In an instant, Link suddenly lost all sensation.
The grip he had on the hilt, the rough stone grating at his knees, how it felt to bow his head, that nervous feeling he had in his chest. His mind, however, was still rampant with thoughts, in his heart feelings he remembered so well he didn't need to feel them.
He opened his eyes as a familiarity washed over him, those trials flooding right back into his memories. Link honestly never thought he would be in this situation again as he got his bearings. As if unlocking from stillness, he stood up.
He was still in the Sealed Temple, yet now it had an eerie quality to it.
The Silent Realms he once knew were coated in an iridescent blue, like he was underwater and the waves were gliding against his skin. A protective force had surrounded his consciousness, one only the Guardians' blades could penetrate. A blow not to his feeble, Hylian frame, but to his spirit, his resilience, truly testing it and making a game of it.
This, however, as he looked around, at his hands, at the walls of temple, felt much less rudimentary. It was the very fact that he had already proved himself that he was able to stand here. And, with his fear realized that he would be stuck, he almost wished he wasn't.
Yet he couldn't help but marvel at how this parallel version of the Sealed Temple looked.
Architecturally the same, Link figured perhaps the Sealed Temple in reality took inspiration from what Link could only assume was the goddesses realm.
The Sacred Realm.
Instead of an otherworldly blue, it was coated in a golden yellow, shining bright and resplendent. He too, shone with the same sun-color, those waves protecting him, his self, his consciousness.
Or whatever had made it here, he figured as he completed his observational circle.
He stepped down the stairs, looking for the Triforce.
Link started to worry greatly, that he was here and not the Triforce. That he, perhaps, had come here in its place.
He had paced all the way to the doors, the ones that would normally exit to the Sealed Grounds, the statue of the Goddess Hylia. Link's walking quickened as he worried more, attempting to search for it outside.
Link placed his hands on the doors, ready to push them open.
"If I were you," he heard a voice say. "I would not go further."
Link turned his head to his shoulder before turning fully, peering at the woman before him with uncertainty.
She was at least double his height, with a sage-colored dress, ebbing downwards like a calm breeze. Only her human-like peach skin wasn't green, her emerald hair knotted into buns on either side with two long bangs in the front. Even the essence that floated away from her was green, the magic that drifted and encapsulated her.
"Although it's questionable why you are here at all."
Link tried to speak, his lips forming at least the letter 'W', attempting to turn it into a word.
"It seems your speechlessness will remain," the woman continued. "Your questions are numerous so I will start with the first. To go beyond those doors would be to leave the heart of the Sacred Realm, sights mortals can't even fathom. Your consciousness, although steadfast and strong, may not endure."
"S…s-so," Link said. "This is the Sacred Realm."
"Yes," she replied. "More specifically, the Temple of Light that marks the center. It is a sacred place, one you do not belong in, nor have reason to be in."
"There…there was an accident," Link tried to argue, yet his voice came out so thin and weak that he reasoned it never would work. "We were trying to get the Triforce here using the Master Sword, but…but I think I got brought along with it, at least I think I did. Is it here?"
"You wish to see the Triforce?" She asked rhetorically. "Have you not calmed your greed? Do you feel it possesses you? That it calls to you?"
"No, no, it…" Link said, with a voice he figured would remain weak compared to how hers echoed. "I need to make sure it is safe, that it has been secured here. I definitely don't want to use it."
"Your kind, as always, interests me greatly," she said. "I will admit your request."
She stepped aside, looking beyond where Link had entered, at where Zelda was once sealed in amber in somewhere apparently parallel. The heavy stone doors were open to the room, yet the far pedestal held a door that led further.
"It is that way," she said. "If you must see it."
Link peered at the oddity in this woman, the perfection, but also the familiarity. It was like her name was on the tip of his tongue.
And, yet, he never met her before.
Link approached her, a forward mind, of course, on his destination, but his curiosity turned his head to her as he walked past.
He stopped before her, immediately feeling as though he perhaps shouldn't.
Link studied her with intrigue.
"Do…" he started. "Do I know you?"
"Know?" She retorted, but in a graceful, elegant manner, bestowing a smile. "Why, what a silly question."
"How?" Link asked with confused shakes of his head.
"To know courage is to know me, young one," she said. "So the very idea of your ignorance in that respect is humorous, as you know courage quite well. If you are, however, searching for my designation, I will not give it."
Link nodded, something within telling him not to question her further.
She watched with a smile as he went along, up the stairs and through the door.
Farore, after all, enjoyed the amusement.