Link was tired.
It was dark, save for a spot of light above him that definitely wasn't there before. It was bright and getting brighter. It was...annoying. A high pitched humming reached his ears, and then a muffled noise. A voice.
"...Open your eyes..."
As if the voice cued it, the light got stronger.
The bright light consumed his vision until it was all he could see, chasing away the darkness. The humming got louder, piercing through his skull uncomfortably.
"Open your eyes..."
The light began to fade, taking the humming with it, turning into a florescent blue.
"Open your eyes."
He opened them.
The blue took shape into some kind of pattern above him. They were still too bright. He closed his eyes again.
"Wake up, Link."
He didn't realize he had lost his sense of touch until it suddenly came back to him. He was in water, submerged so the only thing above the surface was his face.
He blinked a few times, trying to get used to the lighting above him, which wasn't as bright as he had intially thought. It still gave him a headache, though.
The water around him began to recede, flowing away until he was left laying in some type of empty basin. He sat up and looked around.
He was in a room, some chamber of sorts. The walls were dotted with faint red lights, connected by thin white lines. There was odd, winding gold patterns etched into big stone pillars and in the basin, and looking up he saw they were in the weird canopy thing above him, too. He also noticed the way the blue light pulsed now. It was soft and slow, but made it a bit harder to look around.
He moved to the side, reaching for the side of the basin and pulling himself up and out of it. His limbs felt numb, and when he stood on his feet it felt like a thousand needles were being poked into his legs, like he hadn't moved for years.
Water dripped off of him onto the floor, which was covered in the same gold pattern as the basin. Looking up, he saw the canopy that had been above him stretched down from the ceiling like a water drop about to fall, laced with the odd blue light.
The dots on the walls, he realized, reminded him of stars. Constellations, he remembered.
The gold pattern on the floor lead directly ahead of him to a large, closed door. Next to the door was a pedastal, glowing with a blue circular pattern. He approached it, noticing the rectangular object embedded into the center of the pedestal, and ran his fingers along it. Maybe he could pry it out?
He pulled his hand back, though, when the blue light pulsed. The center of the pedestal rose up with the sound of scraping stone, and spun clockwise. The rectangle in the middle of it flipped over and raised itself vertically with a click.
It had the design of an eye on it, glowing blue with orange lines and markings around it that pulsed in and out. It raised itself once more, like it was beckoning him to take it.
"That is a Sheikah Slate."
This time, his jumped when he heard the voice. He looked around, wondering where the voice had come from. No one else was with him.
"Take it," the voice said. It was a girl's voice, high and soft. "It will help guide you after your long slumber?"
Long slumber? How long was he asleep? He felt like he could take another nap right then and there.
Hesitating, he reached forward and plucked it off of the pedastal, flipping it over to look at the other side and turning it horizontally in his hands.
The other side, which he initially thought was blank, lit up, showing the same design that was on the back, except in all blue on an otherwise black screen.
It was really familiar.
He clipped it onto the belt at his side, and the center of the pedestal clicked, whirred, spun back to it's original place, and then sunk back into the stone.
The door, which was really just individual stone pillars placed side by side, began to rise up into the ceiling, opening him up to a new room.
The next room, or hallway, was foggy. He stepped into it and around an old wooden barrel that stood in the way. Glancing in it, he saw it was empty. There was another barrel, a few wooden crates, and two chests before him.
He went to the first chest and opened it up. Inside it was nothing except a pair of old pants. Deciding it was better than just what he had on (nothing but his undergarments) he slipped them on. Despite looking seriously worn out and being a bit too short, they were comfortable. The next chest had an equally worn out shirt, but he put it on nonetheless.
He went down the short slope that led to another door, this one a lot bigger than the last, and saw another pedestal. He went up to it, wondering what it would do now that he already had a Sheikah Slate.
"Hold the Sheikah Slate up to the pedestal," the voice instructed. He jumped again. "That will show you the way."
He did as the voice asked him, unhooking the slate from his belt and waving it over the glowing circle in the middle of the pedestal. The orange lights on it disappeared, leaving behind just the blue.
An emblem on the door that he hadn't noticed before, with the same design as his Sheikah Slate, lit up with the blue light. The large door began to open, and bright rays of light peaked into the room.
He stepped into the light, shielding his eyes that were still accustomed to dim lighting, and stared ahead of him. Judging from the way his skin warmed when the light touched him, he figured it wasn't just light. It was the sun.
"Link," the voice said to him. He didn't jump this time. "You are the light-our light-that must shine upon Hyrule once again."
