Chapter Text
Link loved Hyrule, he truly did. Even though it was currently in a desolate state, it was slowly being shaped into a formidable kingdom. And Link had to thank both Princess Zeldas for the kingdom’s current success.
There was the first Zelda he’d ever met and then there was Zelda the First, who Link had come to find are very different people. Zelda the First, or “ One “ as Link has taken to calling her, was quite reserved. It made sense since she had been asleep for hundreds of years, living just before the Days of Legend, having no knowledge of anything that has been happening or has happened since her slumber. And her brother basically betrayed her and their kingdom. That was probably the main reason for her behavior. But she was quite knowledgeable when it came to politics and ruling a kingdom, which the other Zelda was quite grateful for.
The other Zelda, the current one “ The Second ” as this Zelda herself wanted to be called, because she does have a decent sense of humor-at least to Link she does-when she’s around her friends. She had been struggling with what do with her kingdom, having been tasked to rule over it ever since she was 10, just after Link saved her, all at the same age as her too. But she’s a people person, a confident appearance disguising how clueless she claims to be at politics. But honestly, Link is even more clueless than her, so he thought she was doing a great job.
The two Zeldas have begun to bring a newfound prosperity to the kingdom. But it would take a long time for it to return to the state it was during the Days of Legend. Maybe even longer than their lifetimes. But it was home, and Link loved it all the same.
What he didn’t love was the monsters constantly after his blood to revive Ganon. Thankfully, the monsters were coming after him a bit less now after two years have passed from his second adventure. But Link didn’t want to stay in one place for long, fearing that monsters may sneak into the towns just for him, even though they never once did as far as he remembered. He still didn’t want to risk it. He did make sure to check in with the Zeldas whenever he could and they were always happy to see him.
Link was visiting Hyrule Castle for yet another time, traveling through the newly constructed town surrounding it-Castle Town, as it was called. People waved at him as they darted around, with him returning the favor every time he could. He even stopped to help anyone that looked like they needed help-like one kid who fell down that need some help to get up, or the old woman who was carrying far too much all at once.
Link loved Hyrule and her people, he truly, truly did.
At the castle, Impa had greeted him. She was doing quite well for how old she was, being able to keep up the same pace of walking as Link as they both headed toward the Royal Study. The Zeldas loved talking to each other there, learning each other’s stories and languages. Well, the spoken language hadn’t changed all that much, but the written language had changed quite a bit, and sign language wasn’t a widespread thing here anymore. Link really loved learning the writing of the past and Hylian Sign from One, it helped with communicating with her and communication in general, as Link was quite a quiet child growing up. He’d gotten more confident with speaking to others now, but signing was still really fun and useful.
The Zeldas were chatting with each other, as usual, interspersing some signs throughout. Impa caught their attention, and they were very excited to see Link again.
“Link! It’s been too long,” The Second said as she gave him a light hug.
“It’s only been two months Princess,” Impa sighed, “But they were a long two months without this rambunctious child running through the halls.”
“Hey, I’m eighteen now, I’m an adult!” Link huffed.
“Oh, but you don’t deny runnin’ through the halls,” The Second teased.
“Because we always see him running through the halls. That would hard to disprove with all the witnesses,” One chimed in.
“Er, yeah, you’re right. An-anyways,” Link started, rocking a bit in place, “Everything been alright ‘ere? No monster attacks or anything? Nothing suspicious?” The Zeldas and Impa shared a worried look with each others. Something was clearly wrong.
“Well, there’s been no monsters attacks as of late,” The Second said shakily, “But something has been happening.”
“Up in North Castle, a monster has settled there,” Impa began, “A giant Bago-Bago is blocking the bridge to it, surrounded by a dark, twisted aura. Some of the people that have been sent to repair the castle have been trapped inside for two days since.”
“A giant Bago-Bago?” Link repeated, “What happened to it? Did Ganon somehow-“
“No child, Ganon is still long gone. Something darker, but not as evil has inflicted the monster. I fear we must ask for your help once more to find out what has happened, and to save our people.”
“I’m sorry Link,” One apologized, looking away from Link as she signed sorry while she spoke.
“We could send you some assistance with the knights-“ The Second began before Link held up a hand for her to stop.
“The current knights we have are a lot more inexperienced than I am-no offense!” Link smiled, “I got this, don’t worry Princesses-an’ Impa. If it gets too bad I’ll just fly away and report back here, ‘kay?”
“Alright, but you better come back right away Sir Link!” The Second demanded, carefully hiding the worry in his voice and eyes. But Link knew her well, and he could tell how concerned she was.
“Stay safe Hero of Hyrule,” Impa told him.
‘ Be careful of how much magic you use, ’ One signed to him, ‘ You need enough to get close to Rauru Town at least. ’
‘ Understood! ’ Link signed back. Although it was a bit disappointing to have to leave so soon, Link knew what had to be done. He set off on traveling towards North Castle. On foot. So it took him a few days to get there. All the while fighting off the monsters that wanted his blood.
Link’s blood was magical, for reasons even Impa didn’t know, the monsters believing that it could resurrect their king, that dastardly Ganon. Link didn’t believe-didn’t want to believe that his blood could do that, but he would never take that chance. But his magical blood did have some upsides-like being able to do magic. A lot of different types of magic. At most, normal Hylians could only devote their lives to learning a single spell, or manage to find a magical item to do a spell for them. Link knew eight spells in total and did have his fair share of magical items, more than the average person would ever even hear of in storybooks.
