It's about time I finally got this story written down and preserved. In order to tell this story, I'm going to have to give a little background information on myself. My name is Matthew Smith. That's not my last name, since I don't feel comfortable giving it. I'm adopted. I was in a car accident when I was 3, which killed my biological mother. My biological father did bad things that prevented him from being able to have custody of us.
I, and a few of my brothers were then taken in by a woman who shouldn't have been allowed to raise children. I was kept in diapers, forced to swallow food rather than chew, was kept locked in a bedroom with my brothers and not let out, so we had to designate a corner to do our business, and I was evidently traumatized to the point that simply raising your voice was enough to send me into the corner and hide.
Eventually, my parents, who I shall call the Smiths, won custody of myself and some of my brothers since they were the ones my biological mother wanted to take us in anyway. Only my brother J and I stayed with the Smiths though. With J and I added to the Smiths, the entire family consisted of 3 brothers and 4 sisters, not including myself. That's 8 kids and 2 parents.
Socially and emotionally stunted as I was, I was not prepared to deal with the life I'd been given at that point. School was nightmarish as year after year, my peers would torment me for various things, being different, and not having a thick skin. I was a particularly sensitive kid. Church wasn't much better, since my peers there were a bit nicer, but still didn't really want anything to do with me. I can't blame them. My elementary school pictures reveal me as an almost painfully white, skinny, small, child with squinty eyes and disturbingly pointed canines. I looked demonic.
Home life wasn't much better either. The parents already had full time jobs to make ends meet and keep all of us fed. They'd usually arrive home exhausted, watch the news, Mom would cook dinner, we'd eat as a family and I'd watch as the others talked, keeping quiet myself. No one really had much time for me. I hardly knew my oldest sister at all. My oldest brother was strict and didn't interact with me much. My second oldest sister was strict but nice, I often went to her, if J wasn't around, if my siblings were being mean to me. Beyond that though we didn't interact much either. My third oldest sister was fun and a bit rebellious, but didn't interact with me much. The few times she babysat me she'd usually let me do whatever I want and watched TV herself. My second oldest brother, J, was my favorite. He'd talk to me and we'd play games sometimes when he wasn't busy with schoolwork. But then he went to college… but more on that later.
My third youngest brother just barely younger than J, didn't like me at all. He was the youngest male before I came along. He was rather volatile towards me, often trying to get me in trouble and threatening me. I didn't find out till much much later, way after this story starts in fact, that he was actually jealous of me. Still not sure why. The title of youngest son isn't much to brag about seriously. My youngest sister, only two years older than me, was my playmate until she hit double digits. Then she turned into a drama queen. Those two were the ones I ended up interacting with the most, and after my youngest sister became a drama queen, it quickly became apparent that she didn't like me very much either. Between the dislike or just being too busy, I quickly learned to keep to myself, and tried not to be noticed as much as possible.
With most of my family either not really acknowledging my existence (Or acknowledging it enough to show dislike), school being a nightmare, and church not much better, my last hope was my brother J. He was the last one to play with me, talk to me, and treat me like someone worthwhile to get to know and talk to. I didn't feel neglected by him. But then he went to College. I was all alone. I admit that I cried as I watched his plane leave. I quickly found out that no one liked to listen to me, so I kept silent, not talking to anyone unless spoken to.
A year passed. My brother J came back from college. I was overjoyed. I finally had someone to talk to again! So I started to tell him all about what he missed while he'd been gone. Not even 10 minutes passed before he yelled at me to shut up. A part of me broke then, and I realized that when my brother left, he never really came back. He was still J, but he wasn't my J anymore. I gave him the silence he wanted. I never really spoke unless spoken to ever again.
That's not to say I had a bad life though. There were good times as well. Family meals, prayer at night before bedtime, that sort of thing. It just seemed sometimes that the bad times drowned out the good more often than not, considering there was quite a bit of it. Still not the worst life ever, and I'm grateful for what I did have.
Not long after this is when this story begins.
I'm 10, almost 11 years old. I'd upset my parents and gotten grounded again. Ever since I got grounded the first time in first grade, I usually ended up getting grounded for a week every couple of months. I never could seem to get anything right. I just wanted to make my parents happy, and pleased with me. They always seem to be yelling at my brothers and sisters for something or other, which scares me, the yelling that is. I vowed to do my best to make them happy so they wouldn't have to yell at me, but it doesn't seem to work. They yell at me too. Not as often as the others, but they do.
