Ch. 25- The Skull Kid

The Legend of Zelda © Nintendo

Maudi © Me

King Dorephan sat on his throne while Sidon stood in front of him, reading the note that Link had left behind.

"'To the kindly Zoras'," Sidon read, "'by the time you read this...I will already be far away from here. I don't know where I'm going...I don't even know what I'm doing anymore...but I know this much: I know that I am a failure. If I'm such a great hero, then I should have been able to prevent the Calamity from ever happening, 100 years ago. Now...my friends are dead...and the princess I meant to protect is trapped with that...abomination. I appreciate your hospitality...but I don't deserve it. I'm nothing but a sham. If you see the Sheikah Elder, Impa...please tell her I'm sorry. Link.'" He then sighed as he put the note down.

"...Linny..." Kodah whispered.

"...The poor lad," Muzu muttered. "I can't even imagine what he must be feeling..." He then sighed. "It's my fault...I never should have made him feel that way."

"It matters not, Muzu," said King Dorephan. "Seeing Mipha's spirit must have been too much on him...it would have been too much on anyone who knew her." He then closed his eyes. "I, too, have felt like a failure...but I managed to find hope again, despite my daughter's passing. I just hope Link manages to find his feet, again."

"What about the wolf that Link came with?" asked Bazz. "He ran off with no way of knowing how to find him."

"I wouldn't worry too much about him," said King Dorephan. "I'm sure the wolf will find Link. Hyrule may be a big place, but I'm certain the boy is out there, somewhere. Tracking him down might be the easy part...it's convincing him to return to his mission that might prove difficult due to his heart being in so much turmoil. All we can do is pray that Hylia is watching over him."

"...Link..." Sidon whispered, worriedly.

XXX

2 days later, in Kakariko Village...

"What?!" Impa questioned. "You can't be serious!"

"I just heard from Auntie Purah, Grandmother!" Paya cried. "Master Link has gone missing!"

"Where did she hear this from?" asked Impa.

"From the Zoras!" answered Paya. "A messenger was sent there! They say that after Link freed the Divine Beast, Vah Ruta, he vanished the day after, and no one's seen him since then! They found a note he left, saying that he was a failure or something!"

"...I see," Impa said. "I was dreading this. It seems Link has finally understood the gravity of the situation...he realizes that he has failed." She then looked up at Paya. "What about the wolf?"

"The wolf is still out, trying to find him," said Paya. "He could be anywhere in Hyrule, by now!"

"Then we must hope for the best," Impa said...before she looked toward the window, worriedly.

'Link...where are you?'

XXX

Umbra loped through Hyrule Fields, sniffing the grass and dirt for any sign of Link. So far, he had a trail, faint as it was...but it was something. The day before, he had tracked Link's scent back to the Wetlands Stable and he saw that Blackie wasn't there, so he knew Link was riding horseback.

The only problem was it was hard to discern which scent he had to follow in order to catch up to Link. What's worse, when Umbra approached any other Hylians, he would be chased off since they thought that he was a lone wolf, seeking to harm their mounts. It wasn't even the Hylians that he frightened, but the occasional traveling Goron.

Nighttime proved to be just as dangerous as the day, for the monsters would often hunt. A few Bokoblins wasn't anything he couldn't handle. It was the Moblins he had the most trouble with. There were times he had to force himself to run away.

He had managed to keep himself fed by eating rabbits, birds, or fish, as well as the occasional handout from kind strangers, even though he did keep his distance. He knew from his and Link's encounter with that one Yiga assassin that not everyone could be trustworthy. He just didn't want to risk it.

Suddenly, the wolf stopped in his tracks as his nose caught a very unsettling scent. He quickly threw his head up...and he felt his heart sink.

It was Blackie...with his belly torn open by sharp teeth and claws, most of his innards were gone, his throat was mangled open, and he was missing a leg. A multitude of flies buzzed around the carcass and there was a pool of blood on the ground, and Umbra could recognize several strands of fur, as well as trails bloody paw prints that led away from the corpse.