Huh, no wonder why Ganon’s minions thought he could bring Ganon back, Link basically has the powers of a god. Or the Hero of Legend, who was the closest thing the current people of Hyrule had to a god. Link had seen people pray to him, hoping for the hero to come save them from their perils. It would be a lie to say that Link hadn’t tried doing that as well, but he didn’t feel like it was very effective. He just had to take matters into his own hands to get things done, rather than wait for someone else-someone long dead to come save him.
Link eventually spotted the giant Bago-Bago in the distance. Giant was a massive understatement. It was almost the length of the entire bridge, even with it’s skeletal tail stuck inside of the castle. A dark fog surrounded the Big Bago-Bago, seemingly coming from where it’s tail was.
Link was very worried about the people trapped inside. Trying to fight that thing head on would almost definitely get him killed. Thankfully, his Magical Sword could shoot sword beams whenever his vitality was full. So if he just stayed a good distance away from the Bago-Bago, shot at it with sword beams, and dodged whenever it shot at him with rocks-since it would probably still spit rocks at him, probably boulders because this thing was big-then he could eventually kill it. Patience was a virtue and Link was very, very good at being patient.
But whatever holy power that was watching over him seemed to want to test his patience to the absolute extreme.
Link had arrived at the Big Bago-Bago at sunrise. Then sunrise become morning, morning into noon, noon into evening, and than evening into dusk. The Big Bago-Bago showed no signs of being anywhere near close to death. Link had spent almost the entire day shooting sword beams and dodging boulders being spat at him at high speeds. It turned from dangerous and tense to repetitive and boring long before noon had begun. The only thing that kept him from dozing off what the occasional monster that showed up for his blood, which made him more annoyed than anything. Link still had a lot of magic left, only needing to heal a handful of times and activate his jump spell once . Plus, some of the monsters dropped magic pots, so he was somewhat thankful for them actually. But he was getting fatigued, and fatigue could get him killed.
Link had been told by One about the Goddesses that were worshiped during-and far before-her time. Din the Goddess of Power, Nayru the Goddess of Wisdom, and Farore the Goddess of Courage, those who supposedly created the Triforce for reasons unknown. She even told him of the stories she heard of Hylia, an almost forgotten goddess by her time who was said to play a part in the creation of Hyrule and protected the Triforce. Link didn’t feel like praying to a fellow hero, praying to the Hero of Legend never worked for him before, so he thought about which goddess he should pray to in order for this fight to end because he was just that tired and that desperate. He decided that all of them would work.
“Oh Great Goddesses,” Link began, his throat already sore and dry, “Din of Power, Nayru of Wisdom, Farore of Courage, and Hylia, Protector of the Triforce! Please let this battle finally end , for your sake an’ mine!”
Link felt a bit silly, praying to goddesses that likely didn’t exist. Then he felt even sillier for that thought when the Big Bago-Bago finally died right there and then, in a glorious explosion. Did that mean he was religious now? Did he have to make an offering or something to the goddess, pray to them more often?
Before he had the time to process what all that could possibly mean to him, he noticed the dark fog retreating back into the castle. So he followed it, obviously. Even though his legs were loudly screaming at him to stop, he pushed on, because he was the Hero of Hyrule for a reason. He needed to save his people.
The inside of North Castle was only a little roughed up, the people inside looking very scared and very hungry. Luckily, he was gifted a lot of rations and canteens from Impa and the Princesses to give to these people. They thanked him as he gave these out, warning him about the dark fog within Zelda the First’s former chambers. But of course, he had to go in anyways.
The door to the room was open, that dark fog leaking out of it. In the center of the room, where One had once laid, was a shard floating in the air. A black glass shard with white lines, about the same thickness of a finger. Link slowly walked towards it, sheathing his sword, oddly captivated. It was magical, a sort of magic he’s never seen before. It was dark, but not evil-not like Ganon, just like Impa had told him. He saw his reflection in the glass-like a mirror, which was probably what the shard was-and just stood there. What was he going to do with it? Just leave it around for another monster to grab? Someone could get hurt, or worse. Link flexed his left hand, before noticing that it was glowing ever so slightly. The Triforce of Courage, reminding him of what his title truly meant.
So he grabbed it. With a light pull, he felt space start to shift around him as the shard was now safely in his hand, and the fog seem to collapse inwards toward were the shard had been, leaving a dark spot. He stumbled back, quickly shoving the shard into his pocket. He watched as the dark spot pulsated and grew in size, a wind slowing starting to pull him in. He heard shouts of his name coming from behind him, from the people he’d just saved.
Link turned around and smiled, “Can you please tell the Zeldas that I’ll be gone for a little while longer?” The spot-no, the hole-was now almost the same size as he was, and the pull was growing stronger. He knew what needed to be done.
“Tell ‘em I’ll be back as soon as I can be, an’ not to worry all too much!”
And into the portal he went.
A moment of darkness. A moment of being whirled around at lightning speed. A moment of peace. Then he fell onto the grassy ground in a heap.
“Well, that was sure somethin’,” Link drawled. He sat up on the grass he was now on, “I don’t ‘ink I like portals.” He pulled out the mirror shard, magic still emanating from it but at a much lower rate than before. Since it was a just shard, there was probably more of them out there to be found.
He put it back in his pocket as he stood up, taking in the sights around him. He was near some trees and could spot a house in the near distance, a castle situated nearby it. That must be where his next adventure begins. But stopping at that house first would be great. So off he went, off onto a new adventure.