There is a tale in Hyrule that has lived on for centuries- one of a heroic boy and a legendary blade that vanquished the land of evil for countless generations.
This boy was often the bearer of a legendary gift from the Goddesses- the Triforce of Courage; symbolized by the sacred triangle mark on his hand. He was always of Hylian blood…
But the Hylians have long since dwindled in number. An era of peace has been lasting for over 5 centuries since the last bearer of the Triforce of Courage existed, and humans have become the dominant species of Hyrule.
The era of peace is about to come to an abrupt end- but with only one Hylian left, who can possibly save Hyrule now?
The answer lies in the Great Sea… a world uncorrupted by time's cruel fate.
The Legend of Zelda; Timeless Sea
The sand of unyielding waters- smooth and fine; gave birth to a monstrous hulk of a creature tonight. By the light of the moon, erupting from the white foamy waves, a beast emerged with a ravenous gasp, a heavy splutter as its flesh leaked crimson.
With shaky tension, it hauled itself atop the sand of the beach, the lithe arms, once dangerously steady, now beaten and sporadic. Ashamed of the dark trail left behind it, the unknown creature hauled its entire bulk out of the white waves; collapsed with a raspy thud on the cool sand.
The beach was empty; quiet. The beast heaved heavy breaths and lay motionless there, it's strength neither rising or falling. Sheer rock walls amassed in front of it, running along the beach length. Port side- a clever staircase arose amidst the rock, a structure stood proudly in the night, its yellow lights dim.
Hopeful.
Amidst a curious display of solid machinery, brute figures wrought from steel, a pretty thing stood out. Her long brown hair tumbled down her light but firm shoulders, crowning her elegant facial features that made her skin glow warmly. And with a lock tucked behind her ears, her true nature was revealed.
A gentle point to the top of her pale ear's helix, almost like a light pinching- pointed ears of the ancient Hylian race.
These were the gentle Zelda's attributes- a fine girl. Her heart was as pure as her looks.
A warm sigh she breathed- she adjusted her spectacles and swiveled off her chair, gracefully snatching up her knapsack from the floor, zippering it shut as she walked to the door. A warm smile to another in the room- older, wise.
"Good evening, Professor." She said as she strode through the door, her hands pushing the handle down firmly and swaying the door open. The spectacled professor nodded with a gentle smile of his own. "Good night, Zelda. Drive safely." The Hylian giggled politely. "Of course, Professor. I can make it a couple miles down the road; no worries." And she exited the building.
The very building that overlooked the mangled beast, one who erupted from the waves in a painful tremor not 24 hours beforehand.
The Great Sea glistened with a warm sunset as Zelda walked to her car. She had seen the sight so often working at the laboratory as a marine biologist- the sun over the water. But no matter how many times she saw it, she was always fascinated for a look after work, which was done at a very nice time at sunset almost every day.
Her bag on her shoulder, she leaned against the railing of the rock cliff that amassed across the beach. Her blue eyes were glowing with the moving fire of the ocean reflected in them. So peaceful… the sunset. The glowing ball seemed to take all the troubles of the day with it as it sunk into the horizon.
Oh, troubles indeed. Work was slow at the laboratory- it was about time the team went out on another field trip to gather data.
A gentle sigh- Zelda scanned the pretty, orange water below. Red mixed with orange, and then white at the cresting waves on the beach, which reflected wetly an orange color of its own.
Zelda peered at the beach a little harder. Funny- she didn't remember a rock being there. A rather large rock, it looked like, too.
Gentle features creased in puzzlement. There were never rocks on that beach. So why was there a huge, dark mass in the sand?
Excited now, she grinned. Something must have washed ashore!
Her feet padded swiftly down the stairs towards the beach below. As she got closer, she was more and more curious about this thing- what could it be? Driftwood? A boat? What she really hoped for was a creature!
Feet on the sand now, Zelda adjusted her glasses, tilting her head away from the glare of the setting sun to her right. The mass was still unidentifiable- she had to get closer. So she jogged a little; excited.
Her heart was in her throat, now- the thing was definitely not a non-living object.
It had scales all over.
"Nayru…" she breathed, crouching down, eyes wide. Scales, large but smooth. Several fins jutted out, a little torn- the thing's flesh was torn as well in areas.
It didn't appear to be alive. She walked right up to it, curious about the blonde, hair-like strands at the supposed head of the creature.
Hair? On a sea-creature?
