"Pound my knuckles hard against the floor,
My head against the wall,
But I did this to myself.
Assume it's just not worth getting back up,
So I'll blame it on bad luck.
And I'll shake responsibility,
And say the hard life did this to me."
Shaera was the patron saint of 'wrong place, wrong time'. Or at least, that was what she'd convinced herself of. She did not seek out danger, and danger did not seek out her. Danger just seemed to walk into the bathroom when she had her pants down - Shaera was always caught unprepared and uninformed. It was this near-constant torrent of troubling situations that got her into this mess.
She'd been late for dinner - no big deal. Plenty of kids in the village showed up for dinner late. It wasn't just the lateness, though. She'd gotten lost in the forest during a particularly intense game of hide-and-seek with a couple of her friends. Needless to say, she'd won, as the other kids had run back to their parents to get help in finding her.
Soon enough, it was dark - no big deal. Plenty of kids in all of Hyrule were still wandering around after dark. Not in her village, though. The highly superstitious - and apparently quite smart - elders where she lived believed that evil spirits were born and bred in the swamp. This superstition was ingrained so hard into their society that everyone was cozy inside their warm homes by the time the sun had disappeared behind the horizon.
At first, she was not afraid. What was there to fear in the dark? What was there to fear in the night? The girl was young, and did not understand the evils in the world. However, she soon became scared when she realized how invariably alone she was. Silence reigned over the swamp at dusk, as if all the creatures living there held the same suspicions that the humans did. As if they too were hiding from something.
Finally, somebody stumbled upon her. It was an older boy in the village - probably just 15. His name was Leonl, and he was well-known among the other kids as the doting older brother. At first, he'd mistaken her for a threat, and had thrown a poorly-aimed dagger in her direction. It landed in the dirt next to her with a pathetic thud. Shaera promptly began to sob, and soon Leonl came to his senses and gently led her back home, with a giant, flaming torch in hand to help fend off the spirits.
Her parents were far too relieved at her safe return to scold her for being so absent-minded. They would not let her leave the village alone for a good many years. The elders had entirely different reactions to her return. She'd been out in the forest at night, when the dark spirits were most potent. Who knows what kind of evil had latched itself onto her? They were not a cruel people, however, and did not resent Shaera for something that was hardly her fault. In addition to needing a buddy to venture into the forest, she was kept in mind almost constantly. People were always checking up on her. How was she? Feeling good? Feeling in tip-top shape? Anything scaring her? Anything hurting her? Anything at all wrong? Of course, she continued to not understand their reasonings for this concern, and her childhood went off without a hitch.
Things change, as things tend to do, and suddenly Shaera was nearing 18 years old. Time seemed to have flown by them all - friends of hers were getting married, some of the elders had died off - nobody seemed to notice whatsoever. Surprisingly, the teenager decided that she did not want to become a housewife and sit around the village day-in-and-day-out. She actually had been engaged to Leonl for quite some time, but it was not to be. Her parents, relatives, and close friends waved a bittersweet goodbye to their trouble-magnet of a friend, and Shaera was on her way.
The euphoria did not last long. She quickly realized that living on your own was not quite as easy and carefree as she thought it would be. This resulted in several screwups, including, but not limited to: getting robbed, breaking 3 ribs/her nose/both her left and right arm, an infected flesh wound, tuberculosis, getting conned, getting one of her back teeth knocked out, and gambling nearly all of her belongings away in a drunken misplacing of judgement. Shaera swore not to drink ever again.
She survived, however painful it had been to pick herself back up after all of these mistakes, and carried herself much more carefully because of it. What nobody realized, including herself, was that she was not just a half-brained klutz. In truth, Shaera was quite the intelligent one, with a well-cared-for body to boot. There was a demon on her shoulder - one that had skewered the past one and also ridden her of the angel that had originally been paired with it. Now she simply had one big monster to trip her down cliffs and tip just a bit too much wine into her glass.
She'd gotten lost in the woods - that was her first mistake.
She'd let something dark grab ahold of her, germinating slowly into something much more massive than just a little bad juju. Instead of spilling some salt, it was like she'd simultaneously smashed 6,000 mirrors while running under a giant ladder and stopping to let a horde of black cats cross in front of her. Shaera had unknowingly shaken hands with an ancient evil, something otherworldly, and the devil had grinned toothily back at her.
Somehow, it was almost unsurprising that a swarthy, dark figure was suddenly threatening to take her life. It just figured, really. Tough break, kid.
AN: I realize that Zelda fanfiction isn't all that relevant anymore, and for some reason Dark Link is now considered creepypasta? Goddamn weeaboos.
Anyways, I really am just writing this for myself. Hope you enjoy it anyways.
Song Quoted: Blame It On Bad Luck - Bayside
Cover image was made by this lovely person on DeviantArt: LunarMew