I'd just gone to bed having been grounded and yelled at, feeling particularly alone. I wanted to escape. I wanted to have someone love me and simply be happy to have me around, and be happy when I succeeded and helped me when I made mistakes, instead of yelling at me for them. I cried myself to sleep that night.
It's the middle of the night, when a large boom of thunder and lightning awakens me. I live in Florida, and I'm no stranger to lightning storms, so when I say that was loud, I mean it was LOUD. I jerked awake, staring out the window at the rain pouring down so thick I couldn't see even a foot outside. Another clap of lightning and thunder hits. It was scarily close and unlike any other time I'd previously experienced lightning, it shook the house. It knocked the power out too.
I jumped out of bed, only to have my fear increase as I found the bed below my bunk and the hide-away bed where my two brothers sleep empty. I ran out of my room and down the hall, checking rooms only to find everyone gone, including my parents. Not even the pets are around. The only time this many are gone is if they're out somewhere. Did they leave me here?
I run to the front window and check outside. A flash of lightning reveals the van is gone. I only have a few seconds to contemplate that I'm all alone, before I spy something in the reflection of the window. Behind me! I whirl around and freeze in fear at the sight of a skull with burning red eyes. The skeleton body and armor its wearing I notice next, but the eyes hold my attention. I miss the sword with the jagged blade coming. The pommel knocks into my skull with a thunk and I collapse unconscious.
The next thing I know, I'm lying in a bed that's so comfortable and luxurious, I don't wish to open my eyes. I felt a feather comforter, and the biggest fluffiest pillow below my head. It's too bad the sun streaming in from the window was stabbing into my eyes, and the dull throbbing headache I had wasn't helping matters. I finally opened my eyes and found myself in a stone room you'd expect to see in a castle. I appear to be in a ward full of beds for guests that's doubling as a clinic. There are six beds in total, and I can just make out that four of them are occupied besides mine. The one next to mine holds a guy so wrapped in bandages he looks like a mummy.
I sit up and at this point I discover I'm naked. I feel outrage at this, unbelieving that someone could've stripped me naked. My modesty has been violated! I want to find clothes. There's a dresser against the wall on the opposite side of the bed next to a door. There's also a door down the end of the hall. My bed is closest to the wall with all the other beds to my left.
The door at the end of the ward opens. In walks a brownish grey alien with tentacles! Frightened, I throw myself under the covers. My headache takes this moment to spike me with agony, and I scream in pain, then freeze, even more frightened that it heard me. I hear the thing getting closer. I'm almost hyperventilating.
The alien touches me. I pull away from the touch. I can hear it make noise, though I can't tell what it is over the sound of my heartbeat and my breathing. Another touch comes. I ball up as far away as possible. I feel the bed shift as something sits on the bed. Something wraps around me and picks me up. I fear this is the end. I'm going to die, eaten or chucked out the window, or some other horrible end.
The thing, whatever it is, starts rocking me, holding me close. It takes me a few seconds before my mind registers this, then it takes me a few seconds to get over the disbelief. I'm feeling light headed. The hyperventilating got to me. I can hardly breathe. Almost immediately the part of the quilt covering my face is pulled away. I close my eyes from the sudden light aggravating my headache, but also getting the idea in my head that if the thing thinks I'm asleep, maybe it'll leave me alone. Not the smartest plan, but I was desperate.
It proved unnecessary however. I soon realized that the limbs holding me are arms, and the chest I'm being cradled against is very human. The relief combined with the fact that I'm being rocked, something I've dreamed of experiencing, particularly the feeling of love, warmth, and security that comes with it, leaves me doing an impression of being boneless. The person simply holds me closer in response.
I've never felt so loved before than I did in that moment. That someone cared for me enough to hold me and rock me, ME, to simply make me feel better and calm me down, filled me with a happiness and peace I'd never known before. I wished to simply bask in that moment forever.