No. Not just hair- skin. Nicely-tanned skin, at that- and human.
Yet the thing was absolutely enormous.
Red with excitement, she contemplated calling Professor Bluff right then and there to tell him. But she wanted a closer look, just in case. So she knelt down at the creature's head, delicate hands running along the wet, golden strands of hair.
"Human hair…" She looked over the thing's enormous shoulders at the rest of the body. "…and fish scales…?" She giggled nervously. "…a merman?" She absent-mindedly stroked the creature's wet hair. Looking down now, she saw that indeed, large human arms extended from the beast- the head was face-down in the sand. Was this thing even alive?
Zelda courageously ran her hands on the supposed merman- down where his face would be. As his hair cascaded at her touch, she gasped when a she caught sight of something more remarkable on him then the rest of his body.
He was a Hylian.
Zelda admired his ears with newfound fascination. Amazing- she had never seen other Hylian ears besides her own. As she looked at them, she didn't realize that she was evidently leaning on his big head.
A groan elicited from the merman, and Zelda was frozen in place quite suddenly. His head shifted a little, and she held back a squeal- she didn't expect him to move, or even be alive!
Link snorted suddenly. Groaning in puzzlement, he lifted his face out of the sand, growling softly at the warm little thing that was tugging his hair- its legs in his vision. He was sore all over- especially his neck. He could barely lift his head, let alone his arms, to touch the little creature on his forehead.
No need- it got off on its own.
Zelda was shaky with startlement at the growls and movement. She slid off hastily and tumbled backwards, falling on her rump with a little "eep". She winced at the pain of the blunt sand, but she looked up, seeing a startling large male face looking at her. Pretty blue eyes- they were dark and sharp, the color of the ocean. They danced lightly, scouring her body. Then they softened, for some reason.
Link was ultimately surprised to see a human right in front of his nose. She looked right at him, her small bright eyes, with a look of fear. He twitched his lips, looking her over- such a delicate body she had. His eyes softened, and he deemed her to not be a threat. But what was she doing on his head before this?
Groaning softly with ache, he pulled himself up on his arms, towering over the little human on the sand beneath him- she squeaked a little at his stature. Stiffly, he smoothed a hand through his hair, then his face, frowning at the sand that covered it. He stuck his tongue out and spit some grains from his mouth.
The human girl stood up now right under him, looking at him with awe. Normally, Link would ignore humans- but this one seemed… special. He put his attention on her again, looking at her with curiosity- her gentle features, and soft, long hair.
He couldn't help but stare.
Zelda was utterly fascinated at Link- his whole body was completely out of the ordinary and mystical. He hadn't said anything yet, though, and she wondered if he could talk- this whole time, she also kept forgetting to call Professor Bluff about her discovery.
"Are you alright?" She asked him now, and noticed dried blood and cuts on him now that she was looking for them. He was really beat up. Link looked at her with slight surprise, as if he didn't expect her to start talking.
Link felt a little ashamed, now- no one had ever talked to him before. He didn't even know what she was saying. You? He knew that… she was talking about him, alright, but…
He pursed his lips sheepishly and looked down, then up at her again. He wanted to say something, but he didn't know what word he should use. Come to think of it, he only really knew how to say his name.
Zelda's look softened when she saw him struggle for words. She nodded knowingly, fixing her glasses nervously and straightened up. "That's okay. I can see that you're hurt. You're in luck, my friend- you're right next to the place I work at; a marine research lab!" She beamed, standing up now and back to gaze at him further.
Link coughed a little, eyes wide. Her words blew right over his head. Ashamed further, he looked away, tucking his arms under his chest to relieve their stretch.
Zelda was disdained by an awkward silence. Blue eyes tingling, she made a small noise with her mouth, attempting to whimper. How odd… was he purposely ignoring her? Or did he really have no idea what she was saying? She had to make sure.
"Mister?" She said, and Link pricked his ears a little, just so she knew he was still listening. He concentrated on the sand, which suddenly became rather fascinating. Zelda cleared her throat. "Please, uh, look at me if you know what I'm saying."
Link recognized a little of her words, but no more. He looked at her slightly- not enough to see her clearly, but enough for her to be in his vision. Zelda sighed. Now what? She couldn't even communicate with him.
At a loss, she dialed up the professor's number and talked to him- her excitement was a little beaten down by now.