Link. That was him. Out of everything the voice just said, that was the one thing that didn't throw up a question mark. It was his name, tried and true. It settled in his head like it knew it belonged there.
But that was it. Everything else was...familiar, but it didn't mean anything to him. He couldn't find anything that reached out to him. He tried to remember. The voice, clearly they knew him. But who was it? Where were they? And Hyrule, was that a place? A town? It didn't ring any bells. And what did she mean once again?
He tried to think back, but the first thing he remembered was waking up a few minutes ago in that chamber. It was like whatever happened before that was sealed off by a stone door, one that the Sheikah Slate couldn't open.
He didn't remember anything.
He didn't have anything.
Only his name.
"Now, go," the voice told him.
Link moved forward, up the old stone steps towards...whatever was at the end of the tunnel, only to stop when he reached the top. Or...what shouldn't have been the top.
It looked like a large chunk had been taken out of the steps. Now there was just dirt, grass, and a big puddle he didn't want to step in. He went on, though, thankful that the pants were too short. The water couldn't reach the hems of the cloth.
After the puddle was a stone ledge what was a little bit taller than him, which he climbed up easily enough. He went up the rest do the stairs and exited the tunnel. He could see the edge of a cliff from where he was, and ran to it, taking in the fresh air and the feeling of the breeze on him.
The view the cliff gave him was...breath taking. Below him and off in the distance was a great expansion of land. Directly ahead of him was a great castle, surrounded by water and fields and meadows. There were mountains and cliffs, what looked to be ancient ruins, and even a huge volcano.
He turned to his right, getting the sudden feeling that someone was watching him, and saw an ancient looking temple in the distance. But closer to him, standing at the edge of the same cliff but further down, was a figure.
They were hooded, and he saw no defining features except the thick white beard that hung down over his chest. Even though Link couldn't see his face, he knew the man was looking right at him. After a moment, though, he turned around and began to walk off.
Link hesitated, before starting to run. The feeling the pins and needles slowly fade away as he got used to moving around. He wanted to talk to the man. Looking at him from a distance he felt no spark of recognition, but maybe if he saw him face to face he would know who he was. Maybe the man could tell him where he was and what was going on.
.
As it turned out, the old man could definitely tell him where he was. And he could definitely tell him what was going on.
After a few days of completeing shrines, he finally learned that the old man was in fact King Rhoam of Hyrule (definitely a place), and was now equipped with a trusty paraglider, some Runes, and the fate of the world in his hands.
Wonderful.
After leaving the Temple of Time and the spirit of the King, he took a moment to sit down. He thought about everything that happened and that he had learned since waking up. After a few frustrating hours contemplating life as he knew it (he didn't know much), Link decided he did not like thinking.
At all.
He ended up sitting by a fire that had previously been surround by bokoblins (he'd been dealing with those more than he would care for) for the remainder of the day and through the night. He wasn't very tired at all.
A hundred year nap could do that to a person.
In the morning, he made his way to the very edge of the Great Plateau. Looking down, he realised the King was very right in assuming jumping without a paraglider wouldn't be so fun.
Link still figured that anyone would be scared to jump over the edge even with a paraglider. He was slightly unnerved to realize that he wasn't too worried about throwing himself over the edge with nothing but a piece of cloth to catch his fall.
While looking around and trying to spot a good place to land, he spotted four figures running around below. He used his Sheikah Slate to scope it out and saw that it was three bokoblins and a young woman.
The girl didn't look to be struggling at all while fending off the monsters. She definitely knew more about what she was doing than Link when he first woke up. She had a sword and a shield that looked more sturdy than any that he'd found, and she was quick on her feet.
Link knew she had it under control. Her sword swung in swift arches, hitting it's marks and backing the bokoblins away from her. She stabbed the one nearest to her straight through the chest and pulled the blade up just in time to block an oncoming club. She clearly had it handled.
But still...that didn't mean he was just going to sit there and watch her get attacked.
It was probably the hero in him that King Rhoam had told him about. The appointed Knight of Princess Zelda, strong and courageous. Despite the fact that Link didn't know who that hero was, it was clear he was still somewhere in there, trapped behind the walls retaining his memories.
The hero told Link he couldn't just watch. He couldn't ignore it. He had to help, even if he didn't really want to.
His brand new paraglider sailed him from the top of the Great Plateau to the ground below. Just as the girl beheaded the second bokoblin, he circled down and landed straight on top of the third. Ignoring the startled yelp the girl made, he pulled the wooden spear he had pulled from another monster earlier, and plunged it straight into the bokoblin's throat.
