long have I been here? I remember…I…I don’t remember!’ Link looked around frantically, looking for anything familiar, anything that might trigger a memory, and started digging through the contents. ‘There has to be something, anything familiar that I can remember! I can’t have put myself here alone, there has to be someone, right?’
Most of the containers were empty of anything but dust and dirt, their contents having rotted away over who knows how long. The last few chests he opened were made of what felt like stone, and inside was cloth.
He pulled out a few shirts and trousers, all worn, dirty, and moth eaten, but better than what he was currently wearing, a pair of undershorts made out of a strange material. Unfortunately, what embroidery there was on the shirts was unfamiliar, as though the clothing belonged to a stranger from a foreign land.
The thought was further proven when he pulled on the best of what there was, the pants were too short for his legs, stopping mid shin and almost too tight. The shirt was as well, which stopped above his belly button and mid forearm, leaving a strip of skin exposed. The last chest had dried up leather belts and a few pairs of shoes. The cloth ones were more hole than cloth, but the ones with leather soles at least fit. They had probably been for someone with larger feet than him, but the leather had shrunk.
‘Still better than nothing, now how do I get out of here?’ Drying his hair with a spare shirt as he wandered, Link followed the corridor past small empty rooms until he came to another pedestal and door. At first, his hand did nothing, but when he touched the tablet to the stone pedestal, the door started grinding it’s way open. This time, there was daylight beyond.
~ ~ ~ ~
Link stood on the ledge, looking out over the vast land before him, recognizing nothing. Every building was in ruin, but the style meant nothing to him. He knew trees, sky, water, air, but the castle or the name of the volcano off in the distance? Nothing.
Insects buzzed in the grass, birds chirped in the trees, clouds moved slowly across the sky, and Link felt his eyes widen as he slowly fell into despair.
~I don’t want to be alone~
He took in a shaky breath, choking a bit as he smelled something and quickly looked around until he spotted the smoke. There, just down the hill to his right was a campfire, and a dark figure moving around it.
‘I’m not alone!’ He thought as he ran toward the camp, tripping over sticks and branches hidden in the tall grass, not daring to look away from it, as though it would disappear like a mirage. ‘I’m not alone, I haven’t been left behind.’
~Again~
He slowed his run when he got close, not wanting to alarm the old man he could see sitting before the fire, a pot of something over the flames.
“Oh ho! Well, met stranger. It’s rather unusual to see another soul in these parts.” Link deflated; he’d been hoping there would be more people he could talk to, a town or village he could go to.
“Where are we?”
“Hm? This is the Great Plateau. According to legend, this is the birthplace of the entire kingdom of Hyrule.” The names didn’t ring any bells and Link sighed.
“You, you don’t know who I am?” The old man leaned closer on his rock to look at Link, before leaning back, shaking his head.
“Hm, no I’m afraid not. Have we met before? I am getting older, perhaps my mind isn’t what it used to be.” Link looked down and nudged a stone with his thin shoe.
“No, I…I was just hoping to find something familiar. I don’t know how I got here.” The old man stilled and looked Link over more carefully, studying his face for a moment longer before gesturing to the fire.
“Why don’t you sit and have a rest? Are you hungry?” The old man stirred whatever was in the pot, the smell reaching Link and making his stomach growl and clench on emptiness.
“Starved. I can’t remember the last time…I ate.” The old man pushed over a roasted apple before moving to dish out a bowl of soup. “I’m sorry. My name is Link, nice to meet you.”
~Link~
Link looked around, but didn’t see the source of the airy voice, so he turned back to the apple, taking a bite and sucking in air to try and cool it as he accepted the bowl handed to him.
“Nice to meet you, Link.”
~ ~ ~ ~
The old man didn’t give his name, but told Link about what could be found on the Great Plateau as they ate. What sights to see and dangers to avoid. There was a temple nearby that Link wanted to check out, according to the old man it was from before the great calamity that happened one hundred years ago. Another thing that was unfamiliar.
After being told he shouldn’t go around unarmed, Link picked up a discarded axe but it felt too big and unwieldy in his hands. A fallen tree branch wasn’t any better, and would probably break before it did any good. Luckily for him, he spotted a sword stuck on the top of an island in a small pond, not far from where he found the axe. The uncertainty of his ability to swim held him back for a good while, before he took a bracing breath and went for it, jumping from the ledge into the pond.
~splashing and laughter. A girl in red? A toothy smile~
Link spit water as he surfaced, choking a bit. The vision was gone, he was in the pond, and he could swim, quite well actually. The rock island was easy to reach, the grass a useful handhold to pull himself out and up. Strangely enough, it looked like someone had tried to stab the sword into a rock at the top, and had missed, leaving grooves that were filled with moss.
The sword felt much better in his hand and Link gave it a few swings, it would do for now, though the rust covering it was a cause of concern. Something green floating in the air had him turning. He caught what looked like a small creature with a leaf for a face before it disappeared in a flash of sparkles. Link blinked in surprise, not sure what he’d just seen. The old man hadn’t mentioned anything like that.
