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He was going back to a place he had never seen before. When he’d shown the eccentric man in Kakariko the way to the fairy fountain he hadn’t thought that this was where the journey had been going. He’d shown the pictures on a whim, not expecting anything to pop up but when the man had recognised the large arches he knew he had to see it. With no idea what to expect he headed off. Maybe Impa was wrong, maybe he would remember nothing and the pictures were useless, only capturing a memory now lost to time.
As he pulsed through the snow, the chilly winds playing with the scarf wrapped around him as he tried not to think about what would happen if he did in fact find something. He didn’t know much about the time before the calamity. The only people who talked to him about the time before his one-hundred year slumber were people with much more pressing matters to discuss. They talked about the calamity returning and wrecking havoc, how Ganon had destroyed the peace they’d had, killed families, ruined homes. But no one ever talked about how it had been before the Calamity. Link had only known the overhanging sense of death that seemed to be present wherever he was in Hyrule. Sometimes they spoke of the peacefulness in the mundane life that had been before but he had never known this version of Hyrule, of that way of life. The old part of him that had known what it was like was gone and now he was going to a place that might reawaken those memories again. And he didn’t know how to feel about it.
His fingers ached as he climbed up the snowy mountainside trying to get an advantage point. The archeways looked to be big so he should be able to spot them if he got high enough. Standing at the top of one of the many snowy hills littering the area he looked out over Hyrule. It was a sunny day but the winds whipped around him harshly making him thankful that he had decided to wear his Sheikah mask and armor under his heavy wool coat. Even though the day was clear and he could see Hyrule stretch on for miles he didn’t see any structures ahead of him. He wasn’t ready to give up yet tho, the frost elixir he had taken before setting off from Hateno tech lab was still in effect so he could spend another few minutes sweeping the border between the snowy mountains and the green plains of Hyrule. He ran forward and jumped off the hill he had been standing on falling for a second before opening his paraglider. Ever since it had been given to him it had been his favourite way of traveling. Nothing compared to the quiet of soaring high above the ground. Invisible to the monsters that seemed to be everywhere when he traveled on foot. And the view was always breathtaking.
He snapped out of his thoughts when he spotted a dip in the large mountain chain surrounding Mount Hylia. Gliding closer he could see it was a valley, leading through the mountain chain. Landing on one of the cliff sides he looked into the deep canyon. As he saw it his mind stopped. The valley was paved with a stone road with large arches overhead. The road continued to the left of him towards large structures, looking to be an old ruin of some sort, now halfway under water where a pack of Bokoblins had set up camp. This had to be the place and it was beautiful. He slowly glided down to land on top of the arch that was closest to him. Sitting there for a moment, he took in the size of the place. It was dead quiet and yet he could feel the power this place had once held. It must have been something important once, he was sure of it. Looking out over the now forgotten place he had the strangest feeling that he had thought this once before.
Dread filled him as he remembered why he had come here in the first place. Careful, as to not let the monsters know of his presence, he jumped off the big arche and with the help of his paraglider landed gracefully. He could still hear the bokoblins babbling to each other so he stood up slowly and continued up the large road away from the group. The road was slippery and in some places it had fallen through leaving holes to the water below. As he looked up and saw the pillar before him he stopped. His heart raced as he took off the Sheikah slate from its place on his hip. It whirred to life as blue light flooded the screen and a picture was displayed. It was the same arch, he was sure of it. He even stood in the same position the picture seemed to be taken from. The indent on the left pillar and the broken pillar on the right were identical to the one in the photo. It almost looked like no time had passed between when the picture had been taken and now. He closed the album only to open the camera function. He lifted the slate slowly, about to take a picture of the view, his eyes fixated on the arch, like it would disappear if he looked away. Before he could take the picture something snapped inside of him and the world went fuzzy. He remembered.
.
.
.
He was walking back from the mountain. Zelda was walking slowly in front of him, eyes fixated on the ground to avoid the gaze of the champions standing before them. The anticipation on everyone's faces hung heavy in the air, a trickle of hope that they had found something, that their luck could turn, but that hope turned to ash when Zelda slowly shook her head.