Just as I thought it couldn't get any better than this, the person rocking me started humming Zelda's Lullaby, my favorite song to fall asleep to. Ever since I heard it, just listening to it filled me with a sense of peace and would lull me to sleep even if I was the one humming it to myself. To have someone else humming it to me now… I had to know who this person was.
Shyly, I cracked my eyes open to look, only for them to fly open wide in shock. Who else would be rocking me and humming Zelda's Lullaby, but Zelda herself! Though she's currently in her disguise as Sheik. I note idly that her disguise must magically transform her into a man (either that or she binds her breasts, but I didn't know that at the time.) Zelda disguised as Sheik has much darker skin, red eyes instead of blue, and blonde straw like hair. His face is boyish though very feminine.
In my shock, I could hardly notice the passage of time. I do know we sat like that for a while, Sheik watching me and humming Zelda's Lullaby and rocking me. I would have been content to stay in that moment forever.
Eventually, Sheik got up and carried me through a door to the right I hadn't noticed before. At this point I'd been lulled to a point where I was pretty much putty in her hands. The room we entered was a bathroom. Sheik kept hold of me with one arm and used the other to turn the knobs and start filling the tub with nice warm water.
Soon she stopped the tub from filling, and then gently pulled away the quilt and set it aside. It was at this point I was stunned into a state of blank shock. I'm naked. I'm naked in front of Zelda AKA Sheik. I'm naked in front of the girl whom I've had the biggest crush on for months since I first saw her as an adult in Ocarina of Time. Completely naked, bare, and exposed… and I didn't care. But, my modesty… shouldn't I care? But I didn't. I couldn't bring myself to. I was confused.
Sheik, for her part, was very gentle with me, washing me and moving me where she wanted so she could reach my back. My confusion was soothed away by her touch, and I simply let it go. I followed her non verbal directions in a kind of daze. Letting go of the nudity issue, being bathed like this by Sheik… actually feels really nice. The feeling of warmth and caring her rocking me had infused me with was only being increased by her gentle ministrations.
Once finished, she took me out of the bath and started drying me in the softest, fluffiest white towel I've ever felt. I'd never felt so pampered or cared for and I didn't want it to end. Almost as if in response to my thoughts, Sheik simply wrapped me back up in the quilt and took me back to my bed, sat, and continued to rock me.
Eventually this dream come true was interrupted by my growling stomach. Sheik gave a soft chuckle hearing it. Her voice is soft and gentle, but pitched like a boy's voice. She dressed me in a soft white tunic, then carried me out the door across from the bed, down the hall, up a staircase and into a dining hall with a roaring fireplace. Up until this point Sheik had been silent. Now, she asked if I was ok with seeing Aunt Beast.
Before I could answer, the tentacle alien thing from earlier walked in. I was swiftly distracted though by the trays of food it brought and my stomach grumbled again. It set the trays down in front of me, apologized for scaring me earlier, and I dug in with gusto. I realize now not acknowledging it's apology with nothing but a smile before digging in like that was rude, but I couldn't help myself, I was so hungry.
Finally I was full enough to slow down and notice the two of them watching me in amusement, though how I can tell a tentacled brownish grey alien with no facial features is amused I've no idea. It was as I finished eating, that my brain finally started to engage and I started to piece things together. The first thing I determined, and said aloud, was that this wasn't a dream, was it. I'd thought it was, for nothing so wonderful could have been anything otherwise.
It was also at this point, that the name Aunt Beast and the description of the alien finally made the connection in my brain. Right in front of me is Aunt Beast of the planet Uriel from the storybook A Wrinkle In Time! But what is she doing here with Sheik, on what I'm assuming is Hyrule?
Thanks to Aunt Beast's passive telepathy, it quickly comes out that I know who the two of them are. I promise to keep Zelda's secret. They explain to me that Ganondorf sent Stalfos to several locations using a special portal that they'd since destroyed. At each one, the Stalfos targeted specific people, though they've yet to determine why they were targeted or who they are. I am the youngest of those targeted and also the last one they rescued. (I'm guessing my age is what caused those two to treat me so delicately when I woke up)
They also explained to me that something had happened to Link in the Water Temple. He has cursed wounds that they can't treat, nearly all of his bones are broken, as if he'd fallen repeatedly and couldn't heal himself, and his iron boots had been fused to his feet. It had taken nearly all Sheik and Aunt Beast had to undo the magic holding them on and get those off. Not even Navi escaped whatever happened to Link unscathed. For whatever reason, she wouldn't wake up.