As she did so, Link groaned in pain. Geeze, that thing really dug into his ribs back there. His face scrunched up in agony as he rolled heavily onto his back and groaned, his tail curling up a little next to him in reflex, as one clenches his fist in hurt.
The phone call to the professor was short- he was on his way down already. But Zelda hung up fast so she could see what was wrong with the aquatic humanoid. "Oh Goddesses!" She exclaimed, fixing her glasses and rushing to his side as he trembled, breathing raggedly in the warm sunset. She hastily ran her clammy hands on his tender side, feeling his skin tremble immediately at her touch. Link breathed a growl involuntarily and glared at her, arms stiff, not wanting to lash out and hit her.
The girl felt her spine tingle at the sound he made, and she trembled a little, feeling her knees get weak. "I'm s-sorry," she spluttered, gulping nervously as he continued still to seethe in agony. "But I have to find out what's wrong with you!" She placed her hands on his trembling body, making his tail whip fiercely close to her.
"Easy, easy!" she yelled, startled, scared. Link had now placed his hands on the ground and thrust his face right up to her, teeth bared. Stupid girl- didn't she know that he didn't want her to touch him? His blue eyes were fierce with rage, and his finned tail flicked dangerously, splashing into the water of high tide.
Zelda jumped away immediately, seeing this wild young man react so threateningly. She felt so crushed by his malevolence- so much that she almost started crying. She felt weak again- and she involuntarily fell over on her side, dazed, breathing irrationally. Why was he acting this way towards her? She never did anything to him…
Then again, he was behaving exactly like an injured animal. She had to assume- even though he was quite human, he was just too wild to even understand her words. He didn't even want her TOUCHING him.
'I have no reason to feel hurt by him.' She reasoned. 'He's acting almost purely out of instinct. I have to treat him as I would an injured whale, or shark.' And at that, she got up with newfound confidence.
The professor was already speedily down the stairs- the look on his face mirrored to her first expression at the sight of the merman. "By the gods!" He said, fixing is glasses as he looked at the restless creature. "This is something that has never even turned up in history books!" He looked at Zelda with awe, who breathed a sigh of excitement. "He's very hurt, professor. But more so, he's extremely wild- please don't go near him!" Bluff nodded.
"I see." He said, and walked a little ways closer to Link, who was watching the two with clouded eyes. He perked up a little as the newcomer approached. "Hello there." Bluff said to him, and Link just sighed. Another one trying to talk to him? He wasn't in the mood for their babble. "I am professor Bluff. I see you are in need of assistance. Will you allow me to take you under my wing next door, to heal you?" He asked Link cheerfully, and Zelda watched with intent.
Miffed, Link just looked away, at the rocks ahead, annoyed at the humans. He was much too tired to bother with them- if they didn't leave him alone soon, he'd have to go to more extreme measures to get them to leave him in peace to die.
For the god's sake, he just wanted to die quietly!
When Link did not answer Bluff's question, he stood up and straightened his spectacles, and turned with a smile to Zelda. "He did not say no. So now we can be free to tranquilize him and use any means necessary to help the poor creature." Zelda nodded, pursing her lips. "Excellent, professor. But I have a question- how are you going to get close enough to him to inject him?"
Bluff left the question hanging as he fumbled through his bag and took out a firearm-like object and a bottle with a syringe dart. Zelda's lips formed a perfect "O" of surprise, and she bent down to look as Bluff filled the dart with the correct amount of fluid.
"I'd say he weighs about, what, 8 tons? 8 and a half?" He looked at her briefly, and she nodded a slight approval. He measured out the fluid and put the dart in the gun. Then he stood up, adjusted his aim at the merman, stepping a little closer to get a good shot.
Link saw the firearm aimed at him, and furrowed his brow. What, so they were going to try to kill him now? Perfect. As much as he would have loved a quick death by a bullet, the gun was much too small to kill him from that distance. The merman poised himself, watching, as Bluff stood there aiming, then cocked the gun and shot it.
There was hardly a noise, and immediately Link felt a sting on his neck. Baring his teeth, he put a hand on the spot, gasping inwardly when he felt a small dart sticking out from his skin. He pulled it out to look at it, confused, but otherwise, he felt no pain, just a small sting.
And then he felt tired, all of a sudden.
Moaning, he heaved a sigh and felt the need to rest his head on the sand. He did so, looking at the two humans, hearing them talk, then felt his arms and body go limp and calm as he fell into a deep, deep sleep.