"Link,"

The boy shifts slightly, the sound ringing in his ears dull and detached. He'd been dreaming of open fields, flowers dotting the lines of the hills, the sweeping fingers of the wind pulling at his hair. He falls into that world again, boots securely held in stirrups, powerful muscles moving beneath him as hooves smash into the worn path.

"Open your eyes."

He's ripped from his saddle. The world falls away. A white light blinds him and suddenly his eyes are cracked open. His vision is blurry.

"Open your eyes."

The voice is persistent. Everything shifts into focus as blue eyes pull back fully. Above him appears to be a strange sort of flower, suspended from the ceiling. Piercing blue lights shine out from the flower's middle section, on on its petals lie strange linear shapes. Link frowns in confusion. Where is he?

"Wake up Link."

He only notices his suspension in the liquid when it starts to drain away. Quick flicks of his blue eyes reveal that he lies in a tub of some sort, head propped up on an uncomfortable slab. He seems to be dressed only in form fitting undergarments as his bare skin shivers when the cold air comes in contact with in. He blinks a few more times, mind still lost in a haze.

He languidly pushes himself up into a sitting position, his new viewpoint revealing much more of the foreign room. Actually, a cave would be a better word to describe it. Strange glyphs cover the walls, and dark fog permeates floats throughout the air. His hair blond locks cling to the side of his face as wet rivulets of the liquid continue to flow off of him.

He seems to be the only one inside this place. But if that's true, then whose voice was he hearing?

He slowly climbs out of the tub and lands on the chilled ground. A shiver runs through his spine. The floor is too smooth to find good traction on with his wet feet so he cautiously takes a few steps forward. Pulsing blue tubes snake through the ceiling and conglomerate into the suspended flower he had awakened to. The whole contraption must be some kind of machine, he realizes. But why was he placed inside of it?

His blue eyes zone in on a pedestal standing a small distance from him. With no other indication of how to leave the cave, he meticulously makes his way over to it. As he nears, the pedestal emits a high pitched noise and the central circle of the device rotates around, slowly rising out of its resting spot. It comes to rest just to have a rectangular slab pivot away from the circle and out towards Link. The shape of an eye is plastered on the tablet, its blue iris staring ominously at the boy. It locks into place and a galaxy of orange dots surrounding the eye start to pulsate.

"That is a Sheikah Slate."

The light voice informs him, ringing gently in his mind.

"Take it. It will help guide you after your long slumber.

Blond brows pull together in a frown. Long slumber? How long has he been asleep? How would this strange slate guide him? Where is he?

After the voice fails to answer his internal questions, Link reaches out and grasps onto the slate. It's heavier than he expected, cold to the touch, and slick in his hands. He holds it up, peering at its dark surface.

Without warning, it flashes to life with a soft sound, causing Link to flinch. The same eye symbol that is present on the back now glows in the same blinding blue. Link feels as though he's seen the object somewhere before, but he can't quite place when. Actually, he can't quite remember anything at the moment. A pit of dread blossoms in his stomach, but he squashes it down for the meantime.

The pedestal resets itself to its original position and the door behind it rumbles, the columns that were once blocking his path now sliding upward to allow him passage. Link attaches the slate to his belt, the movement feeling practiced and familiar, and starts to head for the now open door.

Another dimly lit room greets him, although it is slightly different. Two chests rest on either side of the walkway that stretches out ahead of him. He immediately opens the one to his left and finds a manila colored shirt and a few leather strappings waiting inside. They seem to be quite old, the fabric coarse and at times threadbare. Still, it would do good to rid his skin of the light goosebumps covering it. He slides the ensemble over his head without a second thought. Unfortunately, the shirt ends up being too short as the sleeves barely cover his elbows and part of his lower stomach is left exposed. Still, he figures, it's better than nothing.

The chest on the right thankfully holds a pair of pants and boots that are in a similar state of ware. The knees of the pants seem about to rip and the boots badly scuffed up. Yet Link tosses them on as well, already feeling more comfortable.

Now fully clothed, he descends the slight ramp towards another closed door. He approaches the corresponding pedestal that calls out to him with an orange glow. When he stands in front of it the feminine voice speaks to him again.

"Hold the Sheikah Slate up to the pedestal. That will show you the way."

The voice sounds patient, and yet quite young. Link wonders if the owner is waiting for him outside of the cave, reading to inform him of everything that happened to him.

Eager to leave, Link does as the voice says, delicately placing the slate upon the pedestal's face. The massive door rumbles and the crying eye symbol flashes blue on its center. Then, as expected, the columns raise up and sunlight streams into the cave. Link quickly covers his eyes as he is blinded, and meanders until his is framed in the warm light. A breeze blows into the cave and Link realizes how stale the air inside had felt. His hand limply falls away from his eyes as the voice whispers to him once more.

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

The voice fades and Link finds himself alone in a cave with none of his memories of what happened to him. Stairs lead up and out of the hole ahead of him. They are covered in dust. With no other option than to go forward, he does just that, ascending the stairs.

A large puddle awaits him at the top of the first flight as does a giant boulder that stretches across the entire width of the stairway. Luckily, it is not tall enough to touch the ceiling and Link appraises that he should be able to climb over it. He places his newly acquired brown boots into the puddle and unhappily finds out that they are not waterproof.

