Chapter Text
Link neither spoke nor showed any particular expression as Zelda explained how she watched him wake and die over a hundred times during the century of the Calamity. She showed him his incriminating account name on the Slate, and the list of deleted accounts, and spoke of her confrontations with Purah and Impa and their acknowledgement of what happened. His expression finally shifted to concern, as she told him about how she’d felt herself so powerless to help every time she witnessed him die. Still showing no reaction other than concern for her, Link gently took her in his arms and rocked her as she cried.
Twilight faded into night, and the chorus of crickets and frogs intensified around them, mixing with the quiet gurgling of water from below.
Zelda pulled away from his embrace, and looked up at him, expecting to see pain, terror, or anger in his face, but only finding a thoughtful expression there. As she wiped the tears from her face, he stood up, and motioned for her to do the same. He wrapped one arm around her, pulling her close while holding the Sheikah Slate in the other hand. “There’s something I need to show you, princess” he said, as he scrolled northward across the map to the distant Rona Kachta shrine.
They materialized in front of a shrine located in a large artificial cavern. Zelda marveled at the ancient, cavernous space as they stepped away from each other. Some of the walls were collapsed, but on the intact ones she could still see lines of writing stretching between rows of bricks. Images of large spoon-billed birds were engraved on some of the remaining columns supporting the ceiling. Behind the shrine, she saw a great dark stone carved into a round shape suggesting a winged woman, a Goddess statue larger even than the one in the Temple of Time.
“Where are we? I’ve never seen this place.” she wondered aloud.
“We’re at the north end of that long canyon that runs between Hyrule Field and the mountains to the west. The entrance to this cavern is hidden halfway up a cliff face, and the way in partially collapsed and full of Guardians." Link gestured at a passage opposite the Goddess statue. “I don’t think there are any active ones left, but don’t go through there until I’ve checked to make sure.”
Zelda took the Sheikah Slate from Link, changed to her account, activated the camera rune, and began taking pictures. “How did you even find the way in?”
“I followed the canyon to see where it went, looking for ore deposits and mushrooms. I spotted the entrance, rode the air currents and dodged a lot of Guardian beams to get in." He paused for a moment, remembering. “It was easier getting in the second time, with the Travel rune. That’s when the event I wanted to tell you about happened.”
Link stepped up the stairs in front of the giant Goddess statue, looking up at it reverently. “It was after I finished the last shrine trial. I think there were around one hundred twenty of them? I lost count somewhere in the high double digits. But I knew I was done with them, because I heard a voice in my head, and it wasn’t yours this time.” He turned to Zelda, still speaking as he did. “The Sheikah monks, the same ones that built the shrines in the first place, they spoke to me, calling me here. They gave me this outfit, and told me about the legacy of the Hero.”
Not for the first time, Zelda felt offended by what the ancient Sheikah monks put Link through. "They waited until after completing all the shrines before they told you who the Hero was?”
Link shrugged. “Apparently it’s normal for the Hero to not have any idea what they’re doing for much of their journey.” He patted the green and brown tunic he wore. “They told me these clothes were worn by another Link once. Another me.” He turned and gestured around at the room. “This entire temple was built long ago, when people lived in the sky. There was a Link and a Zelda back then, who defeated the evil for the first time. Their souls are our souls.”
Zelda nodded. “The cycle of reincarnation. When the darkness rises, the Hero and the Princess return to stop it.” she recited, remembering her religious lessons from over a hundred years prior. Her brow furrowed as she considered the implications, then she gasped with realization. “Of course! That must be why Purah couldn’t get the Shrine of Resurrection to make more than one of you at a time! It needed the soul of the Hero to be free for the process to start.”
Link looked at her incredulously. “Purah tried to make multiple copies of me at once?”
Zelda nodded. “Yes. She thought that having an army of you would make defeating Ganon easier.”
Link shook his head, open-mouthed. “But ... there’s only one Master Sword. And only one Princess. How would that even work ?”
Zelda couldn’t help but smile at the mental image of an army of identical copies of Link all trying to wield the one same divine sword. She blushed and burst into a fit of giggles at the thought of them all attending to her needs at once, and she hastily squashed that train of thought, lest she become highly distracted.
“I am going to have some serious words for Purah next time I see her.” Link chuckled. His expression turned more serious as he spoke to Zelda. “But if you knew about the cycle of reincarnation, why is this bothering you? What the Shrine of Resurrection did is no different. Reincarnated by the Goddesses, or resurrected by Sheikah technology, it doesn’t matter. I’m still Link.”
