Chapter 7: Fi
Link pushed herself off the warm, soft ground. Her vision was blurry, and her muscles ached.
"Ugh. What happened? Navi, wha…" She rubbed her eyes with her finger and thumb and looked up; she saw no one, nor did she recognize where she was. She stood on a floating rock. It was flat and grassy on the top, and was as wide as a bus. The sky around her, and below her, was filled with clouds that glowed a brilliant orange and lavender. Rocks, both smaller and bigger than Link's floated across the horizon, and faded into the clouds. As she spun around, she saw more floating islands, more clouds, and more sky.
Questions flooded into her mind, as well as out of her mouth, "Where am I? Where are Tatl and Navi? What happened?" She closed her eyes rubbed her forehead with her fingertips, searching her memory for some missing moment.
"Hello, Master Link." A feminine, robotic voice interrupted her thought process. It sounded as if it came from behind her on the rock.
Link spun around and held up her hands in fists in front of her, ready to punch. "Who said that?" she demanded of the empty island. She saw no other figure at all. However, she now saw her hands for the first time, she had to examine what she was wearing.
She wore fingerless leather gauntlets on her hands and forearms. Each gauntlet featured a leather plate with an intricately carved floral design. When she looked down, she saw her feet and shins were covered with brown boots and grieves with a similar design as the gauntlets. Her clothes were gone, replaced by several layers: A green tunic on top, heavy chain mail, and a soft white linen set of pants and long sleeve shirt. Over the tunic, she felt tough leather pauldrons and plates wrapping around her triceps. She saw a strap traveling down her body from her left shoulder to her right side. She brought her arm around the shoulder strap and felt a sword behind her. She wondered how she hadn't noticed all the extra weight when she woke up. However, since she was standing on an island floating in the sky, she decided to give herself a break.
"My analysis suggests you are apprehensive. Is there anything I can do to make your experience easier?"
Link spun around and unsheathed the Master Sword in one fluid motion. She held the sword forward in one hand, pointing to the source of the voice: a shiny, floating, blue and purple woman. Her hair, eyes, lips, and skin were all the same pale blue color, and her arms were hidden under a blue and purple cape, fastened in the front with a large blue jewel. Under the cloak, Link could see a short purple dress and black and green leggings.
"Who the hell are you? Where am I?"
"We are in the Sacred Realm." The figure said without feeling.
"The Sacred Realm?"
"Affirmative. The Sacred Realm is a world parallel to you own, where the Goddess Hy…"
"Yeah, I know what it is. It's a myth."
"Is you're presence here not evidence to the contrary?"
Link's stance wavered slightly. She hated to admit it, but the magic floating robot lady had a little bit of a point, "How do I know that I haven't passed out? That I'm not unconscious on the stone floor of a temple hallucinating? The temple with the sword could have been booby-trapped: gas or a dart or something."
"Your assertion is not entirely incorrect. A part of you is still in the Temple of Time."
"Temple of Time?"
"The resting place of the Goddess' Master Sword."
Link started to lower her sword, "I thought it was destroyed? Eroded away? This was underground."
"The Temple of Time was not destroyed. It was moved underground almost three centuries ago." The robot floated forward slowly, "As for my personal designation, you may call me Fi. I was the spirit of the Master Sword. I assisted the first Hero of Legend, and I have been partially resurrected to aid you now."
"Resurrected? By whom?"
"The Sages of Hyrule."
"Sages, huh?" Link chuckled and lowered her sword, "Let the forest sage know her temple was infested with Stalfos."
Fi paused, averted her gaze for a moment, and looked back at Link, "She is laughing. She says that she is not unaccustomed to Stalfos in her temple, but thanks you for your concern."
Link groaned and brought her sword up as she took two steps closer to the spirit…robot…whatever, "I've had enough." She marched up to Fi, "I don't care who you are; I don't care where we are. Tell me how to get back!" Link paused, "And what the hell happened to my clothes?"
"In order to enter the Sacred Realm, one cannot enter in their physical form. The body you see now is your spiritual form."
"My spiritual form is a Kokiri wannabe?"
"The green tunic and Phrygian cap are the dress of the Goddess' Chosen Hero."
"…what?" Link did not waver. She kept her sword pointed straight ahead, between Fi and herself. She did bring her other hand up to her head and felt the stupid hat that she hadn't noticed was drooping off the back of her head.
"I will not harm you, Master."
"Why are you calling me Master?" Link demanded.
"I serve the Goddess Hylia's chosen hero. As you are that hero, you are my master."
"I'm no one's hero."
"Not possible. The Master Sword would not allow you to wield it if you were not."
"But, why…"
"Verbal communication is proving ineffective and time is short. Master, instead of asking questions, perhaps you would benefit from a more direct approach?" Fi landed to approach Link at a slow, deliberate pace.
"What do you mean?"
"Sheath your sword, and I can show you everything you need."
Apprehensively, Link slowly lowered her sword. After a moment's pause, she raised it again, brought it above her head, and sheathed it behind her. Fi walked within arm's reach of Link and gave her a smile. At least, Link thought it was a smile, it was hard to tell on Fi's metallic countenance what expression it was giving. Fi brought her hands to Link's cheeks, and nodded.