I wanted to help Link and said so. To my surprise and relief, I was then informed that I was probably the only one who could help. Whatever the wound affecting Link is, it seems to correspond with some type of energy they both could detect within me. Sheik said that the feeling is familiar to her. Using a song I'd not heard before, she warped the both of us to a place deep within the lost woods. Once there, I watched in surprise as we entered a dark temple and came across a large ring set in the back of a large chamber. Once we had light, I touched the ring.
Immediately, lights around the ring started activating, and soon, a swirling blue portal sat in the center of the giant ring. For my part, I couldn't shake a sense of déjà vu I had in using the thing. Sheik and I walked through. On the other side, I felt rather nauseous. We'd come through to find ourselves inside a temple that looks almost exactly the same as the one we left. For a moment, I thought nothing had happened, other than feeling ill.
That's when a cacophony of voices entered my brain. I couldn't make heads or tails of it. It didn't hurt so much as I couldn't handle the noise. I covered my ears to block it all, only for the sound to suddenly decrease to a bearable level. Sheik didn't hear anything.
Suddenly, two beings uncloaked with their weapons activated, ready for anything. I jerked in surprise at the sight of two Protoss Dark Templar. Next thing I know, several Protoss and Humans are in the temple, and we're greeted by Zeratul of all beings. He escorts the both of us out of the temple and into one of the very tall golden buildings farther away.
While there, we end up talking. Sheik is cautious at first, but when I vouch for Zeratul, much to both their surprise, she explains a bit of what's going on and what prompted them to travel here. Zeratul is surprised to hear about the Protoss Warp Gate we used to travel here. Such a thing on a planet seemingly untouched by the Protoss is a rather big mystery.
An even bigger mystery and surprise is when Zeratul reveals that I'm housing the remains of a Protoss spirit inside my body. Such a thing is unprecedented, and the fact that I'm functional despite it is a miracle and a half. For all that though, they can't get a read on who's spirit it is. It's almost like I'm a walking Dragoon or something. Evidently the state I'm in is very similar to the stage just before a Dragoon exoskeleton is activated with the use of a Khaydarin crystal. It suggested at this point that putting me within the vicinity of a Khaydarin crystal may affect a change, either by transferring the spirit to the crystal for later placing in a Dragoon, or something else.
Knowing I've got a Protoss spirit in me, I'm all for trying to do my best to save whoever it is, especially if it could aid in helping Link. Zeratul apologizes for not being able to send anyone to come and help. Everyone is needed to keep the city running. I ask about that and find out a doozy.
Evidently things are going really badly for the Protoss. The events of the Brood War game have passed, and Kerrigan is still wreaking unholy hell on the galaxy. The Protoss and Terrans are surviving in a manner similar to the Rebel Alliance from Star Wars by moving often and maintaining their settlements in bubble shields of invisibility. It takes a LOT of energy to keep it running, and requires the constant upkeep of nearly all the Protoss save a few. The one here on Shakuras is one of the last few still hidden from the Zerg, and they can't really spare anyone for anything. Zeratul is doing his best to find a way to end Kerrigan's rampage, but things aren't looking good. We actually caught him just in time as he'd just come back from a mission, hence why he can spare this time to help us, rather than sending us back empty handed.
Knowing this may be the only way to help Link, I agree to be placed in proximity to a Khaydarin crystal in the hopes of either extracting the Protoss spirit, or at least causing something to happen. Desperate actions of desperate people, I know. There were a lot of ways this could backfire, but I insisted. I think I knew then on some level that this was what I was supposed to do, and the other two, embroiled in wisdom and prophecy both as they were, knew it as well.
Rather than go to a Cybernetics Core to pick up a Dragoon Khaydarin core, we made our way to the Xel'naga temple, the same one from the end of the Brood War campaign. It seems fitting in a way. With Zeratul escorting us, most of the Terrans and other Protoss are merely curious rather than alarmed by the new comers. Part of me really wants to explore and meet people, but I can tell that wouldn't really be accepted. These people are really worn down. It's kind of disheartening. I hope that I can not only help Link, but these people as well.