He could see it clear as day, could feel the memory burning behind his eyes even when he tried to look away, tried to make it stop. He could feel the pressure in his chest when Zelda had told them the news, could feel the panic when the ground shook and Revli was sent up to scout. Felt the paralysing fear course through him when he was told what they all already knew. Ganon was back. It was playing behind closed eyes, too quick for his brain to keep up. Colors and sounds mixed together, never staying still and ever changing. He felt himself start to fall backwards as everything turned black and the memory faded.
He could feel cold seeping into his clothes as he laid on the hard ground shivering. Tears were streaming down his face as he wrapped his arms around himself. His nails digging into his skin as if to try and keep himself together. He tried to inhale but his breath stuck in his throat which only made the panic that gripped him worse. He laid there wheezing and twitching until his senses slowly returned to him. He let his arms fall to his side as he slowly sat up. Looking up at the large arches he could feel anger well up inside of him. Standing up stiffly, he slowly walked over to it. He hated it. He hated this stupid place with it’s stupid columns. He hated it for making him remember and he wanted it to burn.
He unsheathed his axe and swinged with all his might towards it. He wanted to destroy it, burn it to the ground never to be seen again but as metal hit stone the force sent his arm back with a loud crash as the axe fell from his grip. He picked it up again and hacked at it, slashed and slashed and slashed but the pillar still stood. When his axe broke after a particularly hard blow he slowly dropped to the ground, sobbing into his hands.
He didn’t sit there long, letting himself get lost in the panic before pain erupted from his shoulder. He whipped around only to see a bokoblin nocking a second arrow when they’re eyes met. He fired it at Link who rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding it. He stood up quickly before running towards the monster. A soldier's claymore materialized in his hand just in time for him to plunge it into the creature's stomach. As the bokoblin disappeared in a puff of black smoke a large horn was heard. The group of Bokoblin that had been gathered further away around the fire now had their focus on him. They were frozen for a second before Link lunged into action, running towards the two closest while the rest of the group ran to gather their weapons strewn about.
Everything around him seemed foggy, his body working as if on autopilot. As he slashed at the monsters he could feel the calamity creeping at the back of his mind. The panic slowly ate at him.
A rumble shook the ground, causing him to fall off balance. As he looked around he could feel the fear hanging in the air.
He was slashing with all his might at the two bokoblins in front of him, dodging and weaving from their clubs and using all his strength to tear his sword through them.
As Revali sourred above them he could see the black clouds stretch out from hyrule castle. A heaviness pushing down on all of them, making it hard to breath.
Looking at the fight before him he didn’t recognize himself, he saw himself get lost in the fight. Not registering his surroundings at all but instead challenging the panic clawing inside of him that threatened to consume him at any moment to kill whatever was nearest.
“It’s awake...”, the panic in her voice was clear, “Ganon!”.
He buried his sword deep into the bokoblins skull and turned around just in time to feel an arrow scrap against his cheek, drawing blood.
“You can count on us for support. But it’s up to you to pound Ganon into oblivion!” He could feel his chest constricting but now was not the time to falter. His hands trembled as he balled them into fists.
His eyes fixated on the monster in front of him and with all his might he threw his sword that penetrated the monster's stomach as it fell before turning to smoke. His eyes burned as he slowly sank to his knees. His breathing was ragged as he felt the memories slowly fall into place and become a part of him. As he curled in on himself sobbing, the only thing he could think about was that he wished he hadn’t come to the place. To have to relive the pain, the grief, a second time was cruel.
He laid there until he felt his shoulder turn numb and his limbs heavy. As his tears subsided his carefully neutral expression clicked into place, erasing any hint of emotion. He didn’t know how much time had passed when he got up but the sun had long since disappeared beyond the horizon. Walking forward he grabbed his blade from the ground and started to make his way out of the canyon, leaving behind the monster parts that scattered the place and the crippling grief without looking back.
As he sat atop one of the cliff sides looking out over the ravine. The sun rose over the mountains as he slowly bandaged his wounds. He knew that a part of him had died in that ravine. And that this was only the beginning of a long journey.