The horse was an unfortunate victim of a pack of hungry wolves. Perhaps not as savage and cunning as wolfos...but it was still a gruesome way to die.

Umbra didn't blame Link, though. He knew that Link was not some heartless coward who would sacrifice his horse just to save his own skin. He must have tried everything in his power to keep his steed from being devoured like this. Perhaps he made Blackie try to run away in the hope that he would be fast enough to escape the pack, and he must have also tried to distract the wolves...but it just wasn't enough.

Umbra walked away from Blackie's body for a moment, then he returned, grabbed the carcass by one of the legs, and dragged him into a deep hole, where he soon dropped him, then buried the corpse. Then he placed a stone on top of the dirt mound and lay several flowers, as well, before he looked to the heavens and gave a long, haunting howl.

...What he didn't expect was for someone to howl back. Well, it wasn't a howl, but more like a small yip. Umbra turned and saw something moving through the tall grass behind him, which caused him to growl, expecting it to be one of the wolves, coming to pick off Blackie's remains...but nary.

It was soon revealed to be a small gray wolf pup, no older than at least a few weeks. He looked a bit skinny and a bit dirty, too, but he looked rather happy. The only thing was...why was he alone? Did his pack leave him behind?

Whatever the case was, he didn't have time to worry about it, now. He had to find Link, and soon, so he soon began to walk away...only the pup followed him, his tongue dangling out of his mouth as he panted happily. Umbra blinked in confusion before he kept walking, but the pup just continued to follow him, which caused the wolf to growl a bit in annoyance. He turned and barked at the pup, who yelped in fright and jumped back a bit. Umbra snorted before he turned to walk away again...only to be stopped by a small whine, causing him to glance back at the pup, who was lying on the ground with these sad, round eyes...and the older wolf felt his heart sink.

Great. Just what he didn't need, right now.

Umbra seemed to heave a sigh before he slowly approached the little pup, who shrunk back from him and covered his eyes...only for the wolf to gently nudge him from behind with his nose, causing him to stand. Then Umbra began to walk away again, only to turn to the pup, once more and make a forward gesture with his head.

The pup blinked before he began to wag his tail and pant excitedly, then he let out a yip and began to clumsily follow after the wolf.

It seemed that on top of looking for Link, he was now stuck with babysitting, too.

XXX

The wind howled wildly and the snow was swirling about in random directions. Any rational thinking being would be smart enough to avoid being out in this weather...except one.

Link trudged through the snow, wearing nothing but his pants and his thick warm doublet...but even that didn't seem to shield him from the cold. His teeth chattered, his nose and the tips of his ears turned a bright red, and he hugged his own body in an attempt to stay warm. Snow had formed on his hair and eyebrows, even though he was wearing his hood, which had grown tattered and had some rips in some places. However, if one were to look in his eyes, which were once full of vigor and warmth...they would see that they had been as cold as the snow itself.

This boy was nothing more than a shell of what he once was.

All he could ever think about was the spirit of Mipha...and that sad smile she had when their eyes met. He wanted to say much more to his old friend...but he never got the chance. She sent him away before he could. He wanted to say he was sorry for letting her down...for letting all of Hyrule down.

He was supposed to protect this kingdom...but this kingdom had become nothing but a vast wilderness where monsters run rampant and civilization was rarely seen.

What kind of hero was he?

As Link kept walking through along the mountain trail, several shadows suddenly appeared behind him before slinking toward him, hissing and making clicking noises. Link suddenly froze in place before he glanced back, only to gasp as three white lizalfos with light blue stripes appeared and lunged at him. He quickly drew the Lightscale Trident and tried to stab one of them, but they quickly surrounded him and he was whipped in the back by one of their tails. Link grunted as he fell into the snow, but he quickly tried to get to his feet while the lizalfos opened their mouths and spewed what looked spiked ice balls.