Opting to ignore the feeling of water seeping through the leather, he hoists himself up the face of the boulder, surprised at how easily his feet find purchase on the bumpy surface and how practiced the movements of climbing feel. He pulls his body up over the ledge and find only one more flight of stairs between him and the open world. He sees tall pine trees reaching for the bright blue sky and can't help but sprint the rest of the way up the stairs until he is finally free from the damp hole he had awoken in.

Tall grass brushes against the parts of his shins uncovered by his pants and stumbles to a halt at the edge of a cliff. Vast amounts of landscape stretch out before him as he gazes around in wonder. Multitudes of leafy green trees rest beneath him. Enormous ranges of mountains roll in the distance. A massive volcano spews crimson red flames into the sapphire sky.

But the centerpiece of his view is the thing that catches his attention the most. A grand castle sits between the mountains and the volcano, its elegant spires pointed towards the sky. A part of Link reaches for the castle, almost as though the location is of great importance to him.

He turns away from it and the desperate feeling inside him dies down. A myriad of thoughts bubble in his mind ranging from troubled to exhilarated. But they all die down as he beholds a beautiful temple off to his right. And in front of it, a small campfire and what seems to be an large person.

Link's heartbeat picks up. So he isn't alone! He almost stumbles over his own feet in his haste to reach the bottom of the grassy hill. As he nears the campsite he prays that this stranger will have the ability to answer some of his nagging questions.

The man sits cross legged in front of his flickering fire. From his wrinkled face falls a magnificent white beard that covers the dull purple tunic he wears. A similar colored hood is draped over his head, only allowing one dark eye to show above his rather large nose. In his left hand he clutches a walking stick with a sizable lantern attached to it.

Link bounds up to the strange man and waves a hand in greeting to get his attention. The older man glances up at him and breaks into a grin.

"Oho ho! Well met, stranger! It's rather unusual to see another soul in these parts," the older man almost booms, his deep voice taking on a friendly tone.

Link grins back in response, his right hand unconsciously tugging at his too short sleeve. "Who are you?" the boy blurts out, though his voice is rather scratchy from lack of use. He takes a moment to rub his hand along his neck, trying to ease the discomfort that came along with his words.

The man ignores his condition and fixes Link with an amused gaze, "Me? I'll spare you my life story," he chuckles. "I'm just an old fool who has lived here, alone, for quite some time now." His statement makes Link's brows draw together. Surely a place with a temple as grand as the one looming in the distance behind the old man would harbor a decent population, so why would he be living alone?

"What brings a bright-eyed young man like you to a place like this?" The old man asks the distracted boy, breaking him from his thoughts.

But Link couldn't exactly answer a question that he did not know the answer to himself, so he deflects, "Where exactly are we?"

The man raises an eyebrow, "Answering a question with a question. That is fair enough," he muses, taking a long, charred stick and poking the fire with it. He takes a moment to consider his next words. "As I cannot imagine our meeting to be a simple coincidence… I shall tell you."

Link scoots closer to the fire. His hair is still very damp and the excess water has started to soak into his new clothes. The flames warm his skin and his is grateful; he reaches his hands out slowly and rubs them together, trying to ingrain the feeling into his skin.

"This is the Great Plateau," the old man declares, setting the blackened stick across his knees. "According to legend, this is the birthplace of the entire kingdom of Hyrule."

Tendrils of recognition zap through Link, making him snap his head towards the man. Tension pulsates through his nerves. Hyrule.. Why does that name cause such a reaction in him?

The stranger continues to ignore his strange behavior and instead hoists himself to his feet, tossing the fire stick into the hungry flames. He turns away from his camp and extends his gaze on the surrounding area. Link follows suit, taking in the land himself while his body calms down.

There's a pond with a small island planted in the middle of it just down the path from them as well as a large rock that juts out of the ground to create a good diving board to jump into the water. Just beyond that, the temple Link had eyed earlier stands. On closer inspection, Link realizes the state of ruin the building is in. Pillars around it have crumbled, major sections of its high roof have collapsed into the building, and plants have started to climb its stone walls. Link wonders what happened to cause such a grand place to become so dilapidated.

"That temple there… Long ago, it was the site of many sacred ceremonies," The old man sighs. Link tilts his head at him, focusing on his words. A gentle breeze flutters between them, ruffling their clothes in its wake. "Ever since the decline of the kingdom one hundred years ago, it has sat abandoned, in a state of decay." Link blinks his eyes in surprise. No wonder the temple ended up the way it is, being abandoned for such a long time.

The cloaked man ducks his head away from the saddening sight, playing two wrinkled hands on his walking stick. His voice rings with a hint of sadness, "Yet another forgotten entity. A mere ghost of its former self…" Deciding he has had enough of the conversation, the old man waves a hand dismissively. "I shall be here for some time. Please let me know if I may be of service." He then opts to regain his position on the ground, eyes focused once again on the meager fire.

Link, jittery about the sudden end of the conversation, feels as though he needs to do something. So, without a goodbye or really a plan at all, he turns heel and starts a path towards the ruined temple. He figures if he wants answers about this 'Hyrule', that may be the best place to start.