Piercing the darkness came a bright, almost blinding light, followed by some sort of noise."..."

What was that? It was a mumble of some sort. What did it say? Was it a name? The blinding light continued to shine, followed by more noise.

"...Open your eyes…"

The light continued to glow, until finally consuming the darkness entirely.

"Open your eyes…" the noise, now clearly someone's voice, commanded.

The light began to fade, giving way to an equally blinding blue light. It didn't stay long, however, as it soon cleared up, revealing some sort of circular machine hanging from the ceiling.

"Open your eyes." The voice said once more. "Wake up, Link." There, in the center of the room in a sort of tub, lay a young boy, no older than 17, maybe 18. His eyes slowly opened as the liquid surrounding him began to drain from the container. He was dressed in nothing more than a pair of under shorts. Once the liquid was gone, he gathered himself and stood up, taking a moment to observe his surroundings. Where was he? Was he 'Link?' He climbed out of the tub and stood in a large room, containing nothing other than the machine he was sleeping in.

He surveyed the room, trying to find anything that may give him a clue as to what is going on. That's when something caught his eye: next to the only door in the room was a pedestal, glowing blue in a fancy pattern. With nothing better to do, he approached the pedestal, which caused it to glow even brighter, as if it was reacting to his presence. The middle of the pedestal then popped out of place, spun 90 degrees, and raised up some sort of...device, if you could call it that.

"That is a Sheikah Slate." The voice echoed once more. "Take it. It will help guide you after your long slumber." Slumber? What's this voice talking about? Link bent down a little and looked at the device. It was shaped like a rectangle with a glowing circle on the back. The design of the 'slate' around the circle made it appear as if it was an eye of some sort. Link was just confused. What was this thing? Why didn't he remember anything?

Following the advice of the voice, Link picked up the slate and held it horizontally. It suddenly popped up the same eye symbol that was on the back, as if it had just turned itself on. He had never seen this device before, and yet...something seemed familiar about it.

With the device now gone, the pedestal fell back into place, which caused the door to open. Immediately, he walked forward, hoping to find someone or something else to help him. Sadly, all that he found were some boxes and two containers. He walked up to the container on the left, furthest from the door he just came out of, and sat in front of it. He has definitely seen this container before. He was positive.

He sat there for a few minutes, trying to muster up the brainpower to figure out what he was supposed to do. After staring at it long enough, he finally realized what it was. The word hit him like a ton of bricks: chest. He was looking at a treasure chest. Once it clicked, he immediately opened it, as if he had opened a thousand chests before. Inside was what at first appeared to be rags, but he soon saw that it was a shirt. A really old shirt, to be exact. The sleeves were a bit on the short side, but hey, it was better than nothing.

After sliding the shirt on, he went and, for some reason, kicked the second chest open. He grabbed his foot, feeling a painful sensation he hadn't felt in generations. The chest opened, though, revealing some trousers and a pair of old shoes. They were a bit run down on spots, but he slid them on anyway. Despite being a bit too short, they were surprisingly comfortable.

Now that he was fully clothed, he had to figure out how to get out of the room. It didn't take him long, though, as he approached the other door and found that it also had a pedestal. If the room he came from gave him a slate, maybe this one would take it, allowing him access out of this place. He walked in front of it when the voice interrupted him. "Hold the Sheikah Slate up to the pedestal. That will show you the way." He placed the slate on the pedestal, expecting it to take it, but it instead caused the pedestal to change colors.

"Authenticating…" the pedestal roared. It sounded weird, echoey, and mechanical, but nonetheless, it worked. "Sheikah Slate confirmed." The center of the door, containing the eye symbol, began to glow, and the door soon opened, flooding the room with rays of light, similar to what he saw not too long ago. He walked in front of the light, drowning in its yellow beam. As he felt the warmth on his face, he was suddenly taken out of this place. He was no longer there...

He stood in the middle of a lush green field. The grass was almost as tall as he was, and he was chasing after a noble steed that he was given for his 9th birthday. The two were incredibly close, a sight that was very pleasing to his parents. After he hopped on to his horse, he was no longer covered by the grass. He was above it all, and he felt the strong light on his body. The warm, loving light. "Link..." He heard his parents say. "Link..." They uttered once more. Link…

Suddenly, Link was returned to his spot, right in front of the door.

"Link…" The voice from before spoke, interrupting his train of thought. He shook his head, running his hands through his air, trying to understand what he just saw, who was talking to him, where he was, all of it. He was so confused.

"You are the light-our light-that must shine upon Hyrule once again. Now...go."

Hyrule… Link thought. Why did that sound so familiar? So...important? His eyes soon adjusted to the light, allowing him to notice the stairs leading up to a hole that appeared to be the exit. He bolted for the door, excited to get out and experience the light he felt just a moment ago. He quickly scaled the wall in front of him, giving him access to the rest of the stairs. He ran to the light…

Finally, he was out of the place he was in, wherever that was. He ran to the edge of a cliff, overlooking a forest below him and a castle and mountain in the distance. The view was breathtaking. Link actually took a step back in reverence to this sight. He couldn't believe how beautiful it all looked. After taking in the sights for a few minutes, he turned to his right to see a bright yellow light peeking out from behind the mountain range to the east. He stared at it, and his eyes began to hurt. He looked down and rubbed his eyes, wondering what he looked at that would hurt his eyes so bad. Soon, the word came back to him. Sun. That was what he was looking at. That was also what provided the light in his train of thought not so long ago.

He missed this sun.

As he surveyed the landscape, he noticed an old man standing not so far down the slope from him. The man turned and walked away, taking residence near a fire under a big rock. Link was relieved to see another living person. Answers... Link thought. He began to make his way over when he accidentally kicked his foot against something. Link bent over and found a tree branch at his feet. Holding it in his right hand just felt so...natural. Almost as if he had done this before.

After a little bit of playing around with the branch, Link made his way to the old man.

"Oho ho! Well met, stranger! It's rather unusual to see another soul in these parts." The old man spouted.

"Who...are...you?" Link tried to ask, but his voice struggled to form the sentence. He was never good with words.

"Me? I'll spare you my life story." The old man replied. "I'm just an old fool who has lived here, alone, for quite some time now. What brings a bright-eyed young man like you to a place like this?"

Link looked around once more, before asking, "Where...are...we?"

"Answering a question with a question. That is fair enough. As I cannot imagine our meeting to be a simple coincidence...I shall tell you. This is the Great Plateau. According to legend, this is the birthplace of the entire kingdom of Hyrule." The old man slowly rose from his spot and pointed at a decaying building, a little ways off. "That temple there...Long ago, it was the site of many sacred ceremonies. Ever since the decline of the kingdom 100 years ago, it has sat abandoned, in a state of decay. Yet another forgotten entity. A mere ghost of its former self…I shall be here for some time. Please let me know if I may be of service."

Link nodded at the old man and took off down the hill. The world was so beautiful. He decided he was going to explore some more, maybe wait to see if his voice would come back. The old temple seemed like a good place to visit. Maybe he can seek refuge there later that day.

It was on his way over to the temple when he was encountered with that voice once more.

"..." It mumbled. "Link…" Link looked around, trying to figure out who was talking. "Link. Head for the point marked on the map in your Sheikah Slate." Link, confused as ever, raised the Sheikah Slate to his face. He noticed a small yellow dot a little bit away from his current location. He looked ahead to see if he could find what the yellow dot may be. That's when he saw another one of those pedestals, surrounded by rock. He looked at his slate, and then back at the rock.

He knew what he had to do.