Author's Note: Hi, guys! Thanks so much for spending the time to read this note as well as the story. I know the prologue was cheesy, but it seemed to fit. This is the first fanfic that I've mustered the courage to post and I hope that you enjoy it, even if I myself can't help but feel like I could make this loads better if I had the talent. Also, I do not own any part of the Legend of Zelda series, Nintendo owns the world, etc.
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"Once…there was a land…that hid a gold power….uh…"
"Uh…there was this really bad guy, and um a hero came and killed him but it didn't really work because the bad guy came back and everyone died the end."
Silence.
"Or….something like that."
Sturgeon raised his staff as if to swat Link across the head, but then seemed to think better of it. "I'm not even going to begin to tell you how horribly inaccurate that was."
Link stared at the table. It was old, carved from driftwood that had washed up on to the shores of Outset many years ago. How the old man had managed to get it up to his second floor room, Link could only guess. He peeked up at Sturgeon and asked in a small voice, "Can I look at Sea Charts now?"
The wizened old man, once a powerful swordsman-or so he said-shook his head, and Link returned his gaze to the table. "You know the rules, Link," he said, "Your grandma would kill me if I gave you any of those Charts to look at before you came of age. You're still too young to be thinking of leaving the island."
He reached out his hand and patted the young boy on the head. "But that's only a week from now, so don't look so sad."
"But seven days is like, forever!" Link exclaimed. Sturgeon raised an eyebrow. It was surprising to see Link act like this. Usually it was his younger sister who did the whining and the pouting, but it was quite clear that Link was very impatient when it came to the concept of exploring the Great Sea. Sturgeon couldn't help but see himself in the boy. Why, it felt like only yesterday that he and his brother had set off in their rickety sailboat to explore the Sea and hone their sword skills. He understood the boy's plight.
He heaved a great sigh and said, "Alright. Your lesson is over."
Immediately, Link perked up, his dark green eyes shining. "Really?"
"Yes, yes, now get out!"
Link jumped out of his seat and began to run for the door. However, he stopped halfway and clumsily whipped around to bow to Sturgeon respectfully before resuming his escape.
Sturgeon watched the boy go, and could not help but feel a little old.
Link grinned as he stuck his bare feet in the waves, wiggling his toes as they were briefly swallowed by the sea. He hated lessons with Sturgeon. He meant well, Link was sure, but the Sea Charts that drew Link's gaze every day were off limits for another agonizing week. He'd much rather learn swordplay from Orca, but he kept saying that he was too young or something. Link wasn't sure. He tended to zone out after the word 'No'.
Link lay on the beach, letting out a sigh of pleasure as the wind brushed gently past his face. Link didn't regret growing up on such a peaceful island, not at all. It was just a little…boring sometimes. Watching the seagulls above him wheel around lazily in the sky, he—
Hey, what was that? Link squinted. Is that seagull…red?
Yes, it was definitely red. A red seagull? No, maybe not a seagull. Too big for a seagull. Sure was funny looking. The red bird wheeled amongst the seagulls, slowly descending until it landed on a bridge post near Link. It had a white chest and red feathers, and a really large yellow beak that seemed to give it a permanent grin. It was bigger than a seagull, possibly reaching up to Link's lower ribcage area.
It twisted its head to inspect Link with its golden eye. Link tilted his head to the left. The bird titled its head to the right. Link titled his head to the right. The bird mirrored his movements.
"Hey birdie," Link said. He stuck his hand out to the bird. The bird stared at the hand for a little while. Link reached further, almost touching the bird's head.
"Big brother, what are you doing?"
Link turned his head to see his younger sister looking at him with confusion. She also had dark green eyes and blonde hair, which she tied into pigtails. She held a small pot on her head, in an attempt to mimic the way women carried water around on this island. She was only nine, but she was already trying to help their Grandma around the house.
"I'm trying to pet the bird." He looked back at the bird, who was still staring at him with that big grin. "Isn't it weird looking?"
Aryll looked at her brother. Then she looked at the empty air around his outstretched hand. A little giggle escaped her mouth. "What bird, big brother?"
"What? This red bird, duh."
"There's nothing there!" Aryll burst into laughter. Some water spilled from the pot, and she had to reduce her laughter to chortles to prevent any more from escaping.
"There is too! See?"
But Aryll could not see the bird. In fact, every time he pointed it out to someone, they just shook their head and told him there was nothing there. At first Link thought everyone was playing a mean trick on him, but then after a few days he realized that he was the only one that could see this grinning red creature. So, he decided to ignore it.
The bird followed Link around the island, watching him as he chased wild piggies across the island. Link ignored the bird, pretending it wasn't there, and instead focused on throwing the pigs into Mrs. Rose's pen. The bird watched Link as he went about his daily life on Outset island, watching as he earned rupees from helping his neighbors, failed repeatedly at Sturgeon's lessons, and practiced leaping across boulders until he was finally good enough to reach that stray yellow rupee on the far rock—worth a whopping ten green ones!
When Link strutted proudly out of Beedle's Shop Ship with his new Bait Bag, the bird was there. It knew where he was hiding in that intense game of hide-and-go-seek. It peeked through the window while Link was reading Aryll a bedtime story.
The bird became a nuisance for Link, because it just wouldn't go away. Link was convinced that if he ignored it for long enough, it would. Six days passed, which seemed like an eternity to a child of eleven, and still the red bird was there.