It choked, and died a second later, it's skin turning black until it faded into a pile of dust below him.
"Where the fuck did you come from?"
He looked up to the girl, who was standing in the black remains of the other monster. Her eyes were wide and her sword was held limply in her grasp. He pulled himself up to his full height and used his wooden spear to point up towards the towering cliff side above them.
She followed his gesture, and if it was possible her eyes bugged even more. "From up there?" She looked back to him. "What are you-a bird? How'd you survive that drop?"
"Not a bird," he said, furrowing his eyebrows before pulling out his paraglider. Her expression shifted from confusion to curiosity, and she took a few steps forward, monster dust trailing after her.
"A paraglider? Weird. I've never actually seen one." She nodded before taking a step back and putting her hands on her hips. "That's pretty neat. Would help a lot. Especially if you wanted to climb those towers."
She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder at one of the big towers in the distance. "I climbed that one when it first came up. Was a fucking nightmare trying to get down."
He stared over her shoulder at the tower, wondering if he should go to it before heading to Kakariko Village, before looking at her and nodding. She furrowed her eyebrows and cocked her head.
"Not a talker?" she asked. Clearly, she wasn't expecting an answer, as she carried on without a pause. "I don't blame you. I try not to talk to too many people. Those Yiga Clan members are a pain in the ass. You're an exception, because you literally dropped out of the sky."
"Yiga Clan?" he asked. Her eyebrows rose a bit, before she shrugged.
"I don't suppose they'd know how to get up there, so you probably haven't met any yet," she said. "They're usually on the side of the road or something, and when you talk to them they'll ask you one thing or another about their clan. Usually ask you to join. If you refuse, they kill you."
The look on his face must have been a bit funny, because she snorted and shook her head. "Well, they try. Don't really get anywhere with it. They've got neat outfits and carry sickles, and their teleportation powers are pretty sweet, but they've got no real fighting skills to show for it."
"Oh," he said, looking off down the road. He should probably get going.
"My name's Kaz, by the way," she introduced herself, holding out her hand. "Thanks for the help."
He looked at her hand, small and dirty, before accepting it. "Link."
"Nice to meet you, Link," she said. She bobbed her head towards the monster parts left behind in the black dust, her curls bouncing with the movement. "I'd keep those monster parts, they can sell for a few rupees."
He watched her kneel down and pick out some horns from the pile of dust behind her, and went to do the same from his own. When he stood up, she was facing him with an armful of monster parts.
"Here, you can have these, too," she said, dumping the horns into his own arms. "A thanks for helping me out."
He hesitated, unsure if he should accept them or not, before putting them in his bag.
She was watching him with green eyes when he looked back up, and she tilted her head with a smile. She was cute, he thought.
"Seriously though, thanks," she said once more, putting her hands on her backpack straps. "I'll see you around someday, maybe."
She spun on her heel, black hair swinging behind her. She obviously had a destination in mind. Her steps were leading towards the dirt path faded into to ground, and her general direction were that of the Twin Peaks in the distance.
Isn't that where the King told him to go?
"Wait!" he said suddenly, taking a few quick steps towards her. She turned halfway back to him and raised an eyebrow. "Kakariko Village," he said. "Do you know how to get there?"
She nodded, turning her head towards the Twin Peaks. "Sure do. Just follow this path towards Dueling Peaks." She turned back to him and shrugged. "It's basically on the way to where I'm headed. I can show you the way."
He hesitated. Should he go with her? Or would that be dragging her into something she didn't need to be involved in? Something about the whole situation, from the very moment Link woke up, seemed to be one big red flag. He could put her in danger. Anyone, for that matter. Would it be wise for her to tag along?
She's not really tagging along, he reasoned. They're just going in the same direction for a bit.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"It's no problem," she reassured him. "It's literally in the same direction, it'd be stupid not to go together. It's not smart to go alone."
"You were alone," he pointed out. She shrugged.
"Yeah, but that couldn't be helped. This time it can."
After another moment of him debating internally, she turned all the way towards him.
"You don't have to if you don't want to," she said. "It's really not a big deal. You'll reach the peaks in a day or two's time. Follow the path through them and there should be a sign directing you to Kakariko or Hateno. I think Kakariko's on the left."
With that, she turned around again, with nothing but a "good luck" thrown over her shoulder.
Link sighed.
It really wasn't a big deal. And even if he put her in more danger, it was likely she would stumble onto that danger first since she would be a ways in front of him. She was right. Better to go together for something as small as going to a town.
Silently, he jogged to catch up to her.