Without warning, Fi, the clouds, and the floating islands disappeared and all around her was a crushing blackness.
Fi's voice echoed in her mind, "Thousands of years ago, the Master Sword was created. The Goddess Hylia chose a hero, a young man from her favorite civilization." As Fi spoke, the blackness was replaced with images and sounds from a place Link did not recognize. She saw in this ancient place a hero in green, no older than her youngest students. Fi continued, "This hero used the sword to stop a powerful demon from destroying the world under his devastating rule."
Link saw this hero fighting against a creature that resembled a large, black mountain with a toothy mouth. He was agile. He seemed to be able to fly from attack to attack as he kept the giant monster at bay as it tried to climb a deep valley. The world around her dissolved; the grassy valley became a wide, magical plane with a ground covered with shining, reflective water. She saw the hero fighting a large man with scales growing out of his arms and long flames for hair.
Fi's voice continued, "Although this hero was victorious, this was not the end of the demon, but the beginning of a cycle. A cycle of hate, war, and peace continued throughout the history of a newly reunited Hyrule."
Suddenly, there were a thousand images and sounds and songs surrounding Link. She saw heroes in green over and over, fighting monsters, protecting cities and villages, and discovering lost dungeons. Most of them had the sword that was now strapped to her back.
"These heroes form a lineage. Not a lineage of blood, but a lineage of spirit. These heroes are your ancestors, and you have been called to continue their mission."
"I don't understand," Link managed to speak, "These stories: the Hero of Time, the Hero of Legend, they're all fairy tales. There's no physical evidence to support that they existed. Why haven't we found anything about them before?"
"This cycle existed in part due to the nature of magic. Those who threatened peace, the demons and sorcerers who sought to take power for themselves, were imprisoned in other realms through the use of magic. However, this magic's power wanes over time, and the imprisoned found ways to escape their incarceration and continue their campaigns of violence. For centuries, these…problems…were addressed as they arrived. Those charged with protecting Hyrule from these threats deemed this cycle inefficient. Two hundred seventy-three years and 97 days ago, Princess Zelda, your eleventh great grandmother, devised a solution."
Link saw a woman about her age wearing a purple and white sack-back gown approach a large temple. She drew a chalk circle on the ground, and then enclosed a chalk Triforce symbol within it. She stood in the middle of the design and began to chant to herself.
Fi continued, "She cast a spell. One spell, that sealed away not only those who sought to do harm to Hyrule, but all magic. She believed that, when all magic is locked away, those imprisoned would not be able to escape." The woman raised her arms as the chalk circle glowed. Soon, her eyes, mouth, hair, and hands began to glow as well. The temple before her began to rumble, and sink into the earth. "She rewrote the world. A world that was founded on magic became one of science and physics. People's memories were rewritten so they no longer remembered using magic. All ties between the world and magic were severed completely. It was a massive undertaking, and was too much for one person to bear." The woman stopped glowing, and fell down into a lifeless heap. "She died casting this spell."
"Did it work?" Link asked, the image of the woman on the ground and the empty block in front of her where a temple once stood faded away, replaced with Fi, the golden sky, and floating islands. Fi removed her hands from Link's cheeks.
She nodded, "Until now, affirmative. The spell worked. The cycle stopped."
"Until now?"
Fi floated away from Link to the edge of the island. She looked out to the eternal sky, "Yes. The Master Sword is an item of immense magical potential. When you dislodged it, the foundation of the spell cracked. The seals that kept Hyrule's most evil at bay may have broken.
"If it's that important, then why was it so damn easy to pull it out?" Link insisted.
"If anyone else attempted to pull the sword, they would find it impossible. In an attempt to dissuade you from attempting it, the sword called out to your assistant. We were under the impression that if you saw him fail to free the sword you would make no attempt."
"And then I did it on accident."
"Precisely."
Link knelt down, putting her head in her hands, "So, even if Zant had found the Master Sword, he wouldn't have been able to free it?"
"Affirmative."
Link groaned, trying to think. Did Zant know this? Did Zant know about the spell? Or was he merely trying to collect artifacts? And how was she supposed to get out of here?
"I need to get back." Link asked without asking.
"As I said before, what you are seeing now is merely your spiritual form. Your physical form is where you left it, unless your assistants have moved you."
"So, when I wake up I'll just be back."
"You will wake up when I send you back." Fi corrected her.
"Then send me back." Link demanded.
"I will, but first, the Sages and the Goddesses have a request."
Link stood and turned to face Fi, who's voice showed an urgency absent from her robotic face. Fi continued, "We need you to find and destroy an artifact."
"Okay, where is it?"
Fi paused, "We do not know. The spell that cut off the world's access to magic also reduced our ability to see into the physical world."
"Fine, well, what is it?"
"It is a sword. A very…dangerous sword. If discovered and unleashed, it can lead to terrible suffering."
"Okay. Anything else?"
"It is called Ghirahim. He is my brother."