The day before his birthday was filled with hushed excitement. Adults looked at Link with ill-hidden mirth, and children regarded him with wonder. Link was going to come of age soon, the age when the ancient Hero himself set forth to destroy the great evil! …Of course, that sort of backfired in the end, but everyone kind of ignored that last part.
That night, Link ate his dinner, kissed his Grandma on the cheek, and headed for the door.
"Make sure you come home before sundown!" she called after him. Aryll waved goodbye from the table; she still had to finish her vegetables, an ongoing trial that their Grandma continued to undergo every night.
"I will," Link shouted back. He walked past Mr. Abe and Joel, carrying bait up the hill for their new piggies. He listened to the sound his feet made when he crossed the bridge. He walked along the path to the watchtower, then turned right, up towards the cliff. He walked up along the path, his hand absentmindedly trailing the cliff wall on his left.
Up ahead, a bunch of young saplings barred his path. Orca and Sturgeon had planted these to keep any monsters from the ominous forest that perched atop the mountainous area of the island away from the village. However, the saplings were not designed to block thirteen-year-old kids. Link squeezed his torso and legs through easily enough; the tough part was getting his head through. He grimaced as little by little, he managed to get his head past the miniature trees. Honestly, he thought his head got bigger every year—but he didn't tell anyone that.
Finally, he stood atop the cliff and looked out at the vast expanse of water that is the Great Sea. The sun shone bright on the water, and the wind carried with it the salty tang of the waves as well as the sweet smell of island flowers. Seagulls cried as they circled over schools of fish. There was the sound of large, beating wings as the red bird settled nearby him. Link made a point of ignoring it.
He sighed. Life on Outset was great and all, but there was so much more out there! Orca had once travelled the seas as a master swordsman, and he had told Link great tales of islands covered in ice, of mountains where great red dragons perched, and other wondrous things. What did Outset have? Pigs, that's what. Just pigs.
The wind blew at him and he leaned into it, wishing for it to carry him away to far-off islands filled with adventure. Just one? Please? He promised that he would be home by sundown.
Indeed, the sun was beginning to set. Link shook his head to clear it of the many daydreams that filled the swiftly passing hours. Looks like he had to go home now, and go to bed, and wake up, and start the whole cycle over.
He eyed the setting sun. "I have a few more minutes," he said, and was off again past the—hhhrrrrghh!—saplings, this time headed for the watchtower. He climbed the ladder knowing full well the earful he'd get from Grandma if he stayed longer than a minute or two, but he couldn't help himself. Just one look, and that would be it.
No one really used this watchtower except Aryll and himself. Aryll loved looking around with her telescope (a gift from Sturgeon, who had used it on his travels) and playing with the seagulls, who would flock to her as soon as they saw her: they seemed sense the pure kindness in her soul.
The seagulls in the watchtower scattered when Link neared the top. What this said about his soul, he didn't bother thinking about. He wasn't even winded from the long climb, since he had been doing it for years. Up and down, up and down. Up was a tedious hand-foot-hand-foot movement and down was an exhilarating jump. Usually. When it was really hot, he would purposely climb the ladder just so he could dive into the ocean…but Grandma would always chide him about getting his clothes wet afterwards. Other times, he would leap off of the watchtower and try to hit the dock rolling. Sometimes he succeeded and other times he missed and fell into the water. Then there was that one time he had rolled wrong and had broken his wrist. Needless to say, Link tended to take the ladder down nowadays when he didn't want to get in trouble. Usually.
Link leaned over the railing of the watchtower, the northernmost point on the island, and squinted. The island one quadrant north was a black, rectangular smudge on the horizon, but Link loved to imagine that he could see the tiny specks that were the cannon boats guarding the reef. He never really bothered looking to the islands to the east or west-Orca's accounts of them sounded boring.
"One's this curved U-shaped island," Orca once said.
"IT'S CALLED A HORSESHOE," Sturgeon had yelled from upstairs. "HORSESHOE ISLAND."
"NO ONE CARES," Orca had yelled back. Then turning again to Link: "It's covered in vines. The island to the east just has a big rock on it."
"HEADSTONE I-"
"I SAID NO ONE CARES!"
The one to the north, though, was Five-Eye Reef, with cannon boats and sea platforms filled with monsters! Link leaned forward even more, trying to catch a glimpse of-well, anything that wasn't this island.
…aaand here was the stupid bird again, landing on the railing right beside him.
"What do you want?" Link said to it, forgetting that he was supposed to be ignoring it. He was this close to throwing a rock at it to make it go away…though that would mean going back down to try and find a rock first. But he was this close to doing that!
The bird cocked its head to one side. "Hello!"
Link blinked. He blinked again.
"Sorry it took me so long to talk," the bird said. "I just wanted to make sure that you really were the hero!" It wasn't even a squawky bird voice that came from the big yellow beak. The voice of the bird was of a young man, around 20.
Link continued to stare.
The bird extended a crimson wing. "Call me…" If the bird could grin any more, it did. "Sky."
The bird was talking. The bird that no one else could see and had followed him around the island for days…was talking. Link proceeded with caution.
This involved him turning around and sprinting as far as he could away from the bird. Of course, when there is a giant pole in the way, far is not that far at all.
There was a loud CRACK as Link's face connected with the pole, and he fell down, unmoving.
Sky cocked his head to the side. "Okay, maybe not the best of beginnings…" He turned to look out at the Sea.
"…but I'm sure it'll turn out fine."
