Chapter One
"Well? What was your time on it?" This was it, the moment I had been waiting for all day. I had thought about it while getting ready, while making the thirty minute drive over to another city, and I had been so sure of myself the entire time. Now however, I fidgeted in growing anticipation as those brown eyes fixed on my own pale blue ones. My hands couldn't stop colliding as my fingers poked and prodded each other, rolling around over and over again in nervous habit. This was where I finally got the one up on my childhood friend, Axel, who held a smug look on his face as he asked me that question, which was really his go to facial resting face. The boy was always smirking or looking just absolutely confident in himself. And now I just had to compose myself. No need to look so desperate as I answered, you know? I knew he was going to ask all day, and I had been psyching myself up for just this moment, so why was I such a mess?
I looked at Axel, sucking in a long breath of air before putting on my best victory face. These three numbers; these three... simple numbers, would determine just how much better I was than him. I put on a grin as I uttered the time I had worked so hard for, planting my hands on my hips in a statement of power. I had won. For a minute, It was as if I was holding a silent celebration in my head. Brightly colored streamers filled the space I imagined, as some small little plastic people jumped and cheered my name, red solo cups crashing into one another as whatever their contents were splashed out and down the sides of the plastic cups. Confetti poppers went off, and there were even some fireworks that would have definitely been illegal to shoot of in reality. The air horns of success faded into a deafening silence though as his face didn't change it's stupid smug expression, instead a shrug was just added for insult. I knew then that my little personal party was going to have to go on a hiatus.
"I guess it's a tie then." I frowned as that last word rolled around in my head, growing bigger and bigger, and the party people rolled with it. They rolled out the door, taking the streamers and celebratory food with them. Goodbye Ice-Cream Cake…
How could we possibly have had a tie on something like this?! It wasn't possible, was it? A smart remark had been on the tip of my tongue, but it had stepped right out with the party. Instead, the words that escaped me now were just a jumbled mess of confusion and frustration, my anxious mess from before catching up to me as I ate my inner words and swallowed them in a sad farewell.
"A tie!? There is no way we got the same time speedrunning the game- you.. I can't believe- You're lying!" Remember how I didn't want to look desperate? I think this very moment proved I failed miserably.
Axel just looked at me with that same look of superiority; that assured look of composure that he always managed to hold. I swear the look on his face was the same expression he had always had since I met him. It never changed! It always just kept bringing forth more frustration from the depths of my stubborn inner self, and as a result all I could give him was a quick 'huff' as I stood there with my lips tucked into a disgruntled downward curve. It had to be obvious to him I wasn't ecstatic about losing, especially with this challenge.
My mind began going over every little reason as to why all this was important to me. I, Meredith Lee Collins, have adored The Legend of Zelda all my life. It's a rather large video game franchise that fueled my life with a never ending need for adventure and a lust for an escape into a fantasy world. You know the stereotypical idea that any troubled kid has that one thing that lets them run from the worries and responsibilities of the world? I had a few such things, and one of them was Zelda. The same could be said for Axel, except for the fact I don't believe he is or ever was a troubled kid. No, more like he just held the same passion I did for not just this franchise, but for many more video games, and for the sweet adrenaline of competition. We were both stubborn as all hell and it showed in our friendship. It's amazing how I've managed to still like the guy for this long, anyone else with that attitude would have infuriated me and made me want to strangle them from the very start. From the moment of meeting him in the first grade of school, I had always viewed him as some sort of... rival. He was smart, sarcastic and… ugh, did he know how to push my buttons. I had only approached him cause some girl in our grade had a crush on him, and asked me to go find out if he liked her. I marched up to the all boy's table, where they were having a duel with ever so popular Yu-Gi-Oh cards. I watched for a moment before the tall and tan boy I had come to observe looked up at me with childish smirk.
"Do you want to play?"
It was our first ever duel, our first competition against one another. I had never played but the idea of a little first grade girl beating a boy at a card game seemed… powerful. And I wanted to do it. Ever since that moment, Axel would wave a challenge in my face, push my buttons, and we would fight it out over something else. Unlike most who dared to tease and tread that line, he still succeeded in what most could never do, and that was be my friend. Great friends really, that had lasted past even the end of Highschool, even through me moving like an hour away and losing contact for just a few years. It picked up right where it left off as if I never left our small city in the first place. Yet there was always a sense of inferiority. Maybe that's just a problem I have had with everything and everyone, but it was more noticeable when I was around Axel. His overly confident aura he exuded at all times probably did not help this small problem of mine.
