Link. Link. Wake up, Link.
The water drained away, and Link felt the cold air against his chest.
He opened his eyes. Blue light shone into them. As his blurry vision got clearer, he looked at his surroundings. He was in a cave, inside … well, something with water at the bottom.
He stepped out of the weird contraption, onto the surprisingly warm floor. A blue pedestal stood next to two massive doors. When he went to inspect the pedestal, a female voice told him: "This is the Sheikah Slate. Take it, it will guide you on your journey."
He decided that for now, it was best to listen, as he hadn't a clue of what all of this was.
Upon taking the Sheikah slate, the doors opened. The next room contained a few chests and crates. Though he assumed the chests would be locked, he grabbed a rock from the floor and tried to open one.
To his surprise, it opened easily. All it contained was a pair of pants.
He was confused. Who on earth would put a worn pair of pants like these in a chest? Surely there must be more valuable things to store.
The other chest contained an old shirt. He put the clothes on and they felt weirdly familiar. They wouldn't protect him from anything, but it was something.
At the other side of the room, there was a ledge slightly taller than him. Using a few rocks protruding from the ledge, he clambered over the side without a problem.
Then he caught a glimpse of light – not the artificial blue light from the cave, but rather sunlight, yellow and warm.
He ran outside, to the edge of the cliff, and looked upon the world. It was a magnificent sight, with a volcano and a castle in the distance. A strange sense of familiarity came over him, the same as when he put the old clothes on.
It also felt a bit melancholic, but he did not know why. In fact, he remembered nothing at all… yet somehow, he had remembered words like "volcano" and "cave". How had this all happened?
Under a little outcrop not too far away, he saw an old man sitting by a fire. Great, maybe he'll be able to give me some answers.
On the way to the fire, he almost tripped over a rather sturdy-looking stick. It seemed a bit silly, but he decided to take the stick with him for self-defense. He had this feeling that the old man wasn't the only creature he'd be meeting around here.
Only upon seeing the baked apple resting by the fire did he realize how hungry he was. He grabbed it and took a bite before the old man yelled: "Hey! That is my apple, you know!"
Link suddenly realized that he was being very rude and was about to apologize when the man said: "Hahaha! I am only joking, of course! I'm sure you must be very hungry, you can have the apple."
Link gave a quick nod as thanks and continued eating. It was gone in a matter of seconds.
"It is not often that travelers come here", the old man said. "Why are you here?"
"I don't know", Link answered.
"Searching for a reason to travel? I see. I used to be an adventurer as well. These old bones won't allow me to climb anymore, so instead I use this paraglider to get around", the strange man said.
Link didn't know if he was joking; the paraglider, though finely crafted, seemed far too small to keep a human in the air.
"Well, I hope you find your purpose. Goodbye."
And with that, the mysterious man disappeared in a puff of smoke. How had he vanished so suddenly? Was he even human?
The voice from back in the cave interrupted his thoughts. Follow the marker on the Slate, she said. You will be led to the tower.
He followed the marker, but there was no tower – only a pedestal, the same one as before.
There was no Sheikah Slate in this one, though, so he guessed that he had to insert his own Slate.
Downloading map information, said a decidedly less human voice. Watch out for falling rocks.
The ground started shaking and was moving … down? No, that couldn't be right. He was moving up, and at an alarming speed. As he looked around, he saw towers rising out of the ground on all sides and assumed that was what was happening beneath his feet right now.
Thunk. The tower suddenly stopped growing, and Link was thrown into the air. After regaining his footing, he looked around and could see so much more than from the edge of the cliff. It looked even more gorgeous now, but it also looked empty. The only man-made structure he could see was the castle, which was surrounded by some sort of purple goo. The rest was seemingly untouched by humans.
His eyes gravitated back to the castle, and he heard the voice again, the female one. Save me, Link. Save Hyrule. She was undoubtedly calling to him from within the castle. Link felt a strong urge to save her and this Hyrule, whatever it was.
"Lost in thoughts?" He recognized the old man's voice behind him. Sure enough, there he was, paragliding down from the snowy mountains. How had he even gotten up there if he couldn't climb? There was something fishy going on here, but at least the old man was no immediate threat. Besides, he had something more important to ask.
"What do I need to give you to get that paraglider? I need to get to the castle."
"Wow, straight to the point", the old man said. "Well, you see that blue thing over there? It just rose up from the ground, and I'm betting there's some good treasure down there. Go check it out for me, and then you get the glider."
Link nodded and slowly made his way down the tower.