Back at the fire, Link stood and tried to dry himself off, smiling a bit sheepishly as the old man was first surprised to see him wet, then shaking his head. “Youth these days.”
Moderately warmer and drier, Link resumed his trek to the temple, swinging the sword and slashing at invisible enemies as though he’d been born doing so.
‘This is what I was reaching for in that room, a sword. I’ve used a sword before.’ As he passed along a wooded area, Link spotted something moving, reddish in color and about his size. Link stopped and watched it, unsure of what it was or if it would run when it saw him. As it stepped out of the tall grass and spotted him, Link recognized it from the old man’s description, a Bokoblin.
It shrieked at him and rushed him, swinging a wooden club. Link dropped into a ready stance, then ducked and stepped back away from its swings, drawing his sword. He easily got past the creature’s guard, slashing three times before the Bokoblin was knocked back and lay prone on the ground. Before Link could marvel at his newly discovered skill, he’d moved forward and stabbed it, making sure it was dead.
His heart beat only a bit faster, his breathing was calm, and his grip on the sword was steady. He was used to fighting. Link thought back on the short fight as he wiped the blade clean on the grass. The sight of the strange looking creature didn’t startle him, nor was he afraid of it. Had he been a fighter before he lost his memories? A soldier?
A soldier felt right, more than fighter anyway, and Link felt his mood lift a bit. Maybe there was hope of him regaining his memories, he already had muscle memory. Right now though, he needed to go back to that strange cave he woke up in, he needed a belt to secure the sword.
~ ~ ~ ~
It was when Link approached the temple that he had his first problem. There was a large statue made of metal sticking out of the ground. With strange swirls on its sides, it looked to have a single eye on the top, ear like protrusions, and it made him feel cold all over, his heart pounded hard in his chest, his breathing sped up, and his palms started to sweat. It took him a long moment to move forward from where he’d stopped when he saw it, and after taking more time to look at it from a distance, could now see it was badly damaged and falling apart.
‘What is that thing? I’m…afraid of it. Did I fight one before? Did it hurt me? Is that why I can’t remember, just feel, dread?’ Link swung wide to avoid the strange statue, and almost walked right into a dozing Bokoblin. Link ducked the first swing and blocked the second with the sword, grimacing as a crack appeared in the blade and it bent. It took a few more blows to bring down the Bokoblin, and once it was dead, Link grimaced as he saw what remained of the blade.
The metal had cracked along a few bad rust spots, and no longer stood straight, split and bent almost all the way over. He tossed the useless sword to the side with a sigh, and picked up the wooden club, which was in much better shape, heavier and thicker.
‘This will last longer than the sword did, but for how long? Against other clubs it would do fine, but what if the Bokoblins have other weapons? I better keep an eye out for something better.'
~ ~ ~ ~
The last Bokoblin he’d fought had had a bow, and Link happily threw it over his shoulder, attaching the quiver to his belt, feeling much safer already with another weapon. Then he ascended the last set of stone stairs before the rest of the temple came into view.
The temple was a scene of a horror long past. Link felt cold sweat go down his back as he saw more of those statues, most with legs, frozen up against the walls of the temple mid motion, obviously having attacked it at one point. The stone building was damaged, empty and abandoned, one long wall half gone, letting in the sunlight and nature. Reverently Link started across the large empty room, eyes looking up to the top of the great vaulted ceiling, trying to imagine what the place would have looked like whole, full of people, wooden benches? What did they use for lighting? Had the windows been plain glass?
The far end was dominated by a raised dais, on top of which stood a stone statue easily twice his height of a woman with wings, her hands pressed together, with several stone miniature versions encircling it, all facing out. Link climbed the stone steps cushioned with moss, stopping just at the top, and brought his hands together, bowing his head over them.
‘I don’t know who you are, but this seems right. Please, unknown goddess, help me remember. Help me…’ Link grimaced as he wavered on his feet, the world around him wobbling, falling onto one knee as his vision went dark, then painfully bright.
~…Hero…~
~Link~
~Done well…you…~
~…darkness…you must…!~
Link grimaced and covered his ears, unsuccessfully trying to block out the voices, one the airy voice from before, the second deep and booming, yet soft and soothing at the same time. He cried out and bent forward over his knees, covering his head with his arms as a high-pitched ringing took over everything. With a pop, the bright light disappeared, along with the voices.
“Help you have prayed for, and help the Goddess has granted you.” That voice he’d heard with his ears, and was male. Link quickly looked up, still on his knees, spotting the person now standing to the left of the statue. He wore a white head cover with matching tabard that covered the bottom half of his face and chest, leaving only red eyes and tan skin visible, a shock of white hair covering one red eye. The rest of his outfit was in shades of blue and grey and fit close against his body, a weeping eye in red on the tabard. “Hello Link.”