So, in attempt to compensate for this problem. I did what any desperate kid does when they need the validation that they are good at something or even worthy in general. As a means of proving myself, I challenged him to a race. Not your average "Last one to the end of the field has to eat dirt!" type of race either- a race to see who could beat The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time the fastest. It was something I was so confident in that I knew I would win. I could feel it. After all, this was my favorite game of the franchise. It was the one I had grown up with, the first I had ever played. There was some small details that made this race more difficult though. The big kicker was, well, you had to do it with three hearts, which meant you had to do it with bare-minimum health. Whomever completed this quest with the least amount of time spent playing through the game was declared "The Grand Master Champion of Zelda". And I had been certain it would be my title. However, by the looks of it, I wasn't sharing that glory alone. Here we were and the one thing I was so very confident in had blown up in my face.
"If there's one thing I can promise you, it's the fact that I am not lying. But hey- if it makes you feel better, I'll just say you won and leave it at that." He chuckled to himself as it was very obvious I was still pouting from the blow to my ego. Our friend Slade, a simple bystander to our conquests, laughed along with Axel. I rolled my eyes, crossed my arms, and plopped down onto Axel's living room couch with a shattered spirit.
"Yeah, whatever. I still probably know more of its lore and such..." I mumbled under my breath as the boys decided to go for a few rounds of Super Smash Bros., another video game Axel could boast more wins over me with. I wasn't the best at fighting games. I wiggled myself into a comfortable spot before letting out a long sigh. It was such a silly thing to be upset over, but I couldn't help myself. I liked to have something to put me higher then others. Just one thing. I took my controller and let the consolation of being able to at least win once or twice, and destroy Slade a few times be enough to warm my sour and chilly disposition.
We played for quite some time, till it was time to go home. Axel bid the "Zelda Master" farewell, and it felt too much like a jab then an actual title. I didn't deserve such a moniker. Without the distraction of SSB, I was left to my thoughts as my mom quietly drove me home, the simple desert landscape we lived in rushing past my window. When we finally arrived back safely, I trudged back to my room, letting my defeat fully sink in, throwing up my arms as I fell back on the springy twin mattress I called my own. I let my feelings of inferiority and despair wash over me for quite some time, watching the fan blades above me turn in a never ending cycle. I sighed, trying to think of a better side to it. Sure, we tied, and maybe I could have done better and won. Maybe I got cocky and didn't try my absolute best. I knew so much though! I had spent years delving into the the lore, the wiki pages, the many theories other fans had created and pieced together my own from my findings and others discoveries. I knew exact names of each monster, of each character, and every little secret of each game. Maybe that deserved to give me an edge in being the Zelda Master. After what seemed like hours ticking by in silence, I finally got up to change into something more comfy, before returning to my bed. Taking out my phone, I tapped into Safari, and found one of my many pages on a Zelda Community Theory page. I spent the rest of my night reading and compiling more info into my memory, before the words on my screen began to blur, and my phone started to grow heavier. I don't remember falling asleep that night, but I did.
One month rolled on by, and had received little to no contact from Axel in quite some time. Slade texted me quite often but Axel sort of, seemed quite busy. I had spent most of the month doing what I normally did, pouring over every inch of Zelda History there was. I had just finished a full notebook of theories and timelines, and it sat on top of my desk, to remind me of all my hard work. I was dedicated to my obsession, alright? It also sadly reminded me of why Axel could be busy, Slade as well. While I had the time to finish up an entire notebook of lore, theories, sketches, and such.. Axel and Slade were off working hard, finishing their senior year of Highschool. It was one of the wonderful consequences of dropping out of highschool. While yes, I now had all these free time to myself, I had no one to do things with, because the more dedicated and focused kids my age were in school. I hadn't dropped out for any super bad reason or anything.. I just found it too overwhelming, and fell behind back in my freshman year. I was so far behind everyone else when I arrived into my senior year that I just began to feel… Hopeless. Not to mention I had a really bad attention span sometimes, something the Doctor's long long ago diagnosed me with, using their fancy titling of ADHD. I just finally gave it up. It was a choice that I was just going to have to live with.
This morning though, was a morning I was grateful I had no school. I had stayed up too late and had decided to sleep in. I was comfy and cozy, cuddled up under my favorite black and gray dragon blanket, imagining myself inside a Zelda game. It was one of the many things I always tried to force myself to dream about. I was starting to drift back into sleep when a very loud 'BUZZ' sounded off next to my left ear. To say I was surprised, would be an understatement. More like 'Shocked', or 'Completely and wholeheartedly annoyed as to what just happened'. You know, the usual reaction you have when what seemed to be a thundering earthquake wakes you up from a nice sleep filled moment.
Upon realizing it was my stupid phone, I reacted with a loud groan filled with all the disgust I could scrounge up. Who or what was causing this disturbance? I rolled over and looked at the screen, blinking the sleep from my eyes as I frustratingly hit my thumb against the glass touch screen several times, trying to unlock the darn thing. When I finally got the phone to open up my messages, my brow furrowed as I stared at Axel's name.
Axel: Hey, are you awake yet? You seriously need to stop sleeping so much. You are missing out.