Zelda sighed and responded. “Those people weren’t really us, Link. The Hero and the Princess return over and over, but not as the exact same people. That Princess wasn’t me, and that Hero wasn’t you. We can learn about them, we may even share their souls, but they lived their own lives.”
Link shrugged, raising his arms as he did, and his tone sounded a little angry. “I don’t see how it matters. Same soul.” He gestured at himself. “Indistinguishable body, as far as I can tell.” He looked back at the Goddess statue. “And I do have something those other Links don’t. I remember being the Link from a hundred years ago. The one who served you before the Calamity. The one who died for you." He paused for a moment, turning back to Zelda, then spoke softly. “I still remember that I love you.”
Zelda gasped at the revelation, as Link continued speaking. “And I remember more than that. I always seemed to have an instinct for dangers while traveling, as if something was warning me. I knew to look out for the Bokoblins with dragonbone weapons, or that bomb arrows would explode in my hand if I’m too close to Death Mountain. I knew Lynels could shoot over walls and still hit me, even though I never saw that happen. I always thought it was something from my training from before the Calamity.”
He turned towards her, holding a hand to his mouth as he thought. “Do you think that perhaps the Shrine of Resurrection let me remember all the times the other versions of me died? So I could avoid dying that way again?”
Zelda’s eyes opened wide as further realization struck her. “No, Link ... I think that was due to me .”
His brow furrowed, and she could see he didn’t comprehend. “I watched you the whole time. I saw every death." Her voice grew quiet, as the memories came back to her again. Link reached out, gently embracing her, and she continued speaking. “I thought it a cruel torture at the time, but now I see there was a purpose to it. I must have been, without realizing it, somehow warning you through our connection, with each new life, of the dangers that awaited you.”
Seeing the blue-skinned Bokoblin among the group charging him, Link puts his club away and pulls out a bow, firing an arrow through the monster’s head from a safe distance.
After ducking behind a ridge to escape the Lynel, Link doesn’t stop to catch his breath. He keeps moving, something telling him that he still isn’t safe. The electric arrows crashing down just barely miss him.
Link halts in mid-step on the solidified lava flows near Death Mountain, and checks his quiver to make sure it doesn’t contain any bomb arrows. He’s not even sure why the concern suddenly occurred to him.
They stood there silently, as Link stroked her hair. “Thank you, princess." he finally spoke. “You saved me more than a hundred times over. A hundred and twenty deaths avoided. I only saved you once.”
She gently chuckled in his embrace, and rubbed his back. “You saved me twice , or did you forget about that time with the Yiga in the Gerudo desert?" She pulled away from him slightly, arms still around him, and looked him in the eye. “I can’t save you again. The Shrine of Resurrection has been shut down. This is your last life. Do please be careful with it.”
Arms linked, they walked back towards the shrine. “You’re really accepting this well.” Zelda commented. “Purah was sure you’d be driven mad and head off on some wild seal-punching quest of self-discovery”
Link looked aghast. “Riju would have me flayed alive if I harmed any of her sand-seals.”
They both chuckled at that. “I really don’t know where Purah came up with that idea.” Zelda said, then her mood turned a bit more somber. “Impa says they told one of the earlier Links the truth. He didn’t take it well, and the Yiga killed him soon afterwards. Are you certain you’ll be alright?”
“There’s a bit of a difference between being told that dozens of heroes have tried what you’re trying and all died, and being told after the fact that you were the only one who succeeded.” Link replied.
They stood side by side in front of the shrine, as Link took the slate back from her and brought up the map screen. “We’ll head back to the Shai Utoh shrine, spend the night at the stable, then take the horses down to Lurelin Village”, Link spoke while scrolling across the screen. “I know where to get a great seafood paella, and there’s this monument on the beach that you should see."
Zelda stood beside him, wrapped an arm around and pressing her body against him, as she reached out to the screen. “Oh, but we really must return here soon, this site needs to be documented properly.” she blurted, mind shifting back into archaeological fascination. “And I have an idea for something else to ask Purah. It should be possible for the Slate to remember where a photo was taken. Since it already knows where it is in the world, perhaps there could be a way for it to remember and show that location. And maybe..." Her voice trailed off, as the two of them dissolved into strands of glowing blue light.