On the last chapter of The Legend of Zelda: Tale of Souls

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yes." Talim responded.

"What happened to your parents?"

Talim was silent at first. Usually, she wouldn't speak to anyone about her parents, but Link pretty much told her his life story. So it was only fair. With a sigh, she began to tell her story.

Chapter 11: The Last of Her Kind

Nine hundred, ninety-two years ago, there was a war fought by many different sects over the possession of a land that, unlike their own, hosted perfect conditions for living. After several bloody years, only four of the many sects, who were whose respective members were related by blood, were still willing to battle to the death over the land. After another number of years, the newly-announced leader of one of the sects miraculously managed to persuade the others into sharing the land.

The first sect became the royal family of the Chai Dynasty.

The second sect, the Alexander Family, lived alongside them, loyal to the Royal Family.

The third, the Fu-Ma Clan were given an entire section of the western part of the land on the condition that they keep the numerous demons around the place at bay, which was their expertise.

But the fourth, requested a piece of the land on its southwestern outskirts, intentionally moving away from places where violence was common in order to live in peace and tranquility. But just like the Chai Dynasty, this sect, who existed the longest out of the four, had a long history. Shortly after their creation by the goddesses, they were given the power to read and control the wind. Many members of this family used this ability in different ways. Some could foretell future events, predict the weather, and could even use their ability in combat to give them a deadly advantage. There were even a select few who could do all this, and more. They had lived peacefully in their territory for many centuries. Until about three years ago.


In the ruins of an obliterated village, a girl had awoken under the rubble of a devastated house. Her head was throbbing painfully, and she bled from her forehead for some reason. She looked around at her surroundings, trying to remember exactly what happened, only to find she couldn't remember anything. With the exception of her usual bodily functions, she could not remeber a thing. Where she was; who she was; she couldn't remember anything. Before the girl could think of getting up, an older girl had entered her view. She wore a red bodysuit with armor on some parts of her body. She also wore a black mask over the bottom part of her face. She looked over at the girl and froze. The girl only sat there and stared at the her just as she did in return.

"Taki!" called a voice.

Taki turned in response to hearing her name. Immediately after, a blonde-haired man in a purple jacket followed by a woman with snow-white hair and a masculine blue uniform appeared.

"It seems we've found a lone survivor." said the white-haired woman, "And it's a little girl."

"Ivy." called the blonde-haired man, we've searched the entire village. This one is the only survivor."

Ivy thought for a moment.

"Let's take her to the King." Taki suggested, "We co-"

"You are in no position to tell me what to do." Ivy scolded.

As Ivy spoke, the blonde man had walked over to the little girl and helped her to her feet.

"What's your name?" he asked softly.

The girl stood for a moment. A light breeze began to flow through her hair as she answered, "Talim."

"Raphael." Ivy called, "We'll question her when we get to Capital. Now..." she walked over to where Talim stood and held out her hand.

Talim reached out her own hand to take it, but when she looked Ivy in the eyes, she gasped and backed away.

Raphael was confused, and Taki chuckled in amusement. "Fine." Ivy said bitterly, "You two keep an eye on her." she ordered as she walked away.

Talim walked several feet behind Ivy, between Raphael and Taki, and watched her warily. She didn't know what, but she could feel that something was not right with Ivy. She wasn't sure why, but she got a cold, malevolent, and conflicted vibe from Ivy. This made her wonder about the other two with him. Talim had no such feelings about Raphael, but Taki, while not as bad as Ivy, was still questionable.

They had been walking for hours until Talim was showing noticeable signs of fatigue.

When he saw this, Raphael made a suggestion. "It's getting late." he started, "Perhaps we should rest until the morning."

Agreeing to this suggestion, Ivy and Taki set up camp in a nearby wooded area. Ivy slept further away from her acquaintances, and Raphael had already went to sleep. Taki, who was sharing a tent with Talim, was nowhere to be found. Talim did not go to sleep, as her head was swimming with thoughts. This entire time, she was trying to figure out what was going on. Why did she wake up in a ruined village? Who are these people, and why have they taken apparent interest in her? And on top of all this, the furthest back she could remember was waking up in the ruined village.