I scrolled up a bit more to see he had actually sent several messages over the past few hours. I must have really been out for awhile, I had no idea. I slowly typed out a reply, too lazy and too tired to type out proper grammar as I let my head fall back against my pillow.
Me: yea yea what do you want
what exactly did I miss out on
His replies came quickly, as if he had been just sitting and waiting for me to respond. My phone buzzed in my hand, notifying me for a few seconds, almost as if it wouldn't stop if I didn't look at it. I squinted against the light of my iPhone.
Axel: Well, good morning to you too. Look, I really need to tell you something. I'll be there soon. Don't go back to sleep, either.
He sure was talkative today; I began to quietly mumble the texts to myself like a crazy person, wondering what the heck he was up to. I threw my phone down at my side and groaned, rolling back over onto my back.
"What… I am too tired for this, Axel- seriously… could've at the very least..." I slowly pulled myself into a sitting position and sighed. Swinging my legs over the side of my small mattress, I stood and walked to my dresser, rummaging around for some pajama pants at the very least. I normally slept in just a T-shirt and soffes, so it wasn't too difficult to find a clean pair of bottoms to also put on. I climbed down the stairs, stretching as I walked to the front living room. Walking outside, I plopped myself on a small bench we had outside our house, and waited there on the porch. Finally, a truck slowly pulled up in front of my house and a tall, skinny, figure climbed out of the driver's seat, and as he rounded the front of the truck I sighed, giving him an irritated glare. I got up from my spot on the bench and met him at the ivy-covered archway in front of my front door, folding my arms across my chest.
"Alright dude, what the heck do you need to tell me so badly that warranted you showing up at my house? This is a little weird, ya know?" As I continued to grumble I noticed a small box tucked under his arm. He smiled, looking more excited then smug, which was a nice change for once.
"I need you to try this out, just trust me, ok?" He held out the box and I slowly took the small mysterious square from him. I peeked inside, and let out a confused sigh. It was just a Nintendo 64 cartridge? My brow furrowed a little when I noticed that no label was on it. I couldn't help but laugh to myself- this couldn't be for real. Was he trying to play a prank or something?
"What the heck is this- Ben Drowned? What's next; is my Nintendo gonna get possessed and give me hallucinations for the rest of my life if I plop this sucker in? I'm not one to just play any game, Axel, you know that..." He chuckled a minute before shaking his head.
"Just go play it, ok? I'll be waiting." With that he turned around and headed back to his truck. I stood there staring as he left, thoroughly confused. He literally woke me up, and drove all the way to my house… just to give it to me? And then drive away? He wasn't going to stick around to see my reaction to it or anything?
"I'll be..waiting..? What? What in the heck.." I softly ranted to myself as I trudged back inside. He seriously drove all the way here just to give me a blasted game? It was the oddest thing he had ever done in the years I had known him, that's for sure. Yet my curiosity started to get the better of me. If there's anything I knew from these types of stories and situations, this wasn't a good sign. I took out the game cartridge and examined it. It really was just an ordinary gray colored 64 game it seemed.. Just no title on it. I flipped it over and realized the Nintendo symbol..or anything for that matter was there either. It was just a completely blank gray rectangular cartridge. Nothing more, Nothing less. Eventually, I couldn't help but cave in. I was a sucker for mystery.
"Alright… I'll bite."
I walked back upstairs, and began to drag out my console, which sat right below my very old school box TV, setting it up and plopping it down onto my bed. Plugging in my controller, I propped up my pillows and laid back. As my TV lit up, I yawned, awaiting to see what game I was playing. It was black for a whole three seconds before from the top.. A flash of yellow. The bottom left and right corners lit up with color as well as three shapes spun onto the screen Three golden triangles slowly made their way to the very center, and formed a very familiar symbol. I instantly perked up as recognition fluttered through me. A Triforce, from The Legend of Zelda?! I was definitely awake now. Yet what caught my attention was… well, I own both Ocarina of Time and it's sequel, Majora's Mask, the only two Zelda titles for the Nintendo 64. Neither game had this style of introduction. In fact… No Zelda game I had ever played had an intro like this.. so what the heck was I about to play? It seemed to remain frozen on the triforce. For quite some time, I waited for it to move onto the next screen. It became apparent that it wasn't going to change any time soon and I felt a chill down my spine. Kinda creeped out and hoping the game wasn't going to kill me or make me go insane like a certain creepypasta, I got up to restart the console… and just before I could get up all the way off my bed, a strange hiss filled my room. I looked wildly around me but found nothing out of sort. Before I could figure out what was even making the sound, it hit my fingertips. I felt a surge of electricity flow through my hands and up into the rest of my body. My mind grew dull and hazy, and I had trouble keeping my eyes open. What was… going on? My thoughts slowed to a stop as everything seemed to quickly and without warning… disappear.