CHAPTER 2 - Plans and Ancient Knowledge
".....Link?" his doppelganger asked, "Link, are you okay? You look in danger of blacking out. Don't..... die on me. You just killed a monster. Don't tell me you can't handle seeing your....ah.....ancient? ....self!"
"A-ancient me??" Link's eyes widened, "What? I'm so... confused! Who are you?!"
Link's ancient "ancestor" looked nearly identical to himself, as he was also wearing a green tunic and boots (and the ever-present hat) and equipped with a sword and shield. But his undershirt was black instead of Link's light green one. A black "tiger" stripe adorned the shoulders of the ancient's tunic and the hat on his shaggier hair was also tipped with black.
The ancient Link laughed a little bit. "I came from the medallion around your neck, silly!"
"My... neck?" Link looked at his neck and remembered that the necklace was still around it. "OH! That's... interesting. And I'm still confused. How did you get here?"
The other Link made a slight shrug. "I..... was in the medallion around your neck and you wanted more than one of you, so here I am. Got it?"
"I guess so? Wow. This is... interesting. Wow." Link breathed.
"Heh heh.... Exactly!" the other Link answered.
"I... suggest that we go see Zelda. I'm sure she'll know what this is all about." Link said.
The other Link nodded, "Good idea. But....won't it cause an up-stir if two Links with the same colored tunics walk into the castle?"
Link, still somewhat dazed, chuckled at noticing the ancient's hint about what the Four Sword's power did to those who drew it. "I suppose that's true. Could you get back into the medallion?"
"Ha ha! Of course!" Ancient Link said before he disappeared.
"How odd," Link blinked.
He walked into Castle Town and headed to the castle. Once there, he asked for Zelda. Soon, she came out of her room and they walked down to a courtyard to talk.
Away from the ears of anyone else, Link blurted out the whole story, then focused on the thought of being four again. Ancient Link materialized out of the medallion once more.
Zelda gave a little squeak of surprise. "How... interesting! I never thought that a medallion would be used to carry the spirits and bodies of ancients!"
Ancient Link chuckled nervously a bit. "Yeah sure....nice to see you again, Zelda. Now.....just out of curiosity.....what happened to the Holy Sword?" he asked, changing the subject.
Link and Zelda looked confused, "Holy..... Sword?"
"What?! But...." Ancient Link looked to be at a loss for words, "You know! The sword that.....splits you into four?"
"OH! You mean the Four Sword?" Zelda laughed.
"Four? Sword?" Ancient Link inquired, surprised at the name change. "That's what it's being called now?"
"Yeah! You want to see it?" Link asked modestly.
"Heck yes!" Ancient Link exclaimed as he pumped his fist into the air. There was a short pause as he snickered a bit. "Geez, was 'Holy Sword' just not good enough for people?"
"So about the Holy Sword....." Zelda suddenly began, making the two Links stop in their tracks.
"Oh great." Link said. "She's gonna go into her philosophical mode now..." he finished, exasperated. Ancient Link snickered at this.
" Oh shush! Anyway....so first, why is it that you call the Four Sword the 'Holy Sword'?" Zelda asked, simply being curious.
".....I dunno..." the spirit answered as he shrugged. "That was just the name of it for some reason. It is what it is..." Ancient Link added simply. It was now Link's turn to laugh, surprised that such an answer could come from whom could be considered his ancient ancestor.
"What?!" Zelda responded in shock, "But you're the ancient one here! You're supposed to know these things!! How are we going to record all of Hyrule's history if you don't know anything?" she continued on.
Ancient Link slightly flinched at Zelda's words, but soon smiled at the unsaid assumption. "Why am I supposed to know that? ...Come to think of it.....HOW am I supposed to know? Just because I'm some ancient spirit doesn't mean I'm all-knowing!"
Zelda sighed as Link kept laughing at the whole predicament.
"Besides...." Ancient Link started to add, "I didn't think that bit of info would really concern me, let alone be important at the time." He shrugged again. "Ah well....maybe it's mentioned somewhere else. You'd probably find the answer then......can we get to the matter at hand now?"
Link finally spoke up, having only been watching the ordeal. "I suppose we should. Before today, there's rarely been any monster sightings, let alone near Castle Town..."
"Well since I'm here, despite that it may mean something big is coming up, I'm sure that having me with you, we'll beat this thing easy!" Ancient Link said with high spirit, then continued on. "Though I don't know about you, but I still think this is a job for the power of the.......uh.......whatever I should call that sword...."
"Are you sure about this?" Link asked his ancestor. The ancient simply nodded in response. "Well... I guess it's worth a shot... Alright! Sounds like a plan!" he finally said in agreement.
It would have been a simple matter to reseal Ancient Link into the medallion and leave the castle, but that wasn't the case since Zelda wanted to tag along. Besides, the sanctuary was a time away from Castle Town, making the trip a somewhat long one. And much of the day had passed rather quickly already, being late afternoon.
In mutual agreement to head to the Four Sword Sanctuary early the next day, Link checked over preparations while letting Ancient Link roam around a bit. Though of course they were both obviously careful about where they went and what they were doing, not wanting to cause any alarm that there were two Links. As a small measure, the ancient wore one of Link's spare tunics while out of the medallion and feeling the joy of life once more.
