The Lost Kingdom
Author's Note:
Hi, guys! So, I don't know if I told you this already, but I played through Breath of the Wild several times, and I loved the game so much that I thought of writing a fan fiction. Well, I'll tell you the truth: I always had it in my head that if I were to write a fan fiction, it would be a crossover of How to Train Your Dragon. What if, partway through Link's journey, he meets Hiccup and Astrid? I'm not completely sure how this is going to go down yet, but I have a general idea. This is only the start. For those of you following my other stories, I apologize for the delay on those, but I've been extremely busy. I spent several hours today writing this, but I should have been working on a coding assignment. Oh, well! The night's still young! I'll just go ahead and start working on that.
SPOILER WARNING!
This is apparently something that bothers a lot of people, so I'll say it now: This story (and this chapter, for that matter) contains major spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. If that bothers you, play the game first. Although, I have a feeling the spoilers won't bother too many people. I mean, I was spoiled for how Hiccup and Astrid got together in Race to the Edge, but everybody saw that one coming, right?
It is a peaceful time for the Vikings. Johann's forces have been defeated and unity has been achieved between many tribes of the Barbaric Archipelago. With the war over, Hiccup and his friends have left Dragon's Edge and returned to their home island, Berk.
Eager to recover from his injuries, Stoick the Vast has begun preparations to pass the title of Chieftain to his son. Hiccup is less enthusiastic, but while reading about Berk's allies, he stumbles upon old treaties signed by the king of Hyrule, a kingdom which mysteriously vanished 100 years ago. Curious, he decides to investigate.
Only Hiccup's betrothed, Astrid, agrees to accompany him on his excursion. Stoick is hesitant to let him leave, but admits his own curiosity about the kingdom's disappearance and decides to let him go. Eager for adventure, the couple leaves Berk with their dragons and a large pack of supplies.
Upon their arrival, the two discover a land mass much larger than Berk. Spotting a small village on the beach, they hide their dragons in a nearby alcove and begin their investigation of the lost kingdom…
Chapter 1
The Ancient Knight
Soaring over the ocean, the two Vikings observed the village through their small spyglasses. The night covered their presence, and nobody seemed to be looking up at the sky, but they were cautious to be quiet regardless.
"There are definitely people here," Astrid observed. "Those huts are lit from the inside."
"I see someone riding towards the village on … some kind of animal," said Hiccup. He zoomed in through his spyglass. "I think that's a horse. Or a donkey. Mule?"
"I see him, too," said Astrid. "Shall we land?"
"This kingdom hasn't kept in contact with Berk in at least one hundred years," said Hiccup. "If we're going down there, we'll have to hide our identities."
"And just how do you plan on doing that?" asked Astrid. "Do you have a cloak or something?"
Hiccup smirked. "Let's land and I'll show you."
As soon as they were on the ground, the Vikings bid their dragons goodbye and started walking toward the village. Hiccup took a large folded fabric from his backpack and spread it out. Once he threw it over himself and put the hood over his head, he turned toward his betrothed. "How do I look?" he asked.
"You look ridiculous, but at the same time, mysterious," said Astrid.
"How does this look ridiculous?" asked Hiccup.
"I'm just not used to seeing you in a plain brown cloak," said Astrid.
"Well, this'll have to do," said Hiccup. "Put your hood up and we'll head into town."
"Why do we need our hoods? We don't really look like Vikings," said Astrid.
"Once we're in town, you'll understand why," said Hiccup.
Astrid reluctantly put her hood over her head. Satisfied, Hiccup smiled and led the way into town. Suddenly struck with a realization, Astrid asked, "How do you plan to communicate? Do you speak their language?"
"The people of Hyrule speak Hylian," said Hiccup. "I already speak several related languages, so learning theirs didn't take long."
When the pair reached the village, they found an old man sporting dark skin and white hair. Clearing his throat, Hiccup began speaking Hylian: "Hello, sir. Can you tell me where I am?"
"Not from around here, are you?" the man replied. "This is Lurelin Village. We are proud fishermen. Have you come to taste our local catch?"
Astrid took notice of the man's ears. Instead of being round, like that of a normal human, this man's ears had tips pointed outwards and slightly upward. She realized this must have been the reason for Hiccup's cloak and her hood.
Hiccup was about to reply, but the loud cry of an animal caught his attention. A black horse with a trimmed mane sprinted into the town and came to an abrupt stop in front of the old man and the Vikings. The horse cried out again and Hiccup then saw the hooded youth on the animal's back. The boy coughed and raised his head up slightly. He drew a labored breath and wheezed out, "Help me." With that, he fell off his horse and collapsed on the ground.
Astrid gasped. The boy's tunic and trousers were torn and he was bruised all over. There were cuts on his arms and legs.
"Oh, dear!" the old man shouted. "We have a healer, but he's out getting supplies!"