As soon as we step into the Xel'naga temple, I feel this pull directing me in a specific direction. I start walking faster and end up leading us into the bowels of the temple, till we reach a core room that pulses with light, with motes of light floating in the air, and great behemoth Khaydarin crystals in the room. I approached the largest one. Sheik and Zeratul didn't interfere, perhaps recognizing that whatever I'm doing is supposed to happen.
As soon as I lay my hand on the giant crystal, everything turns white. I've been transported to a plain of white with a white sky. I can't even see a horizon. What I do see in this vast openness is a glowing white and blue spirit of a Protoss. It introduces itself as Tassadar and that we're in my mind.
I learned that Tassadar knew upon crashing the Gantrithor into the Overmind that he could not kill him, not completely, even with the combined power of the Light and Dark Templar. The Overmind had ripped open a portal to escape, for even though Tassadar couldn't kill him, he could destroy his body and change his soul irrevocably. Tassadar, rather than let the Overmind escape, destabilized the portal, and flung them both on a chaotic stream of energy into the far reaches of space. Even he didn't know where he would end up.
It was on that trip that he discovered that the Overmind was a slave to another will, one long dead, but still inflicting its directive on the Overmind, to spread across the cosmos and consume and destroy everything in its path to reach the ultimate goal of becoming perfect. Evidently the Xel'naga created their own worst enemy, doing such a thing to the Overmind, which resulted in their destruction.
Tassadar then stripped the Overmind of this directive and purified it. By doing this, the majority of the Overmind seemed to dissipate into the cosmos, but the last little bit of it was absorbed into Tassadar's very being, empowering him, but not changing him over much. It did allow him to do what he did later though.
Eventually, Tassadar was ejected from the stream of energy near a planet, Earth, almost completely bereft of energy. If Tassadar didn't move quickly, he would die, and he knew he had to survive, as he foresaw what Kerrigan would do to the galaxy if left unchecked. So he searched for a vessel to perhaps store himself and regain energy. It was almost divine providence that the first place he looked, he found me.
I was about to die. A mere child, and the first place he looked he knew immediately there was something about me. He quickly determined I would be able to host him just fine, and by doing so it would save my life. Evidently the car crash that claimed my mother should have killed me as well, were it not for his intervention. Saving me in this manner seemed right to do so. I agreed, grateful.
Using the power he received from the remnants of the Overmind, he made changes to me that not only saved me, but would also make it easier on myself to host him. It would be as if I wouldn't even know he was there, until the time came when he'd gained enough power to leave on his own. In return, he acted to keep me healthy, healing me and keeping me safe. It's thanks to him I've not experienced a broken bone in my life, though that can also be attributed to my lack of stunts that would result in broken bones. There were only a few times where I'd fallen and might have fractured something if not for him.
More than that though, this explained to me something I felt my whole life. This nagging sensation that I was, different from others. Turns out I really was different. I was the vessel for an alien spirit, one of the greatest heroes of all time. I felt relief knowing this, that there wasn't just something wrong with me, that there was a reason everyone treated me like an outsider, beyond simple cruelty. Tassadar comforted me on this respect, our minds bare to each other in this place.
It was at this point, that Tassadar explained that things had changed. Thanks to the Khaydarin, something unprecedented was happening. Rather than getting the energy needed for Tassadar to separate from me, instead, it seemed to be fusing us into one being, like an Archon. Tassadar had grown fond of me, admiring my perseverance in the face of overwhelming adversity, his words, and that he did not wish to see me destroyed. For all intents and purposes, he had died already, so instead of overwriting me or changing who I was on a fundamental level, he would leave me his power and memories and simply allow himself to fade. His only request was that I do what I can to do what is right and save his people. I didn't even have to think before agreeing. Even so, I tried to stop him, to persuade him from this course of action, but he said it would be better if he simply moved on, rather than see us both perish.
I awoke back in the chamber with Zeratul and Sheik leaning over me, my head in Sheik's lap, and tears in my eyes. I vowed then to myself that I would do as Tassadar asked, not only that, but I would take up his name, and I would do everything within my now considerable power to protect and save those who need me. I would be the hero. I would be Tassadar's living Legacy.