Link quickly used the Lightscale Trident to bat them away, but one of the lizalfos jumped at him while holding a spear in its hands. Thankfully, Link rolled out of the way in time but screamed in pain when he felt an arrow pierce his side. One of the lizalfos seemed to laugh at the boy while holding a bow, which it soon armed with another. Link growled as he tried to fight back, but he was soon struck in the arm by another arrow while the third lizalfos slashed him in the side with its elbow talon, causing Link to tumble across the ground until he was at the edge of a cliff. Just as Link was about to get up and fight back again...he was kicked off the ledge by the lizalfos pack, who laughed at him and pointed their clawed fingers at him, mockingly.

It was almost as if he can hear them say "Look! It's Hyrule's fallen hero!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" Link screamed before he struck a rock on the way down, leaving his temple bloody...before he finally hit the snow beneath him. Link groaned as he reached up his hand...only to finally loses his senses as he faded into unconsciousness. As the snow slowly began to pile up on top of him, preparing to bury him...until a shadow suddenly cast over his face before it grabbed him and dragged him away.

XXX

Meanwhile, down in Hateno Village...

"Hey, have you ever heard the stories?" asked a young boy with glasses while sitting with his friends, eating some apples he had swiped from the kitchen while his mother was busy.

"What stories?" asked a young girl with short black hair that was tied up in a ponytail.

"They say there's some kind of ghost up in Mt. Lanayru," said the boy. "A long time ago, this kid went in the mountains but never returned. They say that monsters got her."

"Monsters?" asked another boy with spiky hair, nervously.

"That's right...but some people say they still the girl wanders the mountain...in the form of an evil spirit," the boy with the glasses said in an eerie voice. "When people see her, at first, she has her back turned to them...but when she faces them, all they see is a skull. They call her...the Skull Kid...!"

The children gulped before they glanced at each other, worriedly...except one: a girl with long, dark blue hair, who crossed her arms as she glared at the boy.

"Yeah, right," she said. "And where'd you hear that?"

"My uncle," said the boy, "so it's gotta be a true story!"

"Yeah, right," the dark blue-haired girl said. "Like your uncle ever said anything that was true!"

"Yeah, there's no such thing as the Skull Kid!" said the spiky-haired boy.

"Oh, yeah?!" asked the glasses-wearing boy. "Then how do you explain the stuff that goes missing at night in the village, like bandages and medicine and stuff?!"

XXX

Link groaned as he opened his eyes...only to find his vision with nothing but gray. As his vision cleared, though, he found himself in a cave, and not just that, but he found an unusual stiffness in his arm and his stomach, causing him to slightly lift up his doublet to reveal that his torso had been bandaged, and he pulled back his sleeve to find that his arm had been bandaged, as well.

"Are you feeling better, now?"

Link looked up...only to gasp as he saw someone standing next to the campfire. It looked about the size of your average Hylian child, wearing some sort of brown parka and dark brown fuzzy boots...but what was more unsettling was the white skull mask on its face with one red eye showing through it.

"You're lucky that I found you..." she said.

Link gasped as he reached into his pack and pulled out a dagger at this...whatever-it-was, who screamed as she fell back and held out her hands.

"Wait, wait, wait!" she cried. "Please...don't hurt me! I'm not really a monster! It's just a mask I'm wearing!"

"Huh?" Link muttered while the stranger took her mask off...revealing the face of a mere Hylian girl with maroon hair that was tied in pigtails and a single red eye...with her left eye covered with an eyepatch.

"Hi," she said. "My name is Maudi. Some people call me...the Skull Kid."

To Be Continued...

So here's something I added: I decided to name Wolf Link "Umbra" from here on out. Calling him "the wolf" gets monotonous.

Also, the wolf pup idea was from a friend from DA called Lightningwolf710.

Review, please!