"We can help him," Hiccup assured the man. He turned towards Astrid and whispered in Norse, "Help me get this kid indoors."
The Norse couple tended to the boy's wounds under the old man's watch. The man had told Hiccup he knew the boy, but did not know his name. The man had detected some accent in Hiccup's voice and wouldn't leave the two to heal him alone. Eventually, the boy had been bandaged up, so Hiccup and Astrid waited for him to come to. The boy's appearance was strangely familiar. He had dirty blond hair and was approximately the same height as Astrid. He could have easily been mistaken for her twin brother, but his face was different, his hair was darker, and his ears were pointed at the ends.
The old man yawned. "These old eyes need rest," he said. "It's nearly midnight, and I have to go to bed. I'm trusting you two, you hear? If anything happens to this boy before morning, it's on you."
"We'll take good care of him," said Hiccup.
As soon as the man left, Hiccup turned to Astrid. "Sorry about that," he said. "I've gotta teach you to speak Hylian."
"I'm not as green as you think, Hiccup," said Astrid. "I'm catching on. He doesn't want to leave us alone with him, but he has to."
Hiccup opened his mouth to reply, but a moan from the bed cut him off. Both Vikings turned toward the wounded boy. He was stirring. "Blood moon … Monsters … Zelda … Stop! Ganon!" He gasped and shot upright, opening his panicked eyes.
"Whoa! Careful!" said Hiccup, speaking as fluently as he could in the boy's language. "You got beat up real bad, so take it easy."
The boy desperately looked around and furiously glared at Hiccup. "My sword! Where is it!?" he fumed.
Confused by the boy's anger, he said, "It's outside with your horse."
Before anyone could react, the boy leaped out of bed and sprinted outside in just his undershorts. Once he was back inside, he sat on the bed with the sword and said, "I don't know who you are, but if you ever find yourself taking care of me again, do not separate me from this sword! Got it?"
Hiccup didn't reply. He was completely confused by the boy's attachment to his sword.
"What's he saying?" asked Astrid.
The boy seemed startled by hearing another language, but without missing a beat, he replied in very fluent Norse, "I said not to take my sword away again!"
"Wait a minute!" said Hiccup, not bothering to speak Hylian. "You speak Norse?"
"I am fluent in several foreign languages," said the boy, a little bit more calmly. "I'm required to be so as a royal guardsman."
"Royal guardsman?" Hiccup was confused. "So the kingdom still exists?"
The boy's face fell and his pointed ears drooped a little. "No," he replied, his voice somber. "As outsiders, you probably wouldn't understand, but this kingdom was wiped out by a monster called Calamity Ganon one hundred years ago."
"Then how can you be a royal guardsman if you were born after the kingdom's destruction?" asked Astrid.
"Because … well …" The boy's voice trailed off. "Do you want me to tell you the whole story?"
"Yes, please," said Hiccup. "That's actually why I'm here."
"Good," said the boy. "Ten thousand years ago, a prophecy foretold the return of Ganon, a monster that had been beat back time and time again by a hero wielding the sword that seals the darkness and a princess whose blood carries the power of the goddess Hylia. The prophecy foretold Ganon's transformation into Malice, and his name from that moment forth was Calamity Ganon. There was also a princess at that time with sacred powers, whose appointed knight was chosen by the sword that seals the darkness. Yet another incarnation of the Hero of Time, so called. You see, Ganon's return always coincides with the discovery of the legendary sword that seals the darkness. I believe that is how they knew for sure that he was coming. At the time, a highly advanced tribe, the Sheikah, worked closely with the royal family of Hyrule. In order to combat the Calamity, the Sheikah constructed four mechanical behemoths known as the Divine Beasts. These beasts were individually controlled by four skilled pilots from across our land. The Sheikah also constructed a legion of smaller mechanical foot soldiers they called Guardians. The plan was to weaken Ganon with the power of the Divine Beasts while the Guradians defended the princess and the knight as they fought the monster. Ganon stood no chance. The knight was victorious, and the princess sealed the Calamity away, fulfilling the prophecy."
"That sounds like a fairy tale to me," said Astrid.
"I'm not surprised at all," said the boy. "That's what everybody thought of it when the details of the battle were lost to the sands of time. But I'm not finished yet.
"One hundred-seventeen years ago, the royal family welcomed their new princess into the world. Her name was Zelda. When she was only six years old, her mother died suddenly. Even I don't know what caused her to pass on so quickly. She died a year before Princess Zelda was set to begin her training to unlock her sacred powers. In losing her mother, the princess lost her teacher. She trained alone, and got nowhere. Unfortunately, over the next few years, signs of Calamity Ganon's resurrection began to manifest themselves. Increased monster activity and tremors in Death Mountain, for example. The Sheikah had been cast out and exiled due to the people's fear of their technology, but it was clear to the king that they were needed again. The Sheikah began serving the royal family once again, in secret. Under orders from the king, they excavated the remains of the Guardians and the Divine Beasts and began repairing them. The king's plan was to follow the footsteps of our ancient ancestors. But there was a problem. No matter how hard she tried, Princess Zelda could not unlock her sacred powers.