GRRRR...

Talim was interrupted by the sound of her own growling stomach. She crawled out of the tent and looked around and only saw the other tents and some trees.

"You're hungry, aren't you?"

On the side of the tent stood Taki. Talim, who was confused about how she couldn't tell that Taki had been there, didn't respond.

"Here." Taki said, handing Talim a big chunk of a bread loaf.

Talim slowly ate the bread piece by piece while Taki looked up at the moon thoughtfully. After Talim was finished, she was finally able to sleep. Despite all the confusion of she felt today, she slept peacefully... until her dream came to her.


At first, everything was dark. But after a few seconds Talim saw somebody manifest in the darkness before her. He was a man with pale skin, white hair, and a purple tunic.

"Hmph. I missed one." he said. Just then, the man disappeared.

The next thing Talim saw was a dark hallway with brown walls and five pairs of torches protruding them to light the way. Talim looked behind her and saw that it was a dead end. But that wasn't the only thing she saw. On the floor, leaning against the wall, was a bloodied corpse. It appeared to be an old man. He looked like he was in excellent physical shape; only his face and grey hair made him look old. The condition of this body was no different than the corpses she saw in the devastated village she had already woke she woke up in when she was found by Taki and the others, suggesting they had been killed the same way.

"There you are." a familiar voice called.

Startled, Talim turned to around to see nothing but her dimly-lit surroundings.

"Wh-who's there?" she called out fearfully.

"Have you forgotten already? It's me."

Talim immediately recognized the voice to be that of the man she had seen earlier. Even though she heard him, she couldn't see him.

"What do you want?" Talim asked. Just then, Talim looked behind her at the bloodied corpse, and answered her own question.

The man, who stood just outside the barely-lighted path, laughed loudly with an evil tone when he saw this, causing Talim's fear to skyrocket.

"No!" she panicked.

Fwoosh! was all Talim heard as the pair of torches furthest away from her went out as the man continued to laugh.

Talim whimpered fearfully as the next furthest pair went out.

Fwoosh!

"Why are you doing this?"

Fwoosh!

"Stop! You're scaring-"

Fwoosh!

Talim backed away as the man continued to laugh. As she did so, she stumbled back and fell on her bottom. "Please." she begged in horror in between deep, jagged breaths, "Please... don't... hurt me."

Just then, the last pair of torches went out, leaving Talim in complete darkness. By now, the man's laughter had ceased. Talim held her breath in anticipation for whatever would happen next. Everything was silent; not even Talim's rapidly beating heart could be heard.

Time seemed to stand still as Talim stared wide-eyed into the darkness in front of her. Then, faster than Talim could react in movement, the man appeared in front of her with a sword drawn, and pulled his arm back in preparation to cut her down. "HAAAHAHAHAHA!"

"NO!" was all Talim had enough time to say before the man brought his blade down on her...

And killed her.


Talim screamed to the top of her lungs as she sat up in the tent. Taki rushed in to check on her, and was shocked at what she saw. Talim was sweating all over, she had tears running down her cheeks, and she was trembling.

"What's with all the commotion!?" Raphael called as he ran towards Taki's tent.

"What happened?" Taki asked.

Talim waited for herself to calm down before she answered, "...I had a nightmare."

"That's all?" asked Raphael, who was now inside the tent.

"Yes... but... it seemed so real."

"Yes," said Taki, "but it was just a dream. Everything will be okay."

Just a dream. Talim thought. She tried to convince herself of this, but deep down, she knew that wasn't true.

"It's time to be on our way." said Ivy, who had just made her way over to them. "If we get going now, we should get to Capital by by the afternoon."