It was finally early morning. Sneaking Zelda out of the castle was an easy matter, though there was a hope that she wouldn't be missed. However, Zelda had made her decision and the two Links didn't have the time to dwell on it. So soon they were off and headed to the Four Sword Sanctuary, already traveling through Hyrule Field by noon.
"So ancient...." Link started, finally speaking up after so long. "Why do we need the Four Sword anyway?" he asked.
"Well... we should be better match against whatever big thing is coming up now. Besides, without it, it's just the two of us." the ancient simply answered.
"Hmm... alright..." Link said, before finding something else to ask. " So what happened? Why are you here?"
Ancient Link was quiet for a moment. He appeared apprehensive before giving his answer to the question. "...I don't really know..." he lowly responded.
"....Well....for whatever reason I'll help!" Link added with high spirit. "I don't care what I have to do! Bring it on!!" The ancient was amused at the confidence that was clear in Link's voice and smiled at his words.
"Now Link, don't get too ahead of yourself..." Zelda said to Link.
"...Right." Link simply went.
"Good!" Then Zelda turned to the spirit. "Though I must know....why did you seek us?"
Ancient Link took another moment to think before giving his answer. "Well really...I'm just guessing the medallion appeared at the right time. Like I was needed or something."
Soon after the ancient's answer, Zelda soon had another question. "And what exactly is this medallion?"
"Yeah. Since it's obvious that there's something special about it." Link added.
"Ugh... yet another thing I can't explain." the ancient spirit said, apparently feeling disappointed at himself for not having a better answer. "Just that I'm connected to it somehow."
"I see." Zelda simply said. "Now I still quite don't understand why the Four Sword is needed. Do you suppose you could tell us everything you know?"
"Alright well....to get straight to the point, you've read or at least heard of the elements right?" Ancient Link said, asking the two something for once.
"Yes." Zelda answered. "Teacher has told me many stories."
Ancient Link nodded. "Yeah. Which includes wind, water, fire...and earth..." Link and Zelda both nodded at this.
"Please, what can you tell us about the elements? Why are they important?" asked Zelda, almost pleading to the ancient spirit.
The ancient tried to ignore a headache that suddenly started to build, which grew more intense as he though further back into the events and knowledge of his previous time of life. "Well...the elements are what made the sword of course..."
"Yes. I remember." Zelda said, "Can you tell us anything else?" she continued, trying to urge him on.
Ancient Link fought the throbbing of his head as he made the effort to continue. "I'm pretty sure it's their power that does the thing with the...splitting into four..." He trailed off, finding it hard to focus on what he was trying to say.
"Oh! I see!" Zelda exclaimed, but then grew worry over the ailing spirit. "...Are you alright?" she asked him.
Ancient Link did his best to ignore the intense headache, focusing on Zelda words. "I'm fine....really." He answered, also attempting to shrug off the concern he was getting from Link and Zelda.
Link didn't seem convinced at first. "You sure?" Link's response was a nod from Ancient Link.
"Right right....now what was I gonna say?" he went, still having a huge headache, which gave him a large amount of trouble focusing on his thoughts. If it's sudden appearance was supposed to keep him from remembering anything from his past, then it seemed to be working.
Zelda was still looking at him. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yeah! Really. I'm perfectly fine." the ancient insisted, though all his efforts to focus completely on his own thoughts only made the sudden pain even worse. "Ugh......" He let out, clamping a hand to his intensely ringing head, instantly putting down his facade. "Man...my head..."
Zelda was now completely filled with concern. "I can see you are not well..."
"There's something else...." Ancient Link said. "But I just can't seem to remember it....." Both hands went to his temples, trying to ease the loud ringing in his head.
Both Zelda and Link said nothing, feeling helpless at the sight of the ailing spirit. Though Zelda soon spoke up. "There must be something we can do... please! We want to help!"
Ancient Link soon gave up and stopped fighting through the pain, returning his thoughts back to the present situation. This action almost immediately ceased the ringing in his head. "Don't worry about me. I'll be okay. Let's just keep going. I'm sure whatever it is, you'll figure it out on your own."
"Okay then..." Zelda said in agreement.
"Let's get going!" Link exclaimed in revitalized spirit.
Finally, after much time later, the Four Sword Sanctuary was finally within sight.
"Hey there it is! I can see it!" Link called out to Zelda and Ancient Link, who were coming up from right behind him.
"Oh wonderful!" Zelda said happily.
But suddenly, a large Dinolfos appeared from out of nowhere, roaring at the surprised group and wielding a club. It was much bigger than the one the two Links first encountered, towering over them menacingly.
"Oh no!" Zelda said, backing away until she was safely behind the Links.
"One of these things again?" Ancient Link asked aloud, drawing his sword and positioned into his battle stance. He turned to Link, who did the same. "Well...you ready?"
"You bet!" He answered, some excitement in his voice.
"You can do it!" Zelda cheered to the Links. "I'll....just be here...."
AN: Not the most proud of this chapter, but it'll do. Stay tuned! For there is more to come!