"At the time, there was a knight in training, roughly a year older than the princess. He was the most accomplished swordsman of all the trainees, and had even bested the captain of the royal guard. When he was seventeen, he was sent out with other trainees to find the sword that seals the darkness. It was known to be in the Great Hyrule Forest, but anyone who dared enter the forest was immediately blown away by the wind. The knight in question knew this, but was determined to try. The night before he was set to try to enter the forest, a dream came to him. He woke up in the middle of the night and followed instructions given to him in the dream. He reached the center of the forest and found the sword. When he pulled the sword from the pedestal, he knew what he was to do.
"He returned to his squad with the sword and he was rushed to Hyrule Castle to meet the king and the princess. The king praised him for finding the ancient weapon and the knight was sent to train with it immediately. But the princess, sixteen years old and yet unable to use her powers, was furious. She pushed herself even harder to find her powers, but failed again. She was growing desperate.
"Six months after the sword was found, the Sheikah had finished repairing the Divine Beasts. The time had come to select their pilots. Mipha of the Zora was chosen to pilot Divine Beast Vah Ruta, Revali of the Rito was selected to pilot Vah Medoh, Daruk of the Gorons was chosen for Vah Rudania, and Urbosa of the Gerudo was chosen for Vah Naboris. A ceremony was held to properly inaugurate these special individuals the King dubbed Champions. A separate ceremony, supposedly Daruk's idea, was held for the knight, who had been appointed by the king to protect Princess Zelda. It looked like the plan to seal Ganon away was going to work."
"Except the princess couldn't unlock her power, right?" asked Hiccup.
"Right," said the boy. "On Princess Zelda's seventeenth birthday, she was finally allowed under Lanayru's Decree to train at the Spring of Wisdom. Her knight accompanied her to the top of Mount Lanayru, where the spring is. She tried with all her will to unlock her sacred power, but failed yet again. When the knight and the princess reached the foot of the mountain to meet up with the Champions, the ground suddenly shook violently. An outsider might have dismissed it as an earthquake, but the Champions could tell it was unnatural. Ganon had broken free from beneath the castle and was wreaking havoc on Castle Town. The Champions rushed to their Divine Beasts to target and strike Ganon, but it was all for nothing. Ganon unleashed Malice all across the land of Hyrule and used it to take control of the Guardians and the Divine Beasts. The malice fused with parts of Sheikah technology and formed monsters – phantoms of Ganon. They subdued and murdered the Champions. I can only guess that Calamity Ganon himself killed the king and everyone in the castle at the time.
"Despite everything, the princess survived and somehow unlocked her power. Her knight was gravely wounded while defending her. He would have died, had the princess not sent him to the Shrine of Resurrection, where he would heal in stasis for an indefinite amount of time. She hid the legendary sword in the forest once again, and returned to Hyrule Castle to face Ganon alone. Even to this day, she continues to fight him and keep him contained in the castle, probably in spirit form to keep herself from aging and dying.
"A hundred years after this event we call the Great Calamity, the knight woke up in the Shrine of Resurrection completely healed, but devoid of memories. The spirit of the king disguised himself as an old man and helped him regain at least some of his strength before sending him to Kakariko Village. There, the elder of the Sheikah, Lady Impa, tasked the knight with recovering his memories with the help of the Sheikah Slate and freeing the Divine Beasts from Ganon's control. He has one Divine Beast left to free, and one memory tied to the Sheikah Slate left to recall before he is ready to confront Ganon."
"How do you know all this?" asked Astrid. "You don't look much older than we are."
"I'm eighteen," said the boy. "Well, technically one-hundred-eighteen."
"How is that possible?" said Hiccup.
"Why do you think I was so desperate to get this sword back?" asked the boy. He held the sword up to them. "I am the knight."
"What?" Hiccup's immediate reaction was disbelief. He shook his head. "That's not true," he said. "You're crazy."
"Then go ahead," he said. "Try touching it." He held the sheathed sword out to Hiccup, hilt outwards. "Only those chosen by the blade can even touch this hilt, gloved hand or not."
Hiccup, still in disbelief, touched the hilt and cried out in pain. He pulled his hand back to get away from the burning sensation and instinctively pulled out and activated his finished Dragon Blade.
In response, the knight unsheathed his sword and struck the Dragon Blade with it. "I would think twice if I were you, Viking," he said. "The Master Sword can probably cut through whatever those rods are made of."
Hiccup stared into the knight's eyes, still in disbelief.