Just as Ivy said aid they would, they made it back by the early afternoon. When they made it back they brought her to the castle, where they would report to the man who had them venture to the southwestern outskirts of the kingdom: the King.

"So," he began, "how did it go?"

"The entire village was destroyed." Ivy explained, "The people there had all been killed. The way they were killed, however, suggests they were all killed the same way."

"Elaborate."

"The all had wounds inflicted on them, but they weren't severe enough to be life-threatening."

"I see. Do you have any idea how they could have been killed?"

"None that I can't think of."

The King let out a sigh. Even since he inherited the kingdom from his parents just nine years ago at the young age of twenty, it's been nothing but one problem after another. Just now for ecxample, he had sent Ivy, Taki, and Raphael to the Village of the Wind Deity to answer an SOS, which was abnormally rare for the Chai Dynasty. Apparently, they had been fighting for a short amount of time before realizing they would never last without help. However, it had taken the trio almost two days to get to the said village, which had already been destroyed, much to the King's disbelief.

"I can't believe they were all killed in such a short amount of time." he said to himself.

"Your Majesty," said Raphael, "there is one survivor."

"Is that so?" the King asked.

"Is that her?" asked a younger Xianghua, who had been in the room the entire time. She pointed at the little girl who stood behind Taki, just outside the King's view.

Taki nudged Talim from behind her so the King could see.

The King took a close look at her. "You're Talim, correct?"

"How did you know?" she asked.

"After you were born five years ago, your parents brought you here to get you documented as a citizen of this kingdom. After that, they presented you to me, which all parents of this kingdom do. Honestly, it can be very time-consuming and, at times, annoying. I was trained to remember the faces of all the children of this kingdom for when the time comes that I would need to immediately recognize someone I haven't seen in years."

"...Oh..."

"Now... aside from many other important matters, we need to figure out where you'll be staying."

Ivy looked up at the King from her kneeling position, "Perhaps you could send her to the orphanage."

"No." Taki interrupted, prompting Ivy to send her a sharp glare. "As far as we know, she's the last living member of a noble family. Obviously, someone is out to kill this family. If they somehow find out she's alive, they may come for her."

"That may be..." the King mused, "In that case... I'm giving you custody of the girl."

Taki, who at first gave a look of disapproval, sighed and nodded.

"The loss of so many members of one of the Founding Families is truly tragic." the King said, changing the subject, "I have be sure to have the people of this kingdom attend a ceremony to honor them all. But in the meantime, you're all dismissed."

As the trio were on their way out of the castle with Talim, they made light conversation.

"So," Ivy began, "according to the King, this girl is five years old."

"That makes her the same age as my daughter!" Raphael proclaimed proudly.

"'Daughter'?" Ivy scoffed, "You two aren't even related by blood."

"I've adopted her into my family, so that makes her my daughter." Raphael shot back.

Taki thought for a moment as the two went back and forth. She was only sixteen, but now she had full custody of a five year old girl. After much consideration, it was decided: Taki would raise Talim as her teacher, training her in the ways of combat just as her teacher had done for her.


"That was three years ago." Talim told Link in present time.

Link kept silent as he took in everything Talim had told him. Though they said nothing to each other, they could almost tell what the other was thinking; that while their stories were different, they understood how their respective stories made them feel. What they've both have been through not only separated them from their peers, but also resulted in higher maturity in comparison to their age group on some aspects.

With a loud yawn, Link looked up at the night sky, "I'm getting pretty sleepy," he told Talim, "I'm going back to bed."

Talim did not respond as Link got up and headed back inside. It was only until he began to descend the ladder that she spoke up.

"Link, was it?"

Link turned slowly as he answered, "...Yeah? What is it?"

"...Thank you... for tonight."

Link smiled at her, "Heh, no problem!"

Talim turned back as Link continued down the ladder. Unbeknownst to them, however Taki had been listening in to their conversation the entire time from in the shadows.

"Interesting." she mused.

To be continued!

Next chapter: The New Heir