"Think about it," the boy said. "With no royalty in Hyrule, all ties to the outside world would have been completely severed. You must have come here to investigate Hyrule and learn of its disappearance, right? You have your answer."
Hiccup considered this for a moment. More quickly than he had anticipated, he had gotten what he wanted from his excursion, as the strange boy had so astutely remarked. He may have been small, but he could tell the young knight was incredibly strong. He found himself beginning to believe the narrative, so he deactivated the Dragon Blade and attached it to his belt again.
"Wise choice," said the boy, sheathing the Master Sword.
"How did you end up like this?" asked Astrid.
"Well, I was on my way to Lurelin Village," said the knight. "There was a salesman on the way, so I decided to see if I could sell him anything. You see, I'm preparing to make a huge purchase right now, so I sell gems I collect whenever I can. Turns out, the guy was a member of the Yiga Clan in disguise. He tried to assassinate me. While I was fighting back, Stal monsters popped up out of the ground. They beat me really badly, and I was grazed by the Yiga's Demon Carver. I managed to take them all down, but I got away with bad wounds. I got on my horse, Franklin, and he brought me here. Next thing I know, I'm here with you guys. Normally, I would have healed myself with an ability I got from Mipha's spirit when I freed her Divine Beast, but I can only use it so much before waiting twenty hours to use it again."
"If you still have to free a Divine Beast, why did you end up in Lurelin Village?" asked Hiccup.
"I'm tracking down a traveling artist," said the knight. "His name is Pikango, and he's helped me track down most of the locations where I can recall my lost memories." He reached for the belt of his torn clothes and pulled a stone tablet from it. He interacted with the device and showed the Vikings a series of images. "Do you see these pictures? They're locations I traveled to with the princess as her appointed knight. Whenever I run into Pikango, I show him one of these. He tells me where I can find the location where the image was taken."
"Why is this important?" asked Astrid.
"It's what Zelda wants," said the knight. "Lady Impa told me to find all of the locations and recall as much as I can. When I do, I'm going back to Kakariko Village."
"Can the artist wait until morning?" asked Hiccup. "You seem exhausted."
"So do you," said the knight. "I'll rest until morning, but as soon as the sun is up, I'm tracking down Pikango and leaving this village."
"You're not going to sleep here, are you?" asked Astrid.
"I'll throw some clothes on and spend the rest of the night in the inn," said the knight. "You have my thanks for patching me up, but I won't need the bandages in the morning."
Hiccup handed the knight his saddle bag. From it, the boy pulled out a pair of trousers and a bright blue tunic. After he was fully dressed, he motioned for the Vikings to follow him outside. He guided his horse to a reasonable spot outside the inn and the Vikings followed him into the small inn. In the presence of the innkeeper, Hiccup was careful to speak Hylian when he told the knight he couldn't get beds for himself and Astrid. The knight silently handed Hiccup a silver rupee.
"That's enough to pay for two soft beds and a breakfast for you both tomorrow morning," said the knight. "A token of my thanks."
"You don't have to do that," said Hiccup. "We could have slept outside."
"On my conscience? Not a chance."
Hiccup handed the rupee to the innkeeper and asked for a soft bed for himself and Astrid. In exchange, he was given a red rupee, which he knew was worth 20 rupees. As the knight was about to retire to his bed, Hiccup said, "Wait!" The knight turned and waited. "What's your name?"
"My name?" The knight seemed surprised. "I must not have said. "My name is Link. Yours?"
"My name is Hiccup," said Hiccup. "This is my betrothed, Astrid."
"Betrothed? If I'd known, I would have suggested getting one bed for you both!"
"No, it's okay," said Hiccup. "When we announced our betrothal, we promised our parents we wouldn't even sleep in the same bed until we're married."
Link nodded. "Well, I suppose it was a wise decision. Goodnight, guys."
"Goodnight, Link," said Hiccup.
Don't forget to follow and review! This is my first attempt at any crossover of any kind. Also, if you've played Breath of the Wild, you know Link doesn't talk very much. But I'm sure if he was faced with a situation where he had to explain the fall of Hyrule, he'd have to talk nonstop for at least ten minutes. There's so much you have to know to understand how Calamity Ganon reduced Hyrule to the state it's in at the start of the game. Anyway, I probably won't write the next chapter until next weekend, so I'll see you soon! Bye!
UPDATE: Okay, so I'm fixing a few mistakes with this. I had previously spelled Pikango's name wrong. It's been a few days since I put this up, and I just looked at the analytics. Due to having a larger number of viewers than I originally expected, I'm going to try to get the next chapter up in a few days. Unfortunately, I'm going to be extremely busy because I'm moving back home from university this coming week, so I'm not going to get anything else done until the next couple of weeks have passed. Since it's finally going to be summer, my YouTube channel will also be more active, so look forward to that, as well as some Rocket League streams on